Momona is awakened by her alarm and she next checks her cellphone.
That's right, today's Valentine's Day! In this world, chocolate is given to girls instead of to boys. They also have White Day, where white chocolate is given to boys instead of to girls.
Momona is on her way to school while carrying an umbrella, meaning that it is an overcast day. She meets up with Hanako and Ayu.
"Hey, Ichikawa!" Hanako stated with an eager expression. "You lookin' forward to gettin' lots of chocolate today?!"
"I might," Momona said. "And I'm gonna make some white chocolate for the boys next month."
"Oh yeah, White Day!" Ayu said with an expression of realization. "Maybe you should just buy the white chocolate then give us some, so we can give it to the boys."
"My thoughts exactly," Hanako agreed.
"Come on girls, at least make some effort," Momona said with a disappointed expression. "If it were Urisugi-san, wouldn't you at least make the effort to make him chocolate for White Day?"
"Too much work," Hanako sneered as she waves dismissively.
"Yeah, same here," Ayu mimicked.
So selfish. Momona thought with a flustered expression.
"But I am looking forward to all that chocolate I'll be gettin'," Ayu said with a prideful yet gluttonous expression.
"Me too," Hanako mimicked.
"Are you sure?" Momona asked with a suspicious expression. "Or did you both forget how the boys are treating you two nowadays after the compensation dating disaster?"
"Aw, come on, it's tradition for the boys to give us girls chocolate on Valentine's Day," Ayu said with a dismissive expression.
"I think tradition's about to get bucked for you two," Momona sneered.
They arrive at school and just as Momona had predicted, she and the other girls do get chocolate while Ayu and Hanako get nothing.
"Like you two sexual deviants deserve any chocolate!" One boy expressed angrily.
"You got Urisugi-kun expelled!" Another boy added in same said manner.
"Then don't look forward to any chocolate from us on White Day, you asses!" Ayu sneered.
"No complaints here!" Yet another boy countered, with the rest of the boys agreeing loudly.
Class soon starts and everyone settles into their seats.
That evening, they are leaving school for the day. Momona checks out her cellphone.
"Good news, girls," she said with a relieved expression. "It's going to be a great day, Saturday."
"Uh oh, brace yourself, Kanzaki," Ayu said with a suspicious expression. "I think Ichikawa's gonna cash in on what we promised her."
"A great day to go angling," Momona beamed.
"Angling?" Ayu winced.
"Fishing with a rod and line," Momona said.
Ayu and Hanako groan in sync.
"Wait just a minute," Ayu stated with a curious though outraged expression. "Isn't it still a little too early in the year to go fishing? I mean, with the exception of those who fish for a living, don't fishing otakus wait until Spring?"
"While it is certainly true that the best angling to be done is from late Spring to early Summer, the hardcore anglers do it year round," Momona answered. "But for us three, we will have already graduated by the height of angling season. I'll be letting your mothers know by the way."
"It's nice to know you trust us so much, Ichikawa," Hanako said with a sarcastic expression.
Saturday . . .
The sun is rising on a clear day that appears to be chilly due to a group of people dressed in warmer clothes as they stand around a bus, waiting to board it.
Momona, Ayu, and Hanako are amongst them.
"I can't believe I had to get up at five o'clock in the morning," Ayu said with a drowsy expression. "Mom stormed into my room banging on a pot with a spoon, then shouted for me to get my ass out of bed."
"My mom didn't bang on anything but she did barge into my room yelling for me to get up and dragged me out of bed," Hanako said with a drowsy expression of her own.
"I was so hoping it would be a stormy day today," Ayu grumbled while looking up at the mostly clear sky.
"I went even further," Hanako grumbled while joining Ayu in her stare upward. "Last night before I went to bed, I made a teru-teru bozu and hung it upside-down."
"Maybe it takes time for it to work and those clouds will increase as the morning goes on?" Ayu pondered groggily as she too stares up at the sky.
"Gah, it's so chilly!" Hanako stated through gnashed teeth while rubbing her arms.
"Will you two quit complaining," Momona sneered. "This is your penance for getting me involved in that."
"You think we'll catch any fish?" Hanako said.
"Who knows?" Ayu shrugged.
"Okay, everyone get ready to line up!" A man announced through a megaphone. "And we will be on our way down to the dock to board a fishing vessel!"
They board the bus and are driven down to the pier. There, they collect their fishing equipment. Once that was done, they board the boat in earnest.
