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She exchanged looks with her friends. Kaoruko gave her a small comforting nod, while Madoka, the clear leader and strategist of the group, signalled with her hands what the next steps would be. Subaru peeked over the cover she had. Across them was the white warzone. On the other side, she could see Tsumugi’s spiked hair and forehead poking out from his cover, behind a bush comically too small for his frame. The others were probably nearby. In the middle of the field lay a fallen snowman, the first victim of war. The girls were building it when they were suddenly attacked.
Subaru cupped and compacted the snow with her gloved hands clumsily. It was her first snowball skirmish, after all it was quite atypical for so much snow to accumulate in the city. The 3 girls left their covers at the same time with a brisk walk and flanked the park area.
The first boys they encountered were Shohei and Rintaro. The latter evaded a projectile from Kaoruko, then threw his shot at her with a playful smirk. The snowball landed on her shoulder and she pouted at her defeat, then laughed it off while trying to get her revenge on her boyfriend.
Subaru, on the other hand, threw her poorly formed snowball towards Shohei, but because of her lack of physical skills, the projectile just made a sad little arc to land not even halfway the distance to her target. Madoka started laughing at the scene and Shohei tried to take advantage of that, shooting at Madoka while she seemed distracted. The girl perked up immediately and expertly evaded. Without a second thought she shot directly at Shohei’s face, making him fall back onto his butt. A perfect headshot.
Her celebration was cut short by the sudden impact of another snowball on her nape. Both Madoka and Subaru turned to see Yorita, who had a dangerous smile and another snowball in hand.
Subaru jumped on her feet when their eyes met. Escaping Ayato was now top priority so she ran for cover behind a wooden fence. Just about when she was turning to go behind it, Saku was about to come out of the same hiding place (with snowballs of his own), and the impact was inevitable. The clumsy silver-haired girl collided with Saku’s chest, and the thick snow cushioned both of them in their landing with a muffled crunch.
Subaru, confused, looked up and saw Saku’s face dangerously close. She noticed she had fallen on top of him, her hands on his chest. They both locked eyes, and blushed furiously.
“ERHH!??” She tried saying something coherent, but it was more difficult than she expected “I’m sorry… I.. Just… The cover… then Ayato… ”
She was interrupted by a sudden cold sensation.
With his right hand, he gently set a snowball atop Subaru’s head.
“Gotcha” he murmured. His head leaning back into the snow and shielding his eyes with his left arm, a faint grin tugging at his lips.
Subaru just snorted softly at his silly expression and the gentle way he had decided to best her on the game. How not to fall in love with you when you are like this, she thought, taking a handful of snow and pouring it into what was visible of Saku’s face and arm.
“Hey” He grumbled with half a smirk, one eye peeking under his arm “You’re not supposed to counterattack when you’re dead.”
“Maybe we are in a zombie game now,” Subaru added with a teasing tone.
“What are you guys up to?” Madoka approached them with a sly smile, clearly reading more into the situation than she let on. Both of them, remembering their precarious position, flinched and stood up in a second.
“I fell, you know how I am at sports” Subaru answered fidgeting with the hem of her coat while Saku was shaking off the snow of his already wet jeans. A smirking Madoka raised an eyebrow, clearly not convinced with the explanation. The others caught up to them so she didn’t tease the awkward couple anymore.
“That was fun, should we do another round?” Shohei proposed, full of energy.
“Another one? It has been like 5 rounds already” Yorita complained, holding his right shoulder while doing some circular motions.
“But I need to get revenge on Yuzuhara after that last one” Shohei whined.
“All the snow will melt before you manage to turn the tables, you know?” Madoka said playfully.
“It was fun, but Rintaro and I were going to get lunch together, since we couldn't go out yesterday,” Kaoruko explained.
“Christmas Eve is always crazy busy in the patisserie isn’t it?” Shohei commented “Then I suppose we should call it a day, maybe my siblings are up for playing so I will head home”
“So sour you cannot win that now you will fight small kids instead” Madoka said mockingly with a tsk of her tongue and a playful smirk.
“Hey! then lets fight right now and I will show you” Shohei replied
“Deal” Madoka accepted.
“Here we go… ” Yorita mumbled, exhausted. The three stayed behind in the snow-covered park, two of them full of competitive energy, and one of them as the designated adult.
The others headed towards the station, Kaoruko and Rintaro walked side by side holding hands. Behind them Saku and Subaru trailed them in silence. Subaru peeked at him. He seemed distracted, deep in thought about something. She grinned, her hand clutched around something inside her bag.
It has been some time since she had come to terms with her feelings for him. While a deep friendship has been there all along, as well as a great sense of trust, there was also something more. Something that had taken her some time to put a name on it. Part because of her own inexperience with romance, but part of it has been her own fear.
