(Sutamai) Short Story, DGS March 2018

[nhp]

Taking Turns to Briefly Introduce the Other Person~ The Heart-Pounding Valentine’s Version with Chocolates ♡

 

Summary: The members of the Seo Research Lab were made to partake in a special gravure photoshoot with the image of Valentine’s in mind. And during their spare moments, they also answered questions pertaining to the day!

 

Characters: Seo Research Lab members
 

 

 

 

Seo: …… Are you sure you’re okay, Isagi-kun?

 

Hosho: Y-Yeah.

 

Saotome: It’s not, “Y-Yeah”. How many times are you going to make me say it? Look sharp for the camera.

 

Hosho: ! S-Sorry. But, um, this sort of thing is somewhat—for me, it’s a kind of a lot to have on my shoulder or how do I say it, it’s beyond my means of doing, or rather……

 

Saotome: Stop complaining. Listen up, alright? Don’t shy away, don’t hunch, and don’t hide yourself.

 

Kawai: Okay, stop there~ That’s enough of the spartan coaching. They said it’s okay for us to take a little break~

 

Hinata: Yaaawn…… Good night then……

 

Kawai: Eh? Wait, Shion-kun! Let’s go over this while we take our breaks.

 

Seo: And that piece of paper is?

 

Kawai: “Taking Turns to Briefly Introduce the Other Person~ The Heart-Pounding Valentine’s Version with Chocolates (heart)”. Seems like they want to write an article on this together with the photo taken today. 

 

Saotome: What’s with that over-the-top expression of a version?

 

Kawai: Apparently, the rule is that we have to ask one question relating to Valentine’s along with giving the introduction. 

 

Seo: I see. Now that you mention it, today is Valentine’s Day.

 

Hosho: (Introducing someone else and asking a question…… What should I do? Everything about today comes with so much responsibility for me to bear……!)

 

Hinata: (Isagi-kun’s face is starting to turn pale again……)

 

Seo: So it looks like I’m starting off things first. I guess I’ll introduce…… Isagi-kun then.

 

Hosho: !

 

Kawai: If you were to briefly and outrightly describe Isagi-kun from your point of view, Seo-san, what would it be?

 

Seo: Hmmm, let me think…… How about, “Someone who loves animals and is kind and like that of high-grade leather”?

 

Hinata: Leather?

 

Seo: The longer that you get to know him, the more you’ll be able to start seeing these great distinctive qualities that he’s had since the very beginning. Of course, this applies to a great number of people, including everyone here today. But I feel that inclination coming somewhat stronger from Isagi-kun in particular. 

 

Hosho: ……!

 

Seo: Perhaps it was slightly rude of me to liken you to that of an object.

 

Hosho: N-No, not at all! Um. It was unexpected. I’m unworthy of such words…… T-Thank you… so much.

 

Seo: You’re very much welcome.

 

Saotome: It just means that you’re difficult to deal with until accustomed to because you’re too stiff. Fix that.

 

Hosho: !

 

Kawai: You don’t need to pay him any attention, Isagi-kun~ Then, continuing on from where we left off, please ask him a question Seo-san!

 

Seo: Well now, this is a tough one. I suppose, to start it off safely, I’ll go with asking, “what type of chocolate do you like best?”

 

Hosho: T-The type of chocolate that I like…… best, um. That is…… Choosing something like that, that sort of presumptuous thinking is……

 

Saotome: Don’t take everything so seriously! It’s irritating! What about that thing you ate yesterday? What was that?

 

Hosho: Y-Ye-Yesterday? Er, yesterday, I think I had an almond……

 

Saotome: So almond chocolate then. Kawai, write that down.

 

Kawai: You’re really going overboard with saying whatever you want, you know~ Are you fine with that, Isagi-kun?   

 

Hosho: It’s fine, I’m okay with it. Please put that down as my answer. I’m sorry for making you all take up so much time just for my part……

 

Hinata: Then, it’s your turn next to introduce me, Isagi-kun.

 

Hosho: (There was also that……!)

Er, ummm. Shion is, that is…… I’m sorry. It might be impossible for me to be like Seo-san and compare you to something cleverly…… 

 

Seo: You don’t need to answer in the same way as I did. Go on and try conveying what you’re thinking in the moment into words.

 

Hosho: …… Okay. Then, um…… You’re smart, and you’re always sleeping in the research lab…… Even though you’re sleeping, there are moments where I feel like you’re sometimes awake, and that’s happened quite a lot, I guess. No, um, but you’re asleep so, that is, um, in other words……

 

Saotome: In short, he’s an enigma where you don’t know if he’s awake or not even when he’s sleeping. 

 

Kawai: But you know, I certainly do understand where Isagi-kun is coming from. You kind of give off a mysterious feeling, Shion-kun.

 

Hinata: Yep. But normally, if I’m sleeping then I’m actually asleep…… most of the time. 

 

Kawai: Ahaha. So it’s most of the time then.

