ARTISANAL
"Chocolate produced by an artisan, usually out of a unique blend of beans"


He was supposed to be reviewing for an English test (which was absurd seeing as he was the best in English in his year), but instead he found himself in his mother's studio, face tinged with embarrassment as she giggled (more like guffawed) about his current problem. Len had no idea what to get Kahoko for White Day, and it was driving him insane.

Almost exactly a month before she had graced him with a box of home made dark chocolate thin mints, and at the moment he just couldn't think of anything to live up to that. First reason being that he couldn't make anything homemade, and second being that if he had it made, the sentimental value would be less appreciated. Len did not like having debts, and though this was one he did not mind paying, he still wanted it to live up to his standard of equivalent exchange. Thus why he had approached his mother for advised. It didn't go quite as he expected.

He would be lying if he said that he hadn't predicted that she would be amused, but outright laughing at his misery was something he didn't expect from her. Hamai Misa was barely keeping upright, clutching her side and leaning on the piano to keep her from falling over. Her laughter echoed in the studio, and was slowly beginning to trigger a headache for Len. Had he not respected and loved his mother the way he did, he would have probably already shut her up with his hand. But no, if he wanted her help then he needed to wait for this to pass. Len just hope that it would be soon. He was not created to withstand this much embarrassment, let along in one seating.

"I'm…I'm sorry, honey." She finally said, heaving as she managed to get her laughter under control. "I…I swear I didn't mean to laugh. It's just…well…I never expected that this would happen. Where is your father when you need him, really."

Len was tempted to answer something along the lines of 'Probably hiding from you', but reeled in his irritation by shrugging. He allowed his mother to compose himself and thought back the fourteenth of February. What had possessed him to tell her that he would get her something for white day again? And hadn't she told him that he didn't have to, seeing as it was a thank you gift? That just started an entirely new line of questioning, though.

Why had she chosen Valentine's Day of all days to give him something like that? Len had seen the box of chocolates and had even thought that she was going to…well…do something else with it. It just made it all the harder to decide on a present. What do you get a girl your in love with when she gives you something obligatory and you promise to return it but don't want her to know that you actually mean it? The bluenette's headache was beginning to morph into a migraine at that question.

"Okay…okay, I'm good." His mother released. "What was it that you wanted to know about White Day?"

He hesitated for a second, but continued soon enough. "How do you decide on a perfect obligatory present?"

"That depends…" She answered, smiling slyly as she leaned closer to her son. "…is it really just obligatory?"

Trust his mother to read him like an open book when the entire population of Seiso Academy couldn't even figure him out. Len gave a noncommittal nod in response, which was all his mother needed to know about the answer she asked. He was afraid that it would trigger another round of laughter altogether, but instead she offered him a sincere smile. "Well, Len, did she give you anything for Valentina's Day?" An immediate nod. "Did it have a specific meaning - no, Len, I don't mean whether it's romantic or obligatory - to her? Like, her gift, was it a specific type of chocolate?"

You don't look like the type who would enjoy anything sweeter. That's what she had said about the dark chocolate.

Len nodded regarding his mother's questions, and so she continued. "Were the chocolates mixed with anything? Nuts, candy? Anything?" He wondered if the mint counted, so he mentioned it with caution. His mother nodded and hmm-ed in thought as she left her son to his own thoughts. Len wasn't quite sure what his mother was onto, but he waited nonetheless. She was, after all, more experienced in field than he was. This was probably his first White Day gift in all his years of life.

"Why mint though?" She mused. "You have to ask her why it was mint!"

And what would that achieve? His mother must have read his skeptical reaction, because she was already vocalising a response before he could get the question out. "Everything has meaning on Valentine's Day, Len. If she put mint in the chocolate there had to be a reason, and you have to go find out what that reason is. Was it sentimental? Was it symbolic? If it has no meaning to you, then that means it's something only she understands. Once you find that out, then you can express something similar through your gift."

Len had to admit - that did make sense. "Thank you, Mother."


