HELLO I DID NOT DISAPPEAR OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH. Yeah…school, writing slumps, and Love Live really did take up my time. Whoops. (Mostly the writing slumps, but I mean, Love Live's pretty notable too – )

I also felt pretty bad not posting for a month, so here's a late Valentine's Day thing. Be warned, though – I edited this in one go, so there's mistakes everywhere. Probably.

Kagerou Project belongs to Jin.

"Ayano, this is so embarrassing."

"Aw, no it isn't!" Ayano pushed the girl along – gently, of course, since anything rough was far from the first-year's personality. "I think it's kind of cute!"

"I – it isn't!" Shades of pink dusted the older girl's cheeks, and she stopped the girl's slow shoves with the balls of her feet. Whipping around, and almost hitting the other with her twin-tails in the process, Takane showed the most nervous of expressions to her friend. "I've never given a guy chocolates before! Especially this one – "

"You'll do fine!" The girl interrupted, smiling right after. "Remember what I told you – if he doesn't accept it, you can come to me for comforting! I doubt that he'll do such a thing, but I want you to know that I'm here for you!"

"I appreciate the sentiment, Ayano, but the fact that you pointed out a negative possibility worries me." The expression was to be meant sarcastically, but the fallen look on the younger girl's face made her think twice. "Eh, Ayano – "

"I won't let you fail!" One last (soft) nudge was cast upon the girl, and soon Takane found herself pushed into her classroom. The sun's beams quickly founds it way into her eyes, and she blinked, trying to find her vision once again.

Using the chocolate box in hand, Takane was able to get some form of shade from it, and she blinked a few more times before noticing a rather…strange presence in her surroundings.

"Heh?! Haruka, what – ?!"

"Happy Valentine's Day!" The boy (seated in his desk, as innocently as possible) threw his hands in the air before gesturing to the items stacked on his desk. "These are for you!"

The most notable gift (could she even call it a present?) was a giant teddy bear, which took up ninety-nine point nine percent of the desk's surface area. It's black eyes looked straight into Takane's, and she found it unnerving how godly it looked in the bright sunlight. The fur was a light yellow, mimicking the same color as her sweater. Really, did he have to go through this much detail…?

Ah, but then she found the balloons hanging beside it, shaped like hearts with "Happy Valentine's" written across each one of them. The item weighing the balloons down was a box of chocolates, looking rather sweet already. She could taste the sugar.

But that's not the point! Her own box of chocolates shading her eyes seemed rather pitiful compared to what Haruka had brought for her. Heart beating a million miles an hour, she found the speed to hide her gift for the boy behind her back, stuttering to mask her embarrassment.

(Which probably didn't help. She was as red as the balloons.)

"Hm?" The boy tilted his head to the side, the innocence only rubbing against the girl's fazed state of mind. "Something wrong?"

"D – don't you think this is a bit too much, idiot?!" The last word was tacked on at the end rather hastily, but it seemed right. The box behind her made a noise, and she tried to stop her shaking hands. "Geez, you didn't have to go through so much trouble for me!"

"But I wanted to!"

She's been shot through the heart by Haruka's consideration. Here lies Takane Enomoto. Cause of death: this stupid excuse of a boy named Haruka Kokonose. She will be missed. Also, did any of you notice how cute he was today? No, wait –

"Still, I told you the other day that you didn't have to do anything!" She's practically yelling, but it's because she wanted to hide the shaking in her voice. Did it work? "You really an idiot…!"

"But today's the day of love, isn't it?" The question trailed off in an instance, and he put his face in one of his hands as he wondered about the holiday. Wow, he looked really adorable – nope, not today. "Sensei told me so…"

"Sensei." Oh god, of course. That guy's been trying to set her up with her classmate for months now, hadn't he? Clutching the box behind her, she felt the cardboard crinkle a bit. Whoops. "Haruka, you don't have to listen to what he says all the time!"

"Yeah, but he suggested a gift for you, and I thought the idea was pretty cool!" Now his voice picked up, and he looked genuinely pleased with the thought. "Besides, you told me you've never gotten anything for Valentine's Day before! I wanted to change that!"

"H – Haruka – !" Chocking noises made its way out of her lips rather unpleasantly. Not that's she's chocking for real or anything – it's just the sound she managed to end up with whenever Haruka's unbelievably endearing words pointed towards her happiness.

Or something cliché like that.

"Say, what were holding in your hands when you…walked in?" The last two words were picked out carefully, and she felt a sinking feeling in her. Right, Ayano had to practically push her into the room today.

"N – nothing…" The word tumbles from under her breathe, and her eyes dropped to anything but the boy. Biting the bottom of her lip, the awkwardness rose once more; Ayano's words also rang in her mind, and Takane found herself reconsidering them.

"It's kind of cute!"

Wait, no. Not those words.

"Remember what I told you – if he doesn't accept it, you can come to me for comforting! I doubt that he'll do such a thing, but I want you to know that I'm here for you!"

Right, those ones.

She wanted to keep her pride and dignity – after all, she prided herself (no pun intended) to have those qualities, despite being rather self-conscious herself. But what kind of person could she call herself if she couldn't even bring out the courage to give Haruka a box of chocolates? She'd have to be...she'd have to be somewhere near that loser Shintaro. What a terrible thought.

"Actually, they were for you." The box was now in front of her, hands stretched forward in an offertory manner. The packaging was…messed up, to put it simply. All her gripping had misshapen it a bit, but the chocolate's still good, right? "It's not much – "

"Taka-ne!"

The boy leaped into her arms, which were already open and stretched out while she was showing him the candy. The box dropped in an instance, as if her brain had signaled that catching Haruka was her first priority; and really, was there any hesitation with that thought? If Haruka got hurt…

(W – wait? Did she just think about that sort of thing?! She cared for him, sure, but was it really in that way…?)

(But Haruka getting hurt was still bad! Come one, Takane's brain, get it together!)

"You idiot!" Hastily strung words made its way out of her mouth, even though she was now trapped in Haruka's massive bear hug. In a daze of puzzlement, Takane found the courage and energy to look up at the boy; he was significantly taller than her, and so she had no choice.

But to find him beaming down at her, arms wrapped around her just as her own arms were around him…what was this baffling moment?

Wait a second –

"Why are we hugging?!" True to her obstinate nature, the girl tried to pull away, but the boy only squeezed tighter. All the air she had saved in her lungs seemed to have been pressed out, but wow, Haruka was surprisingly warm and…comfortable. His sweater was pretty soft, too.

(What was she thinking?!)

"I wanted to thank Takane!" He said cheerfully, as if the sudden hugging wasn't a surprise at all. It seemed like they were practically dating, a thought that scared (and piqued interest in) Takane. "You got my favorite type of chocolates!"

"W – well it wasn't hard to forget," she muttered stubbornly, trying to look down at the floor only to be met by Haruka's sweater. They were really close, and she was probably heated at about five hundred degrees. Why wasn't she suffering from some sort of heatstroke yet? "You kept talking about it."

"And you paid attention!" His voice picked up in volume and excitement, and he swayed side to side, bringing Takane along with his movements. "You made my first Valentine's Day gift the best one I've ever gotten!"

"F – first?! I wouldn't believe – "

Haruka planted a kiss on the top of Takane's head before letting her go, bending over to pick up the box of chocolates. It seemed like he didn't mind that it had been on the floor. Well, to be fair, the five second rule wouldn't really count if it was still in its container, would it?

It also didn't bother him (as much as it could have) when he saw Takane turning crimson all over, ending up too flustered to function the rest of the day. In fact, he could even say that he found it kind of cute.

(Was the kiss too much? Hmm, probably not. It felt right.)