Note: They're about 12 in this, so sixth grade in 'Murican.
Mikasa cuts another heart out of the pink paper and holds it up to assess its quality. She deems it good and sets it aside.
The snip snip of the scissors is the only sound in the quiet room. The rest of the class is out for recess. Her parents told her she shouldn't be outside for too long after being sick with that stomach bug for the past three days. She planned to go out anyway, because she hadn't seen Sasha since last week and knew she would want to hear all of the gross details.
Her teacher had, unfortunately, been advised to keep an eye on her and held her back when she tried to dart outside after eating most of her lunch (her stomach was still upset so she couldn't finish). She hadn't even finished describing the worst of it!
"Sorry," she'd said when Mikasa looked up at her with big eyes, "but your mom pulled me aside this morning." She didn't say more but didn't have to. Mikasa had waved at her friends and walked, slumped, back to the classroom.
It hasn't been too bad so far: Valentine's Day was the next day, and their teacher had decided that the class should be creative that year and make their own valentines. The other kids had been working on the days when she was gone. Mikasa had a lot of time to make up.
She notices the teacher glancing at her from the corner of her eye, so she looks up. "I'm going to step out for a moment," she says, the you'd better still be here when I get back going unsaid. Mikasa nods and returns to the hearts.
She's counting them as the teacher walks out; she sets them in piles to make sure there are enough for each card. She starts cutting out one more red heart when she hears footsteps again. She did really mean a moment, Mikasa thinks, attention so focused on the heart that she doesn't notice the footsteps approach her desk. A card is then thrust between her and her work.
She looks up, confused and annoyed at being interrupted. In front of her stands Levi, the boy who had started attending her school the past fall on a scholarship. They stay like this - staring at each other as the clock ticks behind her - until he clears his throat and says, "Take it."
Mikasa blinks and looks down at the card. It's well made: the patterned, multi-colored hearts are set so they look like the banners that hung around her house at her birthday party, the "Happy Valentine's Day" written in flowing script. She looks up at him again. "Valentine's Day is tomorrow."
Levi shifts his weight from one foot to the other but doesn't lower his arm. She notes the slight tint of red on his cheeks and over the bridge of his nose. He must be cold from being outside, she decides. "I know that. I wanted to give it to you early."
She purses her lips (and notices that he glances at them for a moment). The situation is weird: she's never really spoken to him at length before. They've been partnered together for a few projects before, but the experiences were unremarkable as they were only required to work with each other for part of the class period.
"OK," she says finally, reaching out and taking the card. She moves to flip it open.
"Don't open it yet." Mikasa raises an eyebrow at Levi when she meets his eyes again. He's redder now. "Wait until tomorrow."
"But -" she starts, cut off when he darts from the room, almost running into the teacher as she returns.
"What was that about?" she says, and Mikasa shrugs, both because she doesn't know and because she doesn't think the teacher really wants an answer. She moves the card underneath her papers when the teacher walks by her desk. The bell rings shortly after. Mikasa stashes everything away in her desk.
The rest of the day, she notices Levi glancing over at her from across the room. She catches his eye once and can't read his expression. She looks away before he does.
That night, she takes all of her stuff home. She hadn't been able to finish her cards, even with the time the teacher set aside in the afternoon. She spreads her things out on the table, shooes her little brother away, and sets to work.
Her mother comes by when it's time to clear the table off for dinner. "What's this?" she asks instead of telling Mikasa to put everything aside. She picks up the card that Mikasa brought home with her other supplies. She hadn't meant to. She ended up just pushing it to the corner of the table, not sure what else to do with it.
"Levi gave that to me. Don't open it!" Mikasa cries when her mother starts to open it.
"Why not?" She seems confused, thumb slipped between the folds of the card. It's not open enough for either to see inside, and Mikasa doesn't try to peek, though she wants to. After a moment, her mother's eyes light up and she smiles. "And who's Levi?"
"He's a boy in my class. He told me not to open it until tomorrow." The smile on her mother's face widens.
