A/N: Before this chapter begins, I would like to formally apologize for not releasing this chapter on Valentine's Day itself. As cliche as it is to say again, life gets in the way and made it difficult for me to complete. All the same, with that said, I do hope that this was worth the wait. Also, I at least got a set-up chapter released before the holiday so just let me have that one! XD


If there was one thing that the girls had all agreed upon as the holiday that had long since been awaited by that point, Valentine's Day, finally arrived, it was to make sure that one Heart Aino remained calm and civil during the day. Saki Tsuzura as established prior to this, was not one who readily trusted others with just about anything with the very rare exception of Heart. However, in such an occasion where Heart herself was losing her marbles, high off the mere potential of love in the air, Saki was willing to make an exception to ensure that Heart did not find herself being punished by any authority figure for things she may be forced to do.

Henceforth, she gathered up the rest of Heart's standard clique with the inclusion of Akane, Lilica, Weiß, Kamui, Konoha, Maori, plus her newer friends of Chie, Yukiko, Noel and her group, Team RWBY, Orie, Mika, Asuka, and Yumi. All of them were there with the same basic mission in mind: To make sure that Heart did not go balistic.

"Okay everyone," Saki said. "Are we all clear about what we're doing?"

"Quite," Yumi replied. "We make sure that Heart-chan is not going to do anything that could run the risk of bringing injury to herself or anybody else."

"That is correct," Maori said. "Be aware, however, while it might not seem like a hard goal on the surface, Heart can be a bit... exagerrated with her loving nature."

"Nice play on words there," Lilica pointed out.

"Well," Chie said, "if the other day was anything to go off of, I think we all know that Heart-chan can be quite wild. So it shouldn't be that much worse, yeah?"

"You never know," Weiß replied. "That was just Heart anticipating the day itself. Who knows what she might be capable on the actual day."

"That is a good point. But I think we can handle whatever Heart hads to throw at us. I mean, how bad could it actually be? It is just Heart after all."

"I think," Scharlachrot said, having naturally followed Weiß, "that is exactly a reason you should be afraid. It's the commander you're talking about here."

the others all gave each other a lookj.

"That's a good point," they collectively agreed.

Before long. they all turned a corner on the street leading directly to the bakery where Heart lived. They were in the version of Japan that Heart and all the other Maidens lived in, in the hopes of ensuring that Heart would not trouble anybody. It was fairly early in the morning, with a distinctive chill in the air forcing everyone to wear extra layers to stave off the cold. But as they turned the corner, they all saw something that ,made their blood turn to ice.

They saw a large number of streamers strung up between the buildings on either side of the street, accentuating the massive holiday banners that hung up overhead, with labels advertising "Happy Valentine's Day!" A bunch of stands were lined up with different games and candies or pastries of every festive manner you could think of! Absolute waves of pink and red were everywhere the eye could see, and there was a certain warmth from all the lights and the different ovens heating the food, definitely a contrast from the cold and inhospitable environment that the girls were in not a few steps away.

It didn't take a genius to figure out exactly who was responsible for all of this. And sure enough, not a moment later, the one responsible appeared. "Hey you guys!~!" she cheered. "You like it?"

"Like it?" Asuka said. "More like we're mortified by it!"

"How did you do all of this by yourself?" Noel asked.

"How else?" Heart asked. "A lot of effort!"

"That doesn't really explain anything," Chie replied.

"Well," Heart said, "I did a lot to make sure that everything got ready! Nothing can stop you when you're fighting for the sake of love!"

"Does love really defy the laws of physics?" Kamui asked.

"Don't be silly!" Weiss said.

"Heart," Yumi said, "what happened to your hands?"

Heart held up her hands, which were covered in a bunch of band aids or bruises. "I got a little overboard," she said.

"You're not hurt are you?" Saki wondered, checking Heart's hands cautiously to ensure that her friend wasn't really hurt.

"Nah," Heart replied. "I'm fine! Like I said, love fixes everything!"

"That's not an excuse for hurting yourself you dummy," Saki said. "Please be careful in the future."

"Okay, Sa-Sa," Heart said. "Sorry for spooking you."

"I must say, Heart," Ysubaki said. "I am impressed by the amount of work you were able to manage on your won. Typically you seem a bit... distracted to accomplish such a task."

"Well," Blake replied, "like she said. Love can make you do things."

"But there are so many stands," Yumi added. "Are you meaning to tell me you're going to handle all of this yourself?"

"Of course!" Heart said. "With everyone else coming here to celebrate, I'm going to make sure that everyone has a great time!"

"You can't handle it all by yourself, Heart," Saki said. "You will need more help."

"Wait," Ruby said. "Are we going to be helping her with this?"

"Only if you so choose," Saki said. "I'm determined to help her. And can I presume everyone else will help her as well?" she added, referring ot the others from her world. They all gave a nod, save for Lilica and Scharlachrot, the former who was looking around nervously.

"Hey hold on," she said. "I never agreed to that."

"But you know," Weiß said, "we did come here to help her and keep her out of trouble. In any way we can."

"Ugh," Scharlachrot said. "I hate it when you make sense."

"Same," Lilica added.

"Well," Orie said, "I can't deny there is a certain appeal to the idea of helping in a situation like this. What do you say, Mika? Do you want to help out the others as well?"

"Oh," Mika said. "Well, I guess it could be fun. Okay! I'm willing to go down!"

"We'll help too!" Noel said, with Tsubaki nodding behind her.

"Well," Ruby said. "If you guys are going, we should too, right?"

"I don't think that'll be necessary," Saki said. "We have enough here. The rest of you can enjoy yourselves until everyone else gets here."

"That's a good point," Makoto said. "We'll see ya all later!"

"Don't let Noel anywhere near the cooking appliances!" Asuka barked, causing the Calamity Trigger herself to mewl in distress.

For several minutes or so, the group of girls familiarized themselves with the area so as to ensure that when the "guests" arrived, they would be welcomed to a real treat. Sure enough, Heaert's friends did their part to listen to instructions that the Rare Maiden recommended they do, but also did their part to ensure she was at least partially restrained in her requests.

