I looked up from my paperwork when my phone buzzed, wondering who might text me this early in the morning. It was quiet in the loft but for some bird's chirping that reached the ajar window and poured into my room. I reached for my phone and turned it so that I could see the display.

It was a short message by Amamiya. No, not even a message. To be precise it was a smiley – no word, picture, document or similar data followed, just a simple colon with a right bracket.

I exhaled with my eyes closed and leaned back in my chair. The warm February sun reached my face through the window when I sat like this and I adjusted myself to enjoy the early year's warmth as much as possible.

So what could this mean?, I wondered. Why would I in his place send someone a smiling face in the early morning ...? I should analyze the situation, no question, and draw my conclusions as I'd always do. The thing was, there was nothing to go on, nothing to base conclusions on. Amamiya loves to play games, doesn't he?

I tilted my head and stood up from my chair, moving the paperwork aside. Not that I would be able to focus on it right now. How curious. Two simple characters to distract me from work. Is that all it takes to bring me down?

I walked over to the stereo and switched it on to fill the quiet room with the rhythmic and rich sounds of jazz. It soothed my thoughts, which were in an uproar, and helped me collect myself. Could the message be because of today's date ...? No, it was preposterous to assume something like this.

I hummed along with the music, pretended my rug was a dance floor and tried several dance moves I'd seen on TV yesterday evening. I came to a halt in the middle of my apartment, hands on hips and not a drop less ignorant than before.

There was no use in going on like this.

I gave into temptation, returned to my desk, and typed "?" into my phone. What a strange habit to have conversations based solely on characters. I pressed Send.

"You'll see", the answer shot back immediately. Had Amamiya been waiting for my reply with his phone in hands? I lifted my gaze to look out of the window and pictured him in his room in the attic of Leblanc before my inner eye. He'd probably be stretched out on his bed, typing with his arms over his head, Morgana somewhere nearby. Or maybe he'd be sitting on the sofa next to the TV instead and type with one hand and quick peeks on his phone while watching a movie. But would this guy really watch a movie at this time of day ...?

I was half tempted to ask him what he was doing but shook my head and forced myself to put down the phone. "You'll see", I repeated into the empty room. It was no use, not a single idea came to mind what this could be about …

-x-

-x-

"Do you think he'll like it?" I could feel my smile burning in stark competition with the beaming sun in the sky. It was still rather chilly despite being the middle of February but perfect weather to change out of winter clothes and put on lighter clothing befitting spring.

"As long as it makes you endurable. You're getting on my nerves", Morgana meowed. He had his paws on my shoulder, gaze fixed straight forward to where we were going while I was trying my best to catch his gaze, still grinning from one ear to the other.

"Do you think Goro would use his detective skills to guess what this is about?" I snickered at the thought and by hair's breadth escaped a collision with a woman packed with shopping bags crossing past me. "Woah!"

Morgana sighed.

-x-

-x-

I knew the Prosecutor's Office would be camped by my fans. I knew because they did this every year, not to mention the myriad of gifts they would send to my workplace, probably in hope that I answered their plea and finally started dating someone.

Not that I was planning to.

"Drop me by the garage", I ordered my driver and leaned closer to the darkened car window to catch a glimpse at the building's entrance through the slow lines of cars. Of course, my assumptions had been correct: the sidewalk next to the Prosecutor's Office was jammed with numerous fans. They blocked passerbys with their masses, with their presents and the posters and banners, and security held them away from the building's doors with bored faces, waving away whatever girl asked them to deliver their gifts into the offices. Security was used to this as well.

Valentine's day … I averted my gaze onto my organizer and checked what tasks I had to finish today. Just another one of those days that nobody needs.

I slid my hand into my pants pocket and pulled out my phone too, in order to enter a deadline into my appointment book and stopped short at the sight of my message log with Amamiya. I had forgotten to close it ...

My finger hovered over the home button as the car pulled into the parking spot. The warm purr of the car's motor died away and I collected my organizer, suitcase and phone to exit the car and walk into the main building.

