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Kokoro’s footsteps break through the heavy silence of the sunlit corridors. She’s tempted to start running but she’d rather not have an encounter with an angry teacher, so she simply quickens her pace ever so slightly, an excited grin on her face. Inside her bag she can hear the homemade chocolate bouncing around with every step she takes — they may not be the usual gifts but she’s sure that her friends will love them nonetheless.
After finding the door, she prepares herself for a brief moment. She tries to contain her excitement but it’s difficult, so she very quickly finds her hand gravitating towards the handle. I can’t wait to see their faces, she thinks as she grips tightly and begins opening the door, only to see-
“Whoah!” The moment she awakens, Kokoro is struck with an incredible feeling of weightlessness, which is soon revealed to be due to a solid seventy-five percent of her body hanging over the side of her bed. She immediately rolls over to the left, leaving her face buried in her pillow and giving her time to force herself to smile.
Don’t worry about the dream, Kokoro, think about the real world , says the tiny Misaki inside her brain. She’s been told she tends to make bad decisions when left unattended, so she’s started leaving a lot of things to what she imagines Misaki would say. Kokoro mumbles something unintelligibly and then forces herself upwards, turning around and getting into a sitting position. She stretches widely and nervously smiles at the clock on her bedside table when she sees the date.
Her heart feels like it’s going to burst out of her chest but she pushes the nervousness aside - she has more important things to focus on. Today she’s going to make Misaki Okusawa smile, and (she hopes) get herself a girlfriend. Sure, it’s possible Misaki doesn’t actually return her feelings, but Kokoro also chooses to ignore that.
She ignores a lot of things, just hoping that today will go well, basically.
Looking slightly further down at the time, she jumps onto her feet. Five o’clock is early, but she’s still going to have to rush if she wants to get everything done that she needs to. She grabs her school uniform from her closet and dashes to her ensuite bathroom.
Today is going to be a good day — she’ll make sure of it.
***
Kokoro skips to the school gates with a grin plastered across her face and a bag full of chocolate. Much to the suits’ dismay, she had taken the time to create a cocoa flavoured feast herself, destroying the kitchen in exchange for the creation of an almost overboard amount of candy.
She waves to a group of girls who look at her knowingly as she steps onto the school grounds. They were good friends, really, but they didn’t matter. There was only one objective for today and she would not let anything get in the way of that — she’d make up for it tomorrow by helping everyone smile twice as hard.
Orange hair flies in every direction as she bumps directly into Hagumi Kitazawa.
“Good morning Kokoron!” she says from her new position on the floor, gently dusting herself off as she begins pulling herself back up. “Happy Valentine’s Day!”
The redhead reaches into her bag and pulls out a tightly wrapped croquette, handing it over to the other girl with a wide smile.
“Ah, thank you! I got you something too, but I’ll be showing all of you at practice tomorrow!” she says, half expecting slight disappointment or tepid acceptance. Instead Hagumi winks slyly.
“I get it Kokoron, I really do,” she puts her hand on her chin and nods sagely, “you’ve got someone more important for today, just like Mama has Papa, right?”
Kokoro pumps her fists.
“Yeah! For today I have to make one person smile, because she deserves it more than anyone.”
Hagumi gives her a thumbs up before tilting her hand so it points towards the school’s entrance.
“Mii-kun is in there, I saw her just a moment ago. Make sure she has a good day, Kokoron!” Hagumi says as she turns around and runs off in the direction of the school’s athletics tracks. Kokoro stows the croquette in a pocket of her bag, silently thanking the other girl before running off herself.
Approaching the school’s entrance reveals the area to be unsurprisingly crowded: a tangled mess of students all mostly somewhere on a scale from disappointed to excited. Just a year ago Kokoro would probably have put herself elsewhere, perhaps best described as nonplussed, but now she finally understands what makes Valentine’s Day so special. She weaves quickly through the crowd, loudly shouting apologies at anybody she happens to bump into on her way, and eventually manages to force her way through the doors and enter the school proper. Her eyes scan the area briefly, trying to pick out a rich brown amongst the sea of students.
“Huh, is that her?”
