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This entire disaster had started out exactly one week ago. Chiaki hadn't even given much thought to the date as she sat in her classroom during lunchbreak, mindlessly playing the newest Water Emblem game while silently listening as her female classmates idly chatted.
"I dare say it was quite troublesome to procure mine. Not only did I need to import the cocoa all the way from Novoselic but I also needed to find a recipe that did not require any cow milk. I would like to think the result however was incredibly "bonkers", as they like to say!"
Chiaki softly chuckled at Sonias outdated lingo. She frowned however as she learned about Sonias dairy problems. She was unaware Sonia didn't consume cow milk, was that a recent thing? As classrep she felt like she should know about stuff like that.
"Jeez, you should count yourself lucky. I had to ask Teruteru to help me figure out how to properly combine Hiyokos gummies with the chocolate without making an uneatable mess."
Mahiru visibly shuddered while recollecting her endeavours. But considering how happy Hiyoko looked while munching on her chocolate covered gummies Chiaki supposed that Mahirus troubles were ultimately worth it. She did make a mental note however to make sure that Teruteru didn't do anything creepy again ... well creepier that usual.
"Sorry Mahiru", Hiyoko chimed in while throwing another one of the gummies into her mouth. "I would have made you something too. But I didn't realise we were going to do something like that."
For what it was worth, Hiyoko did genuinly seem sorry about not having a return gift. Which was a bit weird to Chiaki considering that Hiyoko could not have known that Mahiru was gonna surprise her with selfmade sweets.
"Don't cha worry! Ibuki always get's waaaaaay to much from all her fans anyways. You can take some of those if ya really want some."
"Hell no?! Everybody knows that storebought stuff isn't worth anything. Giving her your pity chocolate would be the freakin worst! You can give that stuff to pigbarf over there. Gods know she probably needs it since no one would give her any." Hiyoko answered.
"U-uhm sorry to i-interrupt but I did actually get s-some." Mikan timidly butted in. "W-well at least there was a- a letter telling me that they are waiting in my room. A-and that e-everyone who gives me chocolate will not see tomorrow. So please don't give me any!"
That was ... worrying ... but at least Mikan seemed strangely happy? She probably should make sure that Mikan was safe though.
"Do you need me to acompany you to your room Tsumiki-san? You shouln't take something like this lightly." Peko beat Chiaki to offering her help.
"I-I'm fine thank you." "Very well, if you say so."
"Oh but Peko", Sonia perked up, "don't you have someone you want to give any chocolate to? Any one you have "the hots" for?"
"There is someone yes. But he would not reciprocate, thus I believed it would be pointless to engage in such an act."
She didn't know who that mystery boy was, but if he really did not feel the same way Peko did, he was probably a huge idiot, Chiaki thought to herself.
"What about you class rep?! You gonna give some to that boyfriend of yours? I'll eat all the stuff you got leftover if he won't eat it!" Akane loudly decided to adress her directly.
"Well bestie? Are you going to give that hubby of yours something today? I'm sure anybody would be happy to recieve some homemade sweets from you."
Chiaki was not sure why, but the sparkle in Sonias eyes as she talked about her relationship with Hajime made her a bit nervous. While she was genuinly happy with their relationship at the moment, she also just was not the kind of person that could just go and declare her unwavering love out into the world. For a brief moment she contemplated if she should be doing more as his girlfriend.
"Uhm, no I haven't got anything planned today. Should I have?" She asked mostly herself. Did Hajime even like surprises? She should probably ask him that later. She was broken out of her thoughts however by Sonias almost offended sounding gasp.
"You're not?! Are there any problems between you two? Anything we can help with? If he has broken you're heart I will be more than happy to "lay down the smack" as the say."
Before she was able to answer Sonias frankly overbearing barrage of questions however, Mahiru decided to ask the question that was going to ruin Chiakis entire week.
"Chiaki you do know what day is today, right?"
And that was how she now found herself in this entire mess. A literal mess, considering the current state of Hopes Peaks kitchen. Melted chocolate was covering almost every surface, at least one of the pots was probably ruined for ever and she was pretty sure that not even a deepcleaning was gonna get all of the stains out of her uniform despite the apron she was wearing. In short: everything that could have gone wrong had done so. After all overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer. But even so she was not going to give up. Hajime was gonna get her, admittedly late, Valentine's Day chocolate no matter what!
Right as she was pumping herself up some of the chocolate from the ceiling dropped right on her head (how the hell had she managed to get that up there again?). Chiaki blinked.
Oh who was she kidding? This entire thing was a terrible idea, she should have just asked for help right from the start. The other girls, Teruteru and even that one Ultimate Confectioner would probably have helped her without too much issue. Instead she had trashed their kitchen just because she was stupid enough to try and attempt this herself. How the hell did she even mess up this bad? All she had to do was melt the chocolate and pour it in to the forms, Cooking Papa had made it look so simple!
She had wanted to surprise Hajime and act like a good girlfriend and now she not only had forgotten Valentine's Day but only made problems for the other students. Once Hajime arrived he was probably just going to dump her... Oh no! She had invited him to come here thinking she could give them to him right away! He was gonna see this entire mess if she didn't clean this up as soon as possible! Looking at the clock she despaired. She only had 10 minutes to sort this entire mess out.
