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These days, it feels like Nene has no time for herself. She has to attend school, clean the bathrooms, go on weird life-threatening supernatural hunts and still make time for sleep and homework. It’s exhausting, and if she was a lesser woman, she may have thrown in the towel by now. But she’s thankful for the time she does get to spend with her friends so she pushes through.
Unfortunately, spending so much time with supernaturals means hardly seeing Aoi. It’s sad; Aoi was her first real friend at Kamome Academy and has stuck with her through so much. Her middle school years were filled with pining for a guy who would never like her, but Aoi was always there to encourage her to follow her heart. She helped her through her first heartbreak and new crushes. She always tries to make Nene smile with her scary stories and creepy rumours--even if they only scare Nene now. Can you blame her? Knowing she could die at the hands of these apparitions is very stressful. Aoi’s presence is calming, like a flowerfield in the middle of spring. She helps bring Nene back to earth when her head is in the clouds, and overall, she’s Nene’s favourite person and best friend.
Aoi does all these kind things for her and Nene never seems to reciprocate. Was she a bad friend? She resolves herself to show Aoi exactly how much she appreciates her soon. Nene likes to think she’s Aoi’s closest friend. Even though Aoi and Akane have been friends since they were little, his seemingly hopeless crush on her prevents them from really getting any closer.
“-shiro-senpai? Senpai?” Kou shook her out of her thoughts. Oh, right. She was still cleaning the bathrooms. “Are you alright? You looked like you were overthinking something.”
Kou has always had a great read on other people. Maybe it was because he was so emotional himself. How was he and the dreamy, apathetic prince of the school, Teru, related? At this moment it is not appreciated. She wanted to mourn her diminishing friendship with Aoi by herself, thank you very much. Or...maybe a second opinion would be good. She had to be sure she wasn’t a bad friend. Sometimes, Nene’s mind couldn’t be trusted. Like when she thinks she’s ugly and a stupid daikon. Aoi said she was cute, and why would she lie?
She looked away from Kou. “Hey, Kou-kun?” she started. He stopped scrubbing and looked at her. “Am I a bad friend to Aoi?”
“Akane-senpai?” he questioned. She supposes it would've been better to ask someone who actually knows her friends outside of supernaturals. With Kou being in middle school, it’s no wonder he doesn’t know her other than her reputation as the queen of the school and student council member.
She mumbles a sound of confirmation. “Did she say you were?” he asks, his brows creasing in worry. He looks concerned, she guesses. Man, he is such a good friend.
“No, it’s not that. It’s just… I hardly have time to talk to her anymore and she said before she wants to tell me something, but I haven’t had a chance and-” she sighs. “I don’t know…”
Kou looks pensive for a moment. He sets the towel he was cleaning the mirrors with on the edge of the sink and removes his gloves. “I think you’re doing your best, Yashiro-senpai. If you want her to know you still want to be friends, maybe give her a gift or something. And if she wants to talk, then talk to her,” he says as he places his right hand on her shoulder comfortingly.
“Thanks, Kou-kun,” she beams.
He mutters incoherently and turns away with an oddly red face. She chooses to ignore this and continues sweeping while humming an upbeat tune from a game Aoi showed her. She’ll fix her friendship with Aoi, no matter how hard it is.
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It’s harder than she thought, but she won't give up. She’s been thinking about this for three days and she’s yet to have acquired a single good idea. She won’t let herself be discouraged; Aoi is worth all the time and effort required. She rests her head on her desk and grumbles to herself.
“Ao-chan! I love you! Go out with me!” Akane is down on one knee with a small bouquet of flowers, looking as though he’s trying not to laugh. Nene finds his persistence admirable, and hopes he knows there is a time to give up eventually. He looks less desperate than usual, as though he’s moving on. Nene hopes he is; it must hurt to be rejected so ruthlessly so often. Aoi smiles a sweet but undeniably fake smile looking down at him.
She moves her hand to her cheek. “Oh, my! Two points!” she awards, giggling. Nene supposes this is where Akane would typically mope about, but he instead laughs as he’s helped up. Are they dating? Nene doesn’t know why that bothers her so much. If Aoi is happy, then she is happy too.
