They were everywhere.
Piled up in corners, stacked in plain view, glaring at him in pink and white packages with the occasional red. Nagihiko's shoe locker was filled with chocolate.
He felt slightly dizzy as he turned around to face his friend, Hotori Tadase. "I-Is it that time of year already?"
He gave an apologetic smile. "I'm afraid so."
Shrugging, he turned around to open his locker. As soon as his finger looped around a handle and swung it open a few inches, bright packages varying in up and down the red color scale overtook him. A small mountain of chocolate packages were instantly piled up where Tadase had been a minute ago.
"Ho-Hotori-san?" Nagihiko stammered out, but no sooner than he had said it did a bunch of girls start swarming around him. "PRINCE-SAMAAAA!!! WE WILL HELP YOU OUT!!"
Well, at least he was getting help – wait.
Prince-sama?
From outside the small huddle of girls, he could see a glimpse of Tadase's livid face. The dark-haired boy quickly scuttled out into the hall like a frightened rabbit. As he rushed into whirlwind of students, he heard a distant voice shouting, "I AM A KING!!!"
We're off to a good start.
"Nagihiko-kun?" a voice said behind him, and he turned around with relief etched into his features. "Amu-chan. A-and... ah, hello, Rima-chan."
Hazel eyes glared at him suspiciously from above Amu's shoulder, promising death. "Hello."
"Here you go." Amu handed him a package. "Happy Valentine's Day!"
Nagihiko attempted a smile while keeping a wary eye on Mashiro Rima, the blonde-haired demon that was shooting him daggers. "Thank you, Amu-chan. What do you want for White Day?"
What Amu wanted for White Day however, would never be discovered because at that moment Tadase came running in leaving great skids on the linoleum and shouting at the top of his lungs, "THE WORLD WILL BE MINE! WORLD DOMINATION!"
"Prince-sama!" Amu blurted out, and she immediately looked like she wanted to hit herself. "I-I MEAN, TADASE-KUN! COME BACK! THE BELL'S ABOUT TO RING!" she quickly ran off in pursuit of the platinum-blonde's reign of terror.
"A-Amu!" Rima turned her head, breaking her stare with Nagihiko to his regret. "Don't leave me alone with..."
"... him?" Nagihiko tucked a strand of long hair behind his ear, giving her a winning smile that was not returned.
After another glare, she sauntered off in the direction of the classroom. Clearly, his (rival?) was in a very bad mood. Why should she be in the foul mood? Nagihiko couldn't help but think grumpily. She didn't get overrun with chocolates this morning. Admittedly, not as much as Hotori, but he couldn't even see his shoes in that locker.
The retreating mop of blonde hair had stopped dead behind him, and seemed to be thinking. Suddenly, she turned around and handed him something.
"Wh-what's this?"
"What does it look like?" she tossed her hair over her shoulder. "It's Valentine's Day chocolate."
He felt a shell-shocked grin worm its way onto his face. "... why?"
"It's giri-choko!" Rima said, eyeing him apprehensively. "Obligation chocolate. Because you're one of my friends."
"O-Okay," he stammered, taking it. "Thank you, Rima-cha – "
Gone.
He weakly walked towards the classroom, where a very dejected-looking Tadase was sitting with a bucket on his head. Amu was next to him, attempting a cool and spicy expression as she passed her friends chocolate, while Rima was huddled at her elbow.
He sighed, drawing his eyes away from the little confusing midget. The teacher began roll call as he sank down into his seat.
"Hotori."
"Here."
"Hinamori."
"H-Here." Amu looked up.
"Chiriusa."
"... Zzzzzz— Here."
"Kozatohen."
"Here?"
"Mashiro."
Rima put up her hand briefly and several admiring classmates stared at the fingernails like they worshipped them. Nagihiko had a sudden murderous desire to kill, although he wasn't very clear on why.
"Yuiki."
"Here!"
"Tsukino."
"Present~"
He backtracked frantically. Why did he want to kill Rima's fanboys? They had never bothered him before... (well, yes they had, but he had assured them that there was NOTHING between him and "Mashiro-sama")... the only conclusion that he could come to was that it had been triggered by Rima giving him chocolate.
"Datenshi."
"... here."
Why would that have anything to do with it, though? She had said herself that it was obligatory. Rima was his friend (Could their relationship really be a friendly one?), and it's not like he had expected anything else.
"Tsuta."
"Here."
Or did he?
The teacher finished up attendance and began to ramble on about the period of Occupation in Japan. Throughout the entire class, Nagihiko alternated his gaze between the chocolate in his hand and the tiny girl in her seat, taking notes with a cross line in between her eyebrows. The classroom was empty before he realized that the bell had rung.
*
There was even more.
