The snow fell down around the two of them like petals, the flakes dancing and spinning in the air before coming to settle on the ground. There was no noise, no wind or traffic to interrupt the scene, as though the snow had absorbed the sounds of the world. Only the sound of their own footsteps crunching underneath them betrayed the quiet- that, and Ayano.

"You know, I've always thought that the snow was really pretty, don't you think?" Ayano giggled, spinning around in the white carpeting the ground with a grin. "It's so soft! Like little bits of fluff falling from the sky." It was safe to say that these sort of pointless comments had become a mantra for the girl at this point, considering she wouldn't go more than ten seconds without saying something to this effect. Even Shintaro's stony silence didn't put her off. "Ah, but it's so cold."

Ayano gave an exaggerated shiver, clasping her arms around her for a moment and grimacing. Then the grimace broke into a beaming smile, almost as bright as the sun that had been hiding behind grey clouds all day.

"Just kidding!"

She dashed off.

Shintaro watched Ayano as she ran, her red scarf blowing hazardously and unravelling from her shoulders before dropping off and falling into the snow. She didn't seem to notice. Even from behind, she looked oddly bare without the fabric.

"Hey, you dropped your scarf," Shintaro muttered, reaching down to pick it up from the ground and scooping a fair bit of snow up with it. He jumped at the coldness of it, letting it fall through his hands but holding onto the scarf stubbornly. Ayano still hadn't noticed, although she had found some sort of frozen puddle that she was now crouching beside. "Hey," he said again, louder. She actually looked around this time.

At the sight of the red in Shintaro's hand, she blinked and felt for her scarf around her neck, only just now noticing it had been missing. She laughed and stood up, grinning in that same porcelain way she did when she got back those bad test marks. "Oops, I must have dropped my scarf. Sorry."

Shintaro rolled his eyes. "Pay more attention next time." He held out the scarf and she took it gratefully, apologising again. Shintaro tried to ignore the way his heart jumped at her bare fingers brushed the edge of his hand.

"I will," she said as she wrapped the scarf back around her neck. "I promise!"

"You always say those kind of things, but you never do anything." It was just like how she always laughed off her grades and said she'd do better next time. Ayano was going to end up losing her scarf again, and the next text result will always be just as bad. "You're so careless."

A pause. "Ah, we can't all be geniuses like you, Shintaro," she replied lightly. There was another pause. Then, oddly quiet, Ayano added, "It's better this way, isn't it?"

Shintaro frowned at her words. "What do you mean?"

Ayano was suddenly silent. She didn't reply or even make any sign to say she had heard him. Her face was oddly blank, her dark eyes staring at nothing in front of her. Shintaro's confusion turned to hesitant worry, making him reach out to her shoulder to shake her. She jumped as soon as his hand touched her, making her dark hair bristle and fall down her shoulders in messy strands. Her eyes were gleaming more than normal, and it took Shintaro more than a second to realise it was because they were brimming with tears.

"S-Sorry, haha, looks like I spaced out again, didn't I?" she stammered, forcing a laugh much higher than her usual one. "Don't listen to me, I'm just talking about nothing. We should get going before it gets too dark."

"Ay-"

Before Shintaro could even get a whole word out, she was ahead of him, walking about as fast as someone can without it turning into running. Her hair streamed out behind her, long and shining in the lingering light of day.

Shintaro opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong, then shut it again. It was none of his business, after all… right?

They walked like that in silence for a while, Ayano ahead of him with her scarf streaming in the winter air. It was a stark splash of colour in the expanse of white, vivid and bright.

"Hey, Shintaro." The voice forced him out of his reverie harshly, despite the softness of it. Looking ahead, Shintaro realised Ayano had stopped and was now looking back at him with a smile again, no longer on the brink of tears. Always smiling. "You know what else I really like about the snow?"

Surprisingly, she actually waited for Shintaro to answer this time. "What?"

A sudden wind picked up, disturbing the silence of the field and making both of them shiver. The end of Ayano's scarf blew half-off in the wind, flickering and twirling in the air, leaving a comet trail of scarlet behind it.

As the wind slowly faded away, Ayano pulled her scarf closer to her. "It's so white. Look, everywhere is just snow- even on the rooftops and the cars. It just covers everything up and leaves this sheet of white over it all. I think that's really nice. It's like a fresh canvas, right?"

For the first time since he had gone outside, Shintaro looked at the world around him. Properly, this time.

The snowfall had stopped by now, although from the look of the sky it wouldn't stay still for long. Light grey clouds stained the sky and obscured the sun, leaving the sky blank and dull, but the town was a completely different story. Naked trees lined the field the two of them walked down, mounds of snow slowly slipping off their branches, and there was an expansive carpet of pure snow over just about everything Shintaro could see. Even more, no footsteps had tainted the powdered ground yet- apart from those that the two of them had made. Everything was white. A beautiful, glimmering white.

And, in that brief moment, Shintaro saw the world as Ayano must have.

"Do you see it?" Ayano was next to him now, looking up at him with wide eyes.

It took him a while to answer, the word sticking in his throat and refusing to pass the dam of his lips. "Yeah," he managed eventually.

She smiled.