"Where are you headed, Karma?" Nagisa asked. School just ended, so we (Karma, Kayano, Nagisa, Sugino and Okuda) were walking home together and stopped at the tree at the fork in the road.

Wow, coincidence much? We stop where there's a fork in the road where the road literally splits into two paths and here we are talking about which path to take...

We had to figure it out soon since graduation's creeping around the corner.

"I'll stay at Kunugigaoka," Karma answered. We were all taken aback.

"I'd figure you'd try for something better," Kayano commented. "I mean, you could get into the best high schools around."

"Put yourself in the main campus students' shoes," I said. "How'll they feel if the guy they thought they chased out came back standing head and shoulders above them?"

"I can't wait to spend three whole years rubbing it in their small-time faces," Karma said grinning.

"What about you, Shiniko?" Okuda asked almost timidly.

"Oh, Im not really sure..." I wasn't expecting to answer this question so abruptly. "I think I'll keep doing my job... It's all I got going on for me right now..." I answered nervously as it started snowing. The group continued to talk amongst themselves as I looked up at the sky.

Can time just stop for a moment...

I'm still trying to figure things out, but I don't know what to do or where to start...

I just want to keep having fun and make memories with the class who finally accepts me for me?...

Everyone's got their next paths picked out and it'll be something new, while mine's just going to be the same old routine...

Eventually we all went our separate ways. I walked with Nagisa since we were both headed to Mr. Matsukata's nursery/school.

After I finished my tasks, I decided to bring some snacks to Sakura and Nagisa.

"I hope I'm not disrupting, but I brought some snacks," I placed the plate of assorted cookies and pastries on the table along with some tea.

"Not at all we just finished," Nagisa said. I poured them each a cup of tea, as well as one for myself before joining them at the table.

"Junior high kids have it rough," Sakura said as she grabbed a cookie. "You guys have to think about your future."

"Talk about it," I agreed while blowing on the hot tea.

"I don't even know what I want to be," Nagisa added and I nodded in agreement

"What else is there?" Sakura questioned. "I mean apart from being a teacher? Ever since I met the both of you, that's what you've been to me."

We were left speechless by her proposition.

"And if you don't wanna be a teacher, I could let you be my boyfriend!" she suggested while giggling, causing me to choke on a biscuit.

"How 'bout you focus on your studies first, hmm? Then, you can find a boyfriend," I smiled at her.

She crossed her arms and huffed, "You only say that because you already have one."

"That's what you think, but I don't," I denied.

"Whaat!" Sakura exclaimed, knocking Nagisa out of his spaced out expression. "There's no way you don't have one! You're so pretty and I saw how everyone looked at you when you helped the guy who got scratched by the cat! That can't be true!"

"I swear, I don't have a boyfriend," I said with a sweatdrop expression. "I should probably finish cleaning and get going now."

As I started to clear the table, Sakura started to hammer questions and theories about who my boyfriend most likely would be to Nagisa.

A boyfriend, huh?...

If I was living a normal life, sure. But in my opinion, high school relationships don't always last, unless it was one of those fictional ones...

When I came back, Nagisa looked exhausted. "Okay, I'm finished. Let's go, Nagisa, your mom's here too, Sakura." I said while gathering my things, along with both of them.

Nagisa and I walked to the station together after seeing Sakura off.

"You know," Nagisa started, "After listening to Sakura's, uh, boyfriend hypotheses, you know what she thought?"

I hummed as a response.

"Well, she narrowed it down to one person," His words kept me on edge. "Guess who it was."

"I don't know, who?" I asked in an uninterested tone.

Why am I... Nervous?...

"C'mon, just take a guess," Nagisa insisted.

"Ugh, fine," I rolled my eyes. "I don't know, Karma?"

"So you do think about Karma then!" he teased.

"No, I don't!" I denied, playfully hitting his arm. 

I didn't even realize how easily his name slipped out...

"Really?" I heard a camera shutter. "Cause you're blushing," Nagisa continued to tease with a smile.

"Did you just take a picture?!" I exclaimed while bringing my scarf closer to my face to hide behind. "When did you start acting like him?" I muttered, looking away.

"I guess some of his influences are starting to rub off on me," Nagisa said, his hand behind his head. "I'm sorry, I'll delete the photo immediately."

I sighed in defeat, "It's alright, you don't have to."

"Great! I'll send it to Karma then!" he cheered.

"Nagisa!"

"Just kidding!" he laughed. "Well, here we are. I'll see you later, get home safe."