By lunchtime, even more chocolate had found its way into his shoe locker. This was getting ridiculous. He was going to have to clear it out eventually if he wanted his own clean locker back that didn't reek of cocoa and sugar. As he tried to get at his shoes, he stared at some of the names on the packages. Sunni Heija. Hana Tsukiyomi. Mira Hoshi. Who were these girls? He had never heard of them in his life.
"Fujisaki?" A girl asked timidly behind him.
No.
Noooooooo.
Not MORE chocolate.
He turned around and attempted a smile at the girl. "I'm sorry, but I can't accept your feeli – "
"Hotori-san asked me to tell you that there's a guardian meeting today."
He almost choked, but managed to pass it off as a cough. "Th-Thank you." Quickly slamming his locker door unnecessarily hard (he hoped to damage the chocolate within but no luck), he ran off to the Royal Garden, panting heavily.
The greenhouse structure was deserted.
As he sat down at the table weakly, he reminded himself to hit Tadase later; clearly the King's chair was going to saunter in late with Amu in tow.
Honestly.
He started rifling through his bag irritably, trying to get at his binder – if he was early, he might as well do some homework. On the way to his World Connections textbook, however, his fingers brushed against something. Paper.
RED paper.
That was covering CHOCOLATE.
He resisted the urge to scream, but it dissolved as he read the label. To cross-dresser. From Rima. Of course, this was the accursed chocolate that started this creepy fixation on Mashiro...
... it wasn't a fixation. Mild interest, it was a mild interest. He opened it, just out of curiosity, and found a couple of... homemade chocolates. She made them herself? He felt a weird, warm fuzzy feeling in his abdomen as he popped one into his mouth.
"Is it good?"
He gave a strangled noise and swallowed the chocolate with some difficulty. Mashiro Rima was sitting across form him, with an indefinite look of boredom on her face.
When the hell had she shown up? Had she been watching his little sickening fluff moment? "R-Rima-chan, what are you—"
"How was it?" she interrupted. A look of anxiety was somehow getting past her emotionless façade.
"I-It was okay," Nagihiko stammered. "Why?"
She turned away from him, hair swishing. "It was my first time making chocolate, is all."
"That's what you're saying, but why are you going red then?" Nagihiko said bracingly.
"I—" her lower lip went out in a pout. No doubt this was her secret weapon in making men do what she wanted. Her bangs flopped down, covering her eyes, as she mumbled, "Nagihiko is so good at cooking, so I wanted to learn how to cook too..."
He couldn't fight back the smile that was dying to manifest on his face. "Not bad for a first try."
"Not... bad?" the pout on her face just deepened. "I wanted it to be at least good – kah." She ended her sentence in a weird noise that sounded somewhere between a noise of surprise and a cat's mewl as Nagihiko stood up and put a hand on her head. "Thank you, Rima-chan."
"I-It's not that great. Get your hand off my head!"
"Why? You're just the right height to make a good armrest."
"Shut up, cross-dresser!" So much for that. Rima's cute, moé (and fake) personality dissolved as she slanted her eyes dangerously. "You're just the right height to be a lingerie model!"
"Lingerie model?" Amu sputtered, as she, Yaya and Tadase walked in. "Nagihiko?"
"I-I would not make a good lingerie model!"
"Of course you wouldn't. You're flat as a pancake." Rima started humming a song under her breath that sounded suspiciously like the Tsurupettan song. Yaya immediately caught on and began shouting out the lyrics at the top of her lungs. "PETTAN, PETTAN, TSURUPETTAN! PETTAN, PETTAN, MOCHIPITTAN!"
"Don't bully Nagihiko-kun!" Amu tried to say, but it ended up sounding more like, "Dunsbull iinayigoku," because she started giggling uncontrollably.
And so, another Shugo Chara filler cliché hit as everyone started giggling like maniacs to a Buono! soundtrack.
Except for Nagihiko, who just stared in bewilderment at the blond girl in front of him.
At risk of sounding like an eighties hair band, he thought this might be love.
This will be a threeshot. 8D The next chapter will be out March 14th – yes, White Day! And the one after that, on April 14th – yes, Black Day!... you don't know what Black Day is? Oh frick, just Wikipedia it.
[paragraph=rant]Oh, and if you would like to deliver a lecture about how Rima Can't Spell isn't being updated, direct it to me by PM, not by review on my other stories. I don't care if it's been two months, I want to end this story right and God be damned if you're going to stop me.[/rant]
*cough*
Anyway, this was just a cute li'l story idea I got in the middle of the night (dead serious). Valentine's Day should be renamed Fluff Day, amirite? Anyway, hope everyone enjoys--
Oh, yes, and a little game to keep you occupied - several old RiRiKan't reader get speaking cameos in this. If you know a lot of Romaji you might be able to figure out who you are~ D
I AM SO CRUEL RIGHT