“Was that the last one, Akane-kun?” she asks, slyly. Nene doesn’t understand what she’s missing. Clearly they both know something she doesn’t, but she can’t put a finger on it. The last confession? That seems out of character for him. Unless he truly did try to move on like she thought. Good for him , she thinks, smiling. This last confession must've been closure for him.
“That was the last one,” he confirms. “When I told Teru-kun I was doing this, he was so confused. He just doesn’t get it, Ao-chan.” He laughs again. Teru-kun? Does he mean Kou’s brother? Nene didn’t know they were so close.
“Oh, Teru-kun , huh?” she nudges him. “When did that happen?” Aoi looks like she’s purely teasing, but she can’t help a hint of curiosity seeping from her voice. Looks like Aoi didn’t know they were that close either.
Akane hides his face in his hands. “That’s my cue to leave. I gotta go to a student council meeting. President Minamoto is going to roast me alive for my slip-up just now,” he says quickly, walking to the door. He reverted back to his old title for Teru… weird.
Aoi giggles. “You can't hide this from me forever, Akane-kun!” she calls after him, but he’s long gone.
Aoi seems to notice Nene at that moment. “Oh, Nene-chan! How are you?” she exclaims brightly.
“I’m alright! What was going on just now?” Nene can’t help herself from asking.
Aoi giggles to herself. “Well, don’t tell anyone I told you, but there’s a rumour that Minamoto-senpai and Akane-kun are going out,” she mock-whispers.
Going out? As in dating? Teru and Akane? Wow, she didn't see that one coming. She really needs to get better at reading the room, like Kou is good at. She thinks she should feel sad, given that she likes Teru, but oddly, she feels quite happy.
Aoi notices her deep in thought and quickly apologizes. “Sorry, Nene-chan. I know you really liked Minamoto-senpai. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Nene shakes her head rapidly. “No, no! It’s not that! I just didn’t expect it, y’know? I don’t like Minamoto-senpai like that anymore. I hardly even know him!” she tells her friend. “But, uhm, wasn’t Akane-kun in love with you, Aoi?”
“He was, I think. At one point, maybe, but not anymore. He said it would’ve been weird for him to stop confessing, so even after he realized I was just a friend to him, he kept going,” she starts, “That’s why his confessions have been so… lackluster lately,” Aoi adds.
Nene cocks her head to the side. “You seem happy about this. Didn’t you like him, Aoi? I know you said you didn’t, but...” she trails off, unsure of where to go with that line of thought.
“No, I never liked him that way. I love him as a brother. I have known him since we were little, after all.” She walks to the flowers on the side of the classroom and grabs the watering can. “Plus, if we got married, I’d be Aoi Aoi, so it would never work,” she decides.
That makes sense. Nene supposes they could just not change their names, but that would be a little odd. Hearing her friend speak so casually of marriage to Akane makes her stomach turn. Weird, she thinks, I must be getting sick.
“Speaking of love, do you have anyone you’re giving chocolates to this year? Valentine’s Day is next week and I haven’t heard about your crush much anymore.”
Her crush? Nene surprisingly didn’t have a crush right now. Oh. She must be talking about Hanako-kun. She should probably clear that up with Aoi as soon as possible.
“Oh, I don’t have a crush on him. We’re just friends, really! He’s totally not my type, anyway,” Nene tells Aoi, defensively. Aoi gives her a curious look, but doesn’t push.
An idea hits Nene. She could give Aoi the Valentine’s Day chocolates! It would be totally platonic, but it would show Aoi how much she meant to Nene. She’s more important than some silly crush! She’d have to ask Kou for help baking.
(He must’ve thought she was dumb. He clearly knew how to bake when they made donuts together and his brother basically confirmed it. She wonders why he hid it…)
“I don’t have a crush on him, but I am giving chocolates to someone! What about you, Aoi?”
Aoi’s expression darkens at Nene’s words. “Ah, me? I’m not giving anyone chocolate this year. Who’s the lucky boy?” she questions. It sounds like she’s forcing herself to ask. Maybe she really did like Akane-kun.
“Boy?” Nene questions aloud. Aoi drops her carefully crafted poker face for a moment to understand the question. She looks shocked. Nene doesn’t really understand why. She’s not secretive about being bisexual, so even though Aoi probably interpreted this as a romantic gesture towards some other girl, it shouldn’t be surprising. Nene must’ve told her at some point, right?
