Blue Frost Ch 2
As soon as the sun began shining in my eyes the next morning, I rose as quickly as I could. I was determined to talk to Mikage about last night with her. Throughout my sleep last night I was also calculating how I would talk to her, so I'd be better prepared to explain last night. I didn't really have control of myself which probably resulted in that kiss, simple idea like that. However...even last night I kept screwing up trying to talk to her in my head. No matter what, I couldn't find a way to explain myself or even talk to her about what happened. If that was just inside my head I was a bit fearful about talking to her for real. I know Mikage is the type of person to listen to a story fully and doesn't make blind assumptions but I just knew I'd screw up talking to her and upset her. However even odder is that for most of the night I thought back to before the kiss. When I was talking to her, looking at the stars, sitting next to each other, I honestly did not know what was going on.
I sighed and decided there was no point in stalling and tried to get up before I noticed a rather heavy object on my legs.
It was a large metal tray with various breakfast staples such as waffles, mini pancakes and a cup of coffee. I smelt it and it did rather calm me down from the fear I was having during the night. I looked up to try and find where the food came from and I saw Yusei wearing a ski jacket, winter hat and appeared to be putting on other gear.
"Yusei?" I asked the man. He turned to me and smiled.
"Glad to see you're up now." Yusei says in his typical good-natured tone.
"What you all dressed up for?" I asked him. I knew what he was wearing them for but I was curious about where exactly he was going.
"I'm going to hit the slopes with Aki. Left some breakfast for you." Yusei said as he put on some boots and gloves. I suddenly looked at him a little surprised.
"Wait, is Mikage not going with you?" Yusei shook his head.
"No she's come down with a nasty cold and is going to stay in bed. I need to get going now, see you at lunch!" Yusei told me as he rushed out the door.
As soon as he left I practically inhaled the food in front of me. normally food would boost my energy or calm me down but I wanted to talk to Mikage as soon as I could. After breakfast I got quickly dressed an walked to the girls' room.
I took a deep breath and thought to myself about what to say real quick and knocked on the door lightly. Nobody answered so I knocked again.
"Hello?" I heard Mikage ask in a sickly voice which I knew was fake.
"Hey Mikage? It's Jack." The room was silent for a bit.
"Hi Jack, I can't talk right now. I'm very sick and I need to get some rest." She continued with the false voice.
"Mikage...in all the years I've known you, I know you are a terrible liar." I said in a somewhat chuckling manner. I did not get any response, I smacked myself on the head for using such a tone.
"Look...I want to talk about last night. I can understand why you don't want to come out...but please hear me out." No reply once more, I prayed she was listening. I took a deep breath and prepared myself.
"You see I...well last night I...I...I really did enjoy talking with you last night and...I'm nervous to talk about this too honestly" I said, pausing at the worst of times.
"Look...even last night after what happened...I could not stop thinking about you...not about the incident though I did think about that on occasion. But mainly, I thought about how much I enjoyed talking with you...sitting next to you...being with you in general. I've never dreamt anything like that before nor has someone stayed in my head like that...I'm honestly, curious about you Mikage." No response once more.
"I...look...bloody hell...I really don't mean to sound creepy like that but I...I really did enjoy being with you...and I was wondering if...you wanted to go around the ski resort with me...have fun, forget about the kiss, I just want to have fun with you." The door creaked open and I could see some of Mikage's face, looking at me a little surprised it seems. I tried to smile at her, but it just made me look more nervous than I already was.
"I don't know if I it's something like I really like...well I do like you but just...damn it...look I just want to hang out with you around the ski resort. What do you say?" I asked, finally managing to say what I wanted to. Mikage was silent for a bit and I slapped myself once more.
"Stupid, stupid idiot!" I whispered under my breath. However to my surprise Mikage opened the door and I saw she was smiling, and she looked very happy.
