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“It’s Valentine’s Day, bastards!”
When Monokuma yelled those words at them, barely anyone paid attention to him. Why should they? It’s not like it mattered to a group of teenagers locked up in some creepy school, so everyone went back to eating their dinner. Saihara didn’t even spare him a glance.
“What’s with this reaction!? Aren’t you excited!? Aren’t your hearts beating super fast?!”
“Why should they? You’re probably lying anyway. There’s no way for us to tell what day it really is,” Ouma said with a smirk.
“What are you planning? Are you trying to change something so innocent into a motive?” Akamatsu said in a disapproving tone, glaring at the bear.
“You’re no fun! Every single one of you! I was just trying to make a fun event for you, since you all seem so bored lately!” Monokuma exclaimed, seemingly both angry and sad. “Just let your heart go doki-doki and have fun with what I prepared for you!”
“Doki-doki…?” Shirogane repeated to herself.
“What’s so funny about Valentine’s Day when we don’t even have any couples here?” Momota sighed.
“Nishishi, I’m pretty sure Momota-chan would be happy even with a friendship chocolate, since there’s no way he would get anything more!” Ouma laughed at the other boy’s disappointed face.
“S-Shut up, you…!”
“You’re talking as if you’d get any, you little shit!” Iruma cackled, but Ouma’s expression didn’t change.
“And you’re talking as if I even wanted to get anything from an ugly bitch like you. Know your place, Iruma-chan.”
“Hiii..?!”
“Now I can see some Valentine’s Day spirit in you! That’s what it’s all about, chocolate, jealousy and tears of those who were rejected or didn’t get anything!” Monokuma laughed obnoxiously. “I prepared everything for you, so go crazy!”
“…what exactly did you prepare?” Harukawa asked cautiously. “What do you want us to do?”
“Nothing but simple chocolate! The thing I prepared are ingredients of course. They are not poisoned, but if you want to add any poison in, you’re free to do so! Just be sure to give it to the right boy!”
“You totally just looked at me. You did it. I’m sure you did,” Ouma said, and for the first time that day Saihara found something a little amusing.
“Who knows!”
“Even if I made any chocolate, I definitely wouldn’t give it to a boy!” Chabashira exclaimed. “Only Yumeno-san has the right to my chocolate!”
“Nyeh, I do? Thanks, Tenko, I’m looking forward to it.”
“Oh no…” Shirogane sighed. “Chabashira-san and Yumeno-san just fell right into his trap…”
“Tenko just said she’d give me her chocolate, and I accepted. I like chocolate,” Yumeno replied, smiling happily. It was to late for her and the blushing Chabashira.
“I guess we have no choice then,” Toujou spoke up. “Well, if the ingredients are not poisoned, it won’t hurt to make some small friendship gifts for everyone, right? As a maid, I shall assist Chabashira-san.”
“Wow, mom is really generous! Am I going to get some chocolate too?!” Ouma asked, leaning over the table towards the gray-haired girl.
“If you behave yourself and stay away from the kitchen, you will.”
“Yaaay! Chocolate!” He yelled happily. “Saihara-chan, did you hear that! You’ll get chocolate too!”
“M-Me too?” Saihara replied reluctantly, forced to give up on staying silent during that whole commotion. “I don’t really need any…”
“Everyone means everyone, Saihara-kun,” Akamatsu said with a smile. “I guess I’ll join and help out Toujou-san.”
“Oh, then Angie will help too! She’s sure that with god’s blessing we can make the perfect chocolate!”
“Nyeh, then I’ll come too… If Tenko really makes something for me, I want to give something to her, too…”
Saihara could swear there were tears in Chabashira’s eyes, as she looked at Monokuma and soundlessly said ‘thank you’.
“T-Then maybe I-I too…” Harukawa muttered, her cheeks slightly red. She still wasn’t good at initiating interactions with the rest of the group, but she was clearly trying.
“Of course, Harukawa-san!” Akamatsu replied instantly. “Shirogane-san, what about you?”
“Since it looks like it’s a girls only event, I will come too…” She said with a sigh.
“Girls only…? That means… I can’t join?” Kiibo said hesitantly. “Even if I can’t eat chocolate, I wanted to help…”
The girls all looked at Kiibo, quite moved by his words.
“N-No, you can come, too!”
“Kiibo-kun, you’re too good…”
“You’re a robot, right? You don’t count as a guy!”
“I’ll assume that last remark wasn’t robophobic…”
“Perfect. Everything went according to plan,” Monokuma concluded. “You’ll find all the ingredients in the kitchen. Have fun, bastards!”
