The GATE Academy [Please read description]

Chapter 35: The Headmaster's Summon

Time was passing well after Halloween. Everybody knows that as soon as the Halloween decorations come down, the Christmas decorations go up, and this was especially true at GATE. Although the island was in the middle of the Pacific, we somehow manage to get a mild amount of snow, enough to enjoy for the two months that it sticks around for.

It was two weeks after Halloween, a Saturday, and my friends and I had taken a trip down to the snowy banks of the lake to hang out. The leaves of the normally tropical trees bent low with the heavier-than-normal water and the floor was covered in about 8" of snow. Yuki was the happiest out of the group and seemed to be in her natural habitat. She danced around the white scenery with Faith as the rest of us laughed with joy at the sight.

When we reached the lake, everybody unpacked the folding chairs that they brought and formed a circle with them.

"I'll go ahead and get some wood!" Riku cheered as he walked off into the woods.

Iris chuckled as she walked off after him, "I'll make sure that he picks the right type of wood. Most of these trees are probably too wet to burn well enough, but there could be one good one, hopefully."

As Iris walked off, Mizu got up from his chair and walked to the edge of the lake, which wasn't entirely frozen over, but it's edges were covered in a thin sheet of ice. Mizu stared out into the lake and breathed softly, his breath becoming visible in the cold. He was obviously caught up in his thoughts, and I was going to say something, but Falen got up shortly after and followed him, only to stand at his side in silence.

I looked to my side and saw Keita relaxing in his chair.

"Feels good, doesn't it? Being out here..."

"Yes, indeed... The crisp air is so fresh and the light breeze is perfect..."

I smiled at Keita's response and looked off to the other side to Faith and Yuki.

"What about you two? How's all of this to you guys?"

Yuki smiled brightly and got up from her chair with a twin and threw up her arms.

"I love it!! I love the snow!" She said as three lines of snow rose up from the ground and spiraled around her.

Faith smiled up at Yuki and nodded her head, "I feel like I love the snow so much now because I never really had a chance to expereience it when I was younger... I mean, the Demon Kingdom of Fire isn't exactly a very snowy place!"

We laughed together and I saw from the corner of my eye Keita grinning. It was good to know that everybody was enjoying themselves in one way or another here, a nice break from school. I had considered taking up a request during this time, but I was still playing catch up with all the work I missed while we were in Hell and I felt like taking another request would just unnecessarily set us all back a bit again.

Yuki walked over to Ake and the two of them began gathering snow outside of the circle of chairs to build a snow man. The snow wasn't too thick, so Yuki had to summon some from around the area to get enough. Ake pulled out his pack of pens from his back pocket and laughed as he dyed the snowman in waves of cover, creating fun designs as well with it. Natsume, a fellow junior friend of mine and Takashi Tsubasa's younger brother, was with us and sat next to Ake's chair. Perched on Natsume's right shoulder was his baby hawk companion, Hanesui. Hanesui chirped happily as he and Natsume watched Ake and Yuki. Hanesui had a little beanie on his head to stay warm.

Riku came back shortly with Iris with the trunk of a tree over his shoulder, carrying it like nothing. He set the the tree trunk away from us, lining it against the lake, and he and Iris returned to us. Riku sat besides Keita and Iris, next to where Yuki was.