The young girl in a school uniform quickly runs over to the guy with her arms out, ready for an embrace as she yells "Broki-chan" repeatedly whilst grinning ear to ear. Her blue eyes were sparkling, almost making her smile look even more cute as her brown hair frolicked in the wind. However, as she got closer and closer to Broki-chan, her voice began to sound different and more annoyed than before. The girl was just about to hug Broki-chan before Broki-chan woke up and opened his eyes to see a girl in the same uniform as the girl in Broki-chan's dream. Her green eyes pierced Broki-chan's soul as snow fell on them, and Broki-chan realised he was lying in the freezing snow.

  Broki-chan slowly gets up as the girl yells, "Wake up, you lazy lump! What were you thinking sleeping in the snow? You could have gotten sick". Broki-chan looks at the girl who has her arms crossed before replying in an apologetic tone, "Ah, sorry about that, Sakura; I couldn't resist closing my eyes for a moment. Can't blame me for it; after all, I was working all night". Sakura grits her teeth and grumbles, "Don't think your excuses will work on me. I was also working all night, and unlike you, I'm not slacking off, so that's not an excuse".

  Broki-chan sighs as he begins stretching and says, "I know, I know. My bad. I promise I'll be more attentive-". Broki-chan pauses, noticing Sakura's short, dirty blonde hair beaming in the snow, making him get slightly side-tracked as he says, "By the way, your hair looks really nice today. I mean, it always looks nice... but today it's... um, especially nice."

  Sakura is taken aback and blushes but attempts to maintain her composure as she says, "Oh... um, thanks, I guess. Didn't expect you to notice. I-". Broki-chan cuts her off, completely unaware that she is blushing, as he says, "Yeah, I know. Task at hand, no distractions. Your hair just caught my attention, that's all". Sakura goes red as she says in a flustered tone, "Well, I- um- thank you, but ugh- stop trying to change the subject, Broki''.

  Broki-chan, who's paying no attention to her expression, says apologetically, "Ah right, sorry, I just gotta remember to focus, absolutely no distractions". Sakura's gaze softens, and she stares at Broki-chan and mutters, "Yeah, distractions... like his beautiful blue eyes- urgh. Focus, Sakura, focus". Broki-chan looked back at Sakura and asked in a confused tone, "Hm? Did you say something, Sakura?"

  Sakura goes to say something, but the loud sound of a warning siren cuts her off. Sakura sighs as she says, "Great, now I gotta go to class, Broki, I'll see you at lunch". Before Broki-chan could finish saying, "Oh okay", Sakura had already run away to class. Broki-chan is left to himself, so he walks around the building and wakes up nearby. It was a stereotypical, two-story high school, its windows having snow built up on them and ice crystals hanging on the roof as it looked like the snow was about to fall off at any second. As Broki-chan was walking around the school, he noticed a small desolate shed that looked like it hadn't been touched for years, but another thing he noticed was that he had a really bad feeling. At first, Broki-chan tried to shake this feeling, but no matter how much he tried to ignore or get rid of it, he just couldn't.

  He just couldn't get rid of the feeling that he was being watched.

  Broki-chan quickly decided that to get rid of this feeling, he should just quickly turn around, which he did. When he turned, he quickly saw something vanish out of his view. It was a bit of short black hair on someone's head that just as quickly vanished as Broki-chan turned. Broki-chan was shocked that someone was watching him, but before he could ponder who, the lunch bell rang, making him groan, meaning he was back on the job.

  A swarm of girls surrounded him in mere minutes, asking him for a picture. He was expecting this; he was their school's winter mascot who only came out during the school day, after all; no wonder they wanted to take a couple of photos of him. After the photos were all said and done, he began to look around for Sakura; however, before he could take one more step, a short girl with short black hair jumped on him from the bushes, hugging him as she loudly exclaimed, "Broki-chan!". Broki-chan sighs as he picks up the girl and gently places her down, saying in a slightly annoyed tone, "Hello Miyoko".

  "So, how are you, Broki-chan," said Miyoko enthusiastically.

  "I'm doing fine. Were you waiting in the bushes to try to scare me?"

  "Okay, I admit I was. Did I scare you?" said Miyoko with her grey eyes widening.

  "No," said Broki-chan in a monotone voice.

  Miyoko's smile slightly fades as she sighs before her smile returns, and she quickly says, "So I guess I'll have to try better. So, how has your day been?"

  Miyoko takes a step closer to Broki-chan, who pretends not to notice it as he says, "Oh, my day has been pretty uneventful; how has your day been, Miyoko?"

  "Oh, my day has been pretty busy so far, but that's just because I'm one of the art students, and we have one of our big assignments due".

  "Oh, that reminds me, Broki-chan, I drew a new design for the winter school mascot, hold on let me just look for it", said Miyoko as he grabbed a sketchbook from the bushes and quickly skimmed through it before landing on a page and showing it to Broki-chan. It was a sketch of a snowman in a girl's school uniform with a human-like face and arms. "So, uh, well, it- so are the arms a part of the costume or?" said Broki-chan, conflicted about the design.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  "Oh yeah, it is; the hair isn't supposed to be a part of the costume either. You already have the haircut, and you're our winter school mascot, after all, so what do you think of the design?" said Miyoko, grinning at him.

