SS 5
White Day’s Chocolate
“Ichinose has arrived!”
As Sōma yawned and sluggishly made his way to school, the girls in the classroom erupted in cheers all at once.
Then, like ants swarming to sugar, they rushed over and surrounded him.
“O-Oh…”
Even though he had plunged into a circle of girls on his own before, he had no memory of being surrounded by them.
While he felt somewhat flattered, the unfamiliar situation also made him brace himself.
“Do you need something from me?”
The eyes of the girls staring at him were glittering like those of starving beasts, which was quite intimidating.
He asked while preparing himself to dash away at any moment, and a girl standing in front of him thrust her hand forward.
“Ichinose, you’ve brought white chocolate, haven’t you? Give it here!”
“Chocolate…? So that’s what this is about.”
Understanding the girls’ intentions, he relaxed his guard with a sense of relief.
“Of course. What else would we have to talk to Ichinose about this early in the morning?”
“Yeah, stop right htere. It’s genuinely disheartening.”
“So, you have it, right?”
Ignoring the nearly tearful Sōma, the girls extended their hands further as they demand the chocolate.
“Well, yes, I did bring some.”
Today is March 14th, White Day.
In recent years, White Day has diversified, but it is traditionally the day when men give women white chocolate, marshmallows, cookies, or candy as a return gift for Valentine’s Day.
Although it’s a less prominent holiday compared to Valentine’s Day, as an aspiring patissier, it’s a day that cannot be overlooked.
The girls let out a cheer when Sōma took out a large paper bag from his backpack.
“Honestly, I thought about not doing it. After all, I didn’t receive a single chocolate from any of you.”
On the contrary, he also had been distributing chocolates to the girls on Valentine’s Day.
While this wasn’t wrong as a patissier, but as a man, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was really okay.
“Don’t sweat the small stuff. Besides, we’ve filled out surveys after eating, so it’s give and take.”
“I wouldn’t have any complaints if you’d write those surveys a bit more carefully.”
The frequency of having the girls try his practice creations and give feedback has decreased dramatically ever since he asked Chika to be in charge of taste testing.
However, he hadn’t stopped entirely.
“Never mind that, just give us the white chocolate already.”
Eager for chocolate, the girls had no interest in Sōma’s grumbling and kept poking at the paper bag, which was bulging with white chocolate.
“You’re so greedy. It’s still before the first period.”
He had planned to distribute them during lunch break or after school.
With a sigh of resignation,
“Alright, girls who want one, please line up in a single file.”
He prompted the girls to form a line. As they began to move in a shuffling manner, complaints started to arise from the boys.
“Hey Ichinose, aren’t you giving any to us?”
“Let us have some chocolate too!”
He looked at them with a skeptical eye.
“Do you guys really feel happy receiving white chocolate from another guy on White Day?”
To that, an overly straightforward reply came back.
“Anything’s okay if it tastes good and fills the stomach!”
“That’s right!”
Sōma nodded in agreement.
“I don’t hate that way of thinking. But sorry, there’s nothing for the guys.”
It might seem like gender discrimination and he could be criticized for it, but when it comes to reviews of sweets, the girls have a bit more expertise.
With a budget that doesn’t allow for casually making white chocolate for the entire class, it was only natural to prioritize where the cost-effectiveness was higher.
“Here you go.”
He handed out small transparent bags filled with star-shaped and heart-shaped white chocolates and a survey sheet to the lined-up girls.
“Thank you!”
“We’ll enjoy it!”
The girls said their thanks in one word and received the chocolates.
Efficiently handing them out, the last one waiting was Chika. She sparkled with anticipation like a kindergartener waiting for a present from Santa Claus.
” Sōma-san, I’m looking forward to trying the white chocolate made by you for the first time!”
“I haven’t made white chocolate much. I hope it tastes good.”
While saying that, he placed the last piece from the paper bag into her hand.
