Chapter 181: Who Gets Heartfelt Chocolate?! (3)
~Third POV~
[UA Highschool, Heights Alliance, Japan]
The girls returned to the kitchen, asking Ren if he had met the Glasses Girl, and he said his response in a confused tone, "Sorry? I don't quite know who you're talking about, and I don't believe I've helped a girl with glasses in the last few months."
The girls paused as Jiro nodded with genuine disbelief in her tone as she said, "He's not lying… huh. Talk about a surprise."
Ren merely raised an eyebrow as he cooked his chocolate. He replied nonchalantly, "Sorry if I don't go exactly for every girl in school. I may be a womanizer to my peers, but I at least know what I'm doing. Although it raises the question, why, you ask? Is it something you need my assistance with?"
The girls want to respect the trust the Glasses Girl gave to them. Momo shook her head as she asked curiously, "No, dear. But if you don't mind, do you know where Todoroki was last seen by chance?"
Hearing her question, he shook his head with his arms crossed as he replied bluntly, "No idea, actually. The last I've seen of him, he was in the school; he should be back in a few minutes. Do you, my dear wife, need anything else~"
Leaning closer to her face and wiggling his eyebrows, Momo's face turned red. But Mina dragged her and the girls as she cheekily replied, "Nope! We got all we need, Prince Charming, but we gotta go see ya later!"
Ren merely shrugged his shoulders as Toga cheekily said to Mina in a smug tone, "So… when did you two fucked?"
Mina's face turned bright red as she denied any claims in a nervous tone with a silent whisper in the end, "Wha – no! We didn't do that… at least, hopefully not yet…"
Jiro and Toga's ears were peaked. Toga grinned slyly, causing Mina to blush red as Kendo overheard, having a red face along with Jiro as Toga said, "You know if you wanted, I could help you set up with him? I mean, it is Valentine's Day, and I wanna make my friends happy, too. Right, Jiro, Yui, and Kendo-chan?"
The girls mentioned turned their heads away at the idea. But Mina blushed a deep red as the rest of the girls sighed, seeing Toga's antics all thought, 'Sigh… she's roping them into Ren's bed.'
However, removing the idea of sex for the time being, the girls returned to their original mission: delivering the chocolate as Ren was taken down being the likely suspect. The process of elimination left Todoroki, but he must have been out and about because the girls couldn't find him in his room.
They left the dorm again and headed for a path in the woods where they hoped to find Todoroki, perhaps out for a job. It was the weekend, so plenty of other students were enjoying the campus grounds, either exercising or relaxing as Jiro asked on a whim, "What defines a Prince Charming? Does that mean he'd look good with a frilly collar?"
The girls thought it over. They began making some suggestions out loud.
"Or, like, fluttery, flowing clothes and capes?"
"Like some kinda nobleman?"
"With a rose between his teeth?"
"Maybe have a big dick."
Hearing these suggestions, Ashido gasped and stopped dead as she said, "Hold up. I think we've got this all wrong!"
Confused by her sudden outburst, Ochaco asked confused, "What do you mean?"
Mina looked deadly serious as she faced the others and made her case she explained seriously, "We shouldn't be searching for a class-A dude who looks like a prince. When Glasses Girl said Prince Charming, she meant that that's how she sees him! It's probably got nothing to do with looks! Cuz when you fall for a guy—whoever he is—he's gonna be a total Prince Charming in your eyes!"
*Dramatic Gasps *
More gasps from the group, expressing shocked looks, and Mina continued explaining in a serious tone, "You get what I'm saying, right? Like in the shojo manga, when the girl falls in love with her guy, those sparkly effects suddenly pop up all around him! It's just like that!"
Mina had never fallen in love herself, so her best textbook on the subject was shojo manga. Those stories might have been fiction, but a foundation of raw human emotion was hidden beneath the sparkles.
There was always a kernel of truth within the fantasy, in the sense that one's crush in real life might seem to glow and sparkle. Going by that logic, the girls realized that any of the class A boys (except Ren, who'd already been ruled out) might be the intended recipient of the heartfelt gift as Momo muttered, stunned, shaking her head, "Indeed, we were wrong. The object of one's love is viewed through the lens of the heart…"
Toru nodded her head, agreeing as she added to Momo's response, "So we've just gotta ask all of them now!"
