How to Make Honmei Choco
by Aoko & Saguru
Aoko was just out shopping for groceries when she walked past a startlingly pink display that totally came out of nowhere. She paused, turned back to look at it, and slowly began to panic.
She completely forgot about Valentine's Day! Between her dad getting sick and Kaito getting sick right after, Aoko had been running around taking care of everyone. Now she didn't have any time to prepare for Valentine's Day! Sure, she could probably just buy honmei chocolates from the store and not worry about it, but this year is different. Not that last year was much of a Valentine's Day considering that she didn't even get to give her chocolate to Bakaito. But at least she knew what kind of chocolate he likes and knew what to shop for. But this year... she had no idea what to get...
"Looking for something for your Valentine?" a smooth, polished voice asked from behind her. Aoko startled and turned around to find Hakuba-kun standing behind her with a tote bag...? Realizing what he just asked her, Aoko flushed.
"H-Hakuba-kun! What are you doing here?" she stuttered out. It was a legitimate question. She'd never seen him in this area before. Not to mention the fact that Hakuba-kun had his Baaya. Who, she assumed, would be doing these kinds of things for him and the Hakuba family.
"Oh, I just needed to buy some ingredients." Then he stops to look at her and then at the Valentine's chocolate display for a bit, before continuing. "Would you like me to help you pick some chocolates?" he asked kindly.
Despite all the fights and disagreements he would have with Kaito, Hakuba-kun had been nothing but kind to Aoko. Always helping her out or engaging her in small talk, even after Aoko realized that he never had any romantic feelings for her. Maybe it was because they have so many things in common with each other. Both being children of police officers, and both having an interest in stopping KID, but Aoko would like to think that they get along pretty well. Aoko smiled. First, brightly, then less so when she remembered her problem.
"That's alright, Hakuba-kun," she replied, "I didn't bring enough money for this, and even if I did, I wouldn't know what to get anyways." She looked forlornly at the chocolate display in front of her. Hakuba-kun made a noise beside her, the noise she associated with him thinking, or coming up with a plan, or deciding what to say.
"Well, the ingredients I came here to get are actually for the chocolates I'm planning to make... would you like to join me?" Hakuba-kun asked graciously and, huh...?
Aoko turned to look at Hakuba-kun, who had this hopeful look to him. Like he wanted her to say yes.
"Both to shop for ingredients and to make the chocolate, I mean. I planned to buy the ingredients anyways, so I can pay for the bulk of it. And who knows," Hakuba-kun raised his eyebrow while smiling impishly, "maybe we'll find something that's perfect for your Valentine?"
Aoko, still blown by the revelation, decided to instead exclaim.
"Ehhhhhhh? Hakuba-kun, you have a Valentine?" Aoko asked, curious about who could possibly capture the heart of Hakuba-kun, who never seem to pay any attention to things like this or have any care for it. He looked at her, amused, before winking.
"It's a secret."
Ehhhhhhh? What's this? Now Aoko was even more intrigued about who it could possibly be! Well, there was only one way to solve this!
"Ok then, Aoko will come shopping with you," she answered, planning out how she was going to get him to tell her who his Valentine is in her head. Hakuba-kun chuckled.
"Alright, but I'm still not telling you who my chocolate is for," he teased with a playful twinkle in his eyes.
Aoko sometimes forgot how similar Hakuba-kun and Kaito could be when it comes to their ability to tease her. Hakuba-kun might be more subtle, but he's just as mischievous (if not more) as Kaito, if he wants to be.
"Oh, and as for the making of the chocolates, shall we meet up on the 13th? That way, the chocolates will be very fresh." Hakuba-kun suggested.
"Yeah! Let's go with that!" Aoko agreed enthusiastically, looking forward to making chocolates for her Valentine with Hakuba-kun.
'I wonder where Aoko is...' Kaito thought as he pulled his shoes out from the locker and replaced his slippers back into the compartment.
They don't always walk to school together. They might be close friends, but neither of them were willing to wake up extra early just for that. But more often than not, they'd walk back together, at least until they have to go separate ways. Sometimes they don't, but they would usually let each other know ahead of time if that was the case.
'Did Aoko say she had something to do...? No, no she didn't. Where is she?' Kaito wondered as he looked around trying to find his best friend, when in the distance, he saw a blond blob. 'Hakuba...'
Then he recognized who was with Hakuba. It was Aoko! God, did she stay behind because she got distracted by Hakuba?
Kaito felt a small twisting sensation in his chest, but ignored it to think about why those two were staying behind together. Or more specifically, what crazy ideas Hakuba was telling Aoko now?
'Whatever,' Kaito decided that that didn't matter. He just wanted to get them away from each other and he wanted to go home.
