Kurumu didn't get much sleep that night, tossing and turning for hour after hour. She had dreams of being at a movie theater with Mizore when Tomomi suddenly appeared out of nowhere and ninja-kicked the succubus across the room so she could take the seat beside the Snow Woman.
Her restless night showed the next morning at breakfast as Kurumu wobbled sleepily at the table, on the verge of face-planting into her oatmeal. Sitting across from the blue-haired girl, Moka worriedly eyed Kurumu as more and more students trickled into the dining hall for breakfast.
"Are you okay, Kurumu?" she asked. The sound of her voice shook Kurumu out of her stupor and she rubbed her eyes.
"Bad night..." she muttered.
Moka, ever the observant friend, attempted to put two and two together.
"Did you and Mizore have a talk about all the time she's spending with Tomomi?"
It took a little bit for Moka's words to sink in; Kurumu was preoccupied with swirling her oatmeal around with the spoon.
"Huh? Oh, no. No way. I can't do that."
Moka and Kurumu were the only ones at the table, and as more students started to sit down at the tables around them, Kurumu lowered her voice.
"Those two are just friends who haven't seen each other for a long time," she explained. "How selfish does it make me look if I'm upset at Mizore for taking the time to catch up with Tomomi?"
She looked thoughtful for a moment, then let out a sigh.
"It's just that..."
The expression on Moka's face made Kurumu stop; Mizore must have been coming up behind them. The succubus turned her head and sure enough, Mizore was shuffling into the dining hall, smoothing down what little bedhead she had. Kurumu quickly turned back around and shoved a spoonful of oatmeal in her mouth, acting like she hadn't seen the yuki-onna.
"If something's bothering you, you need to talk to her about it," Moka advised sagely. "That's what couples do."
Kurumu did a superb job of ignoring her and preoccupying herself with breakfast. Mizore reached the table and slid in next to Kurumu.
"Hey," the Ice Princess said in greeting.
Kurumu glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. She had just remembered that their last conversation of yesterday hadn't exactly ended on the best note, and Mizore might be angry or upset. But as she looked over her girlfriend, Kurumu decided that she didn't quite look like she was about to freeze over the entire dining room in a fit of rage.
"Hi..." Kurumu cautiously greeted back, afraid that she had misread Mizore's mood and was about to be turned into a life-sized ice sculpture at any minute.
But the Snow Queen kept her cool, and no one got refrigerated.
"Are you going to eat breakfast?" Kurumu continued, weakly attempting to keep the conversation going. It figured, one of the few times she was able to see Mizore without Tomomi trailing after her and she couldn't think of anything to say.
"Not really hungry," Mizore shrugged. She was looking away from Kurumu and Moka, absentmindedly staring out the dining hall windows.
The succubus was caught off guard. If Mizore didn't eat breakfast, she normally just headed straight for Nekonome's room to wait for school to start. Why had she made the pit stop in the dining room instead of going right to class?
As if Mizore could read Kurumu's thoughts, she explained herself.
"I thought I'd walk to class with you," she said, still focusing her attention out the window.
Kurumu's heart leapt and her mind kicked into high gear, thinking of ways she could drag out the short walk to class and make it last as long as possible.
Moka, approving of the way things seemed to be going, gave the succubus a little thumbs-up and then quietly snuck away from the table to leave the pair alone. Amazingly, Kurumu wished that she had stayed. For the first time in forever she wasn't entirely comfortable being left alone with Mizore. The yuki-onna had never exactly been an open book, but lately she was getting harder and harder to read, and Kurumu struggled to figure out how to act around her.
"Well then...we should get going," the blue-haired girl suggested. Mizore finally tore her gaze away from the windows and back to the table.
"What? But you haven't finished eating yet, and breakfast has barely started," she said.
Kurumu smiled.
"It's okay, I'm really not that hungry either."
She quickly ran through the list of thoughts in her head, then continued.
"But hey, let's walk outside to get to class, I was hoping to run into...Yukari. She...uh...has my homework," she nervously smiled, hoping her feeble excuse would pass by the Ice Princess.
"Yukari has your homework?" Mizore asked skeptically.
"Oh, she...was checking it, not using it," Kurumu added hastily.
"That makes more sense," Mizore said.
"Hey, I'm not that dumb, you know."
When they got outside, a pleasantly cool breeze greeted the pair, tossing their hair around a little. The warmth of the sun shone down on them even though the sun itself was blocked out by the cloudy sky above. Kurumu led the way, glancing around every so often to make Mizore believe she was looking for the little witchling Yukari.
The couple was silent as they walked, and even though Kurumu desperately wanted to start a conversation, she just couldn't find the words.
"I don't think she's out here," Mizore noted a little while later as she stood next to Kurumu.
Kurumu sighed. It was a stupid idea, using Yukari as an excuse to take a long walk with Mizore. The yuki-onna would never have the patience to spend half the morning looking for the witch, and even if she did, it seemed that walking to class together wasn't nearly as fun as Kurumu imagined it would be.
The wind picked up again in a much stronger gust. Mizore, whose icicle-like spikes always stayed neatly in place, was unfazed. But when the wind blew across Kurumu, her bangs were tossed and swished around, whipping across her eyes and leaving a few blue strands scattered out of place.
There was a flicker in Mizore's icy blue eyes, and she reflexively reached out like she was going to fix Kurumu's hair, but then she stopped herself and lowered her hand. Kurumu repressed the urge to let out an annoyed sigh. Would it really kill the girl to show some affection every now and then? Kurumu would like nothing more than to have her hair gently smoothed back by her girlfriend, but Mizore acted like she was a five year old in a china shop, surrounded by "Do Not Touch" signs and afraid to even breathe in the wrong direction out of fear of breaking something. Kurumu was about to point out the fact that she was not some precious little snowflake who would disintegrate at the slightest touch, but a painfully familiar voice interrupted her.
