"It's just that this winter has been rather long."

Kōyū followed Ai's footsteps, walking alongside her. He turned his head to look at her face, listening to Ai softly humming the tune he had sung for her. A warm smile, comparable to the winter sun, unconsciously appeared on his face. He thought to himself, "However, from now on, only spring will remain."

"Is it pretty?"

Ai's sudden voice snapped Kōyū out of his reverie, and he instinctively replied, "It's beautiful."

"That..."

She didn't stop walking; instead, she quickened her pace. The golden sunlight and her hair partially obscured her slightly flushed cheeks as she spoke in a soft, shy voice, "Then you can't look at other people indiscriminately in the future."

"Okay, sure."

Kōyū was also a little embarrassed by Ai's explicit words, but he couldn't hide his joy at all. You could definitely guess what it was from the upturned corners of his mouth.

Kōyū was already chuckling to himself: "The proactive Ai seems to touch my heart even more, hehehe."

That's just his own opinion. Ai was walking along peacefully when she heard the strange laughter of the boy beside her.

The sound wasn't loud, but even so, passersby looked at them with strange eyes.

Although Ai felt a little embarrassed, she still didn't let go of Kouyu's hand.

"Being this happy from just one sentence is truly satisfying."

Ai leaned closer to Kousuke, lowered her head slightly, and let her bangs cover the upturned corners of her mouth as she murmured to herself, "Actually, I'm like that too."

"It seems..."

"I'm pretty silly too..."