A/N: This chapter assumes that you've read volume A and the first chapter of volume N. The Orimoto part is filled with references to those parts of the LN. You've been warned. Seriously.
My Valentine's Day wasn't as Wrong as I Expected
"Well, are you gonna let me in?"
"S-sure..." As I let Orimoto in, I wondered what she was doing here. Currently staring at the pictures of our family, she was smiling.
"You look really good in this one!" She looked at me with a wide smile. I couldn't help but think about how cute she looked.
"T-thanks." Wait how did she even know where I live? Orimoto continued snooping around my house as I wondered that. "Uh... You want some tea?"
"Sure! Hikigaya making tea for a girl in his house... I wonder what everyone from middle school would think?" She said that and laughed loudly. I'm glad my back was already turned, as my face was on fire after that remark. I continued into the kitchen to brew some tea.
While the tea was brewing, I wondered why Orimoto was even here today. Actually, the more important question is... Why did I even let her in? Who knows what she could be doing right now?
"Orimoto, tea's ready!" I set the tea on the kotatsu, before looking for her. She wasn't looking at pictures anymore... Oh crap. I rushed to my room to find my door slightly ajar. I peeked in to see Orimoto wandering around my room. I decided to prevent her from exploring any further.
"Hey, tea's ready."
"Ah, Hikigaya! You surprised me." Orimoto looked around one last time before walking to the door. "It's a lot cleaner than I thought." She laughed a little before walking past me. Huh? You aren't gonna ask about those? I'm glad you didn't, but... Maybe I just have too many clichés stored in my brain. [1]
Orimoto had made herself comfortable under the kotatsu by the time I poured her tea. I flicked my long black hair over my shoulder and slightly bent my slender frame over... Huh? I'm not Yukinoshita. Speaking of her, how does she do this so elegantly?
"Thanks!" Orimoto smiled and sipped the tea.
"So, uh... How'd you know my address?" Orimoto looked at me in confusion.
"Huh? You don't remember when you biked me over here?" You remembered from that time? That's kinda like a stalker... Then again, I did the same to you all those years ago... I wouldn't want to call myself a stalker! Then... It's just natural that she'd remember.
"Oh, right... Well, why are you here?"
"Ah, right... Here!" She handed me a bag of chocolates that was wrapped up. More? Not that I'm unhappy... Wait, does this mean...
"Uh... Orimoto?"
"What? I never gave you chocolates back then, right? So, I'm making up for it now." That doesn't explain whether or not these are romantic... Wait. Back then we were "friends", I think. So if she's making up for it now... Then these are obligatory. Sounds about right. "Speaking of which, I see you got a lot of chocolate, today. The guys from middle school would be so impressed right now!"
"Thanks..."
"Did those two girls give you chocolate, too?" Orimoto looked at me with curiosity. I assumed she meant Yuigahama and Yukinoshita.
"Ah, no they didn't."
"That's a bit surprising." Maybe to you, but since I've spent a lot of time with those two, I think I have a general sense of how they're going to act. As if sensing what I was thinking, Orimoto looked at me and spoke. "Who knows, they may still surprise you."
"We'll see." There was silence for a while after that. Then, as if remembering something important, Orimoto turned towards me with a serious look in her eyes.
"Did you consider what I asked you?" Referring to the previously unspoken question that only she had the guts to ask, she looked me dead in the eyes and waited for my answer. Time seemed frozen as I racked my brain for a way to get out of the situation. Seeing my reaction, Orimoto sighed and turned away. "It's fine if you didn't... But you should. If not, I-"
"I will." It was in the silence that followed that Orimoto decided it was time to leave. As she got up and thanked me for the tea, I couldn't help but think.
While thinking about that day, I remembered what Orimoto had said about the reason she was working. Not having much friends, yet desiring them greatly... I didn't have that problem since I was content without having friends, but for a girl like Orimoto Kaori, this must have been a huge problem. As she put her shoes on and walked to the door, I made a quick decision to help her.
"Hey, Orimoto?"
"Hmm?"
"Could we be friends?" To that Orimoto smiled one of the cutest smiles I had ever seen on her. Please don't smile like that, my heart won't be able to take it! I'll become like Kinjirou, except instead of physical contact, it'll be girls' smiles. [2] I might actually die from blood loss like that!