Heart certainly didn't mind the extra help or guidance. She was always appreciative of her friends, and took their recommendations with weight. Truth be told, she wasn't that worried about putting things into place for the festivities itself to get the couples she wanted together. She had already done the majority of what she had to a few days prior by giving the girls that secret chocolate for the guys.

The festivities were really just something to have a bit more fun. Something akin to a party in honor of the holiday. And something that everyone, no matter if they are being shipped to a couple or standing out on their own, could enjoy.

As much as she would prefer nudging things in the right direction, she knew that she would have to stand idly by and hope that she did enough to get things going the way she would prefer.


Sure enough, not long later, most of the others showed up, all of them taking in the sights before them. Ragna was there, Heart having begged him to show up. And as much as Ragna would have naturally decided not to have anything to do with this, the amount that Heart was annoying him before he finally gave in and agreed to come was enough to drain away any sense of him getting peace with her pestering him that much.

Ergo, Ragna showed up and arrived about the same time as most of the others. Valentine's Day was not a day that he was real privy to. It was Jin's birthday and that was such a blatant thing in his head it was hard for him to ever enjoy the day as what it's more universally recognized as.

For that matter, it was hard for him to enjoy it in general given that Ragna was not exactly somebody who often looked at romance. Given his inherent nature or lifestyle, however you choose to look at it, romance was basically something that he tried to avoid. So with Heart having called him here for an obvious purpose, he wasn't exactly down for whatever it was she had in mind.

This only became that much more ingrained in his head as he saw the layout that Heart had established in the middle of the street around her house. Ragna did not drop his stoic expression, though he did raise an eyebrow, before letting out a tired sigh. "Yare, yare, daze," he said.

"Hi Ragna!" Heart said, suddenly manifesting behind him.

"Hello pink menace," Ragna replied sarcastically. "So any particular reason why you called me here?"

"Why else!?" Heart replied.

"It's Valentine's Day!" Heart said. "And we're gonna make everyone so happy!"

"I don't like happy," Ragna replied. He was kidding, of course. Though Heart's exuberant energy left drained much of his own energy far too much.

Noel he could handle. Ruby he could tolerate. But Heart was something else entirely. Her nature that was so utterly bizarre, even to those from her own dimension, honestly gave Ragna the impression that she came from her own personal reality where the populace had sugar in their blood, and chocolate for brains.

"Ra-Ra!" Heart snapped. "This is serious!"

"I fail to grasp the seriousness of the situation," Ragna replied.

Heart bent over backwards, groaning dramatically. "Please Ra-Ra! Please!" she said, getting on her knees and clasping her hands together.

Ragna rolled his eyes. However, upon taking a glance at Heart's pathetic expression, he gave another exasperated exclamation. She was just lucky that Ragna had a soft spot for innocent, cute young girls. (Don't take that outta context you sickos.)

"Pray tell," he said, "exactly what did you have in mind?"

Heart smiled and jumped up to her feet! "Okay!" she said. "I need you to help nudge some of the couples together. I already gave the girls gifts for the guys ahead a time. All ninja like, you know. But not a literal ninja like Asuka or Yumi, I mean more like, all being sneaky like so they wouldn't notice."

"Yeah, I gathered," Ragna replied. "But what couples are you talking about? I don't know almost anybody here that's in a real relationship."

"Duh!" Heart said, knocking on her own skull for emphasis. "I mean the obvious ones! Wei-Wei and Yu-Yu! Shi-Shi and Kan-Kan! Ru-Ru and Hy-Hy!"

"Say there name's in full," Ragna said, "or else I'll have even less of an idea about who the hell you're talking about!" He emphasized by gently chopping Heart on the head.

"Oh, right," Heart said. "I mean Weiss and Yu, Shirogane and Kanji, Ruby and Hyde! You know, the obvious ones!"

Ragna sighed once again. "I'm not going to help you in your quest," he said. "Just leave them alone so they can move naturally."

"No!" Heart declared. "Not today! Not today of all days! I'm already doing more than enough by keeping back in the first place, since Sa-Sa and the others won't let me do anything! So I need you to act as my middle man!"

"I don't want to be your middle man," Ragna replied.

"Please!" Heart said, dropping to her knees and holding her hands again.

"Stop doing that," Ragna said. But once again, his will was drained as he saw Heart in such a pathetic state. "Fine!" he said, submitting to defeat again. "Just please stop with that already."

"Thank you Ra-Ra!" Heart said. "Like I said, the girls already have the marked chocos I offered them. So just nudge them in the right direction! I owe you one!" she turned and ran back to where she left Saki, before the girl in question could throw a tantrum.

"For this," Ragna called behind her, "I deserve, like, fifty!" He merely stood in place watching the pink haired girl run off, before he began massaging his brow and wondering just what exactly he got himself into.


"So," Hyde said, observing the set-up that Heart had laid out for them. "What exactly are Heart's super powers again? I'm just asking as I'm still trying to comprehend exactly how it is she did this all entirely without help."

"From what I've gathered," Yu replied, rubbing his chin as he joined the In-Birth in analyzing the layout, "nothing that could conceivably account for this."

From nearby, the rest of the guys (ie; Sun, Kanji, Kurogane, Neptune, Jaune, Teddie, Ren, Yosuke, and a very bored Seth. Not sure if this needs to be elaborated, but it'll happen regardless) were playing a couple of the games lining the road, as the two level-headed boys were just struggling to understand all of this.

Not far away, one Weiss Schnee was looking at them, her face as red as her partner's cape as she did her best to muster up the courage to walk over there. "Okay," she said. "It's totally fine. They're right next to each other, so there should be no problem at all. It's not like you're targeting one for a particular reason or anything. Nope. This is all strictly platonic. Not romantic in the slightest."

She was gripping the box that Heart had given her. She bit her lip as she felt like she was about to suffer an aneurysm at any moment! Her hands were clammy, sweat was pouring off her brow, and her heart was actually hurting in her chest!

"Oh!" she said, stomping on the ground in frustration. "Why is it so hard for me to do this!?"

