Dedicated to SageMerric for the Appmon Discord White Day event.

"I'm surprised."

Around the table, everyone looked up from what they were doing. Yuujin was eating fries from Ai's tray. Eri was sipping on her ice lemon tea. Astra was alternating between tapping something on his phone and dipping his chicken nuggets into the BBQ sauce. Rei had his laptop out.

They all paused to look at Haru.

"What is it?" Ai asked the obvious question.

"I got a Valentine's gift this year," Haru explained, sitting down, "It's surprising."

"Oh," his best girl friend blinked, before smiling warmly. "That's nice Haru! That means someone is interested!" Her smile quickly became a glare when Yuujin's hand reached out to take her fries again, slapping said hand away.

"Have you opened it?" Astra piped up. Beside him, Rei had went back to his laptop, not interested in the topic whatsoever.

"I have," Haru took out a wrapped item from his bag. There was an opened section at the top where Haru unwrapped it. One could clearly see the book gift inside.

"That's a nice wrapping paper," Eri noted. It was the color of Haru's eyes.

"It's a really nice gift," Haru said, sounding a little helpless. "I want to thank this person, except whoever it is didn't leave a name."

Beside Ai, Yuujin choked on a fry.

"That's...unfortunate," Ai muttered. Haru was patting Yuujin on the back, missing the sorely exasperated look she shot at Yuujin.

"Yeah, it's even a book I wanted," Haru explained with a soft smile. "The one that got published last month."

"You don't sound very excited," Eri blinked. Usually, Haru would be over the moon on any new book.

"I would," Haru's sigh was regretful, "But I got the same book last week. I wished I could have told whoever this was so they could save their money."

Yuujin had rapidly turned pale. Beside him, Ai rolled her eyes.

"It's strange too," Haru continued, very oblivious, "I didn't even think anyone know of this series, let alone know it's one of my favourites."

Eri's eyes darted at Yuujin before lighting up with understanding. Astra had tugged Rei, whispering something to him furiously while also swiping something on his phone. Rei rolled his eyes before grudgingly typing something on his laptop.

"It must be someone that knows you well," Ai said sagely.

Haru nodded. "Yeah," his cheeks were tinged pink, "I'm flattered, I really am. I'm just surprised someone knew I liked this series, since I don't remember telling that to anyone else except you and Yuujin."

Said best friend stood up suddenly, the sound of his chair scraping across the floor disrupting the conversation. Yuujin's eyes were wide and he looked very flustered.

"I'm going to get more food," he said, looking like he's trying to keep his cool, "Do you want anything, Haru?"

"Probably to know who gave him the Valentine's Day present?" Ai's smile was bright and sharp, "Because it wasn't me."

A heartbeat.

Haru blinked.

He looked at Yuujin, then to the present in his hand, then back to his best friend again. Yuujin looked like Ai had turned to Medusa and petrified him on spot, face as bright as his hair.

"Oh," Haru said, intelligently.

Ai stood up to leave with their friends. "We'll let you two deal with it."

The very next day had the two of them linking hands underneath lunch tables and disappearing to god knows where immediately as class ended.

Ai congratulated herself on a job well done.

Omake :

Group chat

Astra : Rei and I filmed the entire thing!

[Video attachment]

Yuujin : Omg no

Author Notes:

Thank you to the Appmon Discord for holding the White Day event! I went with Valentine instead in the end because it's more relatable. I wanted to try something else other than the cycle of tragic and fix it fics in this fandom XD

Quick Headcanons:
- Yuujin and Ai talked the plan out. Ai was hopeful, Yuujin was dumb. (Ai knew that Haru had bought that particular book since Haru bought it from her store but she was confident Yuujin knew too. Yuujin was too overexcited and nervous.)

- The book that Haru likes is something like...Artemis Fowl, I guess? Well known but not so well known that it's mainstream. If that makes sense. The kind of book gush-able if you found another fan, that's for sure XD

- Astra started recording the moment he realized. Yuujin will never live it down, unfortunately.

- Haru kept the duplicate book as memory ;D