"Oi, Ahouko! Stop taking so long!" he yelled out, startling Aoko, who looked at him with a surprised expression. 'What's with that look?' Kaito wondered. Then her expression turned guilty.. Huh...
"Ah! Sorry! Aoko forgot to tell Kaito that I'm going back with Hakuba-kun today!"
'What..?'
Aoko was looking at him apologetically, but Kaito was still processing.
"Sorry I made you wait! Aoko totally forgot!" She was still apologizing to him, he should say something back.
"Geez, Ahouko, why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Sorry! I made plans with Hakuba-kun a few days ago so it completely slipped my mind!"
'Ah, so this was a planned thing?' Kaito wasn't sure how he felt about any of this.
He'd never known how to feel about Aoko and Hakuba being friends ever since he found out they kept in touch with each other through texting. He had been trying to figure if it was because it was Hakuba, or because it was a guy, or just Aoko getting one more friend when his friend list remains unchanged with only 1 person on that list.
Part of him wanted to ask them what they were going to do together or why they were even doing it together, but he never asked Aoko when she went to hang out with Keiko. Kaito didn't know why he suddenly cared about what Aoko was doing with her other friends. He shouldn't be acting like this. It wasn't his fault that Aoko has other friends to be with and it wasn't fair for him to occupy all of her time.
"Fine, whatever! Don't forget to tell your dad before he starts putting up missing posters of you, Ahouko," he said as he turned to leave.
Behind them he could hear Aoko's panicked "ah!" probably because she forgot to tell her dad about her plans, probably reaching into her bag to call her dad about it now. He could also hear Hakuba's warm chuckle, and he could almost visualize the scene, Hakuba with a fond, amused look on his face as he stood there, waiting for Aoko to finish her call.
Kaito shook his head.
He didn't know where that thought came from, but he has better things to do than to think about that bastard.
...
The walk from school to Hakuba-kun's house didn't take as long as Aoko thought it would.
Since Hakuba-kun came to ask her if she would rather have Baaya drive them to the house, Aoko thought that it might be a bit far away, but it wasn't that far at all. Maybe around the same distance as Kaito's house from school, but in the complete opposite direction. Aoko took a small moment to find humor in the fact that the boys continue to be so different from each other in every way.
Being the great conversationalist that he is, Hakuba-kun kept her engaged the entire way, talking about this and that.
Aoko got to learn a lot more about him. While she thought that they were friends, she didn't realize just how much she didn't know about him.
He would point to different places in as they walk passed, talking about what those places are, how this place has the best ramen, or that place has the best dangos. They also stopped quite frequently on the way back, due to cats and kittens running up to rub themselves against Hakuba-kun, who would stop to crouch down to play with them.
"Sometimes I would stop by on my way back from school to give them some food or to play with them," Hakuba-kun explained.
"That's so cute! They really seem to like you," she said, part of her wondered why Hakuba-kun didn't just take them home, if he liked them this much. But Aoko assumed it had something to do with the sparrowhawk he has as a pet.
"Yes, I think they're starting to remember me now," Hakuba-kun said with a gentle smile on his face as he played with one of the kittens.
Sometimes, Aoko wondered if Kaito would be nicer to Hakuba-kun if he saw this side of him.
Eventually, Hakuba-kun stood up and took the leading position to guide her back to his house. Some of the cats tried to follow them for some distance before giving up when they realized that Hakuba-kun would not be playing with them anymore nor does he have any food for them today.
As they approached Hakuba-kun's house, Aoko couldn't help but stare in awe at how big and grand his house is. Maybe she shouldn't call it a house, it was more like a manor, with western architecture. He guided her through the gates (which he seemed to have unlocked by having his eyes scanned?), and led her up to the house. Which got even more imposing as they approached the entrance.
When they got to the door, it opened up. At first Aoko thought this was another high tech system like the eye scanner, but as Hakuba entered she saw that it was Baaya who received them. Still in awe of how big everything was, it was only after Baaya welcomed Hakuba-kun home that Aoko remembered her manners and greeted Baaya with a bow. Hakuba-kun moved aside so that she could enter the house.
"Pardon the intrusion," Aoko said out loud, not wanting to look bad in front of Hakuba-kun after already forgetting to greet Baaya right away. Baaya smiled and told her enthusiastically that she's welcome to visit anytime, before turning around to walk back into the house.
"Here, Baaya got some new slippers, these should be around your size, Aoko-san." Hakuba-kun said, dropping a pair of slippers by the entrance. Startling Aoko out of her trance of staring after Baaya down the hallway. It seemed that she was going to be very distracted today due to her desire to look around Hakuba-kun's house.
"Ah, thank you, Hakuba-kun," she removed her shoes and pushed them towards the area where all the outside shoes are before putting on the indoor slippers. Hakuba-kun was smiling at her when she looked back at him again.
