SS 8 Valentine's Day and Snow

Valentine’s Day and Snow

—February 14—

I had promised to eat lunch with Satoshi in an empty classroom, and I arrived first.

A few minutes later, a worn-out Satoshi staggered in like a drunkard and clung to me

“Hey, Eiji. How many chocolates did you get?”

“What, did one of the chocolates you got have whiskey bonbons in it or something?”

“Nah, still zero. I haven’t gotten any yet.”

“Oh.”

As always, our banter was lighthearted. Despite being good at both academics and sports, Satoshi surprisingly wasn’t that popular. Maybe people saw him as too high of a hurdle.

“Here, this is from my mom for you, Satoshi!”

I handed him the usual yearly gift.

“Awesome! Eiji’s mom always gets the fancy stuff, and it tastes amazing.”

He was genuinely happy about what was clearly an obligatory chocolate. If someone saw this, it could easily lead to misunderstandings, which was why I called him to an empty classroom. But now that I thought about it, that could also cause a different kind of misunderstanding.

“You’re lucky, Eiji. You’re getting a real one from Ichijo-san.”

“You could get a girlfriend too, you know. Objectively speaking, you’ve got a lot going for you…”

By the way, I had plans to go to a café with Ai-san after school. A Valentine’s date.

“Theoretically, yeah!! Damn it, even Endo is going on a date after school! Damn normies, go explode!!”

For a moment, I admired his scientific mindset, but then I couldn’t help laughing. What even is “theoretically high spec”?

Just exchanging stupid banter with Satoshi—being able to return to this kind of ordinary life as a second-year high schooler somehow made me happy.

“That was delicious.”

“Yeah.”

We had indulged in Valentine’s special Hawaiian pancakes loaded with chocolate at a café.

Since we still had some time, we decided to take a little detour and visit the shopping district’s illuminations. It had been almost two months since Christmas, so it felt kind of nostalgic to see them again

Snowflakes began falling gently from the sky.

Her cool yet soft hand shifted slightly, as if trying to intertwine our fingers together.

“Since it’s a special occasion, shall we hold hands properly? Like lovers do?”

“Yeah.”

We were already holding hands, but it wasn’t the time for such an unromantic remark. She had mustered the courage to say it, so I simply responded in kind.

Though it lasted only a short moment, it felt like we were sharing an eternity. Eventually, we arrived at a large park and strolled leisurely along the walking path together.

I had expected the place to be packed with couples, but maybe we got lucky—there was hardly anyone around.

As we reluctantly let go of each other’s hands, she turned to face me with a determined expression.

“Senpai, please accept this.”

Slowly, she handed me a handmade chocolate.

“Ah, thanks.”

Feeling slightly nervous, I hesitantly took it from her.

“Just so you know, this is my very first real Valentine’s chocolate, okay?”

She emphasized the point while blushing deeply, her eyes darting around as she checked our surroundings.

But this time, it was my turn.

After making sure no one was around, I stole a kiss from her lips.

A small snowflake melted between them.

“Muu, that was sneaky, catching me off guard.”

Ai-san pouted in protest, but her smile betrayed how happy she was. (To be continued?)