She spots a small second year girl standing in the corner, and right beside her is a face Kokoro would recognise anywhere — a little confused, a little happy, and very dead inside. It could only really be Misaki.
“Ah, Misak-” Kokoro starts, but quickly cuts herself off when she sees the girl who she presumes to be Misaki’s friend ( Misaki has other friends? That’s great!) is talking to her. For a reason unbeknownst to herself she hurriedly hides slightly out of sight and watches the pair.
A small conversation seems to occur in which the girl talks at Misaki, who looks mildly amused, for a while. Misaki soon replies, which prompts a smile from Kokoro.
She's growing up so fast, I'm glad she's making friends now , Kokoro thinks, then prepares to leave her hiding spot since the conversation looks to be wrapping up.
Then the girl blushes and pulls out a wrapped piece of chocolate from her bag.
Kokoro promptly hurls herself backwards again.
“Hey, what gives?” Says a student behind her.
“Shh! This is important!” Kokoro whispers, which seems to stun them into silence.
Why is Misaki getting Valentine's chocolate — and why is she blushing? The girl thinks. She also wonders why the act seems to send her stomach into confused knots; Misaki looks happy and that’s what’s most important to Kokoro, so why does the sight of it make her want to curl into a ball and cry?
The chocolate is accepted graciously and the girl scurries off with a wide yet nervous grin and a sheepish Misaki left behind.
Kokoro places her hand in her chin and begins thinking. It would seem she has competition, so her previous plan wouldn't be enough. It would no longer do to give Misaki a few Valentine’s presents — she must now give her the most Valentine’s presents, and prove that she is the one who loves Misaki the most. She laughs quietly and skulks out, her mind beginning to work.
***
“Kokoron?” Says a confused Hagumi from behind her. Kokoro turns around and flashes a wide smile.
“Ah, Hagumi! I didn't think I'd see you again before lunchtime. What’s up?” She says, then returns to working, brow furrowed in concentration.
“Well, I was just interested.”
“Oh, sorry Hagumi, I like someone else. I hope we can still be friends though, I love all of HaroHapi a whole lot!”
Hagumi laughs before continuing, a puzzled smile evident in her voice. (Kokoro knew that she was already aware, right? Did she just forget?)
“No, no, not like that — though I'm glad you want to keep being friends — I meant I’m interested in what you're doing right now”
Kokoro looks up from the floor, gently wiping the paint from her hands. She stands up with a small “hup” and gestures to the banner before her.
“Well, I’m painting a banner to express my feelings!” She says. Hagumi paces up and down a little, scanning her eyes along the red lines.
“‘I love you, Misari’? That's awful Kokoro, I thought you were faithful to Mii-kun!” says Hagumi, hands curled angrily into fists. The blonde’s eyes widen and she steps back.
“Ah, I knew I shouldn't have taken that break in the middle. Sorry Misari-chan, that's meant to be for Misaki.” She says, and the two of them laugh before Hagumi continues.
“That makes sense, I guess, but what happened to the original plan? Did your feelings not get through to Mii-kun?”
Kokoro shakes her head.
“No, I ended up changing the plan. I realised chocolates aren't enough for someone as great as Misaki.” says Kokoro.
She also wants to one up that girl, but that’s probably some minor thing and so she chose to ignore those feelings.
“If I'm going to show her how much she means to me I'm going to need to try harder, so I'm going to make sure she sees it. Perfect, right?” Kokoro says proudly. Hagumi hums for a moment, biting the inside of her lip before breaking into another wide smile.
“That's a great idea, Kokoron! If you write the words as big as you can she'll understand the size of your feelings for sure. Make sure you give her the chocolates though, I'm sure she'll be glad to get them.” Hagumi says and Kokoro nods in reply, now leaning over the banner again to fix her minor mistake.
“Ah!” Hagumi exclaims upon checking her phone, “Homeroom starts in a few minutes, we should hurry! Come on, Kokoron!”
Kokoro marks a few hurried strokes on the canvas before furling it up and throwing it in her bag. She jumps up and rushes alongside Hagumi towards the school, now even more confident in her plans.
Nothing can stop her from confessing to Misaki. Nothing.