Saihara just sighed, taking a note to stay away from the kitchen until the end of that event. Friendship chocolate didn’t sound that bad, it was better than nothing. If any of them could hope for anything more, it was Momota, but he seemed oblivious to that… and maybe Amami. Saihara himself didn’t have any hope for getting anything from the person he liked.
Nobody seemed to notice one person slipped out of the cafeteria when nobody was looking.
***
“Hey, Shuuichi, what do you think about all of this?”
“I think that Ouma-kun going missing after promising to stay away from the kitchen is very suspicious and we should look for him before Harukawa-san snaps his neck.”
“It’s not what I was talking about! And it’s okay if we just leave that little shit to Toujou, stop worrying about him.”
“Well, you’re not wrong, Momota-kun,” he replied, looking up from the book he was skimming through.
Out of lack of ideas, he and Momota ended up hanging out in the library. He was okay with that, he considered Momota to be his best friend among the other students after all, but the other boy apparently swallowed Monokuma’s bait and couldn’t sit in one place.
“You think Harumaki will give her chocolate to me?” He asked, hope written on his face.
“I don’t know, you’ll have to wait to find out,” Saihara replied. “But I think it’s possible…”
“Right!?” He said happily. “Harumaki is such a good friend, I’m sure she won’t forget about me…”
Saihara was positive there was something more than just friendship between them, but he was also glad they weren’t rushing things. Not that Saihara was an expert on relationships, it was the opposite… but Akamatsu would probably say the best relationships start in close friendships.
How was he supposed to befriend the person he liked though? No matter how hard he was trying, he still felt as if he wasn’t getting any closer to achieving that goal… But at the same time he couldn’t say those attempts and chasing that person around weren’t fun.
I guess I’ll just continue doing that until I finally catch him…
“And you, Shuuichi? You think any of them will give you her chocolate? Maybe Akamatsu, you two seem close!”
“She’s… a good friend, but I doubt it. I think she’ll sooner give it to Amami-kun. I don’t really expect any-“
That’s when they heard a sound that could only be something falling from the shelves, and a quiet, pained gasp. They exchanged looks and stood up from the ground, silently agreeing on checking the source of that sound. And what they found was…
…Ouma, sitting on the floor and massaging his forehead. The fact that he was surrounded by books was enough to explain what happened.
“Ouma-kun?! Are you okay?!” Saihara asked, running up to him and soon kneeling down next to him.
“Man, what were you doing here…?” Momota sighed.
“Being short can be such a pain!” Ouma whined, but soon smiled again. “It’s a part of my charm though, so I shouldn’t complain. If I was as tall as Momota-chan no one would ever find me cute.”
Saihara couldn’t even deny it, and that was the worst part.
“A man shouldn’t be cute, but handsome!” Momota stated, earning a snicker from Ouma.
“You’re missing out a lot, Momota-chan. You have no idea how useful being cute can be. For example…” He glanced at Saihara, and the detective already knew it couldn’t mean anything good. “I can do this!”
He threw himself at Saihara, nearly causing him to fall and wrapped his arms around him for a few seconds. Saihara instantly could feel his cheeks heat up, and that was his only reaction – other than that, he was frozen in his place.
So that was the power of being cute, huh.
“What are you doing to Shuuichi!?” Momota shouted, but soon Ouma let go of him, snatched something from the floor and started running as if his life depended on it.
“That was diversion! You were so close to learning about my evil plans, but Saihara-chan got distracted by my great self hugging him and now you’ll never learn the truth!” He yelled over his shoulder. The thing he was holding… it looked like a book, but he was surprisingly fast for someone with legs that short. He was already far enough to make it difficult to say what his objective in the library was.
“That little… Shuuichi, pull yourself together! What’s with this reaction!?”
He couldn’t just tell Momota that what Ouma said was actually the truth.
“I-I’m sorry…?”
“That guy is definitely up to something! Maybe he was spying on us!”
“Well, while he’s definitely up to something, I doubt it has anything to do with us…” Saihara eyed the bookshelf Ouma was most likely aiming for… What was that? Cooking books? That was… “Let’s just let him be.”
“It’s not like I was going to chase him around, you know,” Momota muttered. “But now I don’t really want to stay here. He might come back, so let’s change location.”
Saihara almost wished for him to come back, but that ‘evil plan’ of his for some reason sounded even more interesting.
***
After a few hours of killing time with Momota (and becoming slightly annoyed by how impatient he was) the girls finally summoned them to the cafeteria.
“We’re done!” Akamatsu announced with a smile, holding a basket full of small, nicely wrapped boxes. “Each of you can take only one, remember!”
“Thank you! Gonta is really grateful!” Gonta was the first boy to take one.
“Thanks! You’re the best classmates ever! Want a hug, Akamatsu?” Momota was the second.