"Alright, let's head to the kitchen. Please make yourself at home, then again," he paused to turn and smiled sheepishly at her, "it might be a bit hard considering that this house can take a bit of getting used to." He probably meant the size of his house, Aoko thought. Not wanting her friend to feel bad or awkward about the obvious gap between their social status, Aoko replied without hesitation.
"Alright then! I hope you don't regret saying that!" she smiled cheekily at him while nudging him, a bit harder than just a normal nudge, just to remind him of who she was and the fact that she has had to deal with Bakaito on the regular since who knows how long.
When they reached the kitchen, she could see that all the ingredients and equipment were all laid out for them, probably by Baaya. Who was nowhere to be seen. Hakuba-kun walked towards the center island where everything was. The island, with a built-in sink... god this house is big, she thought. Aoko kind of wished she had a kitchen as nice and spacious as Hakuba-kun's, but then she realized how much cleanup and maintenance it would need and decided that her kitchen at home was enough as it is.
"Shall we begin?" Hakuba-kun said, bringing her attention back to him from what looked to be a blender..? Aoko wondered what they were going to need blender for... or maybe that was for one of Hakuba-kun's recipes.
As she approached Hakuba-kun, he showed her that her ingredients were separated into this specific area, how to use the stove ("please make sure to turn off the stove every time you're finished using it, I've forgotten enough times for Baaya to be displeased"), and the bowls and equipments that she would need for her recipe. It looked like they would be cooking together, but at the same time, also not .
Normally, Aoko would be worried, but with such a large area to work with and how organized Hakuba-kun is, Aoko thought she was going to enjoy cooking with Hakuba-kun very much. While grabbing some of her ingredients, she noticed how many things were on his side of the kitchen and Aoko wondered if Hakuba-kun will actually be able to finish making his chocolates for tomorrow. Then again, it is Hakuba-kun. Shaking her head, Aoko set to making her chocolates, seeing as Hakuba-kun has already started on melting some of his.
While Aoko was measuring out her ingredients, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, sugar, Hakuba-kun poured something into another pot on the stove. Cherries, she thought as she smelled the sweet scent.
Oh, that's right, Hakuba-kun offered to help her make some cherry jam or syrup or something to mix with some of the chocolate she was making when they were grocery shopping together that day. He also offered some... ah, so that was what that bottle on her side of the table was. Hakuba-kun suggested putting sherry in some of the chocolates when Aoko mentioned that Akako-chan seemed to like more mature flavors. Aoko wasn't sure if putting alcohol in the chocolate really was the best idea, but Hakuba-kun seemed to think it's a good idea. Although, with how experienced he seemed in the kitchen, Aoko was pretty sure that he probably knew what he's doing.
"Cherry?" Hakuba-kun, held up a piece of cherry to her. How long had he been standing next to Aoko?
"Ah! Thank you, Hakuba-kun," Aoko took the cherry from him, it looked like it had been cut to take the pit out, and popped it in her mouth. "Oh! That's delicious!" She exclaimed, surprised at how sweet the cherry was.
"Right?" Hakuba-kun replied, and she can see how that he's also eating a piece of cherry too. "I think we got lucky with all the fruits we got," he continued, smiling as he goes back to where the pots of cherries and chocolate were.
"Yea! Wow, those cherries must have been really sweet!" Aoko said. "Now Aoko wished we didn't plan to give them away to our valentines," she said jokingly.
"Well, I'm sure we'll make more than enough to give away and have some for ourselves," Hakuba-kun said, smiling smugly with a playful glint to his eyes. Cooking with Hakuba-kun was fun, Aoko decided. Not to mention very delicious too, considering all the care he put in selecting his ingredients. Aoko really should meet up to cook with him more often.
"I guess it's a happy early Valentine's day for us then!" Aoko laughed. Hakuba-kun chuckled in response as he checked on his chocolate.
Aoko turned back to her ingredients, all measured out in front of her. With that done, she started melting her cocoa butter, playfully bumping against Hakuba-kun, who was still melting his chocolate. She got another quiet laugh for her trouble. It's a shame that Hakuba-kun was usually so busy. Aoko had only gotten to know more about him in the past few days.
Though this made Aoko curious, she pondered as she went to mix the dry ingredients together in different bowls; less sugar for one that will have the jam, more for one that will have alcohol in it. While the silence between was comfortable, especially since it was accompanied by the sounds of bubbling jam and some cooking equipment moving around. Aoko decided to break the silence. There was just so much that she didn't know about Hakuba-kun, and she had the perfect opportunity right now to get to know him more.
