Chapter 97: Happy Valentine's Day.
[one]
Morofushi Sora'aki, 18 years old, is currently spending his final year of high school.
Today is February 14th, Valentine's Day.
"Hehehe~ Shall we have a competition to see who gets more chocolates today?" Hagiwara Kenji asked on his way to school.
Matsuda Jinpei slung his backpack over his shoulder and casually remarked, "Isn't this boring? What's the point of comparing these things? It's definitely going to be you, right?"
"Not necessarily! Last year, Sora'aki-chan almost received more chocolates than me!" Hagiwara Kenji commented, then added, "If you, Jinpei-chan, were to use your face more effectively, you'd probably receive more chocolates than just the obligatory chocolates from the girls in your class, right?"
Most boys of this age care a lot about whether they will receive chocolates on Valentine's Day. Hagiwara Kenji is no exception, even though he has never lacked chocolates growing up. When he was a child, he almost ruined his teeth from eating too much candy because he had too many Valentine's Day chocolates in his inventory.
In order not to damage his teeth and stomach, Hagiwara eventually handed over his chocolate to Morofushi Sora'aki to deal with.
Hagiwara Kenji has long envied Morofushi Sora'aki's ability to eat whatever he wants without gaining weight or getting cavities.
Matsuda Jinpei didn't care that much—well, he did care a little.
However, he receives quite a few each year, enough to show off among the boys.
However, Matsuda Jinpei never actually calculated how many chocolates his friends would receive, especially since Morofushi Sora'aki would usually eat them as soon as he received them, resulting in Hagiwara Kenji always coming home with a bag full of chocolates while Morofushi Sora'aki went home empty-handed.
Therefore, when Hagiwara Kenji said that, Matsuda Jinpei's first reaction was disbelief: "How is that possible?! When did this guy become so popular?!"
Morofushi Sora'aki glanced at him: "Then let's have a match today."
Matsuda Jinpei: "Fine, let's do it!"
[two]
Today is Valentine's Day, and the school is filled with a pink atmosphere.
As soon as Hagiwara Kenji opened the shoe cabinet, chocolates overflowed from it. Matsuda Jinpei changed his shoes, looked at the scene, and couldn't help but sigh, "I see this every year. As expected of you, isn't it?"
Hagiwara Kenji picked up the chocolate that had fallen on the ground, put it in his bag, and said helplessly, "Don't laugh at me, you have one too, don't you?"
Matsuda Jinpei chuckled: "No one attracts as much attention as you. Let's go, Raki. Let him sort things out at his own pace—according to you, these are all other people's girlish dreams."
Despite saying that, Morofushi Sora'aki noticed that after Matsuda Jinpei left the shoe cabinet, he secretly and expectantly opened the love letter attached to his chocolate... if it could be called a love letter.
Morofushi Sora'aki's eyesight and memory were among the best; he spotted the characters written in calligraphy at a glance. Morofushi Sora'aki blinked slowly and silently turned his head to the other side.
Matsuda Jinpei's expression was hidden by the shadow of his bangs, but the atmosphere around him was clearly dangerous: "Hey, you saw that just now, didn't you?"
Morofushi Sora'aki decisively retorted: "I didn't."
Matsuda Jinpei: "You definitely saw it, you replied so quickly!!"
Morofushi Sora'aki shouted even louder: "I swear I didn't see Jinpei-chan receive a love letter personally written by the president of the boxing club!"
Matsuda Jinpei: "Didn't you see it clearly, even the name?!"
Hagiwara Kenji, clutching his backpack, poked his head out from behind: "What?! A guy confessed to Jinpei-chan?!"
Hagiwara Kenji let out his first burst of laughter of the day: "Jinpei-chan, hahaha! I could laugh at this for a year!"
Seeing Hagiwara Kenji say those words, which led to Matsuda Jinpei chasing him and stuffing chocolate into his mouth, Morofushi Sora'aki shook his head with feigned maturity: "Hagiwara is an idiot. How could he provoke Jinpei-chan at a time like this? Even if he received chocolate from a man."
"...I remember, the president of the boxing club was a very muscular man?"
Having said that, Morofushi Sora'aki quickened his pace, because the next second, a sinister voice rang out from behind him: "Damn it, Raki—"
When the group of boys arrived at the classroom amidst their noisy chatter, the eyes of my the girls in the room lit up.
As soon as Hagiwara Kenji put down his backpack, a group of girls surrounded him, calling out "Hagiwara-kun!" "Hagiwara-kun!"
Matsuda Jinpei lazily propped his chin on his hand, intending to join Morofushi Sora'aki in some 吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for complaining/criticizing), but then he saw the impressive display on Morofushi Sora'aki's table and fell into an eerie silence: "When did you become so popular?"
Right in front of Morofushi Sora'aki's table, chocolates were piled up into a small mountain, but the most conspicuous thing was, as expected, the chocolate cake in the very center.
Who in their right mind would send a chocolate cake as a gift?!
Morofushi Sora'aki naturally began to unwrap the cake and eat it, mumbling, "I've always been very popular."
Then Matsuda Jinpei noticed the subtle atmosphere around him. Following his intuition, he looked over and saw their class's cooking representative holding her face and staring at Morofushi Sora'aki: "As expected, watching Morofushi eat dessert is really satisfying~"
Matsuda Jinpei: It's confirmed, this cake was sent by you, right?
Before the teacher arrived, Morofushi Sora'aki had already finished eating the cake. After finishing, he looked a little disappointed: "I've finished it."
