Work Text:
The winter air outside the classroom had covered the ground in white frost as far as the eye could see. Any remaining puddles from the previous day’s rain had frozen over, and a few tiny white flakes began to fall from the sky as second period began at Miyamasuzaka Girls Academy.
The radiators throughout the school were set to high, emitting a warmth which was a welcome retreat from the biting weather. In fact, it was so warm that Minori was finding it hard to stay awake. Her eyes felt heavy as the heat enveloped her, and she tried looking directly at the lights on the ceiling to ward off her sleep. Her head still kept nodding, getting the attention of Kohane who sat at the next desk across. Kohane rolled her eyes and took out her ruler, jabbing Minori sharply in the side with it to wake her up, as Minori herself had asked her to do a few weeks ago. Even so, Minori jolted up, suppressing a yelp as best she could before shooting an irritated look at her friend that said ‘why did you do that?’
Kohane shook her head and returned to her own work, satisfied that she’d jabbed her hard enough to keep her awake for a while. She worried about Minori’s grades, but even tutoring her after school hadn’t been helping because she spent so much time practicing for More More Jump that she fell asleep in almost every lesson.
Minori picked up her own pen and tried to concentrate, but the steadily falling snow outside the window caught her eye. She couldn’t help turning her head to look at it. She watched it as it tossed and turned on the gentle breeze, like a feather dropped from a height.
Then, all of a sudden a realisation hit her.
She didn’t bring her gloves today.
Minori sighed quietly, running her hands through her hair. She couldn’t catch a cold, not when she had so much practice going on with Haruka and the others for their upcoming concert.
As usual, her worry over her situation consumed all of her thoughts, her overthinking eating her up and only spitting her back out when the bell signifying the end of the period rang out. She glanced at the page in front of her. The first few lines were filled with neat handwriting, the rest untouched, as white as the snow settling outside.
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Loud ringing entered Minori’s ears, dragging her out of an intricate daydream. It took her a moment to realise that it was the end of school bell, and she ended up standing from her desk after everybody else. Kohane was in this class too, though they were seated further away from each other so no jabbing could take place.
As Minori hurriedly packed her pencil case, she saw someone’s shoes appear next to her own, and recognised them as Kohane’s. “Hi Minori-chan! Do you want to go out somewhere today? You don’t have practice do you?” Kohane’s voice said from somewhere outside of Minori’s line of sight. She finished placing her last pen inside the pouch and slipped it into her bag before finally looking up at her friend.
“Oh… Sure, Kohane-chan. Is Shiraishi-san not around today?” she asked. She figured that Kohane probably wouldn’t ask her to do something if she could do it with An instead, but to her surprise she shook her head.
“That’s not it, I just want to hang out with you!” she said with a gentle smile, as she slipped on her own fleece-lined mittens. “Do you have your scarf and gloves? The snow is pretty deep now…”
Minori sighed again, exasperatedly. “Waa, Kohane-chaaaan, I left them at home this morning and I didn’t have time to go back!” She whined, stomping her foot a little and swaying side to side. She looked back at that morning, after she’d woken up too late and had to leave the house in half as much time as usual.
Kohane shook her head with furrowed brows. “You’re going to catch a cold! Please get some more sleep, it would help you get better at your practice, you know,” Kohane scolded, pulling a spare scarf out of her bag. “You’re lucky I know what you’re like. I didn’t have any spare gloves, though.”
She wrapped the scarf tightly around Minori’s neck, coming dangerously close to cutting off her breathing. Minori coughed a little before picking up her bag. “Kohane-chan, you’re a life-saver. I really don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Kohane gave her a lopsided grin, and they made their way through the emptying hallways to the entrance. The snow had tripled now, falling faster and thicker and adding onto the already multiple inches that laid on the pavement. Minori let out a harsh shiver just looking at it.
“Hey, Minori-chan,” Kohane said. Minori turned to look at her, and Kohane wrapped her gloved hand around her bare, cold one. “Is that better?” She asked, cupping Minori’s hand with her other one, too, swathing her frozen fingers with soft material and comforting warmth.
The heat trickled up from Minori’s palm to her cheeks, filling her entire body with it, blanketing her in the feeling. She wasn’t sure what to do or say, as they stood in front of the glass doors of the empty school, their hands joined together so intimately. So she just stayed quiet, letting the warmth roll over her in waves, revelling in the feeling of Kohane’s hands on hers.
One of Kohane’s hands left Minori’s, filling Minori with an instant feeling of empty coldness, but the heat returned in an even bigger surge as Kohane grasped her other hand and brought it to the others, enclosing both of Minori’s hands in her gloves. She flashed Minori a timid smile, which only added another layer of red to Minori’s cheeks and another wave of warmth to the whirlpool that already raged inside her.
Kohane’s cheeks were equally as heated. She’d never been in such meaningful physical contact with someone who wasn’t part of her family before, and she didn’t know where the courage to do so came from.
A few minutes passed like this. They stayed there, unmoving, trying not to make too much eye contact if they could help it. By now, Minori was sure her hands could melt a glacier if she so much as tapped it, but she didn’t want Kohane to remove her hands, so she said nothing. Though, eventually, she did.
Kohane dropped one of her hands back to her side, keeping her other wrapped around one of Minori’s. “Are they warm enough?”
Minori couldn’t speak, so she just nodded in return. Kohane spoke again. “Shall we go then? I found a new cafe I want to show you,” she said, and began to walk towards the doors without waiting for Minori’s okay.
Their feet sank into the snow as they stepped out, and the cold air instantly diminished the heat that had grown between them. Warmth pulsed from the hand that Kohane still had Minori’s gripped with, making the environment infinitely more tolerable.
“Kohane-chan?” Minori murmured, stopping where they stood by the school gates. Kohane turned towards her.
“What is it, Mino-”
Kohane’s sentence was cut off by a momentary, almost unfeelable pressure on her lips. Minori pulled back immediately after she’d touched her lips to Kohane’s, her face heating up again as it had inside the school. Kohane looked at her in surprise, her mouth slightly agape, her hand still wrapped around Minori’s.
“Ah- Um- I-I’m so sorry, Kohane-chan!” Minori gabbled, pulling her hand out of Kohane’s to hold it to her mouth. Why had she done that? They’d only held hands, it wasn’t like Kohane had feelings for h-
Minori’s racing thoughts were once again interrupted, but this time the sensation was much less jarring than a school bell. Kohane wrapped her arms around Minori’s neck, her lips pushing slightly harder than Minori’s had, though not enough to make it forceful.
Minori’s eyes were still wide with shock, but slowly she melted into Kohane, closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around Kohane’s waist. Her skin felt like it was on fire, the heat so much stronger than it had ever been before. She almost thought that the snow around them would begin to melt, turning into warm puddles within a two foot radius. Snow was littered through their hair, and it continued falling in sheets, but it was impossible to feel it through the heat they both felt internally.
Kohane pulled her lips slowly from Minori’s, her hands unclasping, gently running the soft material across the scarf she’d lent to Minori. They opened their eyes, looking directly at each other for the first time since they first held hands. And they smiled. And it was warm.