Snow came down in gentle tufts across the street. Saito shivered to himself and tightened the gloves and scarf around himself. It didn't help much, but it at least gave him the illusion of comfort.
He sighed to himself as he made his way to the park. It was already near evening, so the snow was beginning to pile up on the streets. The gray sky didn't help his mood lift at all. At the back of his head, he heard a voice chiding him for not wearing more protective clothes. He thought a jacket and a pair of pants were enough, something which he was regretting the longer he walked. Even the scarf and gloves weren't his; just a reward for something he did earlier.
Honestly, he should have felt great. Not only did he help his classmate deal with her abusive boyfriend, but he helped a little girl find her dog and her way home just earlier. Behind the scarf, the edges of his mouth turned upwards into a big smile. He wasn't the chosen heir or anything, but he felt like a.....hero. That was the closest thing he could use to describe himself. It felt a whole lot more impressive than civil servant or vigilante.
The results of the entire situation were good enough for him: The girl was free of her relationship, he was given a thank you, and the boyfriend was given a stint in juvenile hall. It was good for everyone.
Then why did he feel something off?
That wasn't the most important thing, though. This was: He was late!
Yukari, seeing his happy mood, asked him to go on an outing today. She didn't ask him what he was so happy about, something which he was glad about, and only said that it was a good time to have an outing now that the snow was just coming in. He was supposed to meet her at 3:00, right after she finished helping Aria with training.
It was 6:30 pm.
The heavy crunching of his footsteps were the only sounds that echoed on the street, "Damn it, I can't believe I wasted so much time!" He muttered angrily to himself. While he didn't regret helping that girl and her dog find their way home, the fact that he spent so much time on it really didn't look good no matter how much he spun it. Yukari was probably already at home and seething at him not showing up. Regardless, he still made his way to the park. Partly on instinct, and partly on hoping she was still there. At least then he could apologize.
He ran right past the gate, ignoring the odd stares he garnered from the old caretaker. It didn't take him long to see the giant, snow covered, cherry blossom tree. It was one of the parks oldest known residents, aside from the old caretaker, and a known meet up spot for couples everywhere. ...Not that he and Yukari were a couple or anything! Despite himself, he felt his face redden even more, and it wasn't due to the cold. Shaking his head, he continued till he reached the base of the tree.
Before he shook his head again to get rid of the hallucination.
What hallucination? The fact that Yukari was sitting under the tree, eyes closed and breathing peacefully. If he weren't a rational person, he would've thought she was some kind of snow angel. How else was he supposed to explain her sleeping like nothing was happening even when her entire upper body was covered in snow- Frostbite!
Trying to keep his breath steady, he leaned down and started shaking her shoulder gently, trying to wake her up, "Nee-chan...Nee-chan, wake up...." She gave a small mumbled response, but ignored him, "Nee-chan, wake up. You shouldn't be sleeping here." He urged her again.
It took a few more shakes, but eventually she woke up. Her eyes fluttered open slowly, looking at him through the foggy lenses, "Saito-sama....is that you?" He could see the smoke of her breath with every word she spoke. She had been here a while.
"Yeah. It's me, Nee-chan," He did his best to smile at her, ignoring the hot feeling that spread across his cheeks, "Come on, we should get you up from there..."
She nodded at his suggestion and he offered her a gloved hand. When she grasped it, he felt himself momentarily shiver. He could feel the cold even through the gloves thick material. Just how long had she been here? And what was she wearing? The white sleeveless shirt was bad enough, but was with the pink skirt and knee high socks? She couldn't possibly have been clueless enough to think it was okay to expose so much skin on such cold weather. The only think she wore that looked protective at all was the white jacket around her shoulders, and even then the material looked extremely thin.
"Just how long have you been- wait, nevermind that!" He took off the scarf and gloves, both of which she accepted with no small amount of hesitation. She didn't really feel cold, though she knew she was supposed to. She didn't feel cold, though she didn't really feel warm either. She didn't really feel much of anything, to be completely honest, "Wrap that scarf around yourself and keep the gloves on. Come on, let's go home."
"W-Wait, what about our da- outing?" She wrapped the scarf around her neck and shivered at the sudden return of feeling on her body, "It's still not too late, and there should be enough time for us to go somewhere."
"It's too late for that," She picked up the small hint of regret in his voice, "We should just go home so you don't end up getting sick." He took a small amount of time to think things over before asking another question, "What are you still doing here? I thought I messaged you earlier that you should just go home."
"Oh...." She looked down and blushed slightly, "Well, I left my cellphone with Aria-sama this morning since I forgot to charge it. I suppose this is partly my fault." She giggled slightly and raised her gloved hands to cover her mouth.
He didn't bother saying otherwise. He knew she was just joking, so he saw little point in trying to correct her.
Her giggling eventually stopped and a comfortable silence lapsed around them. The house wasn't too far away, so it didn't really bother him that everything was quiet. He did wonder why she kept shivering and looking at him.
"Is something wrong?"
"O-Oh, no...it's just," She mumbled something incoherently under her breath, Confused, he leaned in closer to try and understand her, "I.....still feel slightly cold, that's all." He managed to make out.
He instantly felt like an idiot. Of course she would be cold, she was out in the freezing snow for 3 and a half hours! "Oh, sorry!" He started to take off his jacket, "Here, wear this jacket for now. It should keep you warm more than that thing."
She refused the offered jacket, though she gave a small smile in return, "I didn't mean it that way!" She pushed the jacket back to him, ignoring his confused expression, "That'll just make you freeze and it won't solve anything. Keep the jacket, I have another idea."
Before he could ask her what she meant, she removed the scarf from around her neck and wrapped it around his. She pulled forcefully, causing him to stumble slightly before he managed to right himself up again. One he righted himself up, she wrapped part of the scarf around her neck again and sighed at the warmth. The distance between them was narrow now and they were nearly shoulder to shoulder. Not surprising, considering the scarf was only a short one and not meant for two people.
"Here, now we're both warm!" He looked away to the side, trying not to show his face to her. Pouting slightly, she curled her arms around his and leaned towards him, "Sharing body warmth is the most common way to conserve heat. This way, neither of us get cold." He couldn't really hear her; he was still trying to keep his face from going full tomato on him.
"Yeah...." He nodded his head rapidly, though he still refused to look at her. If he did, he would've seen that he wasn't the only one with a red face. Still, it wasn't bad, and the reasoning she gave was pretty sound. Behind the scarf, he felt another smile forcing his way into his face. Joy was said to be infectious, so maybe that was the reason.
Walking home together, arms intertwined and body's close, the cold frost disappeared from the both of them. All they could hear as they continued on were each others heartbeats.