“...lucky girl, then?” Aoi questions carefully.
Nene smiles and winks at her. “It’s a secret! But I’ll tell you eventually!”
Aoi giggles at her antics, but Nene swears her cheeks were painted a light pink. She wonders what that means. She decides not to overthink (for once).
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‘Kou-kun! I need your help!’ she had announced loudly, bursting into the girl’s washroom.
‘Of course, Yashiro-senpai!’ he easily agreed. ‘What do you need?’
She looked embarrassed for a moment, but with big, pleading eyes and a small pout looked up at Kou. “I want to make Valentine’s Day chocolate, can you help me?”
He paused for a moment, before sighing. “Sure, how’s after school Tuesday?” he had asked. Tuesday, the day before Valentine’s Day. He must want to keep the chocolates fresh.
She smiled at him and thanked him and his weird mood disappeared completely. Odd.
But that was how she found herself in the school kitchen with Kou after school. She had looked up a few recipes after her conversation with Aoi and was thinking she would make some milk chocolate hearts with lavender-coloured white chocolate accents on top. She wanted to make at least twelve for a box that she decided to hand-make. She had it ready and waiting at her house, a small purple box with white ribbon on it. On the top, there was a card and a white carnation from the practice garden.
Kou takes the lead with instructions, correcting her technique every once and a while. They work mainly in silence, both focusing on their respective chocolates. Kou’s hands work magic for baking. He makes the whole process look easy. Nene guesses he bakes a lot at home, maybe for the younger sister he’s mentioned occasionally.
Kou pours his own strawberry-flavoured chocolates into a pink bunny-shaped mold and places them in the fridge. He instructs Nene to do the same with her heart-shaped chocolates. They have to wait half an hour before they can take the chocolates out to decorate. The decorative chocolate must also be melted less than ten minutes prior to taking the chocolates out from chilling. They have about twenty minutes to kill. Or at least, that’s what Kou says.
He takes off his apron and hangs it on the wall. “So, senpai. What colour do you want to make your decorations?” he asks her, peering at the various food dyes in the cupboard.
“Purple, please,” she tells him. He looks surprised for a moment, but grabs a blue and red dye anyway.
“Isn’t that pervy ghost’s favourite colour blue?” Kou asks her, confused.
She makes a small hum of agreement. “I think so, why? These chocolates aren’t for him anyway.”
Kou raises his eyebrows. “Then...who are they for? I thought you liked him.” It almost looked like there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes, but she couldn’t be sure.
“For Aoi! That’s why they have to be perfect!” she exclaims, more determined than ever.
Kou blinks once, twice, three times. “Yashiro-senpai, you like girls?” he asks bluntly.
“Yes? Well, boys too. I’m bisexual,” Nene tells him matter-of-factly, though she has no idea how it’s relevant to this conversation.
Kou looks as though he’s on the verge of an existential crisis. Or maybe he’s already having one, she can’t be quite sure. He looks deep in thought and one part of Nene wants to leave him alone, but it wouldn’t be right to let him go through whatever he’s going through alone.
“Uhm, Kou-kun?” she approaches softly. “Are you alright?” She gently takes his hand from where he had a death grip on his own wrist and moves it to his side.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
She doesn't push for more, assuming he’ll talk when he wants to. She gets more than she bargains for, as he almost immediately starts to spill.
“Say I, hypothetically, liked a guy, but I liked a girl before. Does that make me… bisexual?” he asks quietly. Nene gasps. She knows ‘hypothetical’ situations are never really hypothetical. Nene had no idea he liked guys. Does he like Hanako? Is that why he was being weird earlier? Probably not , she reasons.
She tries to stifle her curiosity and excitement; Kou needs advice, not gossip talk. She smiles reassuringly and looks directly into his eyes. He avoids eye-contact for whatever reason and his cheeks heat up. She still has no idea why he does that, but no matter.
“It sounds like you may be bisexual. This is great!” she squeals. “Now we can talk about guys together! And girls!” Nene claims. She tries to tone down her excitement again, but to no avail.
Kou, again, looks floored for a moment, but he lets out a small chuckle. “I guess we can, senpai.”
