Takagi-san was bad. No, she wasn't just bad. She was horrible. As she stood there, peeking out at Nishikata and gripping her bag until it shook, she wanted nothing more than to sink deep into the earth.

Stealing was a sin. Her parents had taught her that well, and she would have never imagined taking something that rightfully belonged to another.

But when she had practically run into the school early that morning, nearly gushing with excitement to surprise Nishikata with her gifts, only to discover not one, not two, but three beautifully prepared boxes of chocolate already in his locker, Takagi panicked.

Nobody else in their year had a crush on him; she had figured that out years ago and pretty much everyone else knew that she liked him. But she had become so accustomed to their relationship that she hadn't even considered him being pulled away by some other girl in a younger… or older… grade. Let alone three other girls. She immediately became acutely aware of every other girl excitedly streaming into the school around her, several of whom had their own Valentine's gifts wrapped in hand. All at once, she had become very insignificant, just one minuscule speck in a world of people.

Takagi was not a thief. She never had been. But in that frightening early morning moment, as she realized that at any second, Nishikata might arrive and be stolen away from her, she panicked.

And as she panicked, she snatched all three gifts, threw them into her bag, and fled to the classroom.

Regret immediately washed over her and she couldn't keep her legs from trembling. Takagi was never impulsive, but something like this had never happened before either. She and Nishikata weren't a couple; she didn't have any weird, possessive stake over him nor any right, and she had never even been truly honest and straightforward about her feelings anyway. Only days earlier, she had started acting mean when Nishikata couldn't tell her about his conversation with Houjou, and had already privately vowed not to repeat herself.

This wasn't like that—it was much worse.

Takagi loved Nishikata; how could she excuse such a damaging act?

She was convincing herself to put them back, along with her own gift, when Nishikata arrived, probably having come early to try to fool her original plan. Seeing him, hearing him make jokes, intentional or not, made her heart flutter, which further intensified her fear of him being pursued by someone else.

Still, she knew she shouldn't meddle with others' business. But just as she was building herself up to apologize and surrender the gifts, or at least excuse herself to return them, Mina had walked in. That had reminded her that she wasn't the only girl in love here, and scared her back into hiding the gifts.

She just couldn't. How could she just let someone else lure him away?

But as the day progressed, Takagi could feel the guilt growing within her. She was being unfair and was totally unjustified. It felt worse than having the flu, and she knew deep down that she didn't want to win Nishikata over like this. She didn't want a clouded conscience any longer and vowed to put the gifts back before it was too late, then double down on showing him that her own gift was just as significant as the others.

At lunch, she hurried away to return the gifts exactly where she found them, tough as that was. She hadn't really messed anything up yet, as lots of kids put chocolates in lockers at lunch anyway and Nishikata would find them later.

But when she heard Nishikata's name loudly yelled from all the way down the hallway, she stopped and looked back, only to witness with horror as three girls began talking and flirting with him.

Three girls. Three presents.

At that moment, Takagi knew she had really screwed up. She hid between a small nook in some nearby lockers, paralyzed with fear. Those had to be the same girls, and they were just now learning that their chocolates had gone missing. Were they just confessing anyway; had her sinful act even mattered? Was Nishikata already getting pulled away from her?

She was too late. Several moments later, the girls came hurrying down the hallway, muttering angrily to one another about misplacing their chocolates. With her suspicions confirmed, Takagi's shame intensified.

There was no way she could face Nishikata now. She didn't know what would be worse—hearing him wrestle with his feelings for his other three secret admirers, or admitting to him that she had taken away what was rightfully his. In fact, she wasn't sure she could face anybody at the moment.

She had to get away.

Takagi shakily walked outside to a secluded corner of the schoolyard, leaned against a tree, and phoned her mom home, getting permission to come home early from not feeling well. Nobody saw you take the gifts, she kept reminding herself. But as irrational as it was, she felt as if everyone were staring her down, as if they already knew that her life was a travesty.

Once her mom called the school to excuse her, Takagi waited for all the other students to go back in, then went over to grab her bike and leave. As she was removing the bike lock from the wheel spokes, she heard footsteps behind her and whirled around. A short girl in another class gave her a confused look before taking out her own bike and cycling away.

Takagi was too on-edge. Nobody has any idea what I did, she continued to reassure herself, getting on the seat.

As she started pedaling away, she couldn't help but feel like an utter failure. Not only had she ruined several other peoples' days; she hadn't treated Nishikata nicely at all or even given him her own gift, easily putting her in last place in the race to his heart.

A crow cawed from above as she rounded the first corner towards home. I could still give it to him, she thought wistfully, Not my joke gift, but his actual chocolate.

She could just hide the other girls' chocolates, pretending that nothing had ever happened. Sure, maybe her competitors had already confessed to Nishikata or would after school; was she really just going to give them an advantage by doing nothing?

For all she knew, those first-years probably knew next to nothing about what Nishikata was really like, and he most certainly knew nothing about them; they would probably move on to someone else in another month and not even remember that they had lost their chocolates the month after that.

Takagi pursed her lips as she pedaled faster, mulling over the idea. She never lied, but… would anyone really get hurt if she did?

She spotted the gate to one of her favorite shrines up ahead, the surrounding trees swaying slightly from the wind, and decided to stop there. She didn't want to worry her mother and would just be there for a few minutes. Plus, she didn't want her family wondering why she was acting so finicky and needed to calm down.

Takagi found herself narrowing her eyes as she left her bike, walking to the hidden bench at the back of the shrine, and it only took a few seconds for her to realize why. Wasn't it blatantly obvious that she and Nishikata were practically a couple already? Sure, she hadn't actually said that and Nishikata didn't see things like that, but he was the only one who couldn't see it. Even 'dense-as-a-doornail' Nakai, as Mano often put it, had picked up on it in their first year.