"I would love to hang out with you Jack. I just need to get in some winter clothes...and by the looks of it so do you." She told me, that sickly tone before gone with sounding more like the Mikage that I knew. I nod only once, and she shut the door going to get dressed. Moment she did, I rushed back to my room to put on some more appropriate clothes. When I was done, I stepped out into the hall to wait for Mikage. Thankfully there were mirrors on every other wall, so I could make sure that I looked ok before I went out. In my reflection I saw I was wearing a basic dark blue jacket along with some black snow pants and for the time being I wore goggles around my neck. I didn't look bad though if I do say so myself, not amazing but it would work.
Mikage on the other hand... When she walked in I was shocked when I saw her. Two words: bloody beautiful. She was wearing a white coat with two rows of black buttons down the front, to me it resembled more of a rain coat though it obviously was warm if Mikage chose to wear it. And unlike my gloves which were leather and thick, her black gloves were thin and wool that looked very soft. She also wore a black scarf around her neck with matching black ear muffs. She definitely had put more thought into her attire than me.
"Wow...you look great." I said, complimenting her. I was sincere in my words though it may sound strage coming from me. Luckily, Mikage blushed a bit and looked away, albeit smiling.
"Thank you very much Jack." She said sweetly.
I rubbed the back of my head and pointed towards the elevator, obviously I looked like I had no idea what I was doing. I had never been on a date in my life, I never even watched many movies with a vague resemblance of real dating. I wish that I had though as if I knew something like this was coming, I would have studied every single dating advice video so that I didn't look like an idiot. Mikage smiled at me, of course I let her go into the elevator first before going in myself; I was raised to be a gentleman after all. When we finally made it to the entrance which lead into the heart of the resort I looked at Mikage who looked back at me with a somewhat shy expression, matching me. She looked down at my idle hand and nervously grasped mine with hers. I looked at her a bit surprised, never expecting her to be so bold, but she looked at me with a smile combined with her shy face.
"Since were on somewhat of a date, is it ok if I hold your hand?" I said nothing, but I smiled in the same manner as she. I hadn't even bothered to correct her that it was nowhere near a date probably because it was not really a big deal to me...or maybe I didn't mind it being somewhat of a date.
We stepped outside into the morning sun shined into our eyes, I wasn't expecting such power considering it's normally the darkest time of the year. I placed my hand in front of my eyes, shielding them from the harsh sunlight. When I was no longer blind from the sun, I saw how the resort looked. While it was mostly crowded with people trying to get to wherever they needed to go, I saw how bright the snow was. It looked so smooth and the sun reflecting on it made it shine almost as bright at the sun. Mikage tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to her, she appeared to be holding an open map. She points at one point at the map, which I figured must be our destination. "Says here we need to get higher up in order to rent skis in boots."
I looked at her rather surprised. "Wouldn't we normally rent skis at the bottom?" Mikage tilted her head to the side cutely before she replied. "Says they want to be able to go skiing as quick as possible. Makes sense...I suppose." I just shrugged and we made our way to a chairlift which was straight ahead.
Thankfully the line was not too long and we got on fairly quickly. All the while however, I noticed that I was still holding Mikage's hand. I looked around and saw some people smiling at us. Did they think we were a couple? I told myself 'People get excited over everything, it's nothing' but even then I also wondered it does turn out I really like Mikage after this and maybe other dates, would I get this often? What would she think? Would she like attention like this or even recuperate my feelings back? I could not think for long as we had to board the chairlift straight ahead.
Going up the chairlift, I looked around the resort and I was amazed by the whole scope of the resort. It seemed like the whole world around me was blocked off by the mountains coated by trees, frozen rivers, and snow. The sun reflecting on the snow made the mountains look like a beacon that one could see miles away. I looked towards Mikage who was looking down on the ground below in amazement. I looked at her confused before I did too and I realized how high we were . Everyone below us looked more like little toys than they did real people. It all seemed so grand and beautiful to me. Keep in mind I had spent most of life in a grungy run down town and a crowded city so this is all so new to me. I saw pictures of mountains, resorts, and etc. on the internet but they could never compare to the real thing...to truly experience it. Also it may seem kind of stupid but on that chairlift, I felt like I was flying. I've been on a helicopter or even a plane before but never had I been that close to the sky.
