A/n - GOMENASAI! I'm sorry that I didn't update this chapter in a long time but I've been really busy lately and didn't have the time... I thought it was finally time to work on that Halloween special for Are You an Illusion, though. And finally the time to continue on to the next chapter of Crowns In Flames! Now let's see where this goes! This is literally just fluff!
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It's been some time since that day in the forest. It was winter and Infurna was frozen over. I loved winter. There would be snowball fights and late mornings! Not only that, but it became easier to see the two moons in winter (Infurna has two moons).

'I wonder what Valerie thinks of winter.' She was a kitsune that did better in the fall than winter so this got me curious. I got up from my seat and put down the book I was reading. I strode out of my room and took a glance at Valerie's room door. It was open which meant that she was probably in there.

I peeked inside her room and looked around, "Valerie~ Are you here?" I heard muffled sounds coming from the side of her bed and went to check it out, "Valer-" I was cut off by a loud growl and a shove that landed me on the other side of the room, "Ow! Watch who you're pushing, dumbass!"

I blinked a few times and tried not to wince, the pain in my back was really irritating. I stood up slowly and saw a pair of navy blue ears pop up from the side of Valerie's bed. 'Wait... Aren't Valerie's ears orange? She's part fox, after all.'

"Then don't scare me!" That was Valerie's voice. She sounded a little more...sophisticated than most days, "Uuh... Are you okay? You sound weird." I heard a deflated sigh come from the suspicious girl as she got up from where she was crouching, "Yeah, I know." I was shocked by what I saw and almost stumbled into the closet behind me, "Who are you?!"

"Valerie? I know you don't really recognize me but this is what happens when my environment changes. Especially when it snows." I couldn't believe this. No way was this the real Valerie! "No way! I won't believe it!" The girl in front of me face palmed and said, "What do I have to do to prove it?" I thought for a moment and smirked to myself, "You have to cuddle with me by the fire." The wolf girl quickly turned embarrassed and confused at my command, "W-what?! No! How would that even prove anything?!" She crossed her arms and snarled at me. "You did it once before. You know, cuddled up close and stuff..." She looked at me with a scowl on her face and blushed just a little bit while saying her next words, "That was one time! And you wouldn't let me decide otherwise, you dimwit!" 'Yep, this was Valerie. But I still wanna be extra sure...'

To confirm that she was truly the person I've been spending my days with in this place, I skipped my way towards her and patted her head, "How cute~" I then enveloped her in a hug and started to feel her heart race. 'If I didn't know any better, I'd think she started to develop a little crush.'

The little wolf hybrid in my arms stood completely still and soon enough wrapped her arms around me, trying her best to relax. The action made me turn a shade of pink. Valerie had no idea what to do in these kind of situations. To think that she was actually hugging me back was like in a dream... 'Wait, am I the one with the crush?! Nope. No way. Not in a million years is that happening. WHAT KIND OF CURSED SHIP IS THAT?!' (My ship. SURPRISE, MOTHERFUCKER! >:3)

Eventually, Valerie pulled away with her face red, "Idiot. What was that for?" I just smiled and gave a small laugh at her reaction afterwards, "Nothing, just wanted a hug. Now, come on. Meat is on the table. Beef specifically." The girl's eyes widened at my words and her mouth started to water, "M-meat? Beef?" There was some kind of ravenous glint in Valerie's eyes and before I knew it, she was out of the room faster than a horse with its tail on fire. "Definitely Valerie."

TIME SKIP (brought to you by my waifu, M-chan)

After breakfast, I got changed into something warmer. I wanted to go outside and it was snowing. 'Maybe I can have a snowball fight?' I opened the door to the outside world to find Valerie leaning against a tree, "Took ya long enough." 'How did she know I was going outside?' Completely confused with how her intuition worked, I asked her, "How did you know I was about to come outside?" Valerie rolled her eyes and grinned a playful grin, "I thought you would. You're like a kid and most kids like playing in the snow." She laughed at her statement and I was pretty upset. "I'm not a child!"

I pouted and turned my back to Valerie soon feeling something cold hit my back, "You just pouted and crossed your arms. Childish." I looked back at the blue-haired female to find her with a snowball in her hand, "Did you throw a snowball at m-" Before I could finish my sentence, the wolf girl threw the snowball she was holding at me and it landed in my face, "Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't." 'Oh, it is on.'

I wiped the snow off of my face and bent down to make a snowball of my own, "So it's a battle now?" I asked her. She gave me an evil smirk and replied with malice, "Oh, no deary. It's a war."

I got up and aimed for Valerie but she sped off before I could even throw the snowball. "Where'd you go?" Her movements were so fast that I couldn't even keep up! "I'm right here, you idiot!" I quickly turned around but immediately regretted it after taking a snowball to the face, "Got ya!" I could still see her with my right eye - which wasn't covered in snow - and used that to my advantage.

I threw the snowball and it hit her in the arm, "Don't underestimate me." Valerie smirked and raised her hand up to her shoulder and created a snowball out of nothing but thin air, "Since when can you do that?!" I was utterly confused but I had to focus. She threw that exact snowball towards me and she looked so sure of herself but I dodged before it could reach me. 'I'm guessing her abilities change with her environment too...'