Not even the fact that the inside of her bag was now absolutely covered in wet paint.
***
A nervous energy fills class 2-B during first period. Some people are evidently disappointed by the events of the morning, now resigning themselves to another day of solitude surrounded by loving couples. Others are filled with relief, having thankfully been accepted.
Then there’s Kokoro, who sits vibrating like a Hitachi Magic Wand covered in french fries.
The teacher pointedly tries to ignore that. Instead he tentatively continues his usual schedule - beginning by discussing the finer points of the equation they're looking at, breaking it down into sections and explaining how they all come together to create a full mathematical formula.
Not that Kokoro cares.
Kokoro just wants to hurry up and confess.
Everything is meticulously planned down to the finest detail, not a hair out of place in her perfect vision. By the end of today she will make Misaki smile more than she’s ever smiled in her life.
She just needs to get out of class first.
Impatiently sitting through the first four periods, Kokoro rockets out of her seat the moment the lunch bell rings. The rest of the class laughs as she hurtles through the door, throwing herself into the corridor and skidding down to class 2-A.
“Misakiiiii!” She exclaims as she pushes open the door. Unsurprisingly, the whole class turns to stare at her, some wide eyed and confused, others smirking and bemused. Everybody glances over, curious at the new intruder, including a girl with blonde twintails who just looks annoyed.
Everybody except for Misaki Okusawa, who doesn’t seem to be there right now.
“Somebody stole Mii-kun!” gasps Hagumi, who had rushed down as quickly as she could to support her friend’s confession. Kokoro turns to her and also gasps.
“You’re right! Somebody’s taken her, and on Valentine’s Day of all the days…” she says, brow furrowed deeply. “Come on Hagumi, let’s go and get Kanon and help take Misaki back!”
Hagumi cheers excitedly as the two of them begin marching up the stairs to the third year classrooms. Ignoring the slight pangs in her chest at the sight of so many happy couples around her (I’m happy for them, and that will definitely be me soon, right?) she politely saunters up to Kanon’s classroom and forces open the door.
“Kanon!”
“Kano-chan-senpai!”
The two of them call into the classroom, again attracting a variety of eyes, now with a confused “fuee~” from an already deeply blushing Kanon. She hurriedly waves goodbye to her classmates and rushes over to the pair, ushering them out of the classroom.
“Kokoro-chan? Hagumi-chan? What are you doing here? Is it for Valentine’s Day?” She says.
Hagumi shakes her head.
“No, but thank you for reminding me...” says Hagumi as she taps her head and begins rummaging around in her bag, soon pulling out another tightly wrapped croquette, “for you, Kano-chan-senpai! Happy Valentine’s Day!”
Kanon smiles sweetly and accepts the gift, putting it with her bento quietly.
“So if you’re not here for that — and sorry, I forgot to bring your chocolates, I’ll definitely give you something on White Day — why did you come here?” She says.
“Ah-” she hurriedly adds, “-it’s not that I’m not happy to see you though, I’m glad to talk to you!”
This prompts a wider grin from Kokoro and Hagumi. The former puts her hands on her hips while she nods happily.
“Any time, Kanon! Any member of the band is a best friend of mine, you know?” Kokoro says, and so she and Kanon look at each other happily for a while, Hagumi looking on joyously at the moment for a little while before she gasps loudly yet again.
“Wait, Kokoron, we came here for a reason.”
“Ah! You’re right, Hagumi. Sorry, Kanon.”
Kanon tilts her head and frowns.
“I… that’s okay? C-could you please tell me why you’re here though? I, um, did promise a few classmates I’d have lunch with them since I had to… um, reject them…” Kanon says, though the last few words are whispered with a deep crimson blush.
“Well, you see, somebody’s stolen Misaki, and I need her today so I’d like to go and get her back.” Kokoro says. Kanon’s head tilts even further in response,
“Misaki-chan? I saw her getting taken into the courtyard by her fanclub a little earlier. She’s had a tough time of it today, I feel bad for her…” Says the sideways Kanon. Kokoro’s smile straightens out into a quizzical frown.
“Fanclub? You mean like fans of HaroHapi?” She asks, but Kanon shakes her head.
