Today, however, the small differences, and the satisfaction at knowing they would soon be fixed for the better, were overwhelmed by what could only be described as a gigantic mess. It was Valentine's day, and as far as Suoh could tell, every single female in the school (and some who weren't) had decided to gift Kaichou with chocolate. The boxes and baskets and other assorted containers were now stacked untidily on his desk, around his desk, under his desk, on the couch -- and in the midst of it all, Nokoru sat, carefully opening each and noting the giver. The usual piles of paperwork were still present, but dwarfed into insignificance by the bewildering array of candy.

Suoh sighed quietly to himself. Clearly, no work was going to be done today. In fact -- the secretary narrowed his amber eyes at his president -- judging from the amount of chocolate Nokoru had already eaten, the afternoon was going to be.. interesting. For the briefest moment, he considered escape, but that moment's hesitation was too long; he was spotted.

"Suoh!" Nokoru exclaimed, looking up, his cheeks flushed both with too much sugar and his great enjoyment of his current occupation.

Suoh picked his way through the mess to his desk, where a slightly less insane-sized pile of boxes were arranged in a pile. "Kaichou," he replied. "I hope you aren't planning on eating all of that today."

It was no use to hope that he wouldn't eat it all. Suoh had come to accept the week of Nokoru-on-a-sugar-high that typically followed Valentine's day, though he would never fail to marvel at how that was the /only/ reaction that the other young man seemed to have to the sweets. No weight gain, no breakouts, nothing but a buzz that Suoh half-suspected was feigned.

Nokoru put on one of those angelically sincere expressions. "I wouldn't appreciate them all if I ate everything today. I need to give each one proper attention, or it wouldn't be fair."

With a resigned sigh, Suoh sat himself down at his desk, but his usual reply to Nokoru was cut off as he noticed the strange box sitting serenely next to his pencil. It hadn't been there before, he was certain of it, because he would have made note of it and put it with the others. He frowned to himself as he picked up the box and examined it, first the outside, and then finding nothing there, the inside, for some clue as to the giver. There were none. The contents, however, were equally surprising; rather than the small chocolates favored by the majority of the girls this year, there was a small bag of trail mix, very light on chocolate. Someone who knew his tastes then, but.. "Kaichou?" he asked, looking over at the other's desk. "Did someone come by while I was out?"

Nokoru's attention was on the list he was making, but Suoh was suddenly convinced that Kaichou's eyes had really been on him. "No," the blonde president replied, lifting his blue eyes again with a bright smile. "Were we expecting someone? I didn't think we had any meetings today."

"No.. no, we don't. I was just wondering." Suoh's gaze lingered on the other boy before he returned to his puzzle. And it was definitely puzzling. He knew that aside from Nagisa's, all of the chocolates he'd gotten so far were given out of respect and friendship and nothing more. Obligation chocolates to the student council secretary. Why donate something like that anonymously? And how had a girl gotten in here without Nokoru noticing? It hadn't been here earlier. He was equally sure that the answer to his question had been truthful -- though, he reminded himself, Nokoru could very well be telling himself that whoever had brought it by wasn't just 'someone'.

"Kai--" Suoh started to ask again, but never finished the question as Nokoru's curious face lifted again and realization dawned. "Nevermind." He felt himself blushing and hoping very hard that his friend wouldn't notice. The box was tucked into his schoolbag next to the package of chocolate-covered raisins from Nagisa, and Suoh began to study the little bit of work he had left with single-minded devotion.

Or at least that was the appearance he was hoping to convey. In reality, Suoh was paying very little attention to the sheet of paper in front of his eyes. As far as he could remember, Nokoru had never given him something on Valentine's day before, and for some reason he was finding this gift -- and the manner of giving -- extremely unsettling. Nokoru wasn't one to do things in secret. Quite to the contrary, he liked ostentatious displays and big productions. To simply give something small, without any show or even any mark that it was from him, was very strange indeed. Yet Suoh couldn't shake the conviction that this absolutely was from Nokoru.

Eventually Suoh gave up on pretending to work, and stood up. "I'm going to go see if Ijyuin needs any help with his chocolates," he announced, picking up his jacket. "I'll come back for my things later on."

"Okay," Nokoru replied cheerfully, his voice muffled a bit, as he was in the process of wolfing down an interesting looking candy flower. "See you later!" Suoh felt a momentary pang of worry as he watched -- he had visually inspected them all for evidence of tampering earlier, but somehow even his best efforts never quite satisfied him where Nokoru was concerned. Maybe-- that line of thought wasn't one he wanted to follow right now, and with a resolute expression, the secretary went out.

Akira had not been in the junior high student council room, or the area where home economics classes were taught, so as Suoh approached the door to the last place he was going to try, he hoped silently that he'd finally located the boy.

"Come in!" A familiar female voice responded to his knock, and Suoh stepped into a room where he'd spent many many hours, once upon a time. The Elementary Student Council room had been redecorated since Nokoru's tenure, but the size and shape were still the same, and the familiarity was somehow comforting.

"Ohkawa-kaichou," Suoh greeted politely as he closed the door,