APRIL 8 - MONDAY - EARLY MORNING
Pipipipipi!
June’s hand swung out from under her duvet, landing on her bedside table and searching desperately for her blaring phone. After the fifth attempt she grabbed it, clamping down on the power button to silence her alarm. 6:30am. Two hours until school started.
After a couple more minutes to lie in, the sun rose high enough in the sky to shine directly onto her face through her small window- which she felt was a good enough sign she should finally get up. She swung her legs out of bed and stretched, glancing at her new Shizuka Academy uniform hanging in her wardrobe.
A grey and green checkered skirt and suspenders, with a white button-up shirt, and an optional black blazer she had decided was probably best to wear on her first day. She changed, taking the green tie from its hanger and tying it loosely around her neck, hanging low enough to compliment leaving her top button undone.
She wandered to her kitchen sink, splashing water over her face before staring into the small mirror that hung above it. Dark grey irises, two angry storm clouds, stared back, and she scanned her face for the first time in days. She had a strong jawline and sharp eyes. Jet black hair cascaded freely down her shoulders, which she tied up into her standard high ponytail. As usual, a couple of errant strands floated back across her face, which she annoyedly huffed at.
She sleepily shuffled to her fridge, tugging it open and- oh, right. Of course. In her cleaning frenzy yesterday she hadn’t actually bought herself any food. Or drink. Or anything, really, meaning she’d have to get breakfast in town.
Luckily, she had time, and swung a more school-appropriate thin black jacket on and tugged her bag over her shoulder before leaving Valjean, making sure to lock the door behind her.
She checked her phone again- 7:14. Loads of time to get food, despite the diversion of heading to Central street. A quick check of her phone’s map revealed it was probably fastest for her to just eat at Mercury, the big chain department store that sat at the top of Central street, as if parading its victory over all the other little shops. She made a quick apology in her head to the nice cafes she had seen on the way up, promising when she had a little more time she’d make sure to visit them.
As she started her stroll to Mercury, she observed the students walking with her. Variations on the uniform were common- some had a green turtleneck sweater, some had no tie, some went without the blazer. Boys also wore grey trousers. A few inquisitive looks were thrown her way as she passed- June supposed that in a town as small as this, everybody knew every other student’s face, and a new third-year stood out. She huffed, pulling her bag a little closer to her and hurrying away before she could catch another errant stare.
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“That’ll be 455 yen. Thank you for ordering at Mercury. We’ll have your food ready for you in a minute, miss.”
June nodded, thanking the cashier and finding an empty table to wait for her order. This early, the outdoor food court was almost empty, being mostly populated by tired-looking workers returning from night shifts, stifled by the cold morning air.
As she waited, her eyes couldn’t help but observe the boy behind the counter who had taken her order. Black scruffy hair haphazardly combed back, a thin face, but soft black eyes with huge bags underneath. He looked exhausted, and… young. As in, the same age as her. But… surely not, right? Anybody her age in this town would be going to Shizuka Academy at this time of day, so...
Her train of thought was interrupted as her simple order of breakfast egg muffins was placed on her table. She placed her phone on the table next to her tray, and as she ate began to read the articles she had bookmarked yesterday.
> Inside the Aihaba Hypothermia Cases
>
> The mystery activity plaguing Aihaba continues this week as another sudden hypothermia case was reported to medical services on Saturday evening, now totalling 3 instances in almost a month.
>
> Symptoms of this sudden onset condition include a drop in body temperature, loss of motor ability in extremities and limbs, and constant shivering. Victims also become despondent, reportedly unwilling to speak or attempt to habilitate their own recovery.
>
> Doctors are at a loss on how to approach treating these bizarre cases- the weather has been mild and warm in the town recently, and no correlating link or underlying medical condition could be found between the victims. Furthermore, the most recent case has affected multiple individuals living in the same household- experts have been called to the scene to investigate the building in question, but no definitive cause has been identified as of yet.
>
> Doctors have been able to stabilise the patients, but without a cure being discovered soon, suggest this condition could be fatal.
June frowned, skimming through the rest of the article containing an interview with the class of a Shizuka student with the condition, unsure of what to think. But as she scrolled back to the top of the article to reread it, she caught the time, and with a hurried choke finished down the rest of her meal before sliding her bag back onto her shoulder.
