Please, snow prince, let me be your knight!

CHAPTER II

Hokkaido was cold, but yet this lovely town still managed to make every child's heart warm, and Heruse wasn't an exception; it looked like something that came straight out from a fairytale, apparently the town was heavily influenced by Ghibli Studios, in fact, the only bakery they had there, was a perfect copy of Gütiokipänjä (except for a few details, as it was a place where delicacies of all kinds were sold and eaten, and obviously they had to make room for tables and toilets), the bakery shown in Kiki's Delivery Service: he saw the movie when he was still an infant with his big brother, so he forgot all the most important details, but not that place. Heruse looked around as he hummed a tune, kicking a few pebbles on the ground and watching as small snowflakes fell from the cloudy sky, ending up on the already snowy streets, the snowplows would've certainly been busy tonight. He wasn't dressed elegantly, the boy didn't bring many clothes with him, who could've ever told that this 'mission' was also going to have a (very) positive outcome? He had gotten a little worried, however, because Fubuki was late, but he guessed that he was just bad with timetables. When he heard his voice five minutes later that fleeting thought (what a coincidence!) he smiled, and looked towards his direction.

"Hello, Perseus. Sorry for being late, I had trouble at home." Fubuki said with his lips curved in that small and sweet smile of his, and Heruse couldn't help but smile too. He felt way calmer compared to hours ago, the embarassment he felt was finally under control, or so it seemed. "Ah, don't worry! I hope it's nothing serious, then." Of course he believed that, the poor kid had no idea about what he went through daily, Fubuki thought, but he quickly chased that trouble away, focusing on the pastry shop window: he walked over to it and placed his hands on it, looking intently at the arrangement of sweets. Feeling a little out of place because of the defender's sudden silence, Heruse did the same. A lady, wearing the bakery's uniform, smiled through the window and waved at Fubuki, who did the same in return; she seemed to know him. The waitress positioned a japanese fluffy cake on one of the wall shelves, and then left, back to her busy evening. "Mh...I think I'll take a piece of that japanese fluffy cake..." Heruse blinked at his date's affirmation. "How did you—" Fubuki interrupted his sentence, looking at him. "If you wait me in front of a bakery, I'd expect to be brought something sweet. Wouldn't you do the same?" He chuckled, and Heruse did the same, albeit nervously, and replied with an 'of course...!', perhaps he was way too predictable? But according to his description (and well, Haruna), this was one of Fubuki's favorite places, so perhaps he wouldn't have minded.

"Alright then, I'll get you a piece of that cake. Do you...Want to split it?" He read the pricetag next to that freshly baked cake, it was a bit pricy honestly, 715,39 Yen, but Heruse guessed that you also paid for the location where you were probably staying at. "That'd be nice. But I'll help you pay." Fubuki said, taking his own wallet and then, Heruse's hand, entering the bakery.

Their order arrived almost immediately, today the place wasn't too much crowded, so they didn't even have any problems finding a free table where they could stay. "This is my favorite shop, it's very cozy." Fubuki said, taking his fork, effortlessly cutting a small piece from that soft cake, and then brought it to his mouth.

"I agree! I read about it on a tourist newspaper. It's based off that one bakery in Kiki's Delivery Service, isn't it?" Heruse asked, taking a piece from the cake too, a bit bigger than Fubuki's, let's hope he didn't pass for greedy. His date replied with a 'mhm', before keeping that conversation going.

"I didn't have the time to tell you, but your plays are pretty good, Perseus. It's almost as if you had wings." His eyes widened as he made that statement, it was something that he hadn't heard ever since the incident, that he 'had wings'; his brother had taught him to play soccer up in the air, to highlight their divine personas, but due to rehabilitation and with the permanent scar that technique had left him, he hadn't been able to do that properly anymore. Fubuki was a trusted defender in Alphine, but he was also an extremely good forward, so against him, Heruse had to bring it on and do his best! He wanted to impress him, after all, and it seemed like he managed to do so. His silence, however, worried Fubuki that he had accidentally said something upsetting to him. "Sorry, did I upset you?" Perhaps his tone was way too calm, he wondered, but the kid soon reassured him with a nostalgic smile.