"Ne, Hakuba-kun, you're so comfortable around the kitchen, have you been cooking for a long time?" she asked. Something that she had been wanting to know since Hakuba-kun invited her a few days ago. "I always assumed that your Baaya would be cooking for you." Aoko hoped her comment wasn't offensive, but if she had someone who is around to cook for her all the time she probably wouldn't have bothered to learn to cook either. Well, ok, maybe that was a lie, Aoko liked cooking and she loves food. Helper or no, Aoko probably would have learnt to cook eventually.
"Ah... yes," Hakuba-kun responded slowly, like he wasn't sure of what to say.
Oh, Aoko really hoped she didn't offend him just now.
"You're right to assume that Baaya cooks for me," he said.
Oh, maybe she didn't offend him after all.
"But I've known how to cook for quite a while now," he continued. "I'm not quite sure how long, but I have to say, it's a very useful skill to have when I was living by myself in London."
"Ehhhh, you lived by yourself in London?" Aoko asked, confused by this new information. She didn't know much about locations in England other than London, but she assumed that Hakuba-kun was from there since he said he went to London Bridge School? She turned to look at him, stirring the cocoa butter in her pot gently, waiting for his answer.
"Yes. I actually grew up in the countryside, but I wanted to study in the city. To be closer to everything. So I moved to London to study there," Hakuba-kun explained, "and got an apartment for myself."
The answer shouldn't have surprised her, Aoko had always known that Hakuba-kun is a very independent person, but she couldn't imagine living away from her dad from such a young age. Not because she can't, but Aoko imagined that it must have been very lonely to do so.
"Ahhh, so you had to cook for yourself when you were in London?" Aoko asked, then sighed, "I wish Bakaito would learn to cook for himself. If we don't invite him over to eat with us, I think he would just starve to death." She complained. There was a snort and the sound of muffled laughter. Aoko turned around to see Hakuba-kun, his shoulder moving with every laugh, hand over his mouth in an attempt to stop.
"Somehow, this doesn't surprise me at all about Kuroba-kun," he said. Then, clearing his throat, he looked at her apologetically, "I'm sorry, shouldn't laugh at his inability to cook for himself, that was rude of me."
He'd been getting better at that recently, even if it was only around her and Keiko-chan. Aoko was now partly sure that this was just Hakuba-kun's kind of humor. Again, funny enough, it was similar to Kaito's. Where you poke fun at the people you're close with.
Except Hakuba-kun has been doing this to everyone, which was really mean and rude. So Aoko told him off. Hakuba-kun looked so surprised that the time that Aoko believed that he genuinely never thought that his comments could be taken that way. These days, he's much more careful about what he says when he's joking around. Well... when he's not around Kaito that is.
Aoko swore she's going to get these two to get along one day. She could just tell that they would end up being best friends.
"It's fine, it's fine!" she said, waving her hand in an almost beckoning gesture, "I started it." Because she did.
"In any case, to answer your question, I actually learned to cook before I started living in London by myself" Hakuba-kun stirred his chocolate with a whisk. "Well I guess that depends on what counts as 'living in London by myself'. I was in boarding school for a time, when I was younger, but that never really felt like living in London." He explained as he continued to stir his melting chocolate. "If you counted those years, then I guess I haven't learnt to cook yet, but if we count from when I had the apartment then I would have already learnt by then."
Hakuba-kun paused to get the milk that was on the counter by his side, meanwhile, Aoko was pouring her melted cocoa butter into the one of the bowls of dry mixtures she has. Then she added another set of cocoa butter to the pot to melt as she stirred the bowl to combine the cocoa powder mixture with the cocoa butter. And then, she'll be able to pour these into the molds for her first batch of chocolate! Pouring the milk into his bowl of melted chocolate, Hakuba-kun continued his story.
"Back in the countryside, it was just my mom, Baaya, and me," he explained, stirring all the while. "But more often than not, it would be mom and I who did the cooking, since Baaya would be busy in another part of the house," he laughed quietly at that.
Aoko's not going to lie, one of the benefits she enjoyed from hanging out with Hakuba-kun was getting to see him laugh more often.
"Cooking isn't really something that requires expertise, and is an essential skill anyways, so mom alway made sure that I was there with her when she's cooking." Hakuba-kun continued, removing the bowl from the pot and replacing it with another bowl, this time with white chocolate. And then started mixing, eh?
When did he mix those eggs? Ahhh, maybe Aoko should ask him how to be so efficient in the kitchen, she didn't even realize he was mixing something else while this was happening. How did she miss the sound of the electric mixer?
Putting that thought aside, Aoko refocused on her current task of pouring the chocolate mixture into the molds. She filled up half of the molds before taking some chili powder to put in the left over chocolate mixture, and filling the rest of the mold with that chili chocolate mixture. Aoko turned to check on the other batch of cocoa butter in the pot, and pour that batch into the other bowl. Turning the stove off, Aoko took the pot and her bowl to the sink, to be set aside as to not get in the way of Hakuba-kun.
