Disclaimer: I own nothing besides the original concepts and narratives that I have introduced in this story.

Chapter 2:

Kumagawa's Bizarre Adventure,

She stared in silent wonder at her surroundings, her bright emerald eyes taking in every little detail of the wintry scenery.

This was her first experience of the outside world. It was covered in white and cold.

Everything around her was completely unfamiliar. The many trees. The blanketing snow. The various animals. The distant sky.

Everything... except for one thing.

Him. The person walking by her side.

Her childlike features scrunched up cutely as the little oni silently observed her abnormally cheerful companion, studying him from up close for the second time since they've first met.

With his hands resting in his pockets and his laidback demeanor, he looked like he didn't have a single care in the world as he strolled through the snowy path alongside her.

He was such a strange person.

She had no idea who he was or where he came from, but she didn't think too much of these details. She was more curious about the way he treated her.

He had an unsettling air surrounding him, and she could sometimes sense a really ominous disposition coming from him. But she could tell that none of that was directed at her.

He was being genuinely friendly towards her. Even if her young mind couldn't yet grasp many things, she could tell that much about him.

He was the first person to treat her nicely like this, and it made her feel strangely at ease while in his presence.

Warm even...

Kumagawa sauntered with purpose through the fresh snow while humming a jaunty tune. He still had no idea where he was heading to, but at least it wasn't snowing anymore.

It was still pretty cold, being supposedly winter and such, but it was nowhere near the bone chilling cold from when he first arrived.

The reason for that?

Well...

He kind of got bored with that heavy snowstorm after a while, so he got rid of it. Constantly having snow thrown in his eyes got really annoying after the first ten minutes, and besides, it had served its purpose anyway.

He managed to show off how cool and manly he was by walking unbothered through the harsh blizzard long enough, so there was no reason to keep the freezing temperatures anymore.

Luckily, his cute companion appeared to have a much more cold resistant body than him. She didn't really seem affected by the low temperatures the entire time, despite the fact that she was only wearing a bunch of tattered rags.

Even more of a reason for him to give his best at looking tough in front of her. It would've been really embarrassing for him to chicken out and make the cold weather into nothing right off the bat.

As for the girl he'd just picked up earlier, she was right by his side, easily keeping up with his pace. Well, he wasn't exactly in a rush to begin with, but the point was that her little frame held a surprising amount of energy.

Her lively steps were an obvious cue of her current excitement while her curious gaze took in whatever detail that it could. She seemed to be so caught up in her childlike wonder that even he didn't feel like interrupting her right now.

But that aside, the Minus wondered what awaited him in this brave new world. He had a feeling that something interesting was waiting for him right around the metaphorical corner, and he couldn't help but get a little excited at the thought.

For someone like him, the prospect of challenging himself once again was too alluring to ignore. He was, after all, someone who just wanted to have a victory that he could call his own. For that seemingly unattainable goal, he would endlessly toil away, no matter what.

Sure, he already had a cute companion coming along for the ride, but he'd read enough manga to know that there can't be a good story without some sort of overarching conflict. And as much as he wanted to factor in the possibility of a romantic route as the source, life taught him so far that he shouldn't be having many expectations, if any at all.

In other words, he'd rather be surprised than disappointed. But he would still hope, of course!

A smile stretched his lips as he vaguely remembered a saying about hope being eternal.

Well, it was obvious that whoever came up with that saying clearly didn't consider how it only applied until said hope was promptly shattered into tiny pieces.

But that topic aside, knowing her tendencies, he really doubted that he would've found himself in this world if there wasn't at least something unusual going on around here. So it was just a matter of figuring out whether that conflict already existed, or if he had to instigate one himself.

He honestly hoped for the latter, though judging from his past experiences, it was pretty obvious that he had a really bad record with things going his way.

Not that something cheap like that would stop him from betting against all odds, duh!

A soft thud followed by a garbled noise suddenly reached Kumagawa's ears, drawing his attention from his short reverie. Blinking his idle thoughts away, he glanced sideways at his young companion, a blank smile on his face.

The girl somehow managed to trip over something and was now lying facedown in the snow.

