Vector was not particularly familiar with the concept of Valentine's day and, if he had to be honest, he did not want to be familiar with it, either.

But Vector was a man who executed his plans with perfection, and so he figured that he had no choice, after all. He had to make sure that Yuuma would include the 'V' cards in his deck.

Nothing could be more humiliating than wearing a Dandylion costume anyway.

The fact that he had done that already meant that what he was about to do couldn't be so bad.

He'd overheard a conversation of Mizuki Kotori and Kamishiro Rio about Valentine's Day and how they wondered about whether Kotori should give Tsukumo Yuuma chocolate or not.

Vector had decided that this was the perfect opportunity to add some spice to his plan. After all, he'd been looking forward towards the battle of Sargasso for quite a while now.

Of course, Vector was vaguely aware of the fact that it was not common for two boys to have any romantic interaction, especially not in a Japanese school. But then again, Vector couldn't care less and he was sure that Yuuma didn't even think about these kinds of things.

And given the fact that he'd go for the last stage of his plan soon, Vector had chosen Valentine's Day for his 'romantic movement' towards Yuuma. Of course he could have chosen White Day as well, but waiting a month for the battle at Sargasso was just not possible. Mizael would most likely try to chop his head off if he returned to the Barian World that late. That was probably the case already, anyway. But Vector wanted the others to cooperate without much arguing.

So Vector had made chocolate and he'd made sure that this Kamishiro Ryouga guy was as far away as possible.

Couldn't afford to have anyone interfere, right?

"Yuuma-kun!" Vector shouted as he approached Yuuma in the hallway. His smile was his usual, dense Shingetsu-smile and as always, Yuuma did not question it.

"Oi, Shingetsu!" Yuuma greeted, turning around and grinning. Apparently, Kotori had decided against giving him chocolate, because she was nowhere to be seen. Or maybe she would do it later? Vector didn't particularly care, he knew that his performance would be the best.

"Could you... come with me for a moment?" Vector now asked, feigning shyness by not looking into Yuuma's eyes.

And Yuuma simply looked at him, seemingly worried for a moment, but then his expression softened again. "Alright!"

Class was about to start, but it was not like they cared.

For all the research that Vector had done about Valentine's Day and the subject of love, he had not done any research about what an appropriate location would be.

And so it happened that he and Yuuma ended up being in a bathroom stall. Again. Not like it was the first time, but it definitely wasn't the right place for this, Vector felt.

He knew that humans thought that love needed a special place to be confessed. Or something.

He also knew that Yuuma was no ordinary human. Yuuma was an incredibly dense human being.

And then again, this wasn't going to be a confession of love. It was going to be "a Barian ritual of trust". Yeah, sure.

Yuuma looked at Vector with curious eyes and waited for him to say something. Vector was aware why Yuuma did not complain this time, he probably expected this conversation to be about Barian police business and what not.

But a bit of hesitation was part of the act, so Vector looked to the ground and bit his lip.

"Inspector Shingetsu?" Yuuma asked, a slight trace of worry entering his voice. "Is something wrong? Is it about the Barians again?"

Vector slowly shook his head, internally laughing about the fact that Yuuma had reacted exactly the way that he had predicted.

"No, Officer Yuuma..." He said, pretending to have problems with finding the words. "It's about something more... personal."

Yuuma seemed to be taken aback by that sentence. Within the last weeks ever since Vector had "revealed" his identity as a Barian inspector, he had insisted on being more "professional" in private (or rather, Vector enjoyed watching Yuuma do everything he asked him to). And so it felt strange to Yuuma that "Shingetsu" would suddenly talk about something personal again.

"As you are my subordinate, I feel it is necessary to honor the effort and dedication you put into your work for the Barian World," Vector said, and if the situation wasn't so crucial to his plan, he would have started laughing at his own choice of words. It sounded ridiculous, but Yuuma completely went along with it and saluted him proudly.

Vector did the same gesture, but quickly looked down again. "So I wanted to give you... this."

He pretended to be hesitant and slowly took out the small box that was wrapped in pink wrapping paper, complete with a matching pink ribbon on it. Vector had outdone himself this time. He'd thought about poisoning the chocolate a little, but he figured that Astral might notice that, so he'd used normal chocolate.

Good, self-made chocolate. Vector was sure it would taste well because he'd made it while in a state of absolute joy and anticipation for the battle of Sargasso.

Yuuma was obsessed with food, so this was just bound to work.

"Shingetsu? What's inside of that?"

Vector mentally facepalmed. Sometimes, Yuuma's stupidity was beyond his understanding.

"Chocolate."

Yuuma's eyes lightened up, but Vector still saw confusion within them.

"But why?" Yuuma asked.

"Well, today is Valentine's Day, isn't it?" Vector tried to appear to be shy about it, but he quickly realized that Yuuma would not even notice that.

"Yes, but..." Yuuma seemed to finally have realized what this conversation was about. "Isn't this something only... lovers do?"

Vector smiled. A typical Shingetsu-smile would surely help getting his point across. "I don't know about the human world, but... in the Barian World, on Valentine's Day, we give chocolate to people we value and trust a lot. You are such a person to me, Yuuma." Making up shit about the Barian World was one of the things that Vector would never get bored of. Especially because Yuuma believed it all.

Yuuma returned the smile and took the pink box from Vector's hands. "Thanks a lot, Shingetsu!" He put the box into his pocket and turned to face the door of the bathroom stall. "Well then, I'll..."

But Vector cut him off. "Wait, Yuuma. There's one last part for the Barian Valentine's Day tradition that I would like to do."

"What is it?" Yuuma did not suspect the slightest thing, in fact, he seemed thrilled to learn about Barian traditions.

"This," Vector replied, leaned in and placed his lips - he still felt awkward about having a mouth sometimes, but it was convenient right now - on Yuuma's, not even letting them rest for more than a mere split-second, for he could not stand to do this.

But then again, this was part of making sure that Yuuma would keep the five 'V' cards in his deck, so he figured it was alright.

"Shingetsu?" Yuuma looked at Vector, a faint blush on his face. "What...?"

Vector recalled something about first kisses having importance and all, and he mentally laughed at the fact that Yuuma had just received his first kiss from the person who would kill him very soon.

"It's a ritual of trust, Yuuma." He now replied, smiling again. This time, part of this smile was sincere. A sincere smile of anticipation of the Sargasso battle.

But in all of his calculations, he had not expected Yuuma to return the 'favor'.

Yuuma gulped. Then, "Kattobingu da, ore!"

This was ridiculous. Whatever Yuuma was about to do, it would be ridiculous. And Vector made a mental note to tell Yuuma that he was ridiculous.

But karma got right back at Vector when he felt Yuuma's inexperienced lips on his.

And it took way too long.

Vector clenched his left fist for a moment, but then he loosened it again, patting Yuuma's head a little, hoping the boy would let go of him.

And Yuuma did.

"Did I do it right, Inspector Shingetsu?" Yuuma's eyes were full of hope and his ears almost matched their color. And he saluted awkwardly.

"Yes, you did well, Officer Yuuma," Vector praised Yuuma, knowing that soon was the time where he would be able to crush the hope in those eyes, to break the innocent and gullible boy standing in front of him. With this "ritual of trust" done, there was no doubt Yuuma would keep the cards in his deck after "Shingetsu" got "kidnapped".

And he saluted as well.