Kise hates Valentine's Day. It begins the moment he walks out his front door and stumbles into the pile of packages left outside. He checks each tag, but he doesn't know a single name of any of the gift givers. He is prepared though, and fills a shopping bag with each of the sparkly red packages. He drops the entire stash off at the retirement home at the end of the street. He feels slightly guilty, because some of them were homemade and some of them were quite expensive, but somehow, that guilt isn't enough to make him eat even a single bite of them.

It continues at school. His locker is overflowing with treats, and he fills the now empty shopping bag and pretends that he loves all of the attention. He checks each tag carefully, looking for any names he knows. Kise has a tradition, and he will only eat chocolates from someone he actually knows and likes. On White Day, he will be expected to return the favor to the entire female student body of Kaijō, and that makes him tired in anticipation. When a girl actually delivers chocolate to him in person, he applauds her bravery, but he still doesn't eat it. "If I eat one piece of yours in front of everyone, then I will have to eat one piece of everyone's. You don't want me to get fat, do you?" he jokes with an easy smile and a conspiratorial wink. "I'll save it for when I'm alone tonight." He's learned that all the girls around him love that shameless flirt persona he affects for his modeling work, and it is just as easy to turn in on at school as on the runway.

There is no practice on Valentine's Day - his team is half-joking/half-grateful for the day off – but it makes Kise restless. He wants to think of February 14th as just another day, and this throws off his whole rhythm. On the way home from school, Kise drops the rest of the chocolate off at a residential home for orphans. There is not a single piece of chocolate left when he finally returns home and he is pleased about that.

The only Valentine's present he keeps comes from Momoi, and she drops it off personally at a little after six pm on her way to somewhere else. She knows him better than anyone outside his family, and the onion gratin soup is perfect. It is low in calories, low in fat, low in guilt, and he will happily remember her on White Day.

Murasakibara isn't interested in Valentine's Day, but he has a plan for February 15th and the myriad of half-price chocolate sales throughout the city. He has a list made up of the places he will visit, in what order he will visit them, and how much money he anticipates spending at each. He has a budget. He is vaguely aware of Himuro's amusement at how much time and effort he is putting into this task, but he is too lazy to care.

Murasakibara accepts any and all gifts on Valentine's Day and eats each one in the order in which they are received. He doesn't get many, only a dozen or so from the first year girls who don't know that their sweets will not be returned on White Day. He does grace each girl with a slight smile, and that will have to suffice.

Before he heads off to bed that night, he goes to his desk one more time to double-check the list and finds one last Valentine's Gift on his desk. It is a box of candy hearts and the packaging is in English. To: Atushi. From: Tatsuya.

"American candy?" Murasakibara asks in a hushed, excited tone. For once, he does not inhale the treat in front of him because he is mesmerized by the foreign indulgence. What he doesn't know is that his shadow has a stockpile of American treats hidden in his room across the hall. Murasakibara wonders for the first time if it would be inappropriate to give a White Day gift to another boy.

Kuroko gets exactly three gifts on Valentine's Day. One is from his mother, one from Momoi, and a third from Kanto-kun. This is precisely one more than last year, and he is cheered by the fact that at least he has become a little more noticeable to the female species.

Aomine is in a bad mood all morning on Valentine's Day. He hasn't received a single piece of chocolate, and he has to make do by stealing pieces from Sakurai who is surprisingly popular among the ladies of Tōō. If his ego allowed him a moment to contemplate why the apologetic mushroom was better liked, he might have come to the conclusion that it was because he came off as an arrogant douchebag most of the time.

But that wasn't the reason that the girls ignored him - well, at least it wasn't the only reason - no, it was because Momoi had made it very clear that he was off-limits. Yes, she still had the lingering traces of a crush on Tetsuya, but she realized after the defeat at Winter Cup, that she'd only used Tetsuya as a way of making Dai-chan jealous. It hadn't really worked, not for anyone involved, but the instantaneous difference she'd seen in Dai-chan post-Winter Cup made her understand she was just being stupid. She has always been, of course, helplessly and eternally in love with her childhood friend. When she'd woken up to that fact, she made it very clear to the entire female population of Tōō that he was hers.

After practice she insisted that he walk her home and, with eyes that looked less lazy and indolent than in the past four years, he looked at her and shrugged. He didn't even complain, so when she took a different route home, one that went right passed Dai-chan's favorite restaurant, he was surprised when she dragged him inside and bought him a teriyaki burger for dinner.

"Oi, Satsuki, what's this all about?" he asked.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Dai-chan."

Midorima remembers it is Valentine's Day only because of the Oha Asa report from the morning. His ranking today is at an all-time low and his lucky item is incredibly embarrassing. He looks at his mother, hoping that she will suggest he just go back to bed. She only smiles and pats him on the arm and goes about her day.

Takao arrives at his door earlier than normal. He has an incredible wide smile, it is obvious he is holding back laughter. Midorima is sure that Takao has listened to this morning report as well, and he's expecting to join in with the other's jest about today's lucky item.

"Don't dawdle, Takao, I have to go purchase my lucky item across town this morning."

"No you don't, Shin-chan," Takao's smile widens, threatening to split his face. Midorima gives him a withering look, but it softens when Takao reaches inside his school bag and pulls forth a small pink unicorn stuffed animal and holds it out to him. It is small enough that it will fit inside his pocket without ruining the lines of his uniform.

"Excellent," Shin-chan proclaims, pocketing the item with one hand and pushing his glasses up with the other. "I'll treat you to breakfast on the way to school, as I'm sure you haven't had time."

"Thanks Shin-chan, that would be awesome."

Akashi is of two minds on Valentine's Day. He is pleased he has not received a single piece of chocolate. Chocolate is not on his approved diet and it is frivolous and unnecessary. Valentine's Day is nothing more than a Western holiday meant to make people spend money unwisely. He is proud to not have to participate in trivial matters such as exchanging tokens of affection with someone who barely knows him, but at the same time there is a small voice in the back of his head that wonders if he will always be unloved. He quashes the voice, sublimating it back down where it belongs and continues writing his book report on Haruki Murakami's "Norwegian Wood."