≈ Narration ≈
[speaking over phone or other electronic devices]
{setting/stage directions}
"Speech."
'Thoughts.'
"English speech."
[[SUZUME USING KOTODAMA]]
—¡–!–¡–!–¡— Scene shift/passage of time.
A whole line of text like this without quotes is a written letter or something similar.
WORDS IN ALL CAPS AND NO QUOTATION MARKS ARE SOUND EFFECTS.
Flashbacks and changes in POV will be labeled.
Unless stated otherwise, the POV will be third person omniscient.

Previously:

"He's a nice fox-spirit, isn't her… that shop owner?" Yuuko said, smiling slightly as she bit a piece of octopus.

"Yes!" Suzume agreed with a smile.

"The kid is too!" Watanuki said, also smiling.

"Yeah, he's just adorable!" Suzume agreed.

"Fine, today we'll start out with some warm sake," Yuuko said, getting down to business. "Then we'll follow up with some of the less-expensive stuff, and finish out with rice brandy!"

"How much do you intend to drink tonight anyway!?" Watanuki asked incredulously.

'I'm becoming concerned for her liver...' Suzume thought.

"Move it! Move it!" Yuuko ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am!" Watanuki and Suzume said, getting to work.

Chapter 13: Valentine's Day

The teapot whistled as Watanuki stirred the bowl of chocolate, carefully melting it so it wouldn't burn, while Suzume took care of the other ingredients. Watanuki lifted the spatula he was stirring with. The chocolate slid off of it.

"It's done," he said, smirking slightly.

"The Valentine's Day chocolate is finished, right?" Yuuko asked excitedly, watching from the kitchen doorway with Moro and Maru.

"Yaay! Yaay! " Moro and Maru cheered, doing a little dance.

"That only meant the heating of the chocolate was done!!" Watanuki told them as they all stared expectantly at him and Suzume.

"Well, I'm done over here, too," Suzume said, smiling wryly. Mokona was sneaking along the kitchen counter behind their backs. Mokona started to dip a paw into the chocolate.

"Stop right there!" Watanuki said with a vein throbbing on his head, quickly snatching the bowl away. "No stealing tastes!! Honestly! Why do we have to cook Valentine's Day chocolate?" he asked while protecting the bowl, bristling.

"Because tomorrow is February 14th!" Yuuko said brightly, poking him in the cheek. "And Valentine's Day means chocolate!"

'I know all that, but...' Watanuki thought. "Normally it's the girl who cooks the handmade chocolate, right?" he said, getting annoyed. "It's one thing to make Suzume-chan do this, but me..."

"Hey!" Suzume said, frowning a little. "Don't try to dump it all on me just because I'm a girl."

"Normal? What's normal?" Yuuko asked. "To only do what the masses do? And what is the benefit in that?" She drew close to Watanuki, holding his chin in between her fingers. She smiled mysteriously. "Where is the problem in adopting a custom that is 'abnormal' if it has no negative effect on the world at large?"

"No negative effect!?" Watanuki said, getting angry. "Two someones are kept up late in the night because someone suddenly asked for two someones to make chocolate! Not just any chocolate, but fondant au chocolat!" he yelled, pointing at himself and Suzume. "Then two someones had to run through the cold night air to buy everything that's needed, causing those two someones no end of trouble!!"

"Ahahahahaha!!" Yuuko and Mokona laughed with smiles on their faces. Watanuki had multiple veins throbbing on his face, and Suzume could swear his eyes were glowing.

"Watanuki's mad! " Maru said.

"Watanuki's mad! " Moro repeated.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

Somehow or other, the fondant au chocolat was completed without incident. The cakes came out beautifully and were served with scoops of fresh whipped cream.

"Waa! " Yuuko and Mokona exclaimed with delight.

"It looks delicious!" Yuuko said.

"It's the first time I made it, so I can't guarantee the taste," Watanuki said.

"I tasted some was we went, it should be fine," Suzume said with a smile.

"Sneaky! You wouldn't let me have any tastes!" Mokona said.

"I'm sure it tastes even better baked," Suzume said, trying to mollify Mokona. Mokona and Yuuko picked up their forks and stared at the clock.

