Alternative Story: Happy Valentine's Day!

It was the 14th of February.

As I remember, that day, I woke up with a horrible headache. It was as if my brain wanted to pop out of my skull.

This is what I get for staying up too late, the eyestrain builds up and this is what happens because of it.

Maybe I should reduce my screen time from now on... because it's really tiring to do this on a daily basis.

Although part of the evening was spent doing something else... just making sure everything is in my bag before I leave the house with the most bitter expression I've made in months.

But before I could even get out of the house...

-Sae-chan! Wait a minute!

A voice stops me. I quickly turn around at the volume of the voice and reply:

-What's wrong, Auntie? -. I ask the woman of my own height and similar facial features. We may well be mother and daughter, but we are aunt and niece.

My aunt then, sooner rather than later, hands me a black box adorned with a white ribbon. On the ribbon is a little note that reads:

"To my dear niece, Sae-chan".

Then... on my normally expressionless face, a very small smile formed and then I grab the box of chocolates with both hands.

-Thank you very much, Auntie. I left your chocolates in the fridge because I didn't have time to take them out of the mould.

My aunt smiles and pats me on the head:

-Thank you! Even though you didn't have to do anything for this old lady, I'll still enjoy them.

...

-That's what a tsundere would say.

-Don't call your aunt a tsundere!

-Tsuntsuntsuntsundere~~!

-Mou! That I'm not a tsundere!

After teasing my aunt a bit, I give her a little hug as a goodbye. I don't normally do such things, but I was in a really good mood after receiving the chocolate from her.

To my surprise, I felt a little lighter today. It's the reassurance that this is going to be a good day.

I even stopped today to comb my hair a bit. Even though my headache is still there, I still want to keep this feeling of optimism.

I want to be a little narcissistic today, ok?

Arriving at the school grounds...

-There it is! Guys, line up!

I didn't understand what that voice was referring to at first, but when I realise that a horde of boys and girls are starting to line up in front of me, I had to stop walking in surprise.

I had to stop my walk in surprise.

Isn't it statistically impossible that so many people want to give chocolates to someone in particular?

And now that I realise, why is it Kana who's ordering them all here?

Is there something no one can tell me?

Wa, I feel like this is going to be very late.

The first guy in line then approaches me and extending a box towards me, most likely of chocolates, he ducks his head and says:

-Please accept this chocolate, Nishimiya-senpai!

Oh, so he's a student of a lower grade.

I must admit that it feels great to be called "Senpai", but looking past this boy, I notice that there's a girl with a shocked expression on her face.

She's probably this boy's classmate. Well, once in a while I can do a good deed for someone. I look around the back of the line and identify several boys who would have a potential crush on someone.

And there are others who don't seem to have anyone like that, since they're not very attractive.

Okay, let's do this.

I grab the shoulder of the boy from a lower grade and pull him towards me and then point him in the direction of the girl.

-Se-senpai? -. The boy's voice of confusion is noticeable.

-I can't reciprocate the feelings put into this chocolate, but that person over there was waiting for you to give him chocolate and not as friends.

-Eh? Chitose-san? She's just my classmate... and she's the prettiest girl in my class. Why would she expect chocolate from me?

-Give me that, and take this. -. I exchange the boy's box of chocolates with the one my aunt gave me and then I push him.

With a smile, I tell him:

-You just admire me, And admiration can't turn into love! So go get her, boy! She'll give you lots of love, I guarantee it!

I don't usually do these things, really. I feel like I've suddenly gained a whole new set of fans just because I pushed this guy to do something unnatural.

Well, I lost my aunt's chocolates. But it's okay as long as I do a good deed, right?

Now looking at the next guy in line who holds out a bag of chocolates. He doesn't look like a particularly popular guy and... I kind of like that, to tell you the truth.

Mainly because I can rest assured that no one will hate me if I accept the chocolate he's giving me.

It's even kind of cute, you know? There are band-aids on his hands, it looks like he burned himself a few times just to do this. I grab the bag of chocolates... oh, no. They're chocolate chip biscuits.

I look around, and no one is looking with an obvious expression of jealousy.

Ok, this one's for me.

-Haha, you bastard. -Who told you these were my favourite? You hit the bull's eye. Thank you.

I go and give this guy a short hug. I don't really know him, but at least I can feel glad that I can for once feel free from social pressure.

The girls in this school are a bit dangerous...

From there, I took it upon myself to guide the clueless popular boys to meet the girls who have feelings for them. That way I avoid trouble and create something of an entourage of girls who might thank me if their love blossoms.

And the only chocolates I get are from the girls and the unpopular boys. All with a smile. That way everyone in the school can be happy with this Valentine's Day.

It took a while for the line to die down, and even the teachers, seeing what we were doing outside the school started to share their chocolates with their work colleagues or romantic interests.

I am shocked that such a thing has come to pass.

I slip through the crowd and make it into the school building.... where I see the girl who's been making my life miserable so far, Kuzunoha Satome.

She's in the corner of the locker room, wiping the tears from her eyes.

I lose the confidence I had until a few moments ago... and pulling out one of the boxes of chocolates I brought from home, I swallow my saliva before I start approaching Kuzunoha-san.

-Hey, Kuzunoha-san... -. I call her by her surname.

Then she notices my presence.

She turns her face away from my sight and mutters:

-...don't bother me, Nishimiya.... -. I can detect a hateful tone in her voice.

I press my own box of chocolates against his cheek...

-Seriously, stop it... -. It's the first time I've seen Kuzunoha-san being like this.

And... there's something I can see from underneath the sleeves of her uniform. She has bandages around her arm.

They're most likely cuts... it's not normal to have bandages in that place and wanting to cover them up with your uniform just makes them more obvious.

I take Kuzunoha's hand by force and make her grab the box of chocolates I'm giving her.

-For once, don't look down on me. It doesn't feel so good to see you like this, even though I know you hate me... you and I have a history, don't forget that.

Without her being able to resist me, I go and get close to her face just to give her a kiss... I'll leave it to her imagination if it was on the lips or on the cheek, haha.

It was by far the most embarrassing thing I've done today, really. But seeing what I did, Kuzunoha Satome didn't resist either and in a moment she dropped the box of chocolates to grab my shirt and pull me to her.

Now yes, kissing me on the lips.

I'm an asexual person, but I don't mind this kind of thing either. I could make out with anyone and not feel anything at all, but it's only Kuzunoha-san I've done this with.

Always behind other people's backs. Always in a place where no one can see us. In the shadows, every chance we get, we melt our lips together like this, so that people don't find out about it.

This kind of secret relationship is something we had... but even that didn't stop me from killing Kuzunoha in the future.

But for now, I'll just enjoy the memory a bit.

And I wish you all, a Happy Valentine's Day!