It has now been over a year since you first arrived in Hisui. You did your very best to adjust to local customs in a bid to appease the villagers, which worked more or less, but you still got quite homesick once certain dates came and went.

Today, it was February 14th. You had talked to Professor Laventon before, trying to figure out which holidays were celebrated in Jubilife, and you learned that although Galar and Unova celebrated Valentine's day, they were currently the only regions that did.

You were originally hoping to use the holiday to impress your crush, but if they had no idea why you got them a gift, would they understand the meaning behind it?

You decided to just roll with it, purchasing a nice pack of sweets from the candy stand, asking Bonn to wrap them extra nice. Gift in hand, you set out to find the one person you couldn't take your mind off of all this time.

Approaching them, you gave a quick greeting, and quickly started to explain the reason for your visit. "It's a holiday where I'm from", you said, suddenly shy, your bravery fading once you actually stood in front of them. "It's tradition to gift sweets or flowers to someone you really like. The receiving person may reciprocate a month later, but you really don't have to! I just wanted you to know... I appreciate you."

You held out the bundle of sweets in front of you, hopeful that they understood your meaning, waiting for their answer.

Adaman

Adaman's mind is as sharp as his face is handsome. He understood immediately, honestly having a hunch as to what your visit was about when you greeted him all shy and cute

Of course he accepts your generous gift! The effort put into it was obvious, you hand-selected the flavours to be of berries he mentioned in passing he enjoyed, with the packaging being a beautiful combo of shades of blue

You scuttled of rather quickly, before he managed to invite you to stay for dinner

It annoyed him that he didn't have a gift in return; had he asked more about you in the past, he could have known about the customs from your homeland. It certainly would have impressed you

But, the past can't be changed, so he looks towards the future; one that involves you by his side, hopefully

This man is neither a cook nor a baker, so he asks the ladies in the settlement to help him out. Rumours about their leader crushing on the hero of Hisui were already swirling among the clan members, and the elder ladies were delighted to hear that their Adaman was finally making a move. He would always stay their baby, after all, no matter how old he was or which position he held

Everyone really came together. The whole affair escalated into a bake-off, in which the winner's pastry got to be the gift Adaman would present to you. He didn't complain much, finding the perfect gift for you would never be a waste of time. Plus, he got to taste-test everything

On the 14th of March, he made his way to the village, pastry wrapped in a nice, patterned cloth (also vetted by the Diamond clan's ladies), ready to return the favor

He intended to ask you for courtship today, but his usual bravado was nowhere to be seen when he handed you the sweet treat, completely enthralled by your smiling face. Well, maybe on his next visit

Akari

She already has her mouth full of candy before you can finish your explaination

She's very intrigued, curious as always, and runs straight to the professor after waving goodbye to you

Akari promptly bombards Laventon with all kinds of questions. What's Valentine's about? How did it come to be? Why do people give gifts? Does the White Day gift have to be white??

Poor Laventon, he has no idea about that either. He only knows to give his wife a nice bouqet and cook dinner, everything else is lost on him as well

"Bouqet and dinner... Sounds easy enough! Thanks prof!" Before he could stop her, Akari had already run off, on a mission to source ingredients and flowers

Thankfully, Choy managed to talk her down from buying everything right away, explaining that the ingredients would go bad in a month's time. Akari was just so excited, she wanted to give you something right away!

It was getting dark when she found you again, about to go into your room. She ran up to you, almost barreling into you, stopping just centimeters in front of your face

"Hey! So. I know you said "in a month", but that's, like, in a month! So I got you this so you know I like you too right away!" Akari beamed at you, revealing the freshly picked flowers from behind her back, thrusting them into your face

Apparently she pulled them out by their roots. They still had a bit of dirt on them. But you didn't mind. Her gusto and enthusiasm for everything she did was what made you fall for her in the first place, after all

Irida

This girl is flabberghasted that you managed to pull a fast one on her. She always imagined herself to be the one to confess, by sunset at the beach preferrably, starting a beautiful courtship immediately and getting married in the spring-

Irida has a type A personality, preferring to plan out everything in advance. But how could she plan something she had no idea existed!

Of course, she gratefully accepted your gift, trying desperately to appear as unbothered as possible. It was so very very sweet of you to get her something, and she wanted to make sure you knew how much she appreciated it

At the same time, she tried to sneakily press you for more information on Valentine's and White Day. She swore then that would get you the perfect gift in return

The next month was spent planning and preparing. As embarrassing as she found it, Irida asked for advice from Palina, since her bestie had more experience with romance than her

"Well, I always melt when Iscan cooks for me", she said, her hand flying to her cheek, reminiscing about their secret dates in the coastlands and all the little things that made her fall for her fiance

Irida can cook. She totally can. She hasn't burned anything in-

Okay maybe she shouldn't cook. But the dinner idea was still very nice, and she knew exactly how to make it work

On White Day, you woke up to a note at your door, inviting you to the Wallflower at sunset. You could barely focus on anything else all day, excited to see whothe mysterious note-writer turned out to be

Arriving at the restaurant, you were greeted by a beautifully arranged table. Flowers, placemats, the whole shebang, not to mention a very nervous Irida sitting before you

"I thought talking over dinner would be nice", she said, blush taking over her face, "I wanted to make an effort, after you gave me such a nice gift."