"Aren't we already? Hilarious!" Ah, I let you into my house, didn't I? That would imply we were friends. Well, Orimoto seemed quite happy at the suggestion. Smiling in return, I put my shoes on and walked her outside. As she got on her bike she looked back at me. "So... Should I call you Hikki, too?" She laughed loudly after that.
"No, please don't."
"Speaking of which..." She subtly pointed her finger. I turned my head to look at what she was pointing at. While I was busy staring in both amazement and confusion, Orimoto spoke to me once more. "Well, see ya, Hikigaya. Good luck!"
While Orimoto biked off, I was still staring at Yukinoshita and Yuigahama walking towards me.
Yukinoshita and Yuigahama were happily talking, as opposed to how they were acting earlier. However, it seemed that they hadn't noticed me yet. Maybe they're just walking around the neighborhood? After all, they wouldn't know my address, right? Actually... Yuigahama would since she had us take care of Sable over the summer. Memories of the summer festival rushed to my head.
Well, it's probably just coincidence that they're here. I should sneak back in before I ruin their outing with my presence.
"Hikki!" Ah, too late.
"H-hey. What are you guys doing here?"
"W-well, I knew where you lived... So we decided to visit!" Yuigahama looked at me and smiled as if it was a normal thing to do. In contrast, Yukinoshita was still looking to the side and clutching her bag tightly. I sighed.
"Next time, you should text me first... Well, come inside." I started to lead them into my house.
"Well if I texted you, you would say you're busy when you're really not!" I didn't know you could read minds, Yuigahama. "Hurry up, Yukinon!" I looked back at Yukinoshita who was a bit hesitant to move. However, Yuigahama practically dragged her along. I continued inside.
"Pardon the intrusion." I looked at Yukinoshita who spoke with a quiet voice. She looked around in curiosity before our gazes met. Then she suddenly turned away.
"Wow, nothing has changed."
"It hasn't been that long since you were last here, you know." I don't think my parents care enough to redecorate every couple of years, let alone every few months. "Ah, would you like some tea?"
"Sure!"
"Okay."
I walked into the kitchen to brew some tea. However, I quickly realized that I had left the tea I had already brewed on the kotatsu. I walked back to find Yukinoshita already pouring tea for the three of us.
"Ah, thanks."
"No need to thank me, Hikigaya-kun. I was just making up for you being a bad host."
"A bad host? Didn't I brew tea for you?"
"Oh, this tea was already here, though. So you selfishly brewed it for yourself." In an effort to defend myself from Yukinoshita's onslaught, I spoke a bit quickly.
"No, I brewed it for-" Realizing my error, I cut off my sentence in the hopes that they wouldn't question me... But those hopes were shattered as Yuigahama and Yukinoshita looked at me with curiosity.
"Hikki brewed it for... Who?" Seeing no way to weave around the question, I decided to tell the truth.
"Orimoto was here before you guys. She left a few minutes ago." After hearing that, the girls looked a bit shocked.
"Hikki... had a girl over?" Saying it like that might cause a huge misunderstanding!
"Is she okay? You didn't hurt her, right?" Yukinoshita looked at me with concern.
"Why do you always assume that I'm going to do bad things?"
"Oh, I just assume that your actions match your personality."
"The same could be said for you, Yukinoshita." We glared at each other for a while before we heard some giggling. We both looked over at Yuigahama.
"Hehe, you two are always like that. Hikki, the reason we came over was... Here." Yuigahama pulled out a bag of chocolates and handed them to me.
"Uh, thanks..." My heart was about to beat out of my chest. It couldn't be...
"I-it's for being a great club mate and friend!" Yuigahama smiled widely. That's what I thought. As my heart calmed down, I thought about what she had just said. The reason we came over... We? Yuigahama nudged Yukinoshita with her elbow. Despite being flustered, Yukinoshita hesitantly reached into her bag and handed me a bag of chocolates.
Our eyes met as she handed them to me. I couldn't look away, until she turned her face away from me. My heart rate skyrocketed again.
"T-thanks."
"W-well, it would only make sense that I would give some chocolate to you. After all, you are a member of the Service Club. And since Yuigahama-san is giving you some, I'm obligated to do so as well. Since I was guiding her, I was making my own batch anyway. And just because today is generally thought of as a romantic holiday doesn't mean I wouldn't celebrate it. And-"
"I get it." I cut her off before she could continue spewing reasons to give me obligatory chocolate. "Thanks. I mean it. Both of you." Yuigahama smiled even wider while Yukinoshita smiled softly as if relieved.
