Although Dark felt that [Magic Beast (Ditto)] had definitely mistaken the holiday, the blessings from the [Magic Guide Spirits] still kept his expression in a constant state of melting.
At the beginning of refining [Magic Guide Spirits], he had never thought he would receive blessings from them.
Let alone such carefully prepared surprises.
He didn't even need to open the gift box; just looking at the note in his hand, which displayed the results of [Magic Beast (Ditto)]'s studies, was enough to keep him excited for half the day.
This feeling was something Alvit, far away in the Royal Capital, had actually experienced during Christmas more than a month ago.
The family letter and the [Crimson Star] medal Dark had sent over made her hide in her room and secretly wipe away tears.
A child's growth is always what comforts parents the most.
Dark took out a brand-new notebook, smoothed out the note again, and tucked it between the pages of the notebook.
"I must treasure this properly."
After closing the notebook, he finally began to dismantle the pale purple gift box.
Originally, he didn't hold too much expectation for the gift inside the box.
After all, what kind of gifts could [Magic Guide Spirits], who couldn't go out, prepare?
However, even a small trinket would be enough to make him feel happy.
"No, I need to control myself a bit."
Dark hurriedly pressed his hand against his chest to calm his emotions slightly.
Only then did he finally open the gift box.
Unlike Eudora's gift which had layered racks, once [Magic Beast (Ditto)]'s gift box was opened, one could only see chocolates piled up to the brim.
The chocolates were heart-shaped and of varying sizes, flat like cookies, with obvious signs of being handmade. The surrounding contours were not smooth, and some places were even incomplete.
However, the more it was like this, the more one could feel the hardships hidden behind it.
How did the [Magic Guide Spirits], who couldn't easily leave the dormitory, prepare these materials?
And after gathering enough materials, how did they successfully make handmade chocolates?
And all this while keeping it a secret from him!
Dark carefully picked up one of the chocolates and bit into it with the mindset of a martyr!
Instantly, the unique bitterness of chocolate rippled out as it melted.
But just as he was about to frown, he tasted a trace of sweetness from within.
This trace of sweetness mixed within the rich bitterness was like a clear spring found after a bitter search in the desert, infinitely amplifying in his brain.
Dark couldn't help but feel greatly surprised.
This dark chocolate unexpectedly suited his taste.
Subconsciously, he took a few more bites, finally putting the remaining part entirely into his mouth, chewing carefully and savoring the aftertaste.
"Mang-mang~"
Two beady eyes poked out from the blanket as [Magic Beast (Ditto)] couldn't help but twist its body.
Every detail of Dark opening the gift was reflected in its eyes, making it unable to suppress its excitement.
Meanwhile, the other [Magic Guide Spirits] were secretly looking forward to Dark opening their gifts.
...
After eating that piece of chocolate, Dark resealed the gift box and set it aside for the time being.
Although he really wanted to finish the whole box of chocolates in one go, there were still many gift boxes remaining. exclusively favoring one was not behavior befitting a [Demon God].
Immediately after, he selected a pink gift box from the pile.
"Pink, just like Eudora's... is it [Sylveon]'s?"
Dark opened the box and looked at the chocolate inside.
He couldn't help but reveal a trace of surprise.
After seeing [Magic Beast (Ditto)]'s chocolates, he originally thought that kind of simple shape was the limit for the [Magic Guide Spirits], but he hadn't expected [Sylveon] to actually carve a chocolate cat!
"Emmm... judging from the left ear and the feelers on the neck, this should be [Sylveon] itself?"
"Although it's not particularly refined, the characteristics are very obvious."
Dark carefully took this chocolate Sylveon out of the gift box, unable to resist looking at it a few more times.
In short, the more he looked, the more it resembled it, and the more reluctant he was to eat it!
He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, forcibly shifted his gaze away, and then pulled out a card cut into a heart shape from the bottom of the box.
This looked like it was modified from a Christmas card, with a line of words written on it in elegant script:
[Eat me drop!]
...
"Grammar error, bad review!"
Dark showed his strict side.
[Sylveon], who was hiding on the big bed pretending to sleep, instantly drooped its ears. As if all strength had been drained from its body, it turned into a puddle of liquid.
But after criticizing, Dark still smiled and tucked this card into the new notebook.
Errors from one's youth are a type of treasure.
When reminiscing in the future, what one feels is mostly the gentleness of the collector.
...
Dark eventually placed the chocolate Sylveon back into the box. He was already considering what magic potion could preserve the chocolate for a long time.
