I awoke the next morning cuddled up tighter in Ange's arms than ever before. Her breath tickled the top of my head. An aura of warmth enveloped my surroundings. Not from her body heat, but from what I realized was her magic.

It seemed she had passively kept it up since last night. I slowly peeled her arms off me so as to not wake her, the process taking half an hour because she clutched onto me twice as I was almost free.

The moment my feet touched the floorboards, an ice-age level chill ran up my spine. I pulled my feet back onto the bed and threw the covers over them.

"Holy shit. Did the heater not turn on?" I mumbled to myself, searching for my slippers before leaving the bed.

Once I found protection for my poor feet, I hopped off and into the freezing cold. There appeared to be a threshold at the edge of the bed where it was cold and where it wasn't. Ange really had been keeping me warm all this time.

"Even though you didn't have to do that." I walked to the other side of the bed and kissed her on the cheek.

After tucking her in, I went into the closet to throw on a few layers. The dorm was dead quiet. No one was up yet given that it was only seven in the morning. A few steps out of my room and one of the tenants' doors was thrown open.

Ines emerged from her room with an entire bed sheet wrapped around her, shivering like crazy.

"Morning—"

"Morning my ass!" she said through chattering teeth. "I woke up with my nipples hard enough to cut diamonds. What happened to the heater?"

Somehow, it amused me that we humans were the only ones suffering from the cold. To the others, this climate must be mild in comparison to Weyera. Remmy didn't care much about temperature unless it was at the extremes as a slime. Cresta, Tamara, and Rakka thrived in any climate, and Ange had her magic.

"I'm about to go check. If you want to warm up, go take a bath or lie down next to Ange," I suggested, giving her permission to enter my room.

"Wait, really?" Ines quickly shuffled in behind me. A few seconds later, the sound of shuffling bed sheets could be heard followed by a quiet gasp of surprise. "Whaaaaat. You're so lucky to have Ange!"

Downstairs, the low rumble of the heater was evidence that it was on. When I checked the control panel in the kitchen, it showed that the current temperature was 45 degrees fahrenheit. I was sure I had set the minimum room temperature to be 64.

"That can't be right. Huh?" I scratched my head in confusion.

"Baaa!" Rakka was bleating in distress on the other side of the door in the backyard. Tamara must not have let her inside last night.

"One sec— whaa?!" Three feet of snow welcomed me as soon as I drew open the curtains. Rakka was standing on top, head-level with me. "Don't worry, Rakka! I'm letting you in now!"

Pulling the door open was a mistake.

An avalanche flooded in and buried half my body. I lost footing in trying to back up and fell, but fortunately a pile of snow softened my landing. As if the dorm couldn't get any colder, my blood was freezing now that the door was wide open.

"Rakka, buddy… help me out," I pleaded.

She began to shovel snow out of the way with her head and horns. I pitched in by scooping the snow off me, but my hands quickly blistered from the frigid cold. Thanks to Rakka's help, however, we managed to shove enough into the backyard and shut the door.

One part of me was glad we could have a white Christmas, the other despaired at the work ahead of me.

"Whew… Now we know why it's freezing. The heater's been fighting all night long against the snow," I mused to myself.

"Baa~"

Rakka looked fine despite being outside the entire night. That was some coat of fur she had on her. Although being a mana beast, I wouldn't put it past her to have used magic to protect herself from the elements.

I returned to the panel to set the temperature much higher to 75 and turned off eco-mode so that it could go full blast. That should give the heater a fighting chance.

While the heater was ramping up, I should change out of my soaked clothes from foolishly opening the door.

Back in my room, Ange had woken up and was canoodling with Ines in bed. They were underneath the covers, but judging by the outlines of their bodies and some less than wholesome moans, a lot more was going on in there.

After our first threesome, Ines and I made a rule that she could be a third-wheel friend with benefits to Ange. There were definitely times where I couldn't tend to the succubus' needs. That was where Ines came in. Things worked out, and I sometimes joined in on the fun.

