Skating

With points to spend, the students' lives were no longer as tight as before.

Everyone had become more lively, and their after-school activities had grown more varied.

It was the height of summer. The school had been built on reclaimed land, so it was especially hot during the summer.

Shinomiya wanted to take Kushida to the skating rink to have some fun and escape the heat.

"Let's go, Kushida."

Shinomiya had already let Kushida know in advance yesterday.

"Wait."

Kushida walked over to Sakura, habitually moving close to her as she invited her.

"Sakura, I want you to come to the skating rink with us. Is that okay?"

Sakura shrank back timidly.

"S-Sorry, I have plans later."

With that, she was about to run off.

Kushida grabbed Sakura's hand. "Wait a second. It's really fun, and it won't take up much of your time."

Shinomiya was basically an NPC right now. He had no desire to bring Sakura along, but he could not openly contradict Kushida, so he could only play dead.

Sakura would not let him down!

Sure enough, faced with Kushida's invitation, Sakura began to struggle.

She became somewhat agitated as well.

"No, I don't want to go! I really have something to do!"

Hearing that, Kushida released Sakura's hand. Sakura did not react in time and stumbled forward.

The camera in her arms fell out too.

"S-Sorry, are you okay?"

Kushida hurriedly crouched down to apologize, wanting to help Sakura up.

But Sakura snatched up her camera and found that it would not turn on.

Sakura immediately began to panic.

Seeing this, Kushida apologized again. "I'm sorry. It was my fault."

But Sakura shook her head. "No, I wasn't careful." Then she hurried away.

"Wait..."

Kushida still wanted to stop her and was about to chase after her.

Shinomiya grabbed her. "Don't push her to death," he said helplessly.

Kushida liked to use little coercive tactics, such as not giving people the chance to refuse, or overwhelming them with enthusiasm until they felt too awkward to say no. Those were tricks Kushida often used.

On the bus on the first day of school, if Shinomiya had not stood up, Kushida definitely would have called on the others to give up their seats. She was incredibly skilled at moral blackmail.

"Why would you say that? Something's clearly wrong with her. Shouldn't we find her first?"

Shinomiya was still a little unaccustomed to Kushida outside of school, but he explained anyway.

"You're like the sun. If the sun casually gets close to someone in the shadows, it only makes their space to live even smaller.

And the sun can burn people. Especially a sun like you that crashes into everything."

Shinomiya told Kushida not to overthink it. Sakura would find somewhere to recover on her own, and her safety at school was guaranteed to a basic degree.

"Don't worry. Let's go!"

Shinomiya took the still-worried Kushida to the skating rink.

They arrived at the skating rink's front desk.

"I'm Shinomiya. Bring out the skates I have stored here."

Before long, a staff member brought over two pairs of skates.

"Here." Shinomiya handed Kushida a pair of pink skates while taking a blue pair for himself.

After putting on their skates, Kushida moved around a little and asked in surprise, "How did you know my size?"

Shinomiya smiled faintly. An experienced craftsman only had to give it one squeeze to know the size.

"Intuition. Looks like my intuition was spot-on."

Kushida did not believe him, but she did not ask further.

The two entered the rink. There were quite a few people there, but most of them were skating along the edge while holding onto the railing.

Shinomiya supported Kushida. He had some basic skill and could stand upright on both feet, but Kushida could not. Her feet turned inward, and that was the only way she could barely stay standing.

"Shinomiya, how do you skate?" Kushida held onto Shinomiya, practically leaning her whole body against him.

Whenever she tried to let go, she lost her balance and grabbed onto Shinomiya again.

"It's okay. Take it slow. I'll lead you."

Shinomiya moved behind Kushida and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Let's go!"

Shinomiya immediately picked up speed, practically pushing Kushida forward across the ice.

Kushida was at a loss, barely managing to keep her posture unchanged. "Slow down! Stop!" Right now, she was basically experiencing the front row of a roller coaster.

She had no control over the speed or direction, yet she was the one at the very front.

"What? Faster? Okay!"

Shinomiya accelerated again, charging straight at the railing before turning away at the last moment.

Kushida instinctively gripped Shinomiya's hands tighter, curling up a little as well.

"Stop right now!"

Her lowered center of gravity slowed Shinomiya down, and he guided Kushida over to the railing.

Kushida held onto the railing, breathing lightly with a pale face. She had obviously been badly frightened.

Once she recovered, Kushida punched Shinomiya several times. Her fists were not heavy, so Shinomiya never dodged. He treated it like a massage.

"Hmph! Is that any way to scare someone?"

Shinomiya did not feel apologetic at all. "Wasn't that letting you experience what skating feels like?"

"Who experiences it like that? That was way too dangerous!"

"Fine, I was wrong! But you'd better hold on tight to me from now on."

Shinomiya grabbed Kushida's hand.

"Wait! What are you doing?"

This time, Shinomiya did not tease Kushida again. Instead, he slowly led her across the ice.

He pulled her along from the front while Kushida followed behind. Every now and then, she tried skating by herself, and whenever she was about to fall, Shinomiya would catch her in time.

After practicing for a while.

"This is so hard! I can't even stand properly yet." Kushida complained in discouragement.

She looked toward the center of the rink, where several people in fitted outfits were jumping and spinning in all sorts of ways. Some were even dancing to the music.

"They're so beautiful!"

Shinomiya took a sip of water and followed Kushida's gaze.

"They're usually professionals. They either train in figure skating or ice dance."

"I see..." Kushida looked a little disappointed.

Shinomiya noticed her disappointment and smiled as he put an arm around her waist.

"Kushida, do you want to dance too?"

The two looked into each other's eyes from extremely close range, and Kushida felt the blood rush to her head.

Still, she nodded dazedly.

"Mm."

Shinomiya released Kushida and went to the center of the rink to speak with those people. He then went to discuss things with the staff.

Then he returned to Kushida and took her hand.

"Let's go!"

Kushida was still somewhat confused as Shinomiya led her to the center of the rink.

At that moment, everyone else moved away to the edges.

Only the two of them remained in the center.

Gentle music began to play, and Shinomiya led Kushida in a close dance.

As they skated, Shinomiya held Kushida's hands and danced with her. Kushida could only barely keep up, following Shinomiya's movements as she danced.

The music reached its climax.

Shinomiya lifted Kushida and spun her, then landed and spun with her. Near the end, Shinomiya leaned forward, forcing Kushida to bend backward.

"Hold on to me!"

Kushida did as he said. Their movement ended with Shinomiya leaning forward while holding her waist, and Kushida deeply arched backward.

The music entered its middle section.

Shinomiya led Kushida swiftly across the ice. By then, Kushida's movements had become natural, and she was able to coordinate well with Shinomiya.

The two freely stretched out their bodies, enjoying that moment.

Kushida's smile grew ever brighter, and Shinomiya put even more effort into it. He had Kushida spin alone while he skated backward facing her, occasionally throwing in a spinning jump of his own... Shinomiya mixed in some ballroom dance moves.

Just as the music was about to end, Shinomiya left Kushida standing alone and skated in a circle before rushing toward her. At the end, he used his skate blade to kick up a great spray of snow.

Shinomiya crashed straight into Kushida and embraced her. Their remaining momentum carried them into a spin as snowflakes fell from overhead, landing on both of them.

Thunderous applause and cheers erupted all around them.