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Astraea Hill was white. A blizzard had descended upon the campus covering it in a blanket of fluffy white snow. The outlying area had not been so lucky. Before the pure white snow came a mixture of sleet and freezing rain, effectively crippling outside travel. This storm had come after most of the girls had left campus to go home for the winter holidays. There were only a few girls who stayed on campus. Many students had rides to come pick them up and take them off of campus. Naturally, some were on time and some were late. The vehicles of those who were tardy to pickup their relatives and friends found it impossible to make it to campus with the sudden influx of heavy sleeting. And among the unlucky few who were still on campus, Yaya and Hikari were going to be spending more time together, now on a relatively abandoned campus.
Yaya was on her way back to her room with mixed feelings. She had also been unable to procure transportation off campus, and this brewed a mental dilemma for her. The really upsetting part for her was that she had been avoiding her roommate who, let’s face it, she was in love with. One part of her was frustrated that she couldn’t go home for the holidays, while the other part was frustrated that she was going to likely be spending lots of time around the girl she was avoiding. And yet another part of her was happy to be able to spend time with Hikari and no one else. She walked through the building with a large dufflebag draped over her shoulder. She approached her door and opened it to find Hikari inside.
“Hello Yaya-chan.” Hikari turned and smiled, standing in her room with both hands clasped behind her back.
“Hi Hikari.” Yaya smiled back apprehensively. She felt very nervous at having to stay with Hikari. She had made plans to go away to Amane’s home over the holidays and was naturally upset about it. This thought made the irrational part of Yaya’s brain turn on. Stop acting so cute and looking so gorgeous dammit. It’s alright. I can do this. It’s just the two of us. In close proximity. Is she going to ask me why we haven’t spent as much time together? Has she figured out I was actively avoiding her? Was it stupid of me to get her a gift? Of course it was.
“Well, I guess with the weather the way it is, neither of us is going home, are we?”
“Yeah, I guess not.” Yaya replied nervously. Her lack of eye contact caught Hikari’s attention.
“Yaya-chan, um, did I do something wrong? I mean, I feel like you’ve been avoiding me lately. What’s wrong?” Yaya walked over to put her bag on the ground, trying to find something quick to say.
“N-nothing Hikari.” Dammit, I gotta distract her or something. “Hey Hikari. I got you something.” Yaya reached toward her dufflebag but Hikari grabbed her other wrist softly. Yaya looked apprehensively at Hikari’s hand.
“Please tell me, Yaya-chan.” Yaya looked sheepishly at the blonde with a sad expression in her eyes. “Yaya-chan, whatever it is, you can tell me.”
“I-its because…because…” She looked toward the object of her affection. The look of yearning in the blonde’s eyes was too much for her, rendering her mind blank of any excuses she had. So she did the craziest thing she could think of and told the truth.
“I love you. I love you Hikari.” The blonde was taken aback and stiffened noticeably. Yaya tensed up and turned a pale shade of red. Trying to ignore what happened and do anything to distract her from looking at Hikari, Yaya reached to unzip her duffle bag while Hikari was seemingly stunned. She unzipped it and pulled out a small potted plant. She looked out the window and watched the snow come down more heavily now.
“U-um, I got you this.” She handed the plant to the shocked blonde. She turned out of her stupor and received the small pot with her hands. She looked down at the bright red leaves and raised her eyebrows in awe. “It’s called a poinsettia. They are popular in America during Christmas it seems. I was going to, um, get you something to say sorry…for you know. And since I can’t get off campus to buy you what I wanted, I managed to work my wordplay magic and get you this from a woman who works here in exchange for shoveling most of the campus and stuff later.” She began to get very hot at the thought of Hikari not saying anything. “M-merry Christmas Hikari-chan.”
The blonde was taken aback yet again by what Yaya said. She what? She said she loves me? And…she agreed to shovel the entire campus just to get me a gift?? The confession didn’t come as a complete surprise to the girl. She had loved Yaya as well, but more as friends, and wasn’t sure if what she meant was friendly or not. It definitely sounded like she cares about me more than any run of the mill friend might. Rather than make her back away, the sentiment made Hikari happy.