This cake isn't overly sweet, and it's not entirely chocolate; it has a coffee chocolate flavor.
Seeing the slight disappointment on the cat-eyed boy's face after he finished eating, the cooking class representative decisively took out another box from her bag: "This was prepared for my boyfriend, but he doesn't like desserts, so it's fine for you to have it!"
Matsuda Jinpei: "...Seriously? Your boyfriend will cry, he really will cry."
The cooking class representative tossed her hair and said, "It's okay, we have cooking class today anyway, I can just make him a new one then."
Matsuda Jinpei: My boyfriend is a little pitiful.
Then he saw that Morofushi Sora'aki didn't immediately take the cake, but instead looked up and asked, "Did Classmate Nakazato and Classmate Moriki have a fight?"
"Ah... You figured it out?" Cooking class representative Nakazato Keiko sighed, "That guy really has no sense of romance."
"He doesn't understand the beauty of desserts anyway, so why should I make them for him!"
"But coffee is something Moriki likes." Morofushi Sora'aki said. "When I got home yesterday, I saw Moriki picking out a gift at a gift shop, muttering that he wanted to apologize. I don't know who he was planning to give it to."
Nakazato Keiko: "...!"
Nakazato Keiko hesitated, looking at the cake in her hand that she hadn't yet given away. She blinked, and a blush appeared on her face.
After the other person left, Matsuda Jinpei's expression was extremely complicated: "Who is Moriki?"
Morofushi Sora'aki: "Nakazato's boyfriend."
Matsuda Jinpei: "No, I mean... how did you know?"
Morofushi Sora'aki: "I heard her mention it when I was pretending to be asleep during break, and then I remembered it."
Matsuda Jinpei: "..."
Matsuda Jinpei: "Where did you learn that from?"
This time, Morofushi Sora'aki raised his chin with a hint of pride: "I saw it in a comic."
Having finally escaped the girls' embrace, Hagiwara Kenji put his arm around Matsuda Jinpei's shoulder: "Now you understand, right? Sora'aki-chan is super popular with the girls."
"No one knows romance comic better than Sora'aki-chan." After saying that, Hagiwara Kenji thought for a moment and added, "Of course, it's not just for that reason… mainly because Sora'aki-chan reciprocates when he receives chocolates, and they just happen to be small gifts that girls need or like right now."
"They weren't very expensive gifts, but they gave me a feeling of being noticed." Hagiwara Kenji, the school's information expert, said with a smile, "That's why Sora'aki-chan received so many chocolates."
It took Hagiwara Kenji so long to get Morofushi Sora'aki to stop ignoring his classmates.
When Morofushi Sora'aki stopped ignoring the fact that he was influenced by Hagiwara Kenji, who had extremely high emotional intelligence, his family's education, and the influence of romance comic artists from the neighboring world, many of Morofushi Sora'aki's behaviors became very obvious among other high school students who still seemed immature.
In particular, even without conscious effort, Morofushi Sora'aki's hypermnesia causes him to unconsciously remember what his classmates said.
For example, what hair clip that girl recently took a liking to, what mirror that girl accidentally broke, her favorite CD, her favorite idol—Morofushi Sora'aki unconsciously recorded all this information.
Hagiwara told him to return the gifts, so he did. The feedback was positive; Morofushi Sora'aki even got to eat chocolate, and both sides were very happy.
Another point is that Morofushi Sora'aki always eats the chocolates he receives on the spot, which makes people feel that their efforts have not been in vain.
There's something Hagiwara Kenji noticed a long time ago, but he doesn't know why. Despite having such a handsome, seemingly innocent face, Morofushi Sora'aki should theoretically be popular with girls (in a romantic sense). Strangely, almost no one confesses to him. Instead, many look at him with a slightly loving, motherly gaze…
After thinking about it carefully for a long time, Hagiwara Kenji came to an answer—it was probably because Sora'aki-chan's younger-than-life aura was too obvious. Even though they were all the same age, he gave off a feeling of looking at a younger brother, making people want to take care of him and easily arousing the maternal instincts of the female classmates.
Morofushi Sora'aki opened another box, this time it contained chocolate cookies. He popped one into his mouth and crunched it.
During this process, Matsuda Jinpei fell silent and realized something once again.
"So, in other words." the curly-haired boy said ominously, "You actually know everything, and you've been doing it all on purpose, haven't you!"
Morofushi Sora'aki: "..."
Morofushi Sora'aki's bright blue cat-like eyes slanted upwards, appearing clean and innocent at this moment. He licked the biscuit crumbs off his fingertip and calmly said, "What are you talking about, Jinpei-chan?"
Morofushi Sora'aki rearranged the box on the table and stood up slightly: "Isn't this obvious?"
After saying that, Morofushi Sora'aki took off running without hesitation, and Matsuda Jinpei immediately got angry and chased after him.
The two almost bumped into the teacher who had just walked in, and the teacher exclaimed in surprise, "Class is about to start!"
Hagiwara Kenji watched this scene and shook his head helplessly: "Those two are so childish, aren't they?"
As he spoke, Hagiwara Kenji took out his phone and sent a message to the president of the boxing club: [Jinpei-chan received the chocolate and seems very happy!]
Boxing club president: [Great! Thank goodness for your suggestion, Hagiwara! This time I'm absolutely confident I can get Matsuda into the boxing club!]
Hagiwara Kenji discreetly put away his phone, a smirk playing on his lips.