Title: Tsubasa Academy: Heartstopping Valentine's Day
Rating: G
Summary: Valentine's Day is supposed to be a conspiracy by candy-makers, so says Kurogane. However, one other girl's actions directly challenges this thought.
Author's Note: I always wondered what it would be like if both Fai and Kurogane were females instead, so this was the first one to put them to the test. I also made Tomoyo a male, so his name is actually Tomoya.
As soon as she stepped in the main hallway of Tsubasa Academy Kurogane knew she would feel sick.
Seeing a large pink banner tied to the balcony that screamed “Happy Valentine’s Day!” with lacy hearts haphazardly tacked on it did not help at all. Kurogane had the urge to rip off the lacy hearts, if not the entire banner.
Sure enough, a lot of girls were walking in groups, clutching bags of chocolates while looking for the boys who were going to be lucky to get them. On most days, giggles would fill the hallway. But today, giggles appeared to be very infectious.
Eager to escape the madness of today’s saccharine events, Kurogane hurried towards her locker. At the end of the hall, Fai was leaning on the lockers, with a similar package in her hand.
“Kuro-chan!” Fai waved to Kurogane with a huge smile on her face.
“Hey,” Kurogane responded in her usual cool voice. She started picking at her locker’s combination.
“Did you bring any chocolates today, Kuro-chan?”
Kurogane still couldn’t understand why Fai failed to drop the honorific despite stating many times she felt it was too cute for her own sensibilities. But she was in no mood to continue pointing it out.
“Nope.”
“Aww, how come?”
Kurogane slammed her locker shut after pulling out her literature textbook then looked straight into Fai’s eyes.
“Because Valentine’s Day is a conspiracy by the candy-makers,” she said with every intention of declaring her intense dislike for the holiday.
“Oh…I see.” Fai’s voice faintly faltered, clutching the bag even tighter. “Well anyway, I’ll see you later in class.” Fai hoisted her school bag and walked away. Kurogane noticed dark circles under Fai’s eyes.
She was momentarily distracted by the fact that Fai was clearly sleep deprived until the late bell alerted her, prompting her to dash to literature class.
“You’re late,” her teacher said amusingly.
“Sorry, Ichihara-sensei.”
This polite apology surprised her teacher. “Well, I’ll let you off since you probably took your time giving out chocolates,” she responded with a sly wink. Kurogane scowled. Ichihara-sensei could really get on her nerves.
Throughout the day, Kurogane was perplexedly bothered by Fai’s unusual personality. On a day like today, Fai would be even more perky, gossiping about who gave who chocolates. But instead Fai walked between classes aimlessly. She even saw Fai quietly lying her head down on a table at lunch.
The last class was chemistry, which was the only class Kurogane had with Fai. As the class assembled for another lab session by heading for the lab tables, Kurogane glanced at Fai’s school bag that was carelessly abandoned on the floor. It was still open. She saw the same bag of chocolates from earlier that morning peeking out. Why hadn’t she given it to that person yet?
Why the hell am I even bothered about this?
Today, the two girls were in different lab groups. Fai strapped on her safety goggles and then uttered a large yawn. Kurogane had no time to fret since today’s lab was pretty difficult.
At last, school was done for the day so she no longer had to deal with giggling girls and boasting boys. But there was still one thing on her mind as she headed towards her locker.
Fai was bent in front of her locker, reorganizing her school bag.
“Hey.”
Fai was still fumbling through her books absentmindedly.
“Why do you still have those chocolates? Shouldn’t you have given it by now?”
“I never thought you would have asked, Kuro-chan.”
Fai shut her locker and carefully removed the package. She smiled at Kurogane with tired eyes and held it out to her.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Kuro-sama.”
Fai pressed the bag in one of the other girl’s hands.
“I promise I didn’t buy it from Piffle Princess Company. Or from any other store for that matter.”
Kurogane was stunned and felt like a complete jerk. Fai was known to be an exceptional cook. As she once said, it was like chemistry. All one had to do was follow the formula until it reached its pinnacle perfection. Just that morning, Kurogane had dismissed chocolates and the holiday. Did Fai stay up that late to make chocolate for her?
Kurogane scrambled her thoughts for an apology. “About this morning…”
I didn’t mean to insult you. What I meant was that buying products seem too forceful and doesn’t mean anything.
“What I meant…”
Love seems too shallow these days. I grew up seeing my mother messing up making chocolate for my father. But she laughed and he laughed and they loved each other despite her horrible attempts at making chocolates.
Kurogane lightly tugged Fai’s arm, “Next time don’t be stupid and stay up late at night just to make something for someone, including me.”
“Alright, Kuro-chan,” Fai responded with her usual smile, light returning to her eyes. Kurogane never admit it to her, but she was glad that Fai could always understand her words instead of being intimidated like nearly everybody else.
“Um…I need to go.”
Kurogane realized she was still grabbing onto Fai’s arm. She dropped it.
“See you later, Kuro-chan,” Fai said, picking up her school bag and heading out.
Kurogane inspected the package. All of the chocolates were heart shaped. Many of them were decorated with white chocolate piping and other fancy designs. They were in a clear package, tied together by a red ribbon.
She looked up and saw Fai walking further down the hallway, livelier than she had been earlier that day.
You see, my mother clearly put all her efforts to show her affections for my father. Just like you.
Outside, Kurogane sat down on the bleachers. She pulled apart the ribbon and took the safest piece out: plain dark chocolate. She never was into sweets, but she felt Fai deserved to have at least one of her chocolates be eaten. But Fai didn’t have to know about that. She hesitatingly bit into the chocolate, wincing at how sweet it still was. It was going to take a while.
“I see that you got some chocolates.”
“Tomoya,” Kurogane acknowledged her close friend, who sat down next to her clutching a bag of chocolates.
Waving a hand at the bag in his hands, Kurogane asked, “Is that from your friend?”
“Yes, it is from Sakura-chan. She was really nice to give me one as well as to Syaoran-kun,”
Tomoya replied with a bittersweet smile.
“Tomoya…”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ve talked to Sakura-chan about this before. As long as she is happy, I’m happy.”
Tomoya picked up Kurogane’s bag.
“Ah…it’s from Fai-chan. So Kurogane,” Tomoya started saying, grinning mischieviously, “should I be happy for you as well?”
“Shut up!” Kurogane hotly said, snatching back the bag and failing to contain her cheeks from flushing.
Tomoya smirked even more. “Ah, but Kurogane, if you do feel that way, you do know that in a month it will be White Day. Since you got a gift, you should give something back to Fai-chan.”
He looked at the bags content carefully. “Wow, it looks like she worked really hard. You ought to do the same.”
Kurogane grimaced. “You know I inherited my mother’s lack of talent in the cooking department.”
Tomoya got up. “I have to go, Kurogane. But, you’ll think of something.” He patted her shoulders and left the field.
Kurogane thought about Tomoya’s advice. Since Fai spent a lot of time and effort making homemade chocolate for her, she should return the favor. But how? She would only do it if she could put just as much effort and thought as Fai did; just like how her father would do for her mother.
“Oh well, I still have a month left.”
She retied the bag, one chocolate less, with the red ribbon. Opening her backpack, she carefully placed the package inside, making sure nothing else could crush it.