Seeing this, the Minus couldn't resist the urge to tease her a little. 「Eh? What's wrong? You tripped over my shadow or something?」 He gave a noncommittal shrug at his joke, which turned out to be way too lame even for his supposedly nonexistent dignity to handle. 「Well, it's not something to worry about. It kinda happens to everyone at some point.」

Raising her head with a loud gasp, the little oni looked around in silent apprehension. A sudden noise from her surroundings startled her, drawing a warning growl in response.

Kumagawa wasn't sure if she growled at his failing sense of humor, or at the ambient sounds of nature that might have put her on edge. Naturally, he assumed that it was the former, but a loud caw from a nearby bird made him reconsider.

Caught off guard by the sharp shrill, the little oni growled again. She kept threatening the unfamiliar sounds of nature into submission, until a trio of mice suddenly caught her attention as they passed by in front of her.

"Ah!"

Leaping around through the snow, she followed after the tiny critters in a comical fashion, intent on catching one of them.

Once she managed to catch her prey, she was ready to stuff her mouth with one of the small rodents when an amused voice interjected from the sidelines.

「Wow, you must be really hungry. Or maybe you just have a hidden predatory streak inside of you? I'm sure that would be endearing.」 Kumagawa's exaggerated enthusiasm was in stark contrast with his blank smile. 「Still, I wish I had something nice and tasty to feed you. But the truth is that we are probably going to end up starving if we have to rely on me to provide the food. Or pretty much anything else, for that matter.」 He added as an afterthought.

Turning around, the young girl looked at the smiling boy in mild surprise, her cheeks puffed with her struggling prey.

The mouse was halfway stuck inside her mouth as she tried to swallow it whole in one go, but the approaching boy interrupted her.

「Even if food poisoning might seem like a better alternative to death by starvation, I'm sure there are arguably better things to eat around here. Like questionably edible berries or suspicious looking mushrooms, for example. Getting some nasty disease might not be the worst thing that could happen, though you can never know for sure.」

Kumagawa expected to receive a look that implied he was the aforementioned disease, but that never happened. His companion was most likely too young for that level of snark.

Shrugging at the thought, he approached the hungry girl as she struggled to swallow the mouse halfway stuck in her mouth and reached with a hand to pluck it out by its swishing tail.

But as with most other things, his attempt at being helpful and considerate didn't go as intended.

Startled from her meal by the unexpected gesture, instinct overtook the little oni all at once. She recoiled with a sudden jerk, before vigorously chomping down on the offending appendage.

In hindsight, this turn of events should have probably been obvious to the boy, since trying to take the only source of food from a hungry monster girl didn't strike him as the wisest choice of action. But Kumagawa wasn't exactly the type of person to ever bother with unnecessary things such as hindsight, so it didn't really matter.

Besides, he'd indirectly managed to get that mouse out of her mouth, so his questionable intention hadn't been completely put to waste. And that was all that mattered in the end.

Right?

Hmm...

Tilting his head in slight confusion, the Minus briefly wondered if it was okay to let the girl have her figurative and literal pound of flesh in this situation.

Out of curiosity, he tried to move his hand out of her clenched jaws. Surprisingly enough, it didn't really budge from the vice like grip.

It looked like the girl had a pretty mean bite for someone her age, though Kumagawa didn't seem to care about the sharp teeth digging into his skin to the point of drawing blood.

He just kept smiling at the oni as she treated his hand like some sort of glorified chew toy.

「I know what I said earlier, but I'm not exactly on the menu, you know?」 the Minus said in amusement, playfully wagging a finger at her. 「Then again, if you just took that one saying literally, then you're probably right. After all, there's no reason not to bite the hand that offered to feed you, right?」

Kumagawa cupped his chin in thought with his free hand.

「Still, it's probably better if you don't.」 He concluded after a short pause. 「Uncooked meat can be dangerous to your health, and I'm not sure how I feel about setting my hand on fire right now. So how about we try to find a rabbit or something else to barbecue instead?」

If there was something that could have topped off the current situation, it was most likely just what the Minus chose to do next.

That is, reaching out with his other hand and starting to pat the girl's head.

