A/N: Of course I could not refuse the temptation to do a Valentine's Day themed story.
Disclaimer: If they were mine, this wouldn't have remained platonic.
The lid refused to fall shut. With a slight sigh, he shoved the brightly wrapped boxes deeper into the trashcan. Even with his best endeavours, the ribbons stuck out still, but there was nothing he could do save go back to his locker to bring the rest to join their companions.
As he came back to the can with the last load, a wave and bright smile caught his eye. Harada-san hurried over to him, beaming with an exuberance odd even for her, and she chirruped, "Good morning, Hiwata—what on earth are you doing?"
He turned away from her suddenly aghast visage and continued to cram the gift boxes into the trashcan. Though the answer was obvious, he felt inclined to answer. "I am disposing of these chocolates."
"Why?" she asked, a mixture of bewilderment and horror in her voice.
Sighing slightly, he glanced back at her as he replied, "Because I do not like chocolate."
"But... but you can't!" she cried, shaking her head and peering at the collection he had already thrown out.
"Clearly, I can," he countered, stuffing another box in the trash. Before he could further prove himself, she grabbed his wrist.
"I mean, you can't just get rid of them like this!" she expounded, gesturing to the numerous boxes. "The girls gave their chocolates to you because they care about you! By giving you chocolates, they put their feelings in your hands—you can't just throw them away like they don't matter."
He felt an inkling of exasperation at her overly sentimental viewpoint. If she expected him to sit down and publicly consume chocolates in such quantity that no mortal could reasonably survive in order to encourage the unwanted, unrealizable affections of girls, she was going to be disappointed.
"Harada-san," he said firmly, removing himself from her grip, "I can assure you that I will not be breaking their hearts. I have handled Valentine's Day like this before." He sighed. If only they would come to understand that he did not enjoy liberating himself of their undesirable presents. "If they truly cared, they would not want me to eat all of this chocolate."
"Maybe you could have one from each," she suggested with her usual stubbornness.
He lifted an eyebrow and continued his defense, "These chocolates are merely tradition. I do not have to eat them to receive their point."
"You are so... so... oh, I don't even think there's a word for it!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "Fine. Throw them away."
While he did not need her permission, it certainly guaranteed a more peaceful termination of the situation. Emptying his arms at last, he allowed himself a sigh of relief and turned to head off to class.
"Have soba with me, then."
He stopped, his eyebrow arching, then turned around to look at Harada-san again. Her fist was on her hip and she still appeared somewhat annoyed. Lifting his eyebrow further, he asked, "Excuse me?"
"If you don't want chocolate, then we can get soba together so you don't miss out on to-day," she explained with a wave of her hand.
His eyebrow strained to go higher. Why would he care to celebrate such an aggravating day as Valentine's?
His expression, however, did not properly convey his thoughts to Harada-san. Instead, she flushed violently and threw her hands out in front of herself as she exclaimed in embarrassment, "I didn't mean that! I have someone to give chocolates to! I didn't mean that we'd... I just didn't mean that!"
He blinked at her flustered denial of something that had not even crossed his mind, then nearly let himself chuckle. She was an odd girl.
"All right, Harada-san," he said, cutting off her further attempts to explain her thought process, a pitifully hopeless struggle on her part.
Letting her hands drop to her sides, she took a deep breath. "What?"
"I will have soba with you," he clarified with a shrug and turned around again. "After school."
"Oh... okay... good," she mumbled and then lifted her voice again. "But I'm giving my chocolates to Dark-san!"
He raised a hand, half to wave and half to brush off her words. Even if she was in love with his enemy, he did not mind so much that she was also the only girl to actually care about him.