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After returning to his apartment a bit later than normal, the first thing Asahi busied himself with was laundry. After that, he cooked dinner by himself, ate it, and washed the dishes. Time passed without anything of importance to note. The gap between the curtains granted a glimpse into the darkness which wholly blanketed the sky outside.
“Welp, guess she’s not coming,” Asahi grumbled, collapsing onto his bed.
A part of him refused to let go of the faint glimmer of hope, though it proved increasingly difficult to justify entertaining that notion given the time. The possibility of Fuyuka coming over was virtually zero.
Never imagined I’d get so worked up over chocolate... Maybe it was narcissistic of me to think I was gonna get some just ‘cause we’ve gotten closer to each other. Man, what’s happening to me lately?
The thought left Asahi feeling somewhat embarrassed, causing him to bury his face deep into a pillow. He was just about to drift off to sleep when the sound of his intercom disturbed the tranquility of his room. He quickly snapped out of the world of dreams and back to reality.
“There’s no way...” he mumbled to himself, trying to calm his pounding heart before reaching the front door.
The possible risks of opening his door to an unexpected visitor in the later hours of the evening didn’t even cross his mind—he opened it immediately. The graceful figure of a girl, a small paper bag in her hands, waited on the other side.
“Good evening,” Fuyuka greeted.
“Hey...” he nervously replied, unable to offer the most basic of greetings.
His heart began to once again beat heavily at the sight of Fuyuka silhouetted in the moonlight. He contemplated whether it was a by-product of the special holiday, or whether it was something else entirely.
“Sorry to disturb you at this hour but, um, I was wondering if you had a second?”
“Sure, sure. Come in, it’s pretty cold out there.”
“Th-There’s no need, I won’t take much of your time—”
“And risk having you catch another cold? Don’t think so.”
“If you insist...” she relented. The door closed behind her with a soft thud, and a moment of silence ensued. “Umm, I...”
Fuyuka’s delicate body swayed from side to side. She was fidgety and avoided Asahi’s eyes.
As for Asahi, he focused on the polka-dotted paper bag.
Fuyuka timidly opened her mouth. Her clear voice wavered a little as she asked, “Do you know what day it is today, Asahi?”
“It’s Valentine’s day.”
“Indeed. That’s why I got this for you,” she offered him the bag, her head hung bashfully to hide her facial expression.
“You’re giving this to me?”
“Yes. Think of it as a token of gratitude—for everything you’ve done for me.”
“This is the chocolate you give to your friends and stuff, right?”
“Um... yes, I guess so. I’m not really sure.”
How can you be unsure about chocolate? Whatever, I guess.
“Thank you Fuyuka, seriously. I’m really happy.” Words of sincere appreciation escaped his lips, accompanied by a gentle smile. He was thrilled that he’d received chocolate from Fuyuka. “Can I have some?”
“Wh-What? Right now, you mean?”
“Yeah.”
Fuyuka paused before nodding, and Asahi suppressed the masculine urge to tear the packaging open. He tried his utmost to tenderly unwind the wrapping, which revealed a few spherical pieces of chocolate truffles inside. The confections were coated with sprinkled powdered sugar, evocative of fine snow.
“I feel like they came out nicely, so please help yourself to one,” Fuyuka—who’d finally managed to make eye contact with him—said.
Her almost translucent skin was rose-tinged, and Asahi, who seemed to be mesmerized by her, somehow managed to turn his gaze away.
He placed one of the chocolates in his mouth, ensuring to savor its taste whilst chewing on the small piece of confectionery bliss.
“This is so good.” Asahi relayed his relatively simple impressions. It wasn’t that he couldn’t come up with anything else to say, but rather, his thoughts had condensed to complete concision after a profound amount of consideration.
Fuyuka’s anxious expression softened, proof that his spartan response had gotten through to her.
“I’m kinda surprised, though. I never taught you how to make sweets and all,” he added.
“I was lucky to have Aoba’s help.”
“Really?”
“Yes. She asked me if I’d like to make chocolate together with her, and I agreed.”
It sounded as though she had put a lot of work into preparing for this day. Suddenly, Hinami’s weird evasiveness earlier that day also clicked into place.
“Remember when we met at the supermarket a little while ago? I was buying some chocolate bars for reference. I didn’t expect to run into you.”
“So that’s why you were acting weird.”
“I really wanted to keep it a surprise, if I could,” Fuyuka said with a playful smile.
Heh, guess she got me then.
“Did you work on these all day?”
“I did... Um, how did you know?”
“Just a lucky guess. I heard you went home early today.”
“I thought I’d... try my absolute best to make them nice for you,” she said, shyly casting her eyes down.
Her statement made Asahi consider whether someone would put this much work into chocolate for someone they considered just a friend.
That might just be how Fuyuka is, though. Her manner of speech and overall disposition reflected her virtuous personality, so it would make sense. She said this chocolate was her way of thanking me for everything I’ve done for her, and—if memory serves—she bought me a Christmas present for a similar reason. I dunno what it is I’ve given to her to deserve all this gratitude, but it seems really important to her.
“These came out well thanks to your advice, too,” she said.
“My advice?”
“You don’t remember? It was the first piece of advice you ever gave me.”
Asahi had taught her a lot about cooking by this point, so he couldn’t readily summon the first piece of advice he’d ever given her. He could name a number of key tips, but Asahi couldn’t say with certainty what Fuyuka was referring to... until a distinct string of words sprang to mind:
“Cooking isn’t all about how good it tastes in the end. It’s about how much love you put into it.”
Asahi had a strong hunch that the first pointer he ever gave to her was something along those lines. He remembered how he’d expanded upon it—that love was primarily the amount of care put into the dish,and it was all in appreciation of whoever you were cooking for. He remembered that he’d said something about love being the best secret ingredient. It was something obvious, yet hard, to grasp on to.
She couldn’t mean...? Asahi had to remind himself that this was just friend chocolate to banish any absurd delusions. “Guess you really went back to basics, huh?”
“I did.”
“And you got some wonderful chocolate as a result. Good job,” Asahi said with a grin.
Fuyuka reciprocated with a cheerful smile of her own. “You should teach me how to make sweets sometime.”
And with that, she took her leave and disappeared behind the door.
“Thank you,” Asahi mouthed.
As he mulled over whether he’d managed to properly convey his gratitude, a silvery streak of moonlight crept through the window and illuminated the entryway, which was adorned with three shining roses.