At 8:00 on a Saturday morning, not many students were up and about yet. Eirene sat at the Ravenclaw table, wide-awake and fidgeting, ignoring the breakfast on the table so she could watch the windows and doors and catch every student and owl that came in. Today was a special day! She had a Valentine's Day card for each student in her year (except, of course, the Gryffindors), and she planned on handing them out personally. She also had a few personal gifts for her close friends (take that, Cyhirae!), but what Eirene was really looking forward to was receiving Valentines. 

So where was everybody?! Didn't they know she was waiting!

Eirene blinked at the students trudging in with their slouchy socks, mussed hair, and yawning faces. Her hair was already curled, she wore a red dress that wasn't as fancy as the one for the dance, but still sophisticated (in her opinion), and her shoes were shined (as always). She got a few strange looks and giggles when the other Ravenclaws sat at the table, but they simply didn't understand the importance of the day!

Suddenly, the windows flew open and the owls flapped in, and a hush fell over the Great Hall as the students glanced up. This was the first round of many rounds of owl deliveries today, and Eirene watched them, bug-eyed, starting to worry as the other students got packages. What if no one sent her a Valentine? What if only her mother bothered to send her a Valentine? How horrible!

But then! An owl dropped an envelope into her lap and Eirene was so excited she nearly fell out of her chair. After checking the address (not from her mother!), she carefully opened it up and pulled out the card with shaking hands.

Her mouth hung open as she read the front, then the inside, scarcely believing it. Not only had she gotten a Valentine. But it was a Valentine from a...

Secret admirer!

It said she was special on the front! And on the inside, it had a question mark after 'from'! A grin split her face as she wondered who it could be. Eirene glanced around the Great Hall, struck by the need to brag, and her eyes lit up when she noticed Pax at the Hufflepuff table. Pax would listen to her! Maybe he'd even help her figure out who'd sent it!

Hurriedly grabbing her things and hopping up, Eirene rushed towards her friend and practically shoved the card in his face.

"Look, look, look!" Eirene grinned, pointing at the words just in case he wasn't looking.

"Pax! I have a secret admirer!" A giggle burst out. "You have to help me figure out who it is. Will you? It could be anyone in here."

Without waiting for an invitation, she sat down next to him at the Hufflepuff table, caught her breath, and then realized she was clutching the necklace in her hand.

"And look! It's pretty! It looks really expensive too," she exclaimed in a whisper, completely missing the point of 'handmade gift'. Eirene started to tie the necklace around her neck, still beaming, and at the moment forgetting about the gifts she had for her friends in her bag.

Eirene hadn't been the only one waiting anxiously for the morning post. Pax had been shooting glances towards the windows every so often in what he hoped was a surreptitious manner (it wasn't), distractedly stirring his cereal without actually eating it. He had got up particularly early this morning to make sure of getting to the owlery while it was still empty. After giving the envelope to one of the owls, he had hurried to the Great Hall in the hopes of being able to see the post arrive; he was worried that something would go wrong and his Valentine wouldn't reach Eirene for some reason.

When the flurry of owls swooped in, Pax barely noticed that he wasn't the only one looking up at them. He glanced over to the Ravenclaw table, and caught sight of Eirene. She had an envelope! And by the looks of it she seemed pretty excited about it. Afraid of being seen staring, Pax made himself focus back on his corn flakes, which were now growing rather soggy. Of course, that might not be mycard, he thought apprehensively. It might be from someone else. He twirled his spoon around in the cereal bowl, fully forgetting that he was supposed to be eating. What if she doesn't even like my card?

Pax liked Eirene a lot-- a lot more than he'd ever liked a girl before, so it was an odd feeling-- and he dearly wanted for her to be happy. When he had been making the card and necklace, he had daydreamed about how her face might light up when she opened them, how pleased she might be that someone had put some thought into a present for her. Now, though, his stomach was starting to squirm. What if he wasn't as good at painting and jewellery-making as he liked to think? What if Eirene just thought the Valentine was silly and childish?