TIK. TIK. TIK. CHINNG!

The clock chimed midnight.

"Yes! It is now February 14th!!" Yuuko said and she and Mokono dug into their cakes. "Happy valentine's day!! This. Is. Good! " Yuuko said, blushing happily as she tasted the cake. Mokona was also wearing an expression of bliss.

"Midnight chocolate cake?" Watanuki said.

"You've never done that before?" Suzume asked. She had a chocolate craving like that every once in a while, where she'd make herself a cake because the stores were closed.

"Can't say I have," Watanuki replied, sweat-dropping.

"Watanuki, Suzume-chan, you're pretty amazing," Yuuko said. "I can't help but be attracted to a lady-killer like you! And you're going to make someone a good wife!" Watanuki and Suzume smiled at the praise. "And… the only thing that goes with chocolate is calvados!! Serve it up!"

"So it's drinking again!" Watanuki said with a vein throbbing on his head, cutting the air with his hand.

"Haaah! It was delicious! I am happy! " Yuuko said, clinking her glass with Mokona's.

"Well, I'm glad they liked it," Watanuki said.

"It's nice to receive such an enthusiastic response," Suzume said.

"I guess that's true… There's some left," Watanuki said. "What will we do?"

"Shall we send it there?" Yuuko asked slyly.

"There?" Watanuki and Suzume asked.

"Take care of it," Yuuko told Mokona.

"Ahhhhh!!" Mokona said, opening wide and sucking in the cakes.

"Yaaahh!!" Watanuki said, shielding his eyes from the rush of air. Mokona gulped the cakes down.

"That way the other Mokona can give our brave dimension travelers a taste of fondant au chocolat," Yuuko said, patting Mokona on the head.

"Oh, to Syaoran and those guys? That's pretty nice of you, Yuuko-san," Watanuki said.

"Hohohohoho! That way, we're all set for White Day! I expect great presents from them!!" Yuuko said with a scheming gleam in her eye.

"Hohoho! You will be given the entire world, Yuuko!" Mokona said.

"So that was your plot all along!!" Watanuki snapped, cutting the air with his hand again.

"Umm… It feels like I'm missing something here..." Suzume said. "Did something more than just Mokona eating them happen?"

"Ah, that's right. Suzume-chan doesn't know about it yet, but… There are some people from different dimensions traveling together, and they have a white Mokona with them, so Yuuko can send or receive things through our black Mokona," Watanuki explained. Suzume's eyes widened a little when she heard all that.

"Inter dimensional travelers, huh? That's pretty amazing!" Suzume said. "You're a really mysterious being," she told Mokona.

"Thank you!" Mokona said, taking it as a compliment.

"But… There's still one left," Watanuki said.

"That one, you can give to the person you would most like to see eat it," Yuuko said.

"Why don't you give it to Himawari-chan?" Suzume suggested.

"Hey, you're right!" Watanuki said happily, blushing a little. "Ah, but isn't there someone you want to give chocolate too?"

"I've already made my own chocolate," Suzume said with a smile. Watanuki smiled too and began to dance with the plate.

"Himawari-chan! Himawari-chan! Himawari-chan!!!" he sang happily as he left the room to go in the kitchen and wrap it up. "But how can I give it to her heated? I know! I can ask my teacher to..." He disappeared from sight.

"But… don't expect it to go exactly according to plan. Humans are living beings, after all," Yuuko said mysteriously.

'I guess that means something interesting will happen?' Suzume wondered.

"So, who are you giving chocolate to, Suzume-chan?" Yuuko asked.

"Just Watanuki-kun and Doumeki-kun," Suzume answered with a smile.

"Both at the same time?" Yuuko asked with a sly smile.

"So daring!" Mokona gasped.

"I don't know what you two are imagining over there, but it's only giri chocolate," Suzume said, sweat-dropping.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

Suzume parked her bike and locked it up. Her cheeks were flushed pink from the cold and the ride to school. She looked in her bag to check that the two bags of homemade chocolates were still safe. She had made a bunch of small hearts rather than big ones to make sure they wouldn't break before she could finish delivering them. She had gone back home to get them, so Watanuki had probably arrived before her. She smiled thinking of how happy he had been to be giving Himawari chocolate. She blushed a little more thinking about giving Doumeki his chocolate from her.