Then, Chika stood still while staring intently at the small bag.
“Is something wrong? Oh, the survey sheet. I’d prefer to hear your thoughts directly, Chika, so maybe you don’t need the paper.”
“Th-that’s right. It would be better to share my thoughts directly with you. Thank you for the chocolate.”
She showed a forced smile and bowed her head slightly.
“Chika! let’s eat togetherー”
“Okay.”
And with that, she joined the circle of girls who had beckoned her over.
At that moment, Sōma didn’t understand the meaning behind her awkward smile.
***
After school, Sōma invited Chika to walk home together.
“Are we going to a cake shop or somewhere today?”
“No, I don’t have any particular plans. Do you have any place you want to go or something you want to do, Chika?”
“No, nothing in particular today.”
“I see. Then, shall we just walk to the station?”
“Okay.”
Chika nodded quietly, and he started walking beside her.
She seems a bit down.
He could tell immediately from the way she walked with her head slightly bowed.
It’s been almost half a year since Chika and Sōma formed a somewhat unusual cooperative relationship. He had become attuned enough to understand these things just by the length of her silence..
“You look a little down. Did something happen at school?”
Instead of overthinking it, he asked her directly, and Chika looked up with a slight surprise.
“Can you tell?”
“Well, yeah.”
As he nodded, she gave a self-deprecating smile.
“I am falling into self-loathing.”
“Self-loathing?”
He was surprised to hear such an uncharacteristic word from Chika.
“Sōma-san, you were giving out white chocolate to all the girls this morning, right?”
“I guess I did.”
The white chocolate had been very well received. It was worth the effort of staying up late the night before to make it.
“Maybe it’s wrong, but to be honest, I was hoping that you might give me a special chocolate different from everyone else’s. After all, I gave you chocolate on Valentine’s Day.”
“Well, you did give me some, but…”
He grimaced a little as he recalled the event from a month ago.
“At the same time, I won’t let you forget what you did to me. You first tried to make me lick the chocolate that dripped onto your hand.”
When Sōma glared slightly, Chika became flustered.
“Ah, that was, um, just something that came to mind on the spot. Once I thought of it, I couldn’t help but do it.”
“The second one was a proper chocolate, but you still tried to force it into my mouth. Seriously, I thought my jaw was going to come off.”
“I did that because you said the chocolate I worked hard on wasn’t good enough.”
She argued back each time, but it was clear she was well aware of her own faults as she averted her eyes from Sōma’s glare.
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“Ugh, I know I was wrong. But, it was just a little prank, or maybe the flip side of my embarrassment, or you could say the heart of a maiden is complicated…”
She became completely downhearted.
Somehow, it felt like he was the one bullying her.
‘My plan got messed up, huh?’
Sōma muttered with slight disappointment and rummaged through his bag.
Then, he took out a flat box wrapped in light blue paper and a blue ribbon.
“Here, this is for White Day.”
“Eh…?”
Chika’s eyes widened as she stared at the light blue box.
“Is that for me?”
“You were the only one who gave me homemade chocolate, Chika. It would be rude not to give something to you in return.”
There’s no boy who wouldn’t be thrilled to receive homemade chocolate from a girl.
He ended up eating little by little on later days the heart-shaped chocolate she had almost forced into his mouth.
From the perspective of an aspiring patissier, both the taste and shape were mediocre. But none of that mattered. He was so happy it didn’t bother him in the least.
“Come on, take it already.”
He urged, and Chika hesitantly accepted the box of chocolates.
“Thank you so much. I’ve received lots of chocolates from friends and my mom before, but this is the happiest I’ve ever been! I’ll savor them properly later.”
“I want to know what you think of the taste, so hurry up and eat them.”
Feeling a bit embarrassed by the beaming smile directed at him, Sōma spoke with a blunt tone, to which the brown-haired girl giggled softly.
She then examined the box wrapped in light blue.