It turned out he needn't have worried; Eirene seemed positively beside herself with glee as she hurried over. Pax couldn't help but notice she looked rather pretty today, with her smart dress and her hair done nicely. It wasn't something he usually paid attention to as a rule, so it look him a little bit by surprise. He wondered briefly whether he should compliment her on the dress, but he was saved having to make the decision when Eirene jumped right in with her news.

He had to try not to beam too widely as she gushed about the Valentine. She thinks the necklace is pretty! It felt like a marching band was parading through his head. 'Oh, yeah, it's nice,' he agreed, trying to think what kind of comment he would make if he hadn't made the necklace himself. 'Ravenclaw colours, too,' he added, remembering how he'd rummaged through his bead box specifically to fit that theme, and hoping Eirene appreciated the colour scheme.

'I, uh, I don't know how much help I'd be finding out who sent it, though,' he added awkwardly, silently willing himself not to blush. 'I mean, like you said, it could be anyone. And if it's a secret admirer, it sounds like it's someone who doesn't want to be found out...' Apart from anything else, Pax was scared of inadvertantly giving himself away. He was fairly certain Eirene only liked him as a friend; if she found out who really sent the Valentine, she might be disappointed, and Pax didn't think he could handle the rejection.

But... wait! What if he gave himself away just by being reluctant to help solve the mystery? Merlin, there was just no winning when it came to affairs of the heart. 'Um... I mean... I mean, do you have any ideas about who it might be?' He tried his darnest to sound nonchalant. He only succeeded in making his voice go up an octave.

In her excitement, Eirene was having a difficult time paying careful attention to Pax's words or attitude. If he seemed at all reluctant or awkward, she didn't notice. She nodded when he suggested that a secret admirer might not want to be found out, though in her head, she was already scheming ways she'd catch whoever had sent it. Because she wanted to know!

He asked if she had any ideas about who it might be, and Eirene's brow furrowed in thought for a few moments as she glanced around the Great Hall, half-expecting to see a big, blinking arrow over her secret admirer. No such luck!

"Well, the necklace was made in Ravenclaw colors," she smiled, pleased about that. "So that could mean he either knows it's the best house ever. Or, he's in Ravenclaw?" Eirene looked at Pax for his opinion.

An odd and very silly thought entered her head, and she suddenly grabbed Pax's arm and leaned forward, eyes wide. "Pax!" Eirene exclaimed, pausing for a long, dramatic moment.

"Do you think, do you think it could be..." She bit her lip, overcome with shyness. Eirene had never admitted this to herself, or her friends, but she had a huge crush on Sasha Schlagenweit. Even after her parents had told her to stay away from him, and even after a student had died, she couldn't help but go googly-eyed whenever he walked into the common room. Of course, she hadn't spoken a word to him since the rumors about Ava, but today was a special day, and it was very hard to keep 'potential murderer' in mind when she'd just gotten a pretty necklace!

"I think I might know who it is, but he's an older student!" Eirene admitted in an excited whisper, face lighting up again. "Most boys act like boys, but he doesn't!" She continued, oblivious that she was insulting Pax's gender.

"What does this mean? Does it mean he likes me? Or is he just trying to be nice? Does he want to be my boyfriend?" She punctuated that with a giggle. "But oh no! I'm not allowed to date until I'm sixteen! And..." she trailed off, looking conflicted. As much as Eirene wanted to be grown-up and sophisticated, she didn't know that she wanted to date anyone yet. If dating meant holding hands and getting compliments on her appearance, she could do that! If it meant he'd tell the Gryffindors to leave her alone, she could certainly do that! But if it meant kissing, well, ew. She'd pass.

Pax smiled a little in amusement when Eirene speculated on why her 'secret admirer' might have made the necklace in Ravenclaw colours. He didn't think Ravenclaw was the best house, that was for sure; all houses had their merits, and all of them were equal. (Besides, Hufflepuff was totally the best house ever.) His own reasons, like, Because you're a Ravenclaw and he thought you might like it, and Because the colours suit you, came to mind, but afraid of revealing too much with such insights, he kept his mouth shut, opting instead to nod ponderously at his friend's guesses.

