Chapter 226.

Chapter 226. Valentine’s Day: Night. (2/4)

It was true she was happy, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something that she felt sad about.

That something was definitely… Alicia. On a day where Alicia should be out and about, she’d locked herself up with the excuse that she was feeling unwell. It was only natural her mother would pick up on that.

But… I couldn’t solve this problem unless Alicia approached me and told me what was bothering her. Whether it really was related to the student council president, I couldn’t be certain whether I was correct or not.

Rosa had also said something strange about it being her fault though, which only puzzled me even more. However, Rosa also said something else before that was now on my mind. If any guy did get too close to Alicia, she’d guarantee they wouldn’t be able to win her over. She even went as far as to declare that Alicia was hers. This had been in relation to Jass at the time… but… was it really applicable to only him?

Was there a much bigger hidden fish lurking in the water somewhere I hadn’t seen?

Slowly, the pieces of the fragmented puzzle were finally starting to fall into place. I felt like the outline of a picture in my head was solidifying into something tangible that I could understand. Many things had moved in places I hadn’t been watching over the last month and a half since school started. And since I returned to school, it seemed things had escalated with the Valentine’s Day dance being the true eye of the storm.

Alicia’s voice rang out in my ears, ‘I think you’ll hate me if I say it. I… don’t want to be hated by you.’

Those had been her exact words when I confronted her about whether she’d done something that she felt guilty about.

What was it?

How was Rosa involved? What did she do? Why do it? Was there a reason? Was that reason the student council president?

Was there really even a connection between all these events that should be unrelated? Or was I overthinking everything and simply drawing lines between disconnected points that never had anything to do with each other?

The chance encounter I had with that goth girl from our school today, the information I’d gleaned from our interaction became a potential key to the puzzle. 

Or had it? It could very well be a red herring. Something that only threw me off the path to the truth.

I’m not going to think that stupid line I always think when I’m at a roadblock. This would definitely be the moment where someone would think, ‘He’s going to do the thing. Surely, he’ll do the thing.’

I won’t think that stupid line again. I definitely won’t.

I refuse to accept that I can’t solve it.

But there’s just too little information to go off of at this point in time.

Ah. Damn it! I thought the line, even when I was being overly conscious of it.

I held my head, squatted down to the ground, and internally grimaced to myself. I don’t need such a pathetic signature line!

“Huh? Ran, you’re back? Was that why I heard Irene humming just now? Wait, what are you doing?”

My eyes shot up and discovered Rosa leaned forward over the banister at the top of the staircase staring at me curiously.

“I just got back, I was taking off my shoes. That’s all.”

“Taking off your shoes by holding your head?”

“Yeah, it’s a ritual, is there a problem with that?” I lowered my hands then proceeded to remove the new shoes I’d received from Irene.

“A ritual you started today?”

“... rituals have to start somewhere.” I placed the new shoes down beside my old ones by the entrance.

“Well, you’re not wrong, but today?” She tilted her head doubtfully.

“Is Alicia still feeling unwell?” I changed the subject while I headed up the stairs.

“Yeah. Why? Did you want to talk to her?”

“I’ve got something to give her.”

“For Valentine’s Day?”

“Yeah.”

“Only her?”

“Of course not.” I stuck my hand in and removed Rosa’s gift from the bag. “This is for you, in return for this morning. Sorry, it took me all day. I wanted to think of something more original, but in the end, I settled on some fudge. I also got caught up in something troublesome.”

“Thanks. You didn’t need to try so hard, I would have been fine with anything. In fact, those coupons are-”

“Sorry, I will never carelessly give those out so easily again. They’ve been nothing but trouble and I’ve been burned too many times by them.”

“Heheheh, certainly. They’re quite useful when you have a troublesome boyfriend like you.”

She happily accepted the plastic bag with fudge and opened it up right away. She opened her mouth and took a small bite out of it. Her eyes immediately lit up.

