CH 68

68 – Snow Games 5 (Lejie)

Fifth up was Lejie.

By the way: about the spoon incident? The neutral Ferris is looking after it, so the debate is on hold, apparently. …I guess just washing it normally is out of the question?

「I-I figured everyone would be tired by now, so I made a place for everyone to rest…」

Said Lejie, who was nervous since everyone’s attention was focused on her. Her hand was pointing to a cave. No, not a cave. It’s not a cave made by drilling a hole in the side of a mountain, but rather one made by piling up snow. A snow cave, I guess.

It’s quite a painstaking piece of work. Big enough for all the kids to enter at once – as long as the white fox changes to its small form, of course.

「Huh? It’s not cold in here.」「It’s kinda warm.」「I feel sleepy…」said the kids.

Just as I was getting curious, Lejie tugged my arm. 「S-sir Rain, this way…」

There was another, smaller snow cave hidden just behind the other one. I entered it with Lejie.

It was cramped, so I had to make physical contact with Lejie.

『I should probably remind you, Lejie, that I’m here too.』 said Mika.

「pant pant… Sir Rain…」

『She ain’t listenin’…!』

「Amazing. It’s definitely warmer in here than I thought. I get that the walls of snow are blocking out the cold winds, but is there another reason that… Lejie?」

「Heh, heheh. It certainly is hot in here, isn’t it? So hot that maybe you don’t need to wear so many layers, right? It’s only natural that you take off your coat when you enter a room, so it’s perfectly natural to take off your clothes here, right? Nothing strange about that at all, right?」

When I looked at her, Lejie had already taken off her winter clothes and she was just in her maid outfit.

And her hands were already reaching for my clothes.

The inside of this snow cave is narrow, and Lejie strategically placed herself at the cave’s entrance, so there’s nowhere to run. I can feel Lejie’s breaths on my nose; the snow cave was filled with her scent. I could tell that it was getting hot, or rather warm, enough that I was gradually sweating in my clothes.

『This girl never learns…』 griped Mika.

「Uhm…Lejie? No matter the circumstances, it’s too cold to wear light clothes here.」

「I-it’s fine, Sir Rain. If you get cold, we’ll just warm each other through skin contact.」

『What’re you talking about, you’re the one making him take his clothes off! Rain’s saying he doesn’t want to in the first place!』 yelled Mika.

「Forget about me, I’m worried about Lejie catching a cold.」

「Huh? “Me hold Lejie”? 」

『You’re doing that on purpose aren’t you? I know you heard him just fine!』 said Mika.

Lejie was so close that all I could see was her face.

Her cheeks were red, her eyes were foggy, and she trembled slightly, perhaps from a mixture of nervousness and excitement. I was getting kinda nervous too, but I also sorta knew what was gonna happen next. I had a hunch that she’d show up soon. And show up she did.

「Lejie?」

「Aw! I wish you came even just a minute later, sis…!」

「Then that would have been too late. This is already a violation of the pact in the first place.」

An arm suddenly grabbed the scruff of Lejie’s neck and dragged her out of the snow cave. It was Ferris, her older sister – and the maid assigned to me. I properly put back on the winter clothes that were removed and then stepped outside. The cold air felt good – perhaps because I was hot from before.

『…Pact…pact… I see.』

「Mika?」

『I’ve been thinking that something felt off about this time, but after that remark, now I get it.』

「Hm, I guess Ferris did mention something. Something about being in violation of the pact.」

『Not only did they agree to help with each other’s ideas, but I think they also agreed to allow some time be alone with you.』

「Alone with me… Ah, I get it. I think?」

I think back. At the end, Louto and I slid down in a sled. Then there’s that time when Eleanor came next to me and we both watched the snow together, just the two of us. Everyone approached us only because I held hands with her. Vivi fed me her shaved ice. Madge and the others only got involved when it came to that kerfuffle with the spoon. And then Lejie and I were alone in the snow cave. Ferris only intervened when Lejie was taking off my clothes. The same probably went for Monana and her snow giant. She probably had a scenario planned out where we would be alone.

In this competition, the girls had some kinda discussion and probably came to an agreement that each of them was allowed some alone time with me. That has to be it, otherwise, I could think of several occasions when everyone would usually have intervened earlier. If that’s the case, then in Madge’s and Florence’s plans too, there will be moments where we will be alone.

「But we’re not alone.」

『Huh?』

「I’ve got you with me, after all, pard.」

『…!』

「Mika?」

『Heh. Heheheh! That’s right! The Seven can plan all they want, but they’ll never separate us!』

I don’t know how or why, but Mika is in a good mood. I couldn’t ignore Lejie on her knees on the snow in front of her sister, Ferris, begging for her forgiveness.