“The wrapping is really beautiful too. It’s just as good as what you’d find in a store.”
“I might have to do the wrapping myself if I end up working in a small cake shop. I didn’t cut any corners.”
Sōma puffed out his chest with a slightly proud expression after he was being praised.
He had made something with the concept of a “store-sold white chocolate” in mind this time.
“Oh, you even included a message card.”
“It looks more authentic with one, right?”
“Yes, it does.”
Chika agreed, nodding as she pulled out the message card tucked among the ribbons.
She stared at it intently and then broke into a wide grin.
“I’ve got a really bad feeling about that smile…”
Nothing good ever came to mind whenever she wore that kind of smile.
Chika swung the message card back and forth and said,
“I’m happy you included a message card, but I never imagined it would be a proposal. Even I’m surprised.”
“A proposal?”
I was taken aback by the unexpected word.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Because it’s written right here. ‘Je te promets un amour éternel.’ “
She showed off her fluent French and then added with an air of sheer delight. (Chika’s mother is French.)
“In Japanese, this translates to ‘I vow eternal love to you.’ In other words, it’s a vow to be together forever. This is definitely a proposal, right?”
“What…?”
“But that’s a problem. We’re still minors, so we can’t get married. I guess we’ll have to settle for an engagement?”
While saying something so preposterous, she wrapped her arms around Sōma’s neck as if they were lovers.
In response, Sōma shook his head frantically.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait! That’s not it! I just copied a ‘French phrase that was perfect for Valentine’s Day’ from the internet! It doesn’t mean it as a proposal at all!”
“Sōma-san, there’s no need to be embarrassed even if you write such a passionate message.”
Her face, which was now pressing in with more force from her arms, looked too happy to believe she had been downcast just a few minutes ago.
‘This girl gets her energy from teasing me…’
“Damn it, I should have just given you this as I had originally planned.”
“This? What are you talking about?”
Sōma took out a slender pen from his bag, and as she removed her arms from his neck, she took it from him.
“This is a white chocolate pen?”
He was completely toyed with by Chika using a choco pen last Valentine’s Day. He had prepared to get his revenge.
“I had planned to present this first and then say, ‘Please enjoy it.’ “
‘I shouldn’t have felt sorry for the downcast Chika’.
“Hmm, I see.”
Chika nodded, opened the seal of the choco pen, and began to drizzle white chocolate onto the back of Sōma’s hand, just as she had done to her own last month.
“Hey, wait a moment——”
“Then, I’ll enjoy it.”
As he was bewildered by the slippery touch of the chocolate, Chika brought her mouth close to his hand.
“Wait! Are you serious?!”
He hastily withdrew his hand in surprise.
“How can you lick it without any hesitation? Who would normally lick someone else’s hand!”
“But you told me to lick it, Sōma-san. If that’s the case, isn’t it only proper manners to do so?”
“That’s true, but that’s not the point!”
“I would be more than happy to lick anywhere on your body, Sōma-san.”
“Now that you mention it, you were looking at my finger covered in whipped cream as if they were delicious during Halloween! I had completely forgotten about that!”
“Come on, let me taste the white chocolate on you, Sōma-san. I will thoroughly and stickily enjoy it!”
“That’s creepy! And scary!”
The disheartened Chika was nowhere to be seen. Her entire being seemed to be saying she couldn’t be happier.
“I went out of my way to be considerate for nothing! Next year! Brace yourself for next Valentine’s and White Day! I’ll show you what’s what!”
“Next year, you say?”
Despite his declaration of war, she somehow looked happy and smiled softly.
“That means it’s confirmed that I’ll also be receiving special chocolate from Sōma-san next year?”
“Don’t use the word ‘special’ like that… It’s embarrassing.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Chika’s smile as she said this was as adorable as that of an angel.
“…Alright, get your hopes up. I’ll make something amazing.”
Faced with such a smile, that was the only response he could give.