Practice the next day was…something, which was odd in itself. Ever since Valentine's Day, Len had never brought up the topic of her chocolate, and Kahoko had no issues about pretending that it never happened. There had been instances when he'd caught her staring at him with an off-putting expression, but he had brushed those off as coincidence or misunderstanding. The mix of uncertainty and hurt in her eyes could in no way be directed at Len, and he'd theorised that she had probably been thinking about something else. He would have asked, but he was never one for prying.

Today, they had played a piece entitled Clair de Lune. The bluenette had chosen it seeing as it was an emotional piece that Kahoko would have probably enjoyed, but instead was shocked by the emotion she conveyed. Her eyes were closed as she played, her body's movements subtle rather than her usual flamboyant style. She played with him watching, and instead of bringing him to a wonderful field of calm and sanctuary, she had transported him to solidarity and mishap. It was almost painful to listen.

Around him was dark city, empty of people and vehicles. He walked along a quiet street, rain falling hard around him and hitting him rather painfully. No sound could be heard other than Kahoko's playing, and as she continued, Len broke into a run. Someone, anyone, there had to be a person there with him. His heart clenched with worry and fear, what was this? When had Kahoko learned to play without the usual cheer and optimism that she practically infected everyone around her with?

When the piece came to an end, both hadn't said anything and instead fell into an awkward silence. The tears streaming down Kahoko's cheeks were not mentioned either.


Len had offered to walk Kahoko home that day, the twelfth of March. If you asked him why, he would have verbally said something along the lines of it was getting late (despite them both leaving at the same time as any other day) and it was the gentlemanly thing to do. The truth however, was that he was worried. About her playing, how she was feeling. About her.

Earlier on in the day, he would have wanted to know about the thin mints from a month ago, but he felt like now wasn't the time.

A missed opportunity seeing as tomorrow was White Day.

The redhead had been silent throughout the entire walk. She was lagging behind him, looking at every cake shop and pastry shop that they passed by. Sometimes, he'd catch her blushing as she looked at a particular display case, other times he'd find her almost depressed. This Hino Kahoko was new to him, and Len was unsure of how to handle the situation. At one point, he had even offered to buy her a cake that she was staring longingly at - she had refused before he could even finish the offer, embarrassed and blushing as she sped ahead only to lag behind him again after a couple of moments. Tsukimori Len was absolutely not pleased with the event unfolding around him. Worst thing? He had no idea why it was happening!

Both violinists continued walking in that slow pace and awkward silence. Len wanting to ask but not wanting to scare her off, and Kahoko preferring to keep silent despite her knowing about his obvious curiosity. It was the first time that the bluenette wished that his time with her would end. This girl with him was someone new, and he never did like dealing with change very well.

"Hey…Tsukimori-kun, can I ask you something?" Her voice halted him. She sounded as unbalanced as she seemed. Kahoko was fidgety when he turned to look at her, still standing a few feet behind him, and was biting her lip in contemplation. Len nodded, then verbally agreed upon noticing that she much preferred looking at her shoes than at him (quite offensive, really). A couple of silence followed his answer, making him antsy with anticipation. He almost wanted to shout at her to just blurt it out, but much like always, he told himself to keep control. For her he would practice a bit of self control.

"You see…something happened to me lately, and at the time I thought I was thankful, but now I'm not so sure and it's been bugging me a lot." She still refused to look at him, but urged her to continue with a curt hn. He also had to hold himself back from lifting her chin her hazel orbs to meet his. Len didn't like that he couldn't see the open emotion running past them, and it disturbed him how secretive she was being about this. "So…uhm…I have this friend - well, okay, maybe that's reaching, but someone that I think of as a friend -"

"And this friend has…done something to you?" Rage bubbled in his stomach. She immediately denied it though, before continuing.