Rei

Poor guy is completely flustered. A love holiday? And you chose him to give a gift to?? Oh wow. Oh my. That's... He's speechless. Completely. Which leads to him not say another words before waving goodbye and retreating to his room to calm down

It took him a whole hour to calm down enough to be able to leave the room without blushing profusely. But, if anything, it made him determined to not make you regret choosing him. He would give you a proper gift in return, in a month's time, as your tradition dictates

... Only he had no idea what to get you. And who could he ask, honestly? Akari claimed to know all about romance, but her advice was usually questionable. Laventon seemed like a good choice, until he remembered the disaster how his wedding anniversary a few months ago. In general, he eliminated the men he knew from his list. Kamado and Beni were still on your shit-list after the exile thing, and Ingo was... Confused, at the best of times

Which left him with the one woman he trusted most. The only sensible choice, really. Stepping into her office, Rei explained his plight, asking for her advice

"I see. That is complicated, yes." Cyllene stroked her chin, deep in thought. "You may have heard about flowers and sweets, but someone like them desires something different altogether. Lucky for you, your skills will prove useful."

It was a simple plan Cyllene outlined for him, and he truly wondered how he didn't think of it himself. He got to work immediately, tinkering with the gift for many nights until it was perfect. Now all he had to do was wait for March

In the morning hours of March 14th, just after the sun rose, you awoke to a soft knock on your door, opening it to reveal a very nervous Rei holding a rather large box

"Uhm... For, uh... For White day..." He practically shoved the box into your hands, quickly making his escape to around the corner, where he hoped you wouldn't see him peeking

Perplexed, you chuckled at his antics, and opened the box to find... Hyperballs?

"You won't have to craft for weeks! Hopeyoulikeitbyeeeee" Rei shouted from around the corner, sprinting towards Galaxy Hall, not looking back

Volo

He knows about Valentine's Day, actually. He's deeply interested in cultures of all kinds, and holidays are a central component of them. Besides, the guild kept droning on about "Valentine's sales" in other regions, so it was impossible to not hear about it

He tactically didn't get you anything. He wanted to see wether you were still interested in him first, since the whole Giratina thing created a rather big rift in your relationship. If he got you a gift and you rejected him, his ego would never recover

Of course, he had the perfect gift locked and loaded for weeks. Volo is an overthinker, obsessing over details and potential outcomes, so he took care of that early on. Now, he only had to get you alone, which proved much trickier than anticipated

While you didn't outright tell anyone what happened on Mt. Coronet, it was clear to everyone that something happened between you two, and your friends were less than amused. Whatever it was, they were sure that you had a good reason to be as angry at Volo as you were, and they did everything in their power to keep him away from you

Which was fine, for a while. Until your anger faded and you were ready to forgive him. Your friends though, bless them, still ran interference, suspicious and unwilling to entrust him with you

His best bet might be to slip in your room at night, although he was sure the night guards would have something to say about that. Perhaps a scheduled meeting, then? Slipping you a note should be easy enough

Which is what he did the next time you stopped by the guild wagon. "Obsidian Fieldlands, Floaro Gardens, March 14, 7pm"

He tried to tell himself that this was no big deal. If you came, great. If you didn't, he'd just cry himself to sleep for the rest of his life. No biggie

That day, you left early in the morning, off to do your survey work. Volo didn't know to which region of Hisui you went; he could only hope you were on your way to the fieldlands

You once told him that this time of year saw new Cherubi sprouting, perhaps you were off to research them? Before everything, he would have never bothered to remember something as miniscule as this. You really managed to soften him up, he thought

Sunset rolled around and Volo made his way to the flower fields, nervous despite himself. He wouldn't fault you for hating him, for playing a prank with the gift you gave him, making him think there was a chance after all-

There you stood, among the Gracidea flowers, looking as nervous as he felt. Since you actually showed up, surely you would hear him out, right?

Once you exchanged greetings, Volo took off that ridiculously big backpack, rummaging through it to produce an envelope

"All the rage in Galar, or so I've heard", he said, handing it to you. Sceptically, you opened it to find... A card? "I understand we aren't exactly... Lovers, at this point, but I thought this might be a first step to smoothing things over."

Opening the card, you began to read what could only be described as the most rueful love letter you have ever seen

"My dearest, my regrets run deeper than the caves of the highlands, farther than the vastness of Hisui itself. To see your beautiful eyes shimmer with tears broke my heart anew, and I finally realized-"