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It was February 14th, also known as Valentine’s Day. Haruki Akiyama was standing in the middle of his dorm room, preparing himself to give Valentine’s Day gifts to his best friends, Nene Amari and Shouko Mikoto. He hoped he wouldn’t fumble and embarrass himself in front of the two. God, he sucked at showing his appreciation for others.
Getting over his mini self loathing, he took a deep breath in and walked to the cafeteria where Shouko and Nene were having breakfast.
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The cafeteria was bustling with students talking and eating their Valentine’s Day breakfasts with their friends and/or partners. Haruki looked for the two girls, and sure enough, they sat in their usual spot; right in the corner of the room. Biting his lip, the navy blue haired boy began to make his way over to his friends.
Spotting Haruki as he approached them, Shouko stood up and waved her hand. “Hey, Harukiiii!” she yelled, making Nene elbow her lightly while mumbling something that sounded like: “Shouko, quiet down…”
Haruki made his way down the stairs and approached the table that the two girls sat at. Nene noticed his hand behind his back, and it even looked like he was hiding something… That’s odd, she thought. But she didn’t point it out in fear of embarrassing him.
Shouko was the opposite, though. She immediately picked up on Haruki’s stiff posture and his hand hidden behind his back, taking this opportunity to poke fun at him. “Ooh, what do you have?”
Haruki prepared himself, making sure he wouldn’t screw up. He held out the gift bags for them, avoiding eye contact. “I, uh…got these for you.”
Shouko and Nene’s eyes widened. The two girls took note of how nervous the boy in front of them looked, his face turning a shade of red. He looked like he half expected them to point and laugh like he was some sort of clown. They were very aware of how awkward Haruki tended to act when vulnerability was the subject of attention, as he wasn’t exactly used to feeling it.
Feeling like they were gawking too long, the two girls took their gift bags, which were made clear by their names being written in black sharpie on the front.
While Shouko and Nene opened their gifts, Haruki sat down at his spot with them. He observed their reactions, hoping they liked their gifts.
Nene opened her gift before Shouko. Inside was volumes 5-8 of Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun, one of her favorite manga series. When she saw them, her eyes widened in surprise. Something she really admired in a person is when you tell them about something you love, and they remember and take note of it. She smiled softly to herself, looking up at Haruki.
“Thank you, Haruki. This is really sweet,” she spoke softly, her cheeks a light pink.
“Yeah, it’s not a problem,” Haruki mumbled, which made Nene giggle.
“Woah, cool! I remember watching that with you a while ago,” Shouko stated.
“Yeah! I’ve been meaning to get the rest of the manga,” Nene responded.
Now it was Shouko’s turn to open her gift. She tore into it, excited to see what she would receive. Inside it were some paint markers and a figure of Maomao from The Apothecary Diaries. He remembered hearing Shouko ramble on about it one night, so he found it for a good price off a website he frequently buys from.
As soon as she was able to make out what it was, Shouko gasped loudly. “Whaaaaat?! This is so cool!!” She took out the paint markers first, opening them up. “I definitely gotta use these on an easel, it’ll look sick!” The baby blue haired girl then took out the figure, admiring the art on the box. It looked so pretty! She loved the design on the box, and how the figure was sculpted (well, as it was seen on the packaging).
“I’ll set that up later when we get back to our dorm room,” explained Shouko. She then looked Haruki dead in the eyes and leapt from her seat, squishing him to death in a hug.
“THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!! I love it so much!!” she exclaimed loudly, not knowing how loud her voice was, per usual.
Haruki froze, his body stiff as a board. His arms were glued to his sides from Shouko’s death grip. Clearing his throat, he mustered up a response.
“Uh, yeah…no problem.”
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After Shouko let go of Haruki, they finished their breakfast, talked, and eventually headed back to their dorm room.
The blue haired girl took out her new figure, opening the box and admiring its beauty.
“This is so pretty!! I can’t wait to put this out on my desk,” gasped Shouko, turning it around to look at it from every angle. Haruki smirked, amused at her behavior.
Meanwhile, the brown haired girl was adding her new edition of manga to her collection that sat on her desk. She arranged them in a unique way, sitting back to admire her work from afar. Seeing nothing needed to be tweaked, she smiled, happy with the results.
“I feel bad we didn’t get you anything big like this…” Nene thought out loud.
Shouko added on, “Yeah, we at least owe you something, dude.”
“Don’t sweat it right now,” Haruki assured, “Just wanted to do something, uh…sweet, I guess, since it’s Valentine’s.”
Shouko chuckled, poking fun at him, “That’s a reach for you.”
Haruki flipped her off. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
Nene laughed softly at their bickering.
“Say, why don’t we watch a movie or something? There’s still a lot of time left in the day,” Shouko suggested.
Nene agreed, liking that idea, “Sure, sounds fun.”
The two girls looked at Haruki to see what he thought.
The boy noticed their eyes on him. He sighed reluctantly. “Sure.”
“Yay!!” yelled Shouko, wrapping an arm around the navy blue haired boy and pulling him down on the couch, making him grumble.
Nene sat on the other side of Shouko, getting comfortable. She shut the lights off with her magic, setting the mood for the movie.
Shouko grabbed the remote, scrolling through what to watch. “Hmmm… Oh! Let’s watch this.”
She put on a silly cartoon movie they’ve all watched before, and that they all enjoyed. The three elves had a good afternoon, laughing, bickering, and talking together.