Chapter 1

{Valentine }

It was a cold morning that dawned Valentine's Day, the day the girls of the class would give out chocolate to someone they liked. The bell rang and the girls scuttled around to approach the person they wanted to give the chocolate to. Houtarou sat quietly on his seat near the farthest corner of the room, next to the window, which he stared at as the snow started to fall. He wasn't expecting to receive any in the first place; moreover, it would drain his energy by the time White Day comes around. Satoshi waltzed in, pulled up a chair and sat next to Houtarou. Houtarou sighs and then turns to his friend, "It's Valentine's day, again."

"So it seems." Satoshi replied. Satoshi was the one with a long history of Valentine's day dramas, which Houtarou finds exhausting to bring up, but does so anyway.

"I hope man up this time. If you truly care for Ibara, you shouldn't hurt her feelings anymore."

Satoshi looked down and smiled. "Yeah, you made that quite clear the last Valentine's day." He paused and played with the sleeves of his jacket. "I told her then that I prefered that we take it slow. I'm just glad Mayaka understands."

"Remember, if you hurt those two again, I'll probably have to hit you."

"I know." Satoshi laughs.

Speaking of Mayaka, she was nowhere around the classroom during break. In the next room, Class A, she was chatting with Chitanda while eating some of the treats Chitanda had brought. "I'm afraid he'll reject it."

"I don't think that will happen this time. You have been in this steady relationship right? Fukube-san is better than that. He's probably better prepared now." Chitanda beamed at her, hoping that it will reassure her of their feelings.

"You're probably right." Suddenly, Ibara cheers up. "By the way Chii-chan, are you giving anyone chocolate?"

"Ah, no… Our family doesn't really give out anything even if it were Valentine's Day."

"I see. That's understandable." Mayaka replied. Chii-chan leaned in and started sniffing her. "Umm, Chii-chan?"

"You smell nice." She withdrew and sat upright. The girls laughed.

"My mom and I went shopping the other day and found a nice fragrance. Do you like it? It reminds me of spring."

"Yes! It's wonderful."

—o0o—

It was still snowing, so Houtarou decided to stay in school for a while. Chitanda entered the room of Class B and found Houtarou before heading to the clubroom. As they walk up to the Geology Prep room, Chitanda asks, "Do you think those two will be okay?"

Houtarou felt obliged to answer this question. "They'll be fine. Satoshi knows the consequences."

Chitanda wasn't quite sure if she understood the last statement but she went on with it anyway. She slid open the door to the club room and found that Satoshi was already there, sitting on the chair on the left side of the table nearest the door. He was still wearing his blue letterman jacket. He looked slightly ruddy; perhaps it was from the cold.

They entered and sat on opposite sides of the table, with Houtarou sitting next to Satoshi. Chitanda and Houtarou looked at each other trying to convey a message with their eyes. Houtarou knew what her protuberant iridescent eyes meant. Her eyes exclaimed 'I'm curious!' Houtarou wrote on a piece of scrap paper that was lying around the table folded it and slid it towards her. She opened it and read: "I'll walk you home. Then, we'll talk."

Chitanda smiles at Houtarou. Satoshi was very interested in what was going on. "Is this some kind of confession?" He kids and chuckles to the side, which made Chitanda blush even though she knew what was written on the paper. Houtarou steps on Satoshi's foot in retaliation.

"Fukube-san, you smell nice today," Chitanda commented. "Like cherries in the spring."

Satoshi, dumbfounded, smiled and thanked her. Somehow Houtarou felt like something was off though everything seemed normal. Ibara had library duty today so they weren't expecting her to be up in the clubroom. Having that said, he couldn't put a finger on it but something really did feel off. Houtarou stares into space and plays with his bangs. After listening to Satoshi blabber on about miscellaneous facts and gossip about the other clubs, Houtarou thoughts swam and among those thoughts were along the lines of Satoshi's relationship issues. Satoshi looks at the clock and stands up. "I'm heading out. I'll see you guys tomorrow." He waved back and rushed out.

It stopped snowing ten minutes later and both of them found that it was the perfect time to leave. Chitanda fixed her things and so the two went out. They locked the door behind them and Chitanda, looking around to see if Satoshi had gone, turned to Oreki and said, "I'm worried about her."