 

Seo: Yes, that was a very apt introduction. What will you ask for the question?

 

Hosho: T-The question…… The q-question is…… f-for V-Valen…… Valentine’s……

 

Saotome: Don’t falter.

 

Hinata: …… You get the impression that he’s completely gone beyond his limits, huh.

 

Kawai: Hmmm, I guess there’s no way around it. Why don’t I take over here and ask the question instead?

 

Hosho: !

 

Seo: It’s not exactly good to make him overdo it either, so if you could.

 

Hosho: I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, thank you……

 

Kawai: No worries~ Well then Shion-kun, out of all the chocolates that you’ve received up until now, which one has left you with the strongest impact?

 

Hinata: An impact…… Oh, right. Maybe the pillow that I got last year.

 

Saotome: Pillow?

 

Hinata: Yeah. It was a pillow stuffed with tirol chocolates.

 

Hosho: Huh?

 

Kawai: No waaay, that would smell when you sleep on it!

 

Hinata: It did smell when I slept on it, but since I was given it and all, I thought that it would be bad of me if I didn’t use it…… So I endured it.

 

Seo: Shion-kun is the type to put effort into what he does after all.

 

Saotome: Where he put his effort towards in this case is completely ridiculous though. 

 

Kawai: There you go again with adding on unnecessary comments~

 

Seo: Now then, next is…… Hikaru-kun’s introduction. How about it, Shion-kun?

 

Hinata: Hikaru-kun is…… cute, and knowledgeable in statistics. 

 

Kawai: Yaaay, I was praised.

 

Saotome: Enlighten us more specifically on what he’s like on the inside. Like how he’s heartless or how his eyes aren’t laughing—there’s plenty to go on with. 

 

Kawai: Those are both things that I don’t want to hear coming from you especially, Ikuto-san~

 

Hinata: He’s also…… the type to “decide for himself what his field of vision should be” is what I think. 

 

Kawai: “Field of vision”?

 

Hinata: Yeah. You give off the feeling of choosing what you want to see.

 

Seo: …… That is quite an interesting way of phrasing things.

 

Kawai: So my field of vision, huh. I guess I don’t really get it since it’s about myself.

 

Hinata: Now all that’s left is the question…… Oh. Then my question is, “every year for Valentine’s day, between receiving chocolates or giving them, which is there more of?”

 

Kawai: I’ve never really properly counted them up, but it’d probably have to be on the receiving end being more. There are ones from girls that I’ve only just started talking to as well and all. 

 

Hosho: You even earnestly accept the ones coming from people that you’ve never even talked to, don’t you……?

 

Kawai: Yep! Of course I’ll accept them. And if those girls don’t seem to pose a threat then I’ll even eat their handmade chocolates~

 

Saotome: He most likely makes someone taste test them for poison beforehand though.

 

Hosho: Huh?

 

Kawai: You really think the worst of people. I don’t go around forcing others to eat anything, you know. I make sure to ask them like, “I was given this so do you want to eat it?”

 

Saotome: You’re leaving out the most essential part of the explanation, which is “this is a dangerous item that I accepted from some unknown stranger”.

 

Hinata: …… You ate some, didn’t you, Ikuto-san?

 

Seo: I do remember something like that happening. Was it when Seo Research was just founded and it was our very first Valentine’s?

 

Kawai: Yep. For a while, I was having difficulty with getting Ikuto-san to “open his mouth” and…… Oh? Wait, maybe it wasn’t such a hassle after all.

 

Saotome: …… That’s right, you weren’t the one suffering at all. Because the only one who was cooped up in bed from having diarrhea was me! 

 

Kawai: That’s why I apologized and even said sorry back then, but you’ve been mad this whole time~

 

Hosho: (My stomach hurts just from imagining the state of that cold war……)

 

Kawai: Well, let’s just leave it at there being an unfortunate accident then too! Here I go next with introducing Ikuto-saaan.

 

Saotome: (This brat… I’m definitely going to make him cry one day……)

 

Kawai: Hmmm, let’s see now. Ikuto-san is Seo-san’s brilliant assistant, and he’s “a prideful hard worker with a warped personality” maybe?

 

Saotome: Is that really all you want to say?

 

Kawai: Oh, I can’t forget to add in that he’s also a hypocrite and is bad with dogs. It’s so hard to keep it brief. 

 

Saotome: Haha. Alright, I see how it is. Step outside.

 

Kawai: It’s the truth~ I think it’s pretty accurate if I do say so for myself. 

 

Hinata: It’s accurate, but the only one who’s able to go so far as to say that to Ikuto-san is someone like you, Hikaru-kun.

 

Hosho: (No doubt about that……)

 

Seo: Because one is also able to see that there’s apparently some overlap somewhere between you two. Maybe that’s why you both have a relationship where you can feel at ease with one another.

 

Saotome: No matter how you look at it or from what angle, that’s false. Are you dreaming or something?

 

Seo: Haha. Perhaps I am.

