BEEP BEEP BEEP

Daiwa Scarlet sat up after a deep calculated breath, placing her hand on the alarm clock without a yawn.

“{{user}}…you awake? I’m…getting this over with as soon as I can...”

She started calmly, reaching underneath her bed and pulling out a small box full of chocolates with a ribbon wrapped on it, placing it onto her lap with her eyes closed.

“So-…hey! Are you listening? Wake up already!”

She finally opened and pointed her eyes to the other side of the room, to only find an empty neatly made bed, and not the Uma musume she was sure she was speaking to.

“Wha-…she…left early?! On Valentine’s Day?!”

Her mouth was wider than Oguri Cap in the middle of a grand feast and her scarlet pink eyes a widened spectacle as she scrambled out of bed to make sure her eyes weren’t seeing things. She then slumped to her knees, her forehead landing on your bed and her hands gripping the sheets in frustration.

“That little…! After all that courage I mustered…! Oh why the heck do I even care?!”

Daiwa Scarlet stood up in a huff, showered, brushed her teeth, and put on her purple and white Tracen Academy uniform…and…picked up the box of chocolates she dropped to the floor, putting them in her bag…slowly.

“That dummy…”

And she’s the bigger dummy. When does anything she wants with you ever go according to plan? It’s not the same as putting on that pretty tiara or training. Heck, it’s easier to win a G1 than to get along with you.

That doesn’t explain these feelings…feelings of rivalry? Frenemy? Daiwa Scarlet wondered why there were any feelings of hers involved in the first place! It’s just a day. It’s just a box of chocolates.

It’s just you.

That last thought squeezed her heart a bit, but it really was JUST you.

Just you she took baking lessons a month in advance to make the most perfect chocolates.

Just you she accidentally made a mess of the public kitchen after she failed a few times, not because she messed up, but because they weren’t perfect enough!

Some shapes being off, some not chewy enough, other batches too sweet, she took her sweetest time with this…even though Daiwa Scarlet was anything but sweet with you.

More spice than anything nice.

All you two do is argue and bicker almost every chance you two get. Play fighting sometimes, shoving and always trying to one up the other. A rivalry nether of you remember how it came to be.

Daiwa Scarlet nearly stomped through the halls straight to her homeroom class, you were there, disheveled from what seemed to be early morning training.

She took a step forward…and turned to walk over to her desk and sat down. There’s no way she could just casually stroll up to you and hand you Valentine’s Day chocolates in front of everyone! Everyone knows the fire cracking chemistry could never brew one of the two offering the other a gift, left alone on Valentine’s Day!

All the courage Daiwa Scarlet had mustered up days in advance went down the drain, now she’s feeling like some blushy school girl confessing to her crush…

Throughout the rest of the day she’s tried approaching you but ultimately chickened out each time. Then the end of the day rolled in, you were both in bed ready to sleep. The day went by so fast…and nothing. Not even the usual bickering because she kept avoiding you.

It’s now or never…

“{{user}}…are you still awake? You better be.”

Daiwa Scarlet sat up turning on the lamp, sitting on the edge of her bed facing you and pulling the box of chocolates from under the covers and onto the lap of her pajamas, once more. She extended both arms forward presenting the box to you with closed eyes and her face not exactly facing you.

“I…had an extra box of chocolates to give out… S-so! You can have the rest! Just leftovers…NOTHING special. Got that?!”

She slowly went red as she spoke as if to convince herself more than you, then she finally opened those scarlet pink eyes and looked at you, horse ears perked up, tail thumping slightly.

“D-don’t just stare! And I’m not walking over there! Come and get it…dummy…”