There was tension in the air of Shibusen. Some could feel it, while others were as yet oblivious.
Patty and Black Star were among the former. Soul "Eater" Evans was among the latter.
Soul was sitting in his usual seat in the classroom, waiting for the next class to start. The teacher was late, and he was hoping that Marie-Sensei didn't have morning sickness again. Everyone hated it when Maka's dad subbed. Or worse, if that crazy crossbow lady showed up. Even Maka would get scolded for lack of focus if she was teaching. Ugh.
Speaking of Maka, she was taking a long time in the bathroom. Girls seemed to take forever in there.
The door flew open as someone shouted "Hyaho!" Black Star had arrived. It was already the third class of the day and he was only just getting to school. In the row behind Soul, he could hear Tsubaki laughing nervously at something someone had said to her about her partner. She must have it rough, dealing with Black Star all the time. Soul was friends with Black Star, certainly, but he'd paired up with the guy once before and it had been a total disaster, and also he just couldn't imagine 24/7 Black Star. He'd probably go insane.
As Black Star bounded to the seat Tsubaki had saved him, he froze mid-stride. He sniffed the air as if tracing a smell. As he sniffed, he drifted closer and closer to Soul.
"Oh, amazing! The air around you is super tense! Just like right before a battle!" Black Star excitedly informed Soul.
"Huh?" Soul responded. It was hard to understand Black Star sometimes. Between his extreme egotism and the fact that he was a total moron, he was on a completely different wavelength from everyone else. Except maybe Tsubaki, who just adjusted really well.
"He's saying the air around you is full of bloodlust, I think," Tsubaki said helpfully.
"Why would there be bloodlust around me?"
Just then Maka came in. No wonder she had taken so long, she was carrying at least a dozen books.
"Maka, why do you have so many books?" Liz asked. She was sitting a few seats away, and appeared to be absorbed in her compact mirror. This was rather surprising, as Liz had recently had a strong aversion to mirrors thanks to Tezca Tlizpoca appearing in one as she was examining her pores. Next to Liz, Patty was staring intently at Maka.
"I wanted to look something up. And also more books means a larger arsenal for Maka chops, and they make a good shield." Maka plopped down, arranging her books so she could actually see.
Crap, Soul thought. What did I do to deserve such an endless rotation of Maka chops? Did I leave the toilet seat up? Forget to wash dishes? Leave laundry on the floor? I don't know what I did! Wait. Maybe it's her dad? Please let her be mad at her dad and not me. Please don't let it be me.
"Maka-chan, there's a biiig killing intent around you!" Patty announced joyfully. "Ne, ne, can I fight whoever it is?"
"Hey Patty, look! A flying lobster!" Liz said. Her distraction was successful, as Patty began looking around for a flying lobster and completely forgot about fights.
"Seriously, what is going on? Bloodlust around me, killing intent around Maka, this is weird."
"Soul, you idiot, have you forgotten what day it is?" Maka asked with a sigh.
"It's Thursday, isn't it?"
"The date?"
"The 13th, right?"
"Yes. Which makes tomorrow?"
"The 14th?"
"And what is special about February 14th?"
"It's Valentine's Day?"
"Exactly!" Maka leapt to her feet. "Valentine's Day, the battlefield of women! We must fight intensely to display our love, and hope we don't get rejected. And for girls who like popular guys, they must fight all the more, to make sure that they give their chocolates first, and that their chocolates are the prettiest and tastiest, and that no other girl goes near the guy they like! Because love is war!" A loud roar erupted throughout the classroom as almost every girl rose to her feet with a battle cry, having overheard Maka.
"Or something like that," Maka said as she sat back down and opened one of her books. Soul almost didn't hear her over the cacophony.
"Okay, but what does that have to do with bloodlust around us?"
"You're a popular guy, I'm the girl who is your partner. Even if we're not dating, they see me as a threat. So they are prepared to use any underhanded method to make sure that you fall for them, and that I don't get in the way. If you haven't already prepared yourself I suggest you do. Make sure you stretch in the morning, you may need to do a lot of running."