Then things took a turn for the unexpected, though Pax probably should have been prepared for this eventuality. Eirene did have an idea as to who might have sent the Valentine? On the one hand, she certainly didn't seem to be on to him, which was good, but... (Wait, was acting like a boy a bad thing, now?) Pax focused on keeping the dismay off his face. Was it possible he actually had competition? Was it someone that Eirene actually liked back? Judging by her excitement, it would seem so. The part of Pax that wanted to be a good, supportive friend was saying, Well, as long as it's making her happy, right? That was the whole point sending the Valentine, wasn't it? But the part of him that didn't like the idea of Eirene actually having a boyfriend was drowning it out: Ship sinking! Abort, abort! Damage control!

'W-well,' he interjected, the gears in his mind whirring around a mile a minute as he tried to figure out how to handle this, 'Um. If it's... it's if who you think it is...' And it's not, he thought dolefully. 'Maybe the reason he left the card unsigned was because of... because of the age difference?' Yes, that sounds plausible, let's go with that. 'I mean, if you're not allowed to date until you're older... It'd... It'd probably just, y'know, complicate things if he actually, um, asked you out or something like that.' Pax had lost track of whether or not he was making sense. The important thing seemed to be to keep talking. 'And, uh, he probably knows that, so... Um...'

Pax pursed his lips for a moment, trying for a split second to dissuade himself from asking the question he was thinking of asking. He knew no good could come of knowing the answer, but morbid curiosity one out remarkably quickly. Leaning towards Eirene in an almost conspiratorial fashion, he quietly intoned, 'If I promise not to tell, will you tell me who you think it is?'

Eirene nodded, understanding his reasoning, even if he seemed a tad hesitant to share his thoughts. She assumed that because he was a boy, he wasn't as comfortable discussing crushes as, say, Noriko might be. But Pax was all she had! At least he was willing to listen.

Yes, not telling her who he was because of the age difference made sense. It was only appropriate to wait until she was sixteen, and then express interest in dating her. How romantic! Just like that muggle story, Romulus and Juliette! Her secret admirer was merely giving her a sign, so she knew he liked her, and then he'd reveal his identity when the time was right.

Her face flushed and she gave Pax a shy look when he asked her who she thought it was. What if he laughed at her! Or warned her to stay away from a potential murderer! Eirene didn't want to hear any disagreements.

However, she did want to share her thoughts with someone, and Pax was trustworthy and nice.

"Well," she leaned forward to whisper in his ear. From afar, they looked like two young students caught up in the hype of the day. Or two twitterpated first-years.

"I think it's Sasha Schlagenweit," she told him, then leaned back with a grin. "He's always been really nice to me. And he talks to me like... I'm an interesting person. Instead of an immature first-year. Because I'm not immature!" Eirene claimed, then continued to ramble. "And, he saved me from drowning in the lake."

She let out a wistful sigh.

'I don't think you're immature,' Pax blurted out, then, suddenly self-conscious, drew back from Eirene to resume distractedly prodding at his cereal. What did we say about giving away the secret? To not do it! Get it together, Pax. 'I mean, the thing with the Lake, yeah, I remember you both came in to the Sorting completely drenched. Um. That was very brave of him.' He was barely listening to what he was saying at this point; it just seemed important to fill in the silence, or else Eirene might somehow figure out what he wasn't telling her.

Sasha Schlagenweit. Pax hadn't missed the way Eirene talked about him sometimes; the way she had come around to the idea of attending the Muggle Appreciation Club with him a lot easier once he'd mentioned that Sasha was the president. But he had deliberately ignored the implications. There was no ignoring this, though. It didn't matter that Pax was nice to Eirene, talked to her, found her interesting. Because he wasn't Sasha.

