Valentine's Day, also known as Saint Valentine's Day. It originated on February 14th in the year 270 AD, the day a Roman Christian nad Valentine was executed.
Why did the execution day of a saint beco known to the world as "Valentine's Day"? The true reason has long been lost to history, and the complex, dry hypotheses proposed by historians probably don't interest many people today.
For people today, especially for adolescent boys and girls in the restless season of youth, Valentine's Day is rely an excuse to give chocolate and confess their feelings to their crush.
In a sense, Valentine's Day is also the day where the battle called Romance is decided.
Tokisaki Kurumi, an entity who had taken over ten thousand lives and was known as the "Worst Spirit." In order to seize the Spirit power stored inside Shido, she had challenged him to a romantic duel where the first to fall for the other loses.
Therefore, for Kurumi, Valentine's Day was undoubtedly the decisive day to conquer Shido.
Therefore, going out to buy ingredients for making chocolate the day before Valentine's Day was entirely logical.
Therefore, running into Yutsuki and the others—who were also preparing to make chocolate—at a dessert shop was not surprising in the least.
Therefore, her proposing to make chocolate together with everyone was perfectly understandable.
Therefore, Kotori bringing her back to the Spirit apartnt so they could all happily make chocolate together was also a completely normal occurrence.
"No, this is weird no matter how you look at it, right?"
Looking at Kurumi, who was confidently standing in the Spirit apartnt's kitchen, humming a tune while tying an apron around herself, Yutsuki couldn't help but roast the situation.
"Well, don't sweat the small details, Biri-chan."
Nia patted Yutsuki's shoulder to comfort her.
"Weren't you just really bothered about your falling out with Kurumin last night? Since you luckily ran into her, why not use this chance to chat with her and clear the air?"
"Well..."
Hearing Nia's suggestion, Yutsuki looked a bit hesitant.
"Well, even putting that aside, tomorrow is the day of the date with Shido. It's not a bad idea to use this chance to gather more intel," Kotori added as she put away the shopping bags full of ingredients.
"...Kotori."
At that mont, Reine suddenly appeared beside Kotori and whispered sothing in her ear. After Kotori nodded in agreent, Reine left the kitchen.
"Excuse , I'm going to the restroom."
"Yutsuki-nee... It's more polite for a girl to say she's going to 'pick flowers'..."
"Yeah, yeah~"
Giving Kotori a brush off answer, Yutsuki walked out of the kitchen and found Reine at the entrance of the Spirit apartnt.
"Reine-san."
Hearing Yutsuki's voice, Reine stopped walking.
"...Hm? What is it, Yutsuki?"
"Where are you going?"
"...To the Fraxinus. I want to check Kurumi's emotional waves and affection levels right now."
It wasn't sothing she needed to hide, so Reine answered truthfully.
"Couldn't you just ask Maria and Marina to do that? And didn't you just asure Kurumi's affection level yesterday?"
"Mhm... But didn't you have a falling out with her last night? Her emotions might be fluctuating quite a bit... Operating directly from the airship... will yield more precise data..."
Reine explained. Then, looking at Yutsuki with sleepy eyes, she asked in return,
"Yutsuki... like Nia said... since you had this rare encounter... why not try talking to Kurumi... Although eting soone you argued with yesterday is inevitably awkward... but considering what is at stake... please do your best..."
"Ah! Don't worry, I know that better than you do. It's exactly because I know that I ca looking for you."
Yutsuki shrugged, speaking with a firm tone.
"What do you an..."
Hearing Yutsuki's words, Reine asked in confusion.
"What do I an... I already explained this before. Kurumi ca to to stop DEM from assassinating Shido. The reason Kurumi and I had a falling out was because we had a disagreent on that exact point..."
At this, Yutsuki suddenly shrugged, offering Reine a wry smile as she asked for a favor.
"Well, simply put, I'm already overwheld just dealing with DEM's attacks. Since this concerns Shido's life, I ca to ask if Reine-san has any effective solutions?"
"...Although I really wish I could answer you... unfortunately... I can't think of any good ideas at the mont either."
Reine said apologetically.
"Really nothing?"
Yutsuki pressed, refusing to give up.
"I am very sorry... for not being of help to you... but I am also a mber of Ratatoskr. If I discover anything, I will contact you imdiately..."
(As a mber of Ratatoskr, huh... Tch!)
Watching Reine skillfully dodge the question with clever wording, Yutsuki clicked her tongue internally. But on the surface, she remained completely composed and answered very politely,
"Mhm, I'll leave it to you then. Thanks, Reine-san."
"...You are welco."
Although she didn't get the answer she wanted, it wasn't a completely fruitless endeavor—comforting herself with this thought, Yutsuki said goodbye to Reine and returned to the apartnt's kitchen.
As soon as she entered the kitchen, she saw everyone passionately making Valentine's Day chocolates.
"Well... I guess I'll get started too."
Exhaling to adjust her mood, Yutsuki began preparing her own chocolate.
Perhaps Kotori and the others had done it on purpose, but they had left an open workstation right next to Kurumi for her.
"Yo, Kurumi. Sorry about yesterday."
Yutsuki greeted Kurumi, feigning a relaxed tone.
"..."
However, Kurumi completely ignored Yutsuki's voice. Her eyes were fixed on the shopping bags, seemingly pondering which ingredients to pick for her chocolate.
(She actually ignored ?!)
Yutsuki couldn't help but roast internally.
"Hello~ Can you hear , Kurumi-san~?"
Ignoring her again, Kurumi took out so dark chocolate, placed it on the cutting board, and began slowly chopping it into small pieces with a kitchen knife. The expression beneath her long black hair was unusually grave.
