Chapter 7: The World Hidden From the Cold

Yuki stood in the doorway of Dean’s home. As the door shut behind her and she heard the lock latch, the girl noticed the warmth and the light overwhelm her senses.

It wasn’t just that the space was heated; despite wearing thick winter boots, she could feel the floors’ radiating beneath her. The walls themselves didn’t seem to hold the cold at all.

And then there was the light. This wasn’t your normal incandescent yellow light, or LED white light. No, this was daylight-spectrum lighting designed to mimic natural sun.

It wasn’t blinding or irritating after she had just come in from the all-consuming darkness of the frozen world outside. It was welcoming in a way that felt… normal.

It was only after she stood there for a few moments, sighing and basking in the warmth of Dean’s home, that she finally realized what was happening. Her eyes snapped open in an instant as she pointed a finger at Dean in disbelief.

“Do you have any idea how bad this looks? The authorities are telling everyone to cut heating, and you’re living in a sauna!”

Dean chuckled while shaking his head.

“Yuki, do you really think I went through all that trouble of tearing down my property and rebuilding it from the ground up because I was having an early midlife crisis?”

He didn’t say another word after rolling his eyes; he just walked away down the hallway and towards the area that led beyond.

Though Yuki couldn’t see his figure after he passed a corridor, she could hear his voice calling out to her.

“Feel free to choose any room that isn’t my own to place your belongings. Whenever you’re ready, dinner will be ready. Make sure to grab it while it’s hot.”

She stood there in disbelief for the longest while. Thinking about all that had happened over the last month. All that Dean had said to her ever since that first day when she accidentally received his mail.

“He knew… He really knew this whole time…. I guess he wasn’t crazy after all.” She whispered under her breath.

She stood there in the foyer both bewildered and filled with a newfound sense of respect. The scent of a freshly cooked dinner wafted through the air, and tugged at her senses voraciously.

Yuki couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten anything but beans, rice, and lentils. I mean sure she had only been eating such things for a few days now, but it felt like a lifetime.

It was almost too good to be true. While the world around her froze, she was here, with warmth, light, and food.

Nevertheless, she snapped herself out of her daze and rushed up the stairs to the second floor.

Ultimately, she found the hallway where the bedrooms were located. She looked through each of them and ultimately found one that was to her liking. Which whether or not subconsciously chosen, just so happened to be the room closest to the master bedroom.

Once inside, she tossed her bags aside and collapsed on the bed.

“It’s so warm and soft… I feel like I could sleep for a thousand years….”

Her eyes slowly closed, and sleep would have taken her then and there if it weren’t for her stomach grumbling.

The sensation was enough to jolt her to her feet. She looked over at the door, and then to her bag.

“It would be inappropriate for me to eat his food while looking like this…”

Yuki quickly grabbed a spare change of clothes and some makeup before running into the en-suite bathroom of her new bedroom where she prepared herself for dinner.

—

Dean thought nothing of Yuki running off around his house looking for a place to crash through the winter. The doors were sealed; and the shutters were closed. And Yuki wasn’t a threat to him.

Whether it was his experiences with her selflessness before regression, or the glowing figures that manifested around the young woman when she entered his home. She was at the very least not hostile and was if anything slightly amicable albeit suspicious.

But that didn’t bother him; instead Dean was too busy in the act of slicing the pizza he had cooked to perfection.

He reached over to a nearby panel and put on a song that played through the kitchen, all while pouring himself a beer from the tap.

It was custom-made; the insignia of the UCAF Special Reconnaissance worked subtly into the metal.

After doing so, he took a sip, only to see Yuki standing in the doorway looking at his casual appearance with an expression of confusion and embarrassment.

She had silently descended the staircase clearly overdressed for the occasion. Wearing what Dean could only describe as a formal dress and a pair of high heels.

Her makeup had been done up in a way that accented her suntan, which now seemed comically unseasonable.

As she stood there averting her gaze, Dean said nothing, simply sipping his beer before pointing to the pizza on the plates that he had made himself.

“Just in time, the pizza came out of the oven not even five minutes ago. I hope you like meat lover’s, because it’s what we have. Feel free to grab whatever you want to drink.”

Yuki simply stared at the man as he grabbed two slices of pizza and his liter of beer before sitting down on the sofa and turning on the TV. Making a comment that snapped her out of her daze as he did so.

“It won’t be long before the networks go down; it’s a shame they haven’t produced anything good in years. Do you want to watch a movie instead? I’ve preserved the better half of humanity’s cinematic library to watch.”

Movies… Pizza… Beer… And a comfortable bed to sleep in? Yuki almost didn’t believe what she was seeing. The world outside was being buried in what was clearly apocalyptic levels of snow.

But here in this home, Dean was living as if it were an average Sunday night. When she grabbed her own plate and poured herself a drink.

While she sat there watching a movie next to Dean, Yuki silently told herself she was ready for whatever this arrangement demanded; even if she wasn’t entirely sure what that was.

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