A comfortable, easy life had Shichen completely addicted—he couldn't pull himself out.
Surprisingly, "she" didn't urge him on. In fact, she never showed up again.
He was only a few god-fragment shards away from fifty now. Shichen wasn't sure whether that would finally force "her" to reveal herself.
If she still refused to appear, then fine—he'd lay it all out.
By now, "she" was nothing like that cold, robotic AI voice from the beginning. Her tone had life, her words had emotion. There was no way Shichen wouldn't recognize a voice like that.
He'd once liked her more than he could even put into words.
So if she still wouldn't show her face, he'd confront her directly—call her out and expose who she was. Hiding it would be pointless.
And once she did appear, a lot of things would have to be said out loud: his situation, her situation, their situation, what the shards really meant.
Everything would come into the open.
Maybe that was exactly why she'd gone silent—because the moment for honesty was close.
She knew everything about him. So of course she also knew he could guess her identity.
And if she was acting like this, it meant nothing truly catastrophic was about to happen. Shichen could finally let himself breathe a little—and give her time to prepare, too.
And he could spend more time with the people he cared about.
More than anything, what Shichen wanted was simply to be with them, always. Coming to this world—this wish was the whole reason.
Everything else was just so he could have a quiet life with them.
That morning, Shichen woke up and glanced out the window. Fine, pale flakes drifted down from the sky in a steady swirl.
Winter had arrived.
"Yukina, look—snow. Haven't you seen it before?" Shichen sat up and nudged the still-sleeping Yukina Himeragi.
"Mmm…" Yukina's brows tightened, but she didn't wake.
So Shichen nudged her again—his hand brushing her smooth, pale shoulder, and he couldn't help lingering.
"Sensei…" Yukina finally woke, blinking sleepily.
She tried to move—then immediately winced, her face twisting.
"Hiss—ow… that hurts…"
"I'll heal you," Shichen said with a smile, reaching out.
Last night, Yukina had finally let herself be coaxed into his room—helped along by Sayaka Kirasaka's not-so-subtle pushing.
Sayaka couldn't stand watching her best friend hesitate forever, and she also felt a little guilty.
After all, she'd joined later—and yet she'd gotten ahead by far too much.
"Th-thank you, Sen— …huh?" Yukina froze.
"Healing an injury requires contact with it, so don't move… heal," Shichen said, treating her while his hand still rested there.
"Mmm… Sensei, stop lying to me. I know you don't need to touch it!" Yukina glared at him, cheeks flushing.
"…How do you even know that? No—seriously, it does need contact."
"Sensei always treats me like a kid, even though last night we already…" Yukina trailed off.
Scenes from last night kept replaying in her head—so embarrassing she could barely breathe.
Sensei was way too bad. And somehow he knew way too much, too!
"Fair point. You're not a kid anymore, Yukina—you're a grown woman," Shichen said, almost to himself.
Last night, Yukina had been unbelievably captivating—small and delicate like a snow spirit, dreamy and half-ethereal. He couldn't stop thinking about her.
"Sensei…" Yukina lowered her voice.
"Hm?"
"Your hand… stop. It's already healed."
"Oh—yeah?" Shichen blinked, realizing belatedly that the healing was done. He pulled his hand back and glanced down.
"Sensei, stop talking!" Yukina's small face was blazing red.
What he'd been saying was mortifying.
Even if it was true.
At first she hadn't even understood what was happening—she'd covered her eyes and tried to hide like an ostrich… until curiosity got the better of her and she peeked.
She'd never even heard of anything like that.
And yet… it had felt so good.
"Hah. Guess you're not that 'mature' after all," Shichen teased.
"You're the one who's a total pervert!" Yukina shot back.
"That's normal, okay? You were happy too—"
"Sensei, not again!"
"Okay, okay, I'll stop. Yukina really is still too young."
"Hmph. So you're saying you're experienced, then?" Yukina suddenly looked annoyed.
"Uh… I'm not that experienced. I just couldn't help myself because you're so beautiful," Shichen said quickly.
"B-beautiful?! What's so beautiful about that?!" Yukina stared, stunned.
Aren't we all basically the same…?