"No, no! It's nothing like that!" Kahoko practically shouted. "It's just that last Valentine's day - (Len saw the sudden flash of red that ran across her face and couldn't help but blush as well, suddenly thankful that she wasn't looking at him) - I gave this person chocolate - (not rage this time, pure jealousy decided to make his insides a home though) - and, well, he told me that he'd give me back something for White Day even if I told him he didn't have to." Len was pretty sure that his stoic face was in tact. Good, seeing as he was far from collected on the inside. Who was this guy? What did Kahoko see in him? When had this developed? Was it Tsuchiura? Hadn't he seen him with Mori just the other day? Was that the cause of Hino's depression?

His mental ramblings were cut off by her continuation.

"So…uhm…since you're a guy - (oh no, she was not just about to ask him that) - I was wondering your opinion about whether or not he could have feelings for…me…" Great. She wanted a serious answer about her feelings about another guy from a guy who had feelings for her. He was in some sick romantic scenario, except he doubted that he'd get the girl in the end.

"Because, he seems to at least tolerate me, and he smiles at me and he doesn't do that often. Plus, he looked really happy when I gave him chocolates too. But, you see, I learned that despite how people think of him, he's actually a nice guy and I'm just worried that he's doing all of this because he just wants to help me - not that, that's a bad thing or anything! I mean, I didn't even know how I felt for him until after I gave him the chocolate - (she was rambling, he noticed, and embarrassed) - and…yeah…that's about it."

"Well…ugh…he sounds sincere enough." Len answered.

"Yeah, but, do you think he's sincere that he li - likes me?"

Len had two options. Give in to his selfish desires and tell her that, no, that person couldn't possibly love her to make sure that Kahoko's feelings wouldn't be of hope but rather of moving on. That was what he wanted to do, but it was also the wrong thing to do. The second option was to give her his honest opinion, and seeing as he could never hurt her intentionally, he'd have to do just that. It was almost painful to hear her sound so hopeful and curious. Why him? He wanted to ask the torturous gods.

"I think that if he really is a nice guy that hides his emotions like you say…then he'll let you know tomorrow whether or not he feels the same way. I'm assuming you've told him, though."

"I haven't," Kahoko answered. "But I'm trying to, trust me."

"Well I'm sure he's caught on if he wasn't stupid - (Kahoko looked up at him in surprise at that, the first time he'd seen her hazel gaze land on him today. Was that panic he saw?) - and he'll tell you his feelings tomorrow. Because if he liked you, he'd want you to be his, and if he didn't like you, he still wouldn't want to hurt you to keep your friendship in tact." That was probably the longest sentence he'd ever said to her. His efforts were rewarded, though, by the sudden appearance of a wide smile.

"Friendship." She whispered suddenly. Then she rushed forward and threw her arms around him.

Len had to muster a lot of strength to not topple over. Hard to do when he was taken off guard, but he managed.

"Thanks a lot, Tsukimori-kun! I really needed to hear that!" The bluenette awkwardly returned the hug. "To be honest, knowing that he values the friendship just as much as I do is probably more relieving than the possibility that he would feel the same way as me." She pulled away then, giving him one of her bright smiles. Len swore that if this guy broke her heart, there would be hell to pay. He didn't care if Kahoko approved of his methods or not.

"No problem." He answered instead. "Glad I could help."

After that, the walk continued on a happier note. She'd told him about her day (even if he hadn't asked about it), and about how excited she was for Mori and Ryotarou, hoping that they lasted a long time and that they were both really happy with each other. Kahoko also told him about listening to a violin rendition of Beethoven's Fur Elise and asked if they could try it sometime (going as far as to ask if Len could accompany her on the piano with a red face), Len said that he would think about it.

When they passed by another cake shop, Kahoko still stopped. This time though, she was in a much cheerier mood and had forced Len to accompany her in entering. They looked around for quite a while, with Kahoko pointing out cute little pieces of chocolate every now and then. Just as she was pointing to a rather nice display of truffles, Len remembered that there had been something he wanted to ask her, and now with her cheery and in a good mood, was probably his last chance. Besides, he could fake nonchalance, right? By saying that he had just remembered due to being surrounded by different types of pastries and sweets. Kahoko was probably too dense to realise it anyway.

