Chapter 179: Who Gets Heartfelt Chocolate?! (1)
~Third POV~
[February, UA Highschool, Heights Alliance – Kitchen, Japan]
February, the most frigid and brutal of the winter months, also happens to be the shortest on the calendar, passing by in what sometimes feels like the blink of an eye. Despite this, a certain holiday in the West is placed smack-dab in the middle of this blink-and-you'll-miss-it month, on the fourteenth.
Valentine's Day is a celebration rooted in Christianity. Its main modern-day custom involves the exchange of gifts between sweethearts.
Somehow or other, Japan's confectionary companies tweaked Valentine's Day into a moment for women to profess their love by giving men chocolate. Even that custom evolved to include just-friends chocolate for expressing platonic friendship and gratitude and Galentine's chocolate given by one gal to another gal pal.
Though Valentine's Day doesn't boast a particularly long history in Japan, it established itself by fulfilling a certain cultural demand. That is to say, Japan has scant few customs geared toward expressing love, so Valentine's Day and Japan found themselves hitched in a marriage of convenience.
Over at U.A. High, a sweet aroma wafted through the kitchen of class 1-A's dorm building, where Valentine's operations were in full swing. Vast quantities of wholesale chocolate were tossed into double boilers, transforming the hard blocks into a glossy, gloopy, coffee-colored substance.
As Ochaco Uraraka stirred her batch of chocolate, a fleck flew onto her hand, which she promptly licked up. She said in absolute bliss, "Taaasty!"
Tsuyu Asui, her partner holding down the bowl, chuckled and said, "Oh, you."
At the other table, Mina Ashido let a drip from her spatula fall onto her hand for a taste test of her own as she said happily, "Yummm! I could drink this stuff straight."
Himiko Toga, Ashido's chocolate-prep partner, said excitedly, "Lemme try too!"
She lifted one hand from the bowl for Ashido to dab with chocolate, licked it, and said happily, "Um, yeah, that's totally yummy!"
Nearby, Momo Yaoyorozu, who was taking a break from melting chocolate, grabbed two spoons and marched over to the other girls lightly scolding them as she said, "That's poor etiquette, ladies. Any taste testing must be done with designated taster spoons. Here you are, Kendo."
Scooping a tiny spoonful of chocolate and handing it to Itsuka, Kendo replied, slightly taken aback, "Oh, thanks?"
Though one taste of the chocolate was enough to melt her stiff expression. It was when an exasperated Ren Yuki, who had watched this scene play out lightly, scolded them with Toru helping him on his side, "C'mon, girls! As I told you, tempering chocolate is a delicate art that can totally affect the flavor. Make sure those temperatures are just right."
At this, the ten girls straightened their backs and said in unison, "Yes, Sensei! Sorry, Sensei!"
Ren was class A's resident cooking-making expert, so today, the amateur pâtissier was coaching the girls through the ins and outs of making chocolate. This isn't to suggest that Ren didn't enjoy the activity; all eleven classmates were having a grand old time in the kitchen as Toru cheered excitedly, "Keep up that mixing! I can't wait to taste the finished product."
Kinoko, partnered with Yui, agreed with a grin and replied happily, "Don't forget—we're making this for the others as well, shroom!"
Toga with a smile agreed as she said, "Yeah, uh-huh!"
Briefly, she had an image of Ren Yuki floating up into her mind's eye, coated in chocolate as she blushed lewdly licking her lips, 'I don't mind taking a bite of that Yuki Chocolate coating~ Hehehe…'
The chocolate-making scheme had all begun when a certain clique of boys (namely, Hanta Sero and Denki Kaminari) pressured the girls with demands for Valentine's Day chocolate. From there, the girls decided that everyone could enjoy the treats together, and soon enough, the rest of the boys were jazzed about the plan.
Rising to meet expectations is a core tenet of future heroes, but at the end of the day, it seemed like a fun opportunity to indulge in sweets made together as a team. Momo said, barely able to contain her excitement, "What a delightful holiday! Friends giving each other chocolate? How lovely."
She had only recently learned of the concept of 'Galentine's' from the others, and since they were going to the trouble of making the chocolate, the group had decided to exchange Galentine's chocolates while they were at it, as Toru added happily, "Totally! I'm more hyped about sharing with you gals than giving any to the boys."
Jiro nodded her head in agreement as she smiled, helping Yui in a chill tone, "Back in middle school, girls put so much effort into this stuff. I never really got why it was such a big deal."
Listening to Jiro's response, Kendo responded curiously, assisting Ochaco Toga with the chocolate, "Maybe cuz so many girls were doing it? It makes you wanna do an extra-good job, in the hope that whoever you're giving it to realizes how much time and hard work went into it."
Ochaco nodded and said, "Yep!"
Ren nodded his head as he smiled, reminiscing his time cooking for the Hopper's Café. In a happy tone, he said, "I get it. When someone bites down on your little masterpiece, all that hard work finally comes to fruition. Still, I'm happy enough to hear them say 'Yum' and be done with it. I guess."
Ren was in the habit of serving his homemade pastries to the rest of the class, and a bittersweet look rose on his face as he reflected on the typical reaction from the other boys.
Seeing this, Yaoyorozu raised a hand to her cheek woefully, thinking about the tea she was prone to serving alongside Ren's sweets as she honestly said, "I can empathize… I put quite a bit of thought into the balance of my tea blends, so when the feedback is a simple 'Yum,' I feel a tinge of disappointment."
Toru agreed as she added bluntly, singling out three of the boys, though not out of ill will, "I know who you mean! Kirishima, Todoroki, and Kaminari, right?"