"It's so amazing...just being up this high." Mikage said, perfectly encapsulating my thoughts about this whole scenario. We stepped back onto the ground, it almost felt disappointing to be removed from the sky. Though I knew I'd be gliding on snow soon so the disappointment was brief. The ski rental shop was dead ahead of us so me and Mikage entered. It was the typical tiny and wooden hut with modern heating, but it wasn't very strong.
After we were done getting our ski boots, poles and skis we carried them outside and placed them on the ground when we were close enough to the slope. We stepped into them, they clicked into place and using the poles we carefully moved our way closer to the slope. The way down seemed very steep and smooth. By the way the slope had been formed it looked as if it used to be a waterfall, perhaps frozen due to the freezing temperature. Thankfully there was no one else down there so me and Mikage could go when we wanted. But I noticed something about her, she looked a little terrified. "You ok?" She turned to me, keeping her expression colored with fear.
"I can't believe it...I forgot that I've never been skiing before..." I looked at her surprised. Mikage laughed nervously, her form shaking and I knew it wasn't from the cold. "Well hopefully you can help me out right?" The surprise doubled and I gulped a bit. She stared at me then in horror. "You've...never been skiing either?" I nodded my head. I was so focus on spending the day with her I forgot I did not know how to ski really. 'Blooming brilliant Jack...' I thought to myself.
"Well if it's any consolation...I've seen how they do it in movies and the Olympics...doesn't look to hard." I held my hands in front of myself as if I were holding a steering wheel. "Just keep out your hands like this, keep turning using your ankles. Be sure to make long distances between turns if you want to go slowly. The longer the distance, the slower you'll go." I tried explaining the best I could to her. She calmed down a bit but still looked worried. I don't blame her. We inched closer towards the slope, if we took one more step we would slide down the snow. We both take a deep breath and prepared ourselves.
"I'm going to try going fast down this, doesn't look like anything would collide into me. See ya!" I exclaimed, pushing myself down. As soon as I started going down I felt the wind thrashing against my face. The wind was going so fast against me, the sounds of the gusts overpowered Mikage's scared squeals as she went slowly down I presumed. Meanwhile I was flying across the snow, I could feel adrenaline building up inside me as I went down. All I could hear was the sound of my skis grinding against the terrain of ice and snow. I felt as though I were an eagle flying as I sped down the hill. I crouched down in order to make myself go faster. I was loving every minute of it...until.
"Jack look out!" I heard Mikage yell, but before I could look up to see what she was referring to I crashed into a heap of snow. When I did, snow piled upon me to the point I was almost completely buried. Thankfully my head was poking out of the pile so I could breath, but I could barely move the rest of my body. I could hear Mikage ski closer to me. "Hold on Jack! I'll help you!" she told me.
"Thanks...not as if I had been planning on doing that! Bloody hell!" I shouted rather bitterly. I know there are better ways to respond but I was freaking out and when I do I tend not to think about being a gentleman all too much. She dug her hands through the snow and I did my best to dig as well. When we dug through enough so I could get loose however, I fell into the weakened snow and got buried again. Thankfully it was weak enough so I could stand up and it fell off. However as I stood up, Mikage looked at me happily and started chuckling a bit.
"What's so funny?" I asked, annoyance laced throughout my tone.
"The snow that's still on your face makes you look like you have a beard." Mikage explained while chuckling. I instantly scrubbed the snow off and chuckled with her a bit. It was rare to see me laugh let alone chuckle, so when I was done chuckling I was a bit surprised considering I normally I wasn't a big fan of jokes or silly things like that usually, especially if they were towards me. But that day I hadn't mind really, I just went along with it. I just felt strangely...happy. Was it because I was on vacation or was it because I was with Mikage? I don't know.
And at that moment it did not matter as for the rest of the slope we slowly skied down to the next ski rental place a couple yards near a chair lift. Obviously we were too inexperienced to use skis so thankfully there was one close by on the map where we could trade them in for something I know how to use, a sled. When I was a kid in the Satellite, whenever it snowed I went sledding on the various hills and I was a sledding master. Thank god, the shops had a sled for adults, otherwise the way down would have taken longer than we hoped for.
