Love Is Right around the Corner
Authors Note: So I missed posting something for Valentine's Day, so I decided to post something on White Day! Which, for anymore who doesn't know, is a holiday celebrated in Japan. Basically Valentine's Day is something the girls do, and then boys get their chance to do stuff a month later on White Day. Anyway, that has nothing to do with the story. I basically wrote this because I always imagine girls not liking Yutaka back, and I thought it'd be nice if he got to be a stud for a change. I actually wish I could put this is comic form, but artist I am not. Welp, that's all I've got to say!
Valentine's Day never failed to give Yutaka's emotions a workout. Every year it was the same. He would start off the day hopeful and optimistic.
He loved love. He loved seeing couples holding hands in the hallway and watching as girls snuck cards into the lockers of boy's they liked. It filled him up with joy and with hope that one day he'd find a girl that liked him as much as he liked her.
Of course, he'd struck out all through grade school and junior high school. The years had come and gone without him receiving a single Valentine.
And that was the part that crushed him. He always hoped, but things just never worked out for the class clown.
And once again as he walked to his locker at the end of the school day, he hoped. He hoped this would be the year.
Little did he know, that what he was yearning for was right around the corner.
Literally. It was literally right around the corner.
"What are you doing?" Izumi Kanai asked with one hand on her hip. She tried to keep her tone even, but given the situation it was difficult.
Fumiyo Fujiyoshi slowly turned to face the other girl, one hand clasping onto the Valentine's Day card she'd spent hours making.
"What does it look like?" Fumiyo asked. She wasn't usually a rude girl, but just as Izumi was having a hard time staying calm, so was she.
"It looks like you're going to give Yutaka a Valentine, which we both agreed we wouldn't do." Izumi said, trying not to be intimidated.
"So who's that for?" Fumiyo asked, pointing the Valentine's Day card in Izumi's hand.
Izumi didn't say a word. The two girls eyed each other angrily. It was obvious that they had both chosen to break the promise they had made.
The promise dated back to their last year of grade school. The group of girls dubbed 'the neutrals' had been discussing their crushes when it had been revealed that both Izumi and Fumiyo liked Yutaka Seto.
There hadn't been much conflict at the time. Both girls had agreed that neither of them would act on their crush on the class clown. However, as time went on, that agreement became hard to keep. Neither of their crushes wavered and both girls would swear up and down that they were the one that Yutaka liked.
It was especially difficult on Valentine's Day. It was the easiest day of the year to confess one's feelings and both girls were just as moved by the holiday as Yutaka himself was.
It only stood to reason that eventually one of the girls would break the agreement. Perhaps it was lucky that they both did.
"I'm giving Yutaka this Valentine." Izumi finally said.
"No, I'm giving him mine." Fumiyo retorted.
The girls glared at one another.
"I'm sorry, Fumiyo, but he obviously likes me." Izumi snapped.
"Are you serious? He likes me. Everyone can see it." Fumiyo practically hissed.
"I'm sorry, but he doesn't." Izumi said as she took a step closer to Fumiyo.
"I'm sorry, but he does." Fumiyo said as she too took a step closer.
"Yutaka likes me!" Izumi finally cried in frustration as she slammed a foot on the ground.
"No, Yutaka likes me!" Fumiyo yelled as she balled her fists.
"Ladies, ladies," Shinji Mimura said in a calm voice as he approached them from the side.
Both girls froze. They had already forgotten that the hallway offered little privacy.
"There's no need to fight. I think we all know that Yutaka wants the 'D'." Shinji said as he thrusted his hips into the 'V' shape he made with his hands.
It was nothing more than a crude joke. One that Shinji had said in order to calm the girls down before he told them which one of them Yutaka really liked. However, Shinji had definitely misjudged the situation.
The girls were too angry, the tension too high. And neither girl really wanted to hurt the other.
But Shinji Mimura? They had no qualms about hurting Shinji Mimura. Especially when they were too angry to realize that the Valentine in his hand had obviously been gifted to him from some other girl, and was not one he intended to give Yutaka.
The girls shared a look before they dove at the star basketball player, aiming to wound.
"I was kidding!"
But it really didn't matter that he was.
Yutaka sadly shut his locker. Once again he was Valentine-less. He sighed as he looked down at the floor.
"Hey, man!" Keita yelled as he approached the depressed teen. Even Keita had one Valentine in hand.
"Hey, Keita." Yutaka greeted his friend, hoping to not sound as depressed as he felt. But he knew Keita could tell.
"Strike out again?" Keita asked.
"Perfect record." Yutaka joked.
Keita punched his shoulder.
"Hey, don't worry about it! Who needs a stupid card anyway? Let's go to the arcade!" Keita suggested bumping Yutaka's shoulder.
"Yeah, alright. Should we try to find Shinji?" Yutaka asked.
"Nah. Dude's probably swimming in V-day cards." Keita said, as edge of jealousy to his voice.
"Yeah, probably." Yutaka laughed as the two boys walked toward the school exit.
It was too bad that the boys didn't go looking for Shinji Mimura. Had they looked around the corner they would have found him, not drowning in Valentine's Day cards of his own, but in the punches of girls he was too proud to hit back, and in glitter from Yutaka's destroyed Valentine's Day cards.