After chatting for a little, the girls decided it was time to leave. I walked them out as I had done with Orimoto. Yuigahama stayed behind for a little as Yukinoshita went out the front door.
"I'm still looking forward to that, Hikki." Realizing that she was referring to our planned... Date? Was it a date? Well, it's more like I'm paying her back for the honey bread, so it's not a date. Still, thinking about it made me blush. I-it's not like I wanted it to be a date or anything... I don't make a good tsundere. Maybe I can learn from Michiru. [3]
"Y-yeah." Yuigahama smiled and walked out the door. After thinking about our planned outing and noticing how pretty her smile was, my heart started pounding once more. I followed her out the door.
"Yuigahama-san, I would advise not being near that without my supervision. For safety purposes."
"Yuigahama, I hope you have a thick jacket, because a certain Ice Queen is especially cold today."
"Oh, are you sure you're eyes haven't rotted to the point where you're hallucinating?" We continued to fire insults at each other like Claire and Rinslet (hmm... I'm Claire? Maybe I am a good tsundere! [4]) until Yuigahama's laughter made us stop again.
"Well, see ya, Hikki!" Yuigahama smiled at us and walked off. Yukinoshita started to follow and I turned to walk inside my house.
"Hey, Hikigaya-kun." I looked back at Yukinoshita who was smiling at me. Even in the distance I could notice how chillingly beautiful she was. "Happy Valentines Day."
As I added the chocolate to my already growing pile, I saw exactly how much chocolate I had to eat. Let's see, what sugar did I have today... Two MAX Coffees and some chocolate from Meguri-senpai... or could I say it was from Haruno? I flushed at the memory of her feeding me. In either case, I had eaten quite a bit of sugar already...
Well, I don't really have to eat Miura's, Sagami's or Sensei's today since those are store bought... I could also eat one of each for the rest of them. Maybe I'll just take a bite of the small piece Ebina gave me so I can still show it off to Komachi...
After solving my dilemma, I found resolve to try most of the chocolate today. It's a good thing I'm alone right now, otherwise I'd end up kissing everyone around me after taking a bite... Wait, I'm not Chitose! [5]
I took a bite of Ebina's chocolate. It seemed like it was more nut than chocolate. But at least I like nu-
Stop! Whew, I almost just fell for one of Ebina's sexual innuendos... It was rather tasty, though... Just don't tell her I said that.
Kawasaki's chocolate was a motley assortment of deformed shapes. I assumed the shapes were done by Keika. Huh? What's this perfectly shaped heart? I put the heart in my mouth. It tasted like something my mom would make me when I didn't get any chocolate on Valentine's Day. The taste was a bit nostalgic in that sense. Man, my mom made great chocolate. Kawasaki also did a great job guiding Keika.
Isshiki's chocolate was, as she advertised, sweet. However, it wasn't cloying. It was around the same level of sweetness as MAX Coffee, which was the perfect level of sugary goodness. I wonder if Isshiki tasted MAX Coffee, then made these chocolates... That wouldn't make sense since she made them for Hayama, but they were mistakes. She must have gotten lucky with this batch, then.
Orimoto's pieces of chocolate were dark squares. The piece I ate had a very bold chocolate taste. Seriously, did you even add sugar in these? I did like it, however. It was a nice change of pace from the other sweet chocolates.
Yuigahama's chocolate was a collection of slightly deformed hearts; but considering her previous attempts, they looked appetizing. I put it in my mouth. It... wasn't tasty. But it wasn't disgusting, either. A little too bitter? One could call this chocolate... bitter bitter sweet [6] (wow, that joke was disappointing). However, I could sense how hard she tried to make this. Considering how terrible of a cook she was, this was a huge improvement.
Yukinoshita's hearts, on the other hand, were perfectly shaped. Which wasn't surprising considering how much of a perfectionist she was. Its taste... was perfect, at least in a culinary sense. It had a very balanced flavor, probably classified under bittersweet. It was not a good finisher for the chocolate platter I just went through, though. The taste had me longing for something more, but I couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was. I ate a second piece, but that didn't solve anything.
After eating the chocolate, and feeling a bit daunted at the pile I would eventually have to eat, I laid down on the couch for a nap. I don't know if it was out of exhaustion or the amount of sugar I had consumed, but sleep came quickly. That sleep was interrupted by someone shaking me awake.
"Onii-chan, what is this?!" I opened my eyes to see Komachi pointing at the giant pile of chocolate.
