Nanami smiled happily as she attached herself to me. Being this close really did feel a lot warmer than before. I was also pretty sure that this was the first time ever in my life that I had kept myself warm in such a way.
This seemed obvious, but humans have pretty high body temperatures. Common wisdom even said that in the event you ever got stranded on a snowy mountain with someone it was best to warm each other naked. That was how hot the human body was.
Though, apparently there were various conditions under which you really actually should warm yourselves naked. It was said to be kind of dangerous to do, and there were rather detailed instructions...but I’ll just skip all the details. Because right now we weren’t actually stranded on a snowy mountain. It was just that it was kind of cold.
What was most important here was the fact that I was experiencing something that I only knew in theory—Nanami getting warmer from my body heat—and that I was also getting pretty warmed up myself.
That was what was important. To learn by doing. It might as well have been a part of our class trip.
I hadn’t been expecting to continue my education even after the trip ended. Was this what people meant when they said a field trip only ended once you stepped through your front door? I was probably wrong about that, though.
Yeah, instead of thinking something weird, we should probably focus on getting inside while it’s still kind of warm. But if it’s this warm, it must mean that both our bodies are burning through enough calories to produce heat, right? If we’re trying to warm each other, don’t we need a certain amount of energy...or fat? Wait, fat warms us not because it burns, but because it doesn’t let out heat, right? So if my body is warm, then it means I have a certain amount of fat...and if Nanami is warm, then she, too, must have a certain amount of...
Wait, self. I think you’re thinking something very rude right now. I mean, she’s saying that I’m warm too, so it must mean that we’re both fa—
In that moment, a chill ran up my spine.
“I feel like something rather rude just crossed your mind,” Nanami said, looking up at me with all the light having disappeared from her eyes. Despite the fact that I felt warm, my body immediately began to shiver, having been taken over by a sudden freezing sensation.
More importantly, how did Nanami know what I was thinking? Apparently she could read minds now; her beautifully faint smile was paired with a deep darkness dwelling in her eyes that was honestly frightening. So frightening I decided to cease all thought right then and there.
Yeah, I’m probably just imagining that she’s psychic. My face must be telling her everything. Yeah, that must be it.
“It’s warm, huh?” I said, genuinely expressing how I felt—though it wasn’t a lie to say that I was trying to change the subject too. Still, Nanami’s expression brightened immediately when I said that. The light seemed to have returned to her eyes as well.
To be honest, even though her expression from earlier did send a chill up my spine, I didn’t actually dislike it. But Nanami looked her most beautiful when she was smiling with joy. It definitely wasn’t because I was scared. If anything, it was my fault for having thought such offensive thoughts just now.
“It is, isn’t it?” Nanami agreed, her arm still entangled with mine. “The cold’s not too bad now, though.”
When we were walking so close to each other, it was possible to forget how cold it was...almost. Either way, it really was pretty warm. Though the parts where we weren’t touching each other still felt quite chilly.
Once we got out of this jet bridge, though, we’d be inside the airport terminal, so it was probably going to feel pretty hot. But that wasn’t a strong enough reason for us to separate just yet.
I didn’t think there’d ever been a time when I deliberately moved apart from Nanami after being so closely attached to her like this. If I just detached myself without saying anything, she would probably be devastated.
When I imagined it the other way around, I felt pretty devastated myself: If Nanami drew away from me when we were this close to each other, I would probably start crying.
For now, maybe I should just stay like this.
“A...choo!”
Suddenly, though, an adorable sound erupted next to me. I turned to my side, seeing Nanami blinking and covering her mouth as though she’d surprised even herself. I guess her own sneeze had been unexpected.
“Nanami, you okay?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine, I’m fine. Though maybe I got kind of cold,” she said.
The temperature really had dropped all of a sudden, so it was very likely that her body temperature had dropped as well. Since it would be bad for her to catch cold, maybe I should offer her my jacket? We were pretty close to stepping inside the airport building, but still.
Just as I thought that, though...
“If that’s the case, then warm me up some more, okay?” Nanami declared, squeezing my arm so tightly that I thought she was trying to will our two limbs to become one through force alone. It seemed she was using the cold as an excuse to keep our arms linked even when we got inside.
When I told her as such she was shocked, immediately wondering how I managed to figure out what she was thinking.
I see, this whole thing about knowing what the other person was thinking... I guess this was how Nanami must have read my mind too. Well, no, maybe it wasn’t.
Either way, Nanami and I, our bodies still closely linked, walked onto Japanese soil for the first time in nearly a week.
I should mention, though, that the teacher caught us walking with our arms like that and scolded us full force. Dammit.