Melonbooks 2024 Winter Fair SS: A Snapshot of Summer Vacation

"When you guys think summer vacation, what comes to mind?" "Homework, I suppose."

"Yeah. Homework."

"Why do you have to respond with answers so devoid of hope and dreams…?"

On an otherwise normal day, not long after summer vacation had begun, Chitose had stunted a surprise attack on their house and barged in, only to pose them that very question. Amane, who had been diligently working on his assignments in the living room alongside Mahiru, naturally found their answers to be quite obvious. However, Chitose cast a deeply dissatisfied glance his way.

"This goes without saying, but we're in the middle of said homework right now," Amane said.

"Aw, c'moooon! Let's play~!"

"Sure, after I finish the parts I've set aside for today." "Stingy!"

"How can you say that? We gave you a warm welcome even though you showed up out of the blue uninvited."

Since Chitose visited without any prior notice, Amane believed that she should consider herself lucky for just being allowed inside like normal. They had let her in because they happened to be at home working on their assignments together, but he began to wonder what Chitose would have done if both he and Mahiru had been out instead.

"I mean, it's 'cause the aircon in my house has been acting up, so I'm having a repairman take a look at it," Chitose claimed. "Can't blame me for going somewhere cool in the meantime, right?"

It seemed that Chitose's visit was prompted by her home's air conditioning breaking down, seeking refuge from the heat at Amane's place before succumbing to it. Incidentally, Chitose claimed in a voice full of certainty that the reason she first came to Amane's apartment rather than Mahiru's was because "Mahirun's probably at Amane's anyways." Mahiru began blushing faintly as she realized Chitose had hit the nail on the head.

So, having decided to spend about half a day at their place for whatever reason, Chitose suddenly shouted, "I'm so bored!" after watching Amane and Mahiru silently working on their assignments across the low table for a while. She began to plop herself on the sofa, arms raised high and legs sprawled out.

"You know, if you're that bored, you could've just brought your own homework over."

"Absolutely not."

Chitose made a clear show of refusing, but Amane could already tell that she would later come crying for help with a "Help me, Mahirun!" towards the end of summer vacation.

With this foreseeable outcome, Amane let out a sigh of exasperation before standing up. "Alright, fine. I'll give you a very important task to do, seeing as you're clearly bored out of your mind."

Likening Chitose to a kid that needs a new toy to settle down is kinda rude, but whatever. Thinking this, Amane headed to the storage room to fetch a box that had been left there.

The moment Chitose saw the box, her eyes sparkled with excitement. "Whoa! A shaved ice machine! You had one!?"

Inside the box was a shaved ice machine, which, for some reason, Shihoko had recently sent to them. Written on the outside of the box was a message saying, "I won this in a lottery, so I'm sending it over to you. Get along well with Mahiru-chan, okay?" perfectly conveying her intention to present Mahiru with a bit of summer fun.

For Mahiru's sake, Amane decided to graciously accept her gift, preparing ice as well as several types of syrup and toppings. However, he never imagined that he'd actually end up using it now.

"I've prepared some ice and even syrup for you. Now, come on, get to work."

"Yaaay! Alright! I'm gonna try making a rainbow one!"

Chitose's excitement was clear as day as she declared her desire to create something that sounded quite spectacular. A glance in Mahiru's direction revealed that her eyes were twinkling away with a hint of expectation and excitement, albeit just a little.

"Are you not a fan of shaved ice, Mahiru?" Amane asked.

"I tend not to visit festivals and the like, so I haven't actually tried it before…although I'm surprised to learn that you can make them at home too."

"We used to have it quite often at my old house. We had to limit ourselves though, since eating too much could give us upset stomachs." Seeing Mahiru reminisce about the past with a solemn expression, Amane playfully tried to cheer her up. He relaxed his cheeks into a smile after seeing Mahiru respond with a brief giggle.

"What flavor would you like, Mahirun? Shall we both go for rainbow ones?" Chitose's cheerful voice also chimed in, and Mahiru's expression shifted back to the soft and gentle one she wore prior.

"Do we have enough syrups needed to make a rainbow one?"

"Hmm, if we mix some together, it should probably work out. Let's make our tongues all co–lor–ful together~!"

"What an invitation. But don't you come crying to us when you scream at your reflection in the mirror!"

"It'll be fine! Just think of it as a summer memory, see?"

Mahiru giggled. "Yes, that's right. I shall go along with your suggestion, Chitose-san."

"Leave it to me!"

As Mahiru had likely never experienced such silly antics before, Chitose's invitation must have been quite the delight for her. With a voice more cheerful than usual, Mahiru asked Chitose to choose for her, which made Amane break out into a soft smile as he gathered all the homework on the table into one pile. Of course, it went without saying that afterwards, Amane got roped into it as well, and all three of them ended up with their tongues turning into a colorful disaster.