  "Oh- well- it's- uh- it's nice, I like uh... it, but I usually like what you normally do", said Broki-chan, trying not to say that he disliked the design. Miyoko stops grinning and gives Broki-chan a caught-off-guard look as her pupils dilate and she blushes. She doesn't say anything for a few seconds as she stares at him before asking, "You... you like what I normally do?" Before Broki-chan could reply, their conversation was interrupted by a loud "Broki", causing both of their heads to turn in its direction. It was Sakura who ran up to them while holding two lunch boxes. Before Broki-chan could say anything, Sakura interrupted him, yelling, "Broki, where were you? I've been looking everywhere".

  Miyoko, still flustered, attempts to make a hasty retreat by meekly saying, "I can see you guys are having a moment or something, so I'm just gonna g-". "No, you stay here," said Sakura, glaring at her before looking back at Broki-chan and asking while pointing to Miyoko ", Who's this, and what is she doing with you? Are you really trying to skip out on me?". Before Broki-chan or Miyoko can reply, Miyoko finally sees her escape, her friend group, as they yell out her name. Quickly, she says, "Oh, that's my friend group; I gotta go bye" before she quickly rushes over to them. Both Broki-chan and Sakura heard Miyoko's friend group joke about the situation; however, when Broki-chan was looking over at them, he noticed something or someone per-say.

  It was the girl from his dream, side-eying them before their group went around the corner.

  Broki-chan didn't have that much time to think about it, as Sakura was still annoyed about the situation. Still, she said nothing as she quickly pulled Broki-chan over to a table, and they both sat down. Broki-chan began eating whilst Sakura twirled her fork around. While Broki-chan was eating, Sakura asked him, "So, how was your day? What did you do today?"

  "Oh, nothing special. I just walked around and had some photos taken. It was basically just the usual; what about you? What did you do today?" said Broki-chan, looking at her, making her quickly stop twirling her fork and look away.

  She quickly says, "Oh uh- nothing- nothing in particular, why would- did you ask that?"

  "Oh well, because you asked me what I did today, I just asked you."

  "Oh, right... So what did you do yesterday?"

  "Same I did today, walked around the building, had some photos taken and had lunch with you; that's basically what it's like every day except for the weekends".

  "Oh, right... so... who was that girl you were talking to, Broki?"

  "Oh, her? That was Miyoko; she's just an acquaintance, and I don't see her as anything else if that's what you're thinking, but yeah and-"

  Broki-chan is cut off by a loud 'ahem', which makes him turn around to see Miyoko and a girl with brown hair around the same height as Sakura and the rest of their friend group in the background. "Hi guys, I'm Tamiko, in case you didn't know and sorry to interrupt your lunch, but as the class rep, I need to talk with Sakura and Miyoko about a previous situation; you don't mind. Do you? It'll only take a few minutes," said Tamiko, sweetly smiling. Sakura doesn't say anything as she quietly gets up and walks away into the school with Tamiko and Miyoko, leaving the friend group there.

  Almost immediately after Sakura, Miyoko and Tamiko left, they began talking. "So, what do you think that was about?" said one of the girls.

  "Let's be real, it's probably something Miyoko said; she always loves stirring up drama with Sakura because her best friend is the class rep, so she's basically untouchable unless you want to get into serious trouble with the school", said one of the other girls.

  The other girl, who hasn't spoken yet, continues to say nothing as the two girls ignore her. She stares at Broki-chan, who looks almost like she's trying to recognise Broki-chan but can't. "Do you think they'll attack her?" said one of the girls.

  "Noa!" exclaimed one of the girls.

  "What? It's not like it's out of character for them to do some questionable things to get the upper hand," said Noa.

  "You're not wrong, but you can't say things like that. It's just rude. Besides, what makes you think Miyoko would attack anyone? She doesn't have a single violent bone in her body; the most she'd do is probably scream if Sakura gets too violent. After all, didn't she scratch someone's face? With her nail like a year or so ago?"

  "Oh yeah, true; I completely forgot Miyoko and Tamiko told us that happened. That's bad, but at least Tamiko and Miyoko know how she acts; it must be so scary being around someone like that, but thank goodness, our class representative is on it. Wait, Miyoko was with Sakura and Broki-chan; oh, Miyoko must be so brave to be with someone like that; maybe that's why she looked so upset."

  "Oh yeah, true. For all we know, Sakura could have threatened both her and Broki-chan's lives or threatened their families; I feel bad for Broki-chan to have to hang out with her."

  Broki-chan gives them a look of 'Hey guys, I'm right here. I can hear you'. However, they ignore him and continue gossiping about Sakura and what happened earlier. After a few minutes of loud chatter, the girl staring at him asks the other girls, "Hey guys, maybe we should bring Broki-chan into the conversation. If he was there, he would have seen what happened".