'No, no,' she told herself, shaking her head. 'You're just giving this to him as a friend! There's nothing to be nervous about.' She walked in through the entrance and saw Doumeki by his shoe locker. She walked over to him and took one of the red bags with white hearts that was tied with curly white ribbon out of her bag and presented it to him. "Ta-da! Happy Valentine's Day!" she said brightly with a smile as he was opening his locker. Her eyes widened slightly when he finished opening the door and an avalanche of chocolate fell out. "Or maybe not..." she said, sweat-dropping. This early in the morning, and he was already swamped with chocolate. "You're going to need a bigger bag."

"It happens every year," Doumeki said.

"Wow! You must be sick of chocolate..." Suzume said. "Maybe I should just..." she started to put her chocolate back in her bag. Doumeki held his hand out.

"You made that for me, right?" he said.

"Right..." Suzume said. He continued to hold his hand out. She put her chocolate in his hand.

"Thanks," he said. Suzume smiled.

"By the way, have you seen Watanuki-kun?" she asked. "I still need to give him his."

"You made chocolate for Watanuki, too?" Doumeki asked.

"Yeah, but I guess he'd be busy giving his chocolate to Himawari-chan, now that I think about it..." Suzume said, holding her chin. "I'll guess I'll just wait till lunch to give it to him." She noticed Doumeki was staring at her. "What?"

"… Nothing," he said.

"?" Suzume said, a little puzzled. It didn't seem like 'nothing', but she couldn't say it was 'something' either…

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

Watanuki was overcome with a sense of gloom in the home economics lab.

"Himawari-chan caught a cold and didn't come to school today!" Watanuki said, hanging his head, super disappointed. "She didn't come! Today! February 14th!" he cried with tears streaming down his face. "Himawari-chan! Get well soon! Very soon!" 'Ah? I guess that means I'll have to eat it myself.'

"Oh, shut up!" Doumeki called, making a vein instantly pop up on Watanuki's head.

"What are you doing?" Watanuki asked, spinning around to look in the direction of his voice. Doumeki was leaning against the sill of an open window. "And what are you doing there?"

"I can ask you the same question," Doumeki said, hopping through the window.

"I'm steeped in the bliss of a gentle heart!" Watanuki said, while Doumeki came closer and looked at the warm cake and hot chocolate Watanuki had out. "I had it all planned! Himawari-chan and I would casually stop by the home-ec lab after school, and she would taste my exquisite creation! I even owe the teacher a favor for letting me borrow the home-ec lab! I even heated the fondant au chocolat to the perfect temperature!" Doumeki picked up the fork and ate some of the cake.

"Gyaaaahh!!" Watanuki cried, doing an excellent impression of The Scream painting. "What do you think you're doing!?" he asked with tears streaming down his face, grabbing Doumeki by the neck.

"Ah, yes. The chocolate in the center is warm," Doumeki said calmly, still munching on the cake despite Watanuki's attempts to throttle him.

"Spit it out! Spit it out!" Watanuki yelled with a vein throbbing on his head, shaking him. Doumeki swallowed it. He kept going until there was nothing left. "Waaaaaahh!!" Watanuki cried, staring at the empty plate with a forlorn expression.

"Can you make something that tastes bad?" Doumeki asked, picking up the cup of hot chocolate.

"Of course it's not bad!" Watanuki snapped, almost breathing fire. "Oh God, this is bad!" he cried. "No, I mean the taste is good..." He grabbed his head in his hands. "B-But today is… Gyaaaaaahh! The hot chocolate, too!?" he exclaimed, reeling back and turning pale when he realized Doumeki was already drinking it. He fell to his knees. "I can't take it anymore!"

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

Watanuki sighed and shed a tear as they were walking home with Suzume.

"It's all over!" he said. "My chocolate! My choco..."

"What's with the doom and gloom face?" Doumeki asked. "Oh, and shut up."