To my shame I must admit, I was lost in thoughts so it came as surprise when somebody suddenly addressed me: "You sure are a detective prince."

"Huh?" I looked up from my phone's display and was taken aback by how far I had walked without paying mind to my surroundings. I had almost reached the elevators, which were not far away from the Prosecutor's Office main building's entrance. "Oh." I caught on as I counted two and two together, "you must excuse my fans. I don't mean to bother anyone" - It just happens all the time - "This year they're particularly bold I fear", I added with a smile to the prosecutor next to me. He didn't seem familiar to me but there were a lot of people I was not acquainted with yet. However, due to my status as celebrity and since I helped out with cases most of them knew who I was at least.

"You'd be surprised", the prosecutor finished the conversation and walked away with the staples of papers that he had picked up from the counter while I was waiting for the elevator to arrive and let me enter.

I would be surprised? I paused for several breaths, watching the prosecutor leave, standing in front of open elevator doors, then entered with my head bowed and selected my floor, still busy with that last remark.

Somebody stepped in shortly before the elevator doors closed shut. "Good morning, Akechi-kun."

"Ah, Sae-san, I did not recognize you immediately, my apologies." I put the light smile back onto my face and tried to soothe the uproar in my mind. I was acting out of line today, what was wrong?

I couldn't help but notice Sae's facial expression that played between amusement and mild annoyance. Could this possibly be about the fans in front of the Prosecutor's Office? They surely wouldn't bother people any more than the years before today, would they? "Is there something the matter? I can't help but think that something must have occurred without my knowledge. Everybody acts differently today", I asked out loud before thinking any longer.

"You are unaware?" The soft wrinkles around Sae's eyes deepened and she turned her head away in order to hide the smile that was playing around the corners of her mouth.

Unaware? What of?

Suddenly for some reason I remembered the smiley Amamiya had sent me in the morning. And when the elevator doors opened to let me out on my destination I could immediately feel the tension in the air, the vibrant expectations that were almost tangible with mere hands. I could also see what everyone was smirking about instantly.

There was a present on my desk, wrapped up in vibrant red wrapping paper and with bows around it, and it could not be overlooked no matter how hard you tried. It was obviously getting across a message and by the meaningful grins of everybody else around this floor's offices I could deduce that people already had had their good share of talk about this.

I could feel my cheeks heating up.

"When was this delivered?", I asked Sae since she was standing closest to me. But she only laughed openly, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and asked in return: "Wouldn't one normally want to know who delivered such a luxurious present on Valentine's Day?"

I know whose idea this was.

I'm afraid to see what it is.

It was the truth no matter how you looked at it. Despite being used to getting heightened attention on this day in February this sort of thing was on a whole different level for me. And no matter from what angle I tried to approach this problem I did simply not know how to react. "Go on, take a look."

Sae's words made me realize that I had been standing in front of the elevators for some time now without moving. I got self-conscious immediately and noticed expectant joyful eyes watching me from everywhere. For a second I contemplated leaving but drew in a deep breath and walked toward the present. This wasn't a problem. Not now and never would be.

Amamiya, couldn't you have settled with something more inconspicuous? I couldn't stand the feeling surging up in my chest. It was hot and made me feel strangely jittery and my hands were trembling when I put down the suitcase as I was standing in front of the present. I wasn't looking forward to opening it in front of everybody and at the same time I needed to know what he gifted me.

He's testing me, isn't he?

"Your lover must really care about you~" The secretary who put down a cup of coffee onto my table (like every day when I arrived at work) giggled and hid her smile behind her hand. I left this without comment, waited until she left again, steeled my resolve and reached for the card attached to the present first.

To Goro Akechi: The only crime I'd want to be arrested for is for stealing your heart! :heart_emoji:

I put a hand against my face, still looking at the card through the gaps between my fingers, keeping my hand steady. Okay, this was definitely from Amamiya. But I felt deeply unsure what to make of this.

I'd be arrested for stealing your heart … A warning, a threat, a competition?