"Uh oh," Hanako said with a queasy expression while clutching at her stomach. "I . . . I don't feel so good."
"Oh no, you get motion sickness?" Momona inquired.
"We got something for that," the skipper of the boat said with assurance as he hands Momona some medicine.
Momona in turn gives it to Hanako, who takes it.
"Well, how do you feel?" Momona asked.
"I . . . I think it's working," Hanako answered with a relieved expression.
"Good, now we can continue our fishing," Momona said.
And so it goes. The boat takes them offshore into a school of fish. The boat weighs anchor and their fishing begins in earnest. Since Ayu and Hanako are first-timers, they are getting instructions.
"Since we are in close quarters with each other, we cannot go casting our rods like we normally would," Momona instructs them. "So instead, we are simply going to bait the hooks and drop them over the side. Here goes."
Momona selects a bait from the sea worm pile and carefully hooks it. The worm wriggles about with its multiple legs wriggling.
"Okay," she said. "Now you two go at it. And be careful."
"Fine," Ayu grumbled as she reaches for a sea worm as well, clasping it. "Ow! It bit me!" Dropping it while pulling her hand back quickly.
"Yeah, you gotta be careful there, miss," one of the anglers noted. "Those things have quite the jaws on them."
"You got that right! Look! I'm bleedin'!" Ayu stated with a shocked expression while showing her finger with a drop of blood on it.
"Augh! The hook's stuck in my finger!" Hanako shouted with a shocked and pained expression as she holds her hand aloft.
"Calm down or you'll make it worse!" Momona shouted with a concerned expression as she grabs hold of Hanako's hand.
"I got this!" The skipper said as he takes hold of Hanako's hand while brandishing a pair of wire cutters with the other. "Now hold still, miss. Best you close your eyes."
Hanako does so and the skipper takes hold of the hook, then pushes it through, causing Hanako to squeak. The skipper snips the barbed tip off.
"There," the skipper said with assurance as he pulls the hook out. "Be careful, miss. Listen to your friend."
The two girls, now more wary, try to bait their hooks once more. They succeed in doing so without getting bitten or stabbing their fingers.
"Now just carefully, carefully," Momona emphasised while moving with her fishing rod to the side while lifting the string with her baited hook with her other hand, "move the hook over to the side and drop it into the water."
The other girls mimic Momona's action without accidents.
"Jig the line," Momona instructs while doing so, making her friends do so as well. "And if either of you do happen to get a bite, don't suddenly tug up or else the fish will escape. Slowly but firmly pull the line up and swing the captured fish inside."
"Got it," Ayu said.
"Sure thing," Hanako added.
Why do their words not assure me? Momona thought wryly.
The trio continue to fish, with the others doing the same. Bobbing their lines up and down.
"Argh! How long before these damn fish bite?!" Hanako stated with a frustrated expression.
"Fishing is a discipline," Momona explained as she remains focused on her line. "The fish are not going to start biting onto your hooks just because you want them to. Even if you have the right bait, they still might not bite."
"Hey, Kawashima," Hanako leered at her.
"Yeah?"
"How do fish mate?"
Uh oh. Momona thought while scowling upward with crossed eyes.
"First, the female lays her eggs," Ayu leered back at Hanako, "then a male swims over and squirts his semen all over them."
"Fish reproduce through bukkaki!" Hanako laughed, causing Ayu to laugh with her.
Momona, along with the other anglers, glower at them.
The day drags on as they continue to fish without any success. At noon, everyone takes a break to eat a lunch. Afterwards, they return to fishing.
"I gotta use the bathroom!" Hanako said with a desperate expression. "Really bad!"
"There's a toilet down below, miss," the skipper of the boat said.
"Reel in your line before you go, Kanzaki," Momona said.
"Yeah, yeah," she said in a panic while doing so. "There!" As she finishes and puts it down. "Now excuse me!" Hurrying inside.
Later, Hanako emerges looking flustered.
"Didn't make it in time?" Ayu snickered.
"Oh I made it," Hanako said with a weary look. "It's just having to use that washroom below. It's so small and the constant rocking makes it difficult to clean up properly. Ichikawa, how much longer?"
"We'll be heading back to shore at fifteen hundred hours, miss," the skipper answered instead.
"There, you see?" Momona said to Hanako.
