December 30th.
A series of knocks—"Knock, knock, knock"—rang out, prompting Yukio, who was reading in his dorm room, to raise an eyebrow. An image of a certain dimwitted sidekick popped into his mind.
Among all the people he knew, aside from Ishizaki, nobody else would knock so frenetically at his door.
It was now five days since the Christmas date. After Ibuki's confession on that deserted footpath, the trio had decided not to return to Keyaki Mall, opting instead to head back to Yukio's dorm. There they'd shared stories of their pasts, gaining a deeper understanding of one another.
After that, Shiina cooked, while Ibuki, not to be outdone, helped tidy up. Their efforts made Yukio feel like a spoiled landowner. Christmas ended on a mellow yet heartwarming note.
Of course, Ibuki had no idea that five minutes after she and Shiina returned to their own dorm, Shiina—smiling shyly—had slipped back over to Yukio's room.
In the days since, everything had been calm. They passed the remainder of the winter break pleasantly, creeping closer to the year's end. Yukio closed his book, walked over, and opened the door, certain it was Ishizaki.
Sure enough, there stood Ishizaki—but he wasn't alone. A large group followed behind him: Nomura, Komiya, Kaneda, all classmates from Yukio's own homeroom. "Why are you all here?" Yukio asked.
"Yukio-aniki!" Ishizaki exclaimed excitedly, gesturing wildly toward the outside. "It snowed like crazy last night! Way more than on Christmas Eve! Let's go have a snowball fight!"
Instantly, Yukio understood. He'd glanced at their class chatroom off and on the last few days of the break and noticed that while everyone enjoyed their free time initially, that excitement fizzled pretty fast. At first, the students flocked daily to Keyaki Mall, but after repeated visits, it got boring, so they ended up staying in their dorms.
But now a big snowfall had changed things. Tired of Keyaki Mall, a snowball fight sounded perfect for a big group of students. "All right," Yukio said. Spotting everyone's eager faces, he roped in Ryuuen as well, and they all crammed into the elevator. Soon they were outside the first-year dorm, a rowdy free-for-all in the snow.
Snow battles are always better with more people. Throwing snow around by yourself, your hands just get freezing, and soon you lose interest. But gather a bunch of classmates in one place, and you barely notice the cold while frenetically rolling snowballs, the air echoing with laughter.
Some strove for "rate of fire," making the snowballs as small as possible, stacking up a bunch in their arms for rapid-fire attacks. Others went for "quality," plunging hands into the snow, forming massive lumps bigger than a person's head. Before long, they were all flinging them about, each impact bursting into powdery snow clouds amid cheers and jokes, brimming with youthful energy.
Ryuuen plopped down casually on a bench in front of the dorm, hands in his pockets, observing with a faint smile. The next second, that smile vanished—he took a direct hit from a side-thrown snowball right in the face!
"Ptui, ptui—!" A little bit of snow had gotten in his mouth, and Ryuuen spat it out, scanning the direction the snowball had come from. Who else but Yukio?
"Hey, I told you to come play," Yukio said. "Instead, you're just hanging around with your hands in your pockets, acting all important?"
Ryuuen bent to gather snow, prepared to mold it while cursing aloud—then paused and started laughing. Seeing that odd grin, Yukio tensed up, reflexively raising his hands to guard his head.
A moment later, a chill grazed his right wrist: a huge snowball smacked into him, scattering on impact. Yukio turned to find Ishizaki gleefully hopping in the snow, each step sinking his ankles deep. "Did you see that?!" Ishizaki yelled. "Everyone saw it, right?! I hit Yukio-aniki! I hit him!"
"…" Compared to Ishizaki's delight, Nomura, who was nearby, just coughed, looked away, then discreetly backed off a few steps, adopting a conspicuous silence. From an angle Yukio couldn't see, Nomura gave Ishizaki a furtive thumbs-up: Bold move, man.
Yukio now had no interest in continuing a snowball duel with Ryuuen, who was still laughing. Yukio ambled over to Albert and told him some story about "pulling up willows" from his homeland. Three minutes later, behind a snow mound that Yukio himself had built, Ishizaki's head was stuck in the snow while his legs flailed comically in the air. Only then did Yukio let Albert pull up Ishizaki, uprooting him from the mound.
Ishizaki didn't seem to mind at all. He rejoined the fun, packing his snowballs even tighter and, drawing on his soccer-club skills, began punting them around at random. His buddies found it entertaining and quickly drew a small "goal" to challenge Ishizaki's accuracy. After three kicks, he only scored once.
Later, Kaneda upped the ante by piling snow in front of the makeshift goal, basically copying what Yukio had done earlier, forming a wall, taunting Ishizaki that knowledge is power. Ishizaki stubbornly tried multiple kicks, each bouncing off the snow pile without scoring. In the end, he brought over Albert for a single massive kick that blew the snowball into pieces, making everyone erupt in laughter.
All that ruckus soon caught the interest of students still in the dorm, so it wasn't long before Ichinose—always enthusiastic—showed up with her well-connected classmates from all grades, escalating the chaos even further. The boys ended up battered, with snow fragments in their hair, even top guys like Yukio or Ryuuen. The girls got away lightly, just the occasional squeal whenever they were hit, their coats getting dusted with snow.
When they'd nearly had their fill of fun, Ichinose brushed off the snow on her clothes and came jogging over to Yukio, full of energy. "Yukio-kun~ We were planning a New Year's party tomorrow for my class. Why don't you and your classmates join us?"
"New Year's?" Yukio echoed. Right, because the local culture was akin to his home's traditions, New Year's was indeed a major holiday focusing on family reunion. But since the students of AN High School couldn't go home to celebrate, the best they could do was gather with their classes and have fun that way.
So Ichinose's class had set something up for the holiday, not wanting anyone to be alone in their dorm. And now she wanted to invite Yukio's class too—more people meant more excitement. After all, their classes had gotten along pretty well during the test-of-courage event, so it wouldn't be too awkward.
"Sure, but what are you planning?" Yukio agreed readily enough—if they were throwing a New Year's party, he could just bring his group along.
"Huh?" Ichinose blinked. "Well, we were basically gonna eat snacks and cake and so on. Oh, plus sweets. Then, like, all sit in a circle to talk—maybe do singing or some talent performances, like the test-of-courage time?"
Seeing Ichinose so pleased, Yukio didn't have the heart to dampen her enthusiasm. But in his mind, that format might be fun for around ten people, yet some might find it dull or left out.
"How about this?" he offered. "Tomorrow, we all head to Keyaki Mall, buy ingredients, and meet up in the Home-Ec classroom. Everyone can cook their specialty, and we'll hold a mini food festival."
"Hmm? Mmh!" Ichinose immediately clapped her hands. "As expected of Yukio-kun—so many good ideas!"
Encouraged by her excitement, the rest of the group perked up as well.
"Sounds fun," a few said. "It'll be great!"
"Hahaha, never thought you could cook," someone teased. "I pictured you only on the eating side of things…"
***
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