“Holy shit, what is this fudge? Where did you get it?”

“Where I got it is a secret.”

“What? No way, you can’t be so cheap~ tell me, tell me~ this is too good for me to not know~ I’m going to get addicted by the time I finish this.”

“I am sworn to secrecy.”

“As if~ you just don’t want to say so you can use this every Valentine’s Day.” Rosa grabbed onto my arm the same way a crack addict would.

“Haha… it’s nothing like that…” I looked 

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll get Alicia to try and reproduce it in the future.”

“There’s no way she’ll pull it off. This fudge is something God himself shat out. Mere mortals like us can’t even dream of touching the fudge God shits out every day.”

“Are you trying to tell me God's shit tastes this good?”

“But of course.”

Rosa opened the door to Alicia’s room and called out “Alicia! You’ve got to learn how to cook God’s shit.”

I peeked inside and witnessed the sheet over the bed tremble a bit. Alicia was fully wrapped in a blanket.

“Hey, Alicia, Ran’s back. He came with something really good. You’ve got to try it.”

“Sorry… I don’t feel like eating anything right now. I still feel ill.” Alicia responded quietly, not daring to show her face for a second. She even started coughing under the blanket as well. “Rosa, I don’t want to catch whatever I caught, you should sleep with Ran today. I’m sure I’ll feel better by tomorrow.”

Was she really sick? No… her coughing wasn’t very convincing. She was trying to be considerate of Rosa to not completely ruin Valentine’s Day for her.

“Haaaaah. I’ll take my chances to get sick. I’ve already been in the same room with you all day, haven’t I?”

“Do you mind if I come in to check your temperature, Alicia?” I asked in an oblivious fashion that completely ignored her desire to be left alone.

“I… don’t want to get you sick either, Ran. Please don’t.”

“Alright, I understand.”

I stepped into the room and gave Rosa a look. She took the hint and said, “Goodnight, Ran.” 

“...” I said nothing.

“Jeez, you don’t need to look so down just because Alicia turned you down.”

I closed the door making Alicia think it was just her and Rosa in the room.

“Rosa… did Ran really look that down?” Alicia under the blanket asked hesitantly.

“Mmm.” With my mouth shut, I made that sound by relaxing the muscles in my throat to change the pitch of my voice to mimic Rosa’s. I was unexpectedly good at changing my voice. I’d had a lot of practice growing up. 

Though my voice was pretty deep, when I was in elementary school, we were forced to participate in a stupid choir. On one occasion, someone made fun of me because I sang like a girl. It was a rather embarrassing experience for me, and ever since, I never sang like that again. Though that was the case, it didn’t mean I’d lost the ability to do so.

One embarrassing thing loners did was talk to ourselves a lot out loud when we thought we were alone. Sometimes, we’d even practice impersonating others in secret. Occasionally, when bored, we might practice mimicking the sounds various instruments make with only our voice.

I played the trumpet for three years in band class at my middle school, and I’d done precisely what I described on many occasions. That was another way I inadvertently maintained and even developed the ability to freely alter my voice to sound like an entirely different person.

“Rosa… I’ve decided. Tomorrow… I’ll settle this for good and make things clear at the dance. I… won’t rely on Ran and... trouble him with something like this. It’s something... I should be able to handle myself. After that… I’ll… I’ll tell-” Sure, I could have probably sneakily solved everything in a flash if I kept quiet and let her blabber on, but it would be way too unsatisfying to find out using such an underhanded method. As such, I cut her off mid-sentence with my actions. 

In front of the bed, I’d extended my arm out and abruptly tore the blanket away from her. Revealed beneath was Alicia. As the covers rose up into the air, I bent over the bed, rested one hand down over Alicia’s body to her side, and lightly pressed my forehead against hers.

By the time our foreheads touched, our eyes lined up, and the blanket fell back down over our heads, Alicia’s eyes had opened wide in shock.