"You too." I waved before leaving.

As I walked past a store, I saw a poster advertising chocolates.

Oh shoot, it's that time of the year already? I might as well, since it is the last year of high school...

I bought chocolate for everyone in class including the teachers and for the family (all out of obligation and a sign of friendship of course).

The store was packed with people buying last minute gifts since Valentine's Day was creeping around the corner.. Luckily for me they had the large variety packs of chocolates and snacks.

Even though they were available, I still picked up something personally for family and close friends. And something for myself to indulge in.

In the early morning of Valentine's day, I got up early and set the small gifts on almost everyone's' desks (including the teachers) with a small note on each of them. I had to ask Irina to help me pass along Karasuma's gift though; I've noticed he's been absent lately.

Heck, I even gave the class perv one. Though, I just hid it in his shoe locker after he came in...

When I returned to the classroom, he was jittering in his seat.

Karma and Nakamura took notice of Kayano's wrapped gift in hand and teased her about it.

Geez, I guess the devil duo is back...

But it's comforting to know that I'm not the only one struggling with gift giving...

How the hell am I supposed to give this to him?...

I pondered while scrolling through my phone at the back of the class.

Since the devil duo was helping Kayano, I decided to tag along with them, maybe I'll get an idea.

"He doesn't have a great self-image," Nakamura commented. "Probably can't imagine a girl having a crush on him."

"In fact, he feels sorry about the incident, thinking he did something bad to you." Karma added. "If you don't set him straight, he may never understand how you really feel."

"He does feel sorry, but lately, you're rubbing off on him a lil too much," I said out loud.

Oh shit, did I really just say that?...

"What do you mean by that?" Karma questioned.

"N-Nothing!" I stammered. Me and Nagisa's conversation replayed in my mind and I felt my face heat up the same way it did that evening.

"Then why is your face red?" he smirked and bent over to face me at my height, which didn't help the embarrassment, and almost sent my heart into overdrive.

I turned away from him and cleared my throat, "Anyways, we're here to help Kayano, so let's figure this out before the end of the day."

"I've acted love tons of times and studied it and stuff, but when it comes to the real thing, I have no experience at all!" Kayano confessed. "Like, what expressions do I make when I give him the chocolates?"

"We can do some recon," I suggested. "Observe how the others are giving their chocolates while utilizing our stealth training."

We all agreed on the idea, and the first pair we were observing was Kanzaki and Sugino. We watched them from the roof of the building.

"The recipient, Sugino, is insanely overjoyed," Karma observed. "But the giver, Kanzaki, is calm. Likely given as a formality."

"His 'insanely overjoyed' is scary as heck," Nakamura commented. I nodded in agreement.

No way he's reacting like that...

The next pair was Chiba and Hayami.

We watched as Chiba shot the Koro-sensei targets dead in the center using chocolate bits. After he was done, Hayami tossed him a pack of them.

Mutual respect... Formality... Okay...

The last pair— group was Terasaka's gang.

"Guess she got the drop on me. And I had Okuda make me a batch to leave in Terasaka's shoe locker and everything." Karma admitted.

I'm surprised Okuda would actually do that... I'm probably thinking too much into it... Unless...

The last pair we observed was Kataoka and Isogai.

Kataoka had the same idea of getting a value pack as a formality.

"See?" Nakamura started. "Everyone's got their own whys and hows for this."

"Shouldn't you just say what you want to say in your own way?" Karma questioned rhetorically.

Yeah, that makes sense...

"Now the real problem is..." I pointed at Koro-sensei secretly taking pictures on the ground. "How infuriating it is to be watched by the octopus."

"Leave that to me," Karma said. "Kayano, did you bring the you-know-what?"

What's he planning this time...

We returned to the building and hid outside by the windows where we had a clear view of the corridor. I was sitting alone next to the window that was perpendicular to the classroom door.

When Okajima busted the door open, I immediately slid further away from the window with my back against the building and waited for him to leave.

I poked my head out again and had a clear view of Kayano giving Nagisa the chocolates. I quietly sighed as I turned back to lean against the building once more.

See, it's not that hard... You can do it, it'll be like all the times we shared snacks together...

It's just a casual formality to show mutual respect and nothing more...

If it's nothing more, then why am I like this!!!

Shit, I also need to wait til he's alone. There's no way in hell I'm letting anyone see me do this...

Shit would've been so much easier if I never became part of the class. I could've just continued watching them from the sidelines supporting them from the shadows.

Ugh... Feelings are fatal...

