Valentine's Day

February 14, Valentine's Day.

This day was destined to be anything but ordinary.

"Hey, this is for you." Just as Lezheng sat down, Kamuro, who sat beside him, handed him an exquisite box.

"Thank you." Lezheng accepted it and thanked her politely.

"Remember to give me something in return in a month."

"Of course I won't forget."

For once, Lezheng refrained from saying anything inappropriate for the occasion. He was thinking about what to prepare as a return gift a month later.

"L-Lezheng, this is for you." Blushing, Yamamura held out a gift box to Lezheng with both hands.

"Thank you, Yamamura. I'll give you something in return in a month." Lezheng accepted it.

"You're welcome." Yamamura quickly ran back to her seat and buried her head in her arms, but her red ears gave away how she felt.

With Kamuro and Yamamura setting an example, other girls gradually came over to give Lezheng gift boxes too. Sakayanagi, however, had no such thoughts. She was worrying about how to save her father.

"Make sure you eat every last bit. No wasting any." Looking at the thirteen portions of chocolate inside Lezheng's desk, Kamuro couldn't help laughing.

"No one appreciates food more than I do. Why would I waste any?"

"Then try mine first and see how it tastes," Kamuro urged.

Something's wrong. Something's seriously wrong. Kamuro's acting completely out of character today. She hasn't said a single snarky thing to me.

Lezheng's gaze returned to the gift box Kamuro had given him, and he began to suspect something.

No, I can't laugh yet. I have to hold it in until Lezheng eats it, at least. This is my special chocolate with added wasabi.

Kamuro struggled to keep herself under control.

Lezheng opened Kamuro's gift box. Inside was a neat square of chocolate that looked perfectly normal. He picked it up and took a large bite. After chewing twice, his eyes widened, and Kamuro finally burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, you idiot! How's that wasabi-flavored chocolate?"

"What wasabi flavor? Isn't this plain chocolate? It's pretty good. You've got some skill, Kamuro." Lezheng took another bite.

Now Kamuro was stumped. Had she given him the wrong one? She checked her schoolbag. There was still another portion of chocolate inside.

"Let me try some," Kamuro demanded.

"Can you really take back a gift you've already given someone? No." Lezheng refused.

"Just break off a little piece for me."

"All right, all right. Here." Lezheng broke off a piece from a part he hadn't bitten.

"Ahem. You finally fell for it." Lezheng smiled after seeing Kamuro eat it.

"You bastard." Kamuro swallowed the chocolate with difficulty.

"How else would I have fooled you if I hadn't put on a convincing act?"

"If it tastes bad, just say so. Why keep eating it? This one's normal." Kamuro took another box out of her schoolbag.

Lezheng accepted it, too moved to speak for a moment.

"You're... actually pretty cute."

"Eat my fist!" Kamuro suddenly struck.

"Ah! My stomach!" Having taken the blow, Lezheng clutched his stomach and wailed.

Since it was a holiday, they only had one class that morning.

After packing up his books and gifts, Lezheng slung his schoolbag over his shoulder and left the classroom, running into Ichinose on the way.

"Lezheng, this is for you."

"Thank you, Ichinose. I'll give you something in return." Lezheng accepted it.

"You must have received a lot of chocolate today."

"I have."

"Even though you've received so much... please at least try the ones I made." Ichinose's voice grew quieter as she spoke.

"Don't worry. They're all heartfelt gifts. I'll finish them."

Lezheng and Ichinose were enjoying their conversation, but Shiranami Chihiro was feeling quite dejected.

Why doesn't Ichinose like girls? What's so great about this Lezheng? Even I didn't get any chocolate from her. Damn it!

After parting with Ichinose at the elevator, the first thing Lezheng did when he returned to his dorm room was take all the chocolate out of his schoolbag and put it on the table. It wouldn't taste good if it melted.

Yamamura's and Ichinose's chocolates were different from everyone else's. The girls in his class had all given him courtesy chocolates to express their gratitude, while those two had given him handmade chocolates.

As for Kamuro, she couldn't be treated as a normal person.

Ding-dong. His phone sounded a notification.

Karuizawa: "Can I come see you?"

Lezheng: "Sure. You still remember my room number, right?"

Karuizawa: "I do. I'll come over now."

"Matsushita, Shinohara, you two go shopping without me. I've got something to do later." Karuizawa turned down her close friends' invitation to go shopping.

"Oh? Is it a boy?" Matsushita teased.

"Don't tell me it's Hirata. You two got back together!" Shinohara's guess went in another direction.

"It's not Hirata. It's, it's... Ugh, I can't explain it right now. I'm heading off." Karuizawa waved and jogged away.

Karuizawa first returned to her room and picked up the wrapped chocolates on her table. She had made them herself that morning. They didn't look good, and they didn't taste very good either.

She was still debating whether to buy another box at the mall to give Lezheng. After all, her cooking was terrible. What if he didn't like them?

After lingering by the elevator for quite a while, Karuizawa decided to give Lezheng the chocolates she had made herself. She entered the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor.

Kushida was riding the elevator up at that moment, with several boys chatting and laughing beside her. The boys got off on the third floor. As she waited for the doors to close, a blonde girl stepped out of the neighboring elevator.

Lost in her thoughts, Karuizawa walked toward Lezheng's room. She didn't notice someone in the elevator behind her watching her all the way until she entered room 321.

"Heh, Karuizawa. Let's see who you're giving chocolate to."

Kushida began putting her extensive social network to work.

"These are chocolates I made myself. I hope you'll accept them," Karuizawa said nervously.

"Thank you. I'll give you something in return." Lezheng gave the same standard reply as before.

"Did you get all these today?" Karuizawa pointed at the gift boxes on the table.

"Yeah. I'd received fifteen today. Yours makes sixteen."

"You're just as popular as I expected."

She began looking around at the layout of Lezheng's room.

"Have a seat." Lezheng brought over a chair.

"Horikita's been really excited lately, like she's won the lottery." Karuizawa began sharing what she knew.

Horikita Suzune's excitement was because of Horikita Manabu. That much, Lezheng could understand.

"Hirata's been even more dissatisfied with Horikita lately, which has also made most of the girls in Class D hostile toward her."

"What's going on there?"

Although he had been able to tell since the Sports Festival that those two didn't get along, he was still somewhat curious about the reason.

Karuizawa explained why Hirata and Horikita were at odds. Simply put, it was a clash between idealism and realism.

"I can't stand her either, acting all high and mighty," Karuizawa complained.

"Horikita still has a long way to go if she wants to catch up with President Horikita."

"Also, Miyabi Nagumo seems to have started approaching people in our class."

"He's overreaching a little. I'll deal with him. You should watch out for Miyabi Nagumo. He's probably been tempting your classmates with Private Points."

"Yeah. From what Shinohara and the others said, Miyabi Nagumo is willing to help Class D students, but they have to trade their secrets for it."

"That sounds like him. Do you have enough Private Points?" Lezheng asked.

"I do. I haven't even used up the Private Points you gave me last time," Karuizawa answered.

Everything after that was trivial, and Lezheng let most of it go in one ear and out the other.