Hikari smiled sweetly. “Thank you. You’re sweet Yaya-chan. I’m happy that you care about me so much. I’m glad you’re my best friend. I couldn’t ask for a better one.” Those words cut Yaya to the core. The brunette smiled and her eyes immediately teared up. Ya know what? That’s more than I could want anyway.
“You’re welcome.” Yaya stood there still unaccepting of reality and the Pandora’s box she worried she may had opened by confessing to a roommate who is interested in someone else.
Hikari looked at Yaya’s face carefully. Yaya looked sick and it clicked in her head. Yaya really was IN love with her. Her first thought was to pull back completely. This is going to make things awful for us living together. She looked down at the vivid red leaves and rather than say something to get the raven-haired girl to back off, her mind had another thought: She had an inkling that Yaya was in love with her and probably had been for a while. And still she gave Hikari some space out of courtesy. She knew that Hikari cared for someone else, and that given the chance, she never would have confessed on her own. As a friend, Yaya really was a great best friend. And that thought made her very happy. The girl was left with one more thought of what she could possibly get Yaya for a Christmas gift when they were stuck on a frozen school campus with no transportation. And then it hit her.
Before Yaya was able to freak out about what to tell Hikari, her thoughts were cut short. Hikari leaned forward and kissed Yaya. She had intended to kiss her on the cheek but the brunette got flustered and moved, helping her land that kiss right on her lips. It only lasted a fraction of a second, but for Yaya that tiny kiss sent a spark right up her spine, elevated her body temperature and sent her heartrate into overdrive.
“Merry Christmas Yaya-chan.” The blonde smiled. Yaya looked shocked and happy at the same time. Actually she was closer to paralyzed with happiness. Hikari giggled, leaned forward and hugged the girl. “Thank you for the poinsettia. It’s pretty. And I’m sorry that was all I could give you for Christmas.”
“That…was the best present I ever got Hikari.” Yaya smiled. She calmed down and was happy. Yaya realized that no matter what, the two would be friends. And in Yaya’s eyes right now, that was exactly what she wanted. I can’t believe Hikari kissed me! That was incredible! The power went out just then, turning off the sound of the air conditioning and the lamp. The room was still lit by the afternoon light that did make it through the clouds, reflecting off of the still falling snow and illuminating their room in a white glow.
“Oh crap, did the heat turn off?”
“I think they have some sort of emergency heating system.”
“I sure hope so, or we’re going to freeze! We better sleep together tonight, Hikari.” As soon as those words left Yaya’s mouth she regretted them. “Ah! I didn’t mean like that Hikari!” Hikari blushed at the thought. “I mean if it doesn’t come back soon, or just in case it cuts off in the middle of the night.”
“It’s…okay Yaya-chan. And yeah I guess we will have to. For warmth.”
Chapter 2: Alone in the snow-covered dorms
“Hurry Hikari!”
“Okay! Do you have the key!”
“Yeah, almost there!” The gentle snow that lightly dusted St. Spica had yielded just a few moments ago. Yaya and Hikari were on their way back. The snow may have slowed to a stop, but freezing rain suddenly took its place. The girls tried their best to get back to the dorms, hoping the power was on, as the mild sleet quickly turned into what was far closer to hail.
“Ahh! Its SO cold!”
“I’m f-f-freezing Yaya-chan! Can you get it?”
“Ah, I’m trying!” Yaya fumbled with her key to the dormitories and dropped it on the ground. She and Hikari were bundled head to toe as Yaya made another failed attempt to unlock the door. The lack of grip due to her gloves was making it difficult to pickup her keys off of the ice-covered concrete. The freezing rain was really coming down, pelting the icy sidewalks and laying a thin crystal-like covering to the blanket of snow that blanketed the normally grassy areas of the tri-campus area.
“I know you’re trying Yaya-chan but please hurry!”
“Alright.” Yaya ripped the gloves off of her hands, the chilling cold taking immediate effect on her hands. She grabbed the key with one hand, and with the other, used her glove to rub over the lock back and forth, trying to remove some of the ice. Failing, she bit her lip and used her fingernail to try again, the freezing doorknob making her fingers feel almost painfully numb. Her hands starting to freeze, she finally managed to get her key jammed into the lock. Twisting forcefully, she got it to unlock and Hikari grabbed the handle firmly and pulled hard enough to break the ice around the edge, opening the door. The girl slipped on the ground and fell unceremoniously on her rear. Yaya helped the girl up, grabbed her gloves and the two finally headed inside, the door closing with a loud crunch sound.
