Later that day, after leaving the café, Kyle and Mayu walked through the park, the snow crunching beneath their boots. The park was almost deserted, the playground covered in snow, and the trees weighed down by the cold. It was peaceful, and Mayu found herself stealing glances at Kyle every few seconds, her heart doing little flips every time he smiled.
"Hey, Mayu," Kyle said suddenly, breaking the silence.
"Yeah?" she replied, looking up at him.
"Catch!" Before she could react, Kyle bent down, scooped up a handful of snow, and tossed it in her direction.
The snowball hit her square in the shoulder, and Mayu yelped in surprise. "Kyle! What the heck?"
Kyle laughed, his eyes bright with mischief. "You looked like you needed to cool off!"
Mayu glared at him, her hands already reaching for the snow at her feet. "You're gonna pay for that!"
She quickly formed a snowball and hurled it in his direction, but Kyle dodged it easily, laughing as he ran ahead. "You missed! Is that all you've got?"
Mayu wasn't one to back down from a challenge. She scooped up another snowball, determination in her eyes, and this time she aimed carefully. As Kyle turned around to taunt her again, the snowball hit him right in the chest, exploding into a puff of white.
"Gotcha!" Mayu shouted, grinning triumphantly.
Kyle looked down at his now-snow-covered jacket, then back up at Mayu with a mock-serious expression. "Oh, it's on."
What followed was an all-out snowball war, with both of them laughing and shouting as they pelted each other with snow. At one point, Mayu slipped on the icy ground, and Kyle rushed over to help her up, but in doing so, he lost his balance and fell too. They both ended up on the ground, laughing so hard that neither of them could breathe.
As they lay there, catching their breath, Kyle turned to look at her, his face only inches from hers. "You okay?"
Mayu nodded, her heart pounding in her chest, not from the snowball fight, but from how close they were. His face was flushed from the cold, his breath visible in the chilly air, and for a moment, she wondered if he could hear how fast her heart was beating.
But before either of them could say anything, Kyle smirked. "By the way, I win."
Mayu's eyes widened in disbelief. "No way! I hit you way more times than you hit me!"
"Yeah, but I'm the one who got you to the ground," he said with a teasing grin.
Mayu rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. "You're impossible."
"And yet, you're still here," Kyle teased, his voice softening.
Mayu didn't have a comeback for that. She just lay there, staring up at the sky, her heart full, and a smile on her lips.