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The fourteenth of February. Valentine’s Day. The day where girls and boys alike confessed their love to their crushes.
Rui, personally, didn’t care much about Valentine’s Day. He didn’t even bother giving out chocolate to his friends. He just treated Valentine’s Day as another ordinary day in his ordinary life. Besides, he’d long since known that no one would ever romantically love him. After all, he was part of the Weirdo Combo with Tsukasa in Kamiyama High School. Who’d want to be seen dating a weirdo and a social outcast? No one, of course! Wasn’t that the sad truth?
Still, Tsukasa had given him a small bag of homemade chocolate that he’d made with his sister for being his best friend when he walked into class. When he passed by Mizuki in the halls, they had given him a…how does he say this…fine, a poop-shaped chocolate. An had handed out some Kit-Kats to her friends, Rui included, during lunch. Toya had given him some chocolate as well, even though they didn’t know each other very well. He’d gotten more chocolate from Emu, who’d snuck into Kamiyama during lunch break, and Akito, who told him that Toya asked him to give him some chocolate (a lie, Rui could tell). Of course, they were only meant platonically. Tsukasa and Emu had been together for a while now. Mizuki had recently gotten together with An. And, obviously, Akito was a sucker for Toya, being the little gay boy he was. Rui heard from An that Akito would be confessing to Toya later that day.
One thing that confused him was that there was one person that he’d known since forever that did not give him any chocolate.
Nene.
Nene always gave him chocolate every year during Valentine’s Day, without fail. In fact, whenever they walked to school together on Valentine’s Day, she’d already hand it to him. However, earlier that morning, she didn’t do so.
Rui had thought that she had decided not to give out any chocolates this year, but he changed his mind when they were having lunch with Tsukasa and Emu on the rooftop.
She had handed Emu and Tsukasa homemade chocolate wrapped in a cute plastic bag, similar to Tsukasa’s. Emu had been delighted and had hugged Nene so tight that Nene was gasping for breath. Tsukasa had grinned at and thanked Nene, bowing repeatedly.
It wasn’t just the two of them, however. She gave some to An, Akito, Toya, and Mizuki as well. Rui had caught her practically shoving the chocolates into their arms before class started for the day, when he was walking to class with Tsukasa.
She never did give Rui any chocolate, though.
Rui would be lying if he said that he wasn’t upset and confused over Nene not giving him chocolate this year. It wasn’t like she was ignoring him or anything. If she was, she wouldn’t have been waiting outside his house to walk to school. Besides, they had just been chatting about going to the mall the next day to hang out, since Tsukasa had cancelled practice for today and tomorrow because he and Emu were going on a date. So, there was no way she’d be ignoring him.
What made it hurt was that Rui had caught feelings for that specific diva.
It’d been a year since he told Tsukasa about his feelings for Nene. Tsukasa had always urged him to confess to Nene, but he’d always refused. Nene didn’t even seem interested in him, and he didn’t want to get his heart stomped and trampled upon. He didn’t want to experience the heartbreak that would come if Nene turned him down. He’d had experienced too much heartbreak for a lifetime, so, no thanks.
Yet, as time passed, he could feel himself falling harder for the girl he’d come to know for years now. Nene was so intelligent and witty and sarcastic. Yet, she was also kind-hearted and caring despite pretending not to be. She was drop-dead gorgeous as well. Who didn’t think that she was pretty? Even gay boys (Akito) had to admit that! Nene was hands-down the most beautiful person Rui knew in his life.
So, it kind of broke his heart that she didn’t give him any chocolate this time. He wondered why constantly during classes. Did she, maybe, forget to bring his chocolate with her? No, because, even if she did, she had plenty of time to head back home, grab his chocolate, and get back to waiting outside his house. Besides, she wasn’t the type to be forgetful. He couldn’t think of any other reason, though. Did she hate him, perhaps? No, because she wouldn’t have walked to school with him. He couldn’t think of any other reason, though. Thus, he was sitting at his desk after the last class for the day ended, utterly lost.
Tsukasa approached him, striking a pose. “Farewell, Director! I will be heading out with Emu on our date now!” he boomed, grinning at him.
Rui absentmindedly nodded. “Mhm… sure, Kasa.”
That was when Tsukasa’s smile morphed into a frown. He looked at Rui carefully. “Rui? Are you okay?” he asked, concern clear in his voice. “You’ve been like this for the whole day.”
Rui quickly put on a smile and nodded. “Fufu~ Of course I’m okay, Tsukasa-kun~ I’m just…confused…over something.”
Hearing this, Tsukasa grabbed a chair from a nearby table and positioned it in front of Rui’s desk, plopping down on it. “Don’t ‘fufu’ me. Talk,” he said. “You have four minutes and fifty-seven seconds before I have to leave to meet Emu outside school.”
Rui shook his head. “Ah, no need, Tsukasa-kun. Go on your date with Emu-kun, I’ll be alright.”
“Talk.”