 

Hinata: (Seo-san is unperturbed as always……) 

 

Seo: Well, let’s leave aside my personal opinion for the time being. As you are, Hikaru-kun, what question will you ask Ikuto-san?

 

Kawai: Hehe~ To be honest, I had decided on the question the moment that I saw this rule. 

 

Hosho: T-That fast, already……? Wow……

 

Kawai: Here I go then…… Is it true that in the past, you cried when you didn’t receive chocolates from the girl that you wanted~?

 

Saotome: !?

 

Hosho: …… What?

 

Seo: That is……

 

Hinata: …… quite the shock.

 

Kawai: By the way, this is the super hot buzz that was apparently dropped like a bombshell between the professors of a certain faculty over lunch just the other day~

 

Saotome: …… Suppose that there’s a one in ten thousand—one in a hundred million chance that that’s true, why the hell do you know something from a faculty that you have absolutely no involvement in, not to mention, only something that the professors would know?

 

Kawai: Well, maaaybe because it’s a rumour that was just going around between me and “my good acquaintance with excellent hearing”? 

 

Saotome: ……!

 

Kawai: C’mon, Ikuto-san. What’s your answer?

 

Saotome: …… I’m remaining silent on it.

 

Kawai: Whaaat! Is that even allowed?

 

Saotome: There is no mention of a rule in relation to the answer to a question. Thus, there is no issue whatsoever if I exercise my rights to remain silent here. 

 

Hosho: (To think there was also that option……!)

 

Kawai: Or rather, aren’t you basically admitting to it by keeping quiet?

 

Hinata: That is true.

 

Saotome: All that’s left is for me to introduce Seo-san and then to ask him a question, and that’s the end of that. If I were to describe Seo-san in a few words, then he’d be “cotton candy with a built-in Supercomputer Level CPU”. My question is on the whereabouts of the abnormal number of chocolates that you receive every year.

 

Kawai: Wow, he forced his way past and is just carrying on. 

 

Hosho: Cotton candy……

 

Seo: What a fascinating introduction. When you say cotton candy, what part of it are you referring to for example? 

 

Saotome: All of it. There’s no other way to put it. 

 

Seo: I see……

 

Hinata: So you’re just going to accept it like that. 

 

Kawai: …… “with an in-built”… “CPU”… and “cotton candy”...... noted. So with that, we’re done with taking turns in introducing the other person~

 

Saotome: By the by, I already know the answer to the question so if I were to answer in your place—you start from picking out the ones with the shortest expiry date and then you eat it all by yourself eventually.

 

Kawai: So Ikuto-san ended up answering it…… Wait—Whaaat? The entire amount!?

 

Seo: That’s right. Out of all foods, I would be able to say that chocolate is something that I especially love, so I gratefully receive it.   

 

Kawai: I guess Seo-san does have that image of habitually eating chocolate that’s unrelated to Valentine’s and such, but…… That was actually quite surprising. 

 

Saotome: The column for the article will be completely filled up with this. What’s left are our individual breaks. Session adjourned—so we’re allowed to do our own thing now, right?

 

Seo: Absolutely. Thank you for your hard work everyone.

 

Hinata: Yaaawn…… It’s finally over……

 

Kawai: That last part of it all was considerably overbearing though~ Oh, where are you going, Ikuto-san?

 

Saotome: I’m returning to the makeup room. Come, Isagi.

 

Hosho: Huh? O-Ok-Okay! I’m sorry……!?

 

Saotome: Don’t apologize over every little thing. It’s annoying. We’re simply going to consult with the staff to see if there’s anything more to be done for that zombie-like complexion of yours. 

 

Hosho: Huh? Oh…… O-Okay. Um, thank you very much……

 

Saotome: I just don’t want to be standing next to a zombie is all. If you’re going to apologize over it, then do something about it using your own strength.

 

Hosho: My own s-strength……!?

 

Kawai: Jeez, there you go again with saying unreasonable things.

 

Hinata: …… But you know, in some way or another, Ikuto-san is actually quite good at looking out for others.

 

Saotome: You don’t need to say “in some way or another” since I am supervising you all. Be more grateful. 

 

Hinata: What sharp ears……

 

Seo: Haha. Now then…… I guess I’ll also take a step outside to get some fresh air. Could I ask that you come and call me if it seems like we’re about to resume?

 

Kawai: Okaaay…… Oh, Shion-kun, you’ll end up wrinkling it like that so you have to at least take off your jacket before going to sleep!

 

Hinata: …… Zzzzz……

 

Kawai: Here, let’s get your right arm out of it. And now for the left one…… 

 

Seo: …… 

 

He who was shaking with nerves, and he who had fallen into a tranquil sleep—

And the two who had made themselves useful in helping their respective ones.

For “him” who had turned around by chance to witness that, a gentle smile graced his face. 

While that endearing scene would not be captured in the photoshoot—

It was something that he felt would secretly continue to blur together with the quivering of his heart…...