How We Met Again

Chapter 26: Snowscape

Snow.

As I blinked awake in my bed (a foreign experience in its own right), the remnants of the previous night's distraction remained at the forefront of my mind. As I'd drifted off to sleep, those worries had bled into my dreams, and my thoughts had been a frigid, pure white. While I trusted that I would be safe, that hadn't prevented my subconscious from catastrophizing.

Rising from beneath my blankets, I quickly dressed, and checked what I needed for the day. Having never skied before, I had elected to leave the preparation of the list entirely in Yotsuba's hands.

"Gloves... check," I muttered to myself, searching through my suitcase. "Balaclava... hmm, couldn't find one of those, so I guess... not check? Ok, next... ski goggles. I still don't even know what those are."

"Mmm, good morning, Uesugi Fuutarou. What a bea-u-tiful day!"

I glanced behind me to see Second Place-san peeking out from under his blanket, a cheeky grin on his face. Rolling my eyes, I muttered greetings back to him and returned to my checklist.

Ski poles? Where the hell would I have even gotten those?!

My faith in Yotsuba was plummeting by the second.

Having assured myself that I had procured every reasonable thing, I left the room. Second Place-san watched me go, then elected to bother Maeda instead.

More power to him, I guess.

After a quick breakfast courtesy of Itsuki and the other students on meal duty, I found myself lined up to board a large bus. For those who had chosen to go skiing, the buses were set to carry us up the mountain to where the ski resort was located. Of course, not every student was going -- but a large enough majority were standing in the various boarding lines that it felt as though it were everyone.

Nino was with her friends, as one might have expected -- but the other four sisters were standing in line with me. As we slowly prepared to board the buses, Yotsuba prodded my side gently through the thick, warm jacket I'd put on.

"Are you ready, Uesugi-san? This is gonna be so much fun!"

"I am ready," I nodded resolutely. "I am terrified."

"Good, goo-- wait, terrified?! That makes it sound like you don't trust me as a teacher! Geez. I bet I'm a great teacher!"

"Promise you'll teach me how to stop," I said drily.

"You're still on that? I wouldn't forget something that important!"

"Right..." I said, my voice drenched in doubt.

"You don't believe me! Rude, Uesugi-san!"

"My apologies, Yotsuba-sensei," I said, bowing my head as I stepped up onto the bus ahead of her. "I'm sure you won't forget a single thing."

"Shi shi shi! That's right, I won't!" Yotsuba grinned smugly as we ascended the steps. "It's gonna be great!"

The bus was of a different type than the one we'd taken to the campgrounds; instead of four seats facing one another with a table in the middle, it simply consisted of rows upon rows of forward-facing seats. Resigned to a lack of cards, I walked down to near the end of the bus, and slid along to sit next to the window. Yotsuba immediately plopped into the seat next to me, while Ichika and Itsuki sat in the row in front of us. Miku sat across, taking the aisle seat -- an odd decision in my view, given the window seat was empty.

As the bus began to pull away, Miku looked out the window, and an uncharacteristic grin crossed her face. She looked down at her phone, which was in her lap, and I noticed that she was almost... cradling it. As we ascended out of the valley in which the campgrounds were located, she began tapping on her phone screen. Curious, I pulled out my own phone, and saw that we had ascended enough to receive a faint cell phone signal.