Chapter 2: Where Boy and Snow Meet

Cold water poured down on my hair. Ice-cold droplets dripped onto my neck. I dragged my eyes up from the bottom of the sink to look at myself in the mirror. Honey-colored eyes stared back at me, watching me as I ruffled my normally unruly hair.

“Raaaaaarggggh! Why did I do that? What got into me?” I would’ve continued screaming to myself if it weren’t for the sound of the door swinging open. I peered from the corner of my eye only to see two guys entering the bathroom.

“Phew,” I thought to myself. Wait, why am I relieved? What was I expecting? It’s normal for guys to enter the boys' bathroom. It’s not like she’s just gonna randomly enter for no reason.

And I was right, she didn’t enter the bathroom, but her name did. It echoed through the bathroom’s tiled walls.

“Man, Yukimura just walked right past me when I tried to talk to her.”
The other guy, peeing in a urinal away from him, joined in with laughter. “What did you expect, her to actually have a conversation with you? We’re nobodies compared to her, so you should forget about her and join us at karaoke tonight.”

That guy was right. I’m a nobody. She probably doesn’t even remember me. There’s no way she’d show. At least that’s what I thought… but from the window, I saw her. Am I just imagining her at the meetup spot? There’s only one way to be sure.

The sound of my shoes slamming onto the school’s wooden floor echoed throughout the hallways. I need to get there as quickly as possible. I can’t believe she actually took time out of her day for me. I—

A sudden force startled me; I didn’t get knocked down, but the same couldn’t be said for the other person. When I glanced down at the ground, I saw my homeroom teacher lying there, papers still gracefully falling to the ground. But I couldn’t help him up; I have places to be. The final words I heard from him before I got out of earshot were, “Ya… Yasura?”

I scrambled down the stairs, making it onto the first floor. However, I saw it. My second obstacle. My friends. I tried to avoid eye contact and walk past them as briskly as I could; however, before I could step an inch past them, I felt an arm slung around my shoulder.

“Where do you think you’re going, Shin?” My muscular friend Haruto asked.

“Yeah, supposed to be meeting up at my place to discuss plans for Halloween night.” My other, and only slightly more handsome, friend, Kaito, added. But I didn’t have time for this. With great haste, I threw Haruto’s arm off me, but I failed to control my strength. Haruto sprawled out onto the ground just like our homeroom teacher. Sorry, but Yukimura is waiting for me.

“When did he get so strong?”

“I don’t know. But I do know wherever he’s going must be important if he left you like that.”

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Beads of sweat poured down my forehead as I struggled to catch my breath, out of both exhaustion and in awe. My eyes were being blessed with the beauty of Yukimura, only a few steps away. Her icy-blue hair swayed back and forth in the autumn wind. Her pale skin was directly under the sun, but unlike a snowflake, she didn’t melt; instead, the view burned the image into my eyes.

“H-H-H…” A lump formed in my throat. I know the words I wanted to say, but none were coming out. At least not any fluent ones. “My…name…is…me?” As I tried to catch my stumbling breath, my eyes met her own. It was her usual icy glare, the one that seemed as though it was looking beyond me, not registering me as a human being at all. Then her eyes left mine as she turned her head. Her long hair swooshed behind her, grazing her back before landing on her shoulders.

Please don’t go. I could already hear the sound of her footsteps being carried away by the wind. C’mon, I can’t just leave things like that. Say something!

“Yukimura!” I yelled her name with an unexpected volume. In response, she paused. I’m not sure how long she’ll stay put like this, so I have to tell her. Right here and now. The words that the letter I sent her couldn’t convey. “Yukimura, I lov—”

My words were interrupted. Not by a teacher. Not by my friends. Not by a student, a passerby, or any other person, really. Instead, it was cut off by my falling. Through the ground? No, I was falling into something dark. I stretched my hand toward the hole that was only getting smaller as my hand began to appear larger than it was. And the last sight I saw was Yukimura.

Again, her face was basking in the Sun’s warmth, but this time, I couldn’t make out her features. I couldn’t see the glare in her glassy blue eyes. I couldn’t view her unchanging, yet expressive, monotone face. The face that I wish I could gaze upon once more. All I could see was her silhouette. She was short and petite, with a long-haired figure that was holding something. Something long… a shape somewhat familiar… wait… Is that a sword?