“Nope! Find someone else!”
“T-Thanks…” Saihara muttered, also attempting to take a box of chocolate, the one with a purple ribbon, but someone else also extended his hand at the same moment, causing their fingers to touch.
“Aw, Saihara-chan, you meanie, it’s not nice to take the one someone else already has in their hands!” Ouma faked an angry face, but took his hand away. “But since I’m a nice person, I’ll let you take you this one!”
“N-No, if you wanted this one, you can take it-“
“You’re rejecting my act of good will!? That’s even worse! I don’t want that anymore, take it, Meaniehara!” He exclaimed, grabbing another box and then… running away, leaving the cafeteria without another word.
“He didn’t even say thank you…” Akamatsu muttered.
“Someone has to teach him good manners,” Toujou stated, directing her steps towards the door. “You enjoy your chocolate, I’ll take care of this.”
“Sure! Good luck, Toujou-san!” Akamatsu waved at her.
Both she and Saihara turned to the rest on the perfect moment to see Harukawa hitting Momota in the face with a box of chocolate… One that looked different from the friendship ones.
“After all, it turned out to be fun,” Akamatsu said after Shinguuji, Amami and Hoshi took their chocolate too. “Look, Yumeno-san and Chabashira-san look happy too.” She pointed at Yumeno, who was happily eating a giant heart-shaped chocolate.
“I guess this time it wasn’t supposed to be a motive… All’s well that ends well, right?”
“I feel like for you this day isn’t over yet, Saihara-kun.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“You’ll see!” She said cheerfully, putting the basket away and pulling another box out of her backpack. “I have one more present to give to someone, so I’ll excuse myself.”
Saihara watched her walk up to Amami and hand it to him, and Amami respond with an embarrassed expression and a blush.
He told himself that he wasn’t envious at all, glancing in the direction of the door and wondering where Ouma and Toujou went.
***
He didn’t actually expect to learn the truth about that, but… apparently Akamatsu was right when telling him the day wasn’t over yet.
It was already past 10pm when someone knocked on his door. At first he wasn’t sure if he should even open it, it was past nighttime and it’s not like they could be sure they’re actually safe… But when the knocking didn’t cease, and maybe even became louder, Saihara finally stood up from his bed.
“Give me a second, I’m opening,” he said, but when he finally did that, at first he couldn’t see anyone. Then he looked down, finding a box of an unknown content, wrapped with a purple ribbon… and when he finally looked to the side, he found the person who left it there, trying to get away on his hands and knees.
“Ouma-kun, I can see you,” he said, resisting the urge to laugh.
“Oh, good, Saihara-chan! I lost a contact, help me looking for it!” He replied, looking at him over his shoulder.
“That’s a-“
“Lie, of course! I’m not wearing contacts, my eyesight is better I would want it to be!” Ouma stated, getting up from the ground. He came back to face Saihara, picked the box up from the ground and shoved it into his hands. “I was just kidding! I actually came here to deliver a Valentine’s Day gift for my beloved Saihara-chan. I put looots of love into making this, so be sure to eat it, okay?”
“You… made it yourself?” Saihara’s eyes widened as he stared at the box. He recalled that situation in the library…
“Pff, that was a lie! I just thought Saihara-chan might feel lonely, since both Amami-chan and Momota-chan got more than one Valentine chocolate, so I put the friendship chocolate I got into another box and gave it to you.”
But that’s another lie, isn’t it, Ouma-kun? Saihara thought, watching him fidget in his place and trying to avoid eye contact. It was the first time Saihara ever saw him act as if he was nervous.
“Even if the second option is true, that’s still really nice of you, Ouma-kun,” Saihara-said, deciding to play along and giving him a smile. He didn’t know what Ouma was trying to achieve, but that was… honestly endearing. “That means you’re thinking about me, right? Thank you.”
That statement made Ouma’s face go blank, as he turned away from him and attempted to run away again.
“You know what, Saihara-chan, I need to go after all. Toujou-chan told me to clean the kitchen anyway-“
“W-Wait!”
Without wasting the time on hesitating, Saihara took a step forward and wrapped his arms around Ouma, hugging him from behind. He himself didn’t know where that courage came from, but upon feeling the warmth radiating from Ouma’s body he just squeezed him tighter.
“W-What are you doing, Saihara-chan!?” He stuttered out, but didn’t try to free himself.
“Why would Toujou-san make you clean the kitchen if your only task today was staying away from it?”
“Huh? Dunno, maybe as a payment for the friendship choco? Because I never did anything to deserve it?” Ouma suggested.
“Toujou-san wouldn’t do that. Show me your hands, Ouma-kun,” Saihara said softly.