Stop being so selfish, Pax, he mentally chided himself, finally gulping down a spoonful of cereal to cover for the fact that he had temporarily run out of things to say. (It was more sludge than cereal, at this point.) It was a good thing, in a way, that his Ravenclaw friend thought so highly of her housemate. Sasha was muggleborn, after all. One of the reasons he'd been so eager to introduce Eirene to muggle culture was because he worried about her upbringing being a bit, well, purist. Her having a crush on a muggleborn certainly put those fears to rest. And that she still seemed to like him meant she didn't take everything in the newspaper at face value; Pax himself had been dubious about the allegations made about Sasha, and decided to pay them no mind until he actually knew Sasha's side of the story.

There still remained the tiny problem, however, of the fact that Sasha was not the secret admirer Eirene hoped him to be. Pax didn't want to come out and say it, for fear of hurting his friend's feelings, but Sasha almost certainly didn't like Eirene back. When she had mentioned her suspicions of an older student, he had assumed a second-year, maybe third. It would be just plain creepy for a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old to be interested in a first-year like that. Did he have to broach that topic though? After all, it wasn't as if she was going to go off and ask Sasha if it was him...

...Wait.

Oh, heck. He couldn't let her talk to Sasha about this. It'd just be embarrassing all around. Swallowing the half-dissolved cereal awkwardly, Pax ventured, as tactfully as he could, 'Um, Sa- um, the person you think it might be, he's quite a bit older than us though. I mean, I know four years or whatever it is won't matter when we're grown up and all, but, um...' Nope, there was no tactful way of saying, You're just a kid. Moving on. 'I know he's great and all that, but maybe he just wants to be your friend? Cos I mean, who wouldn't want to be your friend, right?' Three names jumped right to the front of his head in answer to that question. He shoved them to the back of his mind. 'And, um, boys and girls can be just friends, you know, like you and I are.' Don't blush don't blush don't blush. 'Um. Um. All I mean is, your secret admirer, it just, it might not be, um, him. It, it could be anyone, right?' Is it getting warm in here? I think it's warm.

Pax grabbed his glass of orange juice and started slurping it down, if for no other reason than to prevent himself from saying anything else he hadn't thought through properly.

She'd been right to put her trust in Pax. He didn't laugh at her, and even reassured her that she wasn't immature. As he continued sharing his thoughts between um's and mouthfuls of cereal, Eirene nodded, acting like she was listening, and she was really, really trying to. But she couldn't help but focus on some of his points (who wouldn't want to be your friend! Boys and girls can be friends!) more than others, so that Pax's subtle and thoughtful warning went over her head.

"Right" She grinned obliviously, resting her elbows on the table and putting her chin in her hands, still misty-eyed.

"If it were him, I don't think it would be appropriate," Big-girl word! "to date him until I got older. If it were him, he probably just wanted me to know that he thinks I'm a great friend."

Eirene paused for a half a second. "I can wait! I can wait until I'm sixteen or eighteen or even twenty-five." In Eirene's mind, that was an ancient number. "And then, we could date and it would be alright."

She beamed at Pax, an idea forming. Eirene would give Sasha an anonymous gift in return - something she'd bought for him for the winter holidays, and never had the courage to give him. It sat in a pretty pink box underneath her bed, waiting for the right opportunity! Today was it.

"Don't you worry! I know just what I'm going to do," She patted his arm, and then drew back to look into her bag. "Oh! And I have something for you!"

"Because like you said, boys and girls can be friends." A lesson she was beginning to learn at Hogwarts. Most boys were icky! Pax was not. Most muggleborns were barbarians! Sasha was not. Eirene handed him the card and the small white box and then clasped her hands together, suddenly nervous that he wouldn't like the pendant she'd picked out for him, or he'd think the card was too much.

