AN: What is up my dudes! Didn't think you'd see me again huh? Well think again! Being a legal adult means doing adulting things that wouldn't give me time for fics but guess what! After five years of wait my favorite anime Blue Exorcist is back to kick some demon ass! That means I'm here to do the same! My OTP rises to ascend to the heavens! Enjoy!

...

"Wow, I didn't think you knew how to do this sort of thing," she remarked, leaning on the desk to get a closer look. "You don't seem like the kind of guy who could enjoy making cutesy things, Suguro."

"It comes naturally I guess. I've always had an affinity towards this kind of thing," he said, unraveling the cut paper in his hands to reveal a string of hearts. He carefully laid it on the long cram school desk before picking up his scissors and another folded piece of paper. "You know Kamiki, I'm kind of surprised. Why would you want to help me with these Valentine's Day decorations? Don't you think this holiday is pretty pointless?"

Izumo picked up the string of paper hearts and held them up.

"I thought you might need help," she said. Her words weren't as harsh sounding as usual and the well meaning behind it could be sensed. What an improvement. "And yeah, I think this holiday is pretty stupid. All those couples being all touchy feely, not even considering whether anybody wants to see that in public! They think that 'Hey! It's Valentine's Day, why not just make out in front of everybody! Nobody will mind, it's not like kids exist or anything!"

"Yeah, it is pretty annoying," Ryuji said, cutting through the next piece with precision and ease. "Last Valentine's I saw this girl trying to get into this store but there was a couple just making out there. I guess she felt awkward asking them to move because she was standing there for twenty minutes trying to make her move. Eventually I walked over and asked if they could move so that I could get in. That poor girl rushed into the store as fast as she could after that. I couldn't blame her. 'Just go around' like no I can't, you're too close to the door move."

Ryuji unfolded the paper to reveal a string of bears and set them down gently along the desk.

"Exactly!" Izumo exclaimed, taping up the hearts along the door. "They give no thought towards normal people who aren't into this lovey dovey crap! Excuse me if I couldn't care less about wanting to find love or whatever! I have more important things to do!"

Izumo got down from a chair she used as a pseudo footstool and walked over to grab the next set of decorations. She picked up the bears and held them up.

'These are so cute!' she thought.

Ryuji stood up out of his seat.

"I'm going to run to the store to grab more decorations," Ryuji said. "Wanna come with me?"

Izumo set the paper down and smirked.

"Sure. You'll probably need my help carrying everything anyway," she teased.

He laughed a bit, a hint of pink on his cheeks.

...

The crafts store, like most other stores, was filled to the brim with people buying something last second. Ryuji was hoping that the store would be less busy, considered how Valentine's Day chocolates aren't exactly sold there, but perhaps people are willing to buy anything at this point.

"Ugh, so many people! Couldn't you find a place with less traffic?" Izumo asked, darting away from the many girls running up and down the aisles. "Gosh these people make me wanna throw up."

"Well any other place would probably have this much traffic and we don't have time to run around True Cross Town finding a place when we can spend that time here," he said. "Plus I have coupons."

"You have coupons?"

"Yeah, when I did the decorations for the Christmas party we had I bought all my stuff here. They gave me a coupon for that. Plus I printed a couple online," he said.

"Wait, you did the cute decorations for the party?"

The two of them walked into an aisle aligned with various types of paper, from thick bristol to fragile sketch paper. There was a certain type of paper that Ryuji used for these type of projects.

"Thanks for noticing." He picked up his usual brand of construction paper and took it. "Oh hey, I know this sounds pretty out of the blue but what's your favorite kind of chocolate?"

She looked up at him, her eyes rather wide.

"C-Chocolate...?" She looked away. "Well I guess it would be chocolate with strawberries in it. But lately I've been into white chocolate. Paku got some from this one guy and she gave me some. It's really good but I hate it though since like that same guy asked her out for Valentine's! We usually have a thing where we buy a whole ton of snacks and watch romance anime! I was so looking forward to watching Ouran with her again!"

"Man that sucks."

"Tell me about it... Now I have nobody to hang out tomorrow..."

The two of them stood in line, bunched between groups of girls gossiping among themselves. Space grew tighter and the two stood closer.

"Hey Kamiki?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you wish that... sometimes... you had someone ask you out on Valentine's? Just so... you don't feel alone..."

Izumo looked to her feet, her hand gripped tightly on his uniform sleeve.

"... Yeah," she said. "It sounds stupid but it would be nice if there were somebody that liked me enough to ask me out on Valentine's. I have Paku but now she's off with some loser! I don't want it to be a pity thing either! I'd rather die than be pitied on! If somebody is going to ask me out they better actually like me or else it's no deal!"

"Alright."

He looked up at the store's decorations, the hearts frilly and puffed, and smiled.

...

The next day of school, a box laid on top of Izumo's desk, a note on top of it.

"Hey Kamiki, if you aren't busy meet me after school. I have a surprise for you. Suguro."

She opened the box.

There were handmade strawberry white chocolate inside.