No matter whether it was colorful and delightful calendars bought from "Harajuku" or "Shibuya," or plain calendars given away at the shrine, they all had "Valentine’s Day" marked on them.
On Monday morning, Dubian Che entered the classroom.
Near his seat, Kunii Shuichi, Saito Huijie, and Ikeda Kazumi, were still engaging in their usual pre-morning assembly chat.
Dubian Che walked to his seat and took the brief moment to observe the high school classroom on Valentine’s Day.
Almost all the boys looked restless, loudly discussing usual topics, yet eagerly anticipating something.
The girls also seemed slightly nervous as they joked around; many of them glanced in his direction, reaching into their desks to grab something.
It was just as noisy as he had imagined.
Even the names of the students on duty written in chalk at the bottom right corner of the blackboard seemed to vibe with unsettled energy.
Dubian Che hadn’t even sat down when Ikeda Kazumi took out a box of chocolates from her bag.
"Mr. Dubian, this is for you."
Dubian Che reached out to take it and then sat down.
"Kazumi," Kunii Shuichi exclaimed, "Even though it’s just obligatory chocolate, why is Dubian’s different from ours?"
"Is it?" Dubian Che looked at the chocolate in his hand.
It was fairly ordinary, a rectangular box tied with a blue ribbon.
Saito Huijie twisted around to pull out a similar box from his drawer.
"This one, this one," he pointed at the box surface, "doesn’t have a blue ribbon."
"Kazumi, don’t tell me it’s true love chocolate?" Kunii Shuichi teased jokingly.
"It’s not! The ribbons from the store ran out, so I gave the ones with ribbons to the girls. Mr. Dubian was the last one. You two guys shouldn’t mind these details."
The other two were about to say something, but Dubian Che quickly changed the subject:
"So, girls can give chocolates to other girls too?"
"Of course," Ikeda Kazumi laughed, "Chocolate can be given not just to boys but to girls too, and even to relatives."
"I got one from my mom this morning," said Kunii Shuichi.
"Same here, both my mom and my sister got me one," Saito Huijie added, "And it’s the most basic kind, just a plain bar, you know the type... um, starts with an ’M’, what’s the brand again?"
While he was trying to recall, three girls walked over.
"Mr. Dubian, please accept this!" The three girls blushed as they handed over chocolates.
They almost spoke in unison, like a rehearsed prank.
Coming back to his senses, Dubian Che said, "Thank you, An Ye, Kobayashi, Nakajima."
After the girls left, Saito Huijie enviously said, "That’s nice, I wish I could get chocolates from them too."
"What are you thinking," Ikeda Kazumi retorted, "you barely even interact with them, right?"
"Mr. Dubian is even less connected to them," Kunii Shuichi pointed out.
"That’s not necessarily true. Maybe in their minds, Mr. Dubian has been dating them countless times."
"Some harsh reality need not be voiced out!"
Kunii Shuichi and Saito Huijie groaned.
"But I can understand," Ikeda Kazumi consoled, "even if a girl has never spoken to you, a boy still hopes to get chocolate from her."
No sooner had Dubian Che put four boxes of chocolates in his small backpack than another girl approached.
"Mr., Mr. Dubian, this is for you." The girl shyly forwarded a clearly homemade chocolate.
"Miyazaki, thank you, but my Ms. K only allows me to accept obligatory chocolate."
"This, this is obligatory chocolate."
Yeah right, who are you kidding! — that was the expression on Kunii Shuichi and Saito Huijie’s faces at that moment.
Since she claimed it was obligatory, Dubian Che had no choice but to accept it.
"Isn’t obligatory chocolate that’s handmade a bit too much?" Kunii Shuichi said through clenched teeth, green with envy.
Like ants that had discovered food and called others to help, more and more girls continuously came to give Dubian Che chocolates.
This was becoming troublesome.
Morning assembly hadn’t even started yet, and Dubian Che’s backpack and desk were nearly overflowing.
"If we used the number of chocolates received to rank these guys, you, Dubian, would already be an ’emperor,’" said Saito Huijie.
"With all those chocolates, I hope you end up fattening," cursed Kunii Shuichi.
Watching his "popularity," the boys in the class were both jealous and envious, yet not many genuinely disliked him.
Everyone at Goda High knew that Dubian Che never got close to any girl other than Jiutiao Mei and Kiyono Lin.
Nor had anyone heard of him going out shopping or karaoke with any girl over the weekend.
Additionally, ’being popular but never arrogant, always chatting about games and anime with the boys, and being great at sports’ were reasons why he was not only not disliked, but even quite popular among the boys.
But boys giving him chocolates, well, forget it.
Dubian Che managed, with difficulty, and after eating a box, to finally pack away the chocolates.
Ito, whose chocolate got eaten on the spot, was teased by his female friends until his face turned red.
After finishing the chocolates, Dubian Che took a sip of water to chase down the sweetness, just as Xiaoquan Aonai walked in with some papers.
The morning assembly began.
Xiaoquan Aonai looked around the classroom and smiled, saying:
"Everyone seems quite restless."
The class responded with a knowing laugh.
"Today, go ahead and look forward to it, but remember, next week is the final exam."