It was raining… a young boy stared out the window of a house. Black hair covered his eyes, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Oi! Dinner!"

At that voice, a bunch of kids of all ages came to the table, the young boy rubbing away his tears before following quietly behind.

His green eyes were empty as he quietly ate his food while the other kids were as rowdy as ever.

He knew…the moment his brother was born, and his parents had left him at this place that he wasn't loved at all. Surrounded by strangers in this world, who would leave sooner or later with new families anyway, he always felt alone.

When he was older, he ended up in a halfway house for a while…a few years at least. Even still, no one wanted him. He grew up alone. After working hard to get out, and make a living for himself, he left that place. All by himself with what little he had.

He was never interested in nor could afford video games, but always did love reading and light novels. It was his hobby.

One day, on his day off, he went to the library and found a book.

"The Records of the Four Holy Weapons?"

He skimmed it, only to find the pages on the Shield Hero blank. Then, a bright light engulfed him.

"O' Heroes, please save this world!"

The moment he saw a shield attached to his arm, his life changed.

The King explained what was happening, but only one Hero was half-listening as he carefully observed his surroundings. Happy about getting a new start in this world, but he knew he had to be careful.

"Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu, huh…"

The young man didn't mind being skipped over, but Itsuki called him out on it. Sighing, "Naofumi Iwatani."

After getting situated into a room, the three discussed, listing different video games only…

When they asked Naofumi, he shrugged, "I've got no time for that. I have a full-time job…but this world is similar to the light novels I've read."

"You mean…you've never played video games before?" Itsuki asks.

"A few times, but I was never interested in them," Naofumi replies.

"Your parents never bought you one?" Motoyasu asks, only to get silence from Naofumi, who clenches his fists.

"…" Naofumi tries to control himself at that sensitive topic but eventually takes a deep breath, calming down before shaking his head, "I'm an orphan. I don't have parents."

After that, it gets awkward really fast. Motoyasu was feeling guilty for bringing up that subject as well as Itsuki.

Meanwhile, Ren coughs, quickly changing the subject, moving on from that topic, and they find out that they're all from different versions of Japan.

Then, they discuss their weapons and say that the shield is for losers.

Naofumi just glares at them before they quickly apologize.

"Good luck with that. Don't blame me if you get one-shot, you crazy glass cannons," Naofumi smirks before heading off to bed, leaving them speechless.

The next day, he didn't accept any companions. "I've always been alone, and this world won't be any different," is his reason before taking the money and leaving.

He gets a green cloak as well as armor, and discovers the shield copy ability. He pays for it of course before putting his money into his shield, unlocking the Bank Shield, and storing his money in there.

After that, he goes to the fields to level before going to an inn to for the night. Tomorrow, Naofumi plans on travelling north and leaving this town behind him.

However, …he didn't get that chance.

Instead, he was dragged into the castle, and accused of rape.

Naofumi's indifferent, cold to the accusations. "I didn't do it," he says. But no one listened to him.

'This is just like everywhere else. They don't really see me. They just see what they wanted to see. The Shield Hero…not me,' then he hears all of the voices.

Trash, liar, no one loves you, useless, good-for-nothing, you shouldn't exist, you should just die. Criminal, rapist, demon, devil.

Gritting his teeth in anger, 'I don't need anyone. I don't care about anyone. I'm better off alone like I've always been.'

[Curse Series conditions met.]

[Shield of Melancholy unlocked.]

[Skill: Fast Freeze: Freezes all opponents solid. Frozen status- can leave target immobilized and fragile.]

[Additional Skill: Sacred Flames- Ice blue flames that inflict Silence for 5 seconds. Silence- disables the use of skills/spells.]

The shield turned into an icy blue color, blue flames covering its surface as his eyes turned icy blue. "Fast Freeze," he mutters, his breath visible as he froze the guards solid with a blast of blue flames that were ice cold to the touch.

His green eyes stare icily at the King, "Drop the charges."

"Never," the King commands, "Guards!"