However after we had returned the skis and boots and came out with a sled, I noticed something at the back of the rather long line for the chairlift. Two people, one woman with bright red hair and another with spiky black hair with yellow highlights.
Yusei and Aki.
I looked to my left and saw the way down the slope lead straight to the resort; no turns, no rocks, not even that much people. The closest thing to an obstacle was a large pile of snow that stood in between the chairlift and slope.
An evil plan grew within my head.
I placed the sled near the pile at an angle so it pointed towards the slope. Mikage looked at me confused as I went to the snow pile and made balls out of the frozen substance. "Jack what are you doing?" I moved towards her and started to whisper in her ear whilst wearing an evil smile.
"Yusei and Aki are at the back of the line for the chair lift. I'm gonna throw some snowballs at them and when they start fighting back, were going to escape using the sled." Mikage looked at me surprised and while Mikage is not fan of "rough" games like snowball fights, she knew they didn't really hurt anyone too much on purpose and said nothing. So naturally I decided she should have the first throw, handing over the first snowball I had made.. "How about you have a throw Mika." She looked at me shocked after she took it from me.
"Oh well... I can't, I probably can't hit them from over here anyways." Mikage nervously replied, squeezing the snowball in her hands while I just chuckled. "It's fine, just toss it as hard as you can, they're pretty much open targets, the line does not look like it's moving." She nodded nervously and aimed her snowball, I noticed her angle was rather...poor though I should have expected it. I put my hand on hers and slowly got her arm in the right position. Though, that same feeling from when I was holding her hand earlier returned, her hand felt so warm. It felt so out of place considering the events about to unfold but it felt so...comforting, it almost made me forget we were going to throw a snowball at Yusei and Aki.
However when her arm was placed into the right position, I let go and told her to fire away. Mikage shut her eyes and tossed the ball into the air. I watched it fly and fall towards the couple. The ball then hit Aki on her uncovered neck.
Direct hit.
Aki turned around and had the same restraint anyone would have during something like this.
"Who the hell threw that!?" Yusei turned around too and they obviously saw Mikage standing near the snow pile and she was beginning to shake with fear from those two looking towards her.
"Hey Mika, did you see someone throw...Wait what are you doing out of..." Yusei began to ask before I took one of my premade snowballs and threw it straight at his mug, another direct hit. Yusei scrubbed the snow off and looked at me with pure, unbridled revenge in his expression.
"You're going to regret that, Jack." Yusei said with contempt in his voice. He looked as if he would kill me and looked positively terrifying.
I threw another snowball at his face of course.
Aki however started scooping some of her own then.
"Quick! Mikage! Start making some balls and tossing as many as you can!" she nodded anxiously and we started making mass producing snow balls quickly, mass producing them. Aki and Yusei started tossing there balls and thankfully the pile made great cover though sometimes balls still hit me and Mikage. Slowly though, the meek girl started enjoying the game more and more, aiming more strategically. I almost felt a built guilty turning the normally gentle girl into a somewhat hardcore fighter. We soon started even throwing in unison on occasion, bombarding the two. After a while though they were managing to get closer and closer to us to the point where they were a couple feet in front of the pile.
"Mikage, time to escape!" I told her.
"Roger." Mikage told in the style of a military general. I sat down at the back of the sled while she sat up front. I held the strings to turn the sled tight and pushed ourselves down the slope. The same speed from when we were skiing returned, if not faster. In the distance I could hear Aki yelling.
"You'll pay for this Jack Atlas! You will pay!" I just chuckled and paid attention to the slope in front of us...or at least that's what I had in mind.
When I was sledding down the mountain I just noticed that Mikage was sitting basically on my lap, the closest we had been since that night. It was rather surprising, I know I should have been focusing on the slope and it normally would not be that big of a deal but it felt strangely...comforting and nice. She felt so warm, warmer than any of the snow gear I had on at that time. I noticed something else from her sitting so close, she seemed to be wearing some form of perfume or something because she didn't have the smell someone who wouldn't did. She smelled of jasmine and she smelled very...nice actually. I was a bit surprised by it, it was just a little get together between friends, not really a date. Though as much as I say that it did feel remarkably like a date and I was actually curious if there could be feelings for Mikage that stretched out a little more than friends. Though I wondered...was it the same for Mikage?