Flinching at the sudden contact, the little oni expected pain to come as it usually did when she bit one of those people in white. Only to look up at the boy in confusion when nothing like that happened as the time passed.

The frivolous smile that quickly met her wide eyes certainly did not help with her situation. After all, what kind of person smiled like that after getting their hand bit for almost an entire minute?

It was not normal.

Not only wasn't she punished for what she did, but she could still feel her hair being gently caressed by his hand. Her jaws immediately slackened at the familiar gesture, freeing the hand from her mouth.

Following another glance at the smiling Minus, her expression sank dejectedly, and she nervously bit one of her fingers. Her voice then came out in a soft rasp tinged with regret at her previous action.

"Ah..."

The girl felt genuinely sorry for biting her only companion, but at the same time, she couldn't understand his unusual reaction. Her small mind just couldn't wrap itself around most of his behavior.

Then again, no one could blame her for that. Her confusion was only natural, since this was Kumagawa to begin with.

「Don't worry, I'm not mad at you or anything. Getting my hand bit by such a cute girl is not something I've experienced before, so I'm really thrilled about it!」 Frivolous smile still in place, the Minus offered the downcast oni the same hand, his previous wound nowhere to be seen now. 「Here, you can bite me again if that makes you feel any better. I promise I won't mind it.」

Blinking a couple times, the girl eyed the hand extended in front of her face with an unsure gaze. "Ah?"

She was probably just being puzzled, though from an outside perspective it looked more like she was questioning the young man's intelligence.

Even the trio of mice from earlier were silently watching the Minus from a nearby patch of snow, probably also baffled at the boy's lack of self preservation instincts.

Seeing her reluctance, Kumagawa simply offered a blank smile in return. 「It's okay if you don't want to do it. I probably wouldn't want to bite myself either. It's better to save your energy for more important stuff, anyway.」 He made a dismissive gesture with his hand, before glancing at the rising sun in the distance. 「Speaking of which, maybe we should keep going? It's still pretty early, and there's probably more to see around here, so we'd better make it count.」

Straightening his posture and slipping his arms in his pockets in an attempt to look cool, the boy began making his way through the snow at a languid pace. Seeing this, the girl accompanying him snapped out of her reverie and quickly followed.

Kumagawa abruptly stopped from his leisure walk through the woods as he realized something. 「Oh!」 His dramatic gasp startled his young companion from her walk.

Wide, emerald eyes looked at the strange boy in curiosity. She could tell that he wasn't hurt, but she had no idea what made him act like that.

Despite her confusion, the Minus simply looked at the girl with his usual smile. 「Ahh! I was so struck by your charm that I forgot to introduce myself!」 Winking, he pointed at himself. 「I am Kumagawa Misogi, the best worst Minus that you could have ever met. I hope we can get along well!」

"Ah?"

Her soft rasp made it pretty clear that he still had a rather long way before establishing any sort of verbal communication with the little oni.

Nonetheless, Kumagawa was not deterred by such an impediment.

If there was any redeeming quality to his character, it was the fact that he could be really persistent if he wanted. Though such a trait could be easily taken as a negative point, so even that logic would fall short in the end.

「I would ask you for your name, but something tells me that you don't have one.」 He seemed to ponder something for a moment. 「Then again, my gut feeling is probably just a result of me not getting to eat any breakfast today? Hmm. Now that I think about it, I'm probably gonna miss those cereal.」

The girl just kept staring at him in confusion.

「I wonder if they have my favorite brand of cereal here? It would be really nice. But knowing my luck, they probably don't. It's a shame, really.」

Needless to say, the Minus kept talking like they were having a real conversation. Though knowing him, it was probably because he finally had the chance to talk to a cute girl without being constantly shot down.

Or maybe he just had a feeling that his words weren't completely lost on her ears?

It was anyone's guess, really.

「By the way, what do you think of this adventure so far? Is it fun? Are you enjoying it?」 He asked. 「Well, even if you aren't, it's the company that matters in the end, right? At least, that's what I've heard others say.」

The little oni looked at him with her wide, expressive eyes. She blinked once. Twice. "Ah...?" Her soft rasp sounded particularly adorable, though whether she did it on purpose or not was debatable.

