ãâ¦I thought all I had to do was stay home?ã
Within five seconds of calling her into the common space, Miyagi makes a disgusted sound.
ãIâm going to make chocolate, so help me.ã
ãWhy?ã
ãBecause itâs February 14th.ã
On the kitchen cooktop are the chocolates I bought for the occasion, along with the knives and pots for cooking them.
ãYou told me to leave it open today, but you didnât ask me to help you make chocolate.ã
ãI didnât tell you, but since youâre home, you should help.ã
ãItâs a hassle. Why donât you just buy chocolate?ã
ãWell, Iâm going shopping now, will you come with me?ã
ãI donât want to.ã
I can hear her denying my words, but itâs only been about an hour since I had lunch, so I have plenty of time to go out.
ãIf you donât want to, help me. You have plenty of time. If you donât want to go buy something, you can make it.ã
It was predictable that Miyagi wouldnât like it either. But if I backed down, there would be no point in having her vacate Valentineâs Day.
ãYou can make it on your own, so thereâs no point in me going out of my way to help you, Sendai-san.ã
Miyagi complains and kicks me in the leg.
ãBecause itâs more fun for the two of us to make it together. Also, you could give it to Utsunomiya.ã
I do not want Utsunomiya to give the chocolates we make together. Of course, I donât want anyone else to have them either.
But I thought that if there was some reason to make chocolate, Miyagi would break it.
I want to make and eat chocolates with Miyagi on Valentineâs Day.
The only way to do that is to put Utsunomiyaâs name out there.
ãâ¦Sendai-san, are you going to give it to Komatsu-san?ã
Miyagi looks at me as if she is solving a difficult problem.
ãI wonât see Mio at my next part-time job and I donât plan to see her for a while.ã
The first chocolates I gave to Miyagi on Valentineâs Day as a high school student were âfriend chocolatesâ for Umina and my friends. On the second Valentineâs Day, the âjust in caseâ was removed.
And this year, for the third time.
It has become something that I give only to Miyagi and want to receive from her only.
Itâs silly, but even though I know Miyagi doesnât feel the same way I do, I still want to do the common and increasingly boring event of passing chocolates between us.
ãIâm not planning to see Maika for a while either.ã
ãI see. But I want to eat chocolate, so letâs make it. Donât you like truffles, Miyagi?ã
ãYouâre making truffles?ã
ãIf you donât like it, I can get you something else.ã
ãâ¦Truffles are fine. How do you make them?ã
Miyagi approaches the sink and grabs a piece of chocolate.
ãI chop the chocolate, melt it, make a ganache, and then put cocoa powder on it or coat it with chocolate. Iâll chop it up for now, give me a hand.ã
I receive the chocolate from Miyagi and chop it into small pieces with a knife. When I have shaved about two-thirds of the chocolate, I hear Miyagiâs voice, who had been silently watching me work.
ãSendai-san. Chocolates sold in stores are made from cacao beans, right?ã
ãYes, but⦠were you perhaps going to say you want to make chocolate from cacao beans?ã
ãNot really, but if youâre going to melt chocolate and make it, wouldnât it be better to just eat it as is instead of going to the trouble of making it by hand?ã
ãItâs not fine. Iâll make truffles. Get out the whipped cream in the fridge.ã
I canât just let them eat the chocolate that I went to the trouble of buying to make truffles by hand. I give the next task to Miyagi, who brought the whipped cream without complaint.
ãHeat the cream and bring to a boil, then turn off the heat.ã
I tell her how much and how much heat to use, and leave the cream to Miyagi. After a while, I hear a voice saying,ãIâve turned off the heat,ãand I add the cream to the bowl with the chopped chocolate and mix it in a circular motion with a rubber spatula. Then, have Miyagi back the finished product and place it in the refrigerator to chill.
ãHow long do we have to wait?ã
Miyagi says in a bored voice.
ãIâd say about thirty minutes.ã
ãIsnât that long?ã
ãThen letâs ice it.ã
ãIt doesnât matter either way.ã
When she replied in a curt voice and I wondered what to do, Miyagi spontaneously started washing the pots.
ãSendai-san, do you like chocolate so much that you make it by hand?ã
ãNot that Iâm saying that, but itâs Valentineâs Day.ã
ãSo you like Valentineâs Day then?ã
ãMhm, itâs not that I like it, itâs just one of those events. Itâs like Halloween or Christmas.ã
ãSendai-san, you like those events, donât you?ã
I decide to ice the chocolate and take it out of the refrigerator and place it on the cooktop.
The shared space is filled with a delicious sweet aroma, appropriate for Valentineâs Day. But Miyagiâs question is not sweet. Her question,ãDo you like it?ãis a difficult question for me and I am not sure if the answer is correct.
Thereâs no need to get worked up just because someone asks you what you like, but I canât stop thinking about theãthings I donât likeãand theãthings I do likeãthat Miyagi told me to make.
