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“Everyone!” Kotegiri exclaims, holding up his notebook agenda in his hands. He’s grinning slightly, rocking back and forth on the tip of his toes and heels. The rest of the Gou school are chilling around the engawa, with Samidare hanging off a tree for some reason. He got offended when Kotegiri asked. Murakumo’s under the branch Samidare’s perching on, and not far from them, Kuwana’s sitting on the grass. Inaba’s setting on the engawa, his legs crossed and a hood drawn over his eyes. Matsui is sitting next to Inaba quietly, a book in his hands. Meanwhile, Buzen is…
Running circles around the clearing. Normal. Kuwana called it “zoomies” or something, and apparently, Samidare and Murakumo did them too. Kotegiri lets out a short sigh as he waits for all of their attention.
Buzen does come to a stop, thankfully. He settles back on the engawa next to Matsui, grinning up at the rest of them as if he wasn’t running around just earlier. “Yo, Kote. What’s on the agenda?”
Kotegiri holds back a sniffle, “Leader! Well, I saw something on TV and thought we should do it too. I already got approval from Aruji-san! It’s a snowman-making contest!”
“There’s no snow,” Inaba offers, even a little reluctantly. “It’s useless.”
“Oh, but it’ll snow tomorrow.” Kuwana chimes in, “but that sounds like it’d be fun. Let’s do it, Kotegiri.”
“Well! I don't get it, but it's probably fun if Kote says so…” Buzen pauses for a moment, flashing a smile at Matsui, “so what do you say, Matsu?”
Matsui buries his nose deeper into his book, “If Buzen says so…” He mumbles quietly, but then closes his book. “Then I suppose. Is this the same as one of your practices, Kotegiri?”
“Yes! So please give it your all, senpai!” Kotegiri beams, adjusting his glasses again. He wonders if he should ask some of the others to participate, but it’s already enough for him that the other members of the Gou school are willing to do this with him. And good thing the weather report is predicting a lot of snow to fall and stick tomorrow!
“Um… are we joining too?” Murakumo speaks up hesitantly from under the tree. Samidare swings down, landing gracefully. “But you wouldn’t bother asking in front of us if not—”
“Of course, Murakumo-senpai!” Kotegiri exclaims, “I’d love it if you and Samidare-senpai joined.”
“That can be done,” Samidare returns with a nod of his head. “But it may be ideal to get an objective judge. Perhaps consult some of the others, Kote-san.”
"Good idea!" Kotegiri's eyes sparkle at the thought. It'd be like a real idol variety show, wouldn't it? Kotegiri runs the possibilities in his head, nodding.
"Sure. My brothers and I can help judge," Horikawa agrees easily, looking up from his laundry with a small smile. "If we'll do, of course."
"You'll do great, Horikawa-san!" Kotegiri returns, "but you should join me for practice sometimes. You'd shine on the stage."
Horikawa hesitates, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Oh, me? Maybe…"
Little do they know, there's a figure watching them… closely. Intently. Horikawa, with the instincts of a sword used for assassinations, picks up on it.
Rather than drawing attention to it, Horikawa simply smiles. "I need to finish putting this away. But I'll make sure everyone's there tomorrow, okay?"
"Mhm! Thank you again, Horikawa-san!" Kotegiri enthuses, practically bouncing on his feet before heading off.
Horikawa smiles at the retreating figure, but shifts to keenly search for the source of that gaze…
But he can't see anything now. Strange.
The day has come. And thankfully, a beautiful sheet of snow has fallen all over the citadel. There's plenty of material for everyone to construct their snowman. With a triumphant grin, Kotegiri ties his scarf tightly around his neck, sliding his earmuffs over his ears.
He heads towards the clearing with a skip in his step. Buzen waves over at him, and it seems like the rest of the Gous are there without incident. Kotegiri beams at the sight— looks like Buzen made sure to round up everyone. He considers getting him a gift later. All of them are standing around their designated clearing next to the engawa, all bundled up in warm scarves and coats. Except for Samidare, who's being a showoff. Inaba is practically covered head to toe, and still is standing pretty confidently despite it all.
On the other side, Horikawa is holding a warm thermos of miso soup while Yamabushi is making snow angels on the ground. It's some sort of training. Meanwhile, Yamanbagiri is standing listlessly in the snow. He's just staring.
"Well, let's get started then!" Kotegiri declares, pretending he's holding a microphone in his hand. "Thank you everyone for tuning in! Today my senpai and I will be building snowmen. Aaaand… let’s present our judges! The Kunihiro school! Thank you again, Horikawa-san, for agreeing to show up today.” Kotegiri skitters quickly to hold up his fake microphone to Horikawa.
