Kitamura had finally returned to the resort, having run back from where the paramedics departed. He was out of breath from the cold air that had been rushing into his lungs and sweating a little from running in all his snowboarding gear. He made it to the main hallway, where he stopped at the vending machine near the corridor that split off into the rooms and doubled over, breathing and panting. The relaxation area that opened up beyond him was practically empty. It seemed that virtually everyone had gone back to their own rooms, and the rows of blocky beige couches were vacant.

The only occupants of this wide-open space, other than Kitamura himself, were two girls pacing up and down nervously on opposite ends of the room. One with red hair and one with blue hair. They both had their eyes on their own feet as they paced back and forth, their thoughts a multitude of hopes and prayers, what-ifs and worst-case scenarios, and the background chatter that made up the complicated intersections of their relationships.

"Yusaku!" Ami shouted, having finally noticed him standing off in the distance. She ran over to him as he waved, his arm twitching as he coughed. The commotion pulled Minori out of her trance, and she bolted full-speed towards Kitamura as if she were in the middle of a softball game and he was the home base.

"Kitamura!" She yelled mid-journey. "What's happening?" When she reached him, she was standing right next to Ami, leaning forward with anticipation. They were so desperate to hear something about Taiga that they didn't even realise that there couldn't have been more than a couple of inches between them.

"It's ok!" said Kitamura, holding his arms out as if to calm them. "Taiga's alive."

They both breathed a sigh of relief, starting to calm down and regain control of their senses. As if becoming aware of each other's presence again, they shifted apart and turned their heads slightly away from one another. Noticing this, Kitamura sighed.

"Takasu found her" he continued, causing them to both look back in his direction.

"I knew it!" Minori exclaimed. "I just knew… that he'd reach her." she looked up and into somewhere far away, some version of the world that only she had access to. She saw the two of them there, in that place.

They were together, and they were not going to be separated again.

"Hey…" Ami said, "Speaking of… where is Takasu?"

"He's at he hospital with Aisaka" Kitamura said.

"Eh?!" they both exclaimed.

"Oh—" Kitamura said, realising his error. "No, it's—"

"Minori gasped. "Takasu is…"

Ami grimaced. "Don't tell me… did he get injured trying to save her? that stupid…"

"Don't you call him stupid!" Minori shouted at her, her earlier rage returning to her. "He risked his life to save Taiga. If he hadn't, she'd probably… probably…" tears started to form in her eyes.

"Woah!" Kitamura said, "he's fine. He went with her to the hospital." Minori's tear seemed to cut off mid-stream.

"Oh!"

"God!" Ami shouted at Kitamura. "Don't scare us like that, you moron!"

"My bad…" Kitamura replied, holding a hand up and waving it as an apology. "That was clumsy of me."

"Phew! What a relief" Minori said, making an exaggerated brow-wiping motion. "Yusaku really knows how to drive how the drama, eh? Yay!" she gave him a giant thumbs up. Ami grimaced, watching her. Just how many snap-changes does this girl have in her? At this rate she's going to rip herself in two.

"Actually" Kitamura said, "it was really something."

They both looked at him, as if urging him to continue.

"The paramedics had just arrived, and they were getting ready to start looking, when he just kinda appeared out of nowhere with Aisaka on his back. They put her in her in the ambulance and checked out Takasu and then started getting ready to leave with her. And then, he just… got in the ambulance. Just climbed on in and sat next to Aisaka, watching over her."

He was too absorbed in his storytelling to notice how the expressions of both girls had started to change, in different ways.

"They started yelling at him and everything. but he wouldn't even pay any attention to them, so they just let him come with them. It was crazy."

The two of them stood there, looking at Kitamura, taking in what he said. Something was brewing in their minds, and only pieces of their puzzles were apparent to him. The rest was obscured behind the unreachable walls that existed between them.

"Well, well…" Ami said in a low voice. "Maybe that idiot finally figured it out after all."

"Wow!" Minori said, forcing her energy up to eleven. "That's our Takasu! He's a real go-go-go-getter!" She spun her arm around in a circle as she did this, the sleeve that hung over her hand flapping about as she did so. The cheerful expression she'd tried to force over herself had mingled with the pain on her features, creating some strange, hybrid face that was somewhat terrifying.

"Seriously?" Ami muttered. "You're going keep it up, after all this? Don't you think you'll break out in hemorrhoids at this rate?"

"What was that?!" Minori said, letting go of the facade and turning to Ami with a clenched fist.

