Frisson (Diabolik lovers)

XVIII. You're it!

Kanato sighed in frustration.
"She's mine. Get away, Laito." He was about to rip open my shirt, but Laito pulled his brother away from me by the back of his jacket.

"You should know that it's a very bad thing to force a lady to do anything she doesn't want, Kanato-kun~" Kanato landed on his butt in a pile of snow. I immediately sat up and put on my hoodie. It was harder than I thought - my fingers were numb from cold. Laito was standing in front of me, facing Kanato.

What Laito said shocked both of us. For him to say something like this?
"Bitch-chan, put this on an let's go." He was holding Reiji's trench coat. I was scared, cold and still sobbing, but I wasn't crazy enough to put His coat on. No. It was obviously stolen.

"Laito, you bastard! WHY DO ALL OF YOU HAVE TO ALWAYS INTERFERE?!"
"Because I can. Come on, Bitch-chan, let's go." Green eyed vampire gently pulled me up on my feet and put Reiji's coat over my shoulders.

"I d-don't want h-his coat." It was really hard to talk, but I still managed to. I was about to take it off, but Laito wrapped his arm over my shoulders forcing me to walk with him.

I knew it was stupid to go with him, but I just didn't care at the moment. I wanted to go away from Kanato as fast as possible and Laito seemed to be doing just that.

"Calm down, he's gone now." He rubbed my back in order to warm me up. Easy for him to say this. He could bite me and suck my blood any moment now and knowing Laito - do some even worse things. But he was right - I had to take a hold of myself. Okay. Breathe out. Slowly.

"Where are we going?" I had to distract myself.
"Somewhere beautiful. It will help you to warm up a bit," he smiled, giving me a light squeeze. Usually, brothers' skin was really cold to the touch, but now Laito felt really warm. But I still pushed his hand away from me.

"No need to be all touchy-feely."
"Oh? I was only trying to warm you up."
"Yeah right." I was already calm enough to see through his bullshit.

"Laito, why did you give me Reiji's coat?"
"So that a big bad wolf wouldn't follow us here." He wanted to be alone with me?! Chills ran up and down my spine sending shivers all over my body.

"I want to go back to the mansion."
"There's no need to do that - we're already here, see." In front of us was the same frozen lake I loved skating on. Last week weather was a lot warmer, even snow melted a bit, but cold returned, freezing the ice once again.

"It's not safe to walk on this ice now. It's refrozen."
"It's going to be fine. Ice is thick enough to hold a school band. Now look - I even brought your skates. Let's have some fun." First Reiji's coat, now my skates? When did he have time to set up all of this?! But I wanted to forget about what happened with Kanato even if it meant taking a small risk.

"I smell something fishy here, but I'll let it slide for now," I mumbled. Turns out that Laito also brought a pair of skates for himself.

"Huh? You know how to skate?"
"Nfu~ I'm not like Ayato, skating is pretty fun, especially with a cute girl like you." May all heavens and hell curse me for an eternity for that blush that appeared on my cheeks.

"I guess going on countless dates has its own perks, right, Laito?" I asked teasingly.
"You saw right through me, but you know - you have to dig through a lot of coal to find a diamond, Lauren." What was that? Was I hallucinating? Did he just call me by my name?

"You might spend a lifetime looking for a diamond, but remember - once you find it, you might be too dirty to even be able to touch it. And who said that diamond is the best choice? You have to spend lots of money and energy just to give it a shape you want. Diamonds are hard and cold, but coal is already good the way it is. Unlike diamonds, coal gives you warmth and comfort. Coal is imperfect, but those imperfections are good and acceptable. So, I'd rather be a piece of coal that warms someone up and not a diamond that someone keeps only as a trophy."