Snowy Chase

"Why is it so freaking cold?!" Natsuki burst out, rubbing her fuzzy pink gloves together to try and generate some warmth as she walked. MC walked beside her, shrugging as they crunched through the snow together on their way downtown. The club had decided to meet outside of school hours for karaoke at Sayori's suggestion, and MC had run into Natsuki on the way. She was almost hard to spot among the swirling snow with her white jacket and white bunny themed hat, but her fuzzy pink gloves and pink leggings gave her away.

"I'm doing fine honestly, it's not that bad." MC couldn't help but smirk as Natsuki lightly batted at his arm with her small fists, her face reddened from the cold and accentuated with a small pout.

"Well excuse me Mr. 'I have a bigger warmer jacket', but I'm freezing! The weatherman didn't say anything about it being this cold tonight!" She finished her attack on MC's arm and opted to cross her arms instead, as if trying to hug as much warmth into her tiny body as she could.

"Did the snow not tip you off? I mean it's coming down pretty heavy you would think that'd be a good clue." MC couldn't help but feel his smirk widen into a smile as Natsuki's face got redder still.

"O-of course I saw the snow! Dummy! I just...just got excited to see everyone and kind of rushed out the door." The small girl trailed off at the end of her sentence, rubbing her arms before perking up again. "At least I don't think it can get any colder."

"No?" An idea had hatched in MC's head.

"No way! In fact, I can feel myself getting used to it already!" Natsuki puffed her chest out a bit, a cocky smile playing across her lips.

"So there's no way you can possibly get colder?" The idea had taken hold, MC weighed the pros and cons.

"Absolutely not! I'm a pro you know! I can get used to anything!" Natsuki's bravado was now out in full force, as she had even stopped hugging herself in order to place her hands on her hips in defiance to the weather.

"Anything now?" The pros outweighed the cons, MC stopped and bent down.

"Absolutely anything, guaranteed! I am the queen of ice and snow!" Natsuki kept walking, caught up in her own momentum.

"Hey Natsuki?" MC called, readying himself. Natsuki stopped and turned on her heel, smiling while clenching her jaw to hide her chattering teeth.

*paff*

A beautiful, pristine moment of stillness. MC with his arm outstretched, residual flecks of snow on his mitts. Natsuki, still maintaining her confident pose as the snowball stuck directly to her face. Fluffy white snow continuing to fall from the sky, accentuated by streetlights to frame the entire scene. And then slowly, ever so slowly, Natsuki brought up a hand to wipe the snow from her face. MC was prepared for a lot of things. He was prepared for tears in case that was too far. He was prepared to be berated and called all sorts of things. He was even prepared for a goodhearted laugh. He was not prepared for the wild spark in the small girl's eyes and the too-wide grin.

"Oh, it's war now!"

***

MC skidded around a street corner and got back to full speed as fast as he could manage. Even as he did so he saw three snowballs zip over his shoulders and heard Natsuki's cackling behind him.

"YOU GET BACK HERE YOU JERK! YOU TAKE YOUR PUNISHMENT AND LIKE IT!" Another snowball launched by MC, just barely grazing his right ear before hitting a lamp post with a mighty *whap*! How she was managing to grab snow, pack it, and throw it all while at a dead sprint was beyond MC, he just knew he had made a terrible error in judgement. He also knew he needed to retaliate, and managed to scoop some snow off of the roof of a parked car to start packing it into a ball. Even as he slowed down just enough to do that he felt two snowballs explode against his back, causing him to fumble throwing his own ball behind him.

"MISSED BY A MILE! NOT SO GOOD AT THIS WITHOUT GETTING THE CHEAP SHOT IN HUH?!" Another snowball, this time against MC's left leg. Stumbling, he snapped his arm out to grab the lid of a trashcan, spinning as he fell to use it as a shield. Almost immediately four snowballs smacked into the lid in rapidfire *pangs*, but it bought MC the time he needed to grab some loosely packed snow from the ground and actually throw in retaliation. This shot hit it's mark, exploding across Natsuki's chest as she backpedaled while throwing snowballs with alarming speed.

"MORE DIRTY TRICKS, AS EXPECTED! THAT WON'T STOP A PRO LIKE ME MC! I TOLD YOU ALREADY! QUEEN! OF! ICE! AND! SNOW!" Natsuki punctuated her last four words with deadly accurate snowballs, hitting MC twice in each shin as he struggled to make use of his newfound shield. The trashcan lid was enough of a handicap to let MC start retaliating though, and soon Natsuki found herself backpedaling. Ducking down an alley, the chase was reversed as MC started throwing snowballs at her back. Unlike MC, Natsuki was able to accurately fling snowballs behind her, forcing MC to keep slowing down to hide behind his trashcan lid. Natsuki rounded another corner, and as MC followed behind not moments later he came to a stop.

Natsuki was gone.

MC looked around, keeping his shield up just below his eyes. This alley seemed more well traveled, with multiple sets of footprints obscuring what could or could not be Natsuki's. Edging further in, constantly pivoting around to check behind and around him, MC tentatively called out.

"Natsuki?" A moment of silence, MC's ears straining to hear any sign of the girl before trying again. "Natsuki where'd you go?" Still nothing, only the gently falling snow keeping him company. MC uneasily set the trashcan lid aside as his mind started to race. Did Natsuki get snatched by someone? Did he somehow turn the wrong way? He called once more, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Natsuki!" Just as soon as his arms were up by his mouth MC felt a jarring weight as something catapulted into him from behind, pink legs wrapping themselves around his midsection.

"REVENGE!" Natsuki shouted before shoving handfuls of snow directly down MC's jacket, eliciting startled yelps from the boy as he struggled against the onslaught.

"Ahhhh! Cold! COLD! Get off of me you little gremlin!"

"Nope! This is your punishment for the cheap shot. Also, you have to carry me the rest of the way to karaoke! Chasing you wore me out. ALSO, you have to tell everyone that I'm a pro and the queen of ice and snow when we get there!" MC could hear the giant smile on Natsuki's face as she firmly wrapped her arms around MC's shoulders.

"I'm not doing that last part." MC grumbled as he fought a smile of a his own, wrapping his arms around her legs to help support her on his back.

"Mmm, fine, I guess I can let that slide for now. But at least now you know not to be such a dummy!" Natsuki laughed as MC began to walk, his teeth chattering as the snow in his jacket began to melt. A few minutes of (mostly) content silence passed as MC trudged along and Natsuki happily enjoyed the ride. As the two got closer to more populate streets however, Natsuki hopped off and opted to walk on her own to 'not give anyone the wrong idea'. At this point MC wasn't sure if Natsuki's face was flushed from the cold or all of the running earlier, but he was pretty certain his face was flushed mostly because of feeling a girl's legs wrapped around him for the last while. As the two approached the door into the karaoke, MC suddenly felt his arm get pulled down and a soft, slightly wet warmth press against his cheek.

"T-that's for helping me take my mind off the c-cold. And that's all! Get that dumb look off your face!" Natsuki berated MC before stepping in, leaving him to stand out in the cold for a moment longer grinning like a fool.

"Worth it."