I look down at the sludgy chocolate.
ãâ¦Do you like those events, Miyagi?ã
ãIâm not really interested.ã
After I say this, Miyagi, who has finished washing the dishes, disappear from my presence.
ãWhere are you going?ã
Without answering my question, Miyagi returns with a spoon in hand. And without hesitation, she plunged it into the bowl.
ãHey, Miyagi. What are you doing?ã
Even though she should have heard me, Miyagi scooped up the chocolate and brought the spoon to her mouth.
ãâ¦Is it delicious?ã
Thereâs no point in asking her to serve whatâs in her mouth, so I ask her what she thought.
ãYeah.ã
ãGive me that one.ã
I reached for the spoon that Miyagi is holding, but the desired object slips away.
ãNo. Iâve already put my mouth on it. If you want to scoop chocolate, youâll need a new spoon.ã
ãWeâre the only ones eating it anyway, so why not?ã
ãItâs not fine.ã
ãThen youâll give me a direct taste.ã
I bring my face close to Miyagiâs, who says nothing but stingy things.
She will know that I am about to kiss her, but she wonât close her eyes with a spoon. We put our lips together, but Miyagiâs eyes stay open, so I close mine instead. But before we can put our lips together, my feet was stepped on.
ãIâve tasted it so this should be fine.ã
Boring.
Not interesting.
Last Valentineâs Day, I gave Miyagi a taste kiss to give her a taste. Then this year I should be able to give her a taste kiss for me to taste it.
I took the spoon from Miyagi and grabbed her arm. Then I scooped some chocolate with the handle end of the spoon and stuck it on Miyagiâs palm.
ãYou got chocolate on you.ã
I can hear her disgruntled voice, but I donât apologize.
I bring my face close to his chocolate-stained palm and slowly crawl my tongue over it. I lick off what is staining Miyagiâs palm and press the tip of my tongue against it.
Itâs sweet.
Chocolate mixed with whipped cream melts and disappears on the tip of the tongue.
Miyagi strongly calls meãSendai-san.ã
She put more force than her voice into the hand that grabs my arm and lick it even though the chocolate is gone. It shouldnât taste like anything, but Miyagiâs body heat is sweeter than chocolate, and our lips are tightly pressed together.
ãDonât act like a dog.ã
Miyagi kicked me in the leg with a low voice, as if she was sending a pebble far away. When I had no choice but to look up, Miyagi said something boring again.
ãIâll clean your hand.ã
ãYou canât.ã
Pull on the arm while holding on.
ãIs this payback for what you said earlier?ã
ãMiyagi, you like this kind of thing, donât you?ã
Iâve done this kind of thing many times before.
Thatâs because Miyagi often gave me these orders.
So thereâs nothing to get angry about now.
ãâ¦Sendai-san.ã
Miyagi peels off my hand, which was still holding my arm, with a crunch.
ãWhat?ã
ãâ¦Did anyone want to give you chocolate for Valentineâs Day?ã
Miyagi, who wanted to wash her hands, didnât wash her hands and asked me something I hadnât expected.
ãBy chocolate, do you mean friend chocolate?ã
ãNo.ã
ãIf you were talking about that kind of chocolate, there wasnât any, butâ¦ã
ãBut?ã
ãWas there any for you, Miyagi?ã
ãThereâs no way I have those.ã
ãReally?ã
ãItâs no use lying. I mean, I think Sendai-san is lying more than me.ã
ãIâm telling the truth.ã
I answered shortly and handed the spoon back to Miyagi, which she quickly approached and swatted away.
ãWait Miyagi, itâs dirty.ã
Miyagi glared at me, as if she didnât like what I had just said.
I took a step back from the sink and braced myself.
She probably do the same thing I did earlier.
And Miyagi doesnât push a spoon with a bit of chocolate still on it at a spot that could get dirty. She should deliberately push it to a place where she doesnât want it to get dirty.
I call out a smallãMiyagiãand a dirty spoon is placed in the sink. When I relax my body in relief, Miyagi grabs my arm and bites my ear.
ãAww!ã
My voice comes out reflexively.
My earlobe is hot from the teeth.
Her teeth are set so hard that they seem to be bitten off, making me hives. Miyagiâs behavior is always unpredictable.
My body canât keep up with the unexpected action, and my sense of pain works harder than it should, but Miyagiâs body heat is close by, and I put my arm around her back to keep it locked in. But before I could hug her tightly, my earlobe was released and Miyagi left me.
ãWhen are you going to learn the word âholding backâ?ã
ãIâm holding back.ã
ãEven now?ã
Miyagi didnât answer my question, but looked at the chocolate in the bowl.
ãSendai-san. The chocolate, is it done?ã
I let out a small gasp at the flat voice.
ãNot yet, you know?ã
Chocolate is neither too soft nor too hard to roll.
I looked at the chocolate in the bowl, as did Miyagi.