We continued throwing snow at each other and sometimes, I was made to dodge icicles because of how strong Valerie's ability was. It eventually turned into an actual fight, each of us testing the strength of our powers. She would throw ice at me and make me fall and other times, I'd make things levitate and try to hit her that way. But I would usually miss because of her amazing reflexes and speed. I was amazing in combat, if I do say so myself. But Valerie was probably better than me. She countered all my attacks and would sometimes make them blow up in my face. Overall, it was a lot of fun.

TIME SKIP (brought to you by my waifu, M-chan💜)

After about two hours of us battling it out, we took a break and laughed at how long it took to decide the winner. Valerie didn't have any knowledge on how to assess combat and strategy. She mostly just predicted what would happen on instinct instead of relying on a proper analysis from her brain. Apparently, she didn't know how she did it. But putting that aside, I had to decide who was the winner since I actually paid attention to that kind of stuff. I decided it should be Valerie since she fought that well without an actual plan (yes, I know, Willow; Akane vibes).

"Hah! I win, dumbass!"

"You don't have to boast about it. I decided to make you the winner, you know..."

"Yeah but I still wanna bask in my pride. Let me have this. You put up a good fight and fairly chose the winner. I guess I was wrong about calling you a 100% child."

"Uh... Thanks, I guess?" Valerie smiled and started giggling. She sat closer to me and patted my head softly, "Good boy." 'She's treating me like a dog?' I puffed up my cheeks and took her hand, placing it on the top of her head, "Last time I checked, you're the dog this season." The wolf girl rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue, "Whatever. Let's go inside. I'm getting kind of hungry." I let go of her hand and let it fall into her lap, "Sure. We can maybe have some ramen? With a heavy broth." Valerie nodded her head and got up with the expression of hunger plastered on her face. She really was hungry.

TIME SKIP (brought to you by my waifu, M-chan)

Valerie and I both had huge bowls of ramen and we were completely stuffed. I took a book out from my personal bookshelf and sat on the cushioned chair by the fire.

(Pretend there's a cozy chaired there for me T^T)

"Why do you like reading so much?" asked Valerie from the carpet. "It's interesting. It helps me escape to another world instead of just sitting in this one." 'This amazingly boring world.' The wolf hybrid tilted her head in confusion, "It's just a bunch of words on paper to me." I face palmed at how she really didn't get it, "It's not just words. It's other people's ideas. It's supposed to take you on a fun ride through a world only you know. Or at least it feels that way. Don't you read?" Valerie shrugged and yawned, "It's boring. Back at my home, all I could do was read. After that, I saw reading as a chore..." I chuckled at the complete irony, 'Childish...'

I put the book down on the coffee table in front of me and took a few steps forward until I was right next to Valerie's head, "If you let me be in charge of what you read, I promise you won't get bored." She looked up at me unconvinced, "You can try." That's all the answer I needed.

I bent down and lifted the tired wolf off the floor. She started struggling when I stood up, "W-what are you doing?!" I fell back into the chair and propped her up on my lap. She was surprisingly heavy. "You're gonna read Vampire Girl with me." (By Karpov Kinrade, READ THE DAMN BOOK!!!)

I reached my hand out to the coffee table and made the book levitate towards me with ease. "No way am I gonna like this." I opened up the book on the first page and whispered in Valerie's ear, "Just you wait~" I felt her shiver at my closeness and it made me laugh, "Too close, weasel." 'I bet she doesn't even realize that she's doing the thing I told her to do when I didn't believe she was the real Valerie...'

TIME SKIP (brought to you by my waifu, M-chan)

Once Valerie and I started reading the book, she was captivated. She might as well have eaten the book with the way she was looking at it. After about one and a half hours, I heard light snoring coming from her. 'Is she asleep?' I leaned forward and tilted my head to see the sleeping face of the blue-haired girl in my lap. Just as I thought.

I chuckled and put down the book while gently lifting her sleeping form up. "Let's get you to my room." Slowly but surely, I got to my bed and lowered the wolf hybrid in my arms down onto the bed. It would be nice to wake up to her again.

I crouched down to her eye level and shifted the hair out of her face. She was so cute. A real sleeping beauty. None of her facial features changed when she turned into a wolf. Only her hair, eyes and the fox parts of her body. But she was still the same Valerie I met in the woods all those months ago.

I brought my face closer to her head, completely caught up in the moment. 'What am I doing?' I felt a sudden urge to bring my lips to her forehead and what do you know, that's exactly what I did. I kissed her forehead without even thinking about it. I then whispered the words, "Sweet dreams," into her ear and couldn't stop from smiling. 'Am I sick? Why does this feel right...?'

I walked over to my walk-in closet and took out my pajamas, changing in this huge closet just in case Valerie woke up while I was changing. When I was done, I got into bed and pulled Valerie close to me, occasionally sniffing her hair. This wasn't normal. 'Damnit... I think I'm in love with Valerie...' Well, no shame in that, right?