After a while the sled slowed down precisely in the center of the resort. We got up and stretched for a minute and Mikage took out that map again. "Says here there is a place to return sleds down a bit..." Mikage suddenly looked at the map in a very surprised but also very excited manner. I looked at her confused, she looked at me with those eager eyes.
"It's right near a frozen lake where we can go skating." I looked at her in confusion before I replied with, "I didn't know you like skating?"
"Oh yes, I love it. When I was little girl, my mother and father took my sister and I skating all the time during winter. I loved it so much and it's been a while since I skated, probably because I've been so busy." Mikage explained, smiling at the memory of her younger years. She folded up the map then placed it inside her jacket's pocket.
"Okay then, let's go." I told her smiling. We started walking towards a pathway in the plaza which led to the lake. She seemed excited to go though kept the restraint Mikage usually had. I actually wanted her to do something she loved doing and I wouldn't mind doing it with her...even if I've never been skating before. But, I did not want to spoil her fun nor to worry about me not being with her on the frozen lake, besides might as well give it a try and hopefully it will be better than skiing.
When we arrived the size of the lake was bigger than I expected. It was about the size of how normal ice rinks looked to me. Strangely there was no one else skating on the lake. It was going to be just me and Mikage...whoever is running this universe sure has a great sense of humor.
After returning the sled and renting some skates at the shop nearby, we walked back to the rink, still empty. Thankfully there was a bench near the lake so we could put our skates on. Finished putting them on, I walked very carefully onto the ice, still trying to get used to wearing the things. It worse when I stepped onto the ice. Mikage naturally skated very gracefully, showing that she really had skated many times before...I just stumbled a bit and fell on the ice like an idiot. Mikage skated over and kneeled down. She held her hand out while keeping her humble smile and I took it without a second thought.
Once I got on my feet I felt like I was going to fall again. Mikage held my arms to keep me steady which thankfully worked.
"Just keep the blades of your skates steady on the ground, as if they were just regular shoes." I nodded, trying to and after calming down a bit they felt like they were finally in place. She let go of my arms and she started to skate around the rink slower than she did earlier.
"Watch my feet and move yours like this." She was skating similar to how I was skiing earlier by using her ankles and pushing them against the ground to move. I followed but not nearly as quickly as she did, one step at a time. I got used to it after a while and soon I could skate around the lake decently. Though, I still felt and looked like I was going to fall at any time. Mikage must have noticed because she skated towards me. She held her hands out and grasped them hastily, trying to get steady.
"Sorry, I just don't want to fall on my bum like I did earlier." I said somewhat chuckling. Mikage turned to my left side while still holding my hand. She stuck my hand out in a position similar a tango while keeping another arm on my back, all the while I looked at her confused. But she just kept that same smile.
"Just follow my lead." I nodded, not really knowing what else to do. She pushed us off and started skating and I did my best to copy her motions. I was nervous at first but then I saw how smoothly we began to skate on the frozen lake. After a while, I didn't have that feeling I was going to fall at any moment. In fact, skating like that, as gracefully as she did, felt wonderful. I felt like I was beginning to glide on the ice, I almost felt like I could start flying from how weightless I felt. I looked at Mikage, I understood why she loved skating and I felt as though I was flying with her by my side. It felt as though we were almost dancing together. I really enjoyed it, I wanted to continue this with her.
"I'm going to let go of your back now. Spin me." I looked at her shocked but as soon as I did she released her arm from my back and skated in front of me. I used my hand which still clung to hers and followed what she said and spun her. I let go of her when she started spinning and she spun as gracefully as she skated earlier. As she spun her hair as short as it was, flowed like a river and she just amazed me with her agility upon something that would normally make you stumble and fall. After a couple spins she stopped and I could do nothing but applaud her.