Pax was pretty sure he could feel his heart sinking a few feet as Eirene latched onto her own interpretation of his makeshift theory. That hadn’t been quite what he was going for. She’d... wait for him? Until she was a grown-up? (She was going to nurse her crush on him for that long?) Pax swallowed another mushy spoonful of cereal and put on his best supportive face. (His best supportive face was, apparently, something half-way between a bemused smile and a look of vague discomfort, as though he had discovered a bar of chocolate in his pocket, but it had melted.) It was in stark contrast to the happy smile plastered across his friend’s face, which left Pax wondering, What just happened? ...What’s she planning?
He didn’t have time to figure out how to put any further doubts he had into words (as opposed to just confused noises) before Eirene completely caught him offguard by handing him a gift of her own. She made it clear that it was a ‘just friends’ gift (well of course it was), but Pax was still touched. He honestly hadn’t been expecting anything from her. The bizarre expression from before dropped away from his face, replaced with a small, nervous smile. He looked at the card first, then opened the little box. He smiled more warmly. There was a touch of wistfulness to it, but barely detectable. She got me a necklace too. The colours caught in the stone set in the pendant’s base seemed to glimmer slightly in the light from the early-morning ceiling.

‘It... It’s great, Eirene.’ Realising his voice had gone a little hoarse, he coughed as though to clear his throat. ‘Thank you.’ He propped the card on the table, next to his half-eaten, half-liquid cereal, and set about putting on the pendant to demonstrate that he really did like it. Suddenly self-conscious as he fumbled with the clasp, he said, ‘I’m... I’m really sorry, but I don’t have anything to give you.’ Technically speaking, it wasn’t a lie. He had already given his present, after all. ‘I’d totally give you house points, if I could,’ he added with a small grin.

For a moment, Pax looked like the white box she'd handed him contained a dragon itself, instead of just a dragon pendant. Eirene suppressed a nervous giggle. When he opened the gift and gave her a warm smile, Eirene's face lit up again. She'd worried that giving Pax a Valentine's Day present would be seen as strange, because he was a boy. He seemed happy, though!

"I'll help you!" She burst out, standing to adjust the pendant so that the clasp rested at the back of the neck like it should. A snicker sounded from someone at the table and Eirene frowned, then sat again, ignoring it.

Pax apologised for not getting her anything, and made a joke about house points. On any other day, Eirene might have taken offense or worried that he hadn't gotten her a Valentine because he wasn't really her friend, but today, the surprise from her secret admirer had put her in a fantastic mood.

She shrugged at him, admiring the pendant he wore, and wishing she'd bought a more girly version for herself too. "I don't mind! I'm only glad you like your gift. Besides, you have plenty of time to get me something in return. If you want to. Or to think about it. My birthday's in December," she reminded him.

That reminded her of how badly her birthday party had turned out. Her happy expression dimmed a bit. It also reminded her that one of her close friends had been ignoring her lately, and this wasn't like the silent treatment that Effie gave her, but worse. Noriko was avoiding her, and Eirene knew exactly why.

"Pax?" She gave him a wheedling look. "Can I ask you a favor?"

Pax had to hope he hadn't blushed when Eirene had helped him with the pendant-- or more specifically, when one of the other Hufflepuffs seemed somehow amused by this. Don't they know the 'boys and girls can be friends' rule? Honestly.

His expression changed to one of relief, though, when Eirene didn't seem to mind that he didn't have a present for her. He nodded in reply, and made a mental note to owl home to ask his parents to get something non-anonymous as a late, platonic Valentine gift. (He didn't want to risk making a card and gift again; Eirene seemed fairly latched on to the idea of the admirer being Sasha, but she was still very intelligent. She might twig.) Maybe a bracelet, or a new quill? Pax didn't have much time to muse on this, however, before Eirene's mind seemed to have turned to something else.

'Ummm.' Pax raised an eyebrow at her. Ordinarily he was keen to oblige when it came to Eirene (well, most people, actually, but Eirene in particular these days), but... What was she getting at? (It didn't involve Sasha, did it?) His desire to be helpful won through pretty quickly, though. 'Well, yeah, sure.' Quickly followed by a slightly less confident-sounding, 'Uh-- what is it?'

Pax hesitated and seemed nervous, then agreed to help her. Eirene clapped her hands together and grinned. "Oh, good!" She rummaged in her bag until she dug out another wrapped gift. The box was small and pink, and the card was attached with curly ribbon. On the front of the card, the name 'Noriko' was scrawled in careful cursive.

