“Uh, is this your place?”

We had stopped in front of an abandoned-looking house. The vegetation was overgrown, ivy was covering nearly the whole façade, and where it could be seen, the paint was flaking off. The metal fence was rusty and dead bushes’ branches were sticking out.

“I know,” Aoki sighed, “it isn’t in the best of shapes. I swear I tried, but it’s just too much to take care of by myself. Also, I’m useless with plants.”

He would definitely get into trouble with the city council for failing to keep his property in good condition, but I didn’t want to add any more pressure on his shoulders, so I kept quiet. He walked up to the door and unlocked it, then bent over and made an over-the-top gesture to invite me in.

“After you,” he said. “Mind the brambles on your way.”

His house’s interior looked way better than the outside, if somewhat messy. The front door led to a corridor from which you could see the living room and the kitchen, and a set of stairs to go to the first floor. Under the staircase was a door that probably opened to a broom closet. Some poor plant sat right next to the front door, barely alive, with dead leaves on the floor.

Aoki closed the door behind me.

“Welcome to my palace! I’ll get the guest room ready,” he said as he started walking up the stairs. He suddenly stopped, then added : “Unless you want to sleep in my room?”

“Nope, no way, I’ll take the guest room, thanks,” I replied curtly.

“As you wish,” he shrugged.

On the landing upstairs was another plant on death’s door. I never thought someone could be this bad at plant care. That aside, there was also a door right in front of the stairs, a second to the right, and a third to the left.

“So this is your room for the night,” Aoki said, pointing at the door in front of me. Pointing to the right, he continued, “This is my room, in case you need anything during the night, and that’s the bathroom.”

He went into the guest room and started making the bed. I followed him in, with my suitcase.

“You can unpack all that stuff you didn’t need to bring while I try to make this room semi-welcoming.”

He had a long way to go ; it was obvious no one had set foot in here for a very long time, as there were dust bunnies on the floor and cobwebs in the corners. The room also smelled horribly musty.

Fifteen minutes later, I had unpacked everything, and he had at least made the bed, swept the floor, and opened the windows. Aoki sneezed because of all the dust he kicked up.

“Sorry about the mess,” he apologized. “I’ll admit I invited you on a whim.”

“It’s fine, I’ve seen worse,” I lied. “So, since you’re the host and definitely thought through your invitation, you probably have a lot of ideas for activities to keep us busy an entire evening ?”

What I liked about him was that, most of the time, I could read his facial expressions like an open book. At that moment, I clearly saw him be taken aback, then embarrassed, then lost in thought, then his eyes widened like he’d had an epiphany, all in the span of around five seconds.

“We could go for a walk along the river!” he proposed.

Well, maybe not an epiphany. That was pretty uninspired. Unable to think about anything better myself, though, I agreed :

“Sure, let’s go.”

“Great! Follow me!”

He didn’t even bother putting away his broom and just dropped it on the floor before rushing out enthusiastically. I should have expected that from him, but I was still surprised. I followed him to the best of my ability, trying not to fall down the stairs, then zigzagging between the brambles of the front yard.

After a few minutes of walking in the city, we finally reached the river. As uninspired as it was, I had to admit it was a great idea ; we were in mid-January, so the sun was setting very early. As a result, despite this being late afternoon at most, the water in the river and the snow on the path were reflecting the sky’s colors. The entire landscape was painted various shades of red, yellow, and pink. The only sounds that could be heard were my footsteps – mine, and Aoki’s.

Until I realized I couldn’t hear Aoki’s footsteps anymore. And just as I turned around to figure out why, a snowball hit me in the face.

“Hey!” I complained. “It’s cold!”

Aoki, who was very obviously the culprit, his hands bright red from touching so much snow without gloves, burst out in laughter.

“What do you think snow is?” he asked as he threw another snowball in my direction.

I was hit in the face again. How good was this guy’s aim? I didn’t even have any time to avoid it. I’d had enough, though, and picked up some snow to make a ball of my own.

And in the time it took me to make a single snowball, I felt three of them hit me in the back.

“You’re too slow!” he teased.

“Stop being so smug!” I yelled as I hurled my singular snowball towards him.

He sidestepped it and answered by throwing another snowball in my face.

“Come on, you can do better than that! Make a bigger one!”

I didn’t know whether or not I was supposed to take advice from my enemy; this was an all-out war. I took shelter behind a tree to make more ammunition without getting hit. Sadly, I failed to consider the enemy’s quick thinking, as he started kicking the tree, causing all of the snow resting on the branches to fall on me. I heard laughing behind my wooden protector.

“You can’t escape from me!”

And a snowball hit the back of my head. But I had had time to make three snowballs of my own, and I quickly came out of hiding, surprising Aoki who was standing only a few feet away. I threw all of them at his face in quick succession, missing only one shot that landed in the river. Out of breath, I sneezed.

“Wow, you actually got me there,” he conceded. He put down the snowballs he was holding and, coming closer, he asked, “Are you okay? Are you cold?”

I sneezed again. The truth was, I was freezing, and could feel neither my face nor my hands. Aoki looked worried for a second, then took off his winter jacket and put it on my shoulders. Afterwards, he pulled a pack of tissues out of his jeans’ back pocket and handed it to me.

“Thanks, but aren’t you the one who’s going to get cold now?”

He laughed.

“I’m not going to freeze in place from two whole snowballs! I’m frankly offended that you’d even underestimate me like that,” he joked, but I could clearly see his lips had turned some shade of purple, and he had goosebumps all over his arms.

I didn't argue, and we resumed our walk.