A/N: "I'm in AL right now for an international camp and I can't sleep because the doors have to stay open and I hate light when I sleep. Augh. So. Hungry."- I wrote that as an A/N for this a bit ago. But I'm back home now to my fluffy bed and no lights while I sleep and warm, delicious food! Also the Pokemon obsession has died down (in case you were wondering).

Chapter 16

"Look, Sensei!" Rei's cheerfulness rang through the field. She beamed, putting a gloved hand on what appeared to be a giant chunk of snow. Her hair blew in the wind as she waited for Accelerator to turn around, but she didn't flinch. When Accelerator turned around, he showed no surprise.

That block of snow was a magnificent, larger-than-life castle of ice and snow stood in front of him. It was a simple design, one that people would see often in sandcastles in books and magazines. It had four simple and smooth columns and walls. There were no brick-and-cement lines. The tops of the walls had the typical rectangular-ridge style, and the tops of the columns had pointed stones. There was even a carving for the draw bridge.

Rei's hand patted the column to his right. "So, waddya think? Did I improve?" She had been out there for a total of 4 days: Saturday and Sunday of last week, and Saturday and Sunday of the current week. It was already past noon on that Sunday- 4 o'clock- but Rei was more energetic than she'd ever been. While Accelerator had been spacing out in other directions, Rei had poses a challenge upon herself: build a grand castle, built it quickly, and build it quietly. Finally, after so much error, she had completed her task for the most part- she had no time to include flags at the top.

"Was this so I'd teach you efficient thermal control?" Accelerator scanned the tops of the castle. He seemed neither impressed nor annoyed, his usual poker face admitting nothing.

"No..." Rei's smile fell a little. "I just wanted some praise. Can I get some? Pleaseeee sensei? You never say anything nice! And look!" She widens her arms in front of the castle. "It's huge! How many giant snow and ice castles have you seen in your life, much less built this fast and quiet?" Her eyes pleaded with him, but her smile was still as comical as ever.

"Look over there. In the distance." Accelerator pointed to her right.

Rei obeyed. All she saw was trees in the far off and bright light reflected from the vast expanse of snow. She squinted. "What am I supposed to be looking for-"

POFF!

The moment Rei turned back to Accelerator, a snowball hit her square in the face.

"You have the slightest possibility of receiving praise...if you can deflect all my snow attacks!" A smile grew on his face, and snow was lifted off the ground and formed into balls around him.

Rei's eyes grew wide in surprise, but she quickly regained composure. She put her arms in front of her, on guard to lift snow off the ground as a shield. "Bring it! I'm ready!...That one doesn't count, though, right?"

-
"It's times like these where I wish I had Accelerator's ability or-at the very least- some way of keeping warm! Brrr!" Yomi shivered as she walked on the pathway with Yoshi and Last Order trailing behind.

"You do, in fact. You have the power of your paycheck. Your money. You know, to pay for a thicker coat." Yoshi said matter-of-factly as she pinched Yomi's thin, airy green jogging parka. The two were walking on the bikers and joggers path through a park.

"Misaka Misaka is beginning to think that Yomikawa doesn't like spending money...Misaka Misaka mutters." Last Order was trying to not slip on the icy path. "Ahhh!" She tried to cover her vulnerable face with her gloved hands as wind blew into her face. She was so light that the wind pushed her back half a meter. As if on cue, Yomi scooped her into her arms and continued walking.

"We should be getting close to the spot, right?" Yomi asked, squinting around. "The snow's so bright."

"They didn't specify where, only that they would be somewhere in the vicinity. It probably shouldn't matter, because no one with a straight mind would be out here in this weather, and they're probably tossing snowballs around." Yoshi scanned the area.

"There they are." She spoke, pointing in a direction. Yomi turned to see what Yoshi was staring at.

What they saw was more than snowballs being tossed.

There was so much to take in at the same time: Rei, her hair billowing in the breeze majestically as she and Accelerator exchanged volleys of what appeared to be ice spears, daggers, and snowballs at high speed while creating barriers that were fast enough to block an attack and hard enough to break it. Rei definitely seemed to be having a good time, zigzagging through the snow and occasionally using the wind to launch herself off the ground to get a more vulnerable angle of Accelerator, which never seemed to work. Accelerator rarely had to move, a reason that Yomi and Yoshi noted to themselves with respect. Neither of them seem to have gotten hit once-although Rei's face looked awfully wet- and Rei was smiling grandly. Even the tip of Acclerator's mouth was raised, but Yoshi and Yomi could only see that as they got closer unnoticed by the two.

"They're REALLY going at it." Yomi commented, lowering her skiglasses to get a better look.

"I doubt Accelerator's going all out, though…Wait, is that a giant ice castle?" Yoshi nodded and squinted.

"..I think so? Wow, Rei's been practicing! I'm impressed, jan! But…do you honestly think he ever would go all out?" Yomi turned to Yoshi.

"Probably not." She answered back succinctly.

"Would Rei-chan ever want that, Misaka Misaka is now wondering as she trails off in thought…"

"Come on, sensei!" Rei shouted as she catapulted into the air. She landed several meters behind Accelerator. Rei manipulated the snow dislodged from her impact with the ground and hurled the balls toward his back. Before Accelerator could even turn his head the slightest degree, the snowballs changed direction and whisked toward her.

Still running toward him, Rei swiftly moved her arms from her right side to the center, creating a side ramp of the snowballs. She slid on it, dauntlessly heading closer and closer toward Accelerator.

The ramp turned into a giant snowball, almost encapsulating Rei who jumped out just in time. She was a projectile in the air; this had to be the highest she had ever been in the air.

"Oh my, that would be an impressive jump to stick a landing to." Yoshi commented. Yomi just looked stunned.

Rei landed on her legs without flailing her arms and legs. She, however, skidded on the ice. She spun a few times. "Whoa!" Rei exclaimed, clearly having undercorrected how much she had to vector control. She fell backwards onto a puffy bank of snow. At first Rei appeared shocked. Accelerator calmly looked at her, although it seemed as if, any minute, he would tease, "There goes your chances at learning thermal control."

Rei burst out laughing, brushing snow off as she stood up. She swung her arms around, twirling in the majestic winterland. She even bent down to form a snowball by herself. She was beaming all the while, even when she threw the snowball at Accelerator with little power of ever possibly reaching him. Oblivious to Yomi, Yoshi, and Last Order, she was having fun. This complicated girl was having fun amidst school, introversion, and perfecting her ability.

As Rei was laughing, Accelerator looked away. It was almost as if it was too much, or as if he was already bored of seeing one person laugh, even though living with Last Order helped his tolerance. He saw Yomi, Yoshi, and Last Order in the nearby distance- close enough to see all the action but far enough that there was no possibility of being pelted with snow.

Last Order waved at him. "REI-CHAN, ACCELERATOR, MISAKA MISAKA CALLS OUT!" Rei stopped twirling to look at her. She waved back, still smiling.

"Mi-chan!" Rei called out and ran to her.

Accelerator watched her become smaller and smaller. He wasn't frowning, he wasn't smiling, but he followed her to Last Order nonetheless.