Rather than making sweet and bitter Valentine's Day chocolate, the tension radiating from Kurumi made her look more like a rookie chef making her first kill.
"...Kurumi?"
Yutsuki couldn't help but frown. At first, she thought Kurumi was ignoring her because of what happened last night, but looking at her now, it seed she was so tense she didn't even have the ntal capacity to observe her surroundings.
Just then, Kurumi, completely absorbed in prepping the chocolate, accidentally knocked a seasoning bottle off the counter with her elbow.
"Crap."
"That was close."
Fortunately, Yutsuki had quick reflexes and caught the seasoning bottle just before it hit the floor.
"Here. Be careful, Kurumi."
"Eh... Thank you, Yutsuki-san..."
Taking the seasoning bottle Yutsuki handed her, Kurumi stared blankly for a mont before asking in confusion,
"Yutsuki-san?... why are you here?"
"I've been standing next to you for a while now..."
Hearing Kurumi's question, Yutsuki answered, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"Need so help?"
"Eh? But aren't you making chocolate too, Yutsuki-san?"
"Well, you didn't look like you were in good shape, so I thought I'd give you a hand first. Besides, it's not a complicated recipe; I can finish my chocolate when I have so downti."
"I see. To offer salt to the enemy without fear of losing—as expected of Yutsuki-san, firmly seated on the throne of the main heroine. What incredible confidence."
"What do you think soone else's concern is?"
Hearing Kurumi's teasing, the corner of Yutsuki's eye twitched slightly. At this, Kurumi couldn't help but chuckle.
"Ah, my apologies. You are right. Since Yutsuki-san is offering, I will gratefully accept."
And so, after getting Kurumi's permission, Yutsuki moved over to her station to help.
"Sorry about yesterday. I said so unpleasant things."
Hearing Yutsuki's apology, a hint of surprise flashed in Kurumi's eyes before she smiled and shook her head.
"...No, I lost control of my emotions yesterday. Yutsuki-san was not at fault. I should be the one apologizing."
"That's good. How's Shido doing?"
Getting Kurumi's answer, Yutsuki quietly breathed a sigh of relief. While continuing her work, she smoothly shifted the topic.
"...Yes, he was fine today.Origami-san seed to avoid quite a few traps set by DEM, and the remaining dangers were neutralized by other '' in deserted areas nearby."
"I see..."
Hearing Kurumi's answer, Yutsuki felt no joy. Because she knew that the "remaining dangers" Kurumi ntioned were all intel obtained through ti regression after witnessing Shido's death in the future.
"Sorry... for leaving you to bear this all alone."
Kurumi smiled and shook her head.
"No, as I said just now, there is no need for Yutsuki-san to bla herself. Originally, this was sothing I was supposed to resolve on my own."
"But..."
Yutsuki wanted to say sothing, but Kurumi cut her off first.
"Say, Yutsuki-san, rember yesterday you said you saw hesitation in ?"
"Mhm... I rember you said it was because of ',' right?"
Of course, Yutsuki knew. The person Kurumi was talking about wasn't her current self, but the Yutsuki from the future world Kurumi had traveled from.
"Um... did future- say sothing really awful?"
Recalling everyone's evaluation that "the things she says easily anger people," Yutsuki asked sowhat uneasily.
Kurumi silently shook her head.
"No, quite the opposite. Actually, the future 'Yutsuki-san' was even gentler than the current Yutsuki-san... To the point where it makes one want to act spoiled..."
Toward the end, Kurumi's voice suddenly beca as faint as a mosquito's buzzing wings.
Hearing Kurumi's words, Yutsuki felt completely lost.
"Hm? Then why did you say it was my fault? By the way, did you just say sothing, Kurumi—Wait? What's this burning sll?"
The burning sll wasn't coming from the chocolate paste she and Kurumi were making. Following the scent, Yutsuki saw that the chocolate in Kotori's pot had already turned into black sludge.
"What happened, Kotori?"
"U-Um. I just wanted to heat up the chocolate and lt it, but for so reason, it burned instead."
Kotori answered, looking completely lost.
"That's because you didn't chop the chocolate into small pieces and didn't lt it slowly over low heat..."
Seeing the disaster at Kotori's station, Yutsuki covered her eyes, unable to bear the sight.
"...Sorry, Kurumi. I'm going to help Kotori. Keep an eye on this for ."
"Mhm, no problem."
Kurumi nodded readily.
"Sorry, Yutsuki-nee... I actually don't know how to make chocolate..."
"It's fine, I'll teach you if you don't know. Or rather, if none of you knew how to make chocolate, you should have said sothing earlier."
Feeling Yutsuki's helpless gaze, everyone awkwardly turned their heads away.
"Rember, first, if you want to lt chocolate, you need to chop it into small pieces so it heats evenly. When heating, place the chocolate in a small bowl and lt it over a double boiler with low heat. Be careful not to let the temperature exceed 50 degrees Celsius, otherwise it'll spoil..."
Patting the depressed Kotori's head to comfort her, Yutsuki helped clean up the station while explaining the steps of making chocolate to everyone.
"Tohka, don't eat the chocolate ingredients!"
"Nia, holding the knife like that is too dangerous! Use a cat paw! A cat paw!"
"Kaguya, you can add the edible gold flakes and silver sugar beads at the very end."
"Natsumi... you're surprisingly good at this. Keep it up just like that."
"..."
Watching Yutsuki take ticulous care of everyone like a mother, for so reason, Kurumi showed a complicated expression.
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