Chapter four, 2018, white Valentine, segment ten

White Day came and passed without any surprises.

Ryu carried a backpack Urufu style. On his way to school it was filled with an absurd amount of return gifts for Valentine, and on his way home he cleaned out his junior year as a high schooler into it. Urufu did the same, as did Kuri. A surprisingly large number of girls had gifted her giri chocolate a month earlier.

As for Yukio and Kyoko they only needed bags to clean out their second year. Hitomi used her for her return gifts as well. Noriko, well Noriko stared at hers in desperation. For the first time in her life she was loaded with return gifts like a school celebrity. That photo shoot during their Kansai trip was to blame for the celebrity part.

This year there was no drama at all. Jeniferu already having given Tomasu honmei chocolate during Valentines received a huge bouquet of flowers in return, but you needed to be well versed in the language of flowers to know that it didn’t represent a lovers gift to his other. And yet, it did. Noriko knew that.

Kyoko had filled her in on the strange arrangement between Tomasu and Jeniferu, and as far as Noriko was concerned his gift to her wasn’t as much a White Day gift as a Valentine one.

White Valentine? Well, something like that, Noriko thought and smirked. You’d better forgive Yukio as well. He’d want to know why the two of you should move your date a week. Noriko tilted her head. Kyoko might be angry, but this wasn’t a really serious crisis between the two of them. Besides they got that day off and spent it in twosome luxury.

Noriko grinned and closed the door behind her. In half an hour she had her own date with Urufu. For her part she’d already blown up in his face and forgiven him. Rather sulked and forgiven him. He gifted her with exactly two red roses for a White Day gift, and she’d been stupid enough to compare it with the ring Kuri received last year.

Gah! I’m an idiot! She should have known Urufu would research the meaning behind his gift first. The bad part was that he didn’t know he was long since forgiven. Worst case she’d receive another fifteen roses when they met. She’d done her own research before this date. For once moron-sama is me.

Shaking her head she made it to the gates, left them behind her and walked to the station.

Hachiko. For some reason he decided upon the most stereotypical of places to meet. There was even a perfectly usable square much closer, but Noriko knew to what degree Urufu associated it with Kuri. Well, he’d come up with the strangest of surprises before. Starting at Shibuya didn’t mean they’d end up with a stereotypical date.

When she left the circle line she looked out the windows before descending the stairs. There was no missing it. Urufu sat by the statue. He was surrounded by teens and in his lap Noriko noticed a large bouquet of roses.

Crap! She hurried down, left through the entrance and started walking across the square. How do I explain this? For a moment she longed for more than a few seconds to reach him, but then she slapped herself mentally and marched on.

When the lone boy with the roses finally met his date the crowd around him quickly dispersed, Noriko noted.

“Noriko, thanks for coming here!” Urufu rose. “As a token of apology.” He bowed and reached out with both hands.

Yeah, fifteen of them. Noriko didn’t even need to count. Glumly she accepted her flowers. You didn’t even excuse yourself, and it wasn’t even your fault to begin with.

Desperate to make amends she looked around her. While the crowd had taken their distance the two of them still were the centre of attention.

“I owe you an apology,” she said. “I misunderstood,” she added. Misunderstood, my arse! You behaved like a jerk, Noriko. Suddenly ashamed she fingered the roses in her hand. Slowly and idea formed in her head, one that might at least salvage a little from her mistake. She picked out one rose and returned it to Urufu’s hands. When he met her eyes she picked out two more. “This is how I really feel.”

The stunned smile on his face had her heart racing in seconds.

“I love you,” she said and offered him another three.

A frown slowly replaced his smile.

“Do you mind if I keep the nine?”

He had, Noriko understood, done his research. A sudden blush swept over his face, but then he straightened and took her hands.

“Yes, yes of course you can. I’d be honoured.”

Noriko felt colour rise in her face. Did I just force him to propose to me?

“Give me a few more years,” Urufu said. “Where I come from you’re not supposed to wait more than a year afterwards, according to tradition that is.”

Wait more than a year? Oh! She heated up even more and something roared in her ears. In the end this year’s belated White Day came with the greatest of all surprises.

“Of course,” Noriko answered. She hardly heard her own voice. “I’ll wait for as long as you need.”