Chapter 13

Fuji was pacing the length of his room with intensity to rival a tiger. How many times had he paced from his window to his doorway? It was too many times to count. Friday the 13th… such an unlucky day…

He was in no way superstitious, but he just had a bad feeling about today. Especially while at school. He couldn't explain himself. When Yumiko had confronted him within an hour of his returning home, he had tried to find words to describe his current unease. By Kami-sama, he had tried.

He had failed, too. How does one describe something that they've never experienced before? It was next to impossible.

"Syusuke, please stop pacing." He paused in mid-step to look up. Yumiko was at his doorway, a tray laden with a plate of cookies and two cups of tea balanced in her hands. "You're making me dizzy and all I'm doing is standing here." Fuji gave her an apologetic look as she stepped into his room, setting the tray on his desk and motioning him to help himself. He did, taking a cookie and biting into the sweet treat. Yumiko sat down on the edge of his bed, taking a cup of tea. "Are you thinking about how you are going to survive receiving all those chocolates tomorrow?" she asked, taking a sip from her cup. Fuji never showed it, but she could tell that it sometimes irked him to receive so many chocolates. "Or are you perhaps thinking about receiving chocolate from a certain someone?"

Fuji collapsed on his bed with a sigh, protesting "Nee-san!" Yumiko smiled gently, reaching out to ruffle her brother's wispy hair. He leaned into the hand despite himself. Trust Yumiko to make him feel like a little kid again. Of course, it wasn't such a bad feeling…

"Well?" Yumiko prompted, taking her hand away, putting the cup on the tray before leaning back herself onto Fuji's bed. "Which one is it?"

Fuji stared up at his ceiling, his eyes tracing a pattern on it. "I guess… a little bit of both," he finally admitted, before chuckling. "Ah… but really," he sighed. "She thinks I'm joking or kidding around." He tucked his hands underneath his head and opened his eyes. "She doesn't think I'm being serious with her. I really don't know what to do with her…" he trailed off with a slightly lost look on his face.

"And now you want chocolate from her," Yumiko teased. Fuji was silent before he gave a tiny nod. Since this was Yumiko, he really didn't see the point in making up some story. She had a way of getting information out of him, anyways. "I can do a reading for you," she offered, pushing herself up into a sitting position. "Would you like that, Syusuke?"

His blue eyes closed into a smile as he shook his head. "Thank you for the offer, nee-san," he said softly, "but I want to do this without knowing the results beforehand."

"Oh? Is that so?" Yumiko asked. She stood and headed for the door. "Go to sleep soon, Syusuke. Make sure you're refreshed for tomorrow." She smiled at him before she shut the door with a quiet click. Fuji rolled over so that he lay on his stomach, leaning his chin on his crossed arms.

"Valentine's Day, eh?" he murmured softly. Honestly, sometimes he felt that life was better without that one day.

***

Kurumi was impatiently leaning against the closed bathroom door. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, her foot was tapping against the floor, and a sour look had graced her face. "Asa-onee-chan!" she cried, reaching the limit to her patience. "I've never heard of showers that take an hour! Especially from you!" To accentuate her point, she banged once, twice, thrice, on the bathroom door.

"That's because bathes take longer than showers," came a voice from the other side of the door.

At this point Kurumi was utterly furious. "B-bath?" she stuttered. In a thoroughly bad mood, she stormed off. "Take your time then! I'll just go shower in Okaa-san and Otou-san's bathroom!"

In the bath, Asa smiled faintly as she listened to the faint sounds of Kurumi's receding footsteps. Her sister was too cute for her own good sometimes. "Speaking of sisters… where's Narumi?" she wondered along, one hand coming out of the warm water so that she could tap her finger against her chin. "Oh! Okaa-san was taking her to see a comedy since Kurumi didn't want do go see it.

She heaved a sigh as she slid lower into the water so that only her head showed out of the water. Valentine's Day was tomorrow, and she didn't even have chocolate for one person prepared. Wait a second… one person? She frowned, sinking even lower into the water so only her eyes were visible. That wouldn't do.

