12 Roses

13 | An Old Lady's Smile

"Are you okay?" Toge asked.

You nodded, wondering what it was that you tripped on, and found that there was what looked like a fallen tree trunk under the snow. "It's the clearing we went to yesterday."

Toge looked around and nodded in agreement, somehow remembering the way the trees towered over the area.

Your eyes travelled further into the forest, seeing a giant boulder with vines hanging off of it. If we need to find the others... just look in the vines.

Were you about to listen to one of your silly dreams? Well, what choice did you have?

You took Toge's hand and began moving towards it. That was when he heard someone laughing, loudly, and he went into a run, skipping the jog, and practically yanked you forward.

He moved around the boulder to see Maki, Yuta and Panda there — Maki looked injured, a rip in her pants at the knee with a large gash under the fabric.

"There you guys are!" Maki said. "I was waiting for you to come."

"What happened to your leg?!" you questioned wildly.

"I tripped on a low hanging branch, no big deal. Hurt too much to move, though, and the storm was pretty bad, so we went to this shack that used to hold my family's skiing stuff."

"...We stayed in a cave."

You saw Maki laugh and you tried to laugh as well, trying to forget the sting in your cheeks.

Toge sighed. "We're glad you were safe from the storm."

You glanced at him, the panicked look in his eyes finally gone and replaced with relief. What you didn't understand still was what made him so horrified.

•••

"That kind of thing happens to other people," Maki assured, walking with Toge while you talked with Panda and Yuta up ahead. Well, talked in the way you usually "talked".

"That's..."

"And that's if they ever do happen. The old lady always says spooky stories like that. If so many people really died out here, I don't think people would be allowed to keep coming."

"I know, it just... worried me."

"You stay up watching videos of little horror stories on YouTube but you were spooked by an old lady saying you won't return from a passing snowstorm?"

He stared at you and shoved his hands in his pockets, not saying anything to further the conversation.

When she followed his gaze, she noticed the light blue scarf hanging around your neck. "Is Y/N wearing your scarf?"

"I gave it to her."

Maki raised her brows, then laughed. "Don't you treat that thing like gold?"

He nodded. It didn't really matter to him, though.

When you all returned, the old lady stood at the entrance, anticipating your return, with hangars hanging off of her forearm. Toge walked past her, hiding his face behind the fuzz of his jacket, not bothering to take it off until he got to the living room.

Panda stared. "What's with him?"

"The storm just... freaked him out." Maki pursed her lips before taking a hangar for each of your jackets so you could hang them.

You all gathered around the fireplace while you tended to Maki's leg.

"Ouch- That stings!"

You continued dabbing a cotton pad soaked in disinfectant on her wound, not heeding her yells of pain. You gently rubbed a remedy your mother would use when you got scrapes on your knees and wrapped up the scratch. "All done."