Before Soul could say anything back, Marie finally walked in, looking faintly green. It was hard to tell if this was a result of morning sickness or of living with Dr. Stein.
"You can't be serious," Soul muttered as Marie began class. Girls. To think they'd go crazy over one little day.
x
After school let out, Soul stopped by one of the cafes he liked. The owner knew him, and let him practice piano there if he played during business hours sometimes. As he set the mood for the diners with one of his favorite jazz pieces, he couldn't help but think of the earlier conversation. And maybe he was being paranoid, but he felt like a couple of the diners, girls who were also Shibusen students, were staring at him a lot. It was uncomfortable, and he ended up leaving after only a few pieces. Normally he would've stuck around at least until it was time to go home for dinner.
When Soul got home the apartment smelled like baking. Maka and Blair were at the stove, poring over a book while Blair twirled a finger to keep a spoon stirring a pot.
"Blair, you're doing it wrong!" Maka insisted.
"But I'm bored!" Blair complained.
"What are you making?" Soul asked. Which was code for "are you going to have everything cleaned up in time for me to make dinner?" It was his turn, and he'd been planning on making spaghetti. But if Maka was going to be using the kitchen, it would have to be instant ramen again. Ugh.
"Chocolate," Maka replied.
"Obligation chocolate?" Soul asked. He wanted to joke about her being one of the girls who was supposedly interested in him, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. Besides, she was probably just making some chocolate for everyone for being her friends. He felt like he'd seen that in an anime, girls doing that. It would be like Maka to do so, if she were even going to bother observing the holiday.
"No, it's for-" Blair began, but was cut off by Maka.
"I'm making chocolate for the boy I like," Maka said.
Soul's heart plummeted like a rock. It did not "sink" with its gentle connotations of slowly oozing through some thick substance and lowering bit by bit. No. One moment it was in its normal place in his chest and the next it had dropped to the center of the Earth. He wished he could have gone with it. Maka had a boy she liked.
Soul had always kinda thought he and Maka would just end up together. They were partners after all. It would be weird for them to date other people, right? So naturally they'd date each other. But of course being able to match soul wavelengths didn't make them soul mates.
Soul made some vague answer, "oh" or something like that, and stumbled off to his room. He wondered who Maka might like. Kid? No, probably not. She respected Kid, but he couldn't see them as anything more than friends. Black Star? Yeah right. The two could barely stand each other. Ox? No way. They were rivals. Kilik? They were complete opposites. Harvar? That guy was only interested in Ox, couldn't she see that?
Wait… Maybe Crona? Was Crona even a guy? No one had ever really been sure, but maybe with her ability to read soul wavelengths Maka knew. But how was she going to deliver chocolates to Crona in that bubble of black blood that had encased the moon? Oh no, was she going to want to fly there, with him as a scythe? That would be the ultimate agony, having to help the girl he liked- because he really did like her, as he was realizing quite painfully- bring chocolates to the person she liked. Well if it made her happy, he'd do it, but…
Back in the kitchen, Blair shook a finger at Maka.
"Tsk, tsk. That was rather mean."
Maka ignored Blair and continued her cooking.
x
As a multicultural school, Shibusen had picked up the traditions of many peoples and many countries over the years. They celebrated all the usual US holidays- Christmas, Independence Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, and especially Halloween. They also celebrated Chanukah and Kwanza and Epiphany, they visited shrines on New Year's as well as setting off fireworks and drinking sparkling cider and virgin cocktails. And then there were the holidays they had picked up. Like Girl's Day and Boy's Day and Peppero Day, and Dio de los Muertes and Boxing Day and Michaelmas. Practically every day was a holiday of some sort really. Some went by quietly, because you had to maintain some semblance of order. Especially with the new Shinigami. Death the Kid could only stand for so much revelry disrupting the school before he broke down. But some holidays conversely went by far more extremely than you might find elsewhere. Valentine's Day was one of them.