“So, Kou-kun, who are the chocolates for? Is it the mystery guy you like?” Nene asks. She does her best to sound sly and teasing, but her excitement bubbles through.
“They’re… yeah… they’re for the mystery guy…” he confirms. He looks off in the distance. Maybe he’s not ready to say yet?
She evaluates his clues. He knows Hanako’s favourite colour is blue and made chocolates decorated pink, so it can’t be him. Teru is dreamy, but he’s also Kou’s brother, so she hopes the chocolates aren’t for him. Maybe Natsuhiko? They got along fairly well, she remembers. But she doesn’t think he would appreciate the pink so much; he’s more of a blue or green type of guy. That means it can only be one person!
She gasps. “You like Mitsuba-kun!”
His face lights up in red, blush forming high on his cheeks. He sighs. “Yeah, for some reason.”
She thinks about it some more and it totally makes sense. They were pretty close during the run-in with School Mystery No. 4, as well as in the Hell of Mirrors. Kou was crushed when Mitsuba went back to being dead after the picture dissolved. She had no idea there was anything else there, though. She really needs to work on picking up subtle hints. It would make it so much easier to see which hot guys like her!
“That’s great! He totally likes you, too. And you would be so cute together!” she tells him. “Is this chocolate going to serve as a confession?”
He smirks. “I’ll confess to him if you confess to Akane-senpai.”
She freezes. Confess? To Aoi? But she doesn’t feel that way about her. They’re just friends, really. But for a moment she allows herself to think and her perception of their friendship falls apart. She would like to confess to Aoi; to hold her hand, go on dates, steal kisses during club meetings when everyone’s already gone home, and receive chocolates on White Day. She likes Aoi.
She probably should’ve realized sooner. Their friendship has always been close, but it was never anything she perceived as a crush. Aoi always helped her out and picked her up when she was down. She texted her more than anyone else, stuck to her like glue at school, and couldn’t imagine a future without Aoi in it. And that’s not even mentioning Aoi’s appearance. Nene knew she was shallow sometimes, but Aoi has to be the cutest girl she has ever seen and everyone else knows it too. She’s the Queen of Popularity and everyone in the school likes her.
Everyone in the school likes her.
Nene doesn’t stand a chance, does she? She might be Aoi’s closest friend, but Aoi doesn’t like girls. Not like that at least. Nene feels stupid all of a sudden. She let herself think about them dating, but it wouldn’t ever really happen. Aoi likes boys, right? But she always rejects any boys who ask her out. She feels a bit of hope and crushes it immediately. Aoi would’ve told her if she liked girls.
But Kou-kun didn’t tell her he liked boys until today, the traitorous part of her brain whispers.
And even if Aoi does like girls, that doesn’t mean she likes Nene. She could like anyone! The ever-beautiful doll-like upperclassman Sakura would be more suitable to date someone like Aoi than Nene is. Nene knows Aoi doesn’t like being put on a pedestal, but she can’t help it sometimes. Why would Aoi ever choose Nene?
She remembers she was having a conversation with Kou and quickly snaps out of her thinking.
“Aoi doesn’t like me like that,” she tells him sadly. His shoulders slump and he looks at her sympathetically.
“I know the feeling,” he starts. “The best way to get over it is to confess. There was this girl I liked, but she always had eyes for someone else. It hurt, but I think I would’ve saved myself a lot of pain if I had just told her how I felt and been done with it.”
“But, how do you know she didn’t like you?” Nene questions.
He chuckles. “She liked my brother. Told me so herself.”
“Aw, Kou-kun, I’m sorry. Whoever that girl was doesn’t deserve you if she can’t see how amazing you are!”
Kou laughs again, like there’s a joke she doesn’t understand. She hates feeling out of the loop, but maybe it’s for the best, if the slightly-sad look on his face means anything.
So, Kou says she should confess. She doesn't want to ruin anything with Aoi, but would it really ruin anything? Worst-case scenario, she gets rejected. She knows Aoi wouldn’t have a problem with her liking girls, because she didn’t care that Akane was dating Teru and they’re both boys.
So, that’s it then. She should confess.
“Wait, Kou-kun! I don’t have enough time to prepare a confession for tomorrow!” she hurries.
