It was a cold winter day, and Makoto Naegi was traveling between buildings during his lunch hour at the new Hope's Peak Academy. Most of the student body and staff seemed to be indoors — either because they had classes or just so as to avoid the cold temperatures and snow-covered pathways. The actual snowfall had stopped, but they didn't exactly employ a huge grounds crew, so With the walking paths unusually empty, the sight of someone seated on one of the benches near the central plaza caught his eye. As he approached, he wondered if the pale shade of the hair was because they had rubbed their head with snow or it was the bearer's natural hair color. When he was about 10 meters away, he recognized the single braid hanging down one side of the individual's head. It was clearly Kyoko Kirigiri.

Upon that realization, he froze in place. Why would she be sitting out here in the cold by herself? he wondered. Maybe she's just admiring the snow.

Doesn't matter why, Makoto decided. Remembering his moment of confusion when he imagined that the person on the bench just had snow on their head, he realized, This is perfect. He turned and jumped off of the sidewalk, diving behind the green lustre holly bush to his left. After the initially awkward crunch of his drop into the snow, he quickly began to ball some of the snow up with his mitten-covered hands. Once he had firmed the snow up, he stepped out from the bush and identified the ideal path through which to sneak up on her.

If I cut diagonally through the grass, I can get directly behind her, he determined. He stepped off the path and began maneuvering across the yard, but each step was sinking into 11 centimeters of snow. As a result, every footfall came accompanied with an audible krensh. Makoto tried to walk more slowly, but that just made the crunches in the snow seem more drawn-out. After five steps, he was finally lined up direclty behind her but still a solid five meters away. As he pivoted to face the back of her head, one of his shoes made a strange squeak that sounded like skweersk. Makoto audibly grunted "Erk!" in surprise.

"I can hear you, you know," Kyoko called out. Even so, she didn't turn around. "If you were hoping to sneak up on me," she added, "You're failing spectacularly."

Makoto held his breath. For a second, he considered giving up. She may know I'm here, he decided, but she doesn't know what's coming. So at that moment, he decided to stop his advance and just go for it. Leaning back, he wound up the snowball in his right hand and threw it forward.

Even he was astonished when he hit his mark exactly, the ball landing on top of her head and exploding into powder. Her shoulders scrunched up in surprise. Makoto was so stunned at first that he didn't even know to react for a couple of seconds. Ultimately, however, he silently thrust two hands into the air in triumph.

Unfortunately, that triumph was short-lived. When he saw Kyoko stand up and turn around to look at him, the fury in her eyes immediately told him that fun time was over. "Makoto Naegi," she announced. She was speaking in such an unusual volume that he almost thought they had an audience gathering. "What on Earth possessed you to do this to me?" she demanded.

Oh no oh god I pissed her off, he thought. Verbally, however, he responded with "I was — it — aaahhhh... fun?" His eyes darted around nervously, as if he was seeking some kind of rescue. "Wh-what are you out here for, anyway?" he asked, attempting to change the subject.

"I was enjoying the scenery and reading," Kyoko told him. She then helped up a book, letting it hang open, which looked darkened on the inside. "Emphasis on was. Thanks for soaking it."

Makoto's face went ashen. "Oh my god I am so sorry, Kyoko!" he said earnestly. He jogged towards her through the snow, awkwardly lumbering and nearly tripping more than once. As he did so, Kyoko dropped her book atop the seat of the bench and stepped around it, moving off of the concrete paths covered with snow and into the ankle-deep snow of the grassy area behind it.

Makoto ran right up to her, looking red in the face. She stood still with her hands on her hips and a disapproving scowl on her face as he continued, "Seriously, I was just trying to play around! I didn't know it'd upset you or that you were reading a book and none of that actually matters anyway because it was a dick move regardless-" Kyoko reached out put both her hands on his shoulders, which seemed to cut off the verbal stream he was outputting.

"Makoto," she said flatly, her face still grim.

"Yeah?" he asked nervously.

She smirked.

And then she stepped forward and to the right, kicking out with her left leg and pulling him towards her and down. Sweeping his legs out from under him, she shoved him face-first into the snow. The combination of his shoes sliding out from under him and the impact of his torso followed by his leg and legs resulted in a swee-umf-plek noise.

"Mmf!" Makoto mumbled. He pushed himself out of the snow and onto all fours, where he coughed and spat snow out of his mouth, then shook his head like a dog to get as much of the moisture off as he could. "What-" he started. He paused and inhaled against before another attempting: "What was tha-"

This time he was cut off by being flipped onto his back. Kyoko sat down across his midsection, straddling him while simultaneously using her gloved hands to pin his arms on either side of his head. With a tight smile, Kyoko advised him, "You fell for my trick." She then glanced sideways and added, "That... wasn't supposed to be a pun."

Makoto was still panting from the shock and adrenaline. "You... you weren't really... "

"Mad?" Kyoko finished for him? "Not so much, no. I pretty much knew what you were doing as soon as I heard you coming up from behind. The book will be fine, by the way. I can just air it out under the kotatsu."

At last, Makoto laughed and shook his head. "I should've known!" he yelped between laughs. "Never trust the girl with the ultimate poker face," he said, grinning.

"I believe what you meant to say was, 'I concede that Kyoko Kirigiri is the superior combatant,'" Kyoko told him with a smile on her face.

"I mean, I could say that," Makoto accepted, looking away from her face. "But I'm a little bit embarrassed to do it so publicly. Can't you lean closer to my face, so I don't have to shout?"

Kyoko giggled. "This ploy is even more obvious than your sneak attack," she told him with a delighted glint in her eyes. "No one is even around to begin with. But you know what? I'm feeling charitable, so I'll agree to your demands." Kyoko leaned over on top of him and kissed him gently on the lips. Her face felt pleasantly warm against the wet snow that was still dripping off of his own.

As she pulled away from him, he opened his eyes and looked into the light purple shade of her own. With a smile, he robotically stated, "I concede that Kyoko Kirigiri is the superior kisser."

"That wasn't the deal," Kyoko warned him with a smile.

Makoto's brow furrowed. "It wasn't?" he asked, pretending to be confused. "I could've sworn you told me to-"

"It's the wrong concession!" she said adamantly, albeit in a quiet tone. After all, their faces were still only inches apart.

"It's accurate," he pointed out.

"It's not even," she disagreed. "My requested concession was accurate."

"But maybe they both are?"

"Pfft. Stop it."