"Don't you realize that this day is supposed to celebrate a saint!" Soul yelled as he jumped out a window to avoid a gaggle of girls who were chasing him. Some of them were weapons, and had done partial transformations to try and fight off competitors. Others were meisters who had convinced their partners to help them out. And right now all of them were the scariest thing he'd ever seen.
x
Maka was exceedingly nervous. She'd made some extra chocolate, just because she knew her idiot dad would be upset if he she didn't give him something, and she did want to give some to her various friends. At the very least, some for Black Star and Tsubaki and Kid and Liz and Patty since they were her teammates. She'd debated giving some to Ox and his team, but she didn't really like Ox, and she wasn't sure the Pot twins could have chocolate. She'd also decided against giving chocolates to the adults, since that may seem like bribes. She had made some for Marie-sensei though, since she thought that was something Crona might do, and also she knew that chocolate was one of their teacher's many pregnancy cravings.
Maka had carefully divided up everyone's portions. She'd also made a couple of extra portions. She'd meant to set the bag she made for Soul off to the side so she could give it to him after school, when she wouldn't get lynched for doing so. Except she'd overslept and in her hurry to get ready for school she had put all the chocolate in her bag. Including Soul's.
She found this out when someone had handed it back to her after it fell out of her bag because she'd forgotten to close it. She was lucky though; she hadn't labelled the chocolates, and also the person handing them back to her was only Hiro.
Hiro was a nice guy. He had rotten luck with partners though. Back in the day, he'd been too mainstream cool to be cool in a place full of nerds and geeks like Shibusen. Some had felt sorry for him, while others had bullied him. Then he'd gone and teamed up with Excalibur, the legendary sword. He'd been insufferable while they were partners, and many people still resented him for it. Since he'd parted ways with the holy sword, the bullying had increased, and he couldn't keep a partner longer than three weeks. He was currently looking for a new partner again, though it was unlikely he'd be finding one until next semester, as everyone was either doing well with their current partner, or had already worked with him and later rejected him. As Maka thanked him, she patted him on the back.
"Hang in there, Hiro. I'm sure you'll find a reasonable partner sooner or later."
"How do you manage it?" Hiro asked before she could walk away.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you and Soul Eater don't seem all that compatible, yet you successfully made him into a Death Scythe. I've tried everyone who will work with me. If we have similar personalities they complain because it's too boring, and if we have opposite personalities I can't match wavelengths with them. I've tried everything I can think of, but they always leave before I can find a good compromise."
"I don't really know what to tell you. I just know with Soul and me, we were pretty up front about who we were right from the beginning. We're different people, but we see that as strength. We make up for each other's weaknesses. But I don't think that's really anything special. Maybe it just worked because we're both stubborn and placed our goals above finding the perfect partner."
"Hmmm… But what kinds of goals do you guys have then? Because my only goal is to find a partner who I work well with."
"Well, I wanted to make my partner into a Death Weapon so that I could be just like my mom. But in the end, Mama was still more amazing, since she had a complete idiot for a partner. Soul may not be a genius, but at least he doesn't get distracted by anything with boobs."
"That's… uh…"
"But that's not a goal you can go for, since there will no longer be any Death Weapons since we no longer hunt the witches."
"I guess it's hopeless after all," Hiro said gloomily. Maka reached into her bag and pulled out one of the small bags.
"Here, have some chocolate. It'll cheer you up."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I made plenty. Even with this, I'll still have enough for everyone."
x
As Soul raced through one of the school's many balconies, he saw Maka and Hiro down near the front of the school. She was giving him something.
Soul might have stopped right there to stare at them if it weren't for the horde of fan girls. Maka and Hiro? It couldn't be true! They barely knew each other. And Hiro was… Well, he was a pushover, and such a hipster, and kind of a bishounen, and really he was just too normal for Shibusen, and too normal for Maka to like. Wasn't he?
