Chapter Text
Valentine’s Day was always such a stressful time for Minori. Getting chocolates for everyone was fun, but ever even thinking of cooking chocolates for anyone was where the real trouble lied.
Last year was stuck in her mind. She remembered being so proud of the chocolate she had painstakingly created, even forming it into the shape of a cute little penguin. But, when she took a bite of a piece that had chipped off... Well, it definitely didn’t taste like chocolate.
In fact, Minori even had to miss school for Valentine’s Day the next day because, a few hours after she’d tested the chocolate, her stomach had started to turn inside out. That night had been awful.
Minori groaned and rolled over to nuzzle her face into her pillow. Everything she needed to try again for this year’s Valentine’s Day was sitting in her kitchen, ready for another attempt. Even if she wasn’t sure she wanted to try cooking again, she’d already gone and bought everything. Now all she needed to do was prepare everything.
No, she really shouldn’t... After what had happened last year, it was pretty obvious cooking chocolate was too much for her. She could just hand out store-bought chocolates to everyone.
But, that wouldn’t be the best way to show her true feelings to Haruka...
A gentle chime came from the phone on the nightstand at Minori’s bedside. Eager for the opportunity to delay the decision she was struggling to make, she rolled over to check on the notification. It was a message from Kohane:
Hey Minori. I just found the coolest app! I think you’d like it.
Minori’s curiosity was immediately piqued. An app? What kind of app would Kohane think she’d like? It must’ve been some kind of cool dancing app. They both danced for their groups after all.
Maybe it was even something cool they could do together, like an app where they could sing separate lines of a song and have the app mix together a cover for them!
Oh that sound interesting! What kind of app is it?
She then threw in a sticker to show Kohane how excited she was at all of the ideas in her head about the app before she’d even seen what it was.
Kohane replied with a large link to what looked to be a website. It was notably not a link to any app store Minori knew about with it’s jumble of all kinds of different characters that made no sense.
Normally, Minori wouldn’t touch any link like this, but it was from Kohane. Minori trusted whatever link her best friend was sending to her because why would Kohane ever try to do harm to her. With eyes closed, braced for impact Minori tapped on the suspicious link
Immediately, Minori’s phone opened her browser and turned a bright red flat tone. The shock of such a vibrant red color stabbing through the mostly dark room sent Minori into a flustered panic as her phone went flying through the air. Unsuccessfully, she stumbled to catch her phone before it landed on the hard ground, glowing red screen first.
She nervously picked up the phone to look at whatever damage, whether by the suspicious site or by the fall, had been done. Her worries dissipated and she relaxed as she noticed everyhing on her phone was alright. Even the site had started to slowly load in safe and familiar words on the dangerously red background. It was just a normal site with a strange red background, not a virus that had immediately compromised her phone in one tap...
Even if the site looked to be somewhat normal as it slowly loaded in, it was strangely designed with an oddly unsettling to look to it. Realistically drawn white eyes were haphazardly scattered in all directions along the red background of the webpage in a seemingly uncoordinated order. There was nothing else except the words “Heart Forecast” above a play symbol with the word “Download” on top of it. Minori assumed the button was where she would be able to download the app Kohane was talking about.
How had Kohane come across such a strange site? Was it even safe to download something from a site like this?
Minori swapped over to her message Kohane her questions about it before downloading only to realize she’d missed the follow-up message from her:
It’s an app called Heart Forecast. Somehow, it shows your future, but only when it comes to love. I’m not sure how it works, but it worked for me... I thought you’d like it since you’re always talking about your crush.
Now Minori was definitely interested. Deep desire overtook any sense of caution Minori had and she quickly swapped back to the browser. The ominous site was still there, still sketchy as ever, but the hope of seeing her future was too much to pass on.
She tapped the download button.
And nothing happened?
There was no download popup anywhere on her phone. No notification saying a new app had begun downloading. Not even a single file had been downloaded. Maybe the button was just broken?
Feeling like her hopes and dreams had been dashed away from her, Minori pressed the download button a few more times to no avail. The button wasn’t doing anything. The site didn’t work anymore!
With a sigh, she closed the browsing app and headed back over to her messaging app to tell Kohane, but, on her way back to the messaging app, the sight of a familiar eye icon caught her eyes. The icon might have been shaded a different, darker red, but it was the exact same strange eye she’d just had seared into her memory by the website Kohane had sent her.
It was just there. No notification on her phone had signaled that it had been downloaded. It’d just appeared.
The new app wasn’t called anything like Heart Forecast though. Instead, it was titled something completely unrelated and meaningless instead; a jumble of letters and symbols without purpose. The combination of the nonsensical app name with the scary eye icon made it look like a virus had made it’s way onto Minori’s phone.
If Minori didn’t know any better, she would have been scared to see such an ominous app appear on her phone. In truth, she still was a bit scared to see the eye looking back at her. The only thing that kept her from dropping her phone to the ground was the thought that maybe she had just missed the download notification somehow.