"I have a Valentine for someone," she told him, clutching the gift to her in a sudden display of nervousness. "But she hasn't been talking to me lately, and I think she must still be mad at me. So, I wanted to get her something nice to make up for it. Expect, Pax, I don't think she'll even take it if I approach her."

Frustration and guilt clouded her features. "I can just see her running off in terror now!" Eirene huffed.

"But maybe..." She looked at him again, expression pitiful. "Maybe if you gave it to her, she'd actually open it! She's not scared of you. And so she'd open it, and she'd see the bracelet and read the card, and she wouldn't be mad at me anymore!"

Eirene nodded, thinking that logic was sound. "Would you give this to Noriko for me? Please? She's sitting right over there. I'll be right here, watching to make sure everything goes smoothly," she pointed helpfully at the Slytherin table and gave him an encouraging look.

Pax looked over to Noriko, then to the card and present that Eirene was holding out, then to Eirene, then to Noriko, the gift, Eirene... Finally he stopped before he made himself dizzy, but he did continue to look at Noriko's present with a mixture of deliberation and apprehension. Of course he wanted to help Eirene patch up her friendship with Noriko, but... Somehow he felt uneasy about putting himself in the middle of this.

'Noriko's... still upset at you?' Pax said uncertainly. 'Is this still to do with what happened last month in--' Pax realised just a fraction of a second too late that Eirene would almost certainly not want to be reminded any more than she already was of the disastrous incident in Defense Against the Dark Arts in which a Cushioning Charm had gone very, very wrong.

Hastily, he interrupted himself, 'I mean, of course, of course, I mean I said I'd do it, so I'll do it.' He clumsily took the envelope and the little pink box whilst he was babbling. He offered Eirene a quick smile that was trying very hard not to be a grimace, then he started making his way over to where Eirene had pointed out Noriko. As he was walking, he realised another reason why he was feeling uneasy; what if Noriko thought the gift was from him? After how his own anonymous Valentine had turned out, he didn't think he could deal with any further cases of mistaken identity.

Don't worry. As soon as she opens the card, she'll see it's from Eirene. Then, she'll be pleased and maybe even go and make up with her... Or be annoyed at me for trying to help make them be friends again. Pax gave a small defeated sigh. As he reached the Slytherin table, he realised since Noriko was facing away from him, he'd need to make his presence known in an unstartling manner as possible, given how skittish the Slytherin girl could be.

He opted for the standard, loud throat-clearing technique. 'Um, Noriko?' he said, trying not to look nervous. Just remember, she's more scared of you than you are of her. Literally. 'I, um--' Pax had a fleeting moment of panic as he held the card and gift out towards her. He had to make it obvious it wasn't from him, but he also couldn't say it was from Eirene or there was the risk Noriko wouldn't open it. 'Um. Um. Delivery for you?' He gave her a small smile.

Noriko was very suspicious of Valentine's Day.  More than anything, it seemed like an excuse for the older students around Hogwarts to go out of their way to embarrass each other, like the older Hufflepuff boy who had burst into song in the middle of the Great Hall earlier that morning.  She wasn't sure what she would do if any of the male students tried to sing a song about her.  Probably try to hide under the table.  Or possibly run back to her dorm room and never, ever come out.

The Slytherin table was buzzing that morning with news of the dance later that day.  Noriko sat off by herself a bit, trying to nonchalantly keep an eye on Baxter Fox (who was the one boy that she might not mind singing a song to her, although she was quite certain that she still might die of embarrassment) without making eye contact with Eirene, who also sat at the Ravenclaw table.  She still hadn't really spoken to her friend since the incident in Defense class a few weeks before, when Eirene had enlarged her bum in front of all of the first years and Dahlia had had to save her by deflating it.