And Soul couldn't even say anything to her about it because of the mob. This really wasn't fair.
x
As Maka sat down, she passed Liz and Patty their chocolates, and a bag for Kid since he rarely had time to come to class anymore. Besides, he was Shinigami now. What kind of Shinigami would attend class at the school he ran?
Black Star came flying into the room with his usual exuberance. Tsubaki followed, trying to slow him down and reminding him that he wasn't supposed to break down doors like that. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't listening.
As they reached their seats, Tsubaki passed out the chocolates she had made, too much oohing. Her truffles were of almost professional quality, in neat little rounds with cute shapes on them. If she hadn't signed them all "from Tsubaki and Black Star" one might have assumed she bought them. Maka felt embarrassed as she thought of her own hand-made misshapen lumps of chocolate sitting in her school bag.
"Oh, Maka-chan, there was a girl outside who wanted to talk to you," Tsubaki said as she handed over her artful present.
"Okay, thanks. I made chocolates for you guys too. They're in my bag," Maka replied, and headed for the door. It was some admirer of Soul's no doubt, come to challenge her for the right to be his partner. How ridiculous. Well, that was fine. She wasn't backing down. She had faced the nightmare version of one of Soul's fans inside the pages of envy in the Book of Eibon. This girl would be nothing. She had no idea what was coming her way. She should never have messed with Maka!
The girl in the hallway looked vaguely familiar. She had messy black hair pulled into pigtails, and seemed rather nervous. Perhaps she was aware that this was one fight she could never win then.
"You wanted to see me?" Maka asked.
"Ah! Um, that is, well, er… Maka-senpai… I uh, I wanted to… Here!" She thrust a small box into Maka's hands and ran off. Down the hall, she was joined by two other girls and the three of them fled together.
The box was deceptively frilly. But no doubt it contained a bomb of some sort or perhaps a letter of challenge. Well, better to open it here in the mostly-empty hallway.
The box contained three chocolates and a letter. In distinct juxtaposition to Maka's expectations, the letter was actually fan mail, stating that the sender had long admired Maka and wanted to be as strong as her someday, and had made the chocolates with her roommates as tokens of her respect for such an outstanding senpai. Perplexed Maka returned to the classroom.
As Maka entered the room, she saw Black Star dumping chocolates in his mouth and Tsubaki staring with her mouth gaping open, completely aghast. As she saw Maka approaching, she collected herself.
"Maka-chan, I'm so sorry! I swear I only looked away from him for a second to give Kim and Jackie their chocolates!"
Maka saw several of the baggies she'd used to wrap her chocolates lying empty around her schoolbag. She approached with apprehension, and saw that Black Star had eaten not one, but all of her chocolate-bags.
"Those chocolates looked kinda funny, but they were actually pretty good!" he exclaimed.
"Y-you're kidding," Maka whispered. "This has to be a joke."
"I'm so sorry!" Tsubaki apologized again.
"What are you sorry for?" Black Star asked. "She said our chocolates were in her bag, didn't she?"
"Yes, but you were only supposed to take one!"
"Huh, really? But I figured since I'm so big she wanted to give me lots and lots and didn't want to make all of you feel your smallness and so that's why she made me lots but put them all in the same size as yours."
"Black Star!"
As Tsubaki lectured Black Star on the meaning of Valentine's chocolate and the feelings a girl put into making them, etc., Maka sat down heavily and wilted onto the desk in front of her. She dimly heard Soul arrive and sit down next to her and ask her what was wrong. She was vaguely aware of class starting, and later of it ending. She dazedly listened to Black Star awkwardly apologize to her for eating all the chocolate.
Maka had no idea how long it was before her brain rebooted. So what if Black Star ate her chocolate. She'd just make more. She rushed to the store as soon as school ended, hoping to get ingredients. But there was not an ounce of chocolate or cocoa or anything that could be used to make sweets left in the store. It was all over.
x
Blair was in her cat form when she found Maka in her room, sitting at her desk wrapped in a blanket and hugging her knees.