“No, I mean like, um, fans of Misaki’s. Girls who, uh, want to ask her out. She’s… fairly popular, not as much as Kaoru-san... but she’s got a lot of fans.” She says.
Hagumi begins a reply, but quickly finds herself grabbed at the wrist by Kokoro, with Kanon being picked up by the blonde’s other hand.
“Come on, let’s go and see this!” She says with a mixture of excitement and another feeling she still can’t describe.
“Alright!”
“Eh? Uh? Um, I have plans, Kokoro-chan, help? Fuee~...”
***
The courtyard is a panicked mess, packed to the brim with screaming fangirls and worried receivers. Kokoro quickly searches for Misaki but is unable to make anything out amidst the huge groups of girls, and from the sounds of things Kanon and Hagumi aren’t having much luck either. She’s about to give up and resign herself to confessing after school when she’s approached by a strange hooded figure with loose strands of purple hair crossing her face.
“Ah, thank goodness, a safe haven amidst the dangerous crowds. Happy Valentine’s Day, my fellow companions.” says the hooded girl who sounds and talks suspiciously like Kaoru Seta.
“Kaoru-san?” Kanon says, reaching for the hood. Her hand is gently pushed back as Kaoru almost desperately motions for her to leave things be.
“Apologies, little kitten, but I need this iota of privacy. Today has been… hectic, to say the least.” She says fleetingly.
“Is that why you came down to our school, Kaoru-kun?”
There’s a small nod as Kaoru surreptitiously glances around in search of any traces of grey fabric.
“As much as I do not wish to be a truant, I believe the teachers will understand, given that they’ve not actually been able to see me for most of today behind the swarms of lovely ladies following me.” She laughs lowly before gesturing to the hordes before her.
“It would appear I am not alone in popularity today though. Would that happen to be our dearest Misaki at the centre of attention, perchance?” Kaoru says while graciously accepting the croquette from Hagumi’s outstretched hand with a polite “thank you, little kitten”. Hagumi and Kanon nod in response while Kokoro stares intently into the crowd.
“Misaki really does have a fanclub…” She says slightly listlessly, her usual smile fading a little. Kokoro’s beginning to become bothered by the fact that she’s still unable to pick out why she dislikes the idea so much despite it being such a good thing, but she continues to push the thoughts away. “Somehow I never knew…”
Kanon nods quietly.
“She’s really popular among the first years who saw her doing work for the school festival, right? And all the people who know how much she does for us on st… behind the scenes.” There’s a small laugh.
“She’s not very good at handling the attention though. I’ve seen underclassmen come up to her and praise her and she looks so confused by it, I almost feel bad for her.”
Kokoro thinks for a moment, genuinely unsure as to how she had missed this information. She supposed it may just have been less obvious prior to today, and all her fans had jumped on the opportunity provided by Valentine’s Day to express their feelings, in much the same way Kokoro had (and still) planned to.
“Yes, it’s really no surprise that our Misaki is so beloved, but even I could not have anticipated it would grow to such an extent. I suppose she has carved her own admirable legacy — to quote Shakespeare, ‘and with my hand turn fortune’s wheel about’.” Kaoru said, hand cradling her chin as usual. Kokoro chose not to mention that it wasn’t a Shakespeare quote; instead, as usual, she let Kaoru have her fun.
“Well, of course Misaki’s popular! She’s so smart, like no matter what you want to do she can think of a way to do it, even if most people might think it’s impossible!” Kokoro said, eyes beginning to light up.
“Yes, that is indeed our Misaki,” Kaoru nods.
“And she’s so nice too! I’ve never seen her get angry at anyone. Even if someone annoys her she just smiles and tries to help them, because she just wants to make everyone smile too.” Kokoro pounds her outstretched left hand with her curled up right while already preparing to continue. Kanon looks like she wants to say something but decides against it — she guesses Kokoro must not want to talk about that incident.
“Yes, I must also agree with that, Misaki is a generous-” Kaoru begins.