"You must really like cooking then," she said as she walked back to put her chocolates into the refrigerator that Hakuba-kun pointed to earlier. "You seem really good at it, Hakuba-kun."
"Ah, I guess you could say that," he said. As Aoko walked back to her chocolates, she noticed a timid smile on his face. "It was one of the only things that I don't mind doing to help Baaya around the house," he chuckled. Then with a raised eyebrow and a wry grin, "I'd rather cook than clean, wouldn't you?"
Aoko giggled as she mixed her chocolate. Maybe his comment would have been condescending to other people, but she was close enough to him to know otherwise. She knew that he's well aware of his privileges and the fact that others don't share his experiences.
"Ah~ Aoko wish Aoko had a choice between cooking and cleaning," she continued the line of conversation. They exchanged a glance with each other before bursting out into a small fit of giggles. She had pointed out many things in Hakuba-kun's life that are so extravagant that it's ridiculous. To the point that it had become a joke to them for him to put on an even more exaggerated version of his princely persona and talk about his luxuries. Which meant she knew what was going to say next.
"But of course, few have much privilege as I, Hakuba Saguru." he turned up his nose, and gestures fancifully.
Aoko continued to giggle at their inside joke.
"After all, no one can quite reach the perfection that is me." Then he paused in the pose of a stuck up prince for a while, before bursting into a hearty laugh.
Hakuba-kun clutched at his stomach as he continued to laugh, Aoko's giggles mixing in with the noise. After a while, they wiped their tears and got back to their task with smiles on their faces.
Aoko busied herself with her chocolates as Hakuba-kun continued to make his chocolate mousse (it looked like he's making two types?) and the cherry jam. They cooked in companionable silence with some small talk here and there.
By the time she's finished mixing this batch, Hakuba-kun had moved the cherry jam to her side so that Aoko could put it in some of her chocolate mold. Again she poured chocolate into half the molds, this time, only up to about half of the depth of each individual mold. Then she scooped out some cherry jam to place in those molds, before pouring chocolate to cover over the top. She wasn't sure how these will turn out, even if Hakuba-kun had poured the jam into a bowl to place in ice water to help cool it down faster. Then, for the rest of the chocolate mix in the bowl, she poured a bit of the sherry that Hakuba-kun brought out for her and mixed it all together again, before pouring it into the rest of the molds.
With that done, Aoko was basically done with cooking. All that's left to do was decorate, but that would have to wait until the chocolate has cooled down. Placing the second batch of chocolate into the fridge, she turned to check on Hakuba-kun.
It looked like in the time she took to pour out the chocolate into the mold, he was already on his way to finishing up his second? third? mousse? Aoko wondered if she should be jealous of whoever was Hakuba-kun's Valentine's, considering that they would be getting all these fancy chocolates. There was more chocolate melting over the pot again, this time it looked like it was dark chocolate again.
Aoko watched as Hakuba-kun mixed a green mixture in his bowl... matcha, maybe? Hmmmm, Aoko wondered if Hakuba-kun would let her try some of the mousses that he had made... maybe later. Hakuba-kun did say that the leftover chocolates can just be their early Valentine's celebration. As Hakuba-kun put the third bowl of mousse away in the fridge (ah, so he was making three mousses), Aoko sidled up next to him and nudged his side playfully.
"Ne, Hakuba-kun, are you really not going to tell Aoko who your Valentine's is?" She pouted up at him for added effect. Maybe he would give in and tell her this time? Instead, what she got was a chuckle as Hakuba-kun moved back to the stove to check on his melted chocolate.
"Nope!" He said cheerfully. Then he pointed a device at this chocolate bowl...?
"Eh, what's that?" Aoko asked, wondering what Hakuba-kun is doing.
"Oh this? It's an infrared thermometer." He said, not really explaining what it is. "It's like any other thermometer you use for cooking, except with this one, I just point it at whatever I want to check and press a button." Aoko couldn't tell if she was impressed by the instrument, or if she's questioning the need to have such a sophisticated equipment. Then again, it's not like this was her house. It wasn't really her place to judge especially since Hakuba-kun seemed to find it useful.
"Ohhh, why are you measuring the temperature of your chocolate?" Aoko asked, not really understanding what exactly Hakuba-kun was doing. If the chocolate was melted then it was good to use, right? She went to clean up the bowl of cherry jam to put in a jar. Hakuba-kun seemed to be moving around and mixing ingredients again, Aoko wondered what he's making next.
"Ah, well, I wanted to temper the chocolate," he replied. "Tempering is a method used to make the finished hardened chocolate look shiny. It also makes the chocolate snap when you break it, which is what I want. And since I'm not going to decorate my chocolate like you are, Aoko-san, I thought that I should make the chocolate itself look presentable." Hakuba-kun explained. Huh, that made sense. Aoko didn't remember seeing Hakuba-kun buying decorations for his chocolate, so she guessed he had a point.