"So, how'd it go? Did he like them?" Blair asked. Maka shook her head.
"He didn't? Well that's a shame. I told you they would have been better if you'd given them pumpkin fillings. How'd he react to your confession?"
Again, Maka shook her head.
"You can't mean he rejected you! I'm going to Halloween Cannon him into next month!"
Maka shook her head yet again.
"Well, then what happened?"
"I couldn't give them to him," Maka sobbed. "I accidentally took them to school and Black Star ate them all!"
"You mean-"
"I couldn't give him the chocolates, and I can't make more because the store is all out of ingredients! How am I supposed to confess like this!"
"You don't need chocolates to confess. Just tell him! I believe in you!"
Maka sniffed and resumed moping.
Blair could see that this was going nowhere. She left through the window and trotted over to Soul's window. He had transformed one leg into a scythe-keyboard, and was distractedly playing random discords. Even Maka would have cringed from the awful sound. Clearly, something was bothering Soul as well.
The window was closed, so Blair scratched to be let in. With a sigh Soul reverted his leg and leaned over to let Blair in.
"Oh, poor Soul-kun. What's wrong?" Blair said, transforming into her human shape and leaning against him. In the old days, this would have given him a roaring nosebleed, but he didn't even react.
"Do you know what the worst way to realize you like someone is?" he finally said, so softly that even Blair's cat ears barely heard him.
"Mmm… When they ask for your fish and because you like them you give it to them even though it means you can't eat the fish?" Blair suggested. Soul ignored her.
"It's finding out they like someone else. And then seeing them confess is even worse."
"Nyah?" Blair couldn't believe what she was hearing. She knew Soul liked Maka. Guys were so obvious in love, and Soul was showing all the signs of it. But that meant Maka had confessed to someone else? But she'd just said she hadn't confessed. And besides, Blair knew for a fact that Maka like Soul. They'd been discussing this since Christmas, when Maka had told her that in Japan it was a couple's holiday, and she wished that were really the case for the two of them. Something was definitely weird here.
"I don't know what I'll do when Maka tells me about her and Hiro. I like her so much, so I want her to be happy, but how can I be happy seeing her date someone else? And what if this ruins our partnership? What do I do, Blair?"
"Do what your heart tells you to," Blair suggested. That was what people were supposed to say, right? They certainly said it a lot in movies and manga.
Soul nodded vaguely. As Blair left his room, she began to formulate a plan. She would find a way to bring these two together. She wouldn't even need a love potion to do it.
x
Neither Soul nor Maka ate dinner that night. They both stayed in their rooms, wallowing in their misery. Well, they had that right, since they were both feeling heartbroken.
Blair spent all night perfecting her plan, grateful for once of being ignored.
The next morning, Soul awoke to find a bag of chocolates and a letter outside his door.
Dear Soul, the letter read. Sorry for not telling you this in person, but I don't really know how to say it out loud. It's hard to put my feelings in words, but I really like you. More than books and other things that I like a lot. I'm yours. -Maka.
For a moment, Soul believed it. But his subconscious spotted it as a fake right away, and so his heart didn't soar like he might have expected it to. The wording wasn't quite right, and the handwriting was a little different, and Maka didn't normally write on pumpkin-scented paper.
Blair.
He ripped the forgery into pieces, and the cat jumped out from behind the couch immediately.
"What are you doing to Maka's letter!" Blair hissed.
"You mean your letter?" Blair's look only confirmed her guilt.
"Well, you see-"
"Why would you do this, Blair?"
"Because there's some kind of mistake!"
"What mistake?"
"Because Maka was going to confess to you! She chose all the nicest chocolates she'd made and was going to give them to you but then your other friend ate all the chocolates she made before she could!"
"Yeah right."
"No, really!"
"Then where did these chocolates come from?"
"They were the ones she gave to me. But I can't eat them anyway since chocolate is bad for cats, so she would want you to have them. I'm certain of it."