Somewhere deep inside her, she felt as if she labelled that feeling as love, she could not bear the ramifications of that action. She feared that if she came to terms with it, nothing would be the same anymore. She was deeply afraid of losing what they had. So she had cowered in her own indecisions for so long, until it was impossible to deny anymore.
“Saku” she whispered, slowing her steps to create a bigger distance with the couple ahead of them. They had been on a first name basis for some time already, so Saku just snapped out of his thoughts and turned to her, also slowing his pace to match hers. She stopped in her tracks, and so did he.
“Close your eyes,” She instructed.
“Eh!? what is this about?” he exclaimed, flustered. Subaru just held his gaze with a serious expression. Saku then complied with a gulp. Standing there, eyes closed, he felt a gloved hand around his wrist, pulling his hand open between them. Then a small weight on top of his palm.
“Can I open my eyes now?”
“Please”
On top of his hand there was a cute Christmas-themed bag, inside there were cookies topped with brown sugar and cinnamon, and they seemed to have nuts mixed in. Attached to the bag, there was also a small lucky charm, with the shape of a fabric sachet, that had the words “Good luck in your exams” sewed into it.
He was at a loss for words and just remained frozen in place. He didn’t know how to act around her anymore. He had tried to maintain a safe distance, one that kept him safe from her candid words, but remaining close enough to still be there for her (and also for the selfish desire of her company). At some point, he suspected she was also trying to keep her actions and words in check, so they had arrived at a status-quo that seemed to work for them for quite some time. Well, that was until the previous month, when he couldn't read her anymore. She started using his first name, and her heartfelt, candid words had made a comeback, stronger than ever. He could barely take it anymore.
And then she goes tackling me into the snow, he thought, remembering how his heart had made somersaults at the leaning weight of the silver-haired girl on top of his chest. It had taken every shred of willpower left to fight back the urge of enclosing her with his arms.
“I made the cookies by the way,” she added, with a coy smile “And the lucky charm is for your entrance exam of course, in case it was not evident from the get go”
He grabbed the gift with both hands, his eyes fixed on the ground, bangs covering his eyes.
“Thanks Subaru… ” He murmured. He fidgeted with the gift then reached into his pocket. His fingers made contact with a small object he had been carrying around for a couple of days “It’s your turn to close your eyes”
Her eyes widened in surprise, but she didn’t say anything and complied. She was definitely not expecting a gift back. And Saku had been pondering the whole day if he should give it to her, just for her to pull this off just when he had made his mind not to.
He encircled her wrist and pulled her hand between them, imitating what she had done to him. She could feel his hand through the glove, gently fumbling around hers. Her brow was furrowing with confusion. Then she felt a metallic and cold sensation just next to the hem of her glove.
“You can open them now” Her eyes now landing on a delicate silver bracelet around her wrist. It consisted of a thin silver chain adorned with a star charm.
She covered her mouth with the other hand to hide her grinning, on the verge of swooning, eyes still fixed on the tingling star pendant. She looks happy, Saku thought, relieved. He did a couple of slow breaths to bring his heart rate back to a healthy level, but as usual, the girl he loved was always about throwing those efforts through the window.
She knew of the space he was carefully maintaining between them, for reasons unknown, and had decided it was time for her to close that gap. This time, by hugging him out of the blue.
Her arms surrounded him and she laid her head between his chest and his chin. He held his hand in the air, unsure on what to do with them.
“Thank you Saku, it’s lovely” she whispered, and the breath when she did tingled on his collarbone. His heart skipped a beat.
He then, tired of fighting it anymore, decided to return the embrace. He put his arms around her and held her tightly.
Now it was her turn for her heart to do somersaults.
But it was not fear the reason she felt her face flush or her pulse accelerate.
She wouldn’t have believed a year back (a couple of months before even) that she would be hugging a boy (a boy she loved) and that everything felt right. Natural. That the way his arm surrounded her wouldn't bring her fear.
It brought her comfort.
A comfort she didn't know she was craving.
“Subaru, are you okay with this?” Saku asked, unsure. He knew of her anxieties. But she was too distracted by the way his breath felt in her hair and upper part of her ear when he talked.
“Yes, I told you” Subaru mumbled, holding him tightly, a star pendant tingling in her wrist “being with you makes me feel at ease”
================
“Eh? When did we lose Saku and Hoshina?” Rintaro expressed, confused while looking behind them.
“Oops?” Kaoruko held onto his arm with a knowing smile. Then she looked behind as well, to the white covered streets. With a hopeful expression she whispered “Good luck Subaru”.