"Hi Weiss," she suddenly heard. She yelped in surprise and jumped in the air, before realizing it was just Asuka standing in front of her!

"Asuka!" Weiss cursed. "Don't do that! You scared the living daylights out of me!"

"Oh, sorry," Asuka said. "I just saw you having an episode and was wondering if there was anything I could do to help."

"No," Weiss replied, shaking her head. "At least, not particularly."

"What's up?" Asuka asked, tilting her head to the side a bit out of curiosity.

Weiss bit her lip. She didn't want to admit how awkward she was feeling at the moment. But simultaneously, she wasn't that close with Asuka, so she could potentially trust her as an unbiased source. Any of her teammates or those within her social circle would just mock her, she was sure of it. She finally relented, preferring to just have somebody to talk to about this in the first place.

"I'm just struggling with this situation," she replied. "I've never really celebrated Valentine's Day in any capacity and now that I can, I am far too awkward to handle the situation well."

"Really?" Asuka asked. "Are you trying to ask one of the guys to be your Valentine?"

"Certainly not!" Weiss said, spooking Asuka just a bit. "I'm just giving candy to all of them... But even that's far too embarrassing for me to go through!"

Asuka smirked and raised a brow. "It really shouldn't be," she said. "I mean, you said it yourself, it's not like you're being romantic about it. It's just a courtesy. I mean, it certainly looks like Ruby's not having any trouble."

Weiss perked up as she turned to see Ruby walking over to the guys with her own box of candy at that same moment! "Oh no!" Weiss said. Determined not to be outdone by her leader, she shot over to the scene, leaving Asuka to merely laugh in her wake.

Meanwhile, Ragna was standing off to the side of the group of guys, merely thinking about how he was going to approach the situation. He had already "accepted" this task from Heart and was just doing everything in his power to consider exactly how he was going to approach the situation. However, he saw Ruby and Weiss approaching them at that moment. All the best for him. As it gave him less work to do.

"Hey Kido. Narukami," he said, catching their attention. "Look's like you both got company."

Both boys turned to see the girls coming closer, which prompted them both to come to a collective halt a few feet in front of them!

"Hey you two," Yu greeted warmly, waving to them, with Hyde complying with a nod of his own.

"Hey there guys!" Ruby greeted, Weiss unable to meet their eyes, as she found herself frozen in place again, silently screaming at herself for even daring to do this.

"What's that you got there?" Hyde asked, looking at the boxes they were holding.

Ruby snuck a glance at Weiss, seeing her partner's embarrassment clear as day. So in return, she decided to do her a solid as she replied. "Well," she said, "Weiss and I decided to each get you guys some chocolate! As sort of a celebration for being so awesome!"

"It's a talent," Yu replied dryly.

"But we appreciate the gesture all the same," Hyde said, catching Narukami's sarcasm.

"What's this I hear about chocolate?" Jaune asked, suddenly making his presence known from behind the other two. Ruby laughed as Weiss let out a scoff at the blonde's antics.

The two Huntresses-in-training handed out their candy to the guys, making it apparent this was all strictly platonic once again. Ruby did her best to take Chie and Yukiko's advice about just being relaxed about it, despite the fact that a bit of a blush was visible on her face. Weiss on the other hand was full own tsundere mode, short of saying the standard "it's not like I like you or anything!"

"Did you two make these yourselves?" Ren asked, savoring the flavor of his chocolate.

"Well... kinda," Ruby replied. "It was sort of a group effort on our part between myself and the other girls!"

Kanji choked the next moment, just about gagging upon hearing what Ruby said as the other guys all froze still as statues! "Don't worry," Ruby added, "we didn't let Chie or Yukiko do just about anything. And Noel was nowhere to be found." That caused the guys to visibly relax and sigh in relief, Kanji catching his breath.

"Well," Hyde added, "it's awesome you were all able to do this."

"Does this mean we can expect the other girls to show up and offer us something soon?" Neptune added.

"Eventually," Ruby replied. "Probably."

Weiss gave a nod, before she looked over at the Kingpin of Steel she'd had plaguing her mind pretty much all morning. She hadn't given him his gift yet, as she offering sweets to the others was hard enough on her psyche. But, finally, she managed to work up the courage to approach him.

Yu himself could tell that something was bugging her, but was doing his part by acting patient around her. The one thing he'd learnt about Weiss was to let her come to you first, as she would get frustrated far too easily if you moved too fast.

"H-h-here Narukami," she said. "I-I got you one as well."

"Thank you Weiss," Yu replied. He analyzed the chocolate she gave him, spotting something a bit more curious about it when compared to the rest.

Something he noted was the chocolate that the girls had handed out were all darker chocolates, but the one that Weiss just handed him was... well, white. Not to mention, there was also a very visible heart engraved in the center of it. He would have brought it up, but Weiss had already ran off almost at a full sprint, slugging Yosuke in the chest with something as she ran past!

"What the heck was that all about?" Yosuke wondered, looking at what Weiss had given him with a raised eyebrow.

"I have an idea," Yu said, smirking at the heiress's antics.

"Hey," Kurogane observed, "how come you got white chocolate?"

Yu looked at the candy in his hand one more time, still smiling. "No reason," he added mysteriously, before taking a bite and savoring the taste.

Yosuke was still confused, taking another bite out of the candies he had as he looked at the package that Weiss had handed off to him. It was a wrapped up gift, with a tag on the top that read: "Have you asked her yet, you dolt? Give this to her! You owe me one!"

Yosuke didn't have to be as observant as Shirogane to tell what Weiss was telling him. He delivered his own smile off in the direction that Weiss had ran off to, as he slipped off the tag, revealing a second one that read: "For Makoto Nanaya."

As he took his leave from the rest of the group, Hyde and Ruby were both looking with wide eyes in the direction Weiss had bolted for. "Is she okay?" Hyde asked.

"Honestly," Ruby said, "sometimes stuff like that is just normal for Weiss."

"True," Hyde added.

"Anyway," Ruby said, "I should go after her. U-uh, here's your chocolate Hyde," she added, handing him his gift, as she ran off!