"Grrr! I guess everything is bright and shiny for you!!" Watanuki growled with multiple veins throbbing on his head. "Just look at all the chocolate you got!!" Doumeki needed another bag to carry all of his. "On top of that… On top of that… on the very day of Valentine's Day, my chocolate was eaten by this idiot!!" Watanuki said, leaning against a wall for support.

"Someone gave you chocolate too, right?" Doumeki said.

"Ah!" Suzume said and started digging through her bag. Watanuki was so busy complaining about how Doumeki ate the chocolate meant for Himawari that she had forgotten all about it.

"..." Watanuki slowly turned his head to look at Doumeki. "It seems I'm not good enough to get chocolate!" he snapped with a vein throbbing on his head. He clenched his fist. "I don't see why the girls give chocolate to Mr. Zero Expression Face here! It's a case of mass hypnosis! It must be!"

"Oh, shut up," Doumeki said, putting his fingers in his ears.

"My bad, Watanuki-kun!" Suzume said a little sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck as she held out his bag of chocolate from her. "I forgot to give it to you earlier..."

"S-Suzume-chan!" Watanuki said, touched. He knew it was only giri chocolate, but at least someone cared enough to give him something! He accepted the chocolate and put it safely and securely in his bag.

"What'll I do? What'll I do?" someone said. They looked ahead of them and saw a girl around their age. "What'll I do? I have to find it quickly!" she said anxiously.

"Is something wrong?" Watanuki asked. The girl looked back at them.

"Kyaaaaaaaa!!" she screamed. Watanuki and Suzume were startled. Doumeki seemed unfazed. The girl blushed bright red. "Wha-Wha-Wha-Wha-What'll I do??" she asked, looking from Watanuki to Suzume to Doumeki, back to Watanuki. She held her hands close to her heart. "I never expected us to meet each other here!"

'Awwwww,' Watanuki thought, furrowing his brow. She was obviously there for one reason. 'Another Doumeki fan? Dammit! What's so great about that jerk anyway?'

"Did you drop something?" Suzume asked her. She noticed the girl had blue hair.

"N-No. I'm looking for something," the girl said a little shyly. "For valentine's chocolate… to give to someone wonderful!" Her eyes kept flitting over to Watanuki.

'Huh? Is she here for Watanuki?' Suzume wondered from the way she was looking at him.

"I wanted the chocolate to be special!" the girl continued. "But I can't find anything like that!"

'Awww! Why does she have to work so hard for this idiot!? But it proves you're hard-working.' Watanuki thought, feeling bad for the girl.

"And now I've found it!" the girl said brightly.

"Eh?" Watanuki and Suzume said. Where?

"Right here!" the girl said, sticking her hand right through Doumeki's stomach.

"Huh?" Watanuki said.

"What are you…?" Suzume asked with wide eyes, shocked.

"Huh??" Watanuki said, not believing his eyes. The girl pulled her hand back and out came the fondant au chocolat that Doumeki had eaten earlier, whole and in one piece.

"Yaay!" the girl said excitedly, holding the hovering, glowing cake in her hands. "That looks so delicious!!"

"Waa!" Suzume and Watanuki cried when Doumeki collapsed and fell on Watanuki, bringing Watanuki down with him.

"Doumeki!" Watanuki yelled. "Hey! Doumeki!"

"What did you do to him!?" Suzume asked the girl, who clearly wasn't an ordinary human.

"U-Um… I wanted to… g-give… my chocolate..." the girl said nervously as tears formed in her eyes. Watanuki and Suzume stared at her with furrowed brows. The girl looked down, blushing. Her tears fell, and she took to the sky, floating up and away from them.

"!?" Suzume gasped.

"Sh-She flew..." Watanuki said, a bead of sweat sliding down his face. "Usually, girls aren't supposed to fly. Which means that this girl..."

"… Isn't human," Yuuko finished, leaning over him from behind to look him in the eye.

"Gyaaaaahhh!!" Watanuki screamed and dropped Doumeki. Doumeki's head slammed into the ground.

WHAMM!

"I liked that sound," Yuuko said, poking Doumeki's head. She was holding some hot sweet potatoes wrapped up in newspaper. "I went out shopping for a moment, and I find you stirring up trouble." Watanuki's heart was still beating fast in his chest.