Kumagawa returned her cute act with a blank smile. 「Eh? Don't tell me you're getting cold feet now. We've just started, you know?」 He gestured around him. 「Then again, this snow is colder than it looks, so maybe you have a point? I would know that, if the past hour was anything to go by.」

"Ah..." Her well timed reply could have easily led one to wonder whether the two of them were actually managing some form of communication after all.

As absurd as that sounded, it really seemed as if the Minus somehow understood his little companion to an almost uncanny level. Amusingly enough, it looked like his own absurdity allowed him to better grasp something as irrational as the mind of a young monster girl from another world.

It was either that, or Kumagawa was just randomly saying stuff off the top of his head.

「I meant that literally, you know? Since you are barefoot, how about a pair of shoes? Frostbite is almost as bad as it sounds, so you might want to avoid it.」 A frown briefly creased the boy's brow when he realized something. 「Oh, wait. I don't have any spare shoes. Silly me!」 His smile made a quick comeback as he rummaged through his pockets. 「But I have something waaay cooler~!」 He said dramatically, before pulling out a roll of white fabric. 「Bandages!」

Those were most likely leftovers from that time when his Minus decided to malfunction. Wearing bandages under his uniform might have looked badass, but they really made his skin itch like crazy after a while.

The girl stared at the piece of rolled fabric in curiosity, silently wondering about its use.

But since Kumagawa was the type of person known to have a very questionable order of priorities, it was nothing unusual for him to abruptly ignore the task at hand in favor of something completely random.

Such as the strange object on her ankle that suddenly caught his eyes while he was thinking about a way to wrap those bandages around her feet.

「Oh? What's this?」

It looked like some sort of id tag to him, but since he didn't want to appear as too shallow and superficial too soon in front of his cute companion, Kumagawa decided to further investigate.

That, and curiosity quickly got the better of him.

So by the time the little oni noticed what he was up to, the intrigued Minus was already crouching down in front of her and inspecting the small device strapped to her ankle with an inquisitive gaze.

Which naturally only served to further confuse the little oni, as it was already pretty hard for her to keep up with his erratic behavior, and even more so when she didn't even understand half of it.

Kumagawa on the other hand... decided to take full advantage of his current positioning.

Being a proper boy in this regard, he couldn't resist the urge to look up in an attempt to glimpse at the sight hidden beneath the girl's robe. Unfortunately for him, it was too dark in there to discern anything beyond vague shapes, so he could only give up in the end.

With a blank smile on his face, the Minus was already pretending that nothing happened once his attention returned to the strange object around her ankle.

「Hmm? Some sort of id number? A name tag?」 He mused out loud. 「Code 002, huh?」 An idea struck him shortly after. 「Oh, I know! What if I give you a name based on that?」 He said. 「Since I'm going to help you walk the same path as a main character, you will need a nice name to go along with it. That would be cool, right?」

What was more impressive than his enthusiastic speech was the simple fact that he could say it with a straight face and a smile right after his failed attempt at peeking under an underaged girl's garments.

Meanwhile, said little girl seemed none the wiser to any of this, as she still had almost no idea about what her strange companion was trying to do. She was just staring at him in silence, most likely waiting for him to do something within her range of comprehension that she could properly react to.

Kumagawa cupped his chin in contemplation. 「Let's see... 002... Oni?」 He smiled blankly. That was way too unimaginative even for him. Hmm... 「Dioxide?」 There was a small pause while his mind caught up with what just left his mouth. 「Since I actually seem to like you so far, I'm probably not going to name you that.」

Dioxide-chan had a nice ring to it, though he'd probably save that for another time. Rather than an actual name, it was more like something he would say just to flat out tease her.

Still, he couldn't decide whether it was a surprisingly clever pun, or the dumbest thing that he'd come up with during the entire day.

It was a good thing that his young companion couldn't understand his words, though that didn't help him at all, as she seemed pretty able to read his intentions to some extent.

So it wasn't much of a mystery why her lips suddenly drew an angry line when she frowned at him.