"Okay, see ya!" Hyde said. He smirked as he took a bite of the candy that he was given. But that's when he picked up on something.

He raised a brow as he realized that the flavor of the chocolate that Ruby had given him was different than the one that Weiss had given him. He took another bite from the one Weiss gave him, before comparing it to a bite from the one Ruby gave him. The flavor of Ruby's was a bit more... potent?

He didn't really know why that was, however. True, Ruby said she made hers whilst Weiss had added at one point she had Heart make hers for her, but they shouldn't have been that different? At least to the extent Hyde was picking up on.

"What's with that face, little brother?" Sun observed, mouth full.

"Maybe Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai did do something to your chocolate?" Kanji asked nervously.

"It's not that," Hyde replied. "They're both fine. Really good actually. But something about Ruby's tastes a bit... different?"

"Really?" Jaune asked. "I didn't notice anything different between the two. At least not that much."

"Huh," Hyde wondered, now even more baffled with that info in mind. He noticed something directly to his left, before he jumped in shock as he noticed Teddie was sniffing the chocolate in his hands! "T-Ted!" he said, bopping the bear-costumed...thing in the head! "What is with that!?"

"Oh, sorry," Teddie said. "I was just smelling your chocolate to test what might be the difference."

"Really?" Neptune asked. "Well what did you find?"

"Oh nothing~" Teddie said, a devious smile on his face.

"Well that didn't sound convincing," Kanji said, voicing what everyone else was thinking.

Truth be told, Teddie was able to pick up on the differences in the chocolate that Heart had ensured to include. Being the wannabe hopeless romantic that he was, Teddie was very well aware of the practices that were typically done in Japan for Valentine's Day, revolving around the preparations of Giri-choco and Honmei-choco, and could tell that the one Ruby had just given Hyde was Honmei-choco, not Giri-choco like she had given everyone else. Plus, he didn't even need to test Yu's to tell that it was a very similar case.

While he would be lying if he said he wasn't at least a bit jealous, he couldn't deny that this was a very interesting development. One he would have to observe in the future.


Not a few minutes before all of this, one Rise Kujikawa sensed a great disturbance in the air. So much to the point she slammed the counter of the game stand she had just been at with Orie and Noel! "Something is terribly wrong!" she said.

"R-Rise!" Orie said. "You startled me!"

"Seriously," Noel added. "What happened?"

"I need to look into this!" Rise said, bolting off without any sort of explanation!

Orie and Noel merely watched her go, both rather baffled by this. "Uh," Noel said, "should one of us go after her?"

"Good point," Orie said. "I'll follow her."

The Executor did as told and followed the diva as she arrived at where the guys were located. Silent as the dead as she sneakily watched from behind a corner, she saw as Ruby and Weiss were handing out their chocolate. And sure enough, she saw Weiss hand Yu her very distinctive chocolate to her leader and senpai, which caused the diva to just about crack the corner she was hiding behind with her grip!

"W-w-w-w-w-w-w-what does that Ice Queen think she's doing!?" she demanded, startling Orie something fierce! Rise knew clear as day from the number of messages that Weiss had sent the rest of the Investigation Team in terms of interacting with Narukami that the heiress had something of an attraction to him. Which was very problematic since the idol was very clearly infatuated with him as well, and had made a case for ensuring that everyone knew she effectively "claimed" him as her own. This didn't go onto the levels of Rise acting hostile towards Weiss, but she did have some self-imposed rivalry with her for Narukami's affections.

"S-something wrong, Rise?" Orie asked.

"No duh something's wrong!" Rise said. "That little Ice Queen just gave my senpai a special chocolate when he's supposed to be with me!"

Orie tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Isn't that his choice?" she asked.

"W-well," Rise stuttered, "he should be with me! I've been trying for way longer to have Yu-senpai be my boyfriend, and he's never rejected me at all! Of course I'm waiting for him to say 'yes' or 'no', but Weiss has no right to step in when he hasn't even given me an answer yet!"

Orie bit her lip as she knew fully well that this was going to be a hard conversation. It was pretty obvious that one of the main reasons why Narukami had never replied to her infatuations was he was just too polite to bother turning her down. That or he was just so oblivious he never actually realized it, but that was up for debate. Either way, Orie was now struggling to come up with a proper response.

"W-well," Orie said, "technically there isn't really anything stopping Weiss from trying to win him over either, is there?"

"No," Rise admitted. "But, I mean, haven't you been frustrated by seeing Ruby-chan getting so cozy with Hyde-kun lately?"

"H-huh!?" Orie said, face reddening. "W-why would I care about that!?"

"Come on Orie-chan," Rise said, "all of the girls know that you've had a crush on Hyde-kun."

"Aino told you, didn't she?" Orie asked.

"Having literal power of love comes in handy," Rise said snarkily.

Orie sighed. "I mean," she said, "yeah, I did have feelings for Kido. But after he found out I was a member of the Licht Kries and I discovered his alignment with the Night Blade... I dunno. I guess we just sort of had a falling out."

"It doesn't show," Rise said.

"Not really," Orie replied. "I mean there's no legitimate bad blood between us, but, I guess you could say... he has his life and I have mine. And there's no intermingling between the two. We're simply just at odds with each other now and that sort of makes any relationship quite difficult."

"But doesn't it still hurt you to see Ruby-chan clinging to him so much?" Rise asked.

"Well I would be lying if I said it doesn't hurt a little," Orie said. "But I know that it would be cruel of me to try stepping in and imposing my own desires over Kido's own. If he does end up wanting to be with Ruby or another girl entirely, who am I to get in the way of that?"

"Being a member of the Licht Kries just makes relationships in general very hard. I've had to lie to so many people about who I really am and where I come from. That's why I'm so happy to have all of you, who know me and have befriended me for who I really am. And while I would like to be with a man who would truly love me for me someday, it'll have to happen at its own pace. In the meantime, the Licht Kries comes first, and Kido simply just does not apply."