"So, for tempering, it's important to know the temperature of the chocolate?" Aoko guessed from the information that Hakuba-kun has given her. He does that sometimes, answer questions indirectly by providing more detailed explanation instead. Assuming that whoever he was talking to will be able to piece together the information he had given them to find the answer themselves. Aoko would be confused by Hakuba-kun if she wasn't used to Kaito being a tsundere and talking in circles all the time.
"Yes, exactly that." Hakuba-kun seemed to be busying himself with mixing flour now, so she guessed he's making... cake? next? Waaa, Hakuba-kun sure was putting a lot of effort into this. Aoko would have never expected this at all before today.
After scooping all the cherry jam into a jar and putting it away in the refrigerator, Aoko move to put the dirty bowl into the sink. She also grabbed some of the utensils that Hakuba-kun wasn't using anymore as well. Might as well start washing up to clear up some space, since all Aoko has to do now is wait for her chocolate to cool down.
"Thank you, Aoko-san. You didn't have to do that," Hakuba-kun said distractedly as he mixed his cake batter in a bowl, huh, he's using coffee in the batter too. Maybe Aoko should ask him for a recipe after this.
"It's ok. Aoko is just waiting for the chocolates to cool down now, so Aoko might as well do some clean up and clear the space for Hakuba-kun" Again, he responded to her in a distracted manner. Aoko figured that she should just focus on cleaning up and let Hakuba-kun focus on his cake and chocolate.
When Aoko was done with the dishes, Hakuba-kun was putting his batter into the oven (when did he preheat it?) and there was a bowl of raspberry next to the molds and a pot on another stove. Hakuba-kun poured white chocolate halfway into the molds, stopped, dropped some raspberry into each of the mold, and then poured the rest of the chocolate over the top. After smoothing it out, he lifted the tray to go put it in the fridge, but as he passed the pot, he poured milk into the pot. When he came back from the fridge, he was holding a large tray full of-sandwiches with him.
"How about a break with some hot chocolate and sandwiches?" he said.
"Oh! Is that what you're making in the pot?" Aoko said, surprised and enthusiastic to try some of the hot chocolate, which was starting to smell very delicious. Hakuba-kun chuckled.
"Yes," he said, while stirring in some other powder looking ingredients into the pot. "You can start eating the-sandwiches if you'd like. I should be done with the hot chocolate soon, Aoko-san."
With that Aoko decided to start digging in, she hadn't realized how hungry she was until Hakuba-kun mentioned food.
The sandwich was delicious. Aoko was about to start on her second piece when Hakuba-kun came back with hot chocolate and some shortbread. As she raised the cup up for a sip, the smell of chocolate, cinnamon, and something deeper, filled her senses. A sip of the hot chocolate completed the picture. The smooth creaminess of the chocolate, mixed with just a hint of cinnamon and some other spice that Aoko couldn't place, heated just right to let her senses take in the harmony of flavors.
Taking a moment to savor the lingering taste of hot chocolate in her mouth, Aoko exclaimed of how delicious it was to Hakuba-kun, who bashfully accepted the compliment. He could be so weird sometimes. Sometimes, he has a presence that commands people to acknowledge his accomplishments. And other times, times like this, he would get slightly avoidant and accept the compliments while downplaying what he's done. Aoko just couldn't figure out the pattern as to why he does this, and she wasn't sure if she could figure it out anytime soon.
As they ate, Aoko asked Hakuba-kun where he got the chocolate to make the hot chocolate (and the rest of his Valentine's Day gifts), to which he explained to her that he made the chocolate himself? Asking about it led to Hakuba-kun going into his teacher mode, explaining how he roasted the cocoa beans, and crushed the beans in a special machine that grinds them into a smooth liquid, a liquid chocolate. Which he then stored in the fridge until today. Ahhhh, now Aoko really wished she was Hakuba-kun's Valentine's. Those chocolate must be really delicious since he made them from the bean itself.
They talked some more about anything and everything. Aoko, curious to know more about Hakuba-kun, asked a lot of questions. For example, she learnt that Hakuba-kun likes to read manga, not ones from Japan though (not that he doesn't read those too), but the western ones with superheroes like Superman and Batman. Aoko asked Hakuba-kun which one was his favorite, but he simply replied with a smile, saying that it's hard to pick. Which, of course just made Aoko pester him until she got an answer. In the end he chose Batman, "because he's relatable." Aoko was going to have to look this up later to see why Hakuba-kun liked Batman best.
Somewhere around the middle of that discussion, the timer rang, and Hakuba-kun got up to remove the cake from the oven. Of course, Hakuba also asked about some of the things in her life. Aoko talked to him about her mother, and then Keiko-chan's mother and Kaito's mother, and all the things she learnt from them. About her own interests and the idols that she was following at the moment, exposing Hakuba-kun to different music.
