Under the Veil of Night

Nolen School C

"Hey Kanae, do you want to buy the materials for making chocolate today?" Misae asked excitedly. Valentine's Day grew nearer and she was impatient to make them.

Kanae raised her head from her book. Due to the president's spectacular performance, their company got an increase in demands again. She had to work until late, so she was feeling rather sleepy and hadn't finished her studying.

"Do I have to come?"

"Why not, don't you want to learn how to make them?" Misae's eyes shone like a little kid's.

Kanae sighed. "Okay, I'll follow you."

"What about you, Alice?"

Alice smiled brightly. "I have time today, so it's a good idea."

"I'll tell my driver to drop us off at the mall. You two can stay over if you want after we finish making the chocolate."

"I can't today," Kanae recalled the work she had to finish and silently sighed. Although she could ask the president to let her do it at home, it meant that there was no sleep for her today. It would be really tiring.

The class felt like forever while Kanae fell asleep in the middle of the lecture. She was tired and in the end, couldn't handle it while listening to a boring history teacher.

"I swear, that teacher is not going to have any girl fans," Misae complained.

Teacher Charlie has become one of the teachers that the students avoided the most. They didn't want to associate with him as they felt he was too annoying. Of course, no one dared to skip his class as he would definitely punish them.

The only one who could avoid his punishment was Kanae. He had seen her file and knew that the principal would kill him if he dared to do anything to this girl. When Kanae slept in his class, his face slightly darkened, but he didn't do anything.

"It feels good to see his displeased face," Misae grinned.

Alice slightly nodded her head. She didn't dare to admit it blatantly, but she too had the same opinion as Misae. It was rather satisfying to see that the annoying teacher couldn't do anything.

Kanae scratched her face embarrassedly. She didn't do it because she wanted to, but because she was exceptionally tired with the work she had been doing lately. Of course, this was the secret she kept to herself as she didn't want to make Misae feel bad.

They arrived in the mall, and Misae immediately pulled them into the chocolate store. Seeing the price, Kanae felt that her eyes were blinded. With her usual allowance, she didn't dare to buy the chocolates as they were simply too expensive.

"I think, I'll just accompany you two when you make them," Kanae sighed.

Misae shrugged. "If I have extra chocolate I'll give them to you, so you can make your own."

"Yes, it's such a shame to miss this day," Alice chirped in.

The two of them discussed the chocolate that would be suitable for their purposes as Kanae watched from the back. Her eyes looked towards the store on the other side. It was a clothing store and there was a discount today. Bingo! She better buy one set of shirts and trousers.

"I'm going to the opposite store for a moment."

Misae nodded her head. "Don't take too long."

"I know."

Kanae walked towards the store and looked towards the clothing with amazement. This was certainly a good store and the materials for the clothes were exceptionally soft. Unfortunately, the clothes with the discount were not these fine clothes.

She made her way to the back and looked towards the clothes there. They were pretty cheap. Although they couldn't be compared with the pricey ones she passed by earlier, they were certainly far better than the usual clothing she bought from the small shops.

"I want a set of the grey-colored ones."

"Are you sure, Miss? They're a little too boyish for a girl, aren't they?"

Kanae nodded her head. "I want them, please."

"Alright, please wait a minute."

Kanae waited until the store attendant wrapped up the clothes and processed the money she gave her. It was cheaper than what she had thought, so she still had some money left. Oh well, she would just use them to buy some sweets later.

She walked back to the other store and noticed that both Misae and Alice had bought a lot of chocolate-making supplies. Seeing their hands filled with plastic bags, she wondered whether they were trying to empty the store or they just wanted to make a lot of chocolates.

"What did you buy, Kanae?" Misae asked curiously.

"A set of clothes, I needed a new one."

"Oh, I see. Let's go back and make chocolate."

As they walked away, Kanae saw that the other chocolate stores were also full of female customers. It seemed that during this time of year, the stores were going to be filled with customers here and there. Of course, the majority was girls.

The three of them headed towards Misae's house, and they made the chocolate. Alice was busy measuring the ingredients to make sure the proportions were alright while Misae prepared the boiling water.

"I'll leave the water here," Misae picked up a rather large bowl to prepare her own batch.

Alice nodded her head. She had mixed the ingredients together into a smaller bowl and placed it above the water. The smaller bowl was still larger than the mouth of the pot, and the height of the boiling water made it impossible for the water to touch the bottom of the small bowl. Alice stirred to melt the mixture, and she proceeded by adding other additional ingredients that she liked. After a while, she poured the mixture into molds and placed the molds into the refrigerator.

Kanae was watching them make the chocolate as her brain memorized the steps. Still, she knew that trying to make it herself was different than watching the steps performed by them.

"It's done," Alice smiled when she saw that the chocolates were ready. They seemed delicious. She picked up a small one and tasted it. The chocolate melted in her mouth, and it tasted so good.

Misae eyed Alice's chocolate. "You're truly good at making sweets. Have you practiced for a long time?"

"Yes, I love sweets."

Not long after that, Misae also finished hers. There were two batches that she made. The small ones for her classmates and the slightly bigger ones were for the Student Council members.

"Now I only need to wrap them," Misae said happily.

Alice handed a chocolate bar to Kanae. "I bought one too many. You can use it to make your own chocolate."

The chocolate bar was not that big, but it was obvious that they purposely bought more than they needed. Kanae smiled. "Thank you very much."

"This time, please don't make a mess in my house."

"Yes."

Kanae closed her eyes as she recalled the steps that these two did a few times. She moved her hand and started to heat up the chocolate like what they did. Her movement was clumsy, but it was clear that she followed what Alice and Misae did previously.

Alice watched in astonishment as she noticed that Kanae replicated the movement exactly as she did. Although there was no need to do that, it seemed that for Kanae, this was the only way for her to not mess up the steps.

Before long, she had finished making a small ball of chocolate. She spilled a bit and the shape became slightly weird, but at least, it was good enough.

"Finally you don't mess up," Misae smiled. She didn't watch Kanae as she was busy wrapping the chocolates, but seeing her kitchen was still fine, she felt rather glad.

"Yeah," Kanae smiled back.

On the side, Alice was looking towards Kanae with inquiring eyes, but she clamped down her bubbling curiosity. Her best friend always managed to surprise her and she didn't want to pry deeper into Kanae's life.

"Let's wrap them."

"Okay."