“That’s not even mentioning the way she helps absolutely everybody without complaining. Even if it’s completely ridiculous she won’t complain for a second, like when she had to help with the festival for two hours after school and didn’t even seem to care, that’s -”
Kokoro is interrupted by a hand being placed gently on her shoulder, causing her to turn and face a smiling Kanon.
“Kokoro-chan, I think we get the point, right?” Kanon says, looking at Hagumi and Kaoru who both awkwardly mumble their agreement. Kokoro giggles and apologises, turning back to stare at the crowd.
She begins to pout slightly while crossing her arms, humming deeply as she thinks. That’s a lot of people. A lot of people who really want to make Misaki smile, maybe even as much as I do. The fact that she can’t even see Misaki amidst the swarms suggests that she might have underestimated things. All she wants to do is give her one gift, but now that certainly wouldn’t be enough — even the banner wouldn’t be able to compete anymore.
“No, it’s time to step things up even more. I’m going to give Misaki what she deserves, and she is going to like it!” Says a grinning Kokoro while tightening the grip on her bag and slinking off out of the courtyard, leaving a confused trio in her wake.
“Um, should we follow her? She seemed kind of… antsy? I’m a little worried about Kokoron…” Hagumi says. Kaoru and Kanon nod and move to follow the blonde, casting one last glance back at the crowds as they leave.
“Good luck Misaki-chan… you’ve still got a long day ahead of you.”
***
The usually abandoned classroom finds itself much less abandoned thanks to its newly found acquisition of four girls. A blonde girl paces up and down, mumbling to herself every now and then while occasionally stopping, going “Ah!”, then shaking her head and continuing the cycle. Near her stands a redhead, who looks on with a small, albeit slightly nervous, grin and generally tries her best to look supportive. Meanwhile, a girl with blue hair keeps glancing nervously at the clock, but is unable to find an opportunity to inform her companions that lunch has already ended and they should really return to class. Finally, a purple haired girl stands in the corner, relieved that she can take off her outer clothing without fear of death by lesbians.
Still, regardless of their differing actions, it’s clear that none of them are in the same world as Kokoro Tsurumaki.
She still has the chocolates, a simple homemade expression of her affection. It’s cute, and she’d personally be overjoyed if she were to receive them from Misaki, but for Misaki herself they certainly wouldn’t be enough — she was sure of that. Those would be her opener, leading her into the grander machinations of love she had concocted.
That left the only other thing she had prepared, the slightly shoddy but expressive banner declaring her feelings. Again, something she’d love to experience personally, but how could it ever compare to the voices of a hundred fangirls? No, that could no longer be Kokoro’s piece de resistance , but rather it would now be the backdrop upon which she expressed herself.
That all left the burning question: what does she do now?
If anything is certain in Kokoro’s mind, it’s the fact that she needs to step up her game and come up with something even more impressive if she is to win Misaki’s heart. (Everything she’s ever read about Valentine’s Day or romance seemed to imply that, at the very least.) She’s sure she doesn’t care too much about Misaki spending time with other girls, and even if she ends up being rejected she knows she’ll be fine as long as Misaki is happy.
I hope this stomach ache goes away soon though, I’ve had it all day .
“What are you thinking, Kokoron?” Hagumi asks.
“Hmm…” says Kokoro, “I’m just thinking about how to express my feelings to Misaki.”
Kanon stops awkwardly glancing at the time for a moment to chime in.
“You… um, you could start by telling her how you feel normally? Maybe?” She says. Kokoro smiles and gently pats her on the head.
“That’s a very sweet idea, Kanon, it’s cute.”
“H-huh?” Kanon stutters, struck with the incredible feeling that she’d just been completely shut down.
“No, I need something bigger for Misaki. I mean, look at how popular she is, there’s no way she’ll choose me — I need to do something better for her.” Kokoro says.
Everybody else froze for a few moments, each cautiously glancing at the others to see who would be the first person to say it. There’s some hushed discussion and vague motioning that leads to a confused Kaoru being pushed in front of Kokoro.
“Oh, hi Kaoru! Where did you come from?” She says.
Kaoru sighs and tentatively runs a hand through her hair.
“Kokoro… I do not wish to be rude but… is it not possible that you’re jealous right now?” Kaoru says, trying to sound as considerate as she possibly can. In response Kokoro simply tilts her head to the side, smiling pointedly.