An idea suddenly hit her and she sat up. The water cascaded off of her bare shoulders as she did so, some of it splashing out of the tub in the process. A bright smile was on her face. "I got it!" she said with a clap of her hands. "I'll make chocolates for everyone! That way it can be on more general terms!"

There is only one problem, she thought, sinking once again into the water so that only her head showed. How am I supposed to make it original for everyone? Heart shaped chocolates were definitely out of the question.

"What do I do? What do I do?" she muttered to herself. The hot water that she had filled the tub with was getting cold, so she decided to get out of the water. When she was dried and dressed, she stepped into the kitchen and started digging through the cabinet. "Wonderful!" she said happily, pulling out molds and a cookbook. "Now… let's see how we do this…"

Unbeknownst to her, her parents were peeking from around the corner of the doorway into the kitchen. Her mother turned to her father. "Ne, anata," she murmured to her husband. The man tipped his head to the side with a questioning look in his eyes. "Do you think she finally got a boyfriend? Girls only give chocolate to the boys they like, although I haven't given one in years."

He glared at her. "I would sincerely hope not," he retorted, looking indignant.

She ignored her and gave a light sigh. "Although, honestly, I should be making chocolate today as well," she said happily. He twitched, looking disbelieving. She chuckled, placing a hand on his arm. "Just kidding. Saa… let's leave Asa to her chocolate making and do something else," she soothed. "It's getting late and I have to get to the company early tomorrow morning, after all."

"Oh, I see how it is," he huffed, but allowed himself to be dragged upstairs, although he couldn't help but chance another look into the kitchen, smiling slightly to himself at Asa trying to make chocolate.

Do your best, Aa-chan, he thought with a bright smile.

***

"I've done it!" Miho said proudly. She held up a wrapped package and had an extremely bright grin on her face. "After ten tries, I have completed the perfect chocolate!"

"Why ten times…?" Asa asked, her expression an odd mixture of embarrassment and nervousness. Miho-chan is so loud and enthusiastic… sometimes I wish I was more like her. Her own chocolate had taken around five times to complete, mainly because she burned it many times while melting it to try and get it into the molds.

"Because there were flaws in it in all the other times," Miho said matter-of-factly. "Fuji-sama needs the best chocolate on Valentine's Day, after all."

"Ah… is that so?" Asa glanced at the school gates curiously. Speaking of Fuji-kun, he didn't come pick me up to walk to school today, she thought. It was strange, to say the least.

"What's wrong?" Miho asked curiously as she turned to face her friend. Asa shook her head; it was nothing, really. Perhaps Fuji just wanted to walk to school by himself that day. It was nothing too serious. "Ah! There's Inui-kun!" Miho said brightly. Sure enough, the girls could see the resident data man striding into out of the schoolyard with the intention of headed to the tennis courts. Why, they had no idea. The nets weren't up yet, and probably wouldn't be for another month.

"Miho-chan, gomen," Asa apologized to her friend. "I have chocolate to deliver," she explained to her friend's questioning gaze, showing her the contents of her extra bag. Little boxes tied in ribbons greeted brown eyes as Miho peeked in. "There's one for you, too," Asa said hastily, withdrawing a light green package tied with a white ribbon. "Here." She extended the offering to her with a tiny smile on her face.

"For me?" Miho asked, eyes shining. She took the box and then gave her friend a one armed hug. "Ah… Arigatou!" she cooed. "Now I feel so special! I bet Asa-chan's chocolates are delicious."

Asa chuckled nervously. "I hope so." Truth be told, it was her first time making chocolates herself. Normally she went out and bought premade ones. There's a first for everything, she told herself, giving Miho a small wave and then hurrying off to chase after Inui in order to give him his package of chocolates.

"You're giving chocolates to all of your friends?" Inui asked, accepting the box with a nod of thanks. His notebook opened and he poised with his pen to begin jotting down notes.

"Hai," Asa said brightly, giving said notebook a curious glance but otherwise not mentioning it. "Just as a small thank you, you know, for putting up with me for the first half of the school year." Neither mentioned the fact that Fuji had a prominently large role in this, but if they were getting some sort of reward for it, it balanced out alright.

