Chapter 4

Alllll righty, we’re done clearing the snow~! Ah~ That was some good exercise!

Haah… Haah… We’re finally done… I never want to do that again…

But I bet you’re all warmed up now, Midori-kun. You’re sweating like crazy.

Well yeah, I’m definitely warmer but… But I never wanted it to be like this… Why am I sweating so much in the middle of winter… I wanna die…

You should dry off. If you keep sweating like that you’re gonna catch a cold.

Blegh. T–Tetora-kun, cut it out, I can wipe myself off… Ah—owowow, do you really not know your own strength?!

Ahh, sorry Midori-kun. I was scrubbing too hard. Taishou’s always getting onto me about never drying off, so I just went at it without thinking.

Thanks for helping me, everyone. Because of you, we were able to finish quickly, so I really appreciate it ♪

there was a whole lot of Snow~ it is all gathered up like a hill now ♪

Uh, Shinkai-senpai, don’t get yourself buried again… I won’t save you next time, okay…?

mmm. i will not do it again~ i made a promise with you, midori.

hm? is there something wrong with the snow, tetora?

…You think we could arrange this snow pile into something like a ski slope if we tried~?

Huh, why are you talking about a ski slope all of a sudden…?

Well there was that feature on winter sports in your magazine, right?

I was thinking I kinda wanted to try it out, and that hill looks ju~st right for a snowboard.

Hu~h… I’m pretty sure you can’t do that…?

What would you even do about equipment, like a board and boots…? You don’t have anything like that, right Tetora-kun…?

Uumyu... Well I feel like cardboard would work for that, yanno?

I could cut it into the right shape and tie a string to my shoes~ Cardboard does slide pretty well.

If you’re skiing, you’d need ski poles, but you only need a board to go snowboarding, right?

So I’m thinking it’d be easier to do that.

Hm, you should be able to use cardboard to go sledding. I don’t think it’s impossible.

tetora had an interesting idea~ it sounds like it will be fun ♪

Hehe ♪ I was thinking about it the whole time we were shoveling snow~

Eh~? Normally this kind of thing would be impossible… Why is everyone so on board with it…

U~m. There is that saying, “boys, be ambitious.” And I think it’s good to challenge yourself to do the things you want to do.

I believe most inventions in our world are born from doing just that.

that is correct, midori. childhood is the time to have a lot of different Experiences.

by making a lot of mistakes over and over again, you will learn how to not get hurt.

What are you even talking about… If we do this we’re going to get hurt for real, not just as a metaphor…

How’d I get dragged into a carefree group that’s not even Ryuseitai… This is the worst…

Ahaha. You’re such a worrywart, Midori-kun~ I doubt we’d get hurt on this little baby hill!

Ehh~ But if you’re not careful, you could get seriously hurt…?

Even if you manage to make your own board, there’s not enough snow to even call this a ski slope.

Is it really not enough~? But it’s not like we can just make more snow. I can’t figure out how to make this work~

Guess we have to give up ♪ Let’s head on home, Tetora-kun.

Ughhh, that big smile of yours is so annoying~? But there really is no point stressing over what we can’t do. Guess I’ll head home.

Uwah~ It’s cold today, too~ The temperature plummeted last night.

If the snow is just going to pile up this much overnight, there really is no point in shoveling it~

Still, it was pretty careless of me to forget my towel.

I wasn’t even thinking after we finished working. Let’s see… Which tree did I hang it on?

Oh, here it is~ Thank goodness it didn’t fly away.

……! Wait a second…

Wait, really?! We can really go snowboarding on the running grounds?!

Yes. It snowed so much that the little hill we piled up has gotten much higher. I think it should be enough.

So I don’t see why we can’t go snowboarding, like you were talking about yesterday.

You didn’t have to come all the way here just to tell us, Aoba-senpai… Uh, seriously… What a pain…

Ahaha. Sorry, Takamine-kun. We’ve had quite an unexpected amount of snowfall this year, so I thought this would be a rare opportunity to go snowboarding.

Uu, this is the worst… I wanna die…

Since you both helped me shovel snow yesterday, I want to pay you back by helping you make snowboards.

Ossu! Much appreciated!

All right then. If we’re good on our ski slope, next we just gotta get a board.

Where can we get our hands on some cardboard~? You think if we went to the garden terrace we’d find some?

Ugh, I really am getting dragged into this no matter what… I didn’t even have club activities or unit practice today either, so it was supposed to be the best day ever…

Don’t knock it before you try it, Midori-kun! Aoba-senpai said it himself: opportunities like this don’t come along too often!