Hesitantly I put down the card and reached for the present itself, unwrapped it and opened the lid. There was chocolate inside, in a heart-shaped box, beautifully decorated and I could tell that Amamiya put a lot of effort into making it thanks to many pralines that I had judged over the years in my line of work as food critic. If I didn't know better I'd even say he made them with love.

"You can't say this isn't the most original Valentine's present you ever got", someone purred into my ear. I jumped with a gasp and my head flew around to the source of voice. I hadn't heard him creep up at all (had he learned that in the Metaverse?) and suddenly found myself face to face with Amamiya himself, our faces only inches away from each other. He did not wear his glasses today, and was that a bow around his neck?!

I opened my mouth but no words came over my lips. "I even made the chocolate myself." His voice was little more than a whisper and his words hard to make out. I could bodily feel how everybody in the office tried to lean in to not miss a second between us. Amamiya's gaze burned into my eyes and I had to forcefully turn my face away to regain some composure. Why did this man hold so much power over me? Who had allowed him to ...?

Why am I so weak?

"You … always have to overdo things." I bit my lower lip and closed my hand tighter around the present box's lid. I felt the urge to start laughing at the absurdity but no, I should have definitely expected the leader of the Phantom Thieves to pull a stunt like this. Wasn't drawing attention his specialty? Didn't I even know that he liked to stand in the limelight?

"I hoped giving you my present like this would single me out from the masses outside, hon." Amamiya exhaled shakily while he played with the edges of what was definitely a bow around his neck, twirling it between his fingertips like he'd do with his hair from time to time. Did he avoid meeting my gaze …?

"You-", I started but in this moment the people in the office all started clapping wildly and hooting and I broke off before even formulating my sentence and put my emotions into my facial expression instead to deliver the message.

Honestly, I wasn't sure what I was trying to say myself.

-x-

I grabbed Amamiya by his wrist while the office was in uproar as soon as I saw the opportunity to and dragged him away from prying eyes to confront him somewhere private. The puzzle pieces had clicked into place and I was finally able to see the thought behind this scheme.

The only place that allowed some short-timed breathing space were the bathrooms so I pushed him into one of the stalls and started gesticulating, trying to keep my composure and put my messages into understandable words. The best I could do was not to scream at him in wild panic, bright-red and messy as I was then.

"Goro?" Amamiya reached into his hair and twirled a strand of it, his facial expression shifting to his usual neutral expression that I was used to from him. I interrupted my flow of accusations by pressing my lips together fiercely. "Was it too much?", he asked.

"Too much?", I echoed, unbelieving. "Too much?" I pressed two fingers against the forehead between my eyes and groaned. "You don't know any boundaries, do you? Really, Amamiya-kun, why did you have to do it today, you could have literally challenged me on any day!"

"Challenged?" He buried both hands in his pants pockets. "I see … I failed." I narrowed my eyes. Oh yes, you definitely failed. So definitely.

"I accept your challenge", I pressed through clenched teeth, because I wouldn't ever let myself be told that my nemesis won over me by failing to challenge me, "but next time try not to involve the whole office. I will accept every of your challenges even without all the grandeur around it, okay? Promise me." I exhaled and missed the quick change of facial expression on Amamiya's face that soothed out as quickly as it had appeared.

"Sure."

-x-

-x-

"Will Amamiya come down to see me? I thought he wanted to talk to me." Sae lifted the cup of coffee to her lips. Morgana sat next to her, giving his best to convey a message but no matter how hard he tried, it sounded just like meowing to Sae.

"He's been in bed ever since he came home." Sojiro put down a plate of curry in front of Sae and scratched the back of his neck with a sigh. "He probably got rejected, judging by his behavior. He was dressed up all fancy today. In a really good mood and you know, Valentine's Day ..."

"I believe it's the detective's fault." Sae took another sip of her coffee. She wished she could understand the cat but there was no way she'd be able to ...

"He's pining, and I got him off the idea to hide inside a present for pancake boy to open it", Morgana meowed and started licking his paw. "I can't stand his moods for Akechi."

"The cat's talking, isn't it?" Sojiro sighed again. "I'll go get some snacks for you. We should leave the young casanova alone for now but we can't let you go hungry, can we now?"