The daylight was bright, and the world was wrapped in silver.
After the snowfall last night, the weather unexpectedly cleared up today. The brilliant winter sun hung high in the sky, making the snow on the ground sparkle crystal clear.
"Kanna, what are you looking at?"
Sato saw Kanna leaning over the hallway railing, her eyes shining brightly as she stared at the snow-covered world outside.
"Sato, I want to go play outside!"
Kanna turned around and looked at him expectantly.
Sato walked to the hallway edge and looked at the thick snow covering the courtyard below. There were already several rows of footprints, some deep and some shallow.
The snow from last night had piled up quite heavily. Even the two bare cherry blossom trees in the corner of the yard were covered with thick layers of snow, while the shrubs planted along the walls were almost completely buried beneath it.
"Play in the snow?"
"Mhm!"
"Then... go ahead."
Sato originally intended to remind Kanna to be careful not to catch a cold, but after another thought, this was a healthy little dragon, so he swallowed the rest of his words.
"Can I invite Saikawa too?"
"Of course."
Hearing this, Kanna happily ran inside to call Saikawa Riko.
"Whew... that's a lot of snow."
Sato looked out over the city before him. Everywhere his eyes could reach, every building and every plant was covered in thick white snow. The whole world had entered a winter dominated by white.
"Guess I should clear the snow a bit."
Looking at the thick snow covering the open space below, Sato muttered to himself. Judging from the footprints, the snow had probably already passed ankle height.
As the new landlord of Aoyama Apartments and with nothing much to do anyway, he didn't mind finding himself some work.
Beside the apartment building was a small storage shed for miscellaneous tools. Inside were all kinds of equipment that might be useful, including large plastic snow shovels and other tools.
Naturally, Sato now possessed the key to the storage shed.
The moment he opened the door, a nasty moldy smell rushed into his nose. He couldn't help covering it before simply shutting off his sense of smell altogether.
"How long has this place gone without ventilation..."
After finding the dust-covered snow-clearing tools and bringing them out of the storage room, he restored his sense of smell and took several deep breaths.
Haa...
The smell of fresh air!
"Sato, what are these?"
At some point, Kanna had already come downstairs and was standing adorably before him while staring at the tools on the ground.
"Tools for clearing snow. Kanna can use this smaller shovel."
After looking around, Sato handed Kanna a small iron shovel.
"Oh! A divine artifact!"
Kanna exclaimed as she accepted the small shovel from Sato, raising it high into the air and shouting loudly, fully displaying the innocence and liveliness of a child.
Sato couldn't help laughing.
A divine artifact?
Well, maybe it counted!
"Then Kanna can go play on her own. I'll pile the snow over in that corner for you."
"Okay!"
With the large shovel pressed flat against the ground, a strong push would gather up a large pile of white snow that looked thick and fluffy, like a giant mound of cotton.
The open area of Aoyama Apartments was very spacious. Besides the front courtyard, there was also a back courtyard. The construction could truly be called extravagant. If some particularly greedy real estate developer had designed this place, they could have built at least two apartment buildings identical to the current one.
"Sato!"
After he finished clearing the snow from the front courtyard, Nishimiya Shouko came downstairs at some point.
She curiously looked at the tool in Sato's hands, then glanced at the small storage room in the corner before asking curiously,
"Sato, how do you have the storage room key?"
Sato looked up and smiled.
"Guess."
Hearing this, Nishimiya Shouko immediately puffed out her adorable cheeks and stared at Sato in slight dissatisfaction.
Seeing this, Sato poked the girl's puffed-up cheek with his finger. Her fair and delicate cheek felt very soft. With just a light touch, it deflated like a leaking balloon and returned to normal, even making a soft "puff" sound.
He smiled.
That was kind of interesting.
"Ahem!"
At that moment, a coughing sound suddenly came from behind Nishimiya Shouko.
Sato turned his head and only then noticed there was also a tomboy standing behind her, currently glaring at him with dissatisfaction.
"Yo, little Yuzuru's here too?"
He smiled and waved in greeting before continuing,
"You actually didn't run away from home today. That's pretty rare."
Although Nishimiya Shouko's congenital disability had already recovered, Nishimiya Yuzuru still didn't get along very well with her mother Nishimiya Yaeko. Perhaps because children that age were naturally rebellious, the two still argued frequently over all sorts of things.
"Who are you calling little, bastard?!"
Nishimiya Yuzuru suddenly glared at Sato in embarrassment and annoyance, seemingly having thought of something.
"Yuzuru! Don't be rude!"
Nishimiya Shouko immediately scolded Yuzuru with a serious expression, fully displaying the dignity of an older sister.
Although in Sato's eyes Nishimiya Shouko was naturally a gentle person, and even her anger lacked intimidation, Nishimiya Yuzuru still quieted down, though she continued glaring at Sato unhappily.
Perhaps in front of someone they cared about, whether that person truly looked intimidating or not, people would still care about their opinion...
Sato silently thought while watching this scene.
Then he curiously asked Nishimiya Shouko,
"By the way, Shoko, did you come down because you needed something?"
"Ah, um... I wanted to see if there was anything I could help with."
Nishimiya Shouko quickly replied.
"Then what about this little one?"
Sato turned to look at Nishimiya Yuzuru. This awkward little tsundere definitely wouldn't come down voluntarily to help.
"Hmph, if it weren't for my sister, I wouldn't have come down at all!"
Nishimiya Yuzuru snorted lightly and turned her head away with a very tsundere-like attitude.
As expected...
Sato smiled before turning back toward Shoko.
"By the way, I prepared Christmas presents for you. Come with me to get them later."
Tonight was Christmas Eve. Although Sato himself didn't care much about it, he still needed to follow local customs.
Hm?
Nishimiya Shouko's eyes instantly filled with surprise. Then she lowered her head and softly said,
"I prepared one for you too. I'll bring it down later."
"Mhm."
Sato's heart stirred slightly as he nodded, then looked toward the somewhat gloomy Nishimiya Yuzuru beside them and smiled.
"There's one for Yuzuru too. The two of you can come get them with me later."
"For me? Who... who wants your..."
Nishimiya Yuzuru froze and looked up at Sato in disbelief, instinctively beginning to act tsundere again.
But while her voice sounded firm at first, it gradually became softer and weaker...
In truth, aside from family members, she had never received a gift from anyone else before.
After all, she didn't have any friends...
"Th-Thank you."
In the end, Sato heard a voice so soft it was almost like a mosquito's buzz.