Chapter Text
February 14th.
As March neared, many things were on the horizon for Raimon’s students. There was studying up for tests and the end of the school year, mainly. That came with graduation and saying goodbye to all of the third-years that’d be leaving in the coming month.
Though, for today specifically, all of these things were far from Shindou’s main concern.
February 14th was Valentine’s Day, and as things had proven for him last year, he was preparing to be flooded with all sorts of chocolate (and girls) at his desk. Now, maybe someone of his popularity would just throw or give the excess away in secret. But unfortunately for him, Shindou was much too benevolent for his own good to the point he would attempt to eat through it all. Kirino spent much of last Valentine’s with him in the nurse’s office to keep the killer stomachache he had in check.
Speaking of his best friend, he was right next to him on the walk to school. He’d been talking about the possibility of getting his own cat when he realized Shindou was lost in thought. It was always painfully obvious on his face when he was brooding. Gently, he nudged him.
“Huh?” Shindou snapped up, blinking in mild surprise. “Oh, sorry Kirino. It’s just today is–”
“Valentine’s Day?” Kirino cut in with a smile, a hint of exasperation on his lips for what hasn’t even happened yet. “I’m sure you’re ready to get swarmed again, huh.”
“That goes for you, too.”
“It does. But unlike you, I don’t eat all my gifts in one go.”
“It’s the proper thing to do…! Everyone puts so much effort into what they make. I could never waste their hard work!”
“You make me sound horrible, come on.” the pink-haired boy sighed softly. It was early enough in the morning where his breath showed up as a cold shroud. “Seriously though, take it easy, okay? At least try to space out what you eat.”
“I can try, but maybe that would come off as favoritism because of what I save later, and then…”
“Shindou.”
“Mm?”
“Please, no visit to the nurse this year. Okay?” his face softened up the slightest. “Otherwise I’ll have to find out some way to get you out of it.”
“...okay.”
Arriving to school, an overwhelming anxiety washed over Shindou before he even opened the classroom doors. Kirino had to go somewhere else briefly before classes began, whatever the reason was his friend forgot already from nerves. He drew in a breath, shaky and uncertain, before opening the door.
“It’s Shindou-kun! He’s finally here!”
The poor boy was swarmed immediately with all sorts of bags and cases in pastel shades and whites, held up enthusiastically to his face. He stiffened up, staring like a deer in the headlights at the whole crowd formed around him that, for him, came out of thin air. Despite this, he was desperately trying to keep calm. Even if he was breaking a sweat… even if his words were suddenly leaving him in his head…
“I– uhm. Thank you all, really.” he stammered. “For the gifts and chocolate, I mean.”
Shindou tried to make some space, the back of his legs hitting a desk as he stepped. He felt his cheeks grow warm being amidst the flock in front of him, all these gifts and words dumped on him with the weight of a sack of bricks. But goodness no, he could never try to excuse himself. What boy would he be if he ran away from all the dedication he was being graced with right now?
But as he looked at all the bags and containers of chocolate that same exact dread hit him. He had enough chocolate on him right now to feed the entirety of Raimon, and it was only the very first thing in the morning. But giving away his gifts like that was miles and miles below Shindou. He could never! Would never! And then there was White Day, and then…
…while he was trying to think of a way to get himself out of this situation in the most respectful means possible, he tensed up even more as an arm flung around his shoulder. He was expecting some sort of admirer when a familiar voice spoke out. And never in a million years would he ever anticipate the words he was about to hear.
“Shindou and I are together, actually.” Kirino spoke firmly, “If you could leave him alone, I’d appreciate it.”
Shindou felt his blood run cold, then extremely hot after a second. Before he could really grapple what his best friend had said, there was a total uproar.
“You two are…?!”
“When did this happen!? No one’s ever told us!”
“Are you serious–?!”
Shindou wanted to cut in, wanted to say it was a joke or something along those lines. But he was far too stunned in the moment, and Kirino beat him to the punch.
“If you’d excuse us for a second, I wanted to talk to him about plans for later.” he spoke curtly, but politely before pulling his dumbfounded friend out the door with him.
The two walked down the hall for a moment before stopping when out of earshot. Shindou practically whipped himself around to face Kirino. He wasn’t upset, no. Flustered a bit for sure. The more he thought about it, it was actually really difficult to pinpoint what he was feeling. He tried to steel himself through it.
“Kirino, why did you… you told them we were dating?”
The blue-eyed boy frowned slightly, face something akin to a scolded cat.
“Sorry. I didn’t like seeing you so uncomfortable. They’re definitely going to leave you alone though now, right?” then following up after a quick beat, his voice just a smidge rushed, “I don’t think it would spread that far. Just in our class, probably.”
Deep down, they knew that both wouldn’t be the case. At the bare-bones least, they could hope.
The rest of the day was mostly filled with this nagging anticipation between the two. Given school rules, they couldn’t check their phones. And usually, this wouldn’t be an issue for Shindou. But he couldn’t help but wonder if news had dropped somehow and someone on the soccer club had gotten wind of it. What would they even say to the others when they inevitably found out? He glanced over his shoulder back at Kirino, who seemed just as troubled as he stared intensely at his desk. Clearly, neither of them could focus.
The moment school was out, before he even considered walking to the club room, Kirino pulled out his phone and opened InaLink the moment he saw there was notifications there.
And it could not possibly be any worse.
Of course! Of course if anybody had happened to get word of it first, it’d be Kariya. Kirino was already dreading practice. He knew that little blue-haired nuisance would be holding it over his head like crazy. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if he was already going around and spreading word to the rest of the team. So with a grumbled sigh, he went to message Shindou.