Valentine’s Day

It was a week after the North-South Spring Rolls.

This day was the 14th of February—Valentine’s Day.

At dusk, the handsome guy author Fuwa Haruto came to Itsuki’s room.

“Yo, brought some chocolates for you.”

“…Why do I have to accept chocolates from you?”

Itsuki gave a repulsed look as he glanced aside, and Haruto ignored him as he entered through the door by himself, opened the fridge, and put a tote bag filled with bottles of black beers.

“Belgium?”

“No, j.a.panese.”

“Hm…that’s rare.”

Typically, Haruto would bring foreign beer (mainly Belgium), and Itsuki hardly saw him bring any j.a.panese beer here.

“This is what they call Valentine’s beer. It’s a j.a.panese custom to give chocolates on Valentine’s day. Of course, j.a.pan is also the only one that produces Valentine’s beer.”

“Really.”

Itsuki’s interest was piqued, and he took one of the bottles, eyeing it. It was the SanktGallen’s Imperial Chocolate Stout[55]

“…There’s chocolate inside?”

“Nope. The chocolate taste is made by roasting the malt. In other words, it’s Stout. This is the only period with uniquely produced stout…it’s nice. Want some?”

“…O-of course.”

Itsuki gulped, and Haruto’s face showed a teasing smile.

“Hahaha…look at you, greedy guy. You look so thirsty.”

“Do-don’t be stupid…! When have I ever looked so thirsty…”

“You say that, but you’re gripping that thing so tightly.”

“…! Ugh, ah whatever, let’s just drink!”

“Hey hey, this isn’t how you should be begging, right? Look, plead properly.”

“Who-who’s—”

“…What are you two doing?”

Upon hearing this cold voice, both of them turned around, and found Nayuta standing at the door without them knowing.

“I’m practicing how to attack as a b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Such characters seem to be popular with girls.”[56]

Haruto heartily answered, and Itsuki exclaimed, “There’s such thing…!” Of course, Itsuki’s reaction was for real.

“…I have no interest in the man s.l.u.t prince trying to get a high on his own. But Itsuki-senpai’s reaction was amazing when he was attacked…do you prefer to be dragged along, senpai?”

“Hey, stop with the useless random thoughts, Lord Kani.”

Upon seeing Nayuta mutter for real, Itsuki gave a leery look.

Nayuta entered the house, and the trio sat around the kotatsu.

Haruto popped the cap of the chocolate beer, pouring gla.s.ses for Itsuki and himself.

The chocolate color fluids and the delightful froth filled the gla.s.s, the fragrance lingering.

“So nice. I want to drink.”

“Just drink your root beer, alright?”

Itsuki said, and with a scowl, “I will.” Nayuta pouted, took out a can of root beer from her bag, and poured it into her own gla.s.s.

Root beer looked similar to the chocolate stout, being a black liquid with froth, but it had a unique medicinal smell.

“What is this, some cold patch…!?”

Haruto scowled once he scented upon the stench.

“…You really brought it here.” Itsuki noted.

“Yes. I bought an

entire carton on Amazon.”

On a side note, root beer is a carbonated drink that has a mixture of several herbs, and though very popular in USA, it was rare to buy such a drink in j.a.pan, except for Okinawa. Due to the ga.s.siness and the unique taste, the popularity varies according to the person, and some called it a ‘Drinkable Salonpas’[57]

Itsuki and company did drink A&W on Okinawa, and back then, Miyako’s opinion was ‘It’s like Salonpas and Syrup mixed together’, giving up midway through her drink. Itsuki’s opinion in turn was ‘It’s like adding more herbs to Dr. Pepper…I don’t really hate it, but I rather drink Dr. Pepper’, and finished his drink. As for Nayuta, who was all the more impressed, ‘What is this? Why is this so delicious? I finally found something I’ve been looking for all this while! Let’s have another one!”, drank 5 cups (A&W provides free flow of root beer), and had a tummyache as a result.

