It was just a normal day, not even slightly different from any other day until…

“Hey, you! Stop right there!”

A sudden voice called out to us and broke the normalness of a normal day.

It was from the annoying transferred girl who was currently standing right infront of us, blocking our way while pointing at us with a serious expression drawn on her  ̶c̶u̶t̶e̶ face.

“Urgh… What was your name again?”

I asked her in a monotone.

Of course I remembered her name, there was no way I could forget the name of someone as bottersome and conceited as her. However, since I remembered her name, I decided to tease her a little.

“Hikari! My name is Hikari, you should remember it!”

“Oh, so your name was Hikari? I totally forgot to ask the last time we saw each other.”

A familiar voice talked right by my side, it was Kasumi’s.

“W-Wait, you know her Kasumi?!”

I could hardly believe someone as free spirited as Kasumi hanging out with someone that looked as superficial as Hikari. They are just too different.

“We just happened to bump into each other the other day. Hahaha!”

Kasumi said with her usual cheerful smile drawn on her face. On the other hand, Hikari was nervously looking away from us, it had clearly been her fault.

“Mmm, I see…”

I said while looking at Hikari with a teaseful tone.

“A-Anyway, you should…!”

“As you could see, we have stuff to do, so could you move out of our way, please?”

“...!”

She looked shocked, as if it was the first time that she has had her words cut, and let not talk about someone denying something to her.

But don't get me wrong, is not me just being mean to her, we actually have a lot of stuff to do for today, so we should better get going as soon as possible.

That's why Kasumi followed what I’ve said with her own words.

“I'm sorry Hikari, but I promised to help Eriko today… We’ll talk another day, ‘kay? Sorry…”

“...”

And so, we started walking away from Hikari without saying more words. It was also surprising that she also didn't say anything more to us.

After walking for a while without saying anything between us, Kasumi started talking in a doubtful voice.

“Weren’t we a little bit too harsh on her? I mean…”

Well, it's true that it would look as if we were the ones being mean to her, however, it wasn't that we were bullying her or anything like that, it was just that we were in a hurry.

Of course, we could have managed the situation with a little bit more tact, but to be honest, it would have been a pain… So, in order to calm Kasumi, I gave her a brief and honest answer.

“I have nothing against her, okay? However, right now, this thing on our schedule is more important than anything.”

“I know, I know. You wouldn’t have asked for my help otherwise, right?”

“Right.”

Somehow Kasumi looked a little bit more at ease after hearing those words. Could it be that she is interested in Hikari? Or is it that I've just said that unless something is really important, I wouldn't depend on her?

Well, there's no time to think about that, right now…

“It's surprising though. To be honest with you, I wouldn't expect you to cook something, Eriko.”

“Well, it's going to be Valentine's, so I should give something to Sotoka, or she’ll be sad, right?”

What's more, surprising or not, I'm used to cooking, at least the easy stuff. However, this is my first time cooking something made out of chocolate, that's why I need some guinea pigs for the tasting.

“But aren't the boys supposed to be the ones that give something to the girls? Looking at you two, anyone would say that you are the girl one and Sotoka is the boy one.”

“Well, that would depend on what part of the world we are currently in. There's some places where the girls are the ones giving out chocolate. Besides, Sotoka is totally oblivious about this kind of stuff, so I shouldn't wait for something on her side… Besides, we are both girls, right?”

“You are totally serious about this, right?”

“Right.”

“You know? It wouldn't hurt to be a little more talkative, Eriko.”

“I'm being serious.”

“Gezz, this is going to be a pain in the ass…”

That's right, I need to be totally serious about this. After all, this would be my first time cooking something for Sotoka since we started going out. What is more, everyone knows that to keep someone at your side, the easiest way is to keep their belly happy.

“Allright, I'm all fired up now!”

“O-Okay…?”

And just like that, we continued on our way to my home.