With this new objective, the group kept walking, now on the hunt for any of their male classmates. Before long, they spotted Kaminari and Sero coming toward them.
The girls locked eyes, communicating a silent message to each other, saying 'Don't mention the chocolate gift.' These two boys were the hungriest for Valentine's chocolate, so to speak, so a slip of the tongue here could be disastrous.
The two boys eventually met up with the girls as Denki cheerily spoke up, "Hey! Where are you ladies off to?"
Sero greeted them with a grin as he said cheerily, "Sup girls!"
The girls narrowed their eyes in suspicion. As conspicuous as his sudden reformation was, there was still a chance—albeit a slim one—that Denki was Glasses Girl's target of affection.
Jiro stepped up to the plate as she said, as casually as she could manage, "Say, you two… Did either of you help out a girl recently? Or a while back, even? At some point? Maybe a girl wearing glasses?"
Denki, looking puzzled, tried to recall as he honestly replied, "A chick with glasses? Nah, I don't think so."
Sero shook his head as he said with his arms crossed, asking curiously, "Nope. Me neither… But why're you asking?"
Having been asked this question, Jiro casually deflected the response in a chill tone, "Oh, no reason, really. It's just that this girl said a boy in our class helped her or something, so we're trying to find him."
Denki, listening, kept up his odd nice-guy act and asked curiously, "In that case, I'd be happy to help you search."
Convinced that Prince Charming was neither of these two, the girls politely but firmly turned down the offer of help as Jiro said, "Thanks, but we'll manage."
However, Kaminari, practically sparking with excitement, said, "Hang on now! So… got any chocolate for us?"
Caught off guard by the sudden questioning, Kendo quickly answered hastily, "Oh, sure. Chocolate cakes, pudding, truffles, you name it…"
But Denki shook his head as he explained in a chill tone beaming with excitement, "Naw, not like that. I'm talking Valentine's chocolates!"
The girls said, stunned, "Huh?"
Denki smirked as he continued explaining in a confident tone, expressing his joy of Valentine's Day, "C'mon, it's Valentine's Day! I'm hoping for a mini mountain of chocolates from girls! So much that I'd need a bucket to haul it all!"
The girls barely had time to express contempt for Kaminari's overly direct begging because some voices from behind shouted, "Oh! Over there!"
Another group of girls came running up, grinning widely and carrying decorated boxes of what was presumably chocolate. Denki looked stunned as he smiled happily said, "For me? You shouldn't have."
Sero grinned, seeing the girls coming his way as he said, "Or maybe … for me?"
The very thought sent the two boys' hearts racing, but the unfamiliar girls (most likely first-years, though not from the Hero Course) thrust their gifts toward none other than Jiro. The boys froze as they listened to Jiro stammering, "Whuh? These're for me?"
"The way you sang up on that stage… You rock, Jiro!"
"We were instant fans."
"So yeah! This is for you!"
Their mission complete, the gaggle of delighted girls ran off again as Jiro said stunned, "W-wow, thanks, I guess?"
Kaminari, practically weeping in frustration, snapped, "All that? For you?"
Yaoyorozu, remembering the performance in question, smiled as she congratulated Jiro and happily said, "Your singing was indeed lovely."
As the rest of the girls nodded in agreement, Jiro blushed almost imperceptibly and said, "Knock it off…"
Asui, taking a chunk of the pile, said in a helpful tone, "Let me help with those, Jiro."
Having watched this whole scene play out, Denki sighed out loud, with Sero patting his shoulder as they took their leave. He said, cheering his friend up, "Aw, come on, man. Let's get going there. You're bound to find a girl who'll give you chocolate; you still have a chance."
Denki slowly nodded with a small smile, feeling a bit cheered up. With the girls carrying Jiro's chocolate, they proceed to search for Prince Charming.
As they were searching for Prince Charming, they stumbled upon three boys of Class B: Sen Kaibara, Kosei Tsuburaba, and Shihai Kuroiro. Sen Kaibara, noticing their concerned expressions, asked curiously, "Something the matter?"