“Hm? Why would I be feeling jealous? Misaki’s surrounded by people who love her and can help make her happy, and in return she’s making them smile too. I don’t even know what jealousy feels like, honestly.” She says.
That’s the problem, responds the resounding silence from the trio. Kokoro looks between each of them, her smile slowly slipping more and more.
“Do… do you all think I’m jealous?” She says quietly. An awkward silence fills the air before Hagumi slowly nods.
“I mean… you do love Mii-kun, you know? It’s only natural you’d get a little jealous when she’s receiving so much attention from other girls today.” She says, before she notices Kokoro beginning to frown and hurriedly adds, “It’s not a bad thing, honestly! It just shows how strong your feelings are, right?”
Hagumi quickly looks left and right at a nodding Kanon and Kaoru. Kokoro vigorously shakes her head, picking her bag up from off of the floor.
“Mama always said jealousy was bad, and you shouldn’t be jealous of people you love — I can’t be jealous! I just want to make Misaki smile the most today, that’s all…”
She clenches her fist with a shaky resolve before rushing out of the door before any of the others can stop her. The three sit in stunned silence for a few seconds before Kanon speaks.
“Um… s-shouldn’t we go after her?” She says as she motions towards the door.
“No, I believe it is best we let this play itself out. The course of true love never did run smooth…” Kaoru shakes her head before murmuring a quiet “fleeting”.
***
Running in the halls would probably get her seen by a teacher, so Kokoro powers through the corridors to her destination. If anything will prove her lack of jealousy, she’s confident that it will be going even further beyond and doing even more to impress Misaki. There’s no other options, and she has to get to work quickly if she’s going to be done in time for the end of school, so she can talk to Misaki without any more interruptions.
Out of the corner of her eye she sees a woman in a black suit staring at her, a question almost written on her lips. Kokoro smiles but mouths a firm “no” nonetheless — this is something she has to do herself. The woman slinks back out of sight, presumably whispering commands for everybody to withdraw into her mouthpiece.
Kokoro quickens her pace until she arrives at the home economics room. Thankfully, she was able to sneak a peek at the timetable for today, and from the looks of things she would have the last two periods all to herself since no classes were scheduled in this particular room. A hand gently twists the knob before cautious eyes glance around the classroom to confirm everything is safe. With nobody inside, she steps through the door and shuts it behind her, placing her bag on the floor nearby.
She takes a few minutes to scan around the various shelves and cupboards for something she can use. Misaki had expressly forbidden her from spending more than a thousand yen for any gifts since what she coined ‘The Great Birthday Incident’, and so Kokoro had to resort to more homemade measures. Even if she can’t go out of her way to buy gifts, which all her friends in elementary school had seemed to really enjoy.
In fact, she even remembered that for some reason nobody seemed to really hang out with her until she told them just how much allowance she had and that she was willing to buy them a few things if they wanted it — after that she’d suddenly become much more popular; then just as suddenly, when she said her mother had forbidden her from buying gifts anymore, she was alo—
No, stop! Don’t think about it, don’t think about it, don’t think about it...
Kokoro forces herself to breathe deeply for a few seconds while she leans on a countertop, forcing her mouth back into it’s usual smile. Everything is fine , she thinks, everything will be fine if I can just do something big enough for Misaki. If I do that then she’ll love me for sure, right?
Things would be fine. She has to come up with something in the next hour and a half, her stomach is still in knots and one day her friends might get sick of her and leave, but she just has to think that things would be fine.
“Come on Michelle, let’s do this.” She says to a small felt figure left behind by Misaki sitting in the corner of the room, before standing up and forcing her brain into gear.
***
Misaki sighs quietly. She glances around nervously to check for any oncoming girls, then hurriedly heads down the nearest corridor she can access. Part of her feels a little guilty for lying about feeling ill so she could leave class, but the guilt is outweighed by her own survival instincts and the fact that school ends in about half an hour anyway. More than anything she just needs a small break from the incessant flood of romantic proposals.