"Ah, speaking of music, would you mind if I put something on? Actually, do you want me to help you decorate your chocolates? It's getting late and I don't feel comfortable about you leaving so late." Hakuba-kun said all at once. "Hm, then again, I guess I could ask Baaya to drop you off." Aoko waved him off.
"Can I stay over? Aoko can just call dad to tell him, but it will probably be easier if Aoko stay over." Then realizing the kind of request she's making and how imprudent she sounded, Aoko backtracked. "Ah, that is, if you're ok with that, Hakuba-kun. I wouldn't want to impose." Hakuba-kun just shook his head, smiling.
"Not at all. You're very welcome to stay over. I can ask Baaya to prepare a room for you." Aoko breathed a sigh of relief. Sometimes, Aoko was glad that Hakuba-kun grew up overseas. Aoko knows that she often ignores boundaries that are customary in her society, but sometimes she just doesn't think they're necessary. Besides, Aoko trusts Hakuba-kun.
"Oh, and please feel free to put the music on. This is your house after all."
Hakuba-kun smiled and then started fiddling with his phone. Aoko continued to munch on the last of the sweet buttery shortbread when music started playing, startling her. It wasn't the fact that the music started that startled her, but the choice of music. Considering all the things she knew about Hakuba-kun, bubbly pop girl group music was the last thing Aoko expected to hear blasted out on the speakers. Not only that... but Hakuba-kun was actually singing along to the song word for word too! As well as doing the song's dance? maybe? Or maybe Hakuba-kun was just enjoying himself as he moved on to put more things on the stove.
As Hakuba-kun waited for whatever was in the pots he put on to boil, he twirled around and started dancing towards Aoko with a bright smile on his face. Aoko continued to stare at him, wide-eyed. Her jaw might be hanging as well, but Aoko didn't want to think about that. Hakuba-kun was still singing perfectly along with the song, something about a strawberry? But Aoko wasn't sure since it wasn't in Japanese. Aoko wondered if Hakuba-kun actually knew what was being said, or if he's listened to this song enough times that he could memorize the sound of the words. She wouldn't be surprised by either option.
"C'mon, dance with me," Hakuba-kun said, holding a hand out for her.
"Eh?" Was her only reaction. Aoko still wasn't quite over the shock of her friend's music taste. Hakuba-kun rolled his eyes.
"You've been stressed for a while. C'mon, let's just dance!" He took her hand and tugged at it gently, inviting and urging her to join him. She went.
Aoko wasn't really dancing, not really, she was just moving to whatever beat the song seemed to be going at while Hakuba-kun does a mix of that and what looks to be actual dance moves, still singing to every line. Hakuba-kun laughed as he danced back to where his cake is, and started to cut it into two halves, while still bouncing slightly to the music. Aoko couldn't hold her curiosity anymore.
"Wha- what is this song, Hakuba-kun? I never knew you liked music like this," she said haltingly, unsure of what even to ask. Hakuba-kun laughed joyously.
"Oh right, this music probably seemed like an unusual choice for me, isn't it?" he said. Aoko nodded, looking at him, waiting for an explanation, a story, anything. She finally got to see a totally new side of her friend and her hunger for this new knowledge was insatiable. "I could probably blame it on my friend back in England, to be honest." Hakuba-kun continued, "Molly was the one to listen to this type of music and she got me hooked on to some of the bands and songs."
"What language is this?" Aoko asked, curious. Because Molly sounds like an English name, but Aoko knows for a fact that this song is not.
"Ah, it's Korean. Molly's half Korean." Hakuba-kun said as he poured the milk from the pot into a bowl of chocolate and sugar. "I was learning Korean at the time so I found these songs quite helpful. Well, from a more enjoyable side of learning." Hakuba-kun knows Korean. Of course he does, it's Hakuba-kun. Aoko wouldn't be surprised if he knows more languages than English, Japanese, and Korean. He probably just didn't think it would be important to say so. In the background, the song ended and switched to the next song that was equally as poppy and girly as the first one. Hakuba-kun is singing along to this song perfectly fine too. He also seemed to be acting out some of the parts of the song.
"Whaaaat, why didn't Hakuba-kun ever say anything?! If Aoko had known that Hakuba-kun likes this kind of music, Aoko would have recommended a bunch of songs for Hakuba-kun!" Aoko pouted.
She could have been sharing music with Hakuba-kun! They could have spent their days talking about new chart toppers and rising idols! But all those time was wasted because she didn't know! Hakuba-kun was now spreading the milk and chocolate mixture onto the cake, still moving to the beat. Aoko can hear under all the music, a faint sound of Hakuba-kun's muffled laughs.
