"Sempai, HELP."
I turned my head to the familiar cheerful-yet-somehow-annoying voice. "Kirihara, what do—" I couldn't finish my sentence, as a pile of something fell down right on my precious foot. "Ouch!!"
"Sorry!" the boy apologized, rather with no regret. "I was on my way to class from lunch, and then suddenly a bunch of girls appeared and gave me a mountain of chocolates," he explained hyperbolically, looking at the 'mountain' on both of his hands, which some had fallen down successfully and were scattered all over the floor.
"Hmm? I... See..." I replied with practically no interest.
"'Tis Valentine's after all. Man, girls do love me," Kirihara grinned, ignoring the incurious tone in my voice. "Sempai, lend me a hand?"
"Not like I have something else to do..." I mumbled as I picked up all boxes of chocolates on the floor and took some from Kirihara's hands.
Valentine's. For some reason I really hate this day...
Realize
"Jackal~!" yelled a joyous voice from outside. I looked up and found my doubles partner waved at me.
"Marui. What's up?"
"Just felt like coming here," he replied as chipper as ever, as he walked towards me with a childish grin curved on his lips.
I smiled. "You seem to be in a very good mood. Something good happened?"
"You can't imagine how many chocolates I got today!" he giggled. "I counted and found out I've already gotten forty-seven! That's a lot more than last year! Maybe the girls are amazed by my pure genius skills," he laughed merrily. "I can't wait to eat 'em all after I get home!!"
Something ached my heart. Marui was such a lucky guy...
"Jackal? Something's wrong?" the redhead waved his hands in front of my face. "You were spacing out."
"Huh? Nah, I'm alright," I shook my head, not wanting to make him worried.
"Ano... Marui-kun..." a voice called from outside. A pigtailed girl was standing in front of the door, blushing. "Would you mind coming here for a second...?"
"Forty eight," he mumbled as he stood up and grinned. "Ja na, Jackal! See ya in practice!"
I sighed. Sometimes this world was so unfair...
"Jackal."
I turned my head. "Yagyuu."
"Still haven't got any?"
"I'm not popular like you guys."
"Neither am I."
"Then what are those?" I pointed to some tidily-wrapped boxes under his desk.
"These? These are nothing. Compared to the others, I mean. You should have seen Yukimura's," the Gentleman responded carefully, not wanting to hurt my feelings in any way, but couldn't help his lips to curve a small smile. So he was happy, after all.
I really thought Valentine's was not that important... It did happen only once in a year, but was it really important to give chocolates to your crush on that day? I mean, you could just give him any day in a year. Why Valentine's?
"Jackal-kun," a classmate whispered in my ear. Hearing my name being called by a girl, I turned my head quickly. "Can I meet you after school today?" she asked cautiously, flushing with a scarlet line on her cheeks. "At the roof?"
I blinked. Could this be... Could this be... Finally... Someone was going to give me a chocolate? Yay, oh Lord, YAY! I smiled, trying to act as calm as I could. "Why, of course."
"Really? Thanks!" she smiled brightly. "Arigatou, Jackal-kun!"
I whistled. Oh, forget what I said earlier. Valentine's was such a good day~!
---
"Can you please give this to Yagyuu-kun?"
I blinked.
Wait...
What was she saying? I think I did not hear it clearly...
Seeing that I did not make any response, she repeated her question, "Can you please give this to Yagyuu-kun?" She passed her tongue over her dry lips nervously. "You sit beside him, and you're in the same team as him, right? So can you please, please give this to him? And tell him that this is from me? Please?"
No...This was wrong...You should've said "This is a chocolate made from my heart for you!" or "Please accept this chocolate for you!" or something like that...Not telling me to give the chocolate to Yagyuu...
"Jackal-kun?"
"Why, of course!" I said quickly. "I'll give him at practice today! Is that okay with you?"
"Ah, yes!" she beamed. "Jackal-kun, you are such a great help! Thank you so much!"
I hated Valentine's Day.
---
"...So the totals are 23 for Kirihara and Yagyuu, 41 for Genichirou, 57 for Marui, 48 for Niou, 66 for Yukimura, and 43 for myself."
I sighed before entering the clubroom. Why should I come at a time like this...
"Eeh?! How come everyone else got more than me except Yagyuu-sempai?!" Kirihara protested. "And how the hell did you get so much chocolates, Yanagi-sempai?!"
"The numbers of chocolates we received have increased 1.87 times than last year," Yanagi answered, ignoring Kirihara's question.
"Che..."
"And don't forget to give them something back on White Day, minna. And specifically, Kirihara and Marui."
"Do I have to? I just want to eat the chocolates," Marui pouted.
"Che, how troublesome..." Kirihara complained.
"Sorry Kirihara, but Yagyuu seems to get more than you now," I said when I finally entered the room. "Here, from Yamanaki-san," I handed him the chocolate I was holding to Yagyuu.
"Eeh?! So it's now 24 for Yagyuu-sempai?! No fair!!"
"Saa, saa, no complaining, let's go to practice now," I uttered, picking up my tennis bag and walked to the door.
I hated, hated, hated Valentine's Day.
---
The practice was definitely the worst ever. Almost all of the club members (yes, including those who were not regulars) were talking about the numbers of chocolates they got, and what they were going to give on White Day. Yukimura and Yagyuu tried to make me join the conversation but failed miserably. What was more, there were some girls who were—obviously—waiting for the practice to finish and wanted to give someone from the regulars (who was not me) a chocolate.
For the eleventh time today, I sighed.
"Jackal-kun?"
I gazed to the voice.
"Thank God, I thought I'd lost you."
The girl seemed very familiar in my eyes, though I could not recall her name nor remember where and when I had met her before. Who could this girl be?
"Ano..." she walked towards me. "Jackal-kun..." I noticed a blue-wrapped box in her hand. Could this be... I smiled a bit—then frowned again.
"Who do you want to give the chocolate to? Yukimura? Marui? Yagyuu—"
"N-no!!" she shook her head quickly. "Jackal-kun...This is for you!" she said, handing the box to me. I blinked in disbelief.
"For... me?" I asked carefully. "But... why?"
"Maybe you don't notice me, but I've always watched you play," she said sheepishly. "For me... Jackal-kun, among the other regulars... You look like you're shining..."
Me? Shining? Was this girl kidding?
"I—I'm not joking. This is really how I think of you," she uttered, looking down to hide her blushing face.
Wait—why, of course I knew this girl! She was always there when I had a match, cheering for me. How could I never notice her before? I was such an idiot!
"He...Here!" she pushed the box to my chest, and ran off as soon as I got my hands on it.
"O, oi, your name—"
I took a look at the box. There was a piece of paper attached to it.
'To Jackal Kuwahara
whom I always adore
-
I smiled.
Okay, maybe Valentine's Day wasn't so bad after all...
Note:
Inspired by volume 27's 'Rikkai Question Box', when Yukimura said "Jackal isn't popular at all, hehe..." ^^;