"Valentine's Day chocolate. So, are you proud that your onii-chan was able to get chocolate this year?" I smiled with a sense of accomplishment.
"Are they all romantic?!" My smile went away as she asked that.
"...No. Who would give me romantic chocolates?" Komachi looked at me with a bit of shock.
"Wow, my gomii-chan sure is dense..." Dense? I don't think so, Komachi. In fact, I could probably explain why none of the girls who gave me chocolate like me... If I don't start crying about it halfway through. Speaking of giving me chocolate...
"So, did you make me chocolate like you said you would?"
"Ah, sorry onii-chan. Since I heard you got so much chocolate, I decided to split yours and give it all away." After she said that I got up and went to the front door. "Wait, onii-chan! Where are you going?"
"I'm gonna go squash some insects. I'm off!"
"Komachi was joking! Here!" I looked back to see another bag of chocolate. I instantly regretted asking for chocolate... I have so much to eat... "Komachi would never give chocolate away without giving some to her onii-chan. Hey, I just earned a bunch of Komachi points for saying that!"
"Yeah, yeah, you're the best." We both went back inside and made ourselves comfortable under the kotatsu. I gave her a list of people who gave me chocolate. I also told her that Yukinoshita and Yuigahama came over.
"Wow, my onii-chan is growing up so fast."
"I'm older than you, you know!"
And so, a very eventful day finally came to a close. Receiving a large amount of chocolate, while obligatory, was definitely satisfying. At the beginning of Valentine's Day, I had no expectations, since I saw no reason anyone should give me chocolate. Why they did, I didn't know. But there was one thing I knew...
My Valentine's Day wasn't as wrong as I expected.
Hey all, thanks for sticking with me through this fic. Reviews, as always, are appreciated.
Sorry about the long wait. School and writer's block hit me like two trucks from opposite sides. I'm still getting run over by school, too (essay due in 3 days ._.).
Points for guessing what I was going for with how Orimoto's chocolate tasted. More points for guessing who my favorite ship is. Hint, it's not Sagami.
Sorry I didn't fit Rumi or Hayato in.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Big thanks to:
JudicarDeimos for giving me the Ebina chocolate idea (Hilarious!)
Spyro, SomeChineseGuy, FatFluffyFish and the rest of the translators (cuz I pretty much based my writing style on the translations.)
Everyone who reviewed the fic. Even if I didn't respond, I read all the reviews and thank you all for them. Especially, if they're constructive criticism.
Wataru Watari for writing Oregairu.
Now to respond to some reviews:
JudicarDeimos: I hope you liked the eating of the chocolate.
ImaNukeYourFace: Wow, what a review. Thanks for totally getting what I'm trying to do.
TestamentKaiser: Yeah the Saki scene was overdone. I wrote that part about two weeks before I wrote the rest, and I thought I was gonna do big sections for the remaining ships. I ended up not doing that to the extent I thought I would.
Umami08: Nice try with mulligan. I see what you're trying to do! Thanks tho :3
Guest (The one who had some criticisms): Yeah, I actually tried to base my work off the original to preserve a sense of staying true to the story. Did I go too far in doing that? Also, was it similar to weewah's portrayal of Saki? I based it off their interactions in the novel... Oops if I accidentally made them too similar. For Iroha's part... I agree. I also admit to having watched A LOT of harem anime recently... :3 Thanks for the criticism.
Guests in general, please put a name down so I can respond to you properly. Thanks!
Alright I'm done.
Thinking of my own Valentine's Day while drinking MAX Coffee... What, that's someone else's sign-off? [7]
Thanks all,
Bchets
Footnotes:
[1]: Dirty magazines. (A/N: I feel like it's such a cliché anime moment when a girl enters a guy's room and immediately asks, "So... where do you keep them?")
[2]: Kinjirou Sakamachi from Mayo Chiki. He gets nosebleeds every time a girl touches him.
[3]: Fruit of Grisaia. Michiru tries to act like a tsundere.
[4]: Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance / Bladedance of Elementalers. Claire and Rinslet constantly bicker. (A/N: But they're secretly best friends. You see where I'm going with this comparison, right? Also... KNEE, HIGH, FIGHT!)
[5]: Yuru Yuri.
[6]: Bitter Bitter Sweet is the song they sang at the cultural festival (Oregairu anime).
[7]: Wataru Watari's sign-off. Check the afterword of each volume for this.