"Why thin mints?" He blurted out.

"Huh - thin - oh! I told you, I didn't think you'd like anything sweeter."

"But why mints?" Len urged.

The redhead seemed surprised by his question. The blush just seemed to refuse to leave her face today (much like all days). "Uhm…don't laugh, but it's because mint reminds me of you." Kahoko probably noticed him about to open his mouth. She continued without having him question her. "It's cold - (Len would have been offended, but she seemed to understand soon enough how that sounded) - not like that! It's that, when you first taste mint you think it's cold kind of like meeting your for the first time. And then you realise that there's a certain heat to it, like your passion, and then when you swallow it - (mind out of the gutter, Len) - you feel refreshed, like how people feel after your performances. So I thought mint would probably be perfect for you."

He had nothing to say to that. He was bewildered, amazed, and surprised that she had put that much thought into obligatory chocolates.

"You never did tell me if you liked them." Her blush blazed brighter. "I can still make you some for next year. The offer stands."

"I…I think I'd like that."


As Len was walking home (after dropping Kahoko home), he realised three things.

The first was that he had just told Kahoko that she should probably pursue someone other than him. For someone who was in love and supposedly selfish and arrogant, that was a selfless move for him to pull, and an idiotic one seeing as he couldn't imagine a guy not returning Kahoko's feelings. He'd single handedly allowed her to slip through his fingers without a fight, and now had no idea what to do. How was he even going to react when she told him about her new boyfriend tomorrow? She seemed so - what was the word - in love when she poke of him.

Which lead him to his second realisation.

Kahoko was in love with someone that wasn't him, and she seemed to hold him so dear that she would still treasure his friendship above anything else - even if he rejected her romantic feelings. After all, if she put up with that kind of person, then she really must be in love. He was someone that people judged, but she defended him by calling him a nice person despite what other people said. She was so optimistic and happy all the time, and yet she didn't mind that the person she was in love with barely returned those sincere gestures. And the way she used the word tolerate made it seem like she wasn't all that sure about how the guy even saw her - probably why was ecstatic to hear that there was no way he could not think of her as a friend.

That second thought made Len stop in his tracks. His mouth fell open. I am an idiot.

But I'm trying to.

Well I'm sure he's caught on if he wasn't stupid

The final realisation of the saw was that Tsukimori Len was the biggest idiot in Japan if not the world. Here was Hino Kahoko, the girl he was in love with, describing him to himself - and he was so overwhelmed with jealousy that he couldn't even realise that it been him the entire time. The chocolate, the trying to confess, the attitude - everything should have pointed him in that direction. To add insult to injury, he had hinted to Kahoko that he had understood her words - that he had known it was him the entire time. It probably explained her good mood afterwards. She thought that she'd just successfully confessed her feelings and that Len would give her his proper response tomorrow.

He ran the rest of the way home.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.


'You said that you got me mints because you said they reminded you of me. Well then here are some rose petals in return. As a bud they're nothing interesting. A small flower that no one would think twice about. But once it blooms, no other flower can compare. Much like you, when I first met you. Nothing special, nothing interesting. And then you played, suddenly you were the center of my world. Please, Hino Kahoko, accept my feelings.'

His mother was set on embarrassing him, Len was sure of it. Why else would she have written such a note for Kahoko? He had asked for her to make it simple, telling her word per word why Kahoko was akin to a rose. Instead, she came up with something poetic that Kahoko would never believe to be his own thoughts. It was too late, however, seeing as the chocolate was already waiting for her on her desk, and he was standing underneath her classroom window, waiting for Nao's signal that Kahoko had already read the note. Class had already started, and Len was late for Music History. It seemed that today was no exception to the redhead's tardy streak. Further embarrassment for him when he got that signal.

Golden violin in hand and nervousness in his stomach, Len didn't know how much longer he could take.