"Hey, there you guys are!"
The monster duo turned to see Tomomi sauntering up to them. Kurumu suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to roundhouse kick someone across the campus.
"You're up early," Mizore said with an impressed smile. "You okay? You look tired."
"Couldn't sleep last night. Not a big deal though," the white haired girl answered.
Mizore didn't notice that I look tired, Kurumu thought bitterly to herself. She was starting to realize that her yuki-onna was not the easiest person to be in a relationship with.
"I guess I'll go on ahead. See you two later," she said stiffly, already starting to walk forward and leave the Snow Women behind.
"Kurumu.."
Mizore reached out and grabbed the succubus's hand before she could get too far away. With a shock, Kurumu found that Mizore was freezing to the touch, so icy cold that it practically burned. Kurumu quickly yanked her hand away.
Something flashed across the Ice Queen's face, something that looked suspiciously like fear.
"Sorry..." she muttered, stepping away from the blue-haired girl. "I didn't mean to...I mean, it's a yuki-onna thing, but..."
Tomomi watched her friend with worry in her eyes. Mizore seemed to be at an uncomfortable loss for words. Any anger that Kurumu was feeling disappeared as the fearful expression took over her girlfriend's features.
"Whoa, Mizore, it's alright," she said hastily, despite the fact that her hand still stung from the yuki-onna's touch. "You didn't do anything wrong."
But Mizore was still inching backwards away from Kurumu.
"Mizore, just stay calm," the other Snow Woman warned, throwing a cautious glare at the purple haired girl.
"I just remembered...I left something in my room. You two go ahead without me," with that, Mizore quickly turned and ran off in the opposite direction before Kurumu had a chance to say anything.
"Hey, hothead! Get back here!" Tomomi took off chasing after the Ice Princess.
Kurumu was left in the dust, looking very dumbfounded. She had gone from feeling anxiety, to annoyance, to anger, to concern in the span of a few minutes, and now her emotional roller coaster had whirled back to anger.
Tomomi. Everything was fine until Tomomi showed up. Mizore and Kurumu were getting along great, and now? Kurumu couldn't even get the time of day from Mizore because she spent her time running around doing god knows what with the other yuki-onna. Mizore barely even looked in Kurumu's direction now, yet she was all smiles for Tomomi. And now Mizore was upset, and yet again it was Tomomi who was going after her.
Kurumu curled her hands into fists to keep her succubus claws from unexpectedly coming out.
"No way in hell am I going to let her take Mizore away from me," she growled to herself.
She began to start after them, but didn't even manage to get a few feet away before a terrible thought stopped her dead in her tracks.
What if Tomomi isn't the problem? What if it's me? What if...I'm not right for Mizore?
To Kurumu's horror, it made a lot of sense.
Mizore and Tomomi are both Snow Women, and that alone means they already have more in common with each other than Mizore and I do. And she's known Tomomi longer than she's known me, that can't be changed. Maybe...maybe Mizore is just better off being with another yuki-onna, someone like herself.
Mizore was the master of cold, both physical and emotional. Whether it was the cold snowstorm or the cold shoulder, both were tough to stand up to. Tomomi could glide easily and gracefully across the surface of the frozen pond. If she suddenly fell in, she'd have no problem surviving the freezing water below. But Kurumu, who couldn't handle the cold, still insisted upon haphazardly skating on thin ice. Maybe Mizore was starting to figure that out, starting to realize that if things kept going the way they were, Kurumu was only going to get caught up in the blizzard with no escape.
Back when the girls were still rivals for Tsukune, Kurumu would've smacked you clean across the country if you tried to tell her she'd end up with the Snow Queen one day. But now that they were here, the thought of being without Mizore was much harder to accept than the thought of being with her.
They needed to talk. Kurumu felt the strength of her resolve melting away the icy feeling of fear that had taken over her. She was going to go after Mizore right now. She was going to get her alone no matter what, even toss Tomomi in a burlap sack and throw her into the ocean if she had to. There wasn't going to be any shyness, no dodging the questions and skirting around answers, they were just going to lay everything out on the table, and then-
*ding ding ding ding*
The bell rang. School had started.
To no one's surprise, Mizore didn't show up to class that day. While the rest of the gang thought she was just on one of her occasional random skip days, Kurumu knew better. That's why later that night, she found herself tip-toeing down the halls of the Yokai dorms long after everyone else had gone to bed, silently making her way towards Mizore's room. The yuki-onna seemed to be trying to avoid the succubus, but Kurumu had far too many things to say to let that slide.
She reached the room and pressed her ear up to the door, trying to hear what Mizore was doing inside. There was no sound at all. Kurumu knocked lightly on the door.
"Mizore? It's Kurumu, open up," she said quietly.
She waited, listening for a response, but none came. She got close to the door again, trying to hear movement inside, but there was still nothing. She knocked again.
"Hey, Mizore! I know you're in there. I just want to see you, let me in," she said in a loud whisper.
More silence. Not even the slightest sign that Mizore was even alive in there, let alone listening. Kurumu felt hurt.
"Fine. If you want to ignore your girlfriend instead of talking things out like a decent person, be my guest."
She whirled around and stormed back down the hall, making the trek to her room. She didn't realize how cold it was in the hallway when she was going to Mizore's room, probably because she was anticipating the thought of finally being able to talk to the Snow Woman. But now her mind had nothing to focus on, and the chilly air in the hall finally caught up to her. She shivered and walked faster; the floor was not very welcoming on her slipper-less feet. But it seemed that the farther she went down the hall, the colder it got. Her nice warm bed was just around the corner, and when she reached her room she flung herself under the covers, snuggled up nice and cozy, and forgot about Mizore and the chilly night outside.