The Ice Queen

With thugs lying unconscious and covered with bruises and cuts on the ground Hajime decided it was time to take his leave, he turned back to them one last time with a look of regret before walking away with Yuki beside him, The sun had finally set, and darkness has settled in.

Yuki broke the silence, "Um, thank you once again Kazuma-kun."

She bows slightly, closing her eyes, thanking him genuinely.

"I am thankful," she repeated with a sigh of relief while glancing up towards the boy's eyes nervously, "Uh-ah-"

"Yeah-it's no problem," Hajime murmured, averting her gaze down towards the sidewalk below them both, shaking his head. He was talking to Yuki Makato face to face, a complete shocker, if not something he didn't wish to happen, but Hajime continued.

"We should be careful next time" Yuki suggested calmly, glancing up towards Hajime momentarily and then to herself.

"I should be saying that to you, Makato-san." Hajime chuckles, gazing to her side to return her stare once again.

"How did you get into that situation anyway?" Hajime added, scratching the back of his head, eyes squinting from the light of passing cars.

"Well," Yuki hesitated while averting her attention to the left of her path looking at nothingness but simply focusing on the surroundings.

"Those men just approached me, and they looked like they wanted something from me. I tried to reason with them but they ended up cornering me. So here we are now." She answered carefully avoiding contact again facing Hajime beside her.

"Wait," Hajime pondered thoughtfully trying to piece it together, his eyebrows furrowing while he attempted to put together her response, before eventually giving a firm nod back towards Yuki beside him.

"Oh, I see." Hajime quietly whispered, clasping his hands behind his back while he continued his march along the street down towards Yuki's home.

"What about you Kazuma-kun? What brings you out here?" Yuki questioned him curiously

"Oh.." Hajime trailed off without making eye contact towards her still walking.

'Should I tell her?' Hajime thought

"It was nothing much, just heading to the groceries..." Hajime uttered with a wave of his hand, eyes focused on the street signs as they arrived near his place with haste.

"Okay." Yuki sighed softly returning her gaze down to the ground without any reluctance this time around. Her voice sounded faint which made it seem like she wasn't even focused on the conversation at hand.

Hajime could sense a minor discomfort within Yuki and as he focused on her rough appearance the system then brought up her stats in this dim light:

[Yuki Makato]

Age: 17

Occupation: Student, Council President

Level: 30 —> 32

Attack: 30 —> 33

Defence: 40 —> 41

Agility: 50

Intelligence: 95

Luck: 30

Affection: 24 —> 35

Hajime was mildly shocked, she didn't appear to be like someone who would have an extremely high amount of Affection points. The increase in points is already shocking, although she only increased four stat points. But the fact that her affection points got so high surprised him, especially compared to last time.

'Why the high affection points' Hajime pondered

"What is happening?" Hajime said out loud, unintentionally blurring it out

"Hmm?" Yuki hummed curiously, suddenly looking confused as Hajime stopped at her pace abruptly at the sound of his voice, She must have guessed Hajime had something serious to say judging from his mannerisms and yet before Hajime could respond their eyes met once more as she walked right past him.

Hajime paused. Something in his mind was telling him that it was going to happen. Is it due to the sudden change in the wind, or was it something else entirely? Hajime was quite unsure but as soon as those words hit him something inside him screamed to take immediate action without a second thought!

'What's wrong? Did he forget something?' Yuki thought until..!

Hajime turns around, slightly staggering to a halt from their movement.

"Huh?"

Her mouth suddenly felt dry and a chill ran down her spine as if someone had stepped over her grave, she felt something building up within her from deep inside as if a pressure was accumulating, steadily growing stronger until finally,

"Why does everyone call you the Ice Queen?" Hajime let the question flow out his mouth.

After that sentence, her ears were flooded with white noise drowning out every single thought and sensation within her body.

Hajime has been thinking to himself why the sudden spike of affection from her was due to when he rescued her from those thugs. It dawned upon Hajime that from the start Yuki Makato should have always been something different from what other people expected her to be.