"What's wrong with him?" Suzume asked.

"Ahhh," Yuuko said, opening one of his eyes. "It looks like he's completely lost his soul."

"His soul!?" Suzume and Watanuki exclaimed.

"Are you serious!?" Watanuki asked.

"What does that mean!?" Suzume asked.

"Which means… if we leave Doumeki like this… he stays like this!" Yuuko replied.

"!" Suzume gasped.

"Urk! So it's because… I was here that the girl showed up and..." Watanuki said uneasily.

"Yes," Yukko said, straightening up. "That girl is not something you meet by accident."

"So what you're saying is that this is all my fault?" Watanuki asked, pointing at Doumeki.

"Yep!" Yuuko said, squatting down across from him.

"That was a quick answer!" Watanuki said.

"Never mind that!" Suzume said anxiously. "How do we save him!?"

"Yes, what do we do to bring him back to normal?" Watanuki asked.

"I can tell you, but it'll cost you plenty," Yuuko said, touching the tip of Watanuki's nose.

"I'll pay it!" Suzume said.

"The last thing in the world I want to do is to help him! But I'll never sleep if his condition is my fault," Watanuki said.

"Then we're agreed," Yuuko said with a grin. They could split the cost. "I'll deduct it from your paychecks."

"Awww! Just how much longer will I have to work because of this!?" Watanuki cried.

"Phweeeet!" Yuuko whistled.

"Hm?" Watanuki said. Something dark appeared in front of the moon. It looked like a bird. As it drew closer, they could see Mokona flying on its back.

"Hehn," Mokono grinned, wearing an aviator's helmet and goggles. The bird landed. It towered over them. It's wingspan was enormous.

"It's huge!!" Watanuki said.

"Oh, beautiful Mokona!" Yuuko praised him with a smile. "You're just too cool!!" She looked at Watanuki and Suzume. "Board the bird and get going after that girl!" They climbed up onto the bird's back.

"Yuuko-san, you're always a little extreme, but… there are limits, you know!" Watanuki said. Yuuko looked at him and Suzume with a grave expression on her face.

"If you do not return the thing that was taken from Doumeki-kun before the day is over… he will be fated to sleep forever," she told them. Beads of sweat slid down their faces. The bird flapped its great wings. "I'll keep an eye on him. Your job is getting back the chocolate."

"Leave that to us!!" Mokona said with a gleam in his eye. Yuuko watched them take off from the ground.

"We really are flying! Like something out of a Disney movie!!" Watanuki exclaimed. "We're so high!!"

"Where's the girl?" Suzume asked. "How do we find her?" Something passed in front of the moon. She and Watanuki gasped. It was the girl.

"There she is!!" Watanuki said, pointing at her in the distance.

"After her!!" Suzume said.

"Yes!!" Mokona said, pulling on the reins to steer the bird that way.

"Hold it!!" Watanuki yelled at the girl. The girl's tears fell. Suddenly a bunch of toddlers dressed like a biker gang seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Who're they? C-Come on! We're in midair! What are a bunch of kids doing flying on snowboards!?"

"We're surrounded!" Suzume said. She noticed they had small wings on their backs.

"You will not make that girl cry!" one of the kids said angrily.

"You're bad guys!" said another.

Bad guys!" another agreed.

"And you will be punished!!" all five of them declared, pulling out harisens that were bigger than their bodies.

"Where did they pull those out from!?" Suzume asked.

"Take your punishment like a man!" one of the kids told Watanuki.

"Are you kidding? If you hit me with that, it'll hurt!!" Watanuki yelled at them. He slipped sideways and fell off the bird.

"Aah!" he, Mokona, and Suzume said.

"Watanuki-kun!" Suzume reached for him, but it was too late.

"Eyaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!!" Watanuki screamed as he plunged to his doom.

"We need to catch him!" Suzume told Mokona, but there was no need. Watanuki was saved when he was surrounded by glowing lights directed by the very girl they were chasing. She gently lowered him down to stand on a roof with her. Suzume exhaled a sigh of relief.

"Why'd you save him?" one of the biker kids asked.

"He's a bad man!" another said.

