Red Roses: Guten tag, my readers/friends. Happy (very early) Chinese New Years to my Chinese readers and a Happy (even earlier) Valentine's Day.
One sure way to drain your energy, Taekwondo right after physics. Try lugging your heavy schoolbag home after being physically and mentally drained.
Enough of my problems, onto my replies to my wonderful reviewers.
Light27: It's true, nothing screams romantic comedy like a cooking scene. I hope this chapter will be sweet enough.
kurochan96: Wow, you're pretty intense. Thank you for your kind words.
CherryPop0120: I appreciate your encouragement, though I'm a little confused of the "3 3 3" I guess I'm not up to date with these slangs.
YamadaHikari: If you're hoping for a ShinaKatou moment, you might be pleasantly surprised in this chapter. Hopefully.
MystiqueSilver: I'm positive that Shinako would definitely appreciate your sweet words.
I know many of you dislike Kimiko dearly but please bear with it. Sket Dance doesn't have any major hateful characters (which is one of the reasons I like it so much) so I had to make a character who personifies the terrible side of high school.
Now, the disclaimer...
Yabasawa: Yabasu, Red Roses does not own Sket Dance.
Red Roses: ...Did I see Agata a minute ago?
Yabasawa: Yabasu! Where?!
Red Roses: *ignores* this chapter takes place in chapter 189 in the manga "Sket Dance"
"There, everything is done," Shinako wiped a sweat of her eyebrows as she let out a sigh from a job well done. She slaved over a hot stove making chocolate truffles for Valentine's Day.
Shinako's mother told her it was courtesy to give chocolate to friends as choco giri on Valentine's Day. With that said, Shinako dashed into the kitchen to start making a batch of chocolate treats for her dear friends.
Shinako planned on putting a dozen of chocolate truffles drizzled with strawberry sauce and give them out to her friends in small clear plastic packets. To top it off, she wanted to use the pink ribbon the kind cashier from the other day gave her to close the packets. The older woman did want Shinako to use it for Valentine's Day.
"Now, let's see here," Shinako looked to her list of friends to give her chocolate to, making sure not to miss a single sweet soul. "Ok, then. I'm done."
As the chocolate were freezing in the fridge, Shinako started to write down the names of her friends on a small white tag, each attached to a small plastic bag in a cute handwriting.
When the chocolate was done, the sweet samurai placed an equal amount of the chocolate treats into each clear plastic, then tied the opening with the pink ribbon.
Shinako smiled at her chocolates, seeing how cute it looked with the pretty pink bow. It was fitting for a sweet day like Valentine's Day.
But then, she realized...
"Eh, where did this come from?"
Shinako held an extra chocolate-filled bag in her pale hands, staring at it confusedly. She was only planning to make enough for the people on her list. The Japanese samurai wonder how could there be an extra bag in the pile.
"Ok, this one is for mother, father, Hibi-kun, Shinpei-kun, Shinzou-kun..." The puzzled girl started listing off her list of people she planned on giving chocolates to and she confirmed that she held an extra chocolate gift.
"That's strange, I'm sure I only made enough chocolates for everyone," Shinako mumbled to her herself as she close her eyes to concentrate. Who else was she planning on giving chocolates to?
Then, an image of a certain white-haired boy popped into her head and Shinako's face erupted into a deep scarlet hue. Could it be that Shinako has unconsciously made a Valentine choco giri for her arch-enemy?
"I can't possibly give this to him! He'll think I'm insane!" Shinako screamed in her head, feeling flustered and conflicted.
With her emotions jumbled up, Shinako gave up on trying to rationalize the problem and decided to head to bed. She cleared up the kitchen, washed and dried the kitchen items and keeping the chocolates in a cool place overnight before heading off to her silent bedroom.
Shinako quickly changed her clothes into pajamas and crawled into her soft bed. But, in order to fall asleep, Shinako had to constantly pushed the chocolate gift problems that were stirring up conflicting emotions within her.
The next morning, as Shinako got ready for school, she packed her homemade chocolate into another bag. She left two packets outside on the dinning table.
Shinako placed one packet at the center of the dinning table and took another one before going to straight to her parent's bedroom.
The young samurai saw her mother slumbering peacefully on the queen-sized bed. She tip-toed to her mother bedside table and placed the chocolate packet close to her clock so the older woman would definitely see it when she wakes up.
She smiled warmly at her mother before walking out the bedroom quietly.
"Now, to head for school." Shinako thought before closing the front door and walked in the direction of the school.
"I gave one to Hibi-kun, mother and father. Just a few more people to go," Shinako said her thoughts out loud, walking excitedly to school.
-Time Skip-
"Tsubaki-sama, good morning!" Shinako greeted happily, bento in her hands. The amber-eyed president acknowledged the samurai with his own greeting.
"Good morning, Kikuchi."
Tsubaki, as per routine, graciously took the bento from her hands. Shinako glanced to the president's side to see Katou standing loyally beside Tsubaki as usual.
Everytime the white-haired ninja came to mind, Shinako is reminded of the disastrous night in Kimiko's house the other night. The female samurai only wanted to save her senior from an inevitable heartbreak but Kimiko wanted to hear no part of it.
