It was already pretty late. Vinny didn’t even know how he’d ended up delayed for this long.

He glanced up at the bright moon hanging overhead.

It felt like only a little while had passed, so how was the moon already so high up??

It should only have been a short time, right??

Thinking back on what had happened, Vinny really didn’t feel like much time had passed. In the end, it was because he hadn’t felt any torment at all.

There was school tomorrow. Normally, at this hour, Shicodale would already be asleep. But because Vinny still hadn’t come back, Shicodale had been waiting for him, so the living room light had stayed on until now.

And that reminded Vinny—Shicodale had said earlier that Shicodale would make him chocolate, too. Vinny didn’t know how it had turned out, whether Shicodale had managed to make chocolate that felt satisfying.

Vinny walked up to the dorm door. For some reason, the emotions he still hadn’t been able to settle a moment ago suddenly calmed down. Maybe it was because he was home, and home was always the kind of place that made people feel safe and warm.

The blue-haired girl reached the door and raised a hand to knock. Then footsteps hurried over from inside. It sounded like the girl who had been sitting on the sofa earlier heard the knock and ran over to open the door without even having time to put on shoes, bare feet slapping against the floorboards.

“Vinny! You’re back—...huh??” The moment Shicodale saw the way Vinny looked outside the door, those big eyes filled with huge question marks.

“Vinny? You... why are you dressed like this again?” Shicodale’s cute, lively face was full of confusion.

“Uh... there were a lot of reasons that led to this.” Vinny felt unusually exhausted today, body and mind alike—like a female student who’d worked all day dragging a worn-out body back to a rented room.

“Vinny, don’t tell me... you dressed up as a girl to sneak into the chocolate-making cooking class??” Shicodale asked in disbelief.

“? How did you know?” For a moment, Vinny felt like Shicodale wasn’t as dumb anymore.

“Vinny, you smell strongly like chocolate.” Shicodale said. “I smelled it the moment I opened the door.”

“Yeah. That’s right, haha. Since I could take the class for free, why wouldn’t I? Right?” Since he’d already been caught, Vinny didn’t see any point hiding it and said it plainly.

“Eh? Vinny wants to learn how to make chocolate too?” Shicodale looked at Vinny’s outfit and couldn’t help asking. “Is it for someone?”

“No.” Vinny waved it off. “I just suddenly got interested. It sounded kind of fun. And you know I’m clumsy—so, as expected, I messed it up. Haha.” He spread his hands.

“Eh? Vinny, what’s that?” Shicodale noticed the packaged bag tucked inside Vinny’s collar.

“Ah, this?” Since Shicodale asked, Vinny had no choice but to take out the chocolates Isatia and Aesphyra had given him. The skirt pockets on the girls’ uniform were too shallow—he couldn’t fit even one slab of chocolate—so he’d had to keep them tucked against his chest.

“These chocolates... Vinny made them?” Shicodale stared at the two chocolate packages Vinny pulled out, hesitant.

Fair enough. Even Shicodale didn’t believe Vinny could make chocolate of this quality, then wrap it with packaging this meticulous.

Based on what Shicodale knew about Vinny, it was basically impossible for Vinny to do something like that.

“Of course not. Someone else gave these to me,” Vinny said honestly.

“Eh? But...” Shicodale looked at Vinny like this, swallowing words.

Right now Vinny looked exactly like a pure, gorgeous girl. If anything, he looked like the one who would be giving chocolate. How was he receiving it? What girl was giving chocolate to him??

“Ahem! This Young Master told you—given this Young Master’s charm, how could I not receive chocolate?” Vinny coughed and comforted Shicodale. “All right, Dale, don’t just stare. No need to envy me. You’ll have it too someday. As long as you become more manly with this Young Master, I believe next year girls will be giving you chocolate.”

“Mmm.” Shicodale nodded a little, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Vinny really was liked by a lot of people.

[Virtue +50]

[Current Virtue: 5109]

“Oh, right—Vinny. Student Council President Mirexia came by earlier.”