The smiling Minus was completely unbothered by her cute glare. 「Maybe we should just keep it simple, huh?」 He mused airily. 「How about Zero Two then? I think that sounds just fine.」

His words left the little oni staring at him with wide eyes. There was something about those two words and the way he said them that struck her as unique.

Zero Two?

A name? He gave her a name? But why? She never had a name, so why would he give her one?

It made almost no sense to her small mind, yet a part of her was recklessly latching onto it. For her, someone who barely knew happiness of any sort, she'd gladly take anything she could get.

"Eo To."

The spoken syllables tasted strange on her tongue that was not used to any sort of speech, yet she struggled to force them out nonetheless.

「Wawawa, you can speak?!」 Kumagawa exclaimed in response. 「Please say something before next time, you almost scared me to death here!」 He pointed a shaky finger at her, trying his best to sound surprised and almost frightening the poor girl in the process.

She eyed him warily for a moment, though her previous thoughts quickly prevailed over his sudden mood change. After all, he'd just given her something that no one else did. Something that she'd never known.

A name.

Zero Two!

Her name.

"Eo To!" She repeated those two words, feeling strangely empowered by the feeling they brought forth.

She had a name now! Another pretty thing! And he gave it to her!

「Looks like you're fine even with my lack of creativity.」 The Minus pointed out, his trademark smile already back in place. 「That's a good thing, because I doubt you could get a refund at this point.」

The girl didn't look like she wanted any refund, though.

"Eo To!" She said with more vigor, motioning with her arms as she looked at the boy.

Kumagawa cupped his chin in contemplation while observing her act. 「Hmm. Well, if you put it that way, then sure, why not?」 He dismissed his thoughts with a shrug and smirked. 「Since you really seem to like your name, I guess it's totally fine.」

Still...

His logic was undeniable.

"EO TO!"

There was enough childlike enthusiasm radiating from the girl that it almost seemed infectious, and as expected, it didn't take Kumagawa longer than a couple seconds to start cheering her on.

「Yep! That's the spirit, Zero Two!」

"Ah!"

Her excitement was clear as day.

「That being said, let's go!」 The Minus was about to turn around and resume his walk when he remembered something. 「Oh, wait. I almost forgot! Gotta fix that shoe problem of yours first.」

The little oni looked at him curiously.

Kumagawa pointed a finger at a nearby rock, and she followed it with her gaze.

「Take a seat there, and get yourself comfortable.」

It took her a few moments to figure out what he was trying to tell her, but once she did, she happily moved to sit on the large rock.

Zero Two spread her arms in excitement. "Ah!" She sounded almost as if she was waiting for the boy to continue.

「Nice.」 Kumagawa nodded with a grin, giving her a thumbs up. She mimicked his gesture, bobbing her head up and down enthusiastically.

His grin promptly widened.

「Now I want you to spread your legs a little, so I can start working my magic down there.」 Pausing for a moment, he cupped his chin in thought. 「Hmm, I wonder if this could be taken out of context?」

Yep. Totally.

「Does the PG-13 rule even apply in this world?」 Dismissing his musings with a casual shrug, the Minus moved next to the rock. 「Eh, whatever. I really doubt that you can understand innuendos at this point, so it's most likely fine.」

Emerald eyes looked in curiosity as the boy took that same roll of white fabric from earlier out of his pocket, before crouching down in front of her.

She gave a surprised gasp when his fingers brushed against her skin, unused to such contact, but she watched him intently as he began wrapping the fabric around her right foot. His hands moved nimbly as he kept doing circular motions with the roll, and half a minute later, he was already repeating the process to her other leg.

Given his past records, Kumagawa had some pretty good hands-on experience when it came to bandaging things. But unfortunately for him, it was beyond unlikely that anybody would count something like that on his resume.

So, at the end of the day, this was just another useless skill in his repertoire.

The Minus ended his handiwork by tying a tiny bow above each of her ankles. 「There you go, it's all done!」 He spoke up as he rose back to his feet. 「Do you like it?」

Zero Two looked in wonder at the white fabric covering her feet.

"Uwah!"