Haruto brought his and Itsuki’s gla.s.ses, and the chocolate stout before Itsuki, waving a V-sign with his left hand before the bottle, avoiding Itsuki’s face as he took a photo. ‘Today’s Valentine’s Day, I’m having chocolate beer with Itsuki-kun (*^_^*) ♡’ he posted this along with the photo onto Twitter.

“…Another gay appeal?”

Itsuki looked dumbfounded.

“Everyone’s more accepting than I expected. Anyway, I intend to keep up the gay love route until the anime airs…look, I got some happy messages.”[58]

Appearing on the screen of the smartphone was “You two are still so loving!”, “Congratulations!”, “ヽ(^O^) ╯”

“…I have no interest in the man s.l.u.t prince twitter. I’m just wondering if these people will attack when senpai and I get married?”

“They know that we’re just joking around for fun. Should be fine, probably.”

Haruto answered a worried looking Nayuta.

“…Relax. The day you and I get married will never come.”

Itsuki muttered with a nonchalant look, brought the cup up, and took a drink.”

“Oh…?”

Unlike the usual impression of chocolate, there was hardly any sweetness in the stout. An intense bitterness of cocoa spread in the mouth. This unexpected taste left him shocked.

“…This taste is rather unique. I want some sweet stuff as side dishes.”

Haruto too took a gulp, and said,

“Speaking of which, I bought some Royce raw chocolate in Hokkaido. Let’s have that then.”[59]

Itsuki said that, and got up, but Nayuta stopped him.

“Wai-wait a second, senpai! Why do you have to buy your chocolate at such a moment?”

“…What’s the problem. There’s never enough chocolate.”

Writing novels is a very taxing job on the brain, so it’s very important to replenish the brain with sugars. Also, there’s a need to concentrate, and thus, an empty stomach’s a tough opponent.

Chocolates are foods that can satisfy both the brain and the tummy, so Itsuki’s room was often filled with chocolates.

“So Nayu-chan, you brought chocolates for Itsuki?”

“Of course…and I was wondering when I should bring it out.”

Haruto asked, and Nayuta pouted.

“So Itsuki, just have Nayu-chan’s chocolate. I’ll have that raw chocolate then.”

“…Lord Kani’s chocolate…I hope there isn’t any strange thing put inside.”

Seeing Itsuki gave an anxiety look, Nayuta looked displeased.

“I did buy this from a shop.”

Saying that, she fished out two nicely wrapped boxes to Itsuki.

“…One of them is Obligation’s chocolate from Mya-san. She bought it along with me.”[60]

“I see.”

“…I wanted to make chocolates with all kinds of substances from me, but Mya-san gave me a serious look when she told me to give up, so I decided not to and bought them instead.”

“…Good work, Miyako.”

Nayuta gave the G.o.diva Limited Edition Valentine’s Chocolate that was packed in a heart-shaped box. Miyako too sent G.o.diva chocolate slabs, but it was not a limited item.[61]

Itsuki immediately took a gulp of stout, and had a piece of Nayuta’s chocolate. A suitable amount of sweetness spread in the mouth, and the bitterness of the stout that lingered on the tip of the tongue emphasized on the sweetness. However, the taste of stout was not overpowered, but emphasized. As expected, it went well with the chocolate.

Haruto took a photo, uploaded a photo onto twitter going ‘Itsuki-kun gave me some Royce’s raw chocolate ////’, and started to eat the chocolate as he indulged in the stout. The bottle was soon emptied.

The next thing opened was the Valentine’s Day limited edition beer Haruto brought along, the sweet vanilla stout. This stout included vanilla essence, was very sweet, and too was very compatible with chocolate.

The trio continued to leisurely play ‘Dominion’ as they finished the second bottle, and then, they summoned from the fridge something that was of Belgium produce, similar to G.o.diva, but slightly sweeter, the I-Gouden Carolus Christmas Beer, and the Winter Koniske. The beer party officially started.