Unsure of if she should actually press the app, Minori started to fiddle with the edge of her pillowcase, the feeling of the fabric against her finger grounding her. The words of Kohane’s message tumbled around in her brain, tickling at dreams of a future she craved so much that it was painful. Curiosity clawed away at her brain as she agonized over what Kohane had meant by the app showing her future of love.
Closing her eyes as if she expected her phone to explode in her face, Minori finally tapped the app. No sound played to signal to her that the app had opened, but colors sparkling at her eyelids begged her to take a look.
By the time she cracked her eyes open to take a peek, the rainbow of colors had already faded. In it’s place, was a picture of her dancing alongside the rest of MORE MORE JUMP on the school roof. Eerily enough, though she remembered the exact moment down to the song they were dancing to, it was a picture she didn’t remember ever being taken.
Minori shuddered as she thought about how creepy this picture actually was, as mundane as it was. All four of the MMJ members were in the frame, so none of them could have taken the picture. Though it wasn’t cold, goosebumps began to form on her arms.
Who could have taken the picture?
Before she had time to fully process her discomfort, the picture slid off the screen into a new picture. This time, the picture showed her hanging out outside a cafe she’d never seen in her life with the rest of MORE MORE JUMP. The name on the sign was a completely indecipherable jumble of letters much like the app had been titled. The cafe logo underneath it was simply the same terrifying eye she’d seen as the app icon and on the website before it.
Minori shifted uncomfortably in her bed at the sight of the ever-present eye again, but while her mind was focused on the eye, her eyes were glued to the fact that she seemed closer than usual to Haruka in the image. Were they... sharing a drink?
The next images came by just as quickly as the ones before, again and again leaving no time for Minori to process what was being shown. Each time, the picture seemed like a pleasant moment with the rest of her idol mates. Each time, it was an unfamiliar time and place she had never seen before.
Each time, the eye was also there.
It all seemed so happy and positive. The app was showing her in happy moments with the rest of her friends. Every time it slid to a new image, picking away at secret little desires Minori had deep in her heart. It almost felt like the app was teasing her.
So, why did Minori still desperately want to look away from this terrifying experience?
And why couldn’t she?
All of Minori’s swelling anxiety left her body as the next image slid into view. Her eyes went wide as she saw what it was. It was a photo of her and Haruka standing under the sunset at the beach. Holding hands. Very closely.
Minori could feel her breathe catching in her throat as she realized just how close they were together. Her forehead was touching Haruka’s. It almost looked like a romantic scene in a movie where a kiss might happen...
Never mind that the sign planted next to them once again carried that dreaded eye. Never mind how incredibly creepy everything she’d seen was. This was exactly what Minori wanted to see the moment she hit download on the link Kohane had sent her!
If not for the fact that the phone seemed to be glued to her hands, Minori would have dropped it the moment the next photograph swapped in. Minori and Haruka were together in the middle of the school hallway with an entire crowd of other students watching. With a redder face than she’d ever thought she could have, she was extending her arms out, offering a familiar box of handmade chocolates to Haruka.
In front of the entire school. Why in front of the entire school? Minori had dreamed about the scenario in front of her hundreds of time, but it was always in private, far away from any nosy classmates.
But Kohane said this was her love future or something? A future like this didn’t really make any sense to her. Giving chocolate to Haruka in front of everyone was a bit too bold a move for her... Not to mention Haruka almost certainly wouldn’t appreciate being put on the spot like that.
Then, Minori’s stomach lurched as she noticed every one of the unsuspecting spectators was wearing a shirt with one of those barely concealed insidious eyes! The spurt of fear was short lived, though, as the cryptic slideshow marched onward.
Minori’s heart melted away, replacing any fear she held, as an image of her finally kissing Haruka on the school rooftop slid into view. She collapsed into her pillows, her eyes glued to the hopeful picture on her screen. If the eye was present, she did not see it. All of her focus had been stolen away by her dream lain bare before her eyes.
If the first photograph of the two together melted her heart away, the next one evaporated what was left. The two of them were at a cafe, holding each others hands as they looked each into each others eyes longingly. They were very affectionately nuzzling into each other as if they’d been together for ages.
Minori rolled around in her bed giggling as the next image came into her view. She stopped, in awe at what she saw, then quickly jutted up from her bed as if the app had forced her to act.
Was Haruka eating... a penguin shaped chocolate? It looked almost identical to the same chocolate she created last year...
There was still chocolate ingredients ready for use in the kitchen down below. If the mysterious app was anything like Kohane said, this was a sign! She was definitely going to make a chocolate for Haruka for Valentine’s Day this year!
And she was going to start right away! Dropping her phone on the bed, she rushed down the stairs to get started on her chocolates. Tomorrow she was definitely going to have homemade chocolates ready for Haruka!