Valentine’s Day EX (feat. Haruto Fuwa and His Hard-to-Read Sister)

Night had fallen on February 14. Haruto, having chosen to flee Itsuki’s place rather than deal with Kenjiro Toki’s drunken tirades, arrived home to find a sweet smell emanating from the kitchen. Chocolate, just like what he’d smelled over at Itsuki’s.

“…?”

It made him raise an eyebrow as he headed over, only to find his sister working on something.

“Hee-hee! This is perfect! Just a bit of cocoa powder, and—”

“…What’re you up to?”

“Hyagh?!”

His sister twirled toward him, clearly flustered. The apron she was wearing sported a couple of dark stains. There was a bit of it on one cheek as well.

“Wha…wha…what’re you doing?!” she shouted, said cheeks now ablaze in red. “Coming home at a time like this! I hate you!”

“Hmm? I’m free to come home whenever I want to.”

“No you’re not, dumbass! You were drinking at your friend’s place, weren’t you?! You shouldn’t be home for a while yet!”

“Yeah, yeah… Is it bad for me to be home right now or something?”

“Wha—?! No, not really! I just hate it when you’re around, is all!”

“Oh, really? Guess I’ll have to go apartment hunting soon,” an exasperated Haruto said. This only further set his sister off.

“What?! You—you know you can’t do that, dumbass! Not like you’d ever be able to live by yourself!”

“Sure I can.”

“You can’t, all right? Plus, if you leave, who’s gonna do my homework for me? Who’s gonna run over to the convenience store to pick stuff up for me? Huh?!”

“You should really do your own homework, at least…”

He knew from previous experience that arguing further about his living alone would be fruitless. So he decided to shift the topic to her studies. He turned his eyes toward the kitchen counter as he did, behind his sister. There were several small, rounded pieces of chocolate lined up in a row, along with a bag of cocoa powder and a bowl with melted chocolate sticking to the sides.

“…Are you making chocolate truffles?”

“Y-yeah. Is that a problem?!”

“No, but… Why’re you making chocolate right now? Valentine’s Day was today.”

He had a point—she was a good day late at getting started on this.

“It—it’s not like I meant to give this on Valentine’s Day or anything! I just saw it on TV, and some of my friends were giving these out, and I wanted to eat some chocolate, too! That’s all!”

“Uh-huh.”

Haruto could understand the urge, if she had seen someone else with chocolate. He didn’t understand why it had to be handmade, but still.

“…Well, hope it turns out good. Pretty hard to screw up chocolate truffles, at least.”

“Of course it is! It’s not like I’d keep messing up the recipe for these, of all things! It’s gonna be the best damn chocolate ever!”

She turned her gaze down a bit.

“And, um, I suppose you could maybe have a couple of them, too.”

“Ahh, I’m fine, thanks. I got my own.”

He lifted the bag of chocolate he’d received while at Itsuki’s place to demonstrate. His sister’s eyes practically popped out of their sockets.

“Wh-who gave you those?!”

“My fans,” he replied, a bit proud. “They sent them to my editor.”

His sister rolled her eyes and groaned, exposing her canines. “W-well, my chocolate’s gonna taste better!” she practically screamed, grabbing the cocoa powder bag and violently dumping it all over the chocolate on the counter.

“H-hey—agh?!”

Then she picked up one chocolate and stuffed it into the concerned Haruto’s mouth. Given few other options, he broke it up with his teeth, licking at it with his tongue.

“Well?!”

“…It’s okay, I guess,” Haruto replied. It was his honest opinion. It also made his sister sulk as she threw her apron to the floor.

“I can’t believe what a world-class dumbass you are, Bro! Now I don’t even want to eat these anymore! This is your fault, so you should eat all of ’em instead!”

“Huh?!”

“Listen to me! You have to eat every single one!”

Haruto had no time to protest this shoddy treatment, because his sister then marched right out of the kitchen. Still peeved, he looked at the chocolate on the counter and helped himself to one more piece. It was…just okay. There were still around ten chocolate truffles there, now thoroughly drowned in cocoa powder. It looked like his fans would have to wait until at least tomorrow for their gifts to be enjoyed.

And as he silently ate the chocolates, Haruto mused all over again, There is absolutely nothing good about having a little sister.