How We Met Again

Chapter 27: Very Suspicious

The sun was beginning to get low over the mountains as the bus navigated its way along the winding road, leaving the ski resort far behind. As we made our descent, the snow reflected the fiery red of the sky, bringing colour to a once colourless world. Eventually, the snow gave way once more to the oranges, yellows, and greens of autumn, and the last remnants of the snow were relegated to the shadowy places where it desperately clung to existence.

In the bus itself, we had mostly returned to our previous seating arrangements -- but Miku had elected to sit on another bus, possibly to avoid a grilling from Yotsuba and me. As we rounded yet another bend in the road, I was recounting the day's adventures to Ichika, who was nodding along with a half-smile on her face.

"...and then, we fled Second Place-san, and spent the rest of the afternoon on the slopes. I only fell a couple more times, but Itsuki had a magnificent wipeout -- frankly, I was impressed."

"Hey," Itsuki growled, turning to look back at me through the headrests. "I was trying to avoid that kid who cut across the slope!"

"You and the kid were both fine, though, and so it's hilarious," I shrugged. "I'm fairly certain you slid at least fifty metres."

"Actually," Itsuki said, suddenly laughing in a self-conscious way, "it was kind of funny, wasn't it?"

"I wish I could have joined you guys," Ichika sighed. "I just never ran into you! I was with Hayasaka-chan for the entire time."

"Who?" I frowned.

"Our roommate," Yotsuba said from beside me, stifling a yawn. "You know, the girl Ichika and Miku did the orienteering with."

"Oh!" I said, frowning. "Right, I remember now. She was with you at the Ryokan as well, right?"

"Yep," Yotsuba said sleepily. Then, with another yawn, she closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair.

"It was nice, and she's a lovely girl, but it would have been more fun with everyone there," Ichika sighed. "Oh well, it is what it is."

"Well, the trip isn't done yet," I said, shrugging. "We can still do stuff after we get back to the lodge -- and there's the bonfire tonight as well."

"That's true," Ichika said, smiling back at me through the gap in the chairs. "Thanks, Fuutarou-kun."

I blinked. I wasn't quite sure what she was thanking me for, but I would nevertheless accept the praise.

Ichika turned back around to face forward, and I turned my head to look out the window. Suddenly, I felt a weight fall on my right shoulder. Glancing over, I saw that Yotsuba had slid over from her sitting position, and her head had fallen onto my shoulder.

Her red hair fell in small spools across my jacket, their swirls and eddies flowing across its surface. From this close, I could make out the individual hairs, each so thin and winding. While I couldn't feel her skin due to the polyester separating us, the pressure was enough to give me goosebumps -- literally and figuratively. Her bow was gently swaying as she breathed, the ends tracing a path through the air in front of my face that was near-mesmerizing.

I felt like my eyes had been captured, with no hope of escape.

While, to the best of my abilities, I outwardly managed to avoid changing expressions, on the inside alarm bells were ringing, the clang-clang-clang of an emergency rearing its head on the horizon. All soldiers were at their posts, anticipating their looming duty -- prepared to engage in combat to protect the fort: both from the dangers without, and the dangers within.

Deep in my chest, in the padlocked cage of many things, a dark purr rumbled. Yellow eyes and dark black fur, a heavy paw, thick and deadly. The bars rattled; not by padlocks and keys, but by staves and polearms were the beasts inside eventually quelled. My iron will, so carefully honed over many years, was shaking -- but it was not yet broken. Wrenching my eyes away from the sleeping girl on my shoulder, I glanced out the window, and tried to occupy my mind with something -- anything -- else.