With him were Kosei Tsuburaba and Shihai Kuroiro. The girls exchanged glances before smiling at the class B boys, hoping to brush the matter under the rug as Momo said calmly, "No, we're quite all right."
Kendo, remembering their mission, soon asked as she addressed Tsuburaba, who had walked over to them, "Oh, by the way. Have you seen any of the class-A boys around? We're looking for them."
Tsuburaba, who was caught off guard for a second, quickly replied honestly, "Uh, the boys? Yeah, we saw Todoroki heading into the school a few minutes ago."
Before the girls headed for the building, Asui smiled and said thankfully, "Thanks, ribbit."
Tsuburaba looked almost wistful as he watched Asui walk away, prompting jeers from Kaibara and Kuroiro. Kaibara teased Tsuburaba in a cheeky tone and said, "Aww, didja think you'd get chocolates from Asui, lover boy?"
Tsuburaba, almost pouting, shouted, his expression looking strained, "I sure did! I was wondering if she was going around handing out just-friends chocolate! And sure, maybe I coulda been on her list!"
Kaibara, feeling a little more sympathetic, slumped down as he said in a depressed tone, "Fair enough, man. I guess a guy would get his hopes up, seeing a girl walking up to him holding something on Valentine's Day."
Kuroiro snickered at his friend's foolish love life in a mischievous tone, "Keh heh heh! Foolish hopes are dashed on this darkest of days."
An indignant Tsuburaba fired back, calling out on Kuroiro's rejection in a blunt tone, "You're one to talk, Kuroiro! We all saw you struggling to string two words together with Komori this morning, twitching and fidgeting the whole time just to be straight-up rejected!"
Kuroiro's face paled as he felt he had been shot by an arrow. Kuroiro's face seemed to contort in agony, recalling how Kinoko from Class 1-A kindly rejected him as she said 'I'm sorry, but I'm in love with someone else. I already gave my mind, body, and soul shroom.'
A tiny soul was escaping Kuroiro's body, being hit with his hopes and dreams being crushed at his rejection as he muttered soullessly, "Fine. I was hoping… but to think fate would dare for one truly suited for the night…"
Tsuburaba smugly smiled, seeing his words have their intended effect. Kaibara, on the other hand, asked curiously, "Hang on… Do you think class A is buying into the whole Valentine's Day thing, like, together?"
Tsuburaba paused, considering the idea as he replied in a spiteful tone, clearly jealous, "Must be nice. Our girls told us to buzz off and buy chocolate for ourselves if we wanted it that bad. I even saw the girls in our class making chocolate for Class 1-A Class Rep!"
Kaibara nodded his head, agreeing, feeling a pang of jealousy at Ren getting all the attention as he said venomously, "I bet they're no different. Doing all that chocolate stuff takes time, money, and hard work."
Tsuburaba agreed with his words as he added in a nonchalant tone, "For real. Besides, if a guy gets chocolate, then he's gotta worry about repaying the favor come March because of White Day. More trouble than it's worth, yeah?"
Kuroiro, returning to reality, said, "Agreed."
The three boys fell silent for a moment before Kaibara blurted out what they were all really thinking, deep down in an envious tone, "Still, I wouldn't mind if a girl walked up with some chocolate for me!"
Tsuburaba shrieked, startling some nearby students from his sudden outburst in a jealous tone, "Dammit, this holiday's got us dancing in the palm of its hand!"
Feeling the awkward stares, the boys decided to step away. They returned, discussing with themselves to calm their nerves.
"Vending machine, anyone? I'm feeling like hot cocoa?"
"Yeah, I need something sweet."
"Coffee for me. Black."
Kuroiro's two friends said in unison, "True to character."
The boys headed for the vending machine, chatting and laughing all the way. While one of Ren's clones is getting chocolate from the students hears and ponders, pitying Class B, 'I should maybe help them get chocolate? No one wants to feel left out, especially since I got all this chocolate from Class 1-B girls.'
Looking at the gifts of chocolates in a basket, the clone looked. The basket was filled with a different variety of chocolates and love letters as he sighed out loud, "Man… being the MC without becoming a hentai protagonist is hard work…"