Frankly Misaki found herself shocked that she’s even remotely popular, let alone rivalling Kaoru in terms of having a dedicated fanbase. Apparently people had taken notice of all her help with various festivals and Hello, Happy World activities and begun to admire her, particularly girls in the year below. She found it… flattering, for sure, she wouldn’t deny that, but it was also more than a little awkward and entirely unnecessary. As much as she hated to admit it, she was more than a little smitten with one Kokoro Tsurumaki.
Again she finds that briefly looking over her shoulder reveals no flashes of gold; no smiling bandmate to forcefully tackle her into a hug and ruin her day in the best possible way. Misaki pushes a hand through her hair, slowly exhaling into the sunlit school.
She probably hates me now huh? Misaki likes to believe she isn’t stupid, she wasn’t expecting the best case scenario from Kokoro (who realistically probably didn’t care much about romance), but she’s sure that the girl was at least expecting some friendship chocolates.
Unfortunately, finding Kokoro had been somewhat difficult given the fact she had been beset by cute girls in every single free moment of time she had. She idly touches the homemade chocolate in her pocket (since her bag is currently stuffed full of various gifts), and laughs wryly. Anything that could go wrong would go wrong for Misaki, that was just her life.
“No use whining about it now, I guess” she mutters under her breath while trying to think of a place she can go to be alone. The brunette vaguely recalls seeing a timetable somewhere which showed the home economics room as completely free for the last two periods — and since no clubs meet after school today she figures that’s as good a place as any to hang out for a few hours while people filter out.
Since she doesn’t expect anybody to be around, she quickly grabs her trusty hat from her bag and puts it on. Something about the action brings her comfort (she ignores the fact that it’s probably because it reminds her of Kokoro, because she doesn’t really feel like being sappy).
Misaki spends a few minutes locating the room before walking up and grasping the handle. She steels herself for a little bit of boredom and casually pushes it open.
“Ah.”
She’s met with a sight that tempts her to close it and quietly leave, but finds herself unable to move. Arts and crafts materials sit strewn about the floor, every single storage space having been rummaged through and sullied. Glitter covers the walls and there’s torn paper as far as the eye can see. Put simply, the room’s an absolute mess.
And in the middle of it sits one very small, sad Kokoro.
“I...I just need to think of something… anything…” she says sadly, not even a hint of a smile on her face.
“K-Kokoro?” Misaki gasps, and before her brain even has time to process things she’s rushing forward and grabbing the girl in her arms, “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
Most girls not smiling is a little disappointing for Misaki, — she generally likes seeing people happy even if it isn’t to the extent of the rest of the band — but a nearly crying Kokoro is basically a national emergency. The blonde seems to come to slightly as Misaki wraps her arms around Kokoro’s back, eyes regaining a little more light.
“...Misaki? Are you my conscience?” She says softly, though she habitually leans into the embrace nonetheless. Misaki almost laughs but the delicacy in Kokoro’s voice still concerns her.
“No, you dummy, I’m the real thing.” she says, “...Why would your conscience look like me anyway?”
“Because you’re the one who always tells me if what I’m doing is right… and you always come and help me when I’ve messed up…” Says Kokoro.
“Have you messed up?” Misaki asks gently. There’s no vocal response but she can feel a small nod against her shoulder. She leans back slightly and looks at the other girl. It still looks like there’s a smile on her face, but it’s such an obvious facsimile that Misaki just wishes it wasn’t there at all.
“A-alright, Kokoro, take a few deep breaths and then tell me what’s gone on. You’re, uh, you’re scaring me a little right now.” She says, and quickly she hears loud inhalation and exhalation from the other girl. “Okay, go ahead.”
Kokoro nods before fishing around in her bag for a few moments. It looks more red than it used to, for some reason. On the ground she tosses a tightly furled banner, and in Misaki’s hand — which she reluctantly moved from her back — she places a heart shaped box that seems to contain chocolate.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Misaki.” She says, and for the first time since entering the room a genuine smile lights up her features. It’s small, but Misaki treasures it.
“For me?” Misaki tentatively asks. Deep down she knows the answer, but she questions it anyway.
Feels wrong for someone like me to get a gift from Kokoro, I guess.