Leaping down from the rock, she began jumping around animatedly, overcome by her childlike enthusiasm.

Her new wrappings were soft around her feet and they kept the cold snow from bothering her too much. She really liked them. But a part of her liked them even more because they were given to her by the strange boy.

She looked up at her smiling companion and motioned with her arms in an attempt to communicate.

To Kumagawa, who'd never seen a girl do a cute act like this from up close, it was a real treat.

「It's been a while since anyone has shown me this kind of appreciation.」 Turning around, he placed his hands in his pockets. 「If I didn't know better, I'd think that you are trying to make me fall for you~!」

Looking over his shoulder with a smile, he cheered at the little girl. 「Come on, let's get back to our adventure!」

"Ah!" Zero Two quickly followed after him, skipping through the snow in her excitement.

She didn't understand his words, but she knew that his voice called to her.

She saw things with him.

She walked with him.

And it was so much fun.

Kumagawa motioned with a hand at a nearby stream of water. 「That's a river.」 He said as they approached it, stopping to look at its surface. 「And that's a fish.」

Zero Two stared in wonder at the small creature struggling to swim against the currents.

「Wow, look at that little guy go!」 The Minus exclaimed as he joined her. 「What a champ!」

Adopting a thoughtful look, he kept watching the critter as it moved further up the stream. For all intents and purposes, it was supposed to be a common sight of nature.

But leave it to Kumagawa to find something reproachable about it.

「There's the terrain advantage though, so you can't give it too much credit in the end.」 He said with a casual wave of his hand. 「After all, fish are pretty much designed to swim, aren't they?」

Clever in its design, the world always seemed to find a way to remind the smiling boy of his misfortunate nature, despite the fact that he never listened, or cared for that matter.

Then again, his currently good mood was enough of a reason to completely disregard an irksome reminder like this. After all, he had more interesting thoughts to occupy himself with.

"Ah?"

Noticing the girl's curious gaze, Kumagawa smirked as he pointed in the distance at the barely visible fish. 「That little guy has it way too easy. I can only imagine how nice it must be living as a fish.」

Case in point, it was just like him to feel jealous over a fish of all things.

Still, it couldn't be denied that there was truth in his reasoning, and even more surprising, some sort of actual logic.

Spreading his arms wide, the Minus made an attempt to appear particularly cool. 「If life was that simple for us, then we wouldn't be standing here right now. However, our daily struggle has its own charm, doesn't it?」

As expected, this sort of cryptic response only served to further confuse the little oni.

The Minus merely shook his head at her reaction.

It didn't matter if she couldn't understand it right now. Even without his prodding, she would eventually figure it out herself.

For when it came to those like them, the world always made sure of that.

「But this learning experience aside,」 Kumagawa's thoughtful disposition was quickly dismissed with a frivolous smile. 「It's a shame that I don't have a fishing rod with me. I heard that fishing can be a fun activity, even when you fail to catch anything.」

It looked like he wasn't completely over the previous matter involving that fish. That, or he was just being particularly petty about it. It wasn't unlike him to act like this merely on a whim.

「Well, I guess we can try it some other time.」 He said with a casual wave of his hand as he glanced back at his companion.

She was giving him an adorably inquisitive look that really made him want to do some morally questionable things to her, despite her young age.

Like a gentle head-pat, for example. Or maybe a hug without consent?

Both options were equally appealing, that was certain. And since this was Kumagawa after all, it was pretty much obvious what he would go for, given the chance.

All or nothing all the way! Such was his creed that never led him astray.

But speaking of which...

He still had absolutely no clue where they were heading. They were probably still in the general area. Though beyond that, it was only a matter of guessing.

And whether guessing right or wrong, there was still a high enough chance for them to end up going in circles, so at least they had that as an assurance. Meaning that he couldn't possibly get lost.

After all, one can't get lost if they don't know where they are heading in the first place, right?

Not that it mattered much, anyway.

After all, on adventures like this, destination was just an afterthought! The company was what truly mattered in the end, wasn't it?

That, and of course, having fun. And when it came to having fun, he was pretty much king of the hill. So it didn't take him longer than half a minute to come up with something new and exciting to try next.

