After school, we’re at the skating rink, hand in hand. How did this even happen? I can’t remember a thing after she called it a date. She called it a date. Oh my god. My luck really has turned around.

Let me tell you how amazing it is to hold a girl’s hand. For one thing, it’s soft. It’s warm. Touching Marie♥ is electric, and not because she has any elemental equips on. She’s in her Valkyrie Knight uniform again, actually. I want to wear something fancier than my Student Council uniform but I really don’t have anything. I wish I could get that tuxedo already, or maybe a formal holiday season outfit.

No. Today we focus on the present. I won’t dream about the wolves of winter and the cool stuff that waits back at school. Today is about real experiences! Oh my god, today is about a date with Marie♥.

We stash our shoes — my boring Halcyon High uniform pair and her Valkyrie Knight boots — in lockers and equip our ice skates. It’s a little hard to balance, but I remember my lessons from last winter’s event well enough to be competent, if not graceful. Marie♥ takes tentative steps forward towards the ice, her confidence growing as she advances. In no time, she takes off at high speeds, gliding towards the wave of people.

It’s not all couples, though. In fact, there aren’t even a lot of people in the first place. Most everyone tends to prefer activities that generate experience. The skate rink boasts a gacha of its own, but unless you’re a regular, the items don’t see much use elsewhere. It’s mostly figure skating outfits that don’t even have agility buffs built in.

I’m actually shaking, not from the cold but from nerves and excitement. I’m like a kid in a candy store. Surely, I’ve got the jubilant face of someone peering into a gacha cauldron’s rainbow light.

As we slowly find a rhythm, Marie♥ grows more adventurous. She starts to skate a foot ahead of me, then two feet. Then she starts to skate backwards, ever so slowly, so that we make awkward eye contact while she zigzags back.

“You’ve done this before!” I exclaim in surprise.

“I don’t really remember it, but my feet sure do,” she agrees. “I feel like I used to love ice skating.”

Trying to be bold, I skate forward a little faster and reach for her hand. She takes it and spins around to face me again, executing the move like a professional. My heart catches in my throat.

We coast along in silence for another few moments, side by side. I can hear everything in the rink: the screams of young children, the laughter of teens and adults, the scraping of skates against the ice. I look around and notice someone with sunglasses disappearing into the crowd.

“Marie♥, I don’t want to worry you, but I think someone’s watching us.”

Surely, I was just imagining things. Who cares enough about either of us to pay attention to two high schoolers at a skate rink?

“Oh no! Is my Valkyrie Knight outfit too flashy?” she frets. “I wanted to make a good first impression at school, but I knew I should have switched it out for something more normal after everyone got to know me...”

“You think it’s someone with gacha envy?” I ask.

“It’s a serious problem,” Marie♥ agrees. “I’ve heard stories about people getting beat up and having their items stolen before.”

“That’s only if they have PVP mode on,” I try to reassure her. “It’s not the default setting, so you’re probably fine. You want me to check for you, just in case?”

We skate a little farther away from the crowd and she pulls out her phone. I instruct her where to tap to view the player versus player options.

“See? Disabled. You’ll be fi—”

“I see them now!” Marie♥ cuts me off. “Over there, right?”

She tilts her head towards the benches along the middle sides of the rink, a designated area for hockey players to wait for their turn on the ice. In an oversized trenchcoat and sunglasses, there’s absolutely someone watching us. I can’t guess at age or gender at this distance. They take off and begin skating counter-clockwise, taking long strides to get away from us. If there had been a crowd, maybe they’d get lost in it, but instead they stick out, obvious among the slow, relaxed patrons.

I’m gonna do it, I decide.

I give chase! Even though our resident creep is rushing and panicking, my legs are longer and I catch up with ease. At first, I skate past them, going too fast to slow down. Ice clings to my skates as I dig in, trying to turn around. I skate at full speed to get back to them, but lose my balance on the way. They get bigger and bigger in my view, mouth opening wide to shout an indignant “Hey!” as the two of us finally collide. As I stand up and lean forward, I throw an arm out to steady myself against the walls of the rink — and my prey stands up right there next to my hand. I think this is what they call a kabedon.