Horikawa laughs and smiles, “Of course, Kotegiri-san. Thank you for having me.”
Yamanbagiri mumbles a greeting while Yamabushi does his signature hearty laugh and pounds on his chest.
“Now, use those muscles of yours to show us the best snowman! Ka ka ka!”
“That’s not how it works.” Yamanbagiri pauses, "well… maybe technically."
Horikawa claps his hands together. “Well, then. Let’s get started, okay? Kotegiri-san, and the rest of the Gou-san… please proceed with your snowman building! You have an hour!” Horikawa shoots the figurative missile in the air, signaling for all to start.
All of them go straight to work.
Except for Samidare, who's staring into the distance. He had a perplexed expression on his face, enraptured in his thoughts.
Maybe he's just thinking about what he wants to build.
"Everyone done?" Horikawa asks after an hour approximately is up, clicking his stopwatch off. He hums as he puts it away, signaling for all of them to make their finishing touches.
Kotegiri glances over at the line-up of snowmen. It’s clear that they all really did put in their best effort. Maybe. But he might be too biased! So that’s where the Kunihiros come in.
The three of them decide to tackle each snowman one at a time. They start with Kotegiri’s. Before Horikawa can even ask, Kotegiri immediately launches into his speech. He’s spent time preparing it. “I made a traditional snowman! It has all the parts a snowman would need, and I made sure to give it my second favorite scarf and hat. Thank you very much!”
“It’s very cute, Kotegiri-san. I can tell you put a lot of work into it. It looks like any average run-of-the-mill snowman!” Maybe Horikawa’s being a bit too blunt. Kotegiri feels a pang in his heart at the remark. “But I’ll give it a 7 out of 10.”
Yamabushi, on the other hand, crosses his arms and laughs heartily, “Kakakaka! The fruits of your training shine through! 10 out of 10!”
“It’s cute,” Yamanbagiri mumbles, adjusting his hood over his head, “I’m just glad it’s normal. 8 out of 10.”
“T-Than you very much!” Kotegiri bows quickly, but steps forward, “I’ll take over MCing now, Horikawa-san. Well, then… let’s look at Leader’s snowman!”
Buzen sandwiches his face, squishing his cheeks for a moment, before letting out a hefty sigh. “Whew! Well, here’s mine. I was just tryin’ to get this done as fast as I can, cuz I’m fast, right? Well, it turned out pretty good? Haha! I think it’s friendly.”
Kotegiri takes a look. The base of the snowman is far too big. Maybe Buzen got too excited and was aiming to make a huge one. He squints, adjusting his glasses as he looks at the rest of it. It’s overall pretty hastily made but has its own charm to it.
“5 out of 10. It’s imbalanced, but… well, I guess you at least finished it?” Horikawa hums, taking a sip out of his miso soup.
“Kakakaka! Speed is just as important as strength, no? 10 out of 10!” Yamabushi passes down his verdict with a hearty laugh.
Yamanbagiri sighs, shaing his head. “Seriously, just slow down and plan this out… or at least make the rest of the snowman match. 4 out of 10.”
“Well, let’s move on to the next one! Matsui-senpai, how’s y—” Kotegiri blinks, pausing for a moment. Matsui’s snowman is perfectly made, perhaps even more meticulously sculpted than Kotegiri’s own. However, it even has… blood(?) dripping from realistic areas. Yeah. Who knows.
“I’m cold,” Matsui murmurs, but then dramatically gestures to his snowman, “ah, do not worry. I don’t plan on shedding anyone else’s blood, so I’ve used a red food dye.”
“Anything else?” Kotegiri asks, a little warily.
“No.” Matsui shakes his head.
“Well, it looks great, Matsui-senpai!” Kotegiri enthuses in return.
Horikawa blinks. “That’s terrifying. But the form is good, so… 8 out of 10.” He wraps his arms around himself, a shiver pulsing down his spine.
“Uooooh! How passionate. Your passion moves me, Matsui. I give this a 10 out of 10!” Yamabushi nods approvingly, crossing his arms thoughtfully, “Had it not been for the snow on the ground, this would’ve moved me to do some training…”
“Seriously, brother… you can’t just give everyone a perfect score.” Yamanbagiri sighs, and then stares at the snowman, “You should’ve not bothered with the blood. 6 out of 10.”
Kotegiri laughs and then walks over to Kuwana. “Then, Kuwana-senpai, let’s take a look at— woooah?”
