Foreword

Foreword

Foreword

T HE SUDDEN PATTERING OF RAIN AGAINST THE LIVING room window yanked me back from the brink of sleep. Stretching my stiff legs out across the couch, I gently shut my textbook.

Finals. We were coming up on the last wave of them, and I’d prepared for them well, but complacency would be my undoing.

“Two more days…”

I stared out at the calendar on the wall. My eyes were drawn to one date in particular—the fourteenth of February. Valentine’s Day was the Sunday after next. The day boys got chocolate from family and relatives, and absolutely nothing else. Nope, not a thing.

Usually.

Last Christmas, I’d gotten birthday presents from the lit club girls. And that meant there was a very real possibility I had a respectable haul of obligatory sweet treats coming my way. Not to say my expectations were all that high. This wasn’t a contest to me, or about some trite romantic fantasy. It was the nature of the season, and it affected us all, introvert and extrovert alike, whether your SO was flesh and blood or a string of binary. Everyone was on high alert when it came to Valentine’s Day.

Likewise, though, let it get to your head, and those wax wings of yours were bound to melt. So it was a good thing we had exams to distract us this year. Unfortunately for me, I was pretty much solid on that front.

Light novels were a good plan B. In fact, I had a copy of 100 Days Until It Turns Out This Was an All-Boys School All Along waiting for me in my room. A fairly self-indulgent series where all the heroines were actually cross-dressing boys that owed its long run to an incredibly defensive and vocal fanbase. Personally, I was only borrowing it from the lit club’s collection. Just borrowing.

“I’ve earned a break,” I told myself as I rose to my feet.

Something sweet wafting from the kitchen tickled my nose. My sister, Kaju, was in there stirring something, humming to herself. Her fine, silky hair swayed behind her like a curtain. She was a tiny girl, with a baby face to match. And she looked cute in that apron, if I said so myself.

I sauntered up and peeked over her shoulder. “Whatcha making?”

There was a rainbow of multi-colored bowls in front of her. The one she was working now had some kind of pale greenish substance in it. “Samples for new recipes. For Valentine’s Day. Open wide, Oniisama.”

She offered a spoonful of the stuff. I tried a bite, and whatever it was, it was sweet. Smelled kinda earthy too. “What flavor’s that?”

“Pistachio,” she said. “I made it into a paste and mixed in some white chocolate, but I can’t quite get the texture right. This is black currant. Open.”

I obeyed and was met with something pleasantly bittersweet. “They both taste pretty good to me. Far as I’m concerned, any chocolate made by you is great.”

Kaju’s lips twisted like she was trying to stifle a grin, but she quickly regained composure, and after clearing her throat she said, “Oh, but you won’t need any from me, will you? You’ll get plenty at school. Unless…” Her cheeks flushed pink, and her eyes sparkled with anticipation. “ You’ll be doing the giving?”

There she went talking nonsense again. “I don’t know what I’ll get till the day of. Valentine chocolate’s sorta like, y’know, holiday cards and what not. Sometimes you do them, sometimes you don’t. It depends on the vibe. Plus, it’s on a Sunday.” I paused to take a breath. “We’ll be at school since it’s open house for tours and stuff, I guess, but we just have to see, y’know? Not that I’ve given it much thought or anything. Those are just the facts.”

Kaju grinned. “They make sense to me. I’ll have to consider them myself for the person I intend to give chocolate to.”

She was giving chocolate to someone? Huh. Kaju. Giving chocolate to…someone.

“Kaju, you—”

“Oh dear, would you look at that,” she interrupted, poking her own cheek. “I’ve gotten some oh-so-sweet and delicious chocolate on my face. Would my dearest Oniisama care to help make it all clean?”

As if I hadn’t literally just seen her put it there herself. I glanced around for a cloth or tissue, but those had all mysteriously vanished, so I settled for my handkerchief. “There. All clean.”

“Oniisama,” Kaju pouted, “that is your problem.”

Adolescence. Makes kids incomprehensible.

“Uh, so anyway, you said you were giving chocolate to—”

That time, I was interrupted by a phone. I didn’t recognize the ringtone.

“Oniisama, take this for me!” Kaju shoved a bowl she’d been warming in water into my hands.

“What? What do I do with this?”

“Stir it gently until it reaches a temperature of forty-five centigrade! Please and thank you!”

Phone in hand, Kaju dashed away. Her instructions had not been particularly informative, but stirring was simple enough. I could do that.

Doing so, I took several breaths to settle my thoughts. Kaju had someone to give chocolate to this year. A boy? No. No way. And what had she meant when she said I wouldn’t “need any” from her? Was she not planning on giving me any? Not that I would be particularly upset about not getting chocolate from my sister of all people, but it was a tradition of hers. She’d been doing it since she was one year old.

Maybe there was a misunderstanding brewing. Best to nip that in the bud.

“Wait, crap. The temperature. Right.”

She was gonna have my head for this one. I stuck in the thermometer, and its display read forty-six degrees exactly. Surely that was perfectly within the acceptable margin of error.

I removed the bowl of chocolate from the hot water bath, staring at the door Kaju had disappeared behind. What was I supposed to do now? Was she still on the phone?

I waited a while longer, but there was still no sign of her, so I took the bowl with me and opened the hallway door. “Hey, Kaju.”

Poking my head in, I found her standing in the entryway, her back turned to me. “Yeah, but… Mm-hmm. You’re right. But are you sure? Gon-chan… I know. I know. It’s not about her.” She was nodding to herself with the phone glued to her ear. It sounded serious, but unfortunately, the chocolate didn’t seem inclined to politely wait around for her to finish.

“Let’s talk specifics in person. I hate to do this over the phone.” Sounded like she was wrapping up, so I stepped into the hallway. “I know. I’ll keep the fourteenth open. See you at school, Tachibana-kun.”

That last part froze me to the spot.

Kaju slid her phone into her apron pocket as she spun around. “Oh. Oniisama. How long have you been there?”

“Er, uh, not long,” I lied. “The, uh, chocolate did the thing. Forty-five centigrade.”

I held the bowl out. Kaju trotted over and took it with a beaming smile. “Thank you, Oniisama. Sorry that took so long.” She scurried back to the kitchen, where she next set the bowl in ice water. “Now we want it to get cold… Oniisama? Something the matter?”

I tore my eyes away from her. “Just, er, who was that on the, uh…?”

“A friend from school. There’s an event we had to discuss.”

A friend, huh? A boy friend, by the sound of their name. A friend who she was apparently keeping the fourteenth open for.

Kaju started humming. As she stirred the chocolate, cold sweat rolled down my back. Why was she going to the trouble of making samples? Who was that boy? What did they have planned on the fourteenth?

Did I want to know?

“Hey, Kaju,” I said. “Who’s that person you’re giving chocolate to?”

Kaju froze. “Guess,” she replied calmly.

I gulped. “O-one of your girl friends?” My voice betrayed me and cracked.

She twirled around to reveal a playful smirk. “My secret.”