" what ... ? "
Everyone in the dorm stared at Minako in confusion , even her brother . It was early in the morning when she blurted out an excited " let's visit Niseko ! " out of the blue . It was so surprising and unexpected that a few of them choked on their own drinks and food , and when they regained their composure , Minako repeated the question again nearly causing them to choke again .
" Ni—what now ? " Minato asked doubtfully
" what ?! How can you actually live in Japan , and not know what Niseko is ?! It's a town with a great ski resort ! "
" I'm pretty sure the town has other things as well ... but where did this idea come from all of a sudden ? " Yukari asked
" Well , I definitely agree ! " Junpei eagerly agreed " then you will see why they used to call me the blizzard wolf ! "
" you do realize we have a little over a week before the final battle , right ? " Shinjiro ignored Junpei and glared at Minako " a trip will cost us two or four days !"
" a-duh ! Of course ! Why do you think I made this suggestion now ?! " Minako exclaimed " this is our chance to have some fun memories together , so we will be ready to fight Nyx without thinking about things that we couldn't do ! "
" it's very thoughtful , but I'll pass ... " Akihiko sighed " the trip to Kyoto was more than enough for me "
" oh yeah ... come to think of it , you got dragged into—" Shinjiro started , much to the terror of Akihiko , Minato and Minako
" ahahaha ! Here , Shin-chan ! " Minako hastily shoved a mouthful of omelette in his mouth " what do you think of my cooking ? "
" ... into signing all those autographs ... yeah , that was a drag " Minato continued while Minako kept Shinjiro occupied " sorry , senpai , they kept pestering me "
" it's ... it's okay ... " Akihiko mumbled quietly
" well ... our trip to Kyoto was ... lively... " Fuuka said gently " but I still had fun ... I would love to go on another trip with everyone"
" yeah , I agree . I've never been to a ski resort before , let alone skiing , I would love to do that now " Yukari nodded eagerly
" that will be difficult , especially since school is already started " Mitsuru said sternly , but then as she saw the grim look on everyone's face , she smiled and nodded " that being said , I suppose as the student council president , I can arrange something with the faculty office " and everyone cheered in response.
Surprisingly , the next day , the members of SEES were riding the bus with everyone else to Niseko. Apparently , the teachers were discussing the possibility of rearranging the culture festival for their school , but seeing as the weather wasn't improving , and the Apathy syndrome in Iwatodai was becoming more and more rampant , they decided to arrange a school trip somewhere admittedly with less cases of Apathy syndrome instead . However , not exactly everything went according to plan . For instance Minako was excited to talk with Shinjiro during and about their road trip , but to her dismay each class had its own bus , and she would sit next to Minato .
" look , if it'll make you feel any better ... uh ... you can just pretend I'm ' Shin-chan ' as you would put it "
" fine ... let me test this out " Minako sighed " Shin-chan , did you know that if you get lost with a cute girl in the mountains of Niseko , and no one finds you , that means the two of you will be together in the afterlife ? "
" what ... " Minato didn't even know where to begin in criticizing that made-up legend , so he just shrugged and said " I don't care "
" you ... you don't ... " Minako suddenly lunged at her brother , stretching and pinching his cheeks angrily " I knew this would happen ! For as long as I've been going out with him , Shin-chan never once said to me that he doesn't care ! "
" let go of me ! " Minato shook himself free of her grip , before accusingly asking , albeit while keeping his tone a secret " and while we're talking about that grizzly bear , why does he know about what happened in Kyoto ?!! I thought you said you would keep it a secret !!! "
" I ... uh ... I don't care ... ? " Minako nervously replied
" alright , since everyone is here , please get in the bus according to your numbers " Miss Toriumi said , but as she saw few students listening to her " if you don't get it now , we'll cancel the trip ! " and as the students hastily entered the bus , she sighed " honestly , if you keep straying off line , I'm the one who will be blamed ! "
While the students were ascending to their buses , some discussion between the teachers led to rearranging the seats , so girls would sit on one side of the bus , while the boys sat on the other . Minako lamented herself for complaining , as she didn't even have the privilege of sitting next to Minato anymore , and worse yet her seat wasn't next to the window . Instead , the one next to the window was Yukari . Behind them sat Fuuka and Natsuki , and in front of them sat Yuko and Rio . As for the boys , Minato sat by the window , much to his sister's jealousy, and by his side sat Kenji , behind them sat Junpei and Kazushi . And in front of him sat Hidetoshi with another student who fell asleep as soon as he sat down by the window .
While Minako was initially jealous of Minato , that jealousy quickly became pity when she saw Kenji chattering with him . While she could see Minato muffling his ears with his earphones and turning his attention to the road , she could also see that did little to stop Kenji .
