Clouded Minds

Chapter 12: The Ultimate Challenge

Nishikata sat at the bench beneath the shrine roof, trying to keep his legs from shaking. The forecast had been way off—rather than sunny skies and a moderate winter day, it was extremely cloudy with the temperature hovering right around freezing. He purposefully hadn't planned anything for him and Takagi to do except talk, as he feared it would give him an excuse to back out of his plan. He hadn't wanted to talk inside one of their houses, as guaranteed privacy was better for this. But with it being so cold out, perhaps nature itself was telling him this was a bad idea.

It was already more than ten minutes past their scheduled meeting time, which he had already pushed from morning to noon and Takagi had then pushed all the way to the evening. She wasn't normally one to be late, but he was sure she had a good excuse. However, the Christmas ornaments decorating the shrine suddenly buzzed on, signaling that it was definitely getting late out and making Nishikata wonder if she had decided it was too cold. Maybe she had forgotten to text him.

Nishikata let out a breath that he felt had been holding in, allowing his shoulders to slouch. It seemed that this had truly been a bad idea, and now he wouldn't have to follow through at all. Nishikata stood up and shook himself out, trying to get the blood flowing in his limbs again, and began walking back around the front of the shrine to leave. He pulled out his phone as he did to check on Takagi.

As he was about to press send, he looked up at the gated entrance by the road, and there she was, smothered in a big, furry white overcoat. It took a second for his eyes to adjust, but it was her. She must have just arrived, but even with her outfit was still standing there shivering. Nishikata's heartbeat immediately picked up—what was nature telling him now?

"Hey," he started, reaching his hand out to touch a lone snowflake that had drifted down, "Sorry to d-drag you out here, I didn't expect it to be like this."

"I'm the one that pushed it back so late, it's not your fault," Takagi answered, slowly walking over to meet him.

"Sh-should we call it off then? Maybe do this some other time when it's warmer?" There he went, finding excuses anyway. She didn't even know what he was planning today.

"If you don't want to, that's fine," Takagi replied, now standing next to him. But her neutral expression, the teetering back and forth in her boots, hinted that she wasn't done.

"...I'm not that cold though, if that's what you're concerned about," she continued more softly after an extended pause.

Huh? Then why was she shivering? he thought. Nevertheless, Nishikata gritted his teeth—just as he had decided to give up and duck out, Takagi was here and ready to talk with him. He didn't know if he could follow through anymore, not on something so difficult.

"Are you cold, Nishikata?" She stepped forward, examining him more closely. "Your jacket's not as thick as mine, you're shivering..."

"It's not that b-bad," he lied with a shrug, trying to play it cool. But he didn't think he could do it today anymore, not when Takagi looked all pretty like this, it was going to be too hard.

"But... yeah, m-maybe we should go home for t-today," he muttered feebly. I'm too much of a coward to follow through.

Takagi looked concerned, but nodded her head. "Okay," she said quietly, but it looked like something else was on her mind.

Suddenly, she reached into her large coat collar with one arm, the other arm holding her handbag, and carefully unraveled what looked like a thick blue scarf from around her neck. The darkening sky and thick fur had completely hidden it from view.

"No, it's okay, I d-don't want you to get cold," Nishikata began, stepping back and waving his hands.

Takagi smiled, and he saw a sparkle in her eye that he hadn't seen in a long time. "Relax, silly," she continued, stepping towards him again. "I wasn't planning on this till later tonight, but this is my gift to you. You'll surely be busy during Christmas break, but I wanted to thank you for trying to cheer me up when I was sick."