Chapter Text
The month of love had come, and with it, Valentine’s Day was just around the corner. It was a splendid festivity that gave people an excuse to be romantic and express their affection, whether platonic or romantic, to others. Though, it also served as a reminder for those with neither to wallow in their despair and loneliness. Truly, Valentine’s Day could be harsh.
At Thors Branch Campus, it was an even split from what Rean Schwarzer had seen. There would be times when a female student would head over to her male friend with a box of chocolates in hand, but other times often showed the majority of the male student body desperately waiting to receive even a single piece of chocolate.
The Divine Blade of the Empire had to admit he felt kind of bad for the boys.
“This is for you, Instructor Rean! Thank you so much for your advice last time!”
And it didn’t help that the girls they were expecting to get sweets from would come to look for him instead.
Sheepishly taking the bag of chocolate chip cookies, the instructor rubbed his neck. “You don’t have to do this. I was just doing my job as your instructor.”
Translation: Please don’t give the guys a reason to glare at me the whole day...
“Nonsense! I wanted to show my appreciation for all you’ve done! So, please accept it!”
“Well if you put it that way...”
“Good! Thank you once again, Instructor!” She would leave after waving with a, “And Happy Valentine’s!”
“Haha... Happy Valentine’s.”
His lilac eyes drifted toward the obligatory chocolate with a strained smile as the whispers began.
“Not again! Isn’t that his tenth one!?”
“Dammit, Instructor Rean! Stop hoarding all the chocolate from the girls!”
“How in the world could we compete against the man who’s the Leader of the Original Class VII, the Ashen Chevalier, and the Divine Blade of the Empire?!”
“Oh, the things I would do just to get a single piece of chocolate!”
“Instructor Rean, teach us your ways!”
Rean understandably sighed as he made his way to the faculty office. He had another obligatory chocolate that needed to be set down. He was thankful to receive their appreciation and gratitude, but he wished they were more mindful of his position... and the boys’ resentment and desperation.
“Well, look who’s back with more chocolate,” came the teasing voice of a smirking Isara Irving. “You are as popular as ever, Rean.”
“I... really wished I wasn’t. It feels like the guys are blaming me for their lack of Valentine’s sweets.”
“Oh, they definitely are.” She could only confirm his assumptions, much to his dismay. “But such is the life of teenage boys. Luckily, they aren’t all that desperate. One of my own students received his fair share of chocolates earlier.”
“It’s nice to know not every guy will be glaring at me today.” An attempt of a poor jest that brought a chuckle out of Isara as she shook her head.
“I’ll be heading out to meet with Michael for lunch. I’ll see you later.”
“Sure. Say hi to the major for me.”
As he saw off his co-worker, the dark-haired instructor took his seat as he brought out his ringing orbment. Lips immediately curled into an exasperated frown, fingertips rubbing his temple. To answer or not— that was the question.
Ultimately, he did as one Crow Armbrust appeared on his screen.
“Sooooooo~ How many chocolates did you receive from those brats?”
“...en.”
“What was that?”
“I said ten, dammit.” Another sigh parted as Crow cackled at his exasperation.
“Oh boy, you managed to double last year! Hahaha!”
“Hey! You know damn well I didn’t do that on purpose!”
“I know. The youngins just can’t help but idolize their badass instructor who’s basically a glorified war hero at the age of twenty-three!”
His brow twitched. “Remind me again why I haven’t blocked you yet?”
“Because I’m your best friend, of course!”
“I should block you now.”
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Killjoy.” His smirk truly gave Rean the urge to deck his face at times. “You received any heartfelt chocolate?”
“Huh? No. I only received obligatory chocolates.” Rean replied, giving Crow a look as if he just asked a stupid question.
The former terrorist, on the other hand, stared at Rean as if it were obvious. Unfortunately, Crow was talking to one of the densest people he knew, or dare he say Rean was the king of the dense. No matter how many years had passed, it seemed some things never changed. Being subtle when it came to these matters never seemed to work on him.
“Rean, buddy, I’m pretty sure you at least receive one or two heartfelt chocolates. How about you try to recall how each girl acted when they were with you?”