"Hey, you two…" Kitamura said, putting his arms out as if to hold them off of each other. "With everything that's happening right now… don't you think we could call a bit of a truce? Like, just a temporary truce? Yeah, wouldn't that be nice?" he chuckled awkwardly, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Ahhhhaaahhhhh" Ami sighed, feeling exasperated. "You just can't help butting in, can you, Yusaku? Always wanting to play the diplomat."

"Ami… come on—"

"All I'm saying is" Ami continued, "it's sooooo exhausting having to listen to the children play grown-ups all the time."

Minori clenched her fists at her sides.

"I mean, look at the two of you. Not only do you let everything slip through your fingers, you act like you were never trying to grasp it in the first place." She clicked her tongue. "And then you have the nerve to act all noble and self-sacrificing about it, on top of that. If you ask me—"

"That's en—"

All three of their phones vibrated simultaneously, cutting off Ami's relentless tirade just as Minori was about to let loose on her. Suddenly, their argument was on pause and they were all united together, as they stared at each other wide-eyed before scrambling to pull their phones of their pockets. They prayed that it wasn't some chain mail they were all subscribed to, spamming them in this time of anxiety and tension. They flipped open their phones in unison the reveal the message that Ryuuji had sent to all of them.

Hey everyone,

I'm at the hospital with Taiga. She's alright! Just a minor concussion and some mild hypothermia.

They're going to keep her overnight for observation.

I'm staying here with her, so I probably won't see you all until we're back at school. I'll keep you posted with any updates.

Thanks for coming with me and helping me find her.

She's safe now.

The three of them sighed a heavy sigh. It was as if they had all been holding their breath this whole time. over and over and over again, they continued to inhale as they waited to hear something, anything, about what had happened out there and what was happening now with their beloved friend. For hours, they had taken in breaths, but nothing had been able to escape. All they could do was hold on. And now, hearing that she was ok and that she was being cared for, it was as if all the air went out of them at once. Finally, standing in the hallway, they seemed to become aware of how spent they were. Without all that air holding them up, they struggled to keep themselves upright.

"She's… she's really ok?" Minori whispered to herself, tears pouring out of her eyes. She doubled over and dug the palms of her hands into her knees to prop herself up as the tears fell from her eyes, darkening spots of the grey, thin carpet.

"She's ok… she's ok!" Kitamura exclaimed, sighing a breath of relief. He stretched his arm out to the vending machine on his left and leaned against it for support, practically falling into it. He put his other hand on his face. "You did it, Takasu…"

"She really is alright" Ami said, her hand over her mouth as if trying to keep something from escaping. She slid down the wall she was leaning on until she was sitting on the floor. "She's going to be… fine." She pulled her knees up to her chest and stared off into space, letting everything wash over her.

"I guess you were more worried than you let on, huh?" Kitamura said, looking down at her with a smile.

"Shut up…" she replied, unable to summon any venom to put into her words. "Of course… of course I was worried about her" she muttered, her eyes showing the faintest signs of tearing up. She held onto those tears, forcing them to stay put. I won't cry for you, tiger, she thought. Especially not here.

Kitamura had started chuckling to himself, his hand still obscuring his face. "God… what a day…"

"Ryuuji…" the word came from Minori, but it sounded like it came from a ghost. Haunted and fragile, her voice trailed through the air, while her tears fell like a slowly dripping tap.

"Ryuuji… went into the ambulance with Taiga?" She was still doubled over. "He's… there with her now. He saved her and… he's there with her… now."

Ami looked over at her, watching the formerly energetic girl unravel.

"I guess that's the end of it, then" she said. A wistful smile came over her face. "In the end, everything worked out for you, didn't it?" She had said it in a matter-of-fact way, the way you might say 'oh, I guess it's over now, huh?' When you heard the crack of a bat and saw the game-winning ball go flying into the crowd.

Perhaps it wouldn't have done so much damage to Minori, who was starting to twist and writhe where she stood, if she had said it with her usual malice. But it was exactly because she said it like there was nothing to it, like it was just the way things were, like Minori and her were friends and she knew what she wanted, that it finally flipped the switch on the girl who would go to any lengths to put on a happy face.

"What, exactly" Minori said, as she craned her head up to Ami and showed her a face full of pain and rage, "in the HELL do you think 'worked out' for me, exactly?!" The thoughts swirled around in Ami's head as she thought about her response. If she was being honest with herself she really didn't care anymore. All the energy had gone out of her, and there was no anger left to thrust onto Minori. But, she thought, what the hell. I'm already this far in. Might as well keep playing the role I cast myself into, huh?

