Valentines Day

Valentines Day Part 3

The day continued, but even though Takagi was absent, it was anything but calm; Nishikata's nerves were going wild as the idea that he might love Takagi was the only thing he could think of. "What has my life come to?" He asked himself as he made his way towards lunch.

He quickly found Takao, Kimura, and Hamaguchi who were all sitting together, looking upset to some degree. "Hey guys." Nishikata greeted. "You having as great a day as I am?"

"Depends." Takao began. "Did you get chocolate from Takagi?"

Nishikata forced a laugh and looked off to the side. "No, she's out sick today."

"Then yes, my day is just as miserable."

"Also, once again, Takagi and I aren't dating." He said as he took a seat next to Hamaguchi. "How about you Hamaguchi? You get any from Houjou yet?"

"No." He said as he turned away. "But the day isn't over yet!"

Nishikata laughed again, then turned to Kimura, who was sitting in front of him. "I take it you and Takao haven't gotten any either?"

"No." Kimura said as he shook his head. "And I was really hoping to get some of Mina's chocolate."

"You said that last year as well." Takao stated. "Do you have a crush on her or something?"

"I don't know." He said as he looked down at his lunch. "Hey Hamaguchi, what's it feel like to have a crush on someone?"

Hamaguchi sighed as he looked down at his food. "Well, it's hard to explain. It's kinda like ... you heard about the butterflies, right?"

"Yeah, but I've never actually eaten butterflies, so I don't know what that feels like."

Hamaguchi's eye twitched as he tried to explain it again. "Well, they make you feel ... happy ... yet nervous for some reason ... there's this ... thing ... that happens ... where you ... kinda ..." He began making strange motions with his hands. "Like that, you know?"

Kimura looked at him confused as Nishikata looked down at his lunch.

'Having a crush on someone, huh?' He thought to himself. 'Well, if I did have a crush on her ...' He began to think of how he would describe it and couldn't help but smile.

"Then there's this ... I don't know, it's kinda-"

"You want to be with them and you want them to want to be with you." Nishikata interrupted.

"EXACTLY!" Hamaguchi exclaimed as he pointed to Nishikata. "That's the simplest way to describe it."

"I see." Kimura looked to Nishikata. "Is that how you feel about Takagi?"

Nishikata smiled softly as he continued to look at his lunch. "Yeah." He muttered softly before realizing what he had said. "I MEAN NO! I READ THAT ONLINE! I DON'T ... LOVE HER OR ANYTHING!"

"Um, excuse me." Came a soft voice from the far side of the table. All the guys looked over to see a girl with long brown hair, nervously fidgeting as she tried to avoid eye contact with everyone. "C-can one of you tell me where Cozzy is?"

"Cozzy?" Takao asked before pointing to a table behind the girl. "I think he usually sits there."

"Thank you." The girl said with a bow before leaving.

"Man, Cozzy's lucky." Takao said. "An underclassman has a crush on him."

"You don't know she has a crush on him." Hamaguchi replied. "Not to mention, how do you know she's an underclassman?"

"I'm fairly sure she's a first year, if she was a third year, then she probably wouldn't have approached and out right asked." Kimura added.

Nishikata shrugged and turned back to look at his lunch, but as he did, his mind went back to thinking of Takagi. 'Oh, come on!' He thought between images of her. 'Maybe I should just tell the other girl-' His eyes went wide with realization. 'Right! I need to try to find out who she is! But I can't let these guys know, they'd be pissed at me.'

"How about we stop talking about all these Valentine's Day fails for now, it's only going to make us feel bad."

"Best idea I've heard all day." Takao replied.

Lunch had finished without much else happening, and Nishikata was able to switch his focus as he returned to class. 'Who could she be?' He thought as he began making his way back to class. 'Now let's see, it's not ... Takagi.' His mind began to slowly go back to thinking about her as he quickly switched his train of thought. 'Of course not, and I know it's not Mano or Houjou. Mano is infatuated with Nakai and Houjou ... well ... I'll admit, I'm not mature by any means. So, that leaves ... the rest of the school.'

He continued walking until he rounded a corner and bumped into Nakai and Mano who looked as if they were talking about something. "Oh, hi guys." He said as he moved to get a better look at them, only to notice that Mano had handed Nakai a small box. 'Oh ... um.' "Am I interrupting something?"

"Uh ... no." Mano said. "I ... you're not interrupting anything."

"So what are you up to?" Nakai asked. "Headed back to class?"

"Well," He paused as an idea popped into his head. 'Wait, maybe ... I could see if they know anything.' Nishikata began to scratch the back of his head nervously. "I ... have a question ... about something."

"Well, go ahead, you know I'm always willing to help."

"Well ... honestly ... it's a little embarrassing, I got an anonymous Valentines present this morning, and I'm trying to find out who it is."

"Wait a second." Mano began. "I haven't seen Takagi all day today."

"She's out sick, not to mention, I'm not talking about the obligatory stuff that she gave me last year, I mean actual boxes."

"She didn't ... nevermind. Sorry to say, I haven't heard anything, I couldn't even tell you if they were in our class."

Nishikata sighed. "Well ... why me?"

"Maybe they found out that you're the strongest guy in our school and find that attractive." Nakai suggested.

"I don't have anything else going for me though." Nishikata shook his head. "But if you guys don't know then I'm going to have to try something else. You won't tell anyone about this, right?"

"Your secrets safe with me." Nakai stated.

"I don't think I want to tell anyone." Mano added.

"Thanks guys." Nishikata said as he let out a sigh of relief. 'Man, I just hope that I manage to live through this ordeal.'