She receives a nod in reply, as she mostly expected, and she can’t help but laugh. At this Kokoro adopts a quizzical expression, head tilting slightly to the side and eyes slightly widening.
“What’s so funny, Misaki?” She asks.
Misaki laughs a little more to get it out of her system before replying.
“I spent all day panicking over this...” Her own chocolate gift is pulled out of her pocket and placed in Kokoro’s hand. “Girls just kept coming up to me giving me things, and I spent the whole day trying to find you but I couldn’t get any moments to myself. Then I thought I saw you with Kanon, but I guess if it was you then you left before I could actually talk to you, so I got a little worried about that and…”
Misaki sighs fairly loudly, but finds her face forming a smile anyway. She delicately picks up her hat and places it on Kokoro’s head.
“...Happy Valentine’s Day, I guess. I’m glad I found you.” She says as Kokoro gazes happily up at her while making a small noise of affirmation. “Even if you did just give me friend chocolate, it’s nice to get it today and not later.”
The blonde remains silent for a few moments, simply fiddling with the brim of the hat and thinking quietly.
“Misaki, try opening the banner.” She finally says, eyes now at long last shining with their usual brightness.
Too used to the song and dance to ask any questions, Misaki wordlessly complies, pushing the canvas and watching it softly unroll. When it’s fully unfurled, she sees that it’s been crudely written on with red paint.
“Kesiw… noy… enol? Uh, I’ve gotta be honest Kokoro, I don’t really know what that means. Is it Latin or something?” She says.
Kokoro simply stares deeply into her eyes with a wide smile, and Misaki is hit with the incredibly uncomfortable feeling that her mental acuity is being brought into question. She places a soft hand on the banner and twists it one hundred and eighty degrees. Misaki laughs awkwardly, glances back down and immediately jumps straight up with widened eyes.
“I spent all day looking for you too, Misaki. Every time I saw you were surrounded by other girls I stepped back and told myself it was fine because you were smiling, and they were too. I kept saying that I wanted to do more and more for you because I just wanted to make you happier than everyone else, because Mama always said jealousy is for bad girls so I couldn’t be jealous. But I think I’ve realised that... I was jealous. I still am, so much that I can’t stand it.” She places her right hand in Misaki’s, lifting her head up so that the brunette could see that she was blushing. “I don’t want somebody else to take you away, Misaki, I’m sorry. Even if it makes me a bad girl, and even if I haven’t done nearly enough for you today, I don’t want anybody else to have you.”
Her smile widens a little as she finishes.
“Like the banner says, I love you, Misaki!”
Silence.
Dead silence fills the room for a while. Kokoro continues to grip Misaki’s hand tightly, though she appears to grow more and more nervous with every passing second.
“U-uh…” Misaki stutters. With a face of crimson she tries desperately to say something else, but no words come out. She begins to panic as the other girl looks more and more dejected despite her best attempts to maintain a smile, so she acts on impulse, throwing herself forwards and catching Kokoro’s lips with her own.
“Ah-” Kokoro’s eyes widen in surprise, but she quickly leans into the kiss and embraces Misaki — who hurriedly pulls back after a few moments, leaving the blonde with a small pout.
“Oh, uh, crap, I’m sorry, I just…” Misaki stammers, but stops when she sees Kokoro beginning to smirk. “...Right, you like it- uh, me! You like… me, and hopefully you liked it but, uh, y’know…”
“Misaki?”
“...Yeah?”
“You should probably talk less.” Kokoro smiles, poking Misaki gently on the nose.
“Right, sorry,” she nods, “Just… I’m glad. I was terrified about today. I was worried enough about having to actually give you a gift, and then I didn’t see you all day.” Misaki stands up, dusting herself off with one hand and pulling Kokoro up with the other. “Alright, let’s go.”
“Oh? Where are we going?”
“...We’re getting out of here before the teachers find out. Unless you wanna clean up this mess?”
Kokoro gasps, but leans in closer to Misaki with a smirk.
“Ooh, Misaki’s a bad bear!” she sings smugly.
“Uh, bear? What did you mean by that? Kokoro? Come back here! I need to know!”