"But I saw her giving chocolates to Hiro."
"She made some to give to friends as well. But she really was going to confess to you! Really!"
Soul wanted to believe what Blair was saying, but it sounded too good to be true.
"Whatever," he said, and headed off to the café. He needed to play the piano, and not just a scythe keyboard. He'd probably go for some classical pieces today.
x
After spending all morning playing piano, Soul stopped by the store to grab some eggs and get some veggies for tonight's dinner. As he was looking for the best of the zucchinis, he found himself next to his current worst enemy, Hiro.
"Oh hey Soul," Hiro said before Soul could casually move away.
"Hey."
"Man, I'm really jealous of you."
"Izzat so?"
"Yeah. I mean, you have like the coolest partner. Maka-san is really amazing. I kinda want to ask her out, but I think that might be a little sudden."
How was it sudden to ask out someone who had confessed to you? Unless maybe Maka really hadn't confessed to him… Could that really be true?
"Besides, I'm not really sure of my feelings and all, since I always thought she was awesome but until yesterday I thought she was kind of scary."
In other words, it was sudden when he'd thought of her as scary until she confessed. Yeah, no way things would work out so nicely for him.
"But she was so nice, listening to me when I was whining about my problems keeping a partner. And she even gave me chocolates to cheer me up. Even if she didn't mean anything by it, that's really sweet and rather attractive, don't you think?"
Wait. So she'd just given Hiro chocolates to cheer him up?
"Yeah," Soul said slowly, and left without selecting any zucchinis. He paid for the groceries he did have, then rushed off.
Back at the café, he burst through the employee entrance and dashed to the owner's office.
"Can I come back here after hours please?" he asked. "There's a piece that I'd like to work on."
x
By the time a week had passed since Valentine's Day, Maka was feeling better. A little. So what if she hadn't confessed? Things were fine the way they were. What if she had confessed, and as a result everything changed? What would she have done then? No, this was definitely better. Even if it hurt.
Besides, the whole concept of Valentine's Day was silly. It was the day of St. Valentine, who had very little to do with romance, and absolutely nothing to do with chocolates. He healed a blind girl and aided Christians illegally, including marrying Christian couples. But he wasn't some cupid helping people fall in love or anything. It was ridiculous.
So really, Valentine's Day wasn't anything special at all for confessing. She could just as easily confess today or tomorrow, except she'd already decided that she wouldn't. Soul was probably dating some girl who had given him chocolate anyways. That would probably explain why he never seemed to be home anymore…
x
White Day seemed like it would never come, and yet it came all too fast at the same time. Soul had been impatiently awaiting this day, since he was going to take the opportunity to straighten things out, but he wasn't entirely sure he was ready. Sure, he'd done everything he possibly could to prepare, practicing whenever he wasn't in class, even practicing in his dreams, but did he really have it right?
But then it was March 14. As usual, Soul found himself barely staying awake in class. It was Maka's dad subbing today, and he was being his usual annoying, perverted self. Between the horrible teacher and Soul's anticipation, the class was just dragging on and on. He found himself counting the seconds until the break between classes.
As soon as the bell rang, half the students were out of their seats and stampeding towards the door. Despite having been fast asleep all class, Black Star was the first one out. Maka stood a little more slowly than the rest, having been absorbed in a book. It was now or never.
"Hey Maka, do you have some time after classes are done?" Soul asked.
"I was going to go to the library today."
"Well, after that then. There's someplace I want to go with you and it kinda has to be today."
Maka examined Soul. Or rather, she examined Soul's soul. Her ability was still developing, but her soul perception was getting more and more fine tuned almost by the day. And with people she knew well, like her partner, she could sense certain emotions. Dr. Stein suspected she'd soon be able to sense lies like Buttadaki Joe. It didn't help a whole lot right now, except to tell her that whatever was going on, it was really important to Soul.
"Fine."
"Great. I'll wait for you at the top of the steps then."