“The chocolates are the confession, senpai,” he tells her while walking to the fridge to grab his chocolates. “Come get your chocolates, they’re ready to be decorated.”
She follows behind him and grabs her heart-shaped chocolates. She returns to the counter and flips them out of the mold, breaking one chocolate in the process. She quickly scoops it into her mouth. It tastes heavenly. Kou really knows his stuff.
Kou guides her through melting and dying the chocolate. She settles on a nice lavender after a minute or so of mixing dyes experimentally and puts the melted chocolate into a prepared piping bag with a small tip. She adds various designs to her chocolates from hearts and flowers to boring old stripes. She also leaves some of her chocolate white to add some nice dots and stars on some of the less-decorated chocolates.
She examines them once she’s finished. They look perfect and she’s confident that Aoi will love them. Along with her confession note. Oh god, she’s really doing this isn’t she? She’s going to confess to Aoi tomorrow. She prepares herself and boxes the chocolates up.
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Nene barely slept, but no matter because that means she had more time to do her hair. She decided on a cute twintail look that Aoi mentioned she thinks is cute. She pulls on her school uniform, adding her broach and her hair clips to the outfit. She glares at her ankles for a moment while putting on her socks, but remembers Aoi isn’t shallow and won’t care how big her ankles look.
She grabs her school bag, delicately adding the box of chocolates and the notecard. She settles down for breakfast--scrambled eggs with furikake--but finds eating to be quite difficult when her stomach is doing bunny loops and her heart is beating out of her chest. Resolving to eat the rest at lunch, she quickly packs it into a bento box and calls out to her family (who are fast asleep) that she’s leaving.
When she makes it to school, she makes a beeline for Aoi’s desk. There are already five or six gifts there, but Nene will not be discouraged. She places hers among the other boxes and takes her seat. Aoi shows up in class a few moments later, ever the overachiever, and begins to water the classroom plants. She pays little attention to the gifts on her desk until she sits down, politely moving them into a separate bag she doesn’t normally carry. She must’ve expected a lot of chocolates today , Nene muses. When Aoi reaches Nene’s chocolates, she looks surprised. She glances at the notecard and places them in her school bag rather than with the others. Nene feels hope surge through her veins and doesn’t try to reason with herself.
Classes pass quickly. It’s hard to focus when your recently-realized crush has been paying special attention to you, glancing between you and her school bag for the entire morning. Nene’s nervous, sure, but she’s also oddly excited. She’s ready to talk to Aoi.
Or, so she thinks until Aoi comes to meet her at lunch and her stomach drops.
She smiles warmly and waves to Nene. “Hey, Nene-chan!”
“Aoi! How are you?” Nene asks, calming her nerves.
Aoi takes a seat next to Nene and pulls Nene’s chocolates out of her bag. “I read the note. It was very sweet, Nene-chan,” she pauses. “Did you mean what you said in it?”
Nene takes a deep breath and nods. “I really like you Aoi!” she replies, a little too loudly. She momentarily draws the attention of her classmates, but ducks her head to avoid recognition. She waits for a few seconds before taking a chance to look at Aoi. Her face is a crimson red, something Nene has never seen before. She isn’t typically flustered by confessions, or anything of the sort. Does this mean…?
“Really?” Aoi asks quickly. Nene nods. “I like you too, Nene-chan.”
Nene beams and hugs her friend. Processing this whole interaction could be done later. All she knew was that the girl she liked felt the same way about her. Aoi carefully opens the box and chocolates and eats one. She murmurs happily and offers one to Nene.
Munching on the chocolate, Nene asks, “So, would you want to go on a date then?”
Aoi smiles around a mouthful of chocolate and swallows before speaking. “Yep! I’ll text you later! But just wait for White Day! I’m gonna make you something great!” she exclaims.
Before Nene can reply, Aoi pecks her on the cheek. Her entire face burns a bright red and Aoi giggles and heads towards the door.
“See you in the practice garden!” Aoi says from the doorway.
Nene, in lieu of a proper response, nods dumbly, her hand finding the spot on her cheek where Aoi’s lips had just been. Her face continues to heat up as she tries to process the events of the past few minutes. And there she is, lovestruck and incredibly happy, as she rushes to meet her friend--no, her maybe- girlfriend in the practice garden.