“Yaya-chan your hands must be freezing!”
“Y-y-yeah.” Hikari removed her own gloves and wrapped her hands around Yaya’s.
“So cold!”
Yaya and Hikari stood in the entranceway of the Strawberry Dorms after heading back from the dining hall. After Yaya’s confession, the blizzard died down considerably and the power returned. Hikari insisted on going with Yaya after their meal (small as it was with very few on campus) to help manually plow some parts of campus that the faculty might be using. After all, Yaya made a deal and Hikari insisted she kept it. Upon completion of their shoveling adventure, the two headed back to the dorms, albeit quickly. “Yaya your hands are freezing! Let’s just get you into a bath right now before one of us catches pneumonia.”
“Y-yeah. Sounds good.” The two quickly made their way to their room, Hikari turning the bath on immediately for the two.
As they got ready to take a bath, the awkwardness descended again. Hikari about to disrobe, was now very aware that Yaya had in fact fallen for her. Oh, she’s going to be looking at me like ‘that’. Her face scrunched in frustration, thinking that this was the time to say something.
“Hey, Hikari. Um, you can go in first.”
“Oh no Yaya-chan. You’re absolutely frozen. Please go in first.”
“N, no you go ahead.” Hikari sighed, realizing the practicality of the situation.
“Alright. We can um,” her voice fell to a whisper. “…both go in at once. Yaya, I know how you feel and…”
“Talk later!” Yaya practically pushed the girl towards the bath, hearing the go ahead, helping strip her clothes and Yaya taking the girl’s hand and guiding them into the bath. The initial water contact made both shudder. As soon as the two sat down to soak, Yaya spoke. “Hikari I know how things are, and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable anymore than I have. But it’s freezing. I’m a friend first, Hikari.” Yaya looked at Hikari with solemn eyes. Hikari smiled back.
“Thanks, Yaya-chan.” The two continued to thaw out in mutual silence, the awkwardness pushed to the back of both their minds. Hikari was hoping that things could continue like normal. In spite of the shock from Yaya’s very abrupt confession, the blonde had an inkling that was the reason she kissed her that time in their room.
The girls had gotten out of the bath and had barely gotten dressed into their pajamas when the power cut off again. “Ah, geez again?”
“At least we finished our bath, Yaya-chan.” Hikari walked to the window and opened the drapes, showing a beautiful view of the variable winter wonderland that encased the whole campus. Yaya walked up beside Hikari, enjoying the view of the campus and this calm and comfortable moment. Yaya smiled, her mind in the clouds for a moment while she enjoyed this moment of just the two of them. After a few minutes, the moment it seems was broken when Yaya’s stomach growled out loud. The girls realized in the darkness that neither had eaten since lunch. “What do we do for food? The cafeteria’s closed.”
“Um. Oh! If we can get into Tamao-san and Nagisa-san’s room, Nagisa keeps sweets around, right?”
“Oh, yeah Tamao-chan does like to feed her these things. But that would be stealing.”
“Well, yes. Now where do we keep their spare room key?”
“Yaya-chan, are we just going to walk in there and take their food?”
“Hikari, the school is a block of ice. I think they would understand our predicament. We can get them some more later, right? I don’t want to scare you, but we don’t know how long this will last. I think Tamao might class this as an emergency condition. They are our friends and I’d rather take from them than some stranger, ya know?” Yaya smiled, enjoying her time with Hikari on the outside. On the inside, she was just trying to keep Hikari busy, hoping that everything would work out so that her own thoughts wouldn’t drive her crazy.
“Right. I think I put it in my desk drawer.” Hikari fished the key out and the two headed out the door. The girls walked down the hall, holding close, not quite knowing how cold things might get. “Yaya I’m scared.”