They’re actually quite a bit shorter than I expected. A delicate, feminine hand reaches up and pulls the sunglasses from their face.

“Thagomizer?!”

“Shhhh!” she says, brushing a hand through her hair. Is she actually embarrassed?!

I drop my hand to my side and try to regain my own composure. Nothing like pinning your best friend to a wall to really make things awkward.

“I thought I’d come around and see if you needed any help. There’s no shame in using a friend as a support unit! But it looks like you’re already at an A-rank relationship with her!” she says.

“What? No way!”

“You were holding hands. I never knew you were so lewd!”

“That’s not lewd!”

“As Student Council President, I am within my rights to tell you to stop such brazen public displays of affection.”

I start to speak, but she shushes me with a hand over my mouth and grins. “Don’t ruin it by talking. You’re showing some spirit, Яagnarok. It’s like you almost care about her as much as you care about rare drops. That’s sweet. Keep it up.”

“Thag...” I mumble when she takes her hand away.

“I said, don’t ruin it by talking.” Thagomizer straightens an imaginary wrinkle in her pants. “Now, do this for me and we’ll call it even. Do you see a group of girls from school skating behind us?”

The pink of AdAstra’s hair comes into view as a few more people complete a circle around the rink. I think I recognize a few more faces.

“Thagomizer!” one of them calls out.

She quickly puts the sunglasses back on. “Shit! Just... act big, okay? Block me.”

“What did you do?” I ask suspiciously, even as I adjust my position to hide her from the public eye.

“Nothing! Nothing. My fan club was having a meeting here. I should have realized they’d have to buy their own tickets if they were trying to convince me to go on a group date.”

She glares at me as my eyebrows raise. “Look, are they gone yet?”

I turn around and lock eyes with the AdAstra. Thanks to this new distraction, she goes flying into the girl skating in front of her. They tumble to the ground. AdAstra’s glasses get knocked off her face and she rolls on top of them with a sickening crunch.

With a sinking feeling, I realize I’ve seen them before: they were a five-star from the Brilliant School Days! Halcyon High Honor Students mid-year premium gacha. AdAstra lets out a wail, and frankly, I don’t blame her.

Thag’s fan club gathers around her and tries to calm her down.

“I think you’re clear if you want to make a run for it.”

“Thanks for the help, Яagnarok. Enjoy your date, okay?” Thagomizer gives me a rare genuine smile and, with a dramatic flip of her trenchcoat’s collar, she’s off.

Marie♥ and I meet again in the center of the rink. “What was all that about?”

“It was Thagomizer.”

“You’re kidding.”

“She wanted—” I can’t be honest here, but I can’t lie to Marie♥ either. “She wanted some help running from her fan club. I think following us just an accident.”

“She has a fan club? Are you part of it?”

“Of course not! Why would I ever join her fan club? I’m not going to waste my one guild on her.”

“Why not? She’s really sweet,” Marie♥ says, almost like it’s true.

“She’s obnoxious,” I counter. “We always fight, and she’s way luckier than I am. She’s a good friend, but I’m not her fan.”

“I see.” Marie♥ looks off into the distance, where our classmates are still trying to coax AdAstra up from the floor. “So, what’s a guild?”

Oh no. Not again.

“A guild is another kind of club — one created by students, without any item prerequisites. The school only lets you join one at a time,” I explain.

“So I could create the figure skating club?” Marie♥ asks. “For example. I don’t think I’m good enough.”

“It costs a lot of prisms to start one, but you could always buy a pack if you don’t have them on hand.”

Marie♥ thinks for a moment. “Neat. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“So, how about we keep on skating?” I ask, extending a hand for her to take. “We still have two hours til they close.”