As it was dinner, the gratin and beef stew Chihiro prepared the prior day was taken out to be heated, and shared amongst the trio.

It was left for a day, but the beef remained tender, and the taste was rich.

“This is delicious! Your little brother’s way too good at cooking here! This can be sold out there.”

Haruto earnestly marveled.

“Huff huff…this is good. As to be expected of my future brother-in-law.”

Itsuki just pretended not to hear Nayuta’s delusion.

“…Speaking of which, it seemed Chihiro did use the chocolate to spice up the flavor. he did mention how polyphenol can affect the meat.”

Surely Chihiro would be able to have lots of chocolate today, Itsuki thought.

The trio kept eating, and suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Itsuki found it a ch.o.r.e, but he still got up to the corridor, peeped through the door, and found the editor Toki Kenjirou standing outside.

“This is bad! It’s the editor! Run!”

Itsuki yelled into the room, and Haruto kept drinking beer at will, while Nayuta quickly ducked under the kotatsu.

Itsuki realized that he forgot to lock the door, and prepared to reach for it, but the door was opened silently.

“…Looks like you’re having fun here.”

Toki said with a stoic look. His face was skinny, dark rings under the lenses of his gla.s.ses, the old fiery appearance of his had completely vanished.

“I-is there something…if it’s to discuss the new proposal, I’m still not down.”

Toki showed a tired smile, and while Itsuki’s face was frozen in fear, the former let out a sigh.

“…I don’t want to talk about work for today.”

“…R-really? What brings you here today then?”

“I’m here to deliver Valentine’s Chocolate. I saw that Fuwa-sensei is together with you on Twitter, so I brought his along as well.”

“Ohh! I’ve been waiting!”

Itsuki showed a happy face, as though a different personality had shown through.

“…Sorry to disturb you.” Toki said, and entered the room.

“Good work today.”

Haruto heartily greeted.

“Good work today…I know you’re here, Kani-sensei, I saw your shoes on the corridor.”

“You’re mistaken. I’m Itsuki-senpai’s wife, Hashima Kaniko. Thank you for taking care of my husband all this while.”

Nayuta, who hid herself under the kotatsu, slowly climbed out, and calmly stated this.

Toki looked dumbfounded.

“I’m not going to bother you, Kani-sensei. Your books aren’t under my charge.”

“As to be expected of you, Toki-sama, always so understanding! Well, come have some.”

Nayuta got gleeful, poured some beer into the gla.s.s Haruto just finished, and handed it over to Toki.

“…I’ll have this then.”

Toki immediately gulped down the beer as though he was drinking juice.

“Fuah!”

“…That beer’s rather expensive…”

Haruto grumbled, looking somewhat displeased, but Toki did not listen.

“Here’s the chocolate. And this is for you, Haruto-sensei.”

Toki handed the bags to Itsuki and Haruto. Itsuki’s one was exceptionally big, and really heavy.

“Thank you very much.”

“Kukuku…my followers have provided their offerings.”

The two of them took out chocolates, and laid them onto the table. The chocolates Haruto received totaled to about ten, while the number Itsuki received was way too much to be displayed on the tabletop.

“Fuhahaha, you see you Haruto!? This is my ability! Now that I’m so popular, I won’t have difficulty in going out there and saving the world kukukuk, fuauhahahahahahagakackack!!”

While Itsuki heartily laughed and choked on his saliva, Haruto gave a hearty smile, but it was obvious that he was a little peeved.

“…To be exact, those chocolates aren’t ‘for you’, but ‘for the characters in your works’.”

“Right. There’s no way Itsuki-senpai can be popular. The only one on this world who truly loves senpai is me.”

“Hahahahaha say all you want, pitiful losers! Say it, what are you feeling now!? You lost in the number of chocolates received to me, Ikemen[62] prince, what are your thoughts now?”

“Ugh…” That arrogance from Itsuki left Haruto’s face numb and twitching.

Every year, during Valentine’s, the editorial branch would receive lots of chocolates and sweets from the readers. Of them, few are sent to the authors themselves; most were sent to the characters appearing in the works.