“Everything will be alright, Hikari. It’ll be fine.” Yaya looked down, not wanting Hikari to see her expression. She looked somewhere between anxious and depressed, the cold making reality set in that she might have to actually share a bed with Hikari. Part of her was overwhelmed, excited that she and her might be able to rebuild their friendship after the way Yaya forced herself on the girl. And that thought lead her to the other part of her, feeling scared. Scared of how things would go, if they’d find enough food, and if Hikari was as nervous as she was.
The two arrived at Tamao and Nagisa’s room and luckily, Tamao’s spare key worked. “Bingo.” Yaya opened the door and immediately started looking for hidden foods or drinks.
“Shhh.”
“What do you mean, there’s no one here?” Yaya still replied in a whisper.
“Ah, right.”
“Yeah. Let’s stay quiet anyway.” Yaya turned and slowly closed the door. “Now where would Nagisa keep any food?”
“Maybe Tamao-chan might hide it from Nagisa-chan?”
“Good idea.” Yaya and Hikari continued their pillaging, or rather, ‘necessary requisition of student utilities’ as Yaya kept refereeing to it.
The girls walked down the hall, shivering while hauling as much as they could.
Twenty minutes later, the two arrived back at their dorm room, arms loaded with anything they deemed necessary, food and drinks in tow. “Lucky us.”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t believe she had this. That was just total luck!”
“I know. Where do we start it? It’s dangerous to use it in the middle of the room, we don’t want to start a fire.”
“Although we’d be warmer.”
“Yaya…”
“Alright. Well I suppose in the bathroom. We can put it on the tile for now?”
“Okay.” Hikari opened the door and the two went into the bathroom. They had found a small kettle with a stand and a burner below that ran on compressed gas. Why Tamao had this hidden in her closet was a reason they didn’t bother exploring right now.
“Do you know how to work this, Hikari?”
“I believe so. You hook up the gas to the valve, and put a match under it. When it opens, it should light up. Do you have any matches, Yaya-chan?”
“I don’t think so. There weren’t any with it?”
“I didn’t see any.”
“How does Tamao heat our tea up?”
“Oh wait.” Hikari rummaged through the backpack and opened a small container. “Here we go. Now light one and hold it here after I say so, alright?”
“Okay.”
The girls got the fire lit and we able to boil enough water to make some of the tea that Tamao keeps for their late night tea parties. The two sat in the bathroom with towels wrapped around themselves to keep warm, and huddled around the teapot.
“Yaya-chan, is the power going to come back on? I heard the faculty say they were going to head out. Are we going to be left here?” Hikari shivered with worry on her face.
“I’m sure we’ll be fine. They wouldn’t leave knowing students could be freezing here. I’m sure maintenance is on their way.” Yaya smiled with a fake smile, and Hikari could tell. It was the smile she used when Hikari pushed too much. Rather than question, she sighed and decided not to mention anything right now. The two focused on warming themselves by their makeshift indoor campfire.
It was later in the afternoon, and both girls could be found reading on their respective beds. The outside was relatively gray with some light flurries coming down, coating the already white campus. Yaya and Hikari were in their bedroom, both reading in their own beds, using what little light came through the windows to read.
“We’re going to need candles soon at this rate, Yaya-chan.”
“I’m freezing. Maybe we should call it quits. We don’t know when maintenance is going to get here.”
“Yeah. Uh. Um.” Hikari sat up, sitting straight and looking anxious. Yaya turned her head and noticed. Putting down her book, she sat up and looked at her roomie.
“What’s wrong?”
“Uh. Before when I um.” Hikari gulped. “Yaya-chan when I said it was cold enough that we’d have to share a bed, I.” Her breath stopped in her throat. Yaya furrowed her brow and smiled.
“It’s okay Hikari. I’ll stay here. Goodnight.” Yaya laid back down, putting her book down on the ground for now.
“No. I mean…”
“Yes?”
“Your bed is too soft, can you come over here?” Yaya sat up, shocked at what the girl said. Her voice cracked when she spoke.
“Yeah! Um, I mean. Yes. Okay.” Yaya stood up, walked over with her pillow, and the two snuggled up for the evening. As the two warmed each other up, Hikari had the same thought as Yaya. I guess blizzards aren’t so bad.