"That was bloody amazing!" I exclaimed to her. She blushed a bit but a warm smile graced her face as she did.
"Thank you Jack." She replied shyly.
"I don't get it though, here you are, an agile skater who could not doubt win several competitions or even teach skating. Why did you end up being a secretary for some jerk like me...or hell even a police officer?" I asked in a rather confused tone. Mikage spun around a bit before looking right back at me with those gentle eyes.
"I could have...you're right. But there is one thing I love more than skating. I like helping people and it may seem basic but secretary is a job in which you are helping and caring for someone. As for police officer, I wanted to protect the people I care about and help people. It's as simple as that really, sounds silly am I right?" Mikage said, chuckling a bit. I smiled ass warmly as I could at her.
"No...you're completely wrong...I think that's really wonderful." The woman smiled at me as she continued to skate around the lake a bit.
"I really wish I could be as well...nice as that...really I'm kind of a jerk really." Mikage skated over to me and sighed.
"Didn't we talk about this? You are really nice Jack, you just complimented me a second ago didn't you? You care about a lot of people Jack, why do you doubt yourself so much?" My smile disappeared and I sighed.
"I don't know really...maybe it's because after you left I started looking back on our years together and realized what a jerk I was. Maybe it was because of me stealing from Yusei or something along the lines of that." Mikage placed her arms on my shoulders and looked at me with her gentle eyes that were also full of concern.
"Jack...I never complained about working with you, I loved helping you. Also, if not for you stealing from Yusei you would not have come to New Domino City where you would meet me and Yusei would have no reason to come and meet Aki. Not only that, but you changed so many lives." Mikage pointed out, I looked at her confused and surprised.
"Really...I ended up doing that much from something like that?" Mikage nodded.
"Yes Jack...even with some of the most negative of outcomes, there are some positive ones. The future can be unpredictable like that." I smiled at her and she did the same.
"Thank you Mikage. We should probably be getting back to the hotel now for lunch, Yusei and Aki are going to meet up with us back at our rooms."
"Ok then, let's go." The petite woman said warmly.
Later on after returning everything we rented we went back to our rooms to meet with Yusei and Aki. I got a text saying they'd meet us in the hall...but.
"Strange...where are they?" Mikage in a concerned tone. I looked around and I could not see them either. However when I turned my back towards the girls' room I heard a bit of a squeak...and then...
"SURPRISE YOU SICK MONKEY!" I heard a familiar voice yell. Before I could turn to look though suddenly it felt like my back had been frozen, in no time I figured out it was ice and snow that had been poured down my shirt that made me feel like my entire body was frozen as it made its way down. I turned around in my state of chilled panic, only to see that the perpetrator was Aki.
"That's for your little attack Jack." Aki said in a triumphant tone, I didn't listen though as I was too busy shaking the snow out of my shirt. Mikage just looked at the whole scenario in awe at the out of nowhere attack. After I had gotten the snow out, Yusei walked out of the girls' room as well.
"Sorry, I let her do it because I wanted revenge too...Also Mikage I thought you were sick?" Mikage began to look a little nervous having lied about her illness.
"Well I felt better after a while and I bumped into Jack so we went skiing together for a bit." She explained. The Yusei said ok and by that time I finally felt warm again, albeit a bit wet.
"Right then, let's go grab lunch."
"Wait, you're not going to attack me back for shoving snow down your shirt?" I shook my head.
"No, I just had a lot of fun with Mikage so I'm in a good mood. You are free...this time." I told her while saying the last part in a somewhat cocky tone. We began walking to the elevator with Aki and Yusei leading but meanwhile at the back with me and Mikage. I whispered into her ear. "I had a wonderful time, I haven't felt this happy in a long time. Maybe tomorrow we can have some more fun?" Mikage looked at me and smiled that ever humble smile.
"Of course Jack, I would love to."
Please let me know what to improve on and thank you Scooby82101 for looking this over. Also the ending is going to be delayed a bit (delaying two stories for another, GO ME!) Though to be fair this is one I have planned out for a long time, almost to the point I can tell what happens on the fly so it won't take long.