Looking up at the floating clouds, watching as they drifted without a care in the world, Len got a bit envious. Why couldn't he be as carefree as that, maybe then he wouldn't be shaking and chilled at this very moment - scared witless by the thought of the girl upstairs rejecting him (even if she had already confessed, technically). Tapping on the window above him stole away his attention, which probably meant that the girl of his affections was already blushing and sputtering in her classroom with secondhand embarrassment. He hoped she had a little room for more.

Len positioned himself just a few feet away form the building, nearest the window beside Kahoko's desk. He prepared himself to play, resting the violin between his chin and shoulder, bow prepped and ready in the other hand. After taking a deep breath, he began to play.

Kahoko's window opened almost immediately, the beautiful and powerful sound of Len's rendition of Ave Maria flooding the entire campus. He didn't close his eyes this time, instead choosing to look up at the redhead's shocked expression. Ryotarou, Nao, and Mio were behind her, and the other windows the area opened as well and the bluenette could have sworn that he saw Nami's camera flash at the corner of his eye. Hopefully, his violin couldn't be heard in the music department.

The music he was making was true to his perfectionist self, but shared emotion in a way that made it obvious to the listener that this was Len's own version of a serenade.

He observed how Kahoko's expressions morphed. Surprise at first, with her eyes wide and her mouth agape. Then happiness, a wide smile and tears of joy pooling in the corners of her eyes. Finally, acceptance, as she closed her eyes and allowed herself to feel Len's confession to her. He closed his eyes as well, greeted by a rose garden where he and Kahoko were the sole inhabitants. Together, there, he need not speak. Everything was delivered through his music, and she willingly (if not greedily) took it in and just felt what it was that he was feeling.

He adored her, not just because of her tenacity and persistence, but because of her pure need and want to play the music that fully suits and personifies her. The Ave Maria, Clair de Lune, everything that she made her own became a part of her, and each piece was a piece of her that she wanted to share the world. That fearlessness to express her feelings - it was something that Len looked up to.

He was thankful to her, because she taught him to feel when he thought he never could. She taught him to enjoy music, and learn that it wasn't about perfection and technique at all times. That each performance bloomed with emotion and feelings, and that the crowd accepting these feelings was probably a connection that you could never get anywhere else. He was also thankful to her for helping him get through tough times even if she didn't quite know it. Because her smiles and her cheery demeanour taught him that there was more to life than what was offered.

He loved her, because there was no other way to describe how he felt about her. She was special to him, and all he could hope for was that he was equally so to her.

When the song came to an end, Len slowly opened his eyes. The rose garden disappearing, and his golden eyes Kahoko's opening hazel ones. Half of the general education department was probably watching him, but he didn't care because his eyes were only on her - waiting for a response that only she could give him.

Kahoko opened the pink box in her hands, taking out a piece of rose petal infused white chocolate before popping into her mouth. She offered him a smile afterwards.

He smiled back - a sincere one with no holding back - because that was all the answer he needed.

She loved him too. She accepted his feelings. She was giving him her own.


ARTISANAL
"Chocolate produced by an artisan, usually out of a unique blend of beans"
Quite like a unique confession produced and pulled off only by Len


Ahhh, and here we have Len's response. I'll usually post these stories by pairs, but I make no promises seeing as February proves to be hell month for me. Gabsy will back me up at this, and speaking of which, I'm glad you enjoyed the story! Hopefully you enjoy this one too! HaHa! How about everyone else? Are you enjoying these? Cause I am enjoying writing them! Leave a review to tell me all about it if you want. No pressure, or anything. You're just welcome to do so.

I don't really have much to say, so I guess I'll leave it at that. You can also request certain events too, I guess, and I'll see what I can do. I can probably feature other couples too, let's see what happens. I'm honestly not that sure about where I'm heading with this, just that I am enjoying the ideas I have of how Len and Kahoko use the importance of chocolate on Valentine's and White Day.

I own what I own, nothing more and nothing less.
Excuse errors and typos for now, point them out and I'll edit.

HASTA LA BYE BYE
~REIGN~