I took a deep breath before getting up and dusting myself off. I regrouped with Nakamura and Karma at the other window as Kayano went into the classroom to get her things.

"No way I can poach from someone that admirable," I heard Nakamura mutter.

"Say what?" me and Karma questioned.

Nice to know she's a real one...

"Nothing," Nakamura answered. "Anyways, what, exactly, has Koro-sensei so enthralled?"

"Oh, I got Kayano to leave a certain photo with some chocolates and a note in an obvious location," Karma explained. "If I'd knew it'd work so well, I would've used it in an assassination."

"Uh huh..." Nakamura hummed. "Well, we should get going, mission's complished."

We all went back to the class and got our stuff before the four of us headed down the mountain. Kayano and Nakamura went their separate ways at the bottom, leaving me and Karma since we were going the same way.

Aaahhhhh!!! Okay get your shit together. You only have one shot at this and you're taking it!

"You wanna stop by the playground?" I asked, breaking the silence between us as we were walking closer to the park entrance.

"Sure," he agreed and walked ahead of me to the swings.

Okay, this is your chance. Just get it over with and don't fuck up...

I walked to the swings and took a seat next to him.

"So, why did you want to stop here?" he asked with a smirk. His elbow propped on his knee and chin resting in his palm.

"Uhh," I started. My heart had started racing before I even sat down and I didnt think about what to say either. I reached into my bag and took out the chocolate.

"I wanted to give you this," I held the wrapped package with slightly shaky hands. "I realized I never got anything for you, or anyone else for that matter, anything for Valentine's Day..." I said quietly, but still audible. "And since this might be the last Valentine's Day, I thought I would celebrate..."

Aahhh, why is this so awkward...

My face felt flushed and I could feel my heart pounding in my head. I kept my head down hoping he wouldn't notice.

He gently took the gift out of my hands causing me to look up. He brought the gift up to his face and was basically hiding behind it. "Thank you," he muttered looking away.

I could tell he was blushing even if he tried to hide it. The top part of his ear was turning red.

"Take a picture, I'll last longer," he said with more confidence.

"Huh, was I staring?!" I exclaimed and he chuckled.

"Yea, now get the frame," he said. I didn't even realize he had his phone out for a photo.

We adjusted ourselves to make sure we were both in frame. I smiled and held up a peace sign and he held up the gift.

The warm hues of the sunset created a beautiful background and the sunsetting rays kissed our cheeks, bringing life into the photo.

"That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," I admitted. My heart was starting to calm and I could feel my face cooling down.

"But, if you don't mind, why did you turn red?" I asked. "I assumed you'd be used to receiving gifts on this day."

"You're not wrong about that... I used to get a lot in primary and junior high when I was still on the main campus. The only difference was all the gifts I got were either placed on my desk or shoe locker anonymously, or a classmate of mine helped pass it along to me. No one gave it to me directly, so that's why..." he answered reluctantly.

"I see... Well, I'm glad you could get a gift directly, you know, before the world ends," I stood up from the swing and turned to face him. "But I don't think we're gonna let that happen." I smiled.

"No way in hell," he added.

We left the park and talked the entire way home as the sun continued to set.

"Im home," I announced after closing the door and taking off my shoes. There was no response. I went to my room to put my stuff away and knocked on Shuu's door. No one was home.

I checked the time and decided to start making dinner. I made something special for today, I hope they'll like it.

"What's for dinner?" Shuu asked, making my heart jump.

"Holy shit, it's just you," I caught my breath. "Nothing much, just a little something for Valentine's Day that's all. It's almost done."

As I was plating the food, he came back from his room and took a seat at the table.

"Here you go," I gently placed the dishes on the table. "Father's coming back late again today."

Shuu choked on his food, "Since when did you start calling him 'father'?"

"Since I was discharged from the hospital," I answered calmly.

"I see..."

After dinner Shuu went back to studying like always. He said, and I quote: "Just because today's a holiday doesn't mean I'll take a break in my studies."

With that said, I finished clearing the table and set aside father's portion of dinner in the fridge. He sent a message in our family group chat letting us know he was coming home late.

There's hardly any activity in the chat besides repeated messages of who's coming home late, grocery lists and the sorts.

I did some tidying up around the house before showering and getting ready for bed. Just before falling asleep, I was mindlessly scrolling through my phone and I got a notification from Karma.

When I opened his message, I smiled. It was the photo we took earlier. Despite the fact that we've been friends for years, we haven't taken many nice photos together. 

I saved it to my camera roll and went to sleep.