Minori's Valentine's Adventures
The box of chocolates in her hand stared at Minori menacingly. Minori stared back. The box didn't move. Minori scowled at it. The box didn't respond. Minori shook the box a little and it made almost no sound.
"It must be packed really tight," Minori whispered to herself.
The box was red and wrapped with a pretty bow; in theory, it was perfect, but considering who it was for, Minori couldn't help but feel like it wasn't good enough. Although not sure why, Minori poked the box a few times before bringing it to the checkout to pay.
2270 yen was not too bad. Minori tossed a couple cheaper boxes in for other, less-Haruka friends. She handed the money to the cashier and then skipped outside. She adjusted her scarf and checked her bag to make sure she hadn't left anything in the store. Minori finished the rest of her shopping and ran home to practice how she would deliver the chocolate.
-
"Haruka! Please take this chocolate!" Minori squeaked, "Ah! That's no good either!"
Minori stared at herself in the mirror and made her best "cool" face. She picked up the box of chocolates to rehearse again.
"Haruka, please take this chocolate!"
"Aw... I sound too nervous. That was a little better than before though!"
Minori took a deep breath before repeating the process again.
"Haruka, please take this chocolate! Perfect!" Minori said. She giggled in excitement.
"What the hell are you doing?" Minori's little brother said with an unamused expression on his face.
Minori dropped the box in surprise: "Get out of my room! You didn't even knock!"
He flipped her off and then hopped off. She frowned and closed her door. Annoying 4th graders.
-
"Haruka!" Minori called across the rooftop.
Haruka hummed and turned around. Minori turned bright pink and stuttered a couple of times.
"Please... please take this chocolate!" her words jumbled together into a barely coherent mess. She shoved the box into Haruka's hands and then grabbed her belongings and ran down the stairs.
"Ah! I forgot to give Airi and Shizuku theirs!" Minori thought aloud.
She ran back up to the roof to find Airi a laughing mess on the floor and Shizuku trying to get her to stop laughing long enough to breathe. Haruka ran up to Minori and thanked her for the chocolate, which made Minori turn pink again. Minori skipped over to where Airi and Shizuku were sitting and handed Shizuku her box. She decided to wait for Airi to stop laughing before trying to hand her anything. Shizuku smiled brightly and hugged Minori.
Airi managed to calm herself down long enough to say, "you're so stupid, Minori. Never change."
Minori giggled and handed Airi a box of chocolate: "I got you some too."
Airi reached up and ruffled Minori's hair. Shizuku watched silently for a second before adding her hand beside Airi's on the top of Minori's head. Minori jumped when a third, mysterious hand joined the other's on her head. Minori turned around only to see the one and only Haruka ruffling her hair along with Airi and Shizuku. The three veteran idols were all giggling and Minori's face flushed with embarrassment.
Hesitantly, Minori reached her hand up and began ruffling Airi's hair. Shizuku's face lit up in excitement and used her other hand to ruffle Airi's hair as well. Airi moved her hand to pull Haruka down to sit with them and then promptly ruffled her hair. In turn, Haruka looked around to find an empty head and ruffled Shizuku's hair. The four girls sat in an awkward square ruffling each other's hair for about 5 minutes.
"What are we even doing?" Airi said.
"You're so cute Airi!" Shizuku chirped.
"That's not an answer to my question."
"Aw," Shizuku pouted.
Airi looked down to hide her face as she blushed profusely. Thankfully, none of the other girls noticed. Haruka removed her hands from Shizuku's and Minori's heads and the others followed suit. Shizuku ran off to pack up the camera while the other girls talked about nothing in particular. Minori had a random thought. An idea that blossomed in her head like a flower coming from seemingly nowhere.
"Haruka!" She started, giving herself about 2 seconds to come up with how to phrase what she wanted to say, "Do you want to go on a date with me? I mean! Not a date! Do you want to go to a cafe with me? Right now?"
Haruka blushed subtly and laughed, "Even all sweaty after practice like this? Sure. Where do you want to go?"
"Ah! There's a cafe a couple streets away that I kind of wanted to see!"
Haruka nodded and picked up her belongings. Minori led her to the cafe. It was a small, family-owned cafe in an area that Haruka had never seen before.
"Kohane told me that she and An go here all the time so I thought it must be a good place," Minori explained.
A place that An goes with Kohane, Haruka thought to herself. She blushed at the idea that she and Minori were doing something that An and Kohane do. She looked at her hand. When had she and Minori started holding hands?
"Are you ready to order?" Minori asked.
"Not yet... what are you getting?"
Minori pointed at a drink on the menu. Haruka nodded, "then I'll have what you're having."
"Do you want to order a large and split it?" Minori stuttered. Her face turned pink again as she realized what she had just said. Haruka agreed and walked up to the counter to order.
Minori buried her face in her hands the second Haruka could no longer see her. She resisted the urge to squeal in embarrassment. Had she really just offered to split a drink with Haruka? And she said yes? Her face was practically burning red.
"Minori?" Haruka tapped her shoulder.
"Eep!" Minori squeaked and jumped back. Haruka laughed.
The person behind the counter called their drink and Minori ran up to take it and pay. Haruka took two straws and they sat down at a table inside the cafe. Haruka handed Minori a straw and offered her the cup to try it first. Minori took a sip nervously.
"Is it good?" Haruka asked. Minori nodded a little faster than she would have liked. Haruka put her straw in and tried it, agreeing with Minori's review.
Haruka pointed out a painting on the wall that had caught her attention. Haruka knew the style as the style of a painter she liked who mostly painted penguins. How Haruka, Minori thought to herself and giggled. She listened to Haruka's rambling about the painter. Even though she had never seen this side of Haruka before meeting her, Minori couldn't help but think that Haruka's cute penguin rants were probably the best part of her. Minori found herself distracted from reality as she listened to Haruka's excited voice explaining the life of this painter and his penguin paintings.
"Which straw was mine?" Haruka paused to ask, breaking Minori out of her blissful Haruka thoughts.
"Straws. Which straw," Minori tried to gather her thoughts and connect back to her surroundings, "ah! The straws got mixed up!?"
Haruka laughed, "how did that happen?"
Minori shook her head, "I don't know! I can get us new ones!"
"No need, I mean there's a 50% chance we'll get the right one if we just keep using these ones."
Haruka thought for a second. Minori carefully looked at each straw to see if there was anything that would give away which straw was hers.
Haruka grinned an grabbed both straws. She held the straws together and put both between her lips to take a sip.
"What!?" Minori squealed.
"There, now they're both equal. Take whichever you want."
Minori blushed beet red as she thought about it. She took one of the straws from Haruka and drank a little of the drink. Her mind went blank. She and Haruka really drank out of the same straw. She drank from the same straw as the most beautiful and perfect girl she had ever seen. If not for Haruka continuing her talk about the painting, Minori was sure she would have fainted right then and there.