Rise scowled, finding that way of life very upsetting to hear. She did want the best for Orie, but if that was her way of thinking there was nothing Rise could do to change that. But for the time being, Rise was more concerned with returning to what she had been complaining about in the first place.

"Well," she said, "what do you think about me and Narukami-senpai then? Do you think he applies with me?"

"Of course I do," Orie said. "But like I said before, it's his choice whether he wants to be with you or Weiss. And I think if you're really serious about him, caring about his feelings, you'll do what I did with Kido and respect his wishes, and allow him true happiness. No matter what he decides."

Rise aimed her gaze at the ground. She knew Orie was right. Of course she was right. Orie was just smarter than Rise was in so many ways, the Persona user was able to see that even without Himiko.

If Rise really did care about Narukami, she would let him be happy with the person he chose. That was the sign of true love. Making sacrifices for the person you cared about. Even if they hurt.

"I suppose you're right," she said. "But just know, I'm not going to give up anytime soon. Until I get my answer, I'm gonna keep trying."

"I wouldn't expect any different," Orie replied with a laugh.

"But I suppose in the meantime," Rise added, "I should explore my other options, yes?"

"Huh?" Orie wondered.

"And," Rise said, grabbing Orie's hand, "you're gonna come with me!"

"W-wha-huh!?" Orie said, face turning red.

"I mean," Rise said, "just cause' you fell out with Kido-kun doesn't mean that no guy here will pick you up! Like they say, 'plenty of fish in the sea'!"

"Rise, wait!" Orie said, but it was too late. Rise tugged Orie along behind her towards the group of guys!


Ragna was still stuck in a rut. Despite Ruby and Weiss giving their gifts to the guys that Heart was hoping for, even without Ragna's help, that still left him with far too many things left to do. The most he could hope for was that a very similar set of circumstances would happen without his input. And thankfully, it looked like Yosuke would be a very similar case, as he was walking with a definite skip in his step towards where Ragna was sure Makoto was hanging out.

"Hey Hanamura," Ragna greeted, catching up with the Prince of Junes and keeping pace with him.

"Oh, hey Ragna-san," Yosuke greeted. "What's up? Enjoying the Valentine's Party?"

"Not particularly," Ragna replied. "But it can't be helped. Looking for Makoto?"

Yosuke's face reddened. "Guessing Ruby-chan told you I was into her?" he asked.

"Hard to get her or her sister to shut up," Ragna replied. "So yes. Yes, you can infer that they told me."

"Gotcha," Yosuke replied. "Well, yeah, I was looking for Makoto-chan. I was hoping to use this as my chance to officially ask her out."

"Got it," Ragna replied. "Let me get her for you."

"Wai-huh?" Yosuke wondered.

"Look," Ragna said, holding up a hand. "Before you ask anything, just know that today is gonna be another long day, and just take the help I'm offering you."

"O-okay," Yosuke replied. "Uh, thanks Ragna-san."

"You're welcome," Ragna replied, walking over to where Makoto was located. Sure enough, he found her having an animated conversation with Mai, Yang, Katsuragi, and Murakumo.

"And I'm telling ya," Makoto replied, "that Barbados was east!"

"No, Makoto," Yang replied, "like I told you about eight times by now, Aki told me that Barbados is south of Miami!"

"But that's not what I'm even sayin!" Makoto replied.

"Then what are you trying to say?" Mai asked.

"What I'm saying is" Makoto began, before Ragna tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around, smiling at the Bloodedge. "Sup Ragna?" she asked. "Can I help you?"

Ragna merely gestured over his shoulder, pointing where Yosuke was now currently pacing, attempting to hype himself up. Makoto's smile lit up as she saw him nearby. "Thanks," she said, rushing off without another word.

"Oh boy," Yang was all Yang could say as she ran off.

"And the climax of the romantic saga approaches," Murakumo said wantingly. Katsu nodded beside her, hands gripping eagerly.

"Both of you restrain yourselves," Ragna said firmly. "I got enough to deal with without having to keep people like you two away from them."

"We make no such promises," Katsu replied, until Ragna grabbed the hilt of his blade, causing them both to surrender on the spot!

Back with Makoto, she jumped over to Yosuke, offering an eager "Hi!" that startled the boy something fierce!

"O-oh, hey Makoto-chan!" he said. "Glad you could make it! I mean, I guess we were both here regardless of this. I meant more like-"

"You wanted to see me," Makoto replied.

"Y-yeah!" Yosuke said. "That." They were both quiet, Makoto obviously waiting to hear what Yosuke wanted to tell her, but at the moment the poor guy's head was frying. After a moment, Makoto decided to jumpstart it by nodding slowly at him, which did its job and triggered him to remember why she was even there!

"O-oh, right!" he said, Makoto giving a good natured laugh. "S-so," he said, "I uh... you said awhile back how you would be okay if, you know, if we both went out? Like, on a date?"

Makoto nodded again, being patient and quiet as he went on. "Yeah," Yosuke said, "well, I took some time to think about it. You know, we've spoken since then obviously, but not, like, we didn't bring that up at all." Makoto continued to nod, merely letting Yosuke get to his point.

"I guess," Yosuke said, "kinda like you back then, I was just sort of waiting for the right opportunity to talk to you about it. To give you my answer and I decided that was now. So!" He took a deep breath to steady himself, before he handed out the gift Weiss handed him for Makoto.

"I would be happy to go on a date with you, Makoto. A few dates, actually. And see how things go."

Makoto gave a giant smile at that. She walked over and hugged Yosuke around the neck, Yosuke hugging back. They separated and Makoto took the gift Yosuke handed her. "Thanks Yosuke," she said. "I promie ya, I'll be good to you."

"I'll do the same," Yosuke said. The two gave a laugh for a second, before Makoto's tail suddenly bapped Yosuke in the side.

"Oh, sorry!" she said, brushing it back. "A little excited there! You know how it is, all wagging and stuff! Well, maybe you don't. Y'know, no demi-humans on your world."

"I get the idea," Yosuke said, laughing all the same.