Not like Ines could help it anyway whenever Ange's pheromone purge happened every once in a while.

"Ahem." I cleared my throat at the entrance to my room.

Ines popped her head out of the covers first, red in the face, and mouth flopping like a fish out of water.

Next was Ange, who emerged licking her fingers. "Would you like to join?"

"As much as I'd like to, it's looking like I have my work cut out for me this morning. The dorm is half buried in snow," I said, folding my arms and sighing.

"Rakka and I can clear the snow with fire magic," she replied casually.

"And flood the dorm in the process? Nu-uh. That melted snow's going somewhere. I gotta shovel it away. You two go back to what you were doing. The heater's working now, but it'll take some time to warm up the dorm." I went into the closet for a change of clothes just as the two of them dove back under the covers.

Fortunately, I was prepared for the cold and had bought a snow jacket ahead of time. Rakka was still in the living room, drying off on a floor vent emitting warm air. It occurred to me as I reached the door to the backyard that getting outside would be difficult.

"Oh, crap. The tool shed is buried in snow, too!" I groaned.

"Baa!" Rakka trotted up next to me.

"You wanna give me a hand?"

For the next half hour, Rakka and I tried in vain to clear the snow in the backyard. It got to the point where I was fed up with digging snow that I asked the sheep to fire blast what she could.

"Atta girl!" I shouted as Rakka started at the edge of the backyard so the snowmelt wouldn't flood the house. Meanwhile, I shoveled what snow I could over the fence. Enough progress had been made that the pakarian wyvern— which I needed to find a way to get rid of— had been excavated from its icy entombment.

We were halfway done when Ange flew down from the second floor to offer a hand.

"What happened to Ines?" I asked.

"I have tired her out. She doesn't have nearly as much stamina as you." Ange giggled and hugged me from behind. "Besides, I would be remiss not to help you. The sooner I know you're back in the dorm warm and comfortable, the better."

"L-Let's work together to clear the snow then." I squirmed my way out of Ange's embrace and shook the embarrassment jitters off.

Thanks to Ange and Rakka's combined magic, we cleared the backyard in record time. They took extra care not to damage any of the furniture like the hot tub, fire pit, and patio. My concerns of flooding the dorm was unfounded as we were on a minor incline which allowed water to flow down and away from the building.

The other tenants were finally waking up. Tamara drowsily wobbled downstairs in search of Rakka, Remmy popped in to greet us a good morning and returned upstairs, and Cresta was full of energy as always.

"Morning, everyone! You're all in luck. It snowed a lot last night. I'll whip up some breakfast and once you're all stuffed, we can go outside to play," I said, realizing too late my second mistake today.

"Snow? Yay, I'm going to go build a giant snowman!" Cresta sprinted for the front door.

"Cresta, don't open the door!" I shouted.

We chased after her to find the front door wide open and a Cresta-shaped hole in the wall of snow. Luckily, none of it had caved in. Instead, Cresta had created a tunnel in the shape of herself from barreling through it.

"Shall I fetch her?" Ange asked.

"Nah. Let her have her fun. It's Christmas after all."

As they returned to the living room to lounge in, I remained in the vestibule to watch Ange from behind. Soon, I would need to face both her and my feelings. Even though the cold bit into my bones from the door being opened, she was able to warm me up just by being around. I already had my answer, but everyday she reaffirmed how I felt about her.

Something sharp pricked my back, and I jumped a yard into the air with surprise.

"Thinking about Ange, aren'tcha?" Crestea asked, sticking her head out of the snow like she did with a pile of raked leaves.

"N-No… Just about what I should make for breakfast," I lied.

"I'm your first ever tenant, you know? That means I've known you the longest and how you feel. Honestly, you can do better than a demon bleh, buuut… I'll be cheering you two on." The demon-slayer flashed a toothy smile.

"Thanks." I rolled my eyes, then pulled her back inside by her shoulders. "You may be my first tenant, but you're also the biggest troublemaker!"