"I guess we'll have to make up for the lost time," Hakuba-kun said breezily. He placed the other half of the cake on to the one with chocolate spread on it. Then began to cover the whole cake with that mixture. Aoko moved to the stove to check on the chocolate that Hakuba-kun left on the stove. Aoko found a spatula to stir the chocolate with. Looking around, she spotted the thermometer that Hakuba-kun was using earlier.
"Hakuba-kun, do I just press the button to check the temperature?" She asked, wanting to help out.
"Ah, yes, I didn't turn it off so you should be able to check the temperature by pressing the button right where the trigger of a gun would be." Hakuba-kun was still focused on the cake, while mumbling along with the song that was playing in the background. "The temperature should be somewhere around 46 to 48 celsius."
Aoko checked the temperature. The device told her that it was 44 celsius, so she set it aside to stir the chocolate some more. After a while, she checked the temperature again, and it was within the range that Hakuba-kun told her, so Aoko removed the bowl from the heat. She sees that there's a bowl of chopped white chocolate nearby, so she placed that over the simmering pot, assuming that Hakuba-kun would want this melted. Then Aoko added chopped dark chocolate to the bowl of melted chocolate, as she saw Hakuba-kun did earlier, and stirred. Next to her, Hakuba-kun has returned with some molds and bowls of the mousses that he made earlier.
"Thank you for your assistance, Aoko-san." Hakuba-kun said gratefully. Aoko shook her head.
"It's no problem, Hakuba-kun!" Hakuba-kun then moved over to take over from her.
"Then could I ask you to transfer the mousses into the piping bags that I set aside?" Hakuba-kun gestured to the bowls and bags where he was a moment ago.
"Sure!" Aoko set to completing that task while Hakuba-kun fussed with the molds and the white chocolate.
By the time Aoko was finished with the last bag, Hakuba-kun was finished pouring the chocolate into the molds. He then took the molds to the fridge, and took out her chocolates.
"We should get to decorating these." Hakuba-kun said as he set the molds down at one of the islands before leaving to get the decorations.
The rest of that evening was spent finishing up the last of their chocolate and packaging them, with some "taste testing" here and there. Hakuba-kun continued to dance to the energetic music playing in the background, and eventually Aoko also attempted to hum with the songs. They laughed and basked in the chance to be silly without having to deal with the consequences. At the end of it all, Hakuba-kun asked Baaya to show her to her room for the night and they said their goodnights to each other before parting ways.
"I hope Akako-san returns your feelings, Aoko-san," Hakuba-kun said as they parted to go to their rooms. Aoko blushed.
"Aoko hope your Valentine's return your feelings too, Hakuba-kun," Hakuba-kun smiled with mirth, before turning to his room.
"The chocolates that I made aren't for the same kind of love that you have for Akako-san, Aoko-san, but thank you."
Aoko sighed as she followed Baaya to her room. Aoko guessed she won't find out who Hakuba-kun's Valentine's is after all.
...
Kaito got to school early today. It was weird that he didn't run into Aoko on the way to school. He wondered if she would be coming later or earlier than him. It's unusual for them to not walk to school together, but it's not like it's never happened before.
He soon got his answer when he opened the class door to see Aoko blushing and stuttering as she gave a box to a very surprised Akako. 'Huh, so that's who she was making chocolates for.' It's not that Kaito knew that Aoko was going to be making chocolates, but she had seemed more stressed than other Valentine's Day. It was good to know that his instinct was still as accurate as ever. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about Akako being the object of Aoko's affection, but he was quite sure that he didn't want to think about it right now.
'But, wait... didn't she go to hang out with Hakuba yesterday...?' Kaito thought. 'Which meant...' He smirked.
"Yo Hakuba, you got some chocolates too?" he said, projecting his voice to announce his presence. Hakuba turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow and an unimpressed expression on his face.
"I don't have any chocolate, Kuroba." Hakuba lied, because Kaito knew what Aoko was doing yesterday, so what else would Hakuba be doing too. But he continued talking, "And if I didn't, I wouldn't be giving them to you."
For half a second, Kaito's chest felt tight, but he shoved that feeling aside, not wanting to explore what it meant.
He was disappointed that Hakuba apparently didn't bring any of the chocolate he made to school, so he did the next best thing, bother Aoko. And so, began the same song and dance between him and Aoko. He was distracted though. Kaito knew for a fact that Hakuba made chocolate with Aoko, but he had no idea who on earth Hakuba would give it to and it was bothering him.
In the corner of his eye, Kaito saw Hakuba turning back to his notes, smiling to himself.
Happy Valentine's Day y'all!
I have 3 more omakes for this fic, so keep an eye out! I'm still editing them!
(im decently active on Onnoffwrites on twitter if y'all wanna see updates)