Even though she wasn't making eye contact with Eirene, it was impossible not to miss the other girl's squeal of excitement when the owl post came.  Noriko sighed, looking down at the heart-shaped box of chocolates that her own family's owl had dropped off for her.  Her parents had sent her a present (along with a note:  "Try harder in Defense class and maybe we'll take you to see the Muggly the Bear live concert for your birthday this summer!"), but she was sure it wasn't anything as good as what Eirene had gotten.  She didn't have a secret admirer.

Noriko was sitting at the table, swinging her feet and glumly eating her food, when a throat was cleared rather loudly behind her.  She jumped, her eyes going wide at the sound of her name.  A boy's voice!  Was it Baxter Fox?  She snuck a quick look over her shoulder, but then, dejected, realized that it was only Pax.

'Um. Um. Delivery for you?'

Noriko's world stopped.

"Wh-what?" she squeaked, her heart skipping what seemed like several beats.  This wasn't how secret admirers were supposed to work!  Was this a joke?  Pax wasn't supposed to give her anything!  She was supposed to get presents from Baxter Fox!  (Not that she liked Baxter Fox - Noriko was still determined that she wouldn't admit that to anyone, not even Eirene if they were still speaking.)  Panicking, she looked from Pax to the present and almost back to Pax again, before she decided that even if this wasn't a joke, she didn't really want to look at him right now.

"F-for me?" she asked uncertainly.  Maybe he meant Aglaia.  Or Euphemia.  They were both very nice girls - the sort of people that boys (aside from Baxter Fox) were supposed to like.  "Are you...are you sure?"

On the plus side, Noriko didn't appear to leap to the same conclusion about him that Eirene had leapt to about Sasha Schlagenweit. On the minus side...  Was it Pax's imagination, or did the Slytherin look a little disappointed to see him? Was she onto Eirene's plan to win back her friendship? Or... Well, it's not that difficult to work out why a girl wouldn't be pleased to see you on Valentine's Day. It's not as if you're the sort of boy anyone would want a Valentine from, is it? It was the whole reason he'd left his Valentine to Eirene anonymous.

Realising he was letting his insecurities about Eirene colour his view and get the better of him, Pax shoved his ego to the side for now. 'Well, I'm pretty sure,' he told Noriko, glancing down to make sure it definitely had her name written on the card, then holding it out so that she could see it for herself. 'See? It says "Noriko".'

He held out the little parcel as well, desperate to be relieved of it. He was already holding both the card and the gift with as few fingers as possible, as if afraid if he was in too much contact with them, people might think he was the one giving Noriko a Valentine, and not in a just friends kind of way. Not that there was anything wrong with liking Noriko in a not-just-friends way, of course. It was just that Pax didn't. And though Pax usually tried not to care too much what people thought, well, when it came to crushes, or perceived crushes, the schoolyard teasing could be merciless.

'It's not from me,' he added, hoping this might placate her. 'I'm just, um, you know, the, um, delivery boy.' I know what's a good idea, keep saying 'um'. That'll really convince her it's not from you. If Pax had had a hand free, it probably would have collided with his forehead by now. As it was, he just looked deeply uneasy, made worse by the fact that he was still trying to smile. Being friendly apparently had its downsides.

Noriko stared at the other first year, her panic obviously beginning to grow as she looked from him to the package and back again.  A delivery boy?!  But who was he making the delivery for? 

Gulping, Noriko tried very hard not to look in Baxter Fox's direction as she took the parcel, her cheeks burning even pinker than the wrapping paper.  Carefully, as if she thought something might jump out and bite her, she slipped a finger under one edge of the paper and tugged at it, pulling it free inch by inch as she unwrapped the box.

Inside was...a charm bracelet?  Noriko's eyes grew wide, and if possible, she turned even pinker.  Who would send her a charm bracelet?  That was the sort of thing that a boy sent a girl that he liked!  Swallowing harder, Noriko carefully edged open the card, gingerly holding it as she read over it... She was a 'Tweet Friend'...

"Oh!" she exclaimed, relief flooding through her as she read the name at the bottom.  "It's from Eirene!"  Beaming, she looked back at Pax, clutching at the charm bracelet.  "This is for me?  Really!?  And Eirene asked you to give it to me?"