VIOLET [ k. ayato ]

11. winter

1 month later

A blanket of snow descends from the heavens onto the rooftop of the school.

Adette was buried nose deep in her exam and did not manage to notice this, writing so furiously that her pen made scratchy noises against her paper.

It was truly a race against time: she was halfway through answering the question when the teacher yelled, "One minute left!"

She swallowed and although her hand started to ache, she continued to write as fast as she could. However, everyone else seemed to be done with their papers.

"30 seconds left!"

20 more words. You got this, Adette.

"20 seconds!"

11 more words.

"5 seconds!"

She finished off with a full stop just as the teacher yelled that it was time's up.

A sigh of relief came from the class and Adette found herself shutting her eyes.

Their exams were finally over, two weeks of intensive studying with four hours of sleep everyday was going to pay off.

After the invigilator came around and collected their scripts, everyone burst into chatter.

Yoimiya came over to Adette's desk. "How was it?"

"Great, I finished it just in time. I'm not so sure about question fifteen-"

"Violet! Enough of exams, you've been working your butt off. You deserve to catch a break!" Yoimiya cut her off.

The two had gotten a lot closer and Yoimiya had eventually decided that she liked Adette's middle name a lot more than her first. Ajax had also started addressing her as 'Violet', he must've thought it was her nickname of sorts after hearing Yoimiya call her that.

"Look outside!" someone in their class had shouted.

Facing the window, she saw thick white snow falling. She could no longer see the green of the plants outside, it was all covered in a layer of snow. Winter was a majestic season.

The temperature had made an obvious and significant drop, causing Adette to shiver and wrap her arms around herself.

She felt a jacket being tossed over her shoulders and turned around, meeting Ayato's gaze. Her cheeks warmed at the gesture.

"You two are adorable," Yoimiya said, noticing what was going on. The blonde was already wearing her own dark red sweater.

"Violet, I have to take you to shop for some winter wear. "You've been so busy that you're forgetting to take care of yourself!"

"Alright, let's head to the mall after dinner," she replied, excitement growing. Adette had not gone shopping ever since she left Mondstadt.

"I have a wide variety of hoodies, jackets and sweaters in my dorm. You could borrow some if you like," Ayato mentioned and she gave him a smile.

"I'd love to. When can I come over?"

"Now, if you'd like," he smirked. "Sorry, Yoimiya."

"It's fine, I have to go help Itto with something anyway," Yoimiya gave them a wave. "Have fun!"

She had gotten a lot closer to him, he had helped her a lot in her revision and Adette had realised how he never failed to make her laugh. Maybe this would work out for the both of them.