Now that Crow mentioned it, there were a few girls who were acting strange when they were giving him Valentine's sweets—
“Ugh...”
“So I’m right?”
“Shut up...” Rean could only groan as he listened to the cackling of his fellow Awakener.
“You know,” Crow began, wiping a joyful tear in the corner of his eyes as he calmed himself. “You wouldn’t have to deal with that if you just said you were taken. Even if it’s a lie, I’m sure it’ll be easy to fool them given how many women fancy you in our friend group.”
His lips parted to speak, yet Rean chose to keep his mouth shut. The instructor could imagine Crow’s idea working, but he didn’t want to use any of his dear friends just to fool some of his students for the day. It didn’t seem right. How would he even explain it to Alisa and the others?
“Ugh, I know that look...” Crow’s remark brought him back from his thoughts.
“Eh?”
“You’re thinking how you don’t want to ask the girls to help you with this, aren’t you?” The slacker took his silence as confirmation. “For fuck’s sake... You are aware of their feelings, right? I bet they would have a catfight trying to decide who would help you!”
“W-Well, I wouldn’t want that to happen...” The last thing he wanted was to see Alisa and the girls giving each other malicious smiles. Nothing is scarier than a woman who is pissed off. “There’s no need for any trickery. I have one more class, and I wouldn’t need to be the subject of the guys’ glares.”
“It’s your call, man. Anyway, I gotta go. I’ll be meeting with Towa later for Valentine’s dinner.”
“Good luck with that. Later.”
With their call done, Rean was about to pocket his orbment when it vibrated. An orbmail? Did Crow forget to tell him something? Quirking his brow, he flipped it open to see an orbmail from Principal Le Guin.
Schwarzer. I have a package from the Quincy Company by the station. If you are not currently doing anything, please retrieve my package and bring it to my office.
He sweatdropped.
The Divine Blade was used to carrying out peculiar instructions from the woman, but he never received anything this... mundane. Rean couldn’t shake the feeling something was off, but he wondered if she was just busier than usual to get her package herself. Oh well, he might as well do it.
Rean departed from the faculty office and made his way out of campus, subtly utilizing the second form to breeze through the hallway and escape the gazes of the student body. If his master were to see him using the Eight Leaves in such a way, he wouldn’t know what to say to him.
He would soon arrive back in town as he walked toward the station. The deliveryman should be around—
“You’re finally here!”
His eyes grew as wide as plates as the familiar voice entered his ears, head snapping toward the direction of the voice. Lilac hues would meet sky-blue, pleased smiling beaming from her face. The glimmer of her silver hair reminded him of the night he met her in Longlai. Memories of that very night came in a flash— how her blade easily snapped his in half.
The bright smile on her face almost made him think that the cool visage from that night was a figment of his imagination, yet her eyes remained dark.
“The Silver Princess...”
“I prefer if you’d call me Shizuna, little brother.”
“Are you saying the package Principal Le Guin was referring to is... you?”
“Technically speaking, though I do have something for your boss.”
The two swordsmen walked side-by-side as they headed for the principal’s office, curious eyes drifting towards them like a moth to a flame, much to Rean’s displeasure. Whispers soon came to life as their gazes darted from the pair to their classmates, speculations beginning to formulate.
It ranged from “Who’s that woman” to “Is that woman Instructor Rean’s girlfriend?!”
So this was the bad feeling he had!
Despite rumors and stares, Shizuna acted like nothing was going on, her attention remained firmly on Rean. All the instructor could really do was sigh and do the same.
“What’s with the sigh, little brother? Work been tiring you out?” And another set of rumors began to spread, prompting Rean to groan once more.
“No. Just... please stop calling me ‘little brother.’ Someone’s going to misunderstand you...”
“Oh,” was how she first responded. Her lips then stretched into a smirk. “Ohhhh! I get it!”
“I feel like you don’t, Shizuna.”
“I do! No need to worry, Rean~” Her smirk did not help convince him at all.
