Yusei smiled and accepted it.
"Thank you."
Utaha didn't react much, just glanced at him and then held out her palm.
"What's this for?" Yusei didn't understand.
"A return gift, of course. Who said Valentine's Day's rules only state that girls give boys chocolate?"
Because Asuna, Kaguya, and the girls from school had given him chocolate without ever asking for anything in return, the idea of a reciprocal gift genuinely hadn't crossed his mind.
'Weren't return gifts supposed to be voluntary? Someone like Senpai, who asked for one outright, was truly something else.'
Yusei placed his hand onto Utaha's outstretched palm and blinked.
"How's this for a return gift, Senpai?"
"Are you groping me?"
"No. It's a [One-Day Companion Pass] from the premier heartthrob of Toyogasaki Academy."
"Are you a host? And so full of yourself. I don't acknowledge you as the top heartthrob. Besides..."
Utaha suddenly leaned in close until their noses were almost touching. But Yusei didn't pull back, merely looking at her calmly.
Seeing his lack of reaction, a faint, unreadable flicker passed through Utaha's eyes before she smiled.
"...Besides, you promised me today a long time ago, so it doesn't count!"
A thoughtful expression appeared on Yusei's face, "True. In that case, how about I buy you a box of chocolates from a store later?"
"Not good enough. Too little sincerity. It needs to be at least on the level of something handmade."
"That's a bit difficult."
"Then think of another 'return gift'."
"A full cosplay set, including the... ahem... revealing outfit?"
"Are you sure this isn't just to satisfy your own perverted desires?"
While talking, they reached the third floor and the venue prepared by Fujikawa Shoten for Utaha's signing event.
By now, their briefly joined hands had separated. Utaha looked at Yusei with amusement, "If you get bored, feel free to wander around the mall. I'll probably be finished sometime in the afternoon. We can go have fun then."
"Alright."
Yusei sat on a bench, watching the long, orderly line of readers forming under the staff's direction, and couldn't help but click his tongue.
'I didn't expect she really has this many readers.'
He withdrew his gaze, not feeling envious, because he was confident that if he held a signing event, even more people would show up.
Well, enough to fill the entire department store, at least.
Time ticked by.
Yusei didn't wander off but remained sitting quietly.
On one hand, he was waiting for Utaha. On the other, he had activated his Sharingan, continuously scanning the abilities of passersby, hoping to find someone exceptional whose skills he could copy.
The results, however, were disappointing.
Most people had useless abilities. Quite a few even had no abilities at all.
Those without abilities were obviously just ordinary, unremarkable background characters.
It lasted until the afternoon. Around noon, Yusei was nearly asleep when the smell of food roused him.
Opening his eyes, he saw a boxed lunch… the standard kind from a common fast-food place.
"Here. It's a bit plain, but I still have work this afternoon, so this will have to do for now."
Utaha's signing event wasn't over, as it was scheduled to end around 2 p.m.
At this time, she could only grab a quick boxed lunch.
Yusei ended up sharing the simple meal with her, not minding it at all.
"Will it still take much longer?"
Utaha glanced at him and shook her head, "It should wrap up around two. By the way, have you decided on my return gift yet?"
"Still thinking about it."
"It seems Yusei-kun hasn't been thinking about it at all," Utaha sighed.
Yusei ate his lunch and looked at her, "I am thinking about it."
"Right, right. Well, please think carefully about it while you wait for me then."
As she spoke, she transferred the remaining pieces of fried chicken from her own box into his.
After finishing her lunch, Utaha stood up to return to her duties for the remaining part of the signing event.
Yusei didn't stand on ceremony, eating the chicken as he said, "Alright, I'll think hard about it."
Soon, he was alone again, resuming his morning task: activating the Sharingan and panning for gold in the human river… or rather, searching for individuals with noteworthy abilities.
Unfortunately, he still found only useless skills.
However, Yusei's hand, bringing food to his mouth, suddenly stopped. His gaze slowly tracked towards a specific direction.
Reflected in his left eye were two abilities: [Sunshine Girl] and [Curse of the Weather].
This immediately sharpened Yusei's focus. He looked intently in that direction.
He didn't see the familiar, masked girl with long black hair there, but instead, a girl with short hair.
She looked strikingly like Hina, but her hairstyle was completely different. No, that really was Hina.
"Hina?"
Yusei instinctively wanted to go after her. But just then, someone tapped him on the shoulder.
"How fortunate. My editor said we're finishing up for today. The fans seemed very satisfied."
It was Utaha.
She had already collected her shoulder bag and stood beside him, smiling.
"Alright, let's go wander around... We agreed you'd spend the whole day with me."
"Um... that might not be possible right now. I've... suddenly run into something urgent."
Yusei watched the figure moving further away.
"Let's call it off for today. I need to go."
After saying this, Yusei immediately hurried off in Hina's direction.
Utaha watched his retreating back, then looked towards the direction he was chasing. She was slightly taken aback.
"Is that... a girl?"
This made Utaha frown, 'Ditching me to chase after another girl? And it doesn't look like Yuuki Asuna, either.'
Utaha didn't leave. Instead, she quietly followed, determined to see just what kind of beauty could make Yusei drop everything and leave without a proper explanation.
In terms of looks and figure... Utaha was confident she wasn't inferior to anyone, so she felt distinctly unconvinced.
Yusei caught up to the girl and quickly grabbed her arm.
"Is that you, Hina?"
"Ah!"
The masked, short-haired girl started. Seeing it was Yusei, she hurriedly lowered her head, avoiding his gaze.
"You... you've mistaken me for someone else."
"No, I'm not mistaken. You're Hina."