“Huh? What? Mirexia?” Vinny had just sat down on the sofa when he heard Shicodale say that, and curiosity rose immediately. “She came to our dorm? For me?”

“Mhm. For you.” Shicodale handed Vinny a brick-shaped slab of chocolate wrapped in gold foil.

“This is...?”

“This is what Student Council President Mirexia left when she came to find Vinny. You weren’t here then, so Mirexia planned to wait here for you to come back. But someone from the Student Council came with a last-minute notice and told Student Council President Mirexia there was something the Student Council needed her to decide again. She had no choice but to leave first and return to the Student Council.”

“When she couldn’t wait for you, she told me to pass this chocolate she made to you. She said it was the first time she’d ever made chocolate, and told you not to dislike it.” Shicodale stood there with hands clasped together, repeating Mirexia’s message word for word like a message relay machine, flat and precise like a construct.

“So that’s how it was.” Vinny held Mirexia’s chocolate in his hands, still finding it hard to believe. Mirexia could cook a little, sure, but not much—and she definitely wasn’t the type to research how to make a dessert like chocolate. For someone as busy as her, this was incredibly rare.

It could only be said that when a person truly cared about something—or someone—then that person would learn.

Mirexia had put her heart into it.

Vinny examined the chocolate Mirexia had made with her own hands. Even though she’d made it in the middle of an absurdly packed schedule, it was obvious she’d learned carefully. The chocolate looked proper and well-formed, not at all like the work of a beginner.

Compared to his own first attempt that barely counted as a shape, Mirexia’s was better by who knew how many worlds.

Mm. It had Mirexia written all over it—square, straight, rigidly proper—like chocolate had a fixed correct form and it had to be made like this.

If she could make it like this, the taste probably wouldn’t be bad either.

Vinny had assumed Mirexia would be so busy she’d forget it was Ainolin Festival today. He didn’t expect Mirexia would actually find time to make chocolate for him.

He stacked up today’s ‘battle spoils.’ Altogether, he’d received three chocolates—each from a fate heroine.

Aesphyra’s packaging was exquisite and obsessed with detail.

Isatia’s box was luxurious and imposing.

Mirexia’s was also made with care, perfectly in her style.

That morning, Vinny had thought there was no way he’d receive chocolate today. Who would’ve guessed that once night fell, he’d end up receiving three.

“And then, Vinny... I also made chocolate for you,” Shicodale said again, seeing Vinny staring at the chocolates in silence.

“Oh—Dale, you learned it? You put your heart into it. Thanks.” Only then did Vinny remember: when he’d gone to take the Ainolin Festival cooking class for free, a part of him had also wanted to make chocolate for Shicodale.

But who could have predicted there’d be such a wild twist and so many interruptions?

If he’d known, he would’ve made an extra batch.

Then again, his cooking... anyone who knew, knew. There was no point expecting much.

“Mhm!” Shicodale immediately ran into the kitchen. A moment later, Shicodale came back holding something wrapped like a lotus-leaf bundle.

“This is... your chocolate?” Vinny stared at the thing in Shicodale’s hands, wrapped up like a dumpling.

“Mhm. Yes.” Shicodale lowered the head a little. Shicodale had naturally noticed how different the packaging styles were between the chocolates Vinny had received and the chocolate Shicodale had made.

That book had only taught how to make chocolate. It hadn’t taught how to wrap a gift full of sincerity.

It was only when Shicodale saw Mirexia’s chocolate packaged like an actual present that Shicodale realized something: Ainolin Festival sincerity chocolate wasn’t only about whether it tasted good. More than that, it was a gift—and for a gift, the most important thing was the wrapping.

But on such short notice, Shicodale couldn’t get any good wrapping paper, so Shicodale improvised, used a little imagination, and used magic to conjure a few fragrant leaves to wrap the chocolate.

It had to be said—Shicodale’s small idea was pretty good. It created a distinct elven style, and it even gave the chocolate a faint fresh scent.

“Thank you, Dale.” Vinny nodded. “Ahem. Getting festival chocolate from a boy on Ainolin Festival is a little strange, but this Young Master will accept it.”

