PK Academy was filled with life. Why, you ask? If you read the title, and know what White Day is, you'll probably understand why. If, on the other hand, you aren't familiar with White Day, we'll tell you now. It is an occasion that is the opposite of Valentines in Japan (as well as Taiwan and South Korea). Instead of the girls giving chocolates, it's the guys giving it instead. Now, don't misunderstand, usually, it's done with guys reciprocating chocolate (or any other sweet) that they received on Valentines, but of course guys are free to do as they wish.
You must be thinking that Emiko has received quite a lot of chocolates. You're correct, although despite her popularity, Teruhashi has recived a bit more than Emiko because of her efforts to remember everyone's names, make regular appearances to get her daily "Oh's."
During lunch break, Emiko went to the cafeteria because the kind old man who worked there told her he made her some special onigiri for White Day knowing that she would probably appreciate it more than the lot of chocolate she was sure to receive. After graciously thanking him, she ate it on her way back to the classroom. It was divine.
This probably went on for a while but when she finally returned to her classroom, she sighed. There on her table was a huge box with flowers. 'All these boys are so sweet and all, but damn. There's gotta be a line somewhere.'
'Miss Popular indeed.' Saiki smirked seeing her tired face. He'd approach her, but he made a rule with himself not to hang out with her so much during school hours to avoid attention and threats from her fan boys. He watched her face as she walked to her table trying to figure out who would leave her so many presents and flowers. Her friends crowded her as well curious about the box.
"I didn't see any of the boys put that here." Chiyo said.
"Neither did I. It was just kinda there." Yuuki added.
"What if it's Saiki? He's so quiet and mysterious and you guys seem so close." Emiko did her very best to supress a blush at the thought, but she knew that whoever it was wasn't Kusuo. It wasn't something he'd do. He wasn't showy like that.
"I saw who brought it." Rei said in a hushed tone.
"Who?" All the other girls chimed in.
"It was just a delivery guy."
"Read the card then!" They all said.
"Do you guys really have to be here when I read it?"
"Of course we do!"
"How is that even a question?"
Emiko sighed and opened the small card. It said 'To my beautiful angel who has shown me the kindness and beauty in this world, may you accept all these presents and the fact that we will be married in the future. -T'
All the girls were a bit quiet.
"Not gonna lie. It was sweet at first and then it became downright creepy." Yuuki said.
All the girls including Emiko agreed.
"Let's take a look inside anyway." All of them peered inside the box and saw that it was filled with expensive chocolate, a large teddy bear and bouquets of flowers.
"I'm going to have to admit that the things in the box are better than the card." Chiyo said. "That chocolate brand is great."
"Any idea who this mysterious T could be?" Tora asked.
"None. I'm just as lost as you guys." Emiko said bewildered.
"Well, he really seems to have the hots for you if he's already calling dibs in being your husband." Rei teased.
"Well, I find the gesture really sweet, I guess, but this person probably doesn't know me too well."
"Right, you don't like stuffed toys."
"Yeah. They're big dust gatherers and I'm very sensitive to it and I sneeze a lot." Emiko looked at the flowers. "The flowers are lovely though. I wish I could thank the sender."
She put the box at the back of the class near the cubbyholes before so she can use her desk and eat lunch before the next class began. Saiki will probably not admit that he was slightly irked at what the card read, after all, she was his best friend and therefore had the right to choose whoever she wanted to be with. The assuming behaviour of the person was annoying and Kusuo had an idea of just who it might be. When no one was looking, he removed his thin gloves and touched the chocolates inside the box. Using Psychometry, he saw the history of what the chocolates went through. One particular image was that he saw a creepy blue haired celebrity giddily put it in the box.
'Makoto Teruhashi.' Saiki thought to himself. His confirmation of the fact only made his annoyance grow.
---
Emiko couldn't wait to go home. She had enough of White Day. She expected only the ones she gave chocolates to give their obligatory ones in return--they did, even Mr Matsuzaki gave his discreetly, but, it seemed that everyone was returning a favour, or confessing feelings. What was she going to do with five bags of chocolate? She then remembered seeing Teruhashi with 7 bags of chocolate so Emiko decided to be grateful.
Walking home after school wasn't something she looked forward to because she disliked carrying so much bags even if she was strong enough to carry all. When she exited the building, she saw Saiki already waiting for her.
"Hi, Saiki." She said with a sigh.
Immediately, he understood her mood and took five of the bags she was holding leaving her to hold the flowers and the teddy bear. Emiko did her best not to blush at his thoughtfulness.
"Thanks, Saiki. I appreciate it."
'It's no problem.' He answered as he walked on. When their school was out of sight, he sighed 'I actually have something for you.'
Emiko smiled. "Are you finally going to let me win one of our sparring sessions?"