"How dare you say that?! Mind your own business!"
Shinako shook her head like a dog fresh out of a pond in effort to break her line of thought and knocked her head in slight frustration.
"Why am I thinking about that?!" As Shinako questioned herself, Tsubaki and Katou silently watched her in confusion.
"Kikuchi, are you alright?" Tsubaki asked, uncertainly.
The female samurai flashed him a reassuring smile at the younger Kirishima twin, not wanting to worry him further.
"I'm perfectly fine, Tsubaki-sama."
"Alright," Tsubaki averted his gaze towards a bunch of loitering ne'er-do-wells hanging about the gate. "Hey, get to class! No loitering around the front gate.
Tsubaki angrily makes his way to the students, leaving Katou and Shinako behind. Shinako turned a worried gaze upon her proclaimed master. She noticed how agitated Tsubaki seemed to be that morning.
"I wonder if Tsubaki-sama is alright himself. He seems troubled," the chocolate-eyed samurai muttered with concern to which Katou, with his sensitive hearing, overheard.
"You truly are hopeless, aren't you?"
Shinako snapped out from her worry to glare at the brash ninja beside her, quickly agitated by his rude comment.
"What is that supposed to mean?!" She questioned him, her brown orbs glaring deathly at Katou's charcoal orbs.
"The president isn't just a name. President works hard to keep this school in check everyday, none stop" Katou looked on the cat-eyed president with proud admiration. "Not only does he do it for the students, he does it with pride."
Shinako smiled as she watched admirably the black-haired boy. "I never thought I would agree with you on something but, I do."
The sweet samurai's eye glistened with respect. "I would follow that man to the ends of the Earth."
Without his own notice, Katou's white eyebrow twitched a bit. Annoyed, the ninja forcibly grabbed Shinako by the shoulder and pushed her towards the school building.
"What? What are you-" the surprised samurai tried to angrily question Katou's motif for pushing her against her will but the brash Student Council member ignored her.
"Get to class, troublesome samurai."
"Quit pushing!"
"He kept pushing me and he didn't bother to answer a single question. What a jerk!"
Shinako told Shinpei everything of that morning's events as he simply stood their as his fellow samurai vent out her emotions.
"I thought we're on the same page for a while. What is his problem?" She huffed and let out a sigh of frustration. Shinpei, though, knew the white-haired ninja true motif.
"She really can't tell, can she?" the brown-haired man thought as he watched his childhood friend glaring at the ground.
Shinako then remembered something as she pulled out her bag. She dug around her carrier bag and pulled out one of the chocolate packets.
She handed the choco giri with an equally sweet smile. "Here, Shinpei-kun!"
Shinpei was pleasantly surprised of her gift as he graciously accept her chocolates. "Thanks, Shinako."
"I even made one for Shinzou-kun," Shinako pulled out another chocolate gift with said samurai's name on it. "I hope he'll like it."
"I'm sure he will."
Just then, one of Shinako and Shinpei's classmates were fooling around in class when he accidentally bumped into Shinako. Surprised, Shinako dropped her homemade chocolate and it was crushed as the same clumsy classmate accidentally stepped on it.
"Oh no!"
"Ah! Sorry!"
The clumsy classmate apologized profusely after he realized what he has done. Shinako calmly waved him off, already forgiven him but still little upset.
"What am I to do now? I can't possibly give it to him anymore."
Shinpei gently patted the sullen girl in attempt to cheer her up.
"Don't worry, Shinako. I can share mine with my brother. It was the thought that counts."
Shinako's face lit up and her smile brightened.
"Come on, try one of the chocolate now" Shinako nudged his shoulder with her own. Shinpei smiled as he obeyed and untied the pink ribbon.
The tan-skined samurai popped a chocolate truffle into his mouth. He slowly chew the chocolate, savouring the flavour.
"Not bad. I like it."
The pale samurai beamed with pride. "I feel insulted if you didn't."
Shinpei grinned in return as he ruffled her hair playfully. "Don't let it go to your head now."
"Hey, quit it! Do you know how long it takes to keep my hair like this?" Shinako tried to sound annoyed with him but she ended up breaking into a fit of giggles.
As Shinpei joined in the laughter, Katou entered the classroom and saw the two cheerful samurais. Something about those two almost get on his nerves but seeing them together just makes it worse.
"Um, Katou-kun..."
The white-haired ninja turned to see his caller. He saw a short girl, hiding something behind her back as she fidgeted with her feet.
"Can I talk with you alone?" she asked, innocently.
Katou raised an eyebrow at her. What did she want?
"Takeshida-sensei, happy Valentine's Day!" Shinako said, cheerily handing the newly awoken school doctor.
"Huh?" The sleepy brunette snapped out from his drowsiness and noticed the smiling female samurai. "Sheesh, such a troublesome day."
Shinako titled her head in confusion. "Huh, what do you mean?"
"A lot of giggling brats came in and gave me these" he pointed to the pile of chocolate on his desk. "I can't possibly eat all of this."