Makoto laughed in turn, opening her gift, where her keen senses went on high alert! She smelled the distinctive scent of chestnuts in the candy that Yosuke handed her, causing her to salivate at the scent. Actually, there were a few other distinctive nuts in the candy he gave her, causing her heart to begin doing triple axle backflips!

"Uh, Makoto," Yosuke said, waving a hand in front of her eyes. "You okay? Your eyes just dilated there."

Makoto's tail hit him again hard enough to actually knock him closer to Makoto, allowing her to give him a kiss on the cheek. She laughed as the Prince of Junes was left utterly speechless by the intimate encounter! "If you keep that up," Makoto said, pulling out a candy, "this will be easy sailing!" She popped the candy in her mouth as she playfully moved along. Yosuke smirked confidently as he ran after her, the two continuing their conversations as a Valentine pair.

Around a corner, the rest of the Investigation Team (sans Rise) watched them go with tearful eyes!

"Finally!" Yukiko said.

"Yeah," Chie said. "Though Hanamura-kun can be really dumb, they deserve each other!"

"Kanji?" Shirogane asked. "You okay?"

"I'm so happy for Yosuke-senpai!" he said. "He finally did it!"

Narukami was silent as he watched them go, a warm smile on his face. "Go get her partner," he said quietly. "You got this one."


"Three down," Ragna said. "Three left to go," he added, giving a heavy sigh. Initially, he was under the impression he would have been done by now, but Heart had a nasty habit of just appearing out of nowhere and changing the job for him. Now he had to go about and also pair up the likes of Kanji and Shirogane, Blake and Sun, and most frighteningly of all, Tsubaki and Jin.

He knew it was a threat to the entire city if he got anywhere near his brother, but thankfully the douchebag was not going to arrive until a little bit longer, so that gave Ragna time. In the meantime, he just had to shove the other two pairs towards each other, then ensure Tsubaki would be ready until Jin got there, which would allow the Grim Reaper ample time to run for the hills.

Thankfully, Kanji and Shirogane were never that far away from each other, so that gave Ragna the leg-up he needed to pair them up. Question was... how? As far as he knew, they didn't have anything to give each other.

He took a breath as he realized this one was not going to be as easy as the past few. He walked over to the Investigation Team as they continued praising Yosuke's confession, as the Bloodedge tapped Kanji on the shoulder. "Hey," he said, "can I talk to you?"

"Uh, okay," Kanji replied, allowing Ragna to lead him aside.

"Listen," Ragna said, "I don't really want to do this to you, but I was just wondering for a... friend, if you were gonna do anything with that detective friend of yours?"

Kanji's face turned radiant the next instant, before Ragna held up a hand to stop him from saying anything. "It's just," Ragna said, "I was wondering. Today is kinda the day to do something like this so... perhaps you should at least try? Give a few hints or something? I dunno. I'm not really into this thing, so I was just wondering for the sake of my friend."

Kanji attempted to speak more, before he doubled over in a defeated slump. "I don't know either," he said. "Talking naturally with people is hard enough without it bein' somebody I like. Every time I think about it I just go nuts."

Ragna groaned as he rubbed the back of his head. He could tell that Kanji was a good guy and was just nervous, but that didn't particularly help the Bloodedge at all. It wasn't any of his business really, so he was just butting in where he didn't belong.

This was gonna be too hard. He just needed to at least try and get the ball rolling, then leave the rest to them. That was all he could do.

"Look," he said, "just... just don't think?"

"What?" Kanji asked.

"Yeah," Ragna replied. "It's clear you're just gonna drive yourself crazy overthinking it. So just... I dunno, do what your think feels right?"

Kanji was left to ponder that one as Ragna merely just wished him luck and moved on. The Gentle Beast took those words and walked over to Shirogane and the others. He took a breath, before he walked forward and got Naoto's attention.

"Uh... N-Naoto-san?" he wondered.

"Yes?" Shirogane replied.

Kanji took another breath, recalling what Ragna said. Don't think. Just feel.

"Would you like to hang out?" he wondered. "If you want?"

"Well, sure," Shirogane replied. "But weren't we just-?"

"Actually!" Chie said, realizizng what was happening. "We were just going to take off! Right Yukiko?"

"Totally!" Yukiko replied, as she and Chie began pushing Narukami away. "Come along Narukami! You had to find Weiss-chan, right?"

"What?" Narukami wondered, as the two girls continued to shove him away!

Shirogane was baffled, scratching her head beneath her hat as she watched them go. "What was that about?" she wondered.

"I don't know," Kanji replied, being silently thankful for the help. "So, shall we? Or, you know."

"Sure," Shirogane said with a shrug.

The two walked away, as Ragna continued to hang out to the side. "Two left," he said to himself. "You can do this."

He made his way back over to where he left the other guys, with Sun still talking to Seth. The assassin had naturally been roped into coming over to the festivities, but was not seeing anything that particularly caught his attention.

He was already regretting his choice to come over to celebrate the holiday with them. He was told to at least try to spend his day there, but he just didn't know what else he could do. He was merely standing off to the side and letting Sun do most of the work for him, but had no engagement from anything.

"So," Sun said, "how're you feeling?"

"I am every bit as utterly devoid of interest as I thought I would be," Seth replied.

"Hey," Sun said, "I thought we agreed that-"

"I would at least try," Seth said. "And I have been trying for nearly forty-five minutes, and have yet to see anything of interest."

"Well," Sun said, "perhaps just give it a bit more time?"

"For what?" Seth asked.

Before the faunus boy could reply, Ragna walked over. "Hey Sun," he greeted.

"Oh, hello there," Sun replied. "How's it going?"

"Not much to go on," Ragna replied. "I was just wondering something though. By any chance are you gonna go talk to Belladonna?"

"My my," Sun said sarcastically. "Trying to nudge me over, Ragna?"

Ragna merely sighed. Seth was equally as bemused as he raised a brow at his companion.

"Don't worry," Sun said. "I'll do my part. But actually, that does give me an idea. Seth," he told the assassin, "how about you do your own thing for awhile? See if anything catches your eye. Again, at least try. In the meantime, I'mma run over and say 'hello' to my favorite member of Beacon's prized team."

