Semisweet, with a Hint of Chili, a hyouka/氷菓 fanfic

Semisweet, with a Hint of Chili

I still don't want anyone to know my secret
Everyone is still oblivious while you are replaced more
He still can't see the future
Surely it will be interesting
I was the only one who caught that startling premonition

—Romance wa Mada Hayai, duet by Satou Satomi and Kayano Ai (trans.)

February 14, 1998—Saturday.

"Good morning, Houtarou!"

"Mm."

"Sit down. Breakfast will be ready in a minute."

"Mm."

"What a boring guy." The clink of porcelain against wood. "Here you go."

"…What's this?"

"Happy Valentine's day! That's hot chocolate."—brightly. A bit too brightly.

A sipping sound.

"It's kind of bitter…"

"Well, I didn't put sugar in it. Pure chocolate is bitter, didn't you learn that already?"

"I know that already. I was just saying." Another sip. "Wait, did you put peppers in it?"

"Yeah. And a little cinnamon. Learned the recipe when I was somewhere in Mexico. Good, huh?"

"…It's unusual, to be honest…"

"It's a good deviation from mundane coffee. Wakes up the senses." Another clink of porcelain against wood, and then the scraping of chairs. "Breakfast. No 'thank you' for your adorable onee-sama?"

"Itadakimasu."—sardonically. The sound of the fork clattering against the plate. "Dad went to work already?"

"Yeah. I think he has a meeting today, so he has to go a bit earlier to prepare."

"Okay." Silence for a few minutes, then—

"Hey, Houtarou. Satoshi told me that you were going out with someone."

The sound of someone choking over an extra-large piece of egg. A quick sip of chocolate.

"That bastard Satoshi…"

"Well, is it true?"

"So what if it is? It's none of your business…"

"Actually it is." A creak as someone leaned across the table. "Because if it is, then you're actually going to receive chocolates today, right? As your big sister, I am so excited for you!"—mischievously.

"Knock it off, aneki."

"See? That's why guys like you find it hard to get girlfriends… Someone else has to be excited for you."

"Hooray for energy conservation." A long draught, and then a final thump as the mug of chocolate was brought down on the table. "Gochiso-san." Footsteps down the hall as the little brother left.

"Mmhmm." A pause, and then a cheerful, "No kiss of gratitude? Onee-sama is disappointed…"

"Again, knock it off, aneki."—from the bathroom.

The sound of the shower turning on, and the splashing of hot water against cold tiles.

The big sister smiled from her seat, and took a sip from her own mug.

"Food for the gods indeed, if I do say so myself."

February 14, 1999—Sunday.

"Good morning, Houtarou."

"G'morning, dad." A yawn. "It's your off today, right?"

"Yeah." A rustling of the newspaper. "Oh, something arrived in the mail from your sister."

"Something?"

"Mm." The sound of a cardboard package being placed on the table. "Open it after breakfast."

"…Okay. Itadakimasu."

The sound of chopsticks hitting the inside of the bowl for some time, and then the scraping of the chair.

"Gochiso-san."

Someone grabbing the box from the table and shaking it experimentally.

"Aneki, you better not have sent me something useless…"

"Well, open it."—curiously, from his father.

"Okay." A tearing sound as the tape came off the cardboard, and then the plop as another rectangular box, this time a bit smaller, fell on his hands. A folded piece of paper came with it.

"…Dammit, aneki…" the middle schooler muttered under his breath.

"That's…"

A rustling sound. "Where did aneki say she was now?"

"Somewhere in Netherlands or Belgium. I cannot remember exactly."

"I see. So that's why." A sound of unfolding paper. "These are Belgian pralines…"

Mentally, the boy could hear his sister narrating the message in his head.

Pralines for the broken-hearted. With love from Bruges, Oreki Tomoe.

"Dammit, aneki."—one more time, in a resigned tone.

The sound of the package being torn open, and a crunch of chocolate between teeth.

"It's kind of bitter…"

"You don't have school today as well, right?"

"It's Sunday, of course not."

"Okay. You want to go out or something?"

"I don't really like the sound of becoming a guy who has no one else but his dad as a date on Valentine's, but…" A pause at the doorway. "Why not."

February 14, 2000—Monday.

"Ya, Houtarou."

"Satoshi."

"Came to join you for lunch." The sound of the lid coming away from the lunch box. "Ooh, nice."

"You cook your lunch yourself, so why are you acting all surprised?"

"Hey, don't say that aloud, and especially on this day."—a melodramatic sigh at the end. "Unlike you, I don't have someone to cook my lunches for me."

"Speaking of someone cooking my lunches for me, this is another strange dish from my aneki…"—an incredulous tone of voice.

"But that's curry, right?"

"Yeah." A pause as the boy tried a taste. "Tastes unusual though…"

"Lemme try?"

"Go on."

"Hmm…" A chew and a swallow. "Hey, I think it's seasoned with chocolate!"

"Really?"

"Yep. Tomoe-san's a genius… I should try it sometime…"

"Hmm."—hesitating, and then a clatter of steel against the box as he spooned another portion of curry and rice. "No wonder it tasted kind of bitter."

"Fuku-chan?"

"Hey, that Ibara's coming over here, Satoshi…"

"Crap…! I mean…"

"I'm eating, you dolt."

"Sorry…"

February 14, 2001—Wednesday.

A ripping of foil, and a crisp sound as the boy bit off a part of the bar.

Beside him, the note said, I present to you one bar of chocolate. From Oreki Tomoe—with warm and tender pity.

A sigh, and a smile.

"Bitter."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I made it so that Houtarou always says "bitter" after tasting Tomoe's chocolates... I'll leave it up to you guys to interpret what that symbolizes.

Time frame is Houtarou's three years in middle school (going by the light novel, it spans the later half of April 1997 up to early half of April 2000), and the last scene was from the memorable Episode 21.

The device I used wasn't really unusual (you notice how 90% of the text is just dialogue, instead of long descriptive texts), but my professor told me that it's one of the hardest forms of narrative to execute. I tried my best, and here's the result.

This is a fill for the two people who suggested I make an Oreki-cest fic (two of the reviewers for and he is born, "Little bird can remember" and "Aribowo"), as it's apparently never been tried before. I hope that going for subtlety than all-out romance was okay, as I was unsure how to go about the pairing, but yeah, Houtarou/Tomoe did kind of intrigue me. I mean, without Tomoe, the whole story of Hyouka might never have moved at all. Bow down to the power of the onee-sama.

And also, they're quite natural around each other, being siblings.

(And funny in hindsight, but Nakamura Yuuichi, the wonderful guy who voiced Houtarou, also voiced the main protagonist of OreImo... who is a siscon. Oh well.)