Arriving in front of Aurelia’s office, Rean would give a few knocks. “It’s me, Principal. I brought your ‘package.’”
“Come in, Schwarzer, Misurugi.”
“Thanks for having me~!”
The pair went inside with Aurelia getting up from her seat. Shizuna brought out a paper bag and handed it over to the Golden Rakshasa.
“Here you go! I’m sure whoever you give it to will notice that traditional sweets from the East are tastier than recreations from the Empire.”
“You have my thanks. I leave Schwarzer to you then.”
“Thanks!”
Wait, what? “What do you mean, Principal?”
“You needn’t come to teach your next class. I’ll be taking charge of it.” Aurelia’s explanation did nothing to ease the man’s growing confusion. “I am merely repaying your senior for these sweets. You may take your leave.”
“W-Wait! What’s happening right now?!”
“There’s no need to overthink things, Rean! We have some plans to get done!” She grabbed onto his arm and waved at her fellow swordswoman. “I’m looking forward to our next duel, Aurelia!”
“So am I, Silver Princess. So am I.”
Shizuna effortlessly dragged Rean out of the office, brushing off his protests and remarks of confusion. Their little commotion got them more stares and surprised gasps from the students who witnessed their departure from the principal’s office.
“S-Shizuna, let go!”
“Nope! I’m making a statement!”
“For what?!”
“I heard you were dense, but I didn’t expect this level.”
Annoyance seeped through the easygoing tone she usually possessed, catching him off guard. Holding onto his arm tighter, she would pull him along as they left the main building. Students who passed by could only gawk at the pair. Some did nothing but stare, dumbfounded. Others were admiring the woman’s assertiveness, though it could be seen as being pushy as well. The majority of the guys thought differently, however...
That lucky son of a...
Even as they left the campus, Shizuna’s grasp around the man did not loosen one bit. Rean did make attempts to free himself, but she had put him in quite a predicament using her other ‘weapons.’ Any kind of movement from the man-made them apparent. It didn’t help his case when the silver-haired Divine Blade threw him a smirk whenever his arm brushed against her chest.
They would settle at the benches near the fountain, taking their seats. Finally letting go of Rean, his arm felt a little lonely, though he quickly squashed that feeling as he turned his gaze to the woman who was technically his senior.
“Can you please tell me what’s going on now?”
“Do you want the short or long version?”
“The short version!”
Shizuna giggled, clearly enjoying his irritation as she swung her feet around. “If you must know, Aurelia asked me if I could send some authentic sweets from the East for Valentine’s Day.”
“How did you meet the principal?”
“A story for another time. Anyways, I said yes, but in return, I wanted to have you for the whole day which she approved.”
The way she spoke made her sound like she was simply talking about the weather. It almost felt like a migraine was about to hit him. That was how flabbergasted he was with this whole thing.
“But... why would you want that?”
In response to his words, Shizuna gave him a strange look.
“Why wouldn’t I want that? I’d naturally want to spend time with the person I’m interested in.” The silver-haired beauty got off the bench, hands on her back as she glanced over her shoulder with a smile. “Didn’t I state my interest back when we first met?”
And his heart skipped a beat.
Flustered by her words, Rean had to avert his gaze to calm his racing heart. He must be misunderstanding things. Yeah, that’s it! There was no way a woman like her would be interested in him that way. Shizuna had been calling him ‘little brother’ earlier, so there was no way!
R-Right?
“What’s wrong?” He heard her say from his side until her touch rested on his left shoulder. “You’re getting a little red, Rean.”
“Personal space...”
“Hm?”
Sighing, he turned his head, “I said personal space—”
Only for her lips to capture his.
Time came to a halt for the instructor as her palm tenderly cupped his cheek. Soft rims firmly planted onto his own as she pushed forward yearning for more, and Rean could do nothing but let himself melt into the sweet embrace of her lips. By the time their lungs had begun to beg for oxygen, they parted as a smile danced on Shizuna’s flushed face.
“Would you say that’s better than any kind of chocolate I could’ve given you?”
“If I wanted seconds, would that answer your question?”
Her grin was all he needed to know.