In America, Valentine's Day is a day for lovers. Men and women exchange cards and gifts, usually candy or flowers. It is an overall romantic day.
However, in Japan, Valentine's Day is somewhat different- only women give chocolate. There are two different types of chocolate- lover's chocolate, which is given to a man that the woman loves, and obligation chocolate (a.k.a. giri-choco), which is given to all male acquaintances, co-workers, ect. Obligation chocolate lacks the romantic connotation that lover's chocolate does. It is merely, as the name suggests, an obligation.
For this reason, Keiichirou Akasaka was very disappointed- he had just received six gifts of obligation chocolate.
Keiichirou wasn't being ungrateful- he was usually fine with just giri-choco. It meant that his employees were thinking about him, and thanking him politely for taking care of them. Actually, he would have been somewhat troubled if he received lover's chocolate from almost any of the girls (especially Pudding- she was only nine years old, after all). But from one of them, he had genuinely wished for something more.
Yet she, just like the others, had given Keiichirou nothing more than what was required. Somehow, it was painful to think that he was just an 'obligation' to her, just someone she HAD to give chocolate to. What sort of gift is that? If she didn't care for him, then her chocolate was rendered meaningless.
Keiichirou wondered briefly what to give her on White Day. Probably, he'd just give her plain white chocolate. It would seem strange to return giri-choco with anything exceptionably valuable, even though he wanted to. He wanted to give her something special. At least she would notice his feelings then.
Not that Keiichirou hadn't been trying to get her attention.
"A lady deserves to be escorted properly!"
"I'm happy to have such a pretty girl watching me."
"...my princess..."
"May I help you regain your human form?"
But still, to her, 'duty chocolate' was apparently good enough, and probably would always be good enough. It was probably foolish to expect anything more. Why would she notice Keiichirou, anyway? She already had Masaya. Besides, the age difference was probably too large.
I guess I'll just settle for watching from afar.
With a sigh, Keiichirou began eating the chocolate she had given him. It would probably be delicious, he mused, under normal circumstances. But without a feeling of love in it, Ichigo's chocolate had no taste at all.
A/N: Happy Valentine's Day! Yup, yup, I figured that this fic would be perfect for this time of year. Go KeiichirouxIchigo fluff!