"Ryuuji has made his choice" she said. "So you can stop hanging on to all of this guilt." She kept going, despite their being no energy in her voice. She was like a bad actor phoning it in for a paycheck. She didn't even know what propelled her words forward anymore, but they continued coming out, regardless. "You don't even have to pretend that you're going to confront them about it anymore, or take any action for yourself. you can just pack up all your feelings and bury them in the back of your closet."

She went wide-eyed for a moment as the sole of a shoe came towards her face, filling up her vision. Minori's foot crashed into the wall with all her might, landing an inch to the right of Ami's face.

"YOU DON'T HAVE A GODDAMN CLUE WHAT MY FEELINGS ARE!" her screams echoed through the hallway, causing Kitamura to spring into action.

"Kushieda! Relax! We're going to get in trouble here."

"Shut the hell up!" she screamed at him, staring down at Ami. Kitamura moved a step forward, reaching his arm out to Kushieda. He was too afraid to make contact with her. He wondered if she might punch him in the face, at this rate.

"Look, I know things are complicated" he said, "but Taiga's safe, right? That's the important thing now, right?" He looked at Ami for support, but she was locked in Kushieda's gaze, too stunned to take in anything else. "Everything's going to be fine. It's alright now, so—"

"Kitamura" Minori said, turning her gaze on him. The rage was gone, but something emptier and far more terrifying had replaced it.

"Don't get involved in things you don't understand." She walked away without another word and went to the far corner of the main room, sitting on a couch and staring out of the window into the endless blizzard.

Kitamura was suddenly aware of how cold he had felt. The sweat inside his clothes had been slowly starting to chill him, but he hadn't realised it until now. He felt as if Kushieda's eyes had dropped the temperature in the room. When Ami let out a gentle sigh, he could have sworn he'd seen her breath in the air.

"Ami…" he mumbled, looking down at her with his mouth hanging open slightly.

"Well, that was bound to happen, wasn't it?" she said, inspecting her nails.

Kitamura sighed back at her. "I suppose so."

"You really are clueless, you know that? God, just how oblivious can a person be, anyway?"

"Well" Kitamura said, "maybe I'm not as out-of-the-loop as you think."

"Oh?"

"I ran into Aisaka on New Year's, at the shrines."

"And?" she said. The edge of a nail had split in the corner, and she was picking at it so she could get enough to come up and be peeled away.

"She prayed to me."

"Huh?"

"The patron saint of broken hearts."

"Oh." Ami stopped chipping away at her nail and looked up at him.

"So let me guess. You saw all of that, and you started to think 'ohhhh… I wonder if maybe my dear friend Takasu is in loooove with her too, after all? And then you saw him swoop into that ambulance and watch over her like a knight in shining armour. Which means you've come to the conclusion that he's figured out how he feels about her, too."

"I can't say for sure" Kitamura answered. "But there was a look in his eyes I've never seen before. I don't know what happened out there between the two of them, but he was a different person when he came back." A sad, distant smile came over Ami's face, and she turned her head away from him, looking back down at her nails again.

"So, look…" Kitamura said, causing her to bristle and tense up at the shoulders. "Given that things have turned out this way… is there really any point in hassling Kushieda? Do you really want to do this anymore?

"Oh my God!" she said, looking up at the ceiling with exasperation. "What is with you?! Will you let it go already? What the hell is it to you if me and Kushieda hate each other!?"

"Look, Ami" he said. "I… I may not know all the details, but… I know you." He looked down at her with a sad expression. "At least, I know you well enough to know that you don't really want everyone to hate you."

"You're right, Yusaku" she said, standing up abruptly and dusting herself off. "You don't know all the details."

She turned on her heel and walked off, leaving him to call out to her with an outstretched hand. She turned the corner and went to the direction of the girl's rooms. Kitamura stood there, looking at the empty space where she had been a moment ago. He turned his head to where Minori sat, staring out the window. He sighed. I guess I couldn't do anything in the end, either.

He stood in place, wishing he could do more. Wishing that it didn't have to be like this. But he was cold and tired, and the day had left him with nothing left to draw from. So he, too, walked away, leaving Minori alone, and went back to his room, laid down in his bed and let his thoughts wonder. They ran around his mind in circles, swirling and spiralling, until even that wasn't enough to keep his exhausted system awake, and he feel into a heavy sleep.

The same couldn't be said for Ami.

She had gone around the corner and stood there, waiting for Kitamura to leave. Once he had, she'd spent a good ten minutes just standing in place, staring at the wall, the floor and the ceiling, making sure to divide her attention evenly amongst them.

And then she'd turned back around and walked back into the hallway, heading over to the window.

To where a certain red-haired girl was sitting with her chin on her knees, watching one blizzard outside the building while another raged on inside her heart.