Cackling in delight, Sun leapt away, leaving two rather stoic gentlemen behind him. "He's quite the character," Ragna observed.

"Yes," Seth said. "And more often than not I wish he would keep that character away from me."

Meanwhile, Sun's primary target was simply sitting in a secluded spot where she wouldn't be bothered. She had already spent nearly a half hour hanging out with her teammates and the rest of her friends, but now she just needed a moment to herself in one of a small handful of umbrella tables that were positioned around. Next to her was Tsubaki, who made for a good companion, if a little bit anxious at the moment as her eyes were darting around in a vain attempt to find something (or someone) with her feet bouncing fretfully. Still, she was keeping quiet, which was all Blake needed.

As she continued to read, however, a familiar tail suddenly entered her vision, twitching in a playful manner in front of her vision. Blake took a breath, knowing that he would have shown up eventually. She looked up spotting Sun himself crouched on top of the umbrella just over her head. "Hey there," he greeted casually.

"Hello Sun," Blake said calmly. "How can I help you?"

"Oh, y'know," Sun replied, "you could... I dunno... mayhaps spend the rest of the day with a distinctly lonely fellow."

"If I find him I'll let you know," Blake replied, returning to her book.

Sun flinched under that response. "I-I meant me!" he said. "Would you like to spend the rest of the day with me?"

Blake smirked as she looked back up at him again. "I suppose that is a possibility," she replied. "Does that mean you're asking me to be your Valentine?"

"Maybe~" Sun replied. "But I wasn't the one who brought it up."

"And I never said 'yes'," Blake retorted.

Sun felt another pain in his chest! "Always have to have the last word, don't you?" he asked.

"Just so we know who's in charge of this relationship," Blake said.

"So you call it a 'relationship' between you and I?" Sun asked.

"That is a technical term for it," Blake replied. "So are you going to sit there all night or are we going to do this?"

Sun hopped down, bowing dramatically to Blake as the two faunus ran off. Nearby, the utterly forgotten Tsubaki watched them go with a red face. Hopefully I can be just as lucky, she prayed.

"Seeking inspiration?" Ragna asked. Tsubaki jumped, seeing Ragna standing right next to her!

"H-how long have you been standing there?" she asked.

"Pretty much the whole time," Ragna replied. "You were so taken by those two that you didn't even notice me walking over."

"Right," Tsubaki said, looking away. The two had a fairly complex relationship, but it was even worse when you consider the fact that Tsubaki was infatuated by his brother. Speaking of which.

"Look," Ragna said. "You know that I don't have a good relationship with my brother. And I don't particularly give a single shit if he ends up living happily ever after with a woman or dies alone in a hole where nobody will ever find him or remember him. However, if you really think that he makes you happy or even if you can make him happy, just talk to the bastard already."

"Whoever said I needed relationship advice from you?" Tsubaki asked. "You don't exactly scream 'social butterfly' when you seem to prefer spending every day alone by yourself and get enraged by anyone who comes near you attempting to force you from that shell of yours."

"Not 'prefer' but that's none of your business," Ragna replied. "But at any rate, I do have some advice that you should at least consider taking. Be forceful with Jin. Make your point clear, or else he'll never listen. That's all I'm gonna say."

Tsubaki raised a brow as she watched him go. However, he did spin on his heel another moment after. "And by the way," he said, "tell him to take it down a notch around Noel or else I'm gonna shove my sword up his ass so far he won't be able to use the toilet for the next forty-five years." He proceeded on his way, leaving a partially mortified Tsubaki in his wake.

She did perk up a tad, when the Hero of the Frozen Blade himself walked over. She quickly got to her feet and respectfully greeted him.

"Tsubaki," Jin replied. "Why have you brought me here? To this world, away from my duties?"

"W-well Jin," Tsubaki replied, pulling a small box from behind her back. "I-I... ahem! In honor of your birthday today, I bought you something?"

Jin raised a brow at her. "A gift?" he asked. He took the small package in hand, just small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. "You didn't need to do that."

"I-I wanted to!" Tsubaki replied firmly. "I-it's just, you know... I wanted to do something nice for you to make you feel happy." She didn't know why, but she was doing precisely as Ragna had recommended and was just acting firm.

Jin looked partially surprised, before he opened the box and looked at the gift inside. It was a small charm that could pin to his collar that resembled two swords.

"That's awfully kind of you," he said.

"Ye-uh, thank you," Tsubaki replied. "And I was hoping Jin, that tonight I could also treat you to dinner."

"Why?" Jin asked. "I have-"

"You can take the night to yourself, can't you?" Tsubaki asked. "I mean, once again, it's your birthday!"

Jin looked surprised once again, before he relented. "If you'd like," he said. "But I will be paying for my share of it."

"S-sure!" Tsubaki said. "Whatever you say."

Jin waved her off, as he took his leave, Tsubaki just about ready to faint now that she had handled that situation.

Back with Ragna, he finally stopped off in front of the counter where Heart was working at the moment. He was about as ready to collapse as much as Tsubaki was, totally exhausted from this whole ordeal. And just his luck, Mitsuru was standing right beside him.

"And how are we feeling today?" Mitsuru asked.

"Tire, cranky, and ready to go to bed," Ragna replied. "So overall an average day for me."

"I wouldn't say that," Mitsuru replied.

"Why do you say that?" Ragna asked.

"You made a lot of people happy," Mitsuru replied.

"What?" Ragna asked. "What're you talking about? All I did was just bother everyone else and force them into interacting with each other."

"Look again," Mitsuru said, gesturing over her shoulder. Ragna looked, seeing how everyone else was acting to one another.

Kanji and Shirogane were having what appeared to be a good conversation with one another as they were eating some food. Ruby had gravitated back to Hyde and the two were interacting, Hyde having a bit of red on his cheeks as he still seemed confused about what had happened earlier with his chocolate. Yu was sitting near them with that usual gentle smile on his face, but his eyes continued to flick over to where Weiss was sitting, the Ice Queen appearing far more relaxed than she had all day prior as she had her own gentle expression on her face, and her cheeks weren't as flushed. Tsubaki had a distinctly dreamy expression on her face as she looked up at the sky. Makoto and Yosuke were sticking close, playing a bunch of games, with Blake and Sun doing very similar activities, the female partners appearing to be cheering their male companions on as they were competing in a game.