As more guards come towards him, Naofumi mutters, "Sacred Flames," and lets out a blue fire again, Silencing them. Then he says, "Fast Freeze," and freezes them solid too.

"Drop the charges…or I'll just freeze the entire castle in a block of ice," Naofumi threatens, glaring with his now icy blue eyes.

Itsuki protests, "You can't do that!" before saying something about justice and such. He was only half-listening.

Naofumi laughs at that justice nonsense, "There's no justice for those in the system, Itsuki. None whatsoever for those most people don't care about at all. They could kill themselves, be killed, or worse, and no one would care. Absolutely no one will."

That silences Itsuki, who didn't know what to say to that. Then, Naofumi turns to the bitch who started all of this, Motoyasu foolishly protecting her.

Naofumi scoffs at his idiocy, "You know what's more dangerous than a criminal? One that has absolutely nothing to lose. Now…get out of my way."

When Motoyasu refuses, Naofumi puts him on ice alongside that bitch.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Naofumi smirks as he sees the King about to do something foolish, "With the Frozen status, these statues are more likely to "break", so to speak if one isn't careful."

At that threat, the Trash King had no choice but to drop the charges, leaving Naofumi free to leave.

Just as he was leaving, Ren approached him. Raising an eyebrow, Naofumi asks, "Do you want to stop me too?"

Ren shakes his head, "No…just… Good luck out there."

Naofumi nods before patting Ren's head, "You too."

Ren slightly blushes at the touch but gives a small smile. Naofumi's hand… it felt freezing cold to the touch. When Naofumi had patted his head, it felt like snow had fallen on it.

After he left, everyone was eventually defrosted, the Frozen status only temporary in this warm weather. If it were winter outside…it might've been a different story.

Meanwhile…

'Melancholy huh… didn't think the Shield would consider that a sin…' Naofumi thinks as he goes to the magic shop to get an ice magic book, and an egg from the slave owner before going north like he'd planned, getting out of the country.

His skin was freezing cold though. Shivering, he feels so cold that even on a hot day, he can see his own breath. Completely incapable of warming up, even when he sits next to a fire.

It's unbearable at first, but as he travels, he gets so used to it that he doesn't even notice.

Along his travels, he ends up friends with a Frost Wolf, who he named Loki, a leader of a pack of Frost Wolves. He's a pure white wolf with fluffy fur and blue eyes. They followed him since he'd fed them a good meal in exchange for not making him into a meal.

Then, he meets a Snow Leopard, who he calls Ghost. She also seemed to follow him after finding and eating some of the meat he'd cooked. Her fur is fluffy too, but with a spot pattern similar to the pictures of snow leopards he's seen in books.

Finally, there's the white Filolial that hatched out of the egg he got, Shiro. A pure white Filolial with blue eyes. After a while, Naofumi had to get transforming clothes for him. Shiro in human form has white hair, blue eyes, and small white wings with blue tips. He prefers wearing a tunic though.

He ignores the rumors of Motoyasu causing a rebellion and releasing plant monsters, Itsuki leading a rebellion only for the people to starve, and Ren causing a plague by not disposing of a dragon corpse, which turned into a zombie.

The reason? It's their own fault. Why should he clean up after their messes?

However, he does show up in time to help them with the Pope.

"Blizzard," Naofumi mutters. A blizzard runs through the hill, freezing every one of his followers in ice before jumping onto Shiro and running to the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the Frost Wolves and Ghost join the fight. Ghost using sneak attacks while the Frost Wolves cast Ice Wall. Huge and very wide walls of ice shielding the other Heroes until Naofumi arrives with Shiro.

When Naofumi finally does arrive, Ren seems to be the only one glad to see him.

The Pope can't do anything as his source of magic is now a frozen block of ice…so Naofumi easily Silences him before freezing him. Then, Ren cuts his frozen head off for good measure.

"Don't misunderstand me…" Naofumi shakes his head, "I didn't come to help you. I did it because he was a threat to me. Nothing more, nothing less."