Maka sighed. This would be okay right? She was doing fine. She'd been glad that Soul wasn't home much anymore, since it meant she could avoid being near him and the feeling of her heart choking her that happened whenever he was around. And now he wanted to go somewhere together? She would manage. Besides, he hadn't said no one else was coming. For all she knew, everyone would be there. She could do this. Couldn't she?
x
Maka was late. Soul hoped he hadn't missed her. He'd been delayed from getting to the stairs since he'd been accosted by six different girls who had apparently given him chocolates or love letters on Valentine's Day and wanted a reply or were demanding to know where their return gift was. It was extremely awkward, since two of them cried when he rejected them, and another two got into a fight after one overheard the other ask him for a response to her feelings. He hadn't thought he'd taken that long, but the sun was getting very low and Maka still hadn't shown. Or maybe she'd mistaken his meaning? Should he go looking for her? But no, it was better to stay still. With her soul perception, Maka could always find him if she needed to. Moving around would just make things harder for her.
In truth, Maka had volunteered to help the librarians out today, and only when they had run out of even the most meaningless of tasks did she go. It was a little mean, but she was hoping that if she dawdled enough Soul would just forget about whatever it was. But when she got to the steps at the front of the school, there he was, waiting for her.
Neither of them said anything. Soul just waited for her to approach and then led the way down the many many stairs into the city, and through the roads and alleyways. Finally, he stopped and rapped on a door, which opened up.
"I was beginning to think you weren't coming after all," a man said to him.
Soul waved for Maka to follow him inside. They went down a hallway, and entered a room full of tables: a café.
Soul walked over to a small stage and sat down at a piano. He patted the space next to him on the bench, and again Maka followed. Why had he brought her here?
As soon as Maka sat down, Soul lifted the cover off the keys, and rolled his neck with a sigh. He seemed nervous.
And then Soul began to play.
Even Maka, who was absolutely clueless about musical things, was mesmerized. There was so much emotion in the piece Soul was playing, and it seemed so familiar, yet she would have sworn she'd never heard it before.
It dawned on Maka what was going on. Soul often played such music in battles. He could up the resonance rates between people by playing their wavelengths. But this was different. This wasn't a song meant to boost the abilities of souls. It was souls. It was hers, and his.
When the music finally stopped, Soul slowly covered the keys. He wouldn't look at her, and although the light was dim, she could see that his ears were scarlet. His face probably was too.
Behind them, someone started clapping. Maka turned to see the man who had let them in.
"Oh my…" he said. "That was so beautiful. That's what you were working on this whole time?"
Soul nodded.
"It was amazing." The man wiped away a tear and left the room.
"That… that was… us?" Maka asked. She had to confirm it.
"Did I get it right then?" Soul's voice was small and full of uncertainty.
"Yeah. You did."
Neither of them said anything for a while. Finally, Maka broke the silence.
"Why did this have to be today?"
"It's White Day. And this seemed… Blair told me what happened. With the chocolates. And she said that… she said you…" he cleared his throat. "Ahem. Um, w-well, you never gave me any chocolates, so I couldn't give you candy in return. But I, um, I wanted to give you something anyways, and I figured I could give you this because I uh… Ugh. I'm not saying this right at all. I really like you Maka. As in I've been falling in love with you since probably around the time we met Blair."
"Not fair," Maka said bluntly.
"Huh?"
"I planned it all: how I was going to confess to you and all, and then Black Star ruined everything. And so then I decided it was better to just leave things be, and was starting to accept it even, and now you're confessing to me and nobody's ruining it? It's really not fair." She was crying a bit.
"Um, sorry? But I feel like I don't really need anybody to ruin it since I'm being totally uncool right now."
"But you just played our souls. That's the coolest thing ever. It's not fair."
"Will you… that is, um, do you want to… I- could we… go out?" he asked.
Maka leaned in to him, and hugging came naturally after that.
"I-if you don't mind dating me," she said. He certainly didn't.