"I don't know about you," Mitsuru said, "but you seemed to do a good thing by getting most of these pairs together. Many times people say that all you need to do what you need to is one push. And you gave them a push today."

Ragna merely blinked and looked forward. "I guess," he said, "you have a point."

Heart shot Mitsuru a thumbs up, the Rare Maiden having been incredibly silent that entire time. Mitsuru nodded back as Ragna rolled his eyes. Mitsuru looked back at him, shaking her head at his behavior. "Here," she said. "Perhaps getting your own token will make you feel better."

Ragna looked as Mitsuru offered him his own chocolate. However, he shook his head. "No thanks," he said. "I'm not in the mood. I just want to get some rest. I've had enough for one day."

"Ah," Mitsuru said, having gotten a shoulder so cold it would giver her a run for her money. "I see. Well, can't say I didn't try."

Heart from behind the stand was looking at the situation with a solid amount of repressed anger webbing its way into her features! Mitsuru had been intending to give Ragna some Honmei-choco. It was a sign of her romantic feelings she was getting for him! But Ragna was so dense he didn't even accept it, even if he didn't know what it truly was! It was enough to make Heart want to fire an iron fist directly into his skull!

Still, with Heart's patience worn to its thinnest level, the afternoon went on as it was. Everyone had a lovely time with one another, but little did they know that a darker, shadowy figure was watching them all interact. Initially she had hoped to sneak in and kill Heart the first chance she got, reveling in the irony of rending Heart from this world on her favorite day of all. But she was kept too close to anyone at a given moment, making it impossible to swoop in and take the chance as she had hoped.

So instead, Dark Heart was left to merely watch from the shadows. She gripped the hilt of her sword hard enough to crack it, as she glared at Heart Aino on the ground. "Enjoy your favorite holiday," she said. "For it will be the last Valentine's Day you will ever celebrate, Heart Aino."

She continued to glare at her, a shadow made over her eyes by the visor of her hat, her somewhat purple colored eyes almost glowing red from beneath the shadow. "Your curse will take you sooner or later. For there can only be one of us in this, or any universe."


A/N: And on that disproportionately grim tone, the second half of the Valentine's celebration is over and behind us! I hope it was worth it, and once again I would like to apologize for being somewhat late on this one. But after a shot of espresso it was completed and ready to submit.

That being said, a few notes as always. I didn't focus as heavily on Night Rose as I tend to do, but that was only because I spend so much time on it as I do, I wanted to give some time on the other ones as well. And in case you are worried that I won't give the pairing some more love, just wait until White Day, eh? ;)

Anywho, I was fairly entertained by how I portrayed Weiss in the Royal Flush segment. I enjoyed having her go full-blown, stereotypical tsundere back there. I didn't give too much focus on the other pairings like Kanji and Naoto, Black Sun, or Tsubaki and Jin, but I at least hope I did enough.

I was also very happy with how I portrayed Yosuke and Makoto meeting back up again. They're such adorable little dorks and I liked to just focus on them having a nice, reciprocating attraction without going over the top with it.

Speaking of reciprocation, I also gave a bit of focus to Orie and Rise here since I've sorta taken their guys away from them. Rise still isn't giving up, obviously, but I moreso wanted to focus on Orie having settled on her feelings for Hyde and moved on from them. Overall, I hope I gave you guys a solid and acceptable portrayal there.

Also, in case some of you were hoping to get a bit more outta Seth there, I am not gonna lie when I say I didn't really know what to do with him. Initially I was thinking I might have a moment with each of his potential candidates for a partner but I didn't know how to do that as of yet without giving too much focus to one or another and make it disproportionate. Again, wait for White Day and we might have a little something more there.

All things said and done, I didn't mind this chapter all that much and hope that it was enough for all of you guys!

Review Time!

To Mystech Master; Big thanks for the extra Akatsuki information! Some I knew, some I didn't, overall it was a big help! And, uh, can you tell me how to get a brain big enough to contain all that information you've dropped on me in the past. (JK, every bit is always appreciated.)

To SolarS; Such language! In all seriousness, it's no trouble friend. I get in that self-deprecation funk sometimes for missing something I later realize to be totally obvious. It happens to the best of us. And I will certainly answer every question I have personally gotten so those who do have questions for me behind the scenes can have their answers. And definitely check out AH3. They have a new update coming out, which is where Dark Heart actually comes from, so now's the perfect time! Also, main reason Kanji was there was only because Heart knew he was into Naoto Shirogane and wanted to do something for him to show his affections, only it turned out to be in vain as he left later. (by the by, that question for Heart is great! XD)

To fernandamichelleraya; Your suggestion will come about! Have no fear! And I was under the impression that Heart's birthday was on Valentine's Day as well, until I later realized that it was actually in January, meaning I totally MISSED IT! But I do concur that Heart is a psycho (albeit an adorable one) and Saki deserves ALL the headpats.

To Praxus84; Personally, without giving much away, I do have a plan to have the likes of Ironwood meet with da bois Gordeau and Kagura in the future for reasons, with Winter not far away having Daidouji busting her chops (as the shinobi is Qrow's partner here, and Qrow sexually frustrates Winter on a daily basis.)

To Will DeGrave; Interesting notes. I'll bear that in mind.

To the guest who asked me if I read "Persona RWBY Ultimax" I have been recommended to read that before, but unfortunately I haven't been able to read what my fellow authors out there have done as of late as I've been trapped in a life draining funk. But, that should hopefully change!

And to the other guest who requested Fuuka appear, I can totally do that! Fuuka is such a sweetheart, and I like to have every character get at least a bit of time in the spotlight if I can.

With that all behind us, thank you for reading! Be sure to let me know your thoughts and suggestions, hope you all had a wonderful belated Valentine's Day, and until next time have a wonderful evening and take care!