And she wasn't wrong. Kirishima's feedback was usually a bold 'Yum!' while Todoroki's 'Yum' was on the candid side, and Kaminari might say, 'That's like, yum!'
Jiro nodded her head as she added, commenting about Izuku in a calm tone, "Meanwhile, Midoriya's food reviews are perfection, though a little on the long side."
Ren nodded, agreeing as he commented nonchalantly, "I'll take a lengthy critique any day of the week!"
Momo agreed, nodding as she said respectfully, "I feel much the same!"
Some of the girls were confused as Ren elaborated in an impressed tone, having Izuku as a taste tester, "Midoriya's got that mind for analysis and attention to detail. The other day, he figured out that I used maple syrup in my cake as a way of making the flavors deeper and richer."
Momo nodded her head, agreeing as she shared her experience in a surprised tone, "Indeed. Though Midoriya wasn't all too savvy about tea to begin with, he seemed to learn more about the art with each tasting. There's nothing like an eager learner to make the brewing seem worthwhile."
Ren added with a nod, smiling, having Izuku as his taste tester, "Yeah, there's nobody I'd rather have sampling my goods."
As the two flavor artisans swapped satisfied smiles, Hagakure thought of another classmate prone to unique feedback who said, "Ah, Bakugo too, come to think of it. He doesn't always join the tea party, but when he does, he speaks his mind, yeah?"
The smiles were replaced by stern looks on Ren's and Yaoyorozu's faces as he said in a strained tone, "That Bakguo's a sharp critic. There was this one cake I burned—just a tiny bit, mind you! —and he picked up on it. He said it was drier than the previous one."
Momo nodded as she added her experience of having Bakugo as a taste tester or coming to teatime and said, "I had a similar experience. One time, when I let my tea steep a moment too long, he commented that it tasted more bitter than usual. Ordinarily, I'm overjoyed to hear that people can tell the difference at all, but when it's coming from Bakugo, it almost feels as though I'm being graded…"
Ren nodded his head, pointing at Momo, agreeing, "Yeah, it's like he's scoring us or something!"
The ever-talented Mr. Bakugo was a skilled food critic with a discerning palate, which forged a bond of solidarity between Yaoyorozu and Ren. Momo bluntly said with a sigh, "I suppose, in that sense, I am grateful to hear a simple 'Yum' after all…"
Ren shivered lightly as he responded with his arms crossed, "Yup. There's worse feedback for sure…"
Asui, interrupting the bonding session over food critiques, asked curiously, "Ren, what about the tempering?"
Returning to reality, Ren blinked before resuming his skillful stirring as he said, "Shoot, sorry! Yeah, keep going with that."
Yaoyorozu, not ready to move on from the previous topic, said curiously, "Even Denki managed to give me proper feedback recently."
The other girls flinched at the mention of that name as Jiro bluntly stated, "You know he's got shady motives, Momoyao."
Mina nodded her head, agreeing as she honestly said, "Yeah, the pest just wants some chocolate outta you!"
Momo, taken aback, gasped in a shocked tone and said, "You don't mean … heartfelt chocolate?"
All the other nine girls said all at once, "Duh!"
Denki's recent transformation was extreme enough that they'd all noticed. Normally, he'd seize every opportunity to make a cheesy pickup comment or a creepy move, but lately, he'd been treating his female classmates with unusual kindness. Nothing was more unexpected or bizarre to those who knew him, but his current attitude suggested that he'd never been anything less than a perfect gentleman.
The explanation? The fact that Valentine's Day was coming up. A day for girls to profess their affection and one for boys to sit back in the hope of being someone's—anyone's—crush.
In other words, a test to see how popular a given boy was with the ladies. That sort of attention was Denki's greatest, longest-cherished desire, but alas.
Ren tried to back up his friend, seeing he was partially at fault for giving him tips on how to pick up chicks, nervously said, "Aw, c'mon… Try to think about how he must feel."
Ren, viewed Denki's dirty deeds as something pure and perfectly understandable. He understood where Denki was coming from, but given that the girls were the perpetual victims of his cheesy lines, they had no desire to consider his feelings on the matter.
Having been revealed the truth of Denki's nature, Momo commented with a huff, "He wishes to receive heartfelt chocolate, does he? Then he ought to clean up his act permanently."
Jiro added, earning nods from the other girls in a righteous tone, "No more comments about a girls' bust size! Start with that!"
Thoroughly outvoted, Ren could only grimace in defeat as he thought, 'Ah… poor Denki you have it rough, buddy…'
After all, the law of the jungle states that desperately seeking popularity in the romance department is the best way to remain unpopular and lovelorn. As they chatted more about Denki and other topics, the group continued working away on their chocolate-based projects.
They whipped up old standbys like truffles, cookies, and ice cream, as well as full-blown cakes such as gâteau au chocolat, fondant au chocolat, and Sacher torte as Ren added happily, "Great! The decorating comes after we chill these guys, so let's handle that before dinner."
With only the finishing touches remaining, they stowed the cakes and treats in the fridge. Jiro said after hours in the kitchen, the girls stretched a bit to loosen up and began to leave, "Phew. Break time …"
At the back of the pack, Ochaco noticed Ren looking over the ingredients as she asked curiously, "Not taking a breather, Ren?"
Shaking his head he replied busy prepping the food, "Not just yet. Wanna make sure everything is just right."
The girls nodded as they all left the area to head outside for their break. Having inhaled saccharine chocolate aromas for so long, the girls decided to head outside for a breath of fresh air.