"Don't be. Ibara is probably on cloud nine right now." They started walking down the stairs.

"How could you tell?" Chitanda asks. "I'm curious!"

Luckily, Houtarou had prepared his speech beforehand when Satoshi was yakking on about something else. "Well it wasn't easy. Satoshi's hard to read." After they put on their shoes and retrieve their bikes, Houtarou continued, "Remember that you said Satoshi smelled nice? I am going on the assumption that Ibara had the same scent."

Chitanda's eyes widened. "Oh yeah! They both smell like spring."

"With that said, that can only mean two things: either, Satoshi started wearing the same girly perfume as Ibara or Satoshi held Ibara close and long enough for the scent to transfer. Which one do you think is most likely to happen?"

She laughed. "The second." Chitanda said.

"Right. Then I also noticed he had more color on his face. At first, I thought it was just the weather making him flushed with rosy cheeks but when I noticed that his lips were also slightly tinted with slight pink gloss I thought otherwise. I realized Satoshi doesn't get ruddy often."

"Mayaka-san usually wears cherry scented lipbalm…" Chitanda gasps. "Do you think they did… the thing?"

Oreki stops to gape at her. "No, I'm surprised you'd think that but Ibara is not a hit and run kind of person and I doubt Satoshi had information in that database of his that would prepare him for a situation like that." Houtarou supresses a laugh. "I also doubt it they would do that in school. Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Ibara proably kissed him when she gave him his chocolate—a heat of the moment kind of thing. They held each other close and Satoshi's face couldn't handle how sincere and intimate that was… and neither could Ibara."

"So why was she not in the room? Was she not at the library?"

"Ibara was only in the library after she made sure we entered the room. She probably hid somewhere since she was red all over and I think she feels that I am entitled to tell her I am right."

"What's that got to do with it?" They turned at the next stoplight.

"Earlier today, Ibara called me about giving him chocolate."

—o0o—

The phone rang at 5:30 in the morning. Houtarou's sister Tomoe woke him up to receive a call from Ibara. He found this unusual, since the only two people who call him are Chitanda and Satoshi, no one else.

"Oi, Oreki." She says with her trademark snarky tone, which she uses only towards him.

"It's way too early for your snark, Ibara. What is it?" Houtarou sheepishly replied.

"Orekiii… this is a serious conversation. I'm kind of worried about today."

"Today?"

"It's Valentine's Day you idiot."

"Oh? Oh yeah." He groaned.

She sighs in frustration. "What if it turned out like the last two years?"

Houtarou cleared up his throat. "You mean the chocolate thing or the feelings thing?"

"Both."

"Well, if he messes up, you know what I'll do to him."

"Haha I have yet to see you try." She laughs.

"Just put your faith in him. It'll be fine."

"That's what everybody says."

"Were you expecting me to say the opposite? Would you like me to?"

"No thanks. I'm good. See ya later, Oreki."

—o0o—

"Oh," Chitanda says after he told her of the phone call. After the next turn we stop at the stop sign. "This is my stop." She smiles, pointing at the stop sign. Houtarou laughs assuming it was a pun. "Thanks for walking me home."

Houtarou gives her a faint trace of a smile. "It's no problem."

"Oh yeah, before I forget," she searches her bag and pulls it out, "My family doesn't normally give out anything for Valentine's but here," she hands me chocolate in the shape of a dove. "

"Umm, thank you." Houtarou looks at it with wide eyes. He wasn't used to receiving chocolates since no one but his sister gives him chocolate (and it's not even the sweet kind of chocolate). She smiles and bids him adieu. He watched her ride her bike off into the northern fields as the sky turned pink and sun nearing the lines of horizon. He turned and looked at the chocolate he held in his hands.

It wasn't giri.

A/N: I thought since it was almost Valentine's day, I'd write something Valentine's day related to fill the void of staying at home during this week (not that I mind though). Ah how I miss this series.

Also, this story is set in their second year. I actually had to calculate when the anime series panned out for this haha. I also read the novels, but only the first two because they're the ones that have complete English translations. I have read a bit of chapter three though. I hope they haven't dropped translating it yet!

Chapter 2 coming soon.

Love lots, bittersaccharine.