"Of course," she says, setting it back down and covering her lower face with her hand. Before Mikasa can ask what's so funny, her father walks in. He sheds his coat and drapes it on a chair next to the wall. "Hi, Dad."
"Hello. What's going on here?" He undoes his scarf and starts to pull it off. Mikasa sees her mother make a motion for him to come over. She holds up one of her finished cards, about to show it off, when she hears her mother whisper. She can't hear all of what's said, but she catches "secret admirer."
She turns around in her chair to find her parents smiling widely at each other. "I don't have a secret admirer," she says, scowling. How silly. She doesn't even know Levi. She has her friend group and he has his. It's not that she wouldn't want to get to know him: it's just never happened.
"Oh, of course not, sweetheart," her father says, reaching to ruffle Mikasa's hair. She ducks out of the way. "Your mother was just telling me that she's my secret admirer." They turn to each other and kiss. Mikasa makes a face and starts gathering up her supplies.
Her parents are whispering in the kitchen when she grabs the dishes to set the table. She decides to ignore them because they're just weird sometimes.
She glances at the card a few times while finishes up her valentines, curiosity itching under her skin as the night goes on. But she doesn't open it, because, after all, it isn't Valentine's Day.
Mikasa intends to look at the card in the morning: intends to, because she never actually gets the chance. She ends up having to remake a few of the cards because her annoying little brother ripped a few of them ("It was an accident!" he yelled as she snatched the ruined valentines from his hands). She also leaves it on her desk instead of putting it in her bag, realizing it only when her mother is dropping her off. She wants to go back home to get it, and her mother seems to want to agree to it, but, ultimately, she walks into the classroom without it.
Levi says nothing to her as she walks by, which is normal. Instead of continuing, Mikasa pauses a few steps away, her back to him. She's not sure what she would say. "My mom thinks you're my secret admirer" comes to mind. The idea of blurting that out with all of their classmates around them is unsavory. She just keeps walking, though she feels eyes following her as she goes.
The valentine exchange happens after lunch. They're given time to sort through their cards. Sasha tells Mikasa how much she loves her card, and Mikasa is about to tell her the same when she notices something off: a card from Levi. It's simpler than the one he gave her yesterday. Without thinking, she grabs it, stands up, and walks over to his desk, leaving Sasha sputtering at her sudden departure.
"You gave me this by accident," she says without greeting him. Levi looks up from where he had been talking to his friend Farlan.
He opens his mouth, then shuts it. Finally, he says, "I didn't. It has your name on it." She furrows her brow and looks at it: he's right.
"Then what about the card you gave me yesterday?" His eyes widen and he says nothing at first.
"I didn't give you a card yesterday," he says. Mikasa notices that he looks remarkably stiffer than when she first walked up. Farlan snickers and Levi gives him a little shove, which makes him laugh.
"You did," she insists. "I have it -" She was going to tell him that she had it with her, but that wasn't true. The card is at home. She has no proof. She presses her lips together.
"You have it…?" Levi prompts, ignoring Farlan, who's holding his stomach. Levi crosses his arms, raising a single eyebrow. She notes that the fingers of his left hand are digging into the flesh of his right arm. There are many things she'd like to say in that moment, but she's suddenly lost for words.
"Never mind," she snaps, turning and stomping back to her desk. She realizes then that the entire class is staring at her. She huffs and glares, most of the students looking away before she catches their eye.
"What was that about?" Sasha asks, brow creased and the corners of her mouth turned down.
Their teacher calls for them to put the cards away. "I'll tell you later."
Mikasa never gets around to doing so because she rushes out of the building when the final bell rings. She answers her mother with one-word responses and glares out the car window.
She's annoyed and embarrassed and is ready to rip up the stupid card as soon as she gets home. She hears her mother laugh when she races through the house up to her room.
When she grabs the card, she flips it to hold it horizontally. It will tear nicely like that, she thinks, starting to bend it. Then she stops herself. Maybe Levi gave her the card to be a jerk, somehow knowing she'd make a fool of herself. But what did it say?
Mikasa turns the card, takes a deep breath, opens it, and reads what's written inside. When she finishes, she blushes to the roots of her hair.