She sped out of the gigantic department store, hurriedly declining offers from employees trying to sell her TVs and making her way back out onto Central Street, then the crossroads, then beginning her walk down the long hillside path to school, rejoining a now very large crowd of students.
She checked her phone- 8:14. School started at 8:30 and she could see it clearly in the distance now- only a five minute walk. As she slipped her phone back into her pocket in relief she tuned into the sounds of two girls in front of her laughing.
“Well, there’s Mr Daimon. Hasn’t changed a bit, eh?” She jabbed her friend’s rib, who giggled in response.
“God, I hope I don’t have him for English this year. I can hardly think as it is without being distracted by the weird shit he does every ten seconds- oop!” They both quieted down as June finally saw the man in question; a man in maybe his late twenties. Daimon was tall, had shoulder-length, slightly rugged black hair, and a smile on his face as he nodded at the girls in front of June. She would’ve said he looked perfectly normal, if it hadn’t been for…
Well… he looked about ready to take an expedition to the Arctic. Wrapped in a puffy coat, two sets of gloves pulled tight over his hands, a wooly hat on and a couple of layers underneath, the man looked utterly overdressed for late Spring’s mild weather. June stifled a giggle with her hand and couldn’t help but look up at the completely clear sky, with the sun beating down. She wasn’t even wearing her jacket anymore, having stuffed it in her bag. She gave a small wave as he got closer.
“Morning, girls.” His voice was, however, welcoming and friendly, his eyes scanning across the group of kids until they reached hers. “Morni-” He stopped abruptly, looking at June- although she would more describe it as looking through her. Even though he only paused for a fraction of a second, June thought she saw him raise a concerned eyebrow, almost imperceptibly- but by the time she focused, the warm smile had returned. She quickly shook the feeling off in order to respond. Maybe she imagined it.
“Good morning, sir.”
Mr Daimon quickly picked up his stride again and nodded as if nothing had happened. He pulled his coat around him and rushed on forwards to the school building, climbing the steps and entering.
June took a few moments to recover from the utterly bizarre interaction. She eventually shrugged it off, returning the two girls’ looks of sympathy with a smile as she headed into the school.
APRIL 8 - MONDAY - MORNING
“...and this is Juniper Sakamura, a transfer student, please make sure you treat her with kindness and help her around the school as she’s…”
Juniper stood awkwardly at the front of the class, holding her bag close to her shoulder and scanning her eyes over the room. Twenty disinterested students looked in her general direction- fair enough, she thought. She wasn't that interesting. At the front of the class, standing next to her behind a desk, was a miniature old man, his grey hairs framing his face with a bowl cut: her new homeroom teacher who had introduced himself as Mr Yamawaki. His voice was an awfully slow drawl, crawling through the start of year announcements after introducing her to the class.
She waited about half a minute longer before politely coughing into her hand, which caused the man to stop talking and turn in shock, as if he had forgotten her existence.
“A-Ah. Yes, Miss Sakamura, uhm… you can sit there. There’s an empty seat next to Akisada- yes, right there in the back corner.” He motioned to the back corner of the classroom, where a girl sat with her head buried behind a textbook, who she assumed was Akisada.
She nodded and made her way through the classroom, sliding her bag off onto the table in the back corner and taking a seat. She was right next to the window, and leaning over a little allowed her a view of the basketball courts and huge playing fields outside from the third floor vantage. There was a high chain link fence running around the outside of the school grounds, beyond which the grassy land started to rise to mountains, power lines running through transmission towers until they went over the hills and out of sight.
She took a moment to organise her books on her desk, quickly flipping through them all to check she had everything she needed, then turning to her right to look at the girl who sat next to her. A grin crossed June’s face as she realised this girl wasn’t reading, as she had assumed, but had her forehead pressed against the desk, eyes closed, quietly snoring; a line of drool running from her mouth to the wooden desktop.
She noticed that the sleeping girl was wearing the same uniform as her, but stripped to the bone- all she wore was the skirt, tights, and white shirt with the top button left undone. One shoe had fallen off of her foot and lay sideways beneath her chair.