Rui sighed, knowing that he definitely was not getting out of this. “...Nene didn’t give me any chocolate,” he told Tsukasa with a start.
Tsukasa’s expression turned into one of confusion, perfectly matching Rui’s. “Huh? She didn’t?” He put his fist to his chin. “Weird… I thought she’d give you chocolate every morning when you two walk to school together?”
“She didn’t this time, though. It’s been baffling me quite a bit. It’s not like she’s been ignoring me, so I’ve been wondering why she’d not give me any chocolate but give everyone else some.”
“Maybe she just…forgot to give you the chocolate?” Tsukasa suggested, furrowing his brows.
“And remember to give everyone else the chocolate? Not likely, Tsukasa-kun,” Rui dismissed.
“Or…maybe she lost your chocolate and is too shy to tell you so?”
“Tsukasa-kun. Do you even know Nene.”
“Right. She’s not one to be so careless.” Tsukasa paused for a moment, frowning deeply as he thought. His face lit up. “I know! What if she’s waiting to give your chocolate to you when you two are alone? Or, what if she wants to confess to you in private?”
Rui sighed again, massaging his temples, feeling a headache coming up from all of the thinking. “No, Kasa. I’ve told you repeatedly that she would never reciprocate my feelings…”
Tsukasa gave him an exasperated look. “Stop being so negative, Rui. You need to think positive! There’s a chance! Hey, you never know, okay?” His phone, which was resting on Rui’s table, vibrated with a message, and Tsukasa grabbed it. He perked up and shot off the chair. “Sorry, Rui, but Emu’s outside school. This future star has to run!” He placed the chair back where it belonged and pat Rui on the shoulder. “Don’t stress over it, okay? She’ll give the chocolate to you.” He offered an encouraging smile, which Rui weakly returned. Tsukasa waved goodbye as he rushed out of class.
Rui watched his retreating back for a while longer before heaving another sigh and picking his bag up. He pushed the chair into the table and left the classroom swiftly.
He walked past Mizuki and An, who were walking together hand-in-hand, smiling lovingly at each other. Outside school, as he was walking past the park near his house, he spotted Akito handing Toya a letter before running off. When Toya opened the letter and read the contents, his face turned pink and he brought a hand to his lips in shock.
Eventually, he arrived at his own house. He was digging through his pockets for his key when he heard footsteps behind him. Before he could turn to see who it was, a familiar voice called his name.
“Rui!!”
Rui turned around on the spot to see Nene running up to his porch, panting heavily. She skid to a stop right in front of him, choking as she caught her breath.
He put on his signature smile. “Fufu~ What a nice surprise to see my dear friend, Nene, here. What does she need of me?”
Nene’s face reddened at his words. Cute, Rui noted, taking it in. Before he could process what was happening, she was holding out a plastic bag filled with chocolates, similar to the ones she had given to their friends in Kamiyama, to Rui. The chocolate was slightly melted, like she’d been keeping it for quite a bit of time now.
Rui’s heart started to race at the sight. He could feel his face heating up. Could it be…? He shook his head. Bad Rui! He shouldn’t think ahead of himself! There was no way that she was…right?
“U-Uhm,” Nene spoke, voice barely above a whisper. “Th-This is f-f-for you…” She shoved the chocolates into Rui’s hands.
Rui was too stunned to speak, mouth hanging open the slightest bit.
Nene wasn’t finished, however. “I…was nervous about g-giving the chocolates to you, so I held o-onto it for a while. I told myself that I’d give it to you during l-l-lunch, but kept giving myself excuses to not give it to you yet…because…because…” She trailed off, but it was clear what she was leaving unsaid.
Rui stood there, stunned. He was in shock and disbelief. Nene…she liked someone like him? A total loser? A complete idiot? He couldn’t breath, partly because his heart was beating so fast. Nene was literally doing things to him. He might just die on the spot. Maybe it wasn’t a bad way to go; standing in front of the girl that he’d pined for for a year, the girl that returned his feelings. Alas, he couldn’t just leave her hanging like this, or he’d be a terrible person.
So, he swallowed and weakly managed a, “Th…Thank you, Nene…I, uhm, appreciate it.”
Nene nodded, refusing to meet his eyes, her face growing redder and redder than what seemed wasn’t humanly possible. Rui bet that his face was the exact same.
They stood outside his porch for a while, not wanting to meet each other’s eyes. After what seemed like six trillion years, Nene bowed and ran off, away from his house and into hers, which was directly opposite his. Rui paused for a second before grabbing his bag unlocked the door with the key with trembling hands, entering his house. He slammed the door shut behind him and sank onto the ground, knees up to his chest, hands covering his face. He screamed into his hands, kicking his feet.
Rui’s phone, which had somehow fallen out of his bag when he dropped it on the ground, displayed a hologram of KAITO and Miku. Miku was asking Rui what he was doing while KAITO was muttering something about ‘high school romance, am I right?’