"It would be best if it could be encased, like amber, and made into a decoration."
But after thinking about it carefully, he felt it was better to eat the chocolate.
"Let's see later!"
...
Pushing [Sylveon]'s gift to the side, Dark picked out the third gift box.
This time the gift box was green. The shape of the chocolate inside looked like some kind of stopper.
But Dark knew, this should be a hawk!
The fourth gift box was blue, containing chocolate as well, but it was ring-shaped like a donut.
This was obviously given by [Popplio].
[Hawlucha] and [Popplio] had also followed suit and left notes, but they only had their names written crookedly on them.
It reminded one of their own toddler years.
The first characters most children learned to write were their own names.
Dark was no exception.
He tucked these two notes into the notebook as well, then opened the fifth box.
The size of this box was only slightly inferior to Diana's large box among the many gift boxes.
The color of the box was the most ordinary white.
Opening the box, he discovered a ball inside!
A very large, chocolate ball!
"..."
Dark thought with some amusement about which lazy [Magic Guide Spirit] this could be.
But after he picked up the chocolate ball, he suddenly discovered three holes on the other side of the chocolate ball!
"Bowling ball? No, it's a [Magic Sphere]!"
Dark suddenly realized.
This was a chocolate [Magic Sphere]!
"Thoughtful indeed."
But when he took out the card from the bottom of the box, he found a line of words written in a font that looked like crawling spiders:
[Less experiments, more duels, and the world will be full of love!]
No signature.
"..."
"Just because you didn't leave a name, did you think I wouldn't know it was you? [DemiDevimon]!"
Dark glanced behind him and sure enough, found a lump in the bedding that bulged like a ball suddenly tremble. His smile couldn't help but grow wider.
It's only right for [DemiDevimon] to be this full of energy.
That way, he won't feel bad when using it!
...
"The sixth one, let me see... This is [Little Eevee]'s, right?"
Dark opened the brown box dotted with star patterns and indeed saw a lump of chocolate that looked like both a cat and a fox lying quietly inside.
The tail of the chocolate trailed a broom-like tail, which was considered quite iconic.
Clearly, a simple heart shape would have sufficed, but the [Magic Guide Spirits] seemed to prefer shaping the chocolate into their own forms.
It gave the feeling of playing with plasticine as a child, trying desperately to mold it but never getting it quite right.
It was cute to death.
Moreover, the [Magic Guide Spirits] seemed to have a misunderstanding about "Valentine's Day." There weren't many [Magic Guide Spirits] who truly understood what kind of holiday "Valentine's Day" was.
Several of them seemed to be simply following the trend of giving gifts.
As if thinking, "Everyone else is giving one, so if I don't, I'll fall behind."
But where there are people, there is social interaction.
This was unavoidable.
Dark took the note written by [Little Eevee] out of the box and looked closely:
[Eat me up!]
[— Eevee (Correct)]
"Uh..."
If it were just the same "Eat me up," it could be called a coincidence. But the "(Correct)" after [Eevee]'s signature was thought-provoking.
Dark held back the urge to laugh out loud.
This copywriting plagiarism.
Why didn't it add a "(Revised Edition)" at the end?
...
The seventh box belonged to [Miltank].
The chocolate made in the shape of a milk bottle wrapped around freshly squeezed milk. He just didn't know if it was from [Cow Grass] or [Miltank]?
Theoretically, if it were for long-term storage, it should be from [Cow Grass].
But since it was a surprise, the possibility of it being just poured in couldn't be ruled out.
"I'll know once I taste it."
Dark bit open the bottle mouth and took a lick.
The milky fragrance mixed with the taste of chocolate exploded on the tip of his tongue.
The vitality spreading to his limbs and bones made Dark immediately realize that this was actually milk [Miltank] had just poured in!
He was decisive too; he tilted his head back and drank all the milk!
A burst of abundant vitality erupted instantly, giving him a faint impulse as if something was about to gush out!
Dark narrowed his eyes, savoring it slowly.
They were all gifts made from the same raw chocolate material, but each gift had a unique point of ingenuity.
Regardless of the quality of the gifts, at least they were all made with heart.
He took out [Miltank]'s card, on which was written in upright and square characters:
[Thank you Maswter!]
[— Miltank]
Although there was a typo, it should be expressing gratitude for the endowment of the [Ultimate Move Card].
"What a polite child!"
Dark put this card away carefully and continued to open gifts.
...
The eighth box had yellow wrapping paper with red spots, obviously carefully selected by [Shuckle].