'Well, then I suppose you're in for a disappointment.' He said in good humour. He handed her a small box wrapped in an elegant white patterned paper topped with a black ribbon. Simple, but beautiful nonetheless. 'I have no talent to make chocolate like you. I hope you like it.'
"I'm sure I'll like anything you give me, bestie." She cringed as soon as she said that and apparently Kusuo did too.
'Please don't call me that.'
Giving a bashful smile, she opens the box and sees cute green squares, delightfully dusted with green tea powder.
"You gave me matcha chocolates! It's so lovely! Oh my gosh, I have to take a bite now." She did so and offered Saiki a smile with green stained teeth. "Thank you, thank you, Saiki! It's so good! I mean, I appreciate everyone else's effort but you're the only one to get me matcha ones. I'd hug you but my arms are full. "
Saiki smiled a bit proud that he had given her something she liked and had to consume right away. 'Don't worry about it. You're welcome. By the way, I think you look prettier with green teeth.'
Emiko's eyes widened and she closed her mouth and tried to lick off any green colouring from her teeth. "Shorry."
Saiki smirked waited for her to finish her cleaning. When she was done, she smiled again.
"Are they still there, bestie?" She couldn't help but tease.
'Unfortunately, not anymore.' He said jokingly then sighed. 'Please don't call me that.'
"Can I give you a nickname? Calling you Saiki is so unbestfriend-like."
Saiki narrowed his eyes. 'Unbestfriend-like? It boggles me how you can up with so many weird words.'
"Call it one of my best talents."
Saiki didn't say anything and just nodded his head and Emiko grinned as they walked on.
"How about Koolsuo? But you know, with a K!" She asked. Kusuo just gave her a sideways glance and didn't say a word. "It's like, Cool plus Kusuo, hence Koolsuo. Yeah? Yeah?"
'No.'
"Damn. All right, all right. What about... Kurageousuo. Courageous plus Kusuo!"
'No. Just call me Kusuo. I don't think I want to listen to anymore bad nicknames.'
"Hahaha Sorry. All right then, Kusuo, call me Emiko!"
'Okay.' He said with a smile. 'How do you plan to finish all your chocolate?'
"Why? Do you want it?"
'No. For all I know there might be a love potion in there.'
"Well, you're all powerful. Shouldn't you know if there is any?"
'I guess I will know. None of the bakas in school are smart to make an effective potion.'
"Oh ye of little faith." She smiled. "The thing is, I really can't finish all this chocolate even if I tried. So I was thinking that I can melt the chocolate and put them in all of my pastries and shakes, some I'll save for the sleepover I guess. Since there is an impossible amount, I can give to my neighbours, Noa and Hina (from the antique store), Hiroaki-san, and your family."
'My favourite part of what you said was when you mentioned my family.'
"Hahaha! Well, I plan to start baking a bit now. Do you want to be my taste tester, oh Master of Dessert?"
'Of course I do.'
---
"Teams from Cebu and Bali are back. Agra's team will return in two weeks max."
"I see."
"Do you have a plan?"
"Yes. Though it's still flawed. I'm doing a lot of research and perfecting prototypes, sir."
"By two weeks you should have a strategy and multiple contingency plans. We need Tengoku if we want to move forward with our tech. When the teams are complete, we might need to prepare for another two months because we are low in man power."
"I'm aware, sir."
"Good. The government isn't giving us the funding we need for this. If we can show a working prototype within two years, we will get their full support and can even sell this internationally. Who doesn't dream of being rich and famous, neh?"
---
"Okay! So here is a lava cake! Careful! It's rather hot." Emiko said as she put the plate in front of Saiki and her mother. She accidentally bumped the salt and pepper shakers causing a few crystals and bits to spill on the table. "Oops! Sorry about that."
"If you were superstitious, spilling salt and pepper is a bad omen." Ena jokingly.
"Where'd you learn that from?" Emiko said amused.
"Oh just this drama I saw. It was randomly shown on the TV and I got hooked."
"Well, I'm perfectly capable of handling myself and as long as I continue to feed this guy dessert, he won't let anything happen to me either, right, Kusuo?" She joked.
'Make more coffee jelly then I think we can reach an agreement.' He humoured her.
Both Emiko and Ena laughed at this and Kusuo smiled. 'I won't let anything happen even if you didn't feed me dessert.' He thought to himself as he finished his share of lava cake. 'I'm glad you feed me anyway.'
Author's Note: Hi, Everyone. OMG 2K reads already! I'm so happy. I love it when you guys comment, when you like and when you save these to your libraries! It makes me so giddy and motivated. Thank you all!!! Also, I just a little heads up if you didn't know already, that uhm, I plan to make this book a long one and things between Saiki and Emiko might be slower than most. I hope you are more patient than I am and that you enjoy the journey all the same. Much love! Stay safe.