Chapter 2: Winter Has Returned

The garden smelled like warm soil and blooming herbs.

Sora knelt gently beside a row of violets, his fingers dusted with earth, watering can in hand. A soft breeze carried the scent of blossoms as sunlight kissed his cheeks.

Everything felt calm… for now.

“Sora! Sora, come inside! Winter is coming!”

His mother’s voice echoed from the castle steps, urgent and sharp.

Sora flinched, blinking up at the sky. A faint gray cloud was stretching across the blue. The air had shifted… just slightly colder.

“Okay, okay! I’m coming!”

He stood, brushing off his knees, and trotted back toward the castle.

The door slammed shut behind him.

His mother didn’t speak. She only looked at him once—eyes sharp, lips tight—and turned the key in the lock.

Sora tilted his head.

“Why… lock me in?”

But she was already gone.

He made his way to his room, sighing. The air inside was quiet, the fireplace glowing gently. He flopped onto his bed, ruffled his hair, and reached for the small stack of books beside him.

It was a love story.

Two boys who met in secret… from different worlds. One of them had ice powers too.

Sora smiled softly as he flipped through the pages.

“I totally ship them,” he mumbled to himself. “They’re so obvious…”

He rolled onto his stomach, flipping the book closed.

Then paused.

His eyes narrowed a little.

“...What if someone is reading my story right now?”

“Like… right this second. What if I’m in a book too?”

He blinked at the ceiling.

“Nah. What nonsense am I thinking…”

Just then—

CRASH.

Glass shattered.

Wind howled through the room.

Sora screamed, throwing up his arms.

The window was broken—frost spreading across the floor, curling like claws.

And standing in the center of the shards…

Was him.

Tall. Pale. Cold.

Eyes like cracked ice.

Hyōga Takumi.

He was holding in his hand—

A blade of ice.

He lunged.

“You—!”

Sora stumbled backward, books falling off the bed.

“WAIT—WHAT ARE YOU—?!”

The blade slashed down.

The blade came down—

But Sora ducked, the icy wind slicing just above his head.

“What the hell?!” he cried, rolling to the side as Hyōga’s blade struck the wooden floor with a crack.

Sora ran.

His bare feet slid across the frost-covered halls as he bolted out of his bedroom, heart pounding like thunder. His breath fogged in the air. The once warm castle now felt like a frozen crypt.

He didn’t look back.

He couldn’t.

Turning the corner, he spotted the grand ballroom—

Once used for spring festivals and moonlit dances.

Now empty.

He burst through the golden doors, the room echoing his every footstep.

“Come on, come on—where do I go—”

Suddenly, his foot caught the edge of a rug.

Sora fell hard onto the marble floor.

“Ah—!”

He winced, rubbing his elbow.

Behind him, footsteps approached—measured, calm… but heavy with intent.

Hyōga stepped into the ballroom, bathed in soft moonlight.

His blade glistened with frost. His cape dragged across the cold floor. His expression unreadable—cold, calculating…

Until he saw—

Sora.

On the floor.

Tears clinging to his lashes.

Small, soft sniffles escaping from him as he sat up, eyes wide and glossy.

“W-why are you doing this…?”

“What did I even do…?”

He tried to be strong, but the quiver in his voice betrayed him.

He looked so confused. So scared.

And—

So cute.

Hyōga froze.

His hand holding the blade began to tremble.

His heart kicked.

His ears turned pink.

His face turned a bright shade of red.

Sora blinked.

“...Huh?”

“W-why is your face red?”

To be continued

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