He remembers many of his schoolmates, the few people who had known who she was, were definitely surprised by Yuki's sudden personality change mid-way through the first year of high school and so once again he thought.

'The sudden personality shift by Makato-san was because she must have experienced a sudden trauma,'

Hajime was sure that the numerous rumours about the incident didn't seem to be pleasant as compared to the stories he heard around school, which made him stop in his tracks again causing Yuki to stand still along with him.

"What do you mean Kazuma-kun?"

"I'm just curious, that's all. You don't seem like they type to be so cold to people. To me, you seem nice, kind, and easy to talk to. Or am I not getting the full picture here? Anyways.. sorry for asking."

Before Hajime was able to continue further, he could see the confused expression in her eyes as she processed Hajime's sudden question.

'Was my question too personal? Did I cross the line here?'

"Sorry again...if I might have..."

Before Hajime could process anything, Yuki turned her back to him cutting off Hajime with a giggle. Hajime suddenly felt awkward standing alone on the sidewalk outside his own house and couldn't help but gaze back and forth in the direction of Yuki who then smiled at him. Hajime stood there nervously shifting his weight repeatedly trying to make himself disappear when...

"Hahaha, I'm sorry." She chuckles, "It's just you seem so shy at school, I thought you were quiet like all those rumours. But no.. you're a lot better than I thought."

"I-I'm not shy..." Hajime blurted, flustered by her sudden comment on him being quiet and shy. "How does this have anything to do with my question?"

"Ah, I'm sorry then. Kazuma-san. I guess I might have gotten that wrong. As to why those rumours have begun." Yuki mumbled turning away from Hajime, walking towards her front gate still clearly avoiding answering his question.

A lingering awkward silence crept up between them as Hajime waited to hear Yuki's response to his question.

"It's it because you reject all the people who asked you out?" He looked at her.

Yuki chuckled. "Well if you're trying to ask me out.." She paused, stepping forward and reaching a hand out towards Hajime, placing a cold hand on his cheek.

"Then It will be a shame for you to see that I'm way different than what you all thought of me" She smiled.

"Is this your way to say thanks for helping me from earlier?" She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, while her hand still caressed his chin as her warm breath tickled him.

"Tell me, Kazuma-san what you want to know from me, isn't this too fast to have a relationship? Hahaha." She said.

Hajime froze in utter shock.

Yuki could sense his sudden uneasiness as her hand dropped to her side, turning away from him, allowing her expression to fall slightly to hide the frustration that was starting to build up, She quickly walked passed him briskly without making any sound.

In all honesty, Hajime was not expecting that at all as he stared dumbfounded watching her walk off to wherever she was going.

'How does Yuki deal with it though, being called a freaking ice queen all the damn time in school? She's so energetic!' He pondered in his mind.

His thoughts about Yuki only grew more complicated after her performance tonight, she's embarrassed and bothered by them. But no matter how Hajime thought about it the last thing he expected from her was such an aggressive approach from a stoic-looking girl.

"It's rare to find people like you, Kazuma-san," She said with a slight smirk on her face.

Hajime was brought back to reality upon hearing her voice. She suddenly faced his direction and started to close their distance.

"To be honest, You seem decent. You must have a lot of friends to hang out with on weekends."

Hajime chuckled. "I… only got one and that is Ejiro. I don't have many friends, if not at all…" Hajime sighed

Yuki looks at him in disbelief. "No? I don't believe that. You are nice, easy to talk to and overall… pretty cool!" She replied excitedly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You just fought a gang of thugs like it's an action movie. How would I not think you don't have friends?! I'm shocked and impressed actually. It was cool how you handled those guys! You need to tell me your secrets, and most importantly, your exercise routine."

"I-I…"

Hajime couldn't look Yuki in the eye anymore so he attempted to avoid her stare towards her direction but ended up looking down with a hand covering his blushing face. He was too embarrassed to tell the truth about the system but it sounded too crazy.