Riding Shiro, Naofumi leaves with not another word as do the wolves and Ghost, who just disappears into the shadows.

The clearing of his name and execution of the Trash King and Bitch Princess…he left to the Queen. Those two deserved to feel the consequences of their actions.

The invitation to Cal Mira was a tempting offer…plus he wanted to rest for a bit. That was how Naofumi met a certain redhead.

The redhead introduces himself as L'Arc, offering a handshake. Naofumi introduces himself before introducing his beastly companions.

When shaking his hand, L'Arc's a little taken aback by how cold Kiddo's hand is, but doesn't pay it much mind at the time.

Loki and Ghost sniff L'Arc before nodding in approval (?) for some reason. Then they just get comfortable on a bed.

When they get to the super hot, tropical Cal Mira, Naofumi's chill suddenly becomes a lot more obvious, and L'Arc gets concerned.

As L'Arc hangs out with Naofumi, he takes every opportunity to touch Naofumi but finds that he doesn't get any warmer under his touch. He even tries holding Naofumi's hand while he's asleep next to a fire but still nothing. He won't give up though. Not a chance.

On the other hand, when Naofumi met L'Arc, he was like a cat when it meets a new person…but L'Arc throws him off pretty quickly and slightly melts his frozen heart.

"Master…do you like the scythe guy?" Shiro asks.

"I admit that I'm fond of him…" Naofumi sighs, patting Shiro on the head, "And that no one has ever cared about me this way before."

"So you do like him…"

"I guess," Naofumi slightly blushes and shrugs.

"If Master likes him, so do I!" Shiro cheers.

When the next Wave hits and L'Arc betrays him… He half wants to freeze him solid, and half wants to kiss the bastard.

After seeing the three Heroes get one-shot, Naofumi uses Sacred Flames to Silence him, then Fast Freeze to encase his body in ice, leaving only his head free.

"L'Arc…"

"What Kiddo? If you're gonna kill me, do it," L'Arc sighs as he's practically a sitting duck. Then Naofumi asks a very unexpected question.

"Can I go with you to your world?"

Blinking in surprise, L'Arc asks, "Why?"

Naofumi shrugs, "This world doesn't have much going for it at this point. If you don't mind a wolf pack, Ghost, and Shiro coming with me, I'd like to see your world. Besides…" He gives L'Arc a small peck on the cheek, which is the first bare skin to skin contact they have and it's almost painfully freezing, "I like you, idiot. There's no way I could kill you."

L'Arc blushes, and… accepts his demands, "OK Kiddo…Naofumi."

After the Silence wears off, L'Arc breaks out of the ice, and they all go together.

In L'Arc's world, for the first time in ages, Naofumi's surrounded only by people who care about him. Naofumi and L'Arc get closer than ever too. Over time he slowly starts to feel happier and like he's worth something.

He wakes up in a bed one day, shivering violently and too cold to move or speak.

About an hour later, L'Arc walks in, "Kiddo, you OK?"

He knows Naofumi never sleeps in, but he checks the bed anyway. L'Arc finds Naofumi frozen stiff in his bed.

All Naofumi can manage through chattering teeth is, "M'so cold."

Without hesitation, L'Arc crawls in next to him and pulls him in close, hugging him while wrapping the heavy blanket around them. It slowly starts to fade and, for the first time in ages, Naofumi can feel L'Arc's warmth seeping into him. Relaxing, he tearfully drifts off to sleep in his arms as he snuggles into L'Arc.

He finally feels warm. He feels loved.

L'Arc kisses his forehead and smiles when he feels the skin warm under his lips. Then L'Arc himself falls asleep too as they cuddle.

Years later, after Naofumi and L'Arc get married…

Naofumi still hates feeling cold because it reminds him of that awful time in his life. Because of that, his favorite thing to do is snuggle with L'Arc next to a fire, though he'll never admit it.

Luckily L'Arc always knows when Nao needs a snuggle. When he's down, the temperature suddenly drops, so he has a room in his castle with a huge fireplace and plush furniture specifically for cuddle-time with his husband.