{The girl next to me and the 200 yen chocolate}

Amidst the still noisy classroom, the sound of something scattering was heard.

It came from the seat to my left.

Turning my gaze toward the source, I saw small individually wrapped chocolates scattered on Satou-san’s desk. They were the usual cheap ones you can find in stores.

Satou-san herself, the one who dropped them, had a look of regret as she held some chocolates in her hand.

Then, cautiously looking my way, she offered an embarrassed smile.

“Sorry, I made a bit of a mess.”

“It did make quite a sound.”

I replied with a wry smile.

Lunch break was ending soon, and here she was scattering snacks around. What was she thinking?

“I didn’t mean to drop them. Sorry for surprising you.”

As she spoke, Satou-san gathered the spilled chocolates.

“It’s no big deal.”

I replied casually.

I really didn’t care. What Satou-san was doing had nothing to do with me. Her clumsy and inefficient actions were nothing new, and I wouldn’t have noticed if it hadn’t been noisy.

I didn’t like Satou-san, who sat to my left.

She was dull, clumsy, and inept, and we never seemed to connect when we talked. We didn’t match in anything, not in tempo nor in compatibility.

Yet, she was oddly friendly, and I always felt awkward around her.

“Hey, Yamaguchi-kun, do you like chocolates?”

Satou-san finally finished gathering them and leaned toward me.

“I do.”

I answered while avoiding eye contact, pretending to check my wristwatch.

The final bell would ring soon, and I needed to get my textbook out.

“Then, here you go.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Satou-san’s palm and the chocolates from before extended toward me. Four square chocolates were nestled in her outstretched hand, wrapped in transparent film.

“What’s this for?”

I asked involuntarily while glancing sideways.

I didn’t intend to make a serious remark about bringing snacks to school, but I didn’t understand why she was handing them to me.

Of course, there couldn’t be much significance to these cheap chocolates you could buy at any supermarket for a couple hundred yen at most.

“I was eating these with my friends earlier, after lunch.”

Satou-san said cheerfully.

It was the same tone of voice she had when she was happily chatting with the girls in the corner of the classroom during lunch break.

“I had a few left, so I thought maybe you’d like some.”

“I appreciate it, but are you sure? You don’t have to give them to me.”

I answered casually while opening my textbook.

There was no reason to be happy. These were just cheap chocolates you could find anywhere. How was I supposed to react to such low-quality snacks that wouldn’t even melt in your mouth?

“It’s okay. You’ve always been helpful to me.”

I heard her say those words as I glanced at my textbook.

I didn’t pay attention to the math formulas that didn’t interest me at all.

“Besides, it’s Valentine’s Day today.”

Satou-san added as if it were an afterthought.

So, I hesitated and looked up at her.

The girl in the seat to my left was smiling kindly, offering me the cheap chocolates.

I hadn’t expected someone like Satou-san to be even slightly aware of today’s significance. I thought she had no interest in Valentine’s Day, let alone any relation to it. Even though she knew about it, buying chocolates on this day and giving them to a guy she wasn’t even close to was a bit strange.

“Here you go.”

Satou-san smiled as usual.

Contrary to me, who couldn’t force a smile, Satou-san was smiling brightly.

“Yeah, thanks.”

I took the chocolates clumsily, just like she did earlier.

“Thank you.”

I muttered my thanks, and Satou-san nodded slightly.

“You’re welcome. Oh, you don’t need to give me anything for White Day¹.”

She said jokingly.

“Yeah.”

I couldn’t bring myself to smile, but Satou-san smiled as usual.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.”

Caught off guard, I couldn’t say anything and just looked down at the four chocolates in my hand.

The cheap chocolates were strangely hard, showing no sign of melting even in the palm of my hand.

These chocolates that wouldn’t melt felt like our relationship. Awkward and stubborn, and didn’t seem very delicious.

If I said I wanted to give something back next month, would Satou-san refuse?

If she hadn’t mentioned Valentine’s Day, I wouldn’t have cared about next month either.

I didn’t match with Satou-san in anything, from beginning to end.

—

1. White Day is a holiday celebrated in several East Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China. It is observed on March 14th, exactly one month after Valentine’s Day. On White Day, men are expected to give gifts, usually white-themed and often sweets, to women who gave them gifts on Valentine’s Day. It’s essentially a day for men to reciprocate the gestures of affection they received. ↩︎