Didn't it?

"There is a 95% chance that Oishi is in the student council office with Tezuka," Inui stated, finishing the last of his note taking. "And because of today's date, there is a 65% chance that Eiji will be with Oishi to cheer on his partner every time he receives chocolates. You could hit three birds with one stone. Later." Asa waved at his retreating back before hurrying off to find the student council room. It was one of the math classrooms on the third floor, she knew.

True to Inui's word, she found Oishi and Tezuka in the classroom (somehow they had avoided the mass amount of fangirls storming the hallways looking for them to give chocolates) putting away papers. Eiji was just bouncing out when she came upon the doorway, so she took to opportunity to shove a small box of chocolates into his surprised hands. "Thanks for being my friend, Eiji-kun," she said with a bright smile. She said the same things to Oishi and Tezuka, offering a box to each boy as well. Oishi accepted his with a gentle smile on his face, thanking her. Tezuka probably just took his to be polite. But either way, she was grateful that they accepted her little gifts, murmuring out her thanks as she left the room to track down the others.

By the time the first bell had rung, she had managed to find Taka, Kaidoh, Momo, and Echizen to deliver their chocolates. Even though Momo, Kaidou, and Echizen were her kohais, she still felt that giving them a little something as a 'thank you' was required for dealing with her for the current school year. Although, how she got past Echizen's freshman fans, she would never know, but she did do it. He thanked her with a tip of his cap and an oh-so-Echizen 'Mada mada dane,' to which she simply nodded and headed off.

Stepping into the classroom, she scanned around the room for Fuji. She found him… surrounded by a group of girls who were all showering him with chocolates. Fuji accepted his gifts with a smile and a kind word of thanks. Nothing more than usual. That's right, she reminded herself. Fuji-kun is exceptionally popular. How could I forget?

"Oi, Fuji!" A voice behind her made her jump as one of the boys in her class came into the room. Fuji turned to acknowledge the voice, a curious expression on his face. "How many chocolates did you get from your adoring fans this year?" The boy leaned against the doorframe with a smirk on his face. Fuji just replied with a shrug and a smile. The other sighed, shaking his head. "I wish I was as popular as you, man. It must be nice being showered by such affection every year."

Every year? Asa eyes widened as she took this into account. Her own tiny box of chocolates, although solely intended for friendship purposes, sat in her bag and suddenly seemed like a huge weight that she was holding. It's stupid to get so worked up over a simple chocolate, but I'd like to know that he'd at least look at mine and know that we're good friends. She heaved a sigh herself. Mine will probably never be noticed, not with his huge pile of chocolates that all the other girls poured all of their love into. She moved forward to go to her seat, walking right past Fuji and not even giving him a "Good morning," or anything of the like. She didn't notice the slightly hurt look on his face as she sat down and stowed her bag under her desk. Her fingers drummed against the desk in an absentminded manner as she listened to the teacher drone on through lessons.

The end of the day came in a relief for her, even if Saturday was only a half day of school to begin with. She practically grabbed her bag and bolted out of the door, leaving a rather puzzled Eiji and a still smarting Fuji. "Aa-chan's in a hurry today, isn't she?" Eiji remarked pleasantly as he started to leave the classroom. He chanced a glance at his friend and noticed with a frown the distracted look on his face as the prodigy followed him. His quick mind formed a thesis, and he reveled in the prospect of teasing the boy later should it be true. Although, just to make sure…

"Maybe Aa-chan wants to give special chocolate to a special someone," he said brightly, although he knew perfectly well that she was planning on giving everyone on the regular spots little 'friendship' chocolates. What Fuji didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Eiji, on the other hand, just hoped that when Fuji did discover the truth, he would remain unscathed.

Fuji's eyes flew open, and they pinned the redhead to the side of the door in their icy gaze. He shivered; Fuji was quite frightening when he wanted to be. But at least it seemed like his thinking was accurate. Now Eiji just hoped she had enough chocolate to placate Fuji's rising frustration. Hopefully sweets would make Fuji forget about his revenge tactics.