“... I’ll come and collect your summer homework now, so please get it out of your bags and have it ready- excluding you of course, Sakamura…” Mr Yamawaki moved out from behind his desk, treading through the classroom almost at the same speed he spoke, collecting multiple stacks of paper from each person as he passed and scolding the occasional empty-handed student.
As he got nearer to the back of the classroom, June reached out and softly kicked Akisada in the leg. She jumped awake, her chair rattling as she did. Akisada’s eyes quickly moved to Yamawaki, who was turned away to bemoan a student who didn’t have a bag with him, prompting her to wipe the drool from her face with her sleeve and rummage in her bag. A few moments later she pulled out a noticeably torn and crumpled stack of papers, which Yamawaki picked up with a sigh.
She could see Akisada more clearly now she sat up. She had a small button-like face with wide deep brown eyes. It took June a couple of moments to notice her hair was two colours- it began as black from her head, but as it flowed down her back to her waist it softly faded to blood red, as if she had dyed it a long time ago but never bothered to maintain it.
She looked cute, June thought.
As soon as Yamawaki returned to the front of the classroom, Akisada sunk her head back behind her textbook, face expressionless but embarrassment betrayed by her cheeks, which had tinted the same colour as her hair. A few seconds later she turned to June, giving nothing more than a short thankful nod before returning to hiding.
June nodded in response, smiling slightly. She had to admit the ancient man at the front of the classroom would have been attracting her head to her desk too, if not for the anticipation of her first day at a new school. His voice was still droning on, and she half-listened to him talk about sports teams sign ups for a few minutes before ducking her head behind a book herself to whisper to Akisada.
“I’m Sakamura, by the way. Or… just call me June.”
The redhead looked at her for a few moments incredulously, before tentatively opening her mouth to respond. “Okay. Just call me Aoi, then. Are you new?”
June awkwardly nodded sideways in response, trying not to knock her textbook over.
“Okay… Nice to meet you.” Aoi gave June a quiet look, as if she couldn’t quite believe they had just talked, before slowly receding back behind her book, like a turtle to its shell, and a couple of seconds later June heard the other girl’s head audibly bonk against the desk as she passed back to sleep. June decided to leave her this time.
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As the day progressed, June became more and more jealous of Aoi’s ability to not only sleep on command, but inexplicably get away with it, too. No doubt years of training had bolstered this ability. Minute by minute ticked by- at Shizuka, they had five lessons a day, each an hour long, a small break after the second and lunchtime after the fourth. She had endured through social studies first- which she had soon realised in horror was being taught by her homeroom teacher, Yamawaki.
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A painful maths lesson taught by a much too flirty American woman named Miss White followed, for which June wished she could sleep through. She couldn't help but feel bad for the older boys at the front of the class after Miss White's eleventh question directed their way, but managed to work through the class's content without too much difficulty.
After break, a mildly interesting History lesson followed- she liked European history, so it wasn't too hard for her to focus. Finally, a Japanese lesson. Aoi had actually had her eyes open for Japanese- and halfway through the lesson, she opened her book, too, causing June to raise an eyebrow. Soon, though, the lesson finished, and the lunch bell rang.
APRIL 8 - MONDAY - LUNCH
The class filtered out of the sliding classroom doors into the halls of the third floor. Seeing Aoi standing up for the first time (the girl had slept through their first break as well), June realised she was tiny- maybe just about reaching five feet, a couple of inches shorter than her. Once more the redhead said nothing, meandering out into the hallway and leaving June alone in the classroom.
June took a few more seconds to organise the books, and check her stationary, before storing her bag in the compartment under her desk. She hesitated to move into the growing crowd outside the classroom, taking a few seconds instead to pretend to watch the basketball team on the courts below while she waited for the students to dissipate.
However, after only half a minute passed, the general chatter outside the room subdued; apart from one loud voice, shouting from across the corridor. The yelling sounded female, but June couldn’t make out what was being said; and so, after a few more seconds of hesitation, made her way to the classroom door and quietly slid it open.
“...so count yourself lucky. Bitch.”
The first thing she saw was Aoi standing by her locker, surrounded by a gaggle of about 6 students. She looked almost despondent, her eyes glazed over as if she wasn’t really there. June had only opened the door in time to hear the end of the shouting- as almost immediately, the girls turned. A quick flash of blonde hair flew around, and a tall girl pushed through the crowd to get to the stairway before June could see her face, followed by the others trailing along behind her. She was almost certain that had been the girl doing all the shouting.
