Blue Spring Tragedy | Kou Mabuchi x Reader

22: Starlight

Silent, they walked under a sky of cotton clouds littered with specks of white. Just like the walk they had the evening after the bullying incident, they strolled home side by side.

Peaceful, Kou thought, though he didn't know whether it was because of the weather, the silence or the person beside him. Either way, he had to admit that the sky was rather pleasant.

He admired the night sky for a while, then—

"Achoo!" A high-pitched noise snapped Kou back to reality.

"Are you sick?" Kou asked, turning around.

"No, I'm fine," The girl sniffled, "I've probably caught one of the twins' cold. Or maybe I just caught it now... I don't even know," She laughed; her fingertips, nose and cheeks flushing red.

A pang of guilt hit Kou's chest. He didn't even notice how cold she was. And here he was, walking carefree with a scarf!

"Here," He placed down the plastic bags and started unwrapping the material around his neck.

Panicked, (f/n) waved her hands frantically in front of her in protest. "Ah—wait a sec—you really don't have to—!"

His scarf muffled her words.

Kou made sure to wrap the soft material around her securely and comfortably. He noticed her whole face growing pinker by the second... Is she still cold? Am I somehow making her feel even colder?

He was, in fact, doing the opposite. The young boy just didn't realise it yet.

"You're turning red, are you still feeling cold, (l/n)?"

"N-no! N-not at all!"

To Kou, her face said otherwise.

I'll try to make her warmer then...

Without anything else to offer her, he decided there was one thing left to do.

His hands reached for hers.

Heat and cold collided.

Gently taking both of her hands at once, he brought them together and wrapped them softly in his own. Considering the fact that his hands were larger than her's, he found it pleasing to see that she could gain more warmth from him this way. Her hands are soft... Kou noted, staring intently at them. Clasping his hands around them, he tried his best to give her all the warmth he could muster.

Meanwhile...

(F/n)'s heart was pounding in her chest like a rocket about to blast off. She swore it was trying to jump out of her chest!

Naturally, she felt more heat shoot up to her face when the boy wrapped his scarf around her neck and held her hands. She could smell his scent clearly now.

As always, his scent was soothing, calming, almost sending her into a dreamy trance. He still smelled the same, she realised. Even when he was at the arcade... his scent hadn't changed at all.

Then, he started to blow air lightly onto her fingers.

He repeated that action for another few more seconds. His breath was warm, contrasting greatly against the frigid cold. Frozen in place, (f/n) could only stare in shock.

"My mother used to do this to my hands when I was cold," Kou started with a hushed voice, rubbing his fingers over her hands. "No matter how cold the weather was, she'd always warm me up... Maybe it was because her hands were bigger than mine when I was smaller—I don't know—but the feeling always soothed me. Made me feel like I was safe."