“Why should I?”
“Because I want to confirm if what I noticed earlier was true.”
Ouma just sighed in defeat and raised his hands to put it over Saihara’s. The knife wound Saihara had to patch up not so long ago was healing nicely, but Ouma’s fingers were covered in cute, colorful animal-themed band-aids anyway.
“It’s Toujou-chan’s work. Cutesy stuff like this is absolutely not my taste, just so you know,” he muttered.
“And what did you do to cause your hands to look like this…?”
“Aaah, enough!” He yelled, freeing himself from Saihara’s embrace, but turning to him again, instead of running away. “Stop questioning me like this, Saihara-chan! What if I injured myself trying to make Valentine chocolate for you!? What if I’m so terrible at this that I needed Toujou-chan’s help?! You really think Supreme Leaders have a cooking skill?! That would be really out of character, don’t you think!? So just take the goddamn chocolate, Saihara-chan, and you better enjoy every single piece of it, because I’m not doing this again! I worked really hard and this is what I get…”
Saihara could barely believe what he was hearing and seeing… Yes, partially because he didn’t expect that, but also because both that little rant and Ouma’s slightly flushed cheeks were absolutely adorable.
“Ouma-kun… You hit your head earlier, in the library, right?”
“Not really, I was just-“
He leaned closer and reached out to touch his face, then brush the hair on his forehead away. There was a small bump already forming there, but most likely it’d be impossible to notice, with Ouma’s hair always being so out of control.
“Why are you being so touchy today, Sai-“ He didn’t even get to finish that sentence when Saihara leaned down and placed a kiss there. “W-W-W…”
“Hmm? What do you want to say?”
“…”
Saihara didn’t expect a reaction like this. He expected Ouma to either run away or laugh at him, not to stand there quietly, with his head lowered and face red.
“…I want Saihara-chan to treat me like this more,” he finally said, looking up and extending his hand to touch his face too. “But maybe that’s a lie…?”
“Is it?” Saihara asked, catching his hand and bringing to his lips, kissing his injured fingers. For some reason, up till now he only got to hold Ouma’s hand when it was wounded… It was probably the time to change that. “I like you, Ouma-kun, so if you really want it you can just tell me.”
“Agh, this is so embarrassing! Being romantic isn’t really your strong point, Saihara-chan!” Ouma took his hand away, only to place both of them on Saihara’s neck and pull him down, once again making the detective realize how small Ouma really was. He realized it was an attempt of a kiss only when their lips already met.
Ouma… tasted like chocolate. Probably like the ones in that box he dropped some time ago.
“I like Saihara-chan too… Otherwise I wouldn’t be doing all of this…” He said quietly, still pulling him down to his level, as if considering another kiss, but…
…something interrupted them, reminding him they were still in the hallway.
“Get a room, you two!” Iruma shouted at them from behind the nearest corner.
“Iruma-san, you shouldn’t interrupt them! It’s an important moment!” Kiibo said, but it was too late. Ouma let go of him and jumped back.
“Iruma-san-“
“You know what, Iruma-chan, we will!” Ouma stated, pointing his finger at Iruma and not letting Saihara say anything. “I’m totally about to get some Valentine’s Day action, so don’t ruin my fun!”
And so, he grabbed Saihara’s hand and pulled him inside the room, closing the door with a loud thump.
“O-Ouma-kun?!”
“Don’t look like this at me, this wasn’t planned!” He said before he could stop himself and realizing his mistake too late. “Actually, no, it’s all according to plan. Confessing my feelings and making you confess too was also a part of my plan!”
Saihara couldn’t hold it in any longer - he simply started laughing. The whole ordeal Ouma went through that day, and the effect of this… It all seemed pretty unreal. To be honest, it felt so unreal that laughter seemed like the only accurate reaction, so he just sat down on the bed, not even able to recall when he laughed so hard for the last time.
“Why are you laughing at me, Saihara-chan!?” Ouma whined, summoning his fake tears, and it seemed that everything was back to normal.
Except for the fact that apparently they were stuck in the same room for the night.
“What are you planning on doing now, Ouma-kun?” He finally asked.
“Me? Going to sleep,” he said bluntly, flopping down on the bed next to him and curling into a ball. “This bed is wide enough for the two of us, isn’t it?”
“I’m not sure. We might have to cuddle.” Saihara pretended to be deep in thought, what only caused Ouma to turn away from him. “Ouma-kun…?”
“Do whatever you want. I’ll take it all back on the White Day.”
That could only mean Ouma was planning on keeping Saihara by his side, right…? Laughing slightly, he leaned down to kiss his cheek this time.
For the first, and probably last time, Saihara was grateful to Monokuma for something.