"Fuji-sama!" Miho's excited voice piped up on the other side of the open door. She held out a box of Valentine's chocolate when Fuji looked her way. "Happy Valentine's Day!" she said brightly, bowing as she extended the box a bit further. "Please accept my chocolate, Fuji-sama!"

Fuji closed his eyes and pasted on a sweet smile. "Chocolate from Oshiarri-chan?" he asked brightly, taking the box with a gracious air about him. He held the box loosely in his grip; it was easily the size of his hand, possibly a bit bigger. His chest tightened for the briefest of moments as he looked at the cheerful box. What will hers look like; the one for that special someone? He found himself wondering this before berating himself. If she chose to give chocolate to someone else, there really was nothing he could do about it at that exact moment, now, was there? "Thank you very much, Oshitari-chan," he thanked her with a bow of his own.

Miho fairly beamed at him, then peered curiously into the classroom. "Where's Asa-chan?" she asked, frowning. "I said she could come over to my house today to work on that play. She was going to help me with my part." She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "And I worked so hard to convince her to do it, too… all she wanted to do was stay home and paint her tree. I can't believe she had to choose this weekend to do it, not when she's had it for a month."

"Aa-chan left earlier," Eiji offered, since it didn't seem like Fuji was going to be giving any suggestion to said girl's current whereabouts. "But I'm sure you can catch her at the gates, nya! She doesn't go back on her promises. And besides, she's probably thinking of the best way to give her special someone chocolate." Fuji gave him a warning glance, but Miho's already bright expression brightened up even more.

"She never told me she made that kind of chocolate!" she very nearly squealed. Both boys were struck speechless. "Don't you know?" she asked, cocking her head to the side to look at both of them closely. "Didn't she tell you when she gave you your chocolates that they were because she liked being your friend and was grateful for it?" She turned her gaze to the ceiling. "Hmm… I wonder who the lucky person is. Asa-chan's chocolates were quite delicious." Ever the addict to sweets, she had popped one of the star shaped gifts into her mouth halfway through the day. Although there had been the tiniest burnt taste to it (she only found it because she had decided to really savor it, and it was forgivable because there was a small footnote on the card that came with the box), she felt that it was a good result on her friend's first try.

Eiji again spoke for the two of them. "She didn't give Fujiko's chocolate yet!" he piped up. By now, the threesome had begun to start walking out of the school and to the gates. Fuji felt the faintest stirrings of hope start before he crushed them. There was no use bringing himself up so high just so he could crash into a million pieces back on the ground later on. "Maybe it was because Fujiko's fans kept on coming up and giving him their chocolates during the day and Aa-chan didn't want to be associated with them," Eiji mused. Fuji was right to have squashed that tiny bit of hope.

"Ah! There's Nii-san!" Miho said, pointing. Sure enough, Oshitari was standing at the gates, talking to Asa. The girl was speaking quite animatedly, little hand gestures going with whatever story she was telling. And this seemed to amuse the other tensai, because his brown eyes were twinkling with bemusement. Three pairs of sharp eyes noticed the small box he held in his hand, probably not placed in his schoolbag for fear of flattening the fragile wrapping. "Nii-san gets chocolate, too, doesn't he?" Miho asked, a faint smile on her face. "I wonder how he's going to drag all of his chocolate home. I'm sure his fans gave him loads of it as well today." She called to the two people, and they turned to her, Oshitari offering a nod and Asa giving her a smile.

"You're still coming over, aren't you?" Miho asked as she stepped towards them. Asa gave a small nod, greeting Eiji and Fuji. Miho elbowed her friend gently in the ribs. "Ne, I heard you didn't give Fuji-sama his chocolate yet," she whispered slyly.

"Uh…" Asa's eyes searched Fuji's face. "I started doubting myself after seeing all of his fans." And then she found herself recounting all of her personal doubts into Miho's ears. The other girl listened intently, before whispering back.