It seemed like the entire world was conspiring against her when she heard the knock on the door before she had even been able to grab one of the mobs. "Hello? Chiaki? My classes ended a bit earlier."
Now, any normal thinking person would have probably tried to play this entire ordeal off by catching their partner right at the door before they would be able to notice the mess that had been created. Chiaki however was currently to occupied with her own moping thoughts to get that idea. So with a shaky agreement she welcomed her boyfriend in to the kitchen that resembled a bombsite. She tried, and failed, to hide the trashed pot behind her back.
"Uh hey hey Hajime, how are you?" She tried to smile and act like she wasn't standing in the middle of a restaurant straight out of Undercooked that had crashed and burned spectacularly.
"Uhm good? Are ... are you okay? What happened?"
All Chiaki could to was let out a shaky breath to compose herself. Crying now would get her nowhere and probably just worry Hajime even more.
"I was trying to make chocolate for you because I forgot Valentine's Day." She pouted frustrated at her own inability to complete her goal.
"I gather it didn't go well?" Hajimes voice was so kind that it almost made Chiaki want to just cling to his chest and bawl her eyes out, like she had seen Hiyoko do with Mahiru on occasion. Instead she just shook her head no.
She let out a humorless laugh, "I don't even know where all of this went wrong. One moment I'm checking that I have everything I need and the next there's chocolate everywhere and one of the pots is ruined."
"Yeah I can see that, you uh, have some chocolate in your hair." He motioned to his own head, signaling to the spot the chocolate had dropped on her own head earlier. Chiaki could feel her face burn as she tried to get it out.
Hajime scratched his cheek and tried to get her to calm down, "I appreciate you trying to do this but you really didn't need to do that you know?" "I wanted to though...," she mumbled.
"But why? Uhm if you don't mind me asking. It's not like I really expected anything big. Just hanging out with you was completely fine with me."
Chiaki just sighed. "I heard the other girls talking about giving their lovers chocolate. And then I started thinking. I know I'm not exactly the most exciting person. Most of our "dates" are just you hanging out in my dorm room and playing video games with me. And if we do go somewhere it's always you taking me. I just wanted to do something for you for once to show you how much I care. Because I do, really." She didn't dare look into his eyes as she thrust her insecurities out in the open.
"But I like doing that with you." Chiakis eyes widened as she heard the pure warmth in Hajimes voice. A honest smile sat on his face, a small chuckle escaping as he looked at what she presumed was the ridiculous look on her face.
"Seriously, I think I get what you mean, but you don't have to do any big romantic gestures or confess your undying love to prove anything to me. That's not how Chiaki Nanami does that kind of stuff and I know that. She's the kind of girl that would rather invite you to watch her play a new game in her room instead of a big romantic dinner and I love that, seriously." He slowly stepped closer to her, wiping a bit of chocolate off of her face before taking her into his arms, "All I need is you. The cute slightly socially awkward and frankly dorky video game nerd who's love language is simply sharing her passion with other people."
"Thanks" she breathed as she hugged him back, burrying her face deeper into his chest, "I'm sorry about the chocolate though. And I still need to clean this mess up." Her face soured at the thought, making Hajime laugh once more.
"Don't worry I'll help you with it. Maybe it's not the kind of date you had in mind when you wanted to be more exciting but it could be worse." All she could think as he smiled at her was how much she loved this boy.
"Alright I'll take that ladder and start with getting the mess off of the ceiling. Can you start with putting away the ingredients? A Dotris master like you should make quick work of that." He startet to instruct her. "Please make sure to not make any lines disappear" she chuckled as he grinned at her, proud of his own admittedly bad gaming reference.
As she went to put the rest of the unused chocolate in the fridge she noticed a small note on a package with her name on it in neat penmanship.
Chiaki,
I couldn't help but overhear your talk with the others last week and noticed you looked sad the last few days. It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on after talking with Sonia. So I made these just to make sure. I promise on my pride as the Ultimate Housekeeper they are top quality. I can teach you some cooking stuff some other time but for now it can be our little secret. ;)
Good luck,
Chisa Yukizome
PS: sorry for being nosy :(
Reading the note almost made her want to cry in gratitude. Silently thanking her wonderful teacher and making sure Hajime was not watching her (and stiffling a giggle as he grumbled about a certain spot not wanting to get clean) she quickly pocketed the note and pulled the packaged chocolate out of the fridge.
"Hey, Hey Hajime. I still have my first test badge they um, might not be as good as I hoped and they're right out of the fridge but um happy Valentine's Day?" She really hoped he would buy her lie.
"Hm? Oh! Are you sure?" He took the package from her as she nodded. Carefully unpacking it, eyes almost sparkling as he looked at the chocolate before popping a piece into his mouth. As he chewed on it his face started lighting up. "Wow Chiaki, these are amazing! Thank you so much!"
As she watched his delighted expression she vowed to herself to take Miss Yukizome up on her offer for next year before Hajime grabbed her face and kissed her.
It tasted like chocolate.