“Eh—Vinny, can you try it and tell me if it’s good?” Shicodale asked.

“You didn’t save any for yourself?” Vinny asked.

“No.”

“Uh...” Vinny had no choice but to unwrap Shicodale’s chocolate.

Shicodale’s chocolate was just like Shicodale—small and cute, so pure you could tell at a glance.

Mm. In his mouth it was sweet, soft, and it carried the clean fragrance of grass, probably left on it by the leaves.

Honestly, if Shicodale hadn’t asked him to try it, he wouldn’t have wanted to eat it so quickly. These chocolates were all packaged nicely, and the commemorative value was huge. Vinny didn’t even want to eat them.

“Vinny... how is it?” Shicodale asked nervously.

“Mm. It tastes good. It melts as soon as it hits your mouth. Very delicious.” Vinny put on an intentionally mysterious air. “And the most distinctive part is—it has a fragrance.”

“Eh? What fragrance?” Shicodale asked immediately.

“The fragrance on your hands.” Vinny smiled and tossed another piece of Shicodale’s chocolate into his mouth.

“Eh—ehh?!” Shicodale froze for a second. Then, seeing the pure, moving face of the blue-haired girl smiling at Shicodale, a rush of blush spread across Shicodale’s face.

Maybe the blue-haired girl didn’t even realize it—after dressing like this, that smile carried an absurd amount of killing power.

[Virtue +80]

[Current Virtue: 5189]

Shicodale really was the easiest to tease—and the safest.

Vinny looked at the Virtue change and couldn’t help finding it funny.

“Guuugugu...” Just as Vinny was about to eat the rest of the chocolate in one go, a sudden sound of intestinal movement came from nearby.

“Dale, you’re hungry?” Vinny looked at Shicodale in shock. “You didn’t eat earlier?”

“Mmm...” Shicodale lowered the head in embarrassment. “There was no time, so... I didn’t manage.”

[Virtue +20]

[Current Virtue: 5209]

“...” So this little elf had been so focused on figuring out how to make chocolate for him that Shicodale hadn’t even eaten, and only finished not long ago??

“You really worked yourself to the bone.” Vinny didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “You made something to eat, and you didn’t even feed yourself.”

“Mmm.”

“Seriously. Dale, you still don’t know how to take care of yourself.” Vinny stood up. “Come on, come on. I didn’t eat either. Let’s go out and get some late-night food together.”

“Eh? But it’s already really late, and there’s class tomorrow.”

“What can we do? Neither of us ate.” Vinny set the chocolate down. “We can’t just eat chocolate and call it a meal. Come on—let’s go eat. Worst case, we sleep earlier tomorrow.”

“Mmm. Okay.” Shicodale followed obediently behind Vinny. The two of them left the dorm. Once they were outside, Shicodale suddenly realized something. “Vinny... you’re really going out like this? You’re not changing clothes?”

“If I go change and come back, it’ll be even later.” Vinny walked ahead. “No need. We’re just getting food. Let’s eat quickly and come right back.”

“Oh, okay.” Shicodale nodded.

There was class tomorrow. At this hour, there were almost no students still wandering outside. Nobody would see them. And even if someone did, it wouldn’t matter.

After they went out, Vinny spoke to Shicodale the entire time using the disguised voice, so it all seemed normal.

The two walked along Academy Commercial Street. Even at night, plenty of shops were still open, including quite a few restaurants.

Vinny brought Shicodale and casually chose a restaurant that looked acceptable. They went inside and ordered a few dishes.

“Waaah! I finally get to eat! Training was so hard today! Wuwuwu!”

A doll-like girl sat on a long bench, soothing a red-haired girl who lay sprawled on the table, as if two souls and five spirits had been ripped right out of her.

“Fennia worked hard today.”

“Wuwu... speaking of which, today seems like it was Ainolin Festival too... I saw so many people making chocolate, receiving chocolate... wuwu, I miss the taste of the sweets Amisha makes.”

“Usually you’re not like you’ve never tasted them.”