She sat there for a while, musing. What other boy and girl walked to and from school practically every day, went on fun date-like adventures practically every other day, ate lunch at school together, did homework together, and were always thinking about one another? Even most official couples weren't like that!

How could anyone not notice those things?

Takagi's brows furrowed further and she began to glare at a calico cat napping on the sunny path nearby. Why was she feeling so guilty here? Takagi had been working to build up courage for literally years at this point to confess her feelings to Nishikata, but really, hoped that he would figure things out and confess first. She had to protect that, right? How could she just let a bunch of other inferior girls who were completely in it for the looks step over her work and steal him away? It was predatory!

She felt something twist strangely deep within her, but Takagi found herself nodding anyway. Yes, wasn't she being stolen from at least as much as they? Those girls had to know about her crush and were choosing to mow her down to get to him anyway, right?!

A message sounded from Takagi's phone and she glared down at it, seething. It was from her friend Sumire-chan.

Sumire had shown Takagi and the others her own Valentine gift in the morning and had been building up her own courage to give it in-person. As Takagi opened up the message, she felt a little bit of her anger dissipating away.

"I did it! I gave it to Sakurai-kun during lunch! And he was so happy! :D

Takagi's frown lessened; she at least felt happy for her friend. She read the next messages as they arrived.

"He even liked the chocolate I made him! Btw, are you not coming back? There isn't much class left."

"Does that mean you already gave Nishikata-kun your present?"

Takagi hadn't given Nishikata his chocolate yet. Not her chocolate for him. And Sumire was counting on her to do it, just like she had.

No, Takagi wouldn't let this day be a complete waste. She wouldn't wimp out.

Takagi raised her own phone, ignoring the strange feeling in her chest, and began to type out a message.

"Can you come meet me at the shrine after school? There's something I want to give you."

No, delete.

"Come to the shrine right after school and you might find something nice!"

Takagi's finger wavered over the send button.

She wanted more than anything to give Nishikata her chocolate, and yet… she just felt so wrong. She felt like a totally different person today; she rarely ever got mad about anything or had thoughts like this.

Takagi glanced back down at Sumire's text. It was the only thing that had made her feel the slightest trace of happiness all afternoon.

"He even liked the chocolate I made him!"

Sumire didn't know Sakurai very well, yet she had still gone through all the effort to make homemade chocolate for him. She had called Takagi the night before asking a number of questions about how to prepare it.

Takagi felt the guilt begin creeping up through her once again. She slowly pulled one of the stolen gift boxes out of her bag and examined it more closely.

There was a small note secured under the ribbons that tied the box together. "For Senpai", it read. In her haste, she hadn't even noticed that. Checking the other boxes, they were each addressed in the same way, albeit with different handwriting.

Takagi didn't like to snoop, but given she would probably have to throw them away anyway, pulled out one of the notes and read it.

"Dear Senpai, I fell in love with you because of the Culture Festival. Please accept this gift."

Jealousy surged through Takagi and she wanted to crumple up the note. Everything made sense now, of course other girls would fall in love with Nishikata after that stunning improvised finale! It's not like she was the only girl there. But he wasn't their prince! She bared her teeth and held up the message, ready to tear it to shreds.

But she paused. She slowly looking back down at her phone, then thought back to Sumire. And then back to this competitor, to this younger mystery girl.

As real as it had been to Takagi, she and Nishikata had just been acting on stage. How would this girl see it any other way? What if she was a transfer student that hadn't been around long? Or were Takagi's feelings towards him just not as noticeable to others as she believed?

A few moments later, Takagi slowly replaced the note and then read the others, and they each said similar, but unique things. Simple, but meaningful.

She made sure to smooth out the notes before refastening them below their ribbons.

Did they… Did they make homemade chocolate too? she wondered. Takagi picked up the long rectangular pink box, trying to grab at its ribbon to loosen it.

But that felt like it was too far. This wasn't hers.

It was Nishikata's.

But I'm just gonna throw them away anyway, she thought, and immediately felt that gross sensation expanding in her chest. She was really starting to hate that feeling.

Takagi decided she didn't need to open the boxes, and the feeling subsided a tad.

The gifts looked handmade. She didn't want to just throw them away. But she didn't want to lose Nishikata, either. Takagi fidgeted on the bench.

Why couldn't they have just been for some other boy?

She tenderly placed the gifts back in the bag, treating them with new respect. Someone had put time and effort into each one of these; wouldn't they be hurt if they just went away?

But wouldn't she be hurt if Nishikata just went away?

The calico cat let out a meow and flipped over, now facing her, and went back to sleep. Takagi noticed the more yellowy rays of sunshine bathing the feline and realized she had been sitting for over an hour. School was definitely out by now; she was running out of time.

As if on cue, her phone buzzed; Takagi's mom was wondering why she hadn't made it home yet.

She hurriedly texted her mom not to worry and that she wouldn't be much longer. She went to stand, but her legs felt so heavy, as if they were buried knee-deep in mud.

I don't know what to do, Takagi thought in dismay, settling back on the bench with her head down. Had Nishikata already made it home? It wouldn't be long till it was dark out.

But she couldn't go home yet, not with all of this strife going through her head. Whatever she did, she had to make a decision soon, then move on.

She would just text him now, then figure out what to do before he got here. That was her only choice.

Takagi narrowed her eyes, sending Nishikata a quick text. "Can you meet up with me now?"

She would have time, he didn't know where she was yet anyway. She still needed to decide how she could give him her gift and what to do with–

A message alert sounded from someone else's phone.

Takagi froze, her eyes widening, then inch-by-inch, turned her head to the right.

Staring right back at her, with his phone out and blue scarf blowing in the wind, was Nishikata.