"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?"
"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.
The two snuck down the hall to Tamao and Nagisa's room. Luckily, Tamao had a spare key somehow and gave one to Yaya and Hikari to use just in case. The girls arrived and tried the key. "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. 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.
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.