"Where is it now?" she asked, meaning the chocolate. They turned their backs to the curious boys and Asa drew out the box. Its ribbon seemed to sag a tiny bit, almost as if it was sad to have not been given yet. Miho snatched the box from her hands and bounced over to Fuji. "Here!" she said, holding it out. Fuji raised an eyebrow at her; Asa shook her head in silent defeat. She should have known better. "This is Asa-chan's chocolate! She was worried that you'd overlook it after you got all the others, even if she's giving it to you because she likes you as a friend. Please accept it!" The small box fit perfectly in her cupped hands, the light blue ribbon now looking bright and cheery. "Onegaishimasu!" she pleaded when he didn't take the offering for a few seconds.

"Please thank Aa-chan for me later, will you, Oshitari-chan?" Fuji said pleasantly as he reached up and took the box, looking down at it where it sat peacefully in his hands. Just a friend, hm? He was right; she really hadn't taken him too seriously.

'I'm sure that you being you would find a way of making them see that you were serious.' Inui's voice crept unbidden into his mind, and his cheerful smile slipped, replaced by a bitter one before he hid himself behind his mask. I wish I could, he thought, stowing the gift away gently into his bag. He should be happy. He had received the chocolate that he wanted, but…

Was he satisfied with just being a friend? He really wasn't. And he didn't want to do anything too rash when taking Inui's advice. He really didn't want to push her away. This will be an agonizing decision to make, he thought with a tired sigh. Miho was saying something, to which Eiji responded enthusiastically to, so he looked up curiously, pushing his thoughts to the back of his mind. "What are we discussing?" he asked amiably.

Miho turned her smile to him. "I was suggesting that you and Eiji-kun also come over to my house so we can practice for the play. That way, we can go over more parts so we're better prepared for the rehearsal next week. What do you think? You wouldn't mind, would you? There is no school tomorrow, after all?" She looked at him hopefully.

Fuji's forced his smile to become wider. "Of course not," he responded with enthusiasm to match Eiji, forced as well. Truthfully, he just wanted to go home and sleep. Maybe call Yuuta and convince his brother to play a match with him at the indoor tennis courts. But his friends were looking at him expectantly, so he just shrugged away his tiredness and agreed. It couldn't be that bad, besides, practice for the play was necessary. Up until now, he had asked Yumiko to play the role of the princess whenever he got the urge to practice his lines.

Miho glanced at Fuji as they started walking down the street. Her gaze shifted to her brother, and she noticed how he was explaining something about the violin to her friend. Also noticed (or perhaps felt) by Miho was Fuji's gaze, watching the two as they strode along. She glanced down at the sidewalk as she shuffled along, deep in thought. For once, her scheming brother had failed in his schemes. She had noticed, as the month wore on, that he had actively engaged himself in the job of vexing Fuji, be it coming to the school gates in order to talk to her or directing her attention to something that he knew about whenever the other boy was there, in this current case, a thorough lessen in the violin and its history. And she had noticed, as well, the hole that Oshitari Yuushi was digging himself into.

It's not a bluff anymore, she thought as she continued to walk forward. This had become apparent last weekend, when the bookstore she frequented boasted of a new best-selling series on its shelves. Naturally, she called up Asa, inquiring that she come with her. Oshitari had tagged along with them. At first, she had thought that it was simply their mother asking him to do it, until she noticed that the majority of his attention was on her friend during the trip. It seemed that he was always watching her. He really does like her, now. She glanced at her brother, noticing the tiny smile on his face when Asa tried to recite whatever new fact about the instrument he had thrown at her, a tiny frown on her face.

I'm sorry, Fuji-sama, she thought apologetically, but this time, I really want Nii-san to win. This was partly because she loved her brother dearly, even if they weren't related by blood, but partly, because like any other fan, she didn't like to see her idol being taken by someone else. Forgive me, but I'll be rooting for Nii-san from now on.

She should have felt content with this, having managed to kill two birds with one stone. Her brother could be with someone he liked, and she could have an equal chance of being with Fuji as any other fangirl of his, now that the biggest rival was removed (perhaps it was also a tad bit ironic that the rival herself didn't even know this). She moved a hand to her chest, right beneath where her neck joined together with her shoulder blades, and her hand clenched into a fist, clutching at the material of her coat. If that was the case, why did she feel like this?

Why did she feel so horrible?