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Yukina didn’t like the snow.
To be more specific, she didn’t like the inconvenience that came with it. She quite liked gentle falling of flakes and the way snow crunched beneath her feet, but the current storm didn’t allow any of that. Such phenomenon was rare so far south in the country, but it did happen on the occasion, and it was annoying. It was a blinding white outside as snowballs were flung all over her window by the crazy wind. It was freezing cold even indoors, and this was after she turned the kotatsu to max and hid under its covers. Voice training was off-limits today. The air was cold and dry and hurt her throat as it was – she already had a paper mask on, which had gotten a little stifling from her wearing it all day. She was hungry too, but climbing out of her kotatsu sanctuary to cook a cup of ramen from the kitchen was such an unwelcome exercise she’d rather starve.
Ding Dong – the doorbell rang. Who the hell would venture outside in weather like this!? Yukina might’ve taken pity on the poor delivery guy who got the wrong address if it weren’t such a painstaking effort to get up and answer the door. As it stood, she could only offer quiet condolences.
Banging sounded on the door after the bell went unanswered. “Minato-san, are you inside?” The voice sounded oddly familiar. “I brought nabe!”
So it wasn’t a mistaken delivery guy but somebody who knew Yukina, trying to coax her out with…nabe?
Which was a pretty good attempt. Nabe sounded absolutely mouth-watering at the moment.
Yukina reached her hand out at lightning speed to grab that bundle of blankets she left on the couch next to the kotatsu. She wrapped herself in them, covering even the top of her head, and waddled to the door in this state. Ugh…even the fabric felt like ice. This nabe better be worth it…
She spied through the peephole. The person on the other side of the door was hardly recognizable too, fully covered in multiple layers, the top of which was covered in snow. In the person’s mitted hands were, indeed, a pot. At that moment, the person shivered, dusting off some snow from her head. Turquoise hair peeked out from under the hood.
“Sayo?” Yukina called, opening the door.
“Yes, it is me. I am sorry for the sudden intrusion.”
“It is no intrusion, but why did you decide to come in this weather? I thought we had canceled our…arrangements.”
Saturday was the day they usually spent together as…well…lovers. They would go out on a date after practice and would spend the evening, sometimes the night, at one another’s places. But it went without saying that Yukina didn’t expect Sayo to show up in a literal blizzard.
“I thought Minato-san might not have eaten yet, so I decided to bring some nabe over.”
A million mixed feelings came to Yukina. On one hand, she wanted to scold Sayo for being stupid, because she was – there was little that could beat the ridiculousness of transporting nabe by foot in a blizzard. On another hand, she was worried for Sayo. Did she catch a cold? She could’ve slipped on the ice and snow and that would’ve been bad. Of course, there was also her gratitude for Sayo’s gesture, which she ended up trying to express. “Thank you, I guess…”
She just had to say it so nonchalantly that it could’ve been mistaken for sarcasm by anybody other than Sayo.
Because Sayo knew her. Sayo always understood her best.
“Then…shall we?” Sayo lifted the pot slightly with a smile.
Yukina took the pot, set it down on the kotatsu, then returned to her foyer with a towel to wipe off the melting snow from Sayo’s jacket so she could take it off without getting the inner layers wet. Sayo finally inched out of her jacket and all but jumped at the temperature – her hair would’ve stood up if she were an actual dog. It took a lot of willpower, but for Sayo’s sake, Yukina unwrapped her blankets to share them with Sayo.
“Warmer?”
Sayo didn’t need to answer, as her face already answered for her, turning pink.
“Let’s…eat. I’m sure you are hungry.”
The nabe was set on a butane stove at low heat to keep it warm. They had fun fishing out the meat and vegetables from the pot, sometimes with a good helping of the miso-based soup to warm their stomachs. Yukina might be small in stature and generally ladylike in her behaviour, but she was a carnivore through and through like her favourite animal, cats. She was devouring meat, and meat, and more meat. Sayo wasn’t one to talk though, as she also fancied the meat – she had known this beforehand so the pot was 90% meat and 10% vegetables, with her hated carrots inexistent. Still, Sayo felt some responsibility to point out Yukina’s unhealthy eating habits.
“Minato-san, have some vegetables too,” Sayo said, about to set a shiitake mushroom to Yukina’s bowl, but Yukina shirked away and…was she pouting? Sometimes, Yukina could be surprisingly childish – or maybe she was only like this to Sayo.
At times like this, Sayo had to use her secret weapon.
She blew off the steam from the mushroom, then held it to Yukina’s mouth.
“Minato-san, ahh…”
Yukina turned away with a blushing face. “I am not a child.”
“But you wouldn’t eat your vegetables otherwise.”
“I do not see you eating much vegetables either.”
Sayo sighed. “Fine, I will eat half of it.” She held the mushroom between her teeth and edged towards Yukina. Yukina’s face burned even redder. Cute.
But finally Yukina acquiesced, biting off half the mushroom carefully without touching Sayo’s lips. Sayo kissed her anyway. To think Sayo used to be so shy that she kept her crush hidden for an entire year during high school. They sure had come a long way in their relationship.
The wind kept howling and snow kept whirling wildly outside. This bad weather no longer affected either of them. After the nabe had all gone down to their tummy, they kept lounging around the kotatsu, Yukina curled up in Sayo’s arms. Being so lazy was unlike either of them, but it wasn’t bad once in a while. They definitely wouldn’t let anybody know about this though – they couldn’t afford to be teased by the likes of Lisa and Hina. It was a secret just between the two of them, a secret that was sweet as Sayo’s favourite candy and warm as Yukina’s beloved honey tea.