It was after school on the first Valentine’s Day since Aoto Endo and Shihono Kobayashi had confessed their feelings in front of Kuon. The couple was in Shihono’s living room.
“All righty, it’s Valentine’s Day, so I’ve got chocolate brownies!” Shihono took a plate of brownies from the refrigerator. “Eat up!”
Aoto clapped his hands. “Oooh, thanks. Wait, did you make these yourself?”
“Yeah, I gave it a shot. But last year’s were store-bought since I was handing them out to everyone in the club.”
“I actually still have that chocolate in its original wrapping.”
Shihono’s eyes widened in shock. “What?! Why?! I mean, I did give it to you because I liked you, but I purposely made it the same as everyone else’s so you wouldn’t know!”
“Well, I had a crush on you and the wrapping was cute. I didn’t want to ruin it by opening it. So in a way, it’s a relief this year’s chocolate doesn’t seem like it’ll keep for a long time.”
Shihono nodded as she handed Aoto a fork and plate. “Yep, you gotta eat these right now. Actually, after I made them yesterday, people already started eating them. If we leave them here, someone in the house will probably devour them anyway.”
“Oh, like your dad?”
“My dad did say, ‘I won’t let Endo have these! I’ll eat all of them myself!’ But I made sure to only give him one, so it’s fine. Oh, but he might still be aiming for more. Sorry about the other day too. You went to the trouble of coming to meet my family, but my dad couldn’t be mature about it. He just kept criticizing you...”
“But hey, he didn’t hit me. He’s pretty nice, isn’t he?”
“No way. After that, my sister, mom, and I scolded him like crazy. Like, ‘Stop picking on Endo. You’re acting pathetic!’ The three of us were guarding the brownies too, but my supposed allies taste-tested so many there’s only these few left...”
Aoto couldn’t help but smile. “Ha ha, if they’re that good, let’s split them between us. We might as well boot up Magikoi while we eat.”
“That’s a good idea! It’s a special day, after all. Happy Valentine’s Day!” Shihono started up the game with practiced motions.
“Yeah, let’s have a toast while we check up on the gang. We can do it with tea for the immersion. Well, it’s bottled tea, though.” Aoto poured the tea he’d bought on the way to Shihono’s place into the glasses.
“Oh, thanks. And this is...yep, the usual Magikoi! I figured!” It was a normal otome game title screen, without the weird save data. Shihono was finally starting to get used to not being able to connect to the other world, but it was obvious she was only pretending to be cheerful. “A toast to Liese-tan! It’s a wonder how this villainess’s grouchy face can hide such a sweet interior!”
Aoto lifted his glass to Shihono’s. “Yeah, cheers. Lieselotte’s beauty just makes her even scarier when she’s mad, huh?”
“She’s right, though. It’s just hard to understand her because she talks in a roundabout way. Oh, and some of her harsh words are out of jealousy. Come to think of it, Magikoi had a nonsensical Valentine’s Day scene too. There’s a minigame where Fiene makes sweets and gives them to the guy who was her partner at the ball.”
Aoto raised an eyebrow. “Hm? That would be after the ball...in other words, after the Witch of Yore possessed Lieselotte, right?”
“Yep. Timeline-wise, it’s right in the middle of all that super serious stuff.”
“What?! How can they be so carefree?!”
Shihono pointed at him to signify her agreement. “Yeah, that’s what I wanna know! It’s like, is this really the time to be ecstatic or depressed depending on the quality of the sweets you make?! And, like, if you do well, there’s a CG of her feeding the guy! Really?! All while Lieselotte’s fallen into despair and become a witch, Baldur’s dead, and there’s chaos everywhere! It was pretty shocking...”
“The world of otome games is scary...”
The two hung their heads.
After a few moments of silence, Shihono looked up and tilted her head. “Well, since it’s an otome game world where love makes you stronger, it’s important for Fiene to deepen her bond with her partner before the final battle. Could that be why?”
“Oh, it’s to build up strength for the final battle?”
“That’s one way to think about it, but it still makes you wonder why she has to make sweets now. Can’t such an awfully cute minigame wait until later? Technically, it’s supposed to be a festival where commoners eat preserved sweets to weather the second half of the harsh winter. I thought it might’ve been a nonexistent event the devs shoved into the game, but when I checked with Fiene, she said it was a real festival.”
Wait, when could she have had that conversation? Aoto wondered.
“So I whispered to Sieg that February 14 is a festival of love where guys give girls flowers, since a foreign custom would suit him better. I wonder if it’ll change that weird event somehow. Oh, and I wanted to do the White Day thing with Japanese-style chocolate and make a tradition out of it, so I’ll do that on my own when you’re not around.”
This really isn’t ringing a bell. Aoto tilted his head. “Wait, when did this happen? I thought we couldn’t open that save file without both of us around.”
“It was during the ball scene, right before Lirenna appeared. Remember when you stepped out for a minute because you were getting a stomachache from nerves? That’s when.”
“What?! How could you be calm enough to teach Sieg in the middle of all that tension?!”
Shihono cackled. “Aha ha ha! Well, Sieg was pretty nervous too, so I thought I should talk about something fun he could look forward to.”
“Oh, good point. I wouldn’t have been able to do that...”
“Basically, a girl in love can be surprisingly tough and bold sometimes.” Shihono giggled. She looked at the sprite of Lieselotte—the other maiden in love—on the screen and thought about their friends in the other world.
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“Ah, it’s February 14.” I remembered what Lady Kobayashi had once told me. Today was a day to commemorate love with a gift of flowers.