「Yep, that's it!」 His fist met his palm in a sudden gesture of realization. 「Since catching that fish from earlier and roasting it for lunch is impossible right now, I'll just have to teach you something fun instead.」

Zero Two quickly noticed his spike in enthusiasm. "Ah?" She kept her curious gaze fixated on him.

A smirk crawled on the boy's lips. 「First you have to lie down on the snow.」 He began in a suspiciously innocent tone, pointing at the ground. 「Then you need to spread your arms and legs as wide as you can, and after that you just keep doing it back and forth until you create a nice shape.」

Despite his genial grin, the girl didn't make any move from her spot.

It was obviously due to her inability to understand him, but there could always be a second cause when it came to Kumagawa.

Such as the instinctual aversion a member of the opposite genre might have toward any of his proposals. Knowing his luck, he was most likely not exempt from that even in another world.

But as things stood in particular right now, it seemed there was some sort of deviation from the general pattern when it came to his new companion.

Not really surprising, considering how she wasn't exactly human to begin with. Something that ultimately worked both in and against his favor.

In other words, Zero Two was willing to give her companion the benefit of the doubt, despite the fact that such a thing should never be done under good conscience.

Then again, she was a red skinned alien child for all he knew, so bringing something as good conscience in the context was a bit much of a stretch.

The Minus cupped his chin in contemplation.

「I suppose that I have to show you first, huh? It would only make sense, given how you aren't able to understand what I'm saying, save for the general intent and meaning of my words.」

Smiling at the girl, he lightly bopped his head while sticking his tongue out playfully. 「How silly of me to act like it was otherwise!」

Zero Two just kept giving him a curious stare, unsure of what to make of his strange behavior.

「Okay then. It's time for some snow angels!」 Kumagawa cheered.

Saying that, he immediately plopped himself on the cold snow, unbothered by the sudden chill that enveloped his body.

「And now, this is how it goes!」

With a frivolous smile, he started moving his arms and legs like he was trying to catch up on a missed childhood.

Zero Two watched the boy flail in the snow, her emerald eyes wide with wonder. She didn't understand what he was doing, but it looked like he was having fun.

"Uwah!"

That reason alone was enough to convince her.

Kumagawa paused for a moment to look at his companion. 「You might look like a red oni, but I think you would make a really pretty angel.」 He said with an unashamed grin, despite the cheesy line. 「There's this cool thing known as gap moe, so you should give it a try. I'm sure you could pull it off with flying colors!」

As much as he sounded like a Casanova wannabe, he somehow still managed to get her even more excited about this strange yet fun activity.

Jumping up and down as if on a sugar rush, Zero Two didn't take long before joining the Minus in the snow. She quickly scooted over to lie down next to him, and then mimicked his previous movements with childlike glee.

Turning his head to the side, Kumagawa grinned at her. 「See? I told you this would be fun!」

"Ah!" Zero Two gasped in excitement as she met his gaze. After that, her limbs moved with even more vigor than before as she kept frolicking in the snow.

The Minus had to suppress a chuckle at that. It seemed that she was really having fun.

That was good, because one never knew when things could take a turn for the worst.

His perpetual smile betrayed no emotion, but deep down he couldn't hide the fact that such a break from his usual life was nice for a change, no matter how fleeting it might be.

From the corner of his eyes, he noticed the wide and expressive gaze of his companion fixated on him. It seemed that she was making a habit out of that, though he didn't really mind it.

If he had to be honest, all this attention felt quite nice.

「Ah, you're going to make me blush if you keep doing this!」 Kumagawa said with a sing-song voice. 「But don't worry, I won't make you stop on my account~!」

He almost spoiled the mood with his offhanded comment. Good thing that the girl couldn't really understand him, though she probably wouldn't have minded it either.

Zero Two just kept looking at the strange boy, her eyes glinting with curious innocence. It was really cute, regardless of perspective.

If they were in an anime, this was probably the moment when some heartwarming, sappy music would start playing in the background while the two of them stared silently at each other.

But this wasn't some cheap romcom story, right?