'Who would believe this?!'

Silence soon filled between the two before Yuki smiled and gave him a playful elbow to the shoulder. "Kidding! Kidding."

After a while, the silence continued until Hajime piped up hesitantly with a smile tugging

"Thank you...".

It made Yuki's heart flutter every time Hajime shied away from her.

'Does he always look this cute?' She thought.

"Kazuma-san, any can be a friend" Yuki added as she started to move on away. "A one-time encounter like that wouldn't change who you are as a person."

With the dim lights upon them both, something soft pressed against Hajime's face. And the subtle scent of fruit wafted in the air as their distance grew more.

"From now on, we're friends okay?" Yuki said.

Hajime trembled in ecstasy. She stepped out of the way after taking a moment to giggle at his astonished face then turned around offering him a small wave of farewell for now.

*Ding*

[Makato Yuki's Friendship metre unlocked 12/100]

[Continue to interact with Makato about what interesting event may lie ahead]

Hajime ignores the system as he stares at Yuki as she slips inside her home slowly while gently shutting the door behind her.

Hajime couldn't stop thinking about the words that she said before leaving.

A friend.

Hajime is glad that someone could consider him a friend after being hated all the time for his family situation. Anxiety has been fading into the background as his heart fills with a pleasant feeling that radiates through his being.

Finally, Hajime made a new friend in such a wonderful way he thought.

Hajime couldn't believe it himself and decided to go home to take some rest, meanwhile, Yuki closed her front door at the sound of a lock snapping closed, she heard a familiar sound ding in her mind which forced her to place her hand on her forehead and shake her head slightly and giggled to herself.

"Kazuma-san is a pretty decent guy..." she pondered then smiled slightly. "Thank you, for being my friend…"

Meanwhile, back in the alley, the thugs woke up to a disgusting setting as they realised they lost their quarry.

"Wh-What the hell! Where is she!?"

Another groaned angrily, smacking his fist onto the concrete and howled in dismay.

"We lost to a kid? That's bullshit! How did we lose this badly!"

The final figure let out a string of incoherent curses and insults and kicked one of the empty soda cans.

The man was furious as he struggled to lift himself off from the ground, clenching his fists tightly into a ball making a popping sound then snarling furiously.

Suddenly a figure appears out of nowhere behind them. It was a lone female with long brunette hair which was pulled back into a ponytail and fell smoothly across her back. Small crimson-red sapphire earrings glitter at her ears, matching the piercing colour of her gaze and an eye patch that covers a scar that looks recent on her left eye. It was not as if she did not feel comfortable with her body. She wore a black spaghetti-strap shirt, showing off the curves of her body. Most of her outfit is dyed the color of blood, her pants and shirt are red, and the jacket tied at her waist is the same. Like most girls her age, she's on the cusp of true beauty but far from just that yet.

The blond thug stood still, her eyebrows lifted, her posture guarded as she sized up the three men in front of her, however, it was the smile that caught his attention as she spoke.

Her sharp, piercing gaze scanned him and coolly assessed the gang as she asked a silent question.

"Seems like you have seen a lot of interesting sights tonight, am I right?"

The girl's eyes focused directly on the three men standing at the doorway, without moving her feet. "It's unfortunate that your night has taken a...much worse turn, especially when you are on my turf…"

The blond thug quickly straightened up and attempted to compose his nerves. He couldn't believe it, the rumours of a young but deadly delinquent waging a personal one-woman army to challenge rival gangs and have it crumbling, surely That couldn't be a woman of this, especially at that age.

"Shit-! You- You're her!" the blond stuttered out in shock, taking a few cautious steps back, but her deep expression held him in place.

She walked forward with a slight grin, her presence was quite overwhelming, and for a moment, their bodies were frozen in utter fear.

"P-please d-dont hurt me!"

"Pff. Of course, you would say that stupid blond guy," she said as she cracked her knuckles slightly.