Aoi slowly started to turn on again, eyes flicking back to life and looking around for a quick moment before glancing apologetically at June. “Sorry.” Without any further comment she too headed to the stairs.
June struggled for words for a moment, quickly hurrying up the stairs after the small girl. “Hey, Aoi, you shouldn’t have to-”
“It’s fine. No, I’m serious, it’s really fine. I don’t care.” She shrugged, face still unreadable. “Let them have their fun- It couldn’t bother me less.” She ran her fingers through her hair to straighten it out once more, and then shook the roof door’s handle. It was unlocked. Aoi turned to face June, her face flicking slightly in annoyance at being followed, before beckoning her through the door.
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The two sat next to each other on a vent running across the roof. The view from up here was admittedly beautiful: long plateaus of green and gold spread out over the mountains behind, and infront, past the valley, the buildings of Aihaba sprawled over the hilly landscape, and the blue glint of the sea was just about visible further beyond. Lots of other students had made their way up here too, but it was much quieter than the chaos in the halls downstairs. Aoi smoothed out her skirt, placing a lunchbox on it- and seeing June had come up here empty handed, she offered her half of her meal, which June reluctantly accepted. (Aoi had assured her she had more than enough anyway.)
After almost ten minutes minutes of silent eating, June finally addressed what had been hanging over both their heads.
“So… what was that all about?”
Aoi looked at June, her eyes pleading for her to let it go- but as June held her question she finally relented, shaking her head.
“That was Tezuka… Jitsuko Tezuka. She… does that lots. She moved here last year, and we were in the same class back then.” She sighed, fiddling with the hem of her skirt. “Her dad owns the branch of Mercury on Central- I’m sure you’ve been, yeah? She’s your classic rich girl… you know, hefty ‘donations’ to the school, all the usual, boring stuff.”
She shook her head, still staring directly at her feet. “I don’t even know why she lives here- she clearly hates it. So she tries to make life miserable for the rest of us, too.” Aoi abruptly stopped, looking slightly shocked, as if she didn’t even expect herself to speak so much.
June mentally kicked herself for eating at Mercury this morning, and vowed to never shop there again, as Aoi shrugged and continued to eat. “Not much I can do about it, so it’d be stupid to let it bother me.”
June huffed, but nodded in understanding. “Well, I’m still sorry that you have to-”
“It’s fine. I’m just happy I’m not in her class this year, that's all.”
June got the feeling it wasn’t fine, like the apathy in her voice was being forced from some place deeper, but dropped the topic for now, sensing it was starting to upset the smaller girl.
They continued to eat in silence until the lunchtime bell rang.
APRIL 8 - MONDAY - AFTERNOON
After Aoi and June hurried back down the stairs (checking no teacher had seen them, as the roof was technically off-limits), they managed to slip into their back corner seats in time for the start of their English class.
Aoi straightened up in anticipation as the classroom’s sliding door opened; she had explained to June on the way back that she couldn’t wait to see who her English teacher was, and for the first time since meeting the smaller girl earlier today, June watched as excitement crossed her face, her eyes lighting up as she saw who walked in.
June’s eyes trailed to the front of the room, and standing behind the teacher’s desk was… it took her a few moments to recognise him, but it was the man she had seen while walking into school. Sure enough, he had removed some layers but was still wrapped in a puffy coat, with a set of gloves on. He placed his scarf and hat onto the table when he entered and started writing on the blackboard.
June turned back to Aoi, listening to her excited whispers. “He’s my favourite teacher- I had him last year for English too, he’s a complete lunatic-”, she motioned to his clothes, “-but so nice." She perked up like June hadn’t seen her yet before, placing her textbook flat on the desk for the first time and straightening her spine up in her chair.
June, in bemused entertainment at Aoi’s change in behaviour, turned her attention to the front of the classroom once more. He had written his name on the board in chalk - Mr Daimon, she remembered - and now turned around, smiling at the students. His eyes trailed over each of them in that strange way they had before to her, outside the front gates; June got the impression of scanning, as if giving each student a brief analysis. But soon enough he sat down haphazardly on his chair, brushing his hair out of his face and starting to talk.
“Afternoon, all. