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"I- I can't do this! This was a terrible idea... I- I'm go-"
"Nonsense! You're doing great so far!"
"Rise. My leg feels like they're about to fold."
"Well... yeah it's like that at first but you'll get the hang of it Naoto-kun!" Rise smiles. Naoto sighed. She agreed to the worst activity. Naoto thought maybe it'd be fun but nope. Ice skating was not fun. Though she did enjoy holding onto Rise. They were so close, to where Naoto could feel Rise's warm breath on her face.
"You done googlying eye on me?"
Naoto shook her head before sputtering. "W-WH- I do no such things!" Naoto turned her head away lifting her chin up a bit. Letting out a hmpt. Making Rise giggle.
"Yeah yeah... right." Rise pulled Naoto closer to where their chest touched each other. Rise moved her arms around her girlfriend's waist.
Naoto was pink, and it wasn't due to the cold. She closed her eyes as Rise gave her a small kiss on her forehead.
"You are annoying..." Naoyo mumbled. Rise tilted her head.
"Am I? That hurts my feelings, you know...?" Rise eventually held Naoto's warm pink cheeks to kiss her on the lips.
"YO! THE LESBIANS ARE MAKING OUT!!"
Rise and Naoto panicked and let go of each other. Rise turned around screeching at Yosuke. "SHAAAUT UP!!!"
Meanwhile Naoto slid not too far away. But she was losing her balance and flail a bit. "RISE! Y-YOU PROMISED NO- KYAH!" Naoto fell foward. She only fell on her hands and knee.
crack...
Crack...
CRACK...
Naoto stared in front of her. The ice below her was cracking. It kept spreading. Naoto didn't dared to move an inch.
Rise heard her name and looked at Naoto to apologize but she was interrupted by a cracking noise. Her heartrate immediately picked up.
"N-Naoto?" She was about to skate towards Naoto till she shouted at Rise to not get any closer.
"You will fall in...! Ha-Hang on...I- I can do this...!" She gently laid down to slowly crawl. She's pretty light... so maybe she'll be okay?
CRACK
Naoto froze. When she didn't hear any cracks, she slowly crawled. Rise was trying to comfort Naoto by saying she's doing great. Go slow. You're doing great. Stuff like that. Naoto smiles at that, but that didn't last long.
CRACK
There was a loud sickening crack. Soon... the ice below broke. Naoto let out a scream as she tried to grab or grip on anything. Her body was submerged. She hears half a dozen voices cry out somewhere closer to the lake before her head is submerged and the sound is muffled by a deafening rush of water.
The sudden shock stuns her. It's so cold. It felt like pins and needles on her face. Her body lost heat. She can't think straight other then, "it's so cold... its cold!"
Naoto flails her arms and finds them impossibly heavy all waterlogged, everything, her coat, her pants, her entire body, dead weight, making her sink. The water is so cold that her fingers are already numbing, beneath the frozen surface; she's already lost the strength in his hands, and she can’t hold on any longer. Naoto thrashes, close to panic when she tries to lift her head from the water and bumps up against a ceiling of solid ice instead, and the very first clear thought that occurs to her is that she knows she’s going to drown.
Naoto tried to hit the ice but she's so numb and moving underwater isn't easy. She lost the battle to holding her breath. All that ice water filled her up. It burns so much. It was so painful. But...
She felt so light. Her head feels so light. Her vision was blurring, surroundings darkening, she's about to lose consciousness. Her limbs refused to move. Naoto was sinking. She did see a figure above... but it's too late. Naoto let her eyelids fall. Closing them to what she thought would be the last time she sees anything of this earth.
— — —
"NAOTOOOOO!!!!!" Rise screamed. She threw her ice skate away and put her snow boots on and she was about to run onto the lake till Yukiko wrapped her arms around Rise, pulling her back.
"LET ME GO!!! NAOTO!!!" Rise cried out. She sees Yosuke and Chie carefully walking on the lake. Rise shook her head and kept struggling to get free. Kanji eventually stepped in to hold Rise back, who soon stopped struggling and broke into a choked tears.
"I- I can't see her!! God damnit...! Where are you?!" Chie shouted before hissing the last sentence. Rise stared at the snow below her. This wasn't happening.
Naoto can't be dead. She can't. Her girlfriend can't be dead. Can't be dead. She can't be dead. Yeah she's not dead. They'll find her. Everything will be okay. Naoto is not dead. She isn't dead. She won't be dead.
Rise felt her breathing picking up. A panic attack was crawling up towards her. She tried so hard to be positive.
"I FOUND HER! CHIE! HELP ME BREAK THIS ICE!!! She's sinking!" Yosuke tried to break the ice. Chie soon joins to help.
Sinking... Naoto is sinking. That means she's drowning. Oh god... she could have brain damage... or... death... dead... gone... no...
Rise held her chest. Gasping.
CRACK
"Get ready to grab us!"
"Wh- HEY!" Yosuke watched Chie dive into the water after successfully breaking the ice. Yukiko gasped. "CHIE?!"
It's been a few seconds... Chie still hasn't come out. Yosuke was just crouching there praying to God his friends would come back. Rise can't breathe.
GASP
"I got you! I got you. HMGH!" Yosuke strained as he tried to pull Chie out along with Naoto. They were soon out of the water. Rise looked ahead. Naoto laid there limp. Chie was shivering but she helped drag Naoto back towards her friends.
When Naoto was back on the snow, Rise froze. Naoto is so pale... dangerously pale. There's no signs of breathing. No movement. That was the final straw. Rise wheezed. She fell to her knees, on verge of hyperventilating. Kanji and Yukiko crouched down in surprise.
"Yosuke. Call for help!" Yu shouted as he rips open Naoto's coat to preform CPR. Yosuke nods and grabbed his phone to call for emergency.
"hey..." Kanji whispered. Rise was sobbing and wheezing. Taking in sharp breath. The cold air burns her lungs. All the sounds around her was muffled. Yukiko had given Chie her own coat.
"Damnit... damnit damnit!!!" Yu shouted. Rise couldn't take her eyes off Naoto. Her body was still limp. No signs. God... this was all her fault...! If she hadn't let go of Naoto or even made her ice skate this wouldn't have happened. It's all her fault...! She killed her own girlfriend...!
GASP
cough COugh COUGH
Naoto convulsed to cough up everything that blocked her airway. She moved. Naoto moved. She's alive. She's alive...!
"You're gonna be okay... hey we got you... hang in there. Thanks for coming back to us." Yu helped Naoto cough up all the water. Kanji took off his winter coat to have Yu wrap Naoto in his coat.
"Hagh...ahhgh....I-...I- I'm....s-so...c-c-cold..." Naoto wheezed. She shook uncontrollably. Her limbs still won't move. She could maybe move a tiny bit but that was it. She's far too numb in and out. Her head was so numb. Rise was finally able to rush towards Naoto. She held Naoto's hand before gasping. She's so fucking cold...! Rise knew Naoto would be but... it felt like Naoto wasn't even alive.
Yu looks so blurry... its so hard to breathe. Naoto was taking in sharp breaths. It's obvious she's hyperventilating. Rise hears a helicopter. She looks up. Seeing that help has arrived. Rise volunteered to come with, and so they flew to the hospital..
"I- I'm terribly s-sorry for ruining this trip..." Naoto coughed. She's at home in her bed, covered with layers of blankets. The poor girl has a fever, as if she couldn't just get a break.
"You didn't ruin it. I did. I should've been careful! But I let you go and... its my fault. I'm really sorry Naoto-kun." Rise felt so guilty.
"It- cough- its not... your fault..." Naoto mumbled at the end. She had to close her eyes due to the discomfort.
Rise only smiles and moves Naoto's bangs out of the way to give her a sweet kiss on the forehead. "You're gonna be okay." To which Naoto hums at.
"Mng...nfgh...nnhh..." Naoto mumbled something. Rise sighs.
"Go to sleep. You need it. I'm not leaving. I'll be right here." She held Naoto's hand. The sick blunette falls asleep eventually, and Rise can't help but constantly warm up Naoto's hand. Not wanting her body to go cold again. She can't let that happen.
"Honey... I'm already warm enough. Please don't force me to wear three coats" Naoto frowns at. She was going out with Rise and... strangely Rise has been doing everything to keep Naoto warm for the past few weeks.
"You have to wear this though! Your small body can't get cold again!"
"It won't kill me...! Rise." She had a serious look. "What's gotten into you? I will be okay. I'm already sweating in this."
"I- I'm fine! I- I uh..."
Naoto furrowed her eyebrows before it all clicked. To which her facial expression relaxed. Naoto then decided to take off her snow gear.
"Wh- What are you doing!? You're not going outside like that are y- Ehhahhh?" Rise was soon pulled by Naoto dragging her. They came towards the fireplace. Naoto sits by it. Enjoying the warmth. Rise eyed her but shrugs, soon sitting down with.
"Ugh... I'm cold."
Immediately Rise hugged Naoto, rubbing her arms. "Just as I figured." Rise froze. Staring at her girlfriend. "Rise... I'm okay. I can't control my temperature. I have a small slim body. I get cold easily. One of the reasons why I wear two coats. But nonetheless... I can get cold, but I can't get as cold as ice. I won't ever get that cold." Naoto held Rise's hands.
That made Rise fall apart and started to cry. Naoto gestured for a hug. She let Rise collapse into her arms. Naoto runs her fingers through the redhead's hair. Kissing the top of her head. Whispering 'We're both okay. Please don't cry anymore about this. I'm alive. I'm okay.'
"Y-You were so cold...! Y-You didn't move...! I- I had to watch Yu preform CPR on you... I had a panic attack. I couldn't breathe...! I- I was so scared...!" Rise cried. Naoto caressed Rise. She gave her so much kisses.
"I'm sorry." Naoto whispered. She and Rise spent the rest of the day cuddling. Probably never going to ice skate in their lives ever again.
Last week at the cabin. . .
"So... Rise and Naoto made out." Yosuke said.
"They did not make out!! It was just a kiss! It was so sweet to watch them honestly." Chie sneezed afterwards."
"Wished that was me and Yosuke." Yu said.
"Yeah wh- WAIT WHAT?! SHUT UP!!!"
"Dude. It's obvious you're gay." Kanji said.
"SHAD UP!" Yosuke was flustered.