Surprisingly, in terms of sales volumes, Nayuta and Haruto’s works were far superior, but there was an astounding number of chocolates sent to the editorial branch, specified to the characters Itsuki penned.

Amongst the readers of Fuwa Haruto’s work ‘Keikai no Chevalier’, more than 95% were males, and naturally, there were few who would send chocolates.

Kani Nayuta’s work ‘Scenery’ was more of a group drama, mainly depicting a realistic bunch of boys and girls with many flaws. The appearing characters often show romance, and as the author’s a female, there were lots of female readers. Due to the style of the work however, it was unlikely that the readers would send chocolates to the characters.

In contrast, Hashima Itsuki’s work had siscon tendencies that went overboard, there were all kinds of surreal, cool male characters, including the protagonist showing up, so there was quite a major female reader base.

The second work in particular, ‘Genesis Star of the New World’ was during the period when Itsuki was most obedient to the editor,, and the siscon tendencies were kept relatively in check. Also, there were beautiful ill.u.s.trations of beautiful girls, a.s.ses, and even cool guys, all provided by the super G.o.d Puriketsu. Even though the work had long ended, there were a lot of loyal, diehard fans who loved the story.

For Itsuki, who would easily have an inferiority complex when compared to the handsome dude Haruto and the perfect superman Chihiro, the one day he would most enjoy was—Valentine’s Day.

“Kukuku. Enough talk. Let’s taste the offerings of my loyal followers.”

But unlike the crude tone, Itsuki carefully opened the packaging, and tasted each chocolate carefully. He looked happier than he did tasting Nayuta and Miyako’s premium chocolate, and Nayuta looked displeased as she said this, puffing her cheeks.

妹

And so, Toki seemed to have completely forgotten that he said ‘just one gla.s.s’, and kept drinking until he got drunk, hara.s.sing not only Itsuki, but Haruto and Nyuta.

“Fuwa-sensee, why are you aple to deliver your dafts so puntually~ so ablazing!”

“Ah, ahh, yeah…you’re overcomplimenting me…”

“I bope the other s.h.i.tty auhors and s.h.i.tty ill.u.s.trabors can learn from sensee~!”

“No, calling them s.h.i.tty is…”

“Kani-sensei~!”

“Y-yes.”

“Please work seriousllly~! Please keeep to the dedline~! You are ourr bestselling autor! That Puriketsu too. Why are the craters always increasingly not serrious with theirr work the more popular they arrreeeee~!”

“…Anyway, let’s leave this topic for another time. We’ll settle this appropriate, and work hard to see if there’s any possibilities of working hard.”

Haruto and Nayuta simply rattled on, obviously as their moods were ruined.

But Toki kept latching onto them, and they had enough.

“Right, Itsuki, we’ll be going back then…”

“…Senpai, do your best here.”

“Wa-wait a sec! You two are just going to leave me like this!?”

The duo returned home, and Toki vented all his vexations upon Itsuki alone.

A week back, Toki learned that Puriketsu, or Ena Setsuna went to Hokkaido, rushed all the way to Hokkaido with a laptop and pentab in hand, caught the latter at the Snow Festival, and locked him in the Sapporo hotel. After supervising him and making sure the ill.u.s.trations were done, Toki finally returned to Tokyo this morning, and looked to be completely worn out, physically and mentally.

“I finally made it to Hokkaido, but I stayed in the hotel the entire time. I didn’t get to eat anything good, and didn’t have time to go visit the local tourist attractions…! Uuu…d.a.m.n it…”

“…R-really? That’s rather sad…anyway, there’s still some Royce raw chocolate. Want some?”

“…Oh…thanks…good…chocolate’s goood…”

Toki kept crying as he ate the chocolate, tumbled back, and fell asleep until the next morning.

The next day, Toki went to work at the publisher’s office while hungover, but it was commonplace for editors, so his superior did not tell him off.