"Either way—I like it," Shichen said simply.
"Sensei, stop…" Yukina was overwhelmed. She couldn't even look at him anymore.
Those shameless lines—she couldn't handle them.
"Alright, alright. Let's just look at the snow outside. It's pretty—kind of like you," Shichen said, changing the subject.
"Why is the snow 'like me'?"
"Don't worry about it. You said you'd never seen snow—look."
"I did see it when I was little," Yukina corrected, turning toward the window.
Snow drifted down in a cold hush, but she felt warm all over—her heart still burning from what he'd said.
"Then look again—with me," Shichen said, wrapping an arm around her.
"Mmm…" Yukina's chest softened. She leaned back, tucking herself into his embrace.
The snow she'd seen before and the snow she was seeing now weren't the same at all.
Back then, it was only training and hardship—cold, hunger, and no one close to her.
Now she was safe. She lived an ordinary student life. She was surrounded by family—people who were kind to her.
Most importantly, the person she loved was right here, holding her.
That warmth and happiness let her truly enjoy the view.
This—this was what snow was supposed to feel like.
They stayed in bed like that for a long time, until the house finally stirred—lively footsteps and bright voices outside—before they got up.
"Sensei… I'll wash your sheets for you," Yukina said after getting up. She spotted the small stain on the bedding and felt her face heat up again.
"No need to make a fuss—"
"No. I'm doing it." Yukina gathered the sheets with an unshakable tone.
"…Alright. Whatever you say."
"I'll go now…" Yukina left in a hurry, clutching the sheets.
But no matter how bold she tried to be, she still ran straight into Sayaka, who'd clearly been waiting outside the door.
"S-Sayaka?!" Yukina jolted, then reflexively hid the sheets behind her back.
"Yukina…" Sayaka's expression was… complicated as she looked her best friend up and down.
Flushed cheeks, a bright shine in her eyes, and that familiar lingering scent on her… yeah. It definitely happened last night.
But why was she walking just fine?
Oh right—he can heal.
"S-Sayaka… why are you here?" Yukina asked awkwardly.
"Obviously I had to check if you were okay. You're so cute—what if that guy didn't know how to be gentle?"
"Mmm… Sensei was really gentle," Yukina couldn't help defending him.
"…Welp. My Yukina's officially become 'his type' now."
"What are you even saying?!"
"Um… can you tell me the details?" Sayaka asked, unable to resist.
"Like hell!"
"Aw, come on—"
"You're a pervert too! You're just like Sensei!"
"What? No I'm not!"
"Whatever—same difference. I'm busy. Don't follow me."
"Why?!" Sayaka stared, wounded.
Her best friend had really stopped being close with her this fast?
That was way too quick!
"It's just not something you should watch," Yukina said, refusing to explain. She went into her room, shut the door, and locked it.
Sayaka stood there with her mouth open, looking utterly defeated.
Morning moved on: students went to school, staff went to work, the idle stayed idle.
Shichen went back to being the "mascot" again.
On a snowy day, more customers came in for coffee and hot food.
"Shichen-sama, would you like some warm milk?" Rem asked, carrying over a glass.
"I do… Rem, feed it to me," Shichen said, opening his mouth.
"Leave it to me!" Rem lit up, carefully feeding him sip by sip.
The milk was the perfect temperature—so good Shichen finished it in one go.
"As expected of Shichen-sama!" Rem praised.
"Heh-heh." Shichen licked the milk from his lips, pleased.
Rem blinked, watching the motion, lips parting slightly as if she wanted to imitate it.
"Rem, you're spoiling Shichen again?" Ai Hoshino walked in bundled up and stopped at the counter.
"Yes! Spoiling Shichen-sama makes me happy," Rem said with a radiant smile.
"Sigh. You're going to spoil him rotten."
"It's fine! I can take care of Shichen-sama forever!"
"…That's so you," Ai said, used to her by now.
"Practice finished?" Shichen finally asked Ai.
"Yeah. It went really smoothly," Ai nodded, satisfied.
"Perfect. I'm taking you somewhere. You can skip school this afternoon."
"Where?"
~~~
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