" psst ... Rio ... " she quietly whispered to her " how's Kenji ? "
" hm ? He's fine ... why do you ask ? " Rio turned back with a puzzled look on her face
" well , he's sitting next to my brother , and I fear for his sake "
" oh , don't worry about your brother ... "
" n—no ... I'm worried about Kenji ... " Minako laughed nervously
" I ... I see ... " Rio was taken aback by Minako's words , but she nevertheless turned back to scold Kenji
" I wouldn't blame him for doing anything , I would've slapped that Kenji if he was sitting next to me " Yukari sighed " I'm surprised he hasn't yet "
" ahaha ... let's just enjoy this trip without violence , right Yuko ? " Minako noticed Yuko staring at the road with an irritant look on her face " uh ... is everything okay ? "
" oh ... well about that ... " Rio had just turned back from secretly scolding Kenji , and she turned to Minako and explained " she was supposed to sit next to Kaz , before the seating was rearranged on a short notice "
" no way ! No how ! " Yuko yelled out of the blue " I was never this happy to sit anywhere in my life as I am now !!! "
" really ? " Yukari was unconvinced " why do you look like a grounded child , then ? "
" listen , I know how you feel " Rio said calmly " but it's literally the same for everyone ! I mean ... Minako here is an entire bus away from her boyfriend ! "
" ahaha ... let's ... let's change the subject ... " Minako blushed
On the boys' end , Kenji had pretty much given up on Minato reacting to anything , and just turned to talk with other students . As for Minato , the calming sight of the road was slowly lulling him to sleep , and what helped him even more was the calming playlist of music he had prepared for snowy road trips . He wasn't going to sleep , though , as the feeling of someone poking him woke him up . He thought it was Kenji at first , but then realized that it was coming from behind him .
" oh , you were going to sleep ... sorry , man " Junpei was the one who nudged him " I was just thinking ... how come I don't see Ai-chan anywhere ? "
" she's taking a separate method of transport , so she could accompany Ken " Minato replied " Minako insisted that he come along for this trip , and since he wasn't exactly a student in Geggokan , that was the best we could do "
" you know ... I'm starting to think you personally hate me , dude " Kenji turned back to Minato with an irritated look on his face " how come you easily answered Junpei over there , but have been ignoring me ever since we sat together ?! "
" I don't hate anyone here " Minato sighed " it's just that you were talking about purposefully getting lost with a girl in the snow , while Junpei was talking about something serious , okay ?! "
" I ... okay ... " Kenji had no answer to that .
" anyway ... we have a long way ahead of us ... so I'll just sleep ... "
————————————
" and that's why protein is also important for those who are planning to climb a mountain " Akihiko said , his face almost shining from interest and excitement in his topic " so what do you think , Shinji ? "
" why the hell did I get stuck with a chatterbox like you ... " Shinjiro groaned
Thankfully , it hadn't been hours since they left Iwatodai , so they should be close to their destination . That was what everyone was hoping for , but what nobody accounted for happened , as the students began noticing the bus slowing down . Those at the front seats could see that the road was blocked by an avalanche , something that they weren't expecting to happen . Thick layers upon layers of snow had completely blocked the way . They could hear the driver discussing and even arguing with other drivers , and they wondered what would happen .
" the road is blocked " Mitsuru explained " we have no choice but to wait for it to be cleared up "
" will that take too long ? " one student asked
" yes , most likely ... there are other roads blocked on the highway . By the time they arrive here , we would have stayed here a few hours "
" tsch ... what a drag ... " Shinjiro groaned " we didn't have that much time before Nyx to begin with , and now this is going to delay us even more ! "
" are you throwing the towel already , Shinji ?! " Akihiko said challengingly
" what are you talking about ? "
" we can clear the path ourselves ! " Akihiko didn't wait for Shinjiro's approval , and stood up to rile the students in the bus " we can do it without any help ! "
" Akihiko ! Any more barbaric actions and you could cause another avalanche ! " Mitsuru sternly stopped him
" we're not doing anything barbaric , we're just going to clear the snow ourselves ! " Akihiko replied eagerly " there's has to be some spades or shovels in this bus somewhere ! "
" there is , actually " the driver seemed to like Akihiko's enthusiasm
" I see ... " Mitsuru sighed as the students were all riled up to help Akihiko , so she yielded and said " very well , I won't stop anyone who wants to help clear the way "
" are you ready , Shinji ? We're going to clear this path together ! "
" clear it yourself " Shinjiro scoffed " I'm already tired from listening to you rambling the whole trip ! "
" don't be a lazy sloth , Shinji ! " Akihiko taunted him , but as he saw him not responding , he decided to use his ultimate trump card in any argument against Shinjiro " oh , I'm sure Minako would be proud to learn about how you ... ! "
" leave her out of this , you little shit ! " Shinjiro furiously yelled at him
" hey ! Don't complicate this situation any more than it already is ! " Mitsuru sternly tried to reprimand them , but they didn't listen to her
" I'm sure after a few disappointing stories , even she will start to wonder why she picked you ! "
" grr .... Pass me the spade ! " Shinjiro sternly snatched a spade off of one student's hand , who didn't even dare to object , before he turned back to Akihiko " just for that snarky bullshit you spat here , I'll bury you in the snow until I turn you into snowman outside ! "
*******************
Well , here's hoping that this series of events will be interesting to read , because they're the last events before the final battle .
Writing this book has been a long and exciting journey for me , and I hope you enjoyed this just as much as I did . I hope you stick around until the end , and stay safe .