"He isn't bad!" the girl said. Mokona flew the bird through their ranks to scatter them, chasing them away. "I'm sorry," she told Watanuki. "All I wanted was to give a little chocolate..."

"Yeah. But what good is giving a guy chocolate when you stole his soul to do it?" Watanuki asked kindly.

"Eh?" the girl said.

"What do you mean, 'eh'?" Watanuki said, sweat-dropping. "Look, if you want to give Doumeki chocolate… you don't want to send him into a coma to do it, is all I'm saying." Suzume heard that as she and Mokona flew past.

"It's you, dummy!" she shouted at him, starting to feel a little sorry for the girl.

"Eh?" Watanuki said. "What are you saying, Suzume-chan?"

"S-She's right," the girl said, blushing deeply. "The person I wanted to give chocolate to… is you!" She held the glowing fondant au chocolat out to him. Watanuki was surprised.

"Eh?" he said again. The girl gave him the floating, glowing chocolate cake and left. "Eh?"

"Next time, if you make her cry, you are gonna get punished!" one of the biker kids shouted as a parting shot.

"… Eh?" Watanuki said, at a loss.

"Watanuki-kun! Let's go!" Suzume said as Mokona pulled the bird over for him to hop on. Watanuki boarded the bird, and they flew back to Yuuko and Doumeki.

"You're back! How did it go?" Yuuko asked as they landed. She had covered Doumeki with newspapers and was sitting on him to keep him warm.

"These guys with black wings on their backs… made this hostile aerial attack on us..." Watanuki replied while Suzume and Mokona said goodbye to the bird. "Yuuko-san… who was that girl…?"

"She's a zashiki-warashi," Yuuko replied.

"Ehhh!?" Watanuki exclaimed, shocked.

"Zashiki-warashi are pretty susceptible to evil and to bad thoughts. But it's rare to see them nowadays," Yuuko explained. "They've been a little too evil recently. Usually they take shelter in backwoods mountain locations that have a strong spiritual element and hide with their karasu tengu."

"Those guys were karasu tengu?" Watanuki asked.

"They weren't at all what I expected," Suzume admitted.

"But today is February 14th!" Yuuko said with a smile and blushing, splitting a hot sweet potato with Mokona. "A day when a girl can't help but go out and give symbols of her love!"

"Well… That I can understand..." Suzume said.

"And you, you playboy! You received chocolate from a very cute zashiki-warashi!" Yuuko teased Watanuki.

"Eh-heh-heh-heh..." Watanuki laughed, blushing and rubbing the back of his neck. He whipped his head around to look at the cake in his hand. "But this was made by me!!"

"Yes," Yuuko said. "It was chocolate made by you, Watanuki, with the 'power' that allows you to see spirits. And it was eaten by Doumeki, who has the power to repel spirits. A 'special chocolate' that's quite appropriate to convey the true feelings of a zashiki-warashi."

"That doesn't make me happy!!" Watanuki said with a vein throbbing on his head. "I mean, I'm happy that some girl gave me chocolate (other than Suzume-chan), but..."

"Watanuki-kun, I can sympathize, but aren't you forgetting something?" Suzume asked.

"Come now! Hurry up and return that to Doumeki!" Yuuko said.

"And the chocolate I do get, I can't eat! Dammit!" Watanuki cursed as he kneeled down beside Doumeki.

"Well, you still have mine," Suzume said.

"That is true..." Watanuki said. He placed the glowing cake over Doumeki. There was a rush of wind, and Doumeki slowly opened his eyes.

"Ah?" he said. He sat up and looked around. "What am I doing sleeping here?"

"Hi there!" Yuuko greeted him. Mokona held out a hot sweet potato for him.

"Oh, hello," Doumeki said, accepting it.

"Are you all right?" Suzume asked him.

"Huh? I'm fine," Doumeki said, completely calm despite what had just happened to him.

"You have to hear this!" Yuuko told him. "Just now, Watanuki received chocolate from a very cute young girl! It was chocolate he made himself, but… wanna hear the whole story?"

"Yes! Thanks for the sweet potato," Doumeki said, taking a bite.

"It's just… all so unfair!!" Watanuki yelled into the night while Yuuko smiled and told Doumeki the whole story.