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“Do you actually know how to ski, Amia?”
“Nope!”
Mizuki clutched their newly rented skis as the members of Niigo headed for the lifts. As their newest idea to help Kanade find inspiration for her songs, they’d managed to get them a few days’ stay at a mountain resort for a surprisingly good price.
“You’re going to get yourself killed!” Ena exclaimed.
“It’s not that hard,” Mafuyu cut in, her monotonous voice seeming to do nothing but frustrate Ena more. “Pointing them straight makes you go, making a little wedge makes you slow down.”
“E-easy for you to say!”
“Guys, guys, let’s not fight!” Mizuki glanced over their shoulder at them. “We’re here to relax and find inspiration~!”
“Do you ski, Mafuyu?” Kanade asked curiously.
“I have before,” Mafuyu replied simply.
“Great!” Mizuki exclaimed. “She can teach us!”
After getting the skis on with Mafuyu’s help, the group split up for the lift, Mafuyu and Kanade getting on ahead of Mizuki and Ena as there wasn’t enough room for all four of them on one chair.
“Kind of cool to be up so high huh?” Mizuki murmured once they were finally being taken up the mountain.
“More like cold,” Ena complained. “It’s freezing!”
“Come on, at least try to enjoy it!”
Mizuki certainly would. They’d take any chance they could to enjoy their time with their friends before they inevitably found out what they were hiding and everything changed.
They smiled at Ena. “I spent all this money so Enanan could have a good time~”
She scoffed, but Mizuki could see a hint of a smile on her face. “For me to have a good time? I thought this was for K.”
“I don’t see why it can’t be for both of you.”
“Not for Yuki?”
“For everyone, Ena! Though Yuki may not enjoy herself as much since she’ll have to babysit us.”
“She’ll come as close as she can to enjoying herself since K’s involved.”
“That’s true,” Mizuki relented with a grin.
The lift reached its endpoint, and the pair clumsily made their way off, not used to walking in skis.
Ena paused to look around once they were out of the way at last. “Where are K and Yuki…?”
Mizuki glanced up. Indeed, there was no sight of either of them. “They got off just before us… how have we lost them already?”
“Well, they can’t have gotten far.”
Kanade must have gotten off easier than Mizuki and Ena with Mafuyu’s direction, and the two must have gone off without expecting the others to be too slowed down, assuming they’d be right behind them… how far could they really have gotten?
Mizuki took a moment longer to look around before they spotted a pair of fresh ski tracks not too far away.
“There,” they said, pointing to the trail. “They must have started already expecting we were right behind them.”
“The idiots,” Ena scoffed.
“Let’s catch up to them!” Mizuki let their skis begin to carry them down the slope.
“A-amia! Don’t leave me behind too!”
— — —
“I think we should do this one,” Mafuyu said, pointing at the trail on the map. “It won’t be too steep and these trails are meant for beginners, so there won’t be many obstacles.”
“Ah, good… let’s do that one, then.” Kanade smiled softly. “Thank you for offering to help us… But won’t you get bored doing easy runs?”
Mafuyu shook her head. “I haven’t skied in a while. A simple warm-up would be good.” She looked over her shoulder, pausing when she couldn’t immediately spot the others. “Ena!” she called. “Mizuki!”
Kanade looked around, too. “They were right behind us, right?”
Mafuyu nodded. “Mizuki! Ena! Come here!”
“They were a bit slower getting off than we were… what if they thought we left without them and went to a trail?”
“We would have seen them. Unless they…” Mafuyu’s gaze travelled to the trailhead marked with a black diamond.
Kanade followed her gaze. “That… that’s not good.”
“They definitely didn’t see the sign and went down there.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going after them,” Mafuyu decided, shuffling her skis in that direction.
“You said you needed a warm-up…!”
“I’ll be fine. You find somewhere up here to sit, and wait for me to bring them back.”
“O-okay,” Kanade replied, and Mafuyu set off down the trail.
— — —
Mizuki could barely control their skis. The path was too steep, filled with unpredictable curves. They tried to slow themself how Mafuyu had instructed them to, but their skis kept crossing and throwing them off balance.
“Mizuki!” Ena yelled from behind them.
Mizuki turned around just as they heard Ena shout, “Rock!”
They saw it approaching, swerving to try to dodge it, but they hit it anyway. As Ena was right behind them, she tripped over Mizuki as they fell, and the two of them tumbled into a snow drift beside the curved path. Cold as it was, the snow cushioned their fall, Ena landing on top of them, their tangled skis stopping her from going any further.
Mizuki’s heart was racing from everything, but they gathered themself enough to look up at Ena. “I’m so sorry! Are you alright?”
They expected Ena to be at the very least annoyed, but to their surprise, she laughed.
Mizuki had always loved Ena’s laugh, but something about it now, with her hair messy and covered in clumps of snow, smiling down at her, made them smile a bit more than usual, and they found themself laughing with her.
“I can’t believe you didn’t see that coming!” Ena giggled.
“I’ve never skied before!” Mizuki laughed. “How was I supposed to when there’s so much to pay attention to?”
“You’re hopeless.”
Mizuki couldn’t stop themself from smiling.
As Ena’s skis were stuck under the snow, and thus Mizuki was stuck under her, the two started trying to free her boots from the skis.
“There you are.”
The two looked up to see Mafuyu sliding to a stop, turning sideways to avoid falling down the steep slope. She quickly disconnected her skis, getting out of the way of anyone else coming down the slope.
“You’re here?” Ena asked. “We thought you and K were surely at the bottom already.”
“We were at the map, actually, trying to pick out a trail for us to do together. Did you not read the signs?”
“...what signs?”
“This is an advanced trail.” Mafuyu crouched down to help free Ena’s boots from the skis. “I’m assuming you wouldn’t have come down here if you knew that.”
Mizuki smiled sheepishly. “No, probably not.”
Ena helped Mizuki up once she was free and able to stand. Mizuki missed the warmth a bit.
“That was kind of fun!” she said with a grin. “Terrifying, though!”
“I’d like to do that again,” Mizuki agreed, “but maybe not on an advanced trail.”
“It’s your fault we came down here! If you’d have looked around instead of just assuming they came down here without us, we would have found them!”
“You agreed with me!”
“You ran off before we could really talk about it!”
“We have to get back to Kanade,” Mafuyu interrupted. Was that a hint of amusement in her voice? “Come on, let’s find our way back from here.”
Mizuki took their skis and Ena’s hand, dragging her to follow Mafuyu. This was the exact type of fun they wanted to have with their friends. Chaotic, unplanned, and full of mistakes.
If only it could last forever.