It’s an almost life-sized statue of Tonbokiri. It’s impressive. He didn’t know his senpai was such an artist…
“Oh, hello. I decided to make it in Tonbokiri-sama’s likeness. I hope this helps,” Kuwana smiles, “it was fun.”
Kotegiri doesn’t bother asking for more details, passing it over to the judges.
“That’s amazing, Kuwana-san! I’m curious… do you take commissions?” Horikawa asks, clasping his hands together, “10 out of 10!”
“I’m inspired by how nicely you sculpted his muscles… hm, hm. After this, I will embark on more training. Kakakaka!” Yamabushi laughs boisterously, “I give this a 10 out of 10!”
“This isn’t a snowman! This is a snowman-building contest!” Yamanbagiri sighs into his hands, “3 out of 10.”
Well, technically it is a snow man , but no one bothers correcting Yamanbagiri. The poor secretary already goes through enough.
“Next is Samidare-senpai!” Kotegiri cheers as he walks over to Samidare, but… there’s nothing next to him. “Samidare-senpai?”
“Ah. Is the time already over?” Samidare shrugs, “I was suddenly inspired by the winter wonderland before us, so I was thinking of which haiku best suited the situation… wan.”
“Ame-san!” Murakumo quickly interrupts, “I-If you want… you can say we made ours together.”
Kotegiri looks over at Murakumo’s snowman. It’s very small and tiny, and practically crumbling. However, you can tell Murakumo did his best. He was so brave about it.
“Oh… Kumo-san, I thank you.” Samidare returns with a small smile. “Is that alright with the judges?”
“It’s not like we can do anything else,” Horikawa returns with a sigh, “Um… I’ll give it a 6 out of 10 for effort.”
“Even something so small can become stronger. I believe in this snowman’s future,” Yamabushi nods sagely, “10 out of 10! I’ll take it training with me!”
“You can’t train a snowman…” Yamanbagiri sighs, “well, I’ll give it a 4 out of 10. I feel like these are steadily decreasing in quality.”
“I suppose that counts for Murakumo-senpai’s snowman too… then! Next! Inaba-senpai!” Kotegiri bounces on his feet, excited to see what Inaba-senpai has waiting for them. He’s then blown away at how pristine it is. It’s a perfectly sculpted snowman, perhaps better than Matsui’s, and looks like it’s come straight out of a magazine spread. “That’s amazing, Inaba-senpai!”
Inaba scoffs, “It’s only natural. I will achieve the world itself, so I must at least excel at this much.” He presses his fingers to his temples, “Surely this deserves full scores.”
Well, the thing about it is that… it has realistic human features. To the point that it’s almost terrifying. Instead of a carrot nose, it has a realistic-looking nose.
Horikawa is shivering, “It’s well done, but it’s not very cute… 8 out of 10.”
Inaba glares hard at Horikawa, and now the rage starts building up in his soul. “Hmph.”
“Ooooou… this looks like a strong snowman. A good soldier,” Yamabushi nods, “I give it a 10 out of 10.”
Inaba nods with a grunt, almost as if saying that’s what I thought.
Yamanbagiri blinks, “I see that only Kotegiri is capable of making a normal snowman. 7 out of 10.”
Kotegiri tackles Inaba to the ground before the other uchigatana could do something. The comment also just rolls off everyone else’s back.
In the midst of that, there’s a large shriek resounding in the ground and the following crash of snow flying everywhere. Then, there’s coughing.
“Are you alright, Suishinshi? We could’ve just watched from inside, you know.” A familiar voice chuckles. Kotegiri climbs off Inaba, turning to inspect the source of the commotion.
“It’s fineeee, Kiyomaro!” Suishinshi practically whines back, but then realizes that he has an audience and coughs rather loudly. He turns to Kotegiri. “Ahem. I see the lot of you are fooling around rather than the tasks we as Touken Danshi are slotted to do—”
“Suishinshi wants to build a snowman, too,” Kiyomaro beams, placing a hand on his best friend’s shoulder. “So could we? We’re inspired by everyone else’s designs.”
“Ah. Uh. Yes. As inspections. Part of our inspections of this citadel,” Suishinshi coughs again, clearing his throat. “It’s important. You must let us join you.”
Kotegiri’s lips curve into a smile, and he bounds over to grab Suishinshi by his gloved hands. “Of course, Suishinshi-san. You only just needed to ask.”
Horikawa blinks, “Aaah, so you’re the one staring at Kotegiri and me yesterday. Well, sure. Let’s all just build snowmen now!”
Suishinshi sputters out some sort of protest but allows himself to get dragged along by both Kotegiri and Kiyomaro.