Even though Takeshida saw this bothersome, Shinako broke into a smile.
"They're just very appreciative of you, Takeshida-sensei. You should count your blessings."
The maroon-eyed man stared at his cheery student and let out an exasperated sigh as he gave into the girl's optimism.
Harumi, watching from the sidelines, felt a sweat drop down the side of her blank face. She was the only one that knew that the girls who gave Takeshida those chocolates has never even set foot in the infirmary before.
"Those two..." the brunette let out a sigh when she saw a cute chocolate packet in her line of vision. She noticed her junior offering a choco giri to her.
"For you, Harumi-san" Shinako smiled as she handed her chocolate to her jade-eyed senior.
Harumi squealed in glee as she embraced the naive samurai into a tight hug.
"How cute!"
"H-Harumi-san, you're chocking me!"
After that close brush with death via Harumi's vice grip hug, Shinako head to her last stop, the Student Council room.
As she got closer to her destination, Shinako heard voices front the other side of the door. To play it safe, Shinako knocked on the door before going in.
When she opened the door, she did not expect to see two unfamiliar pretty girls in the room. But, when she got a closer look, her heart paused for a brief second when she realized...
Those pretty girls were Tsubaki and Katou!
"T-Tsubaki-sama! K-K-Katou!" Shinako managed to stutter out as she saw the normally masculine figures of the Student Council dressed as the pretty feminine females. Shinako did what any semi-normal teenager would do.
"AHAHAHAHAHA!"
She laughed out loud.
Shinako was laughing at her heart's content, clutching her sides to ease the pain in her gut. She fell backwards and her back hit the door behind. It was the only thing supporting her at the moment.
"This...is one of...the best days...of my life!" Shinako said inbetween laughs. Soon, she eased up on her laughing and reduced to a few chuckles and giggles. "What is this all about?"
Unyuu and Daisy told the Japanese samurai the whole situation, how they were trying to help Usami give out her choco giri to the boys.
"I see, now I understand" Shinako turned to smirk at the cross-dressing ninja. "How noble of you...Kiriko"
Said 'girl' glared daggers at the chuckling samurai but refused to reply to her.
Shinako noticed that the black-haired president sitting quietly on the couch. Normally, he would have something to say at least but he seems out of it.
"Is Tsubaki-sama alright?" Shinako asked albeit worriedly.
Unyuu smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, he just spaces out when things like this happens~"
A clueless man as always" Daisy added on her words with Unyuu's.
After the boys changed, Shinako handed out her choco giri to the girls, her beloved master and hesitatingly, Katou.
"How sweet. Thank you, Shinako-chan" Unyuu smiled happily
"How cute..." Daisy uttered, admiring the cute looking packet.
"Thank you" Usami thanked her.
"That's very kind of you, Kikuchi" Tsubaki expressed his gratitude with his own smile.
"..." Katou was the only one left who hasn't said a word about Shinako's chocolate.
"What?" Shinako questioned him, annoyed. He looked at that chocolate like it was poisoned.
"Why would you give one to me?" Katou finally said something. A question.
Shinako blushed slightly as she turned her head from him.
"For some reason, I made an extra pack while I was making the chocolate. I thought, since I was here I would give that extra packet to you"
Katou still didn't look convinced. Shinako felt a vein on her forehead.
"Just take it, alright?! It's not going to kill you" Shinako's tone lowered a bit in volume. "I'm sure Kimiko-san has given you some chocolate as well"
"...who?"
Shinako's eyed widened as she turned back to the ninja.
"Kimiko? Hajime Kimiko?"
"..."
"My other Health Committee senior?"
"..."
"You've met her before this, for Pete's sake!"
"..."
Shinako groaned hopelessly. "Seriously, how many girls could have possibly offered you chocolate?"
"A lot, actually" Unyuu answered for Katou. Shinako looked at her busty senior in surprised. "Many girls had tried to give Kiri-kun their Valentine's Day chocolate but he rejected all of them~"
Shinako face expressed a look of disbelief. "What is wrong with the girls in this school?!"
Katou felt a little irked at that comment but he couldn't care less about Valentine's Day anyway. "I told you before, relationships are ridiculous."
"Besides Daisy's and my own, you're the only girl Kiri-kun accepted chocolate from" Unyuu noted.
That sentence shouldn't mean much but, Shinako felt a slight flutter in her stomach as her blush darkened. And, when she heard he rejected everyone else's, she felt a little relieved.
"How strange, why do I feel this way?"
"Your chocolate is too sweet"
Katou's comment snapped Shinako's line of thought as she saw Katou already started eating her chocolate.
"Chocolate is meant to be sweet, you idiot!" she immediately argued back.
"You're still a bratty kid, eating sweet candy like this."
"Why you-"
Red Roses: That's all for now, hope you like this chapter. Valentine's Day... not quite sure how a massacre from 1929 is romantic but humans do crazy stuff.
Anyway, how about a challenge for my faithful readers? I challenge you to pick a song you feel fits Shinako and Katou's relationship the best. If I like it, I may write a songfic out of it.
What do you say? Challenge accepted?
Well, Auf Wiedersehen.