Ayu lets out a sigh. "I don't know how you can find this exciting, Ichikawa. I don't know how any one here could."
"It's the thrill of expectations!" One of the anglers said, with the rest agreeing.
"Expectations?" Ayu sneered.
"We don't know what we're going to catch or what we're going to encounter," another fishing enthusiast said.
"So do any of you do this for a living?" Hanako asked around.
With the exception of the skipper, they all admit no with a shake of their heads.
"Why not?" Ayu asked. "I've heard the fishing industry is always in need of fishers."
"But that's different from what we do," One of the anglers answered with an annoyed expression. "All those fishers do is throw out their nets and pull in schools of fish. The net does all the work for them. I should know because I spent a day out on one of those trawlers. It was just not the same because I didn't feel anything from those fish that were being pulled in and dumped into the ship's hold."
"Yeah!" Another angler stated with an eager expression. "With a fishing rod, you get the feel of a fish as it bites onto the hook and pulls, then you reel it in! The fish tries to resist you so you keep pulling! You fight with the fish!"
The anglers agree more loudly.
"And by fighting with that fish, you connect with that fish!" Another angler stated with an intense expression.
"And when you finally pull that fish aboard!" The angler who was aboard the trawler in question proclaimed. "You feel the triumph of having won something!"
"Banzai!" They all yell, only to quickly shush each other.
"Geez, sorry I asked," Ayu grimaced.
"Whoa! I think I got a bite!" Hanako stated with an excited expression as she readies to tug on the line.
"Slowly! Slowly but firmly pull it up!" Momona instructed.
Hanako does so and manages to pull the mystery fish up and over into the boat.
"Great work! You got a Suzuki!" The skipper stated with awe from alongside them.
"That's incredible, Kanzaki!" Momona stated with an incredulous expression. "That's the top fish anglers want to catch!"
The rest of the afternoon drags on. Most of the anglers do catch various fishes of their own, with Momona and Ayu each catching a Butter Fish for themselves. Finally, the time comes and they return to land. With their catches secure, Momona and the girls board the bus with the others and are taken back to their stop where they all get off and go their separate ways with the girls leaving together.
"We still got some distance to travel," Ayu said with a weary expression.
"Think of it as good exercise," Momona said with an assured expression.
"That is if we don't die first," Hanako said with a weary expression of her own.
The girls walk.
"Sheesh, I bet Amamiya could easily keep up with you, Ichikawa," Hanako said with a weary expression.
"This isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be," Ayu said with an intrigued expression.
"Ehhh?! How can you be unfazed by this, Kawashima?!" Hanako demanded with a surprised look.
"Easy, it was due to all the sex I was having with Urisugi," Ayu answered, "especially with those cowgirl exercises I was performing."
"But I was also having sex with Urisugi," Hanako complained with a sorrowful expression.
"What sort of positions were you doing with him?" Ayu asked.
"Well," Hanako began sheepishly as she blushed, "there wasn't much sex."
"Ehhh?!" Ayu exclaimed with a shocked expression.
"I mean he would go down on me, but I would end up cumming too soon and be too ticklish to touch for awhile," Hanako admitted.
"You're bad at sex," Ayu said with a snickering expression.
"But I was getting better at it!" Hanako stated with a whiny expression.
"Yeah, yeah," Ayu said flippantly while waving her hand. "Now me," as her expression turns prideful, "I'm good at sex. I made Urisugi cum twice with my cowgirl position. I must get it from my mom."
"I wish I had a mom like yours," Hanako said with an envious expression.
I'm glad I don't, Momona thought with a relieved expression.
"Now what about you, Ichikawa?" Ayu asked deviously. "You think you're good at sex?"
"Don't know," Momona said flatly.
The trio arrive first at Ayu's home.
"Well, this is where I get off for the day," Ayu said. "Unless you two want to come in."
"No, I think I'll go home and rest," Hanako answered.
"I'll give you your fish first," Momona said as she opens the trunk and takes out the wrapped fish to give to Ayu.
"Thanks, Ichikawa," Ayu said as she takes the wrapped fish.
"Next, we will be stopping off at Kanzaki's place where I can give her her fish and I will be on my way home," Ichikawa said.
The trio bid each other goodbye, with Momona and Hanako heading out. They have not far to walk before they come upon Hanako's house, where Momona also gives Hanako her fish and also bid her a goodbye and leaves.
NOTE:
Suzuki is Japanese Sea Bass.