Opening the box, the chocolate inside...
Unexpectedly, there were two exquisite chocolate turtles, one big and one small!
The small turtle lay on the big turtle's shell, stretching its neck to look at the world.
This composition, full of meaning, touched Dark somewhat.
[Shuckle]'s craftsmanship was obviously better than the previous few [Magic Guide Spirits]; the two chocolate turtles were vivid and lifelike.
But they are turtles.
And you are a bug, [Shuckle]!
After a while, Dark found a card inside—this was probably the only card without text, but it had a drawing of a small turtle with very long limbs and neck.
At the top of the small turtle's shell, a heart-shaped scale was painted in bright red.
Beside the small turtle was a circle of turtle eggs, one of which had cracked open from the middle, seeming to imply that the small turtle had hatched from this very turtle egg...
"Although it's unexpectedly well-drawn, you are a bug, [Shuckle]!"
...
Dark tried his best to keep the corners of his mouth tight, then opened the ninth gift box.
This gift box, wrapped in the same packaging as [Magic Beast (Ditto)]'s box, was a unique flat box.
It looked just like a pizza box.
And after opening it, he found that there was indeed a pizza-shaped chocolate cake inside.
It was just that the styling of this chocolate cake was a bit too underworldly.
Looking closely, it was actually a concave ghost face!
He carefully took the chocolate cake out, looked at both the front and back, and found that the other side was actually flat.
"What is this thing?"
Dark couldn't help but be startled.
Honestly, for a moment, he really couldn't figure out what this thing was.
But after looking at it for a long time, it felt faintly familiar.
After fiddling with it for a while, he suddenly had a brainwave and covered his face with the chocolate cake. It actually fit perfectly!
"This is actually a facial mask!"
Dark's mind moved slightly, realizing that this should be [Trash Slime]'s gift.
Ever since [Trash Slime] became semi-sentient, Dark no longer used it as a garbage disposal.
Likewise, he no longer used it as a facial mask.
But looking at it now, that had instead made it feel a bit lonely.
"Is that so..."
Dark couldn't help but murmur.
He felt that using [Trash Slime] whenever he wanted was a disrespectful act.
But from [Trash Slime]'s perspective, it didn't seem to think so.
For [Trash Slime], that seemed to be merely a normal act of feeding.
And it could also display its usefulness in passing!
"I'll pass on processing garbage, but applying it to my face can continue."
Dark thought about it carefully and realized that sometimes, he indeed hadn't carefully considered the thoughts of the [Magic Guide Spirits].
This might be a point that needed reflection.
He exhaled slightly and took [Trash Slime]'s note out of the box.
This note was also folded several times. After unfolding it, he could see a line of crooked words:
[Master Mama, I love you too!]
"This was definitely written by [Magic Beast (Ditto)] on its behalf, right?"
...
Dark smiled helplessly. After tucking this note into the notebook as well, he reached for the Valentine's Day gift from the last [Magic Guide Spirit].
"Only [Gatomon]'s is left."
What came into his hand was a square gift box in pure white packaging, with a butterfly knot tied with a pink ribbon on top.
Untying the butterfly knot and opening the gift box, the chocolates inside were revealed.
It was a total of four disk-shaped chocolates.
One big and three small.
The large chocolate disk was padded at the bottom, while the small ones were on top.
But the style of the four chocolate disks was exactly the same; all were carved with vivid cat faces. One could tell at a glance that it was [Gatomon]!
Clearly, [Gatomon] had the same idea as those other [Magic Guide Spirits].
But it had correctly estimated its own abilities and didn't try to make a full-body "[Gatomon]," but chose to make only a face.
As a result, its work appeared very exquisite.
Moreover, the style of one big and three small was also more suitable for tasting.
Dark picked a small one and began to bite it down bit by bit starting from the ear.
At the same time, he picked up a card from the box, preparing to see what [Gatomon] had written.
Among Dark's [Magic Guide Spirits], [Gatomon] had the highest level of literacy.
The only one who could compare slightly with it was [DemiDevimon].
This was based on the huge advantage that [Digimon] could speak human language, and that it was indeed diligent enough.
Even the information content regarding Valentine's Day was popularized by it.
It was just that the popularization didn't seem to be that thorough...
But just as Dark picked up [Gatomon]'s card, he suddenly heard a soul-stirring meow.
He turned his head abruptly, and a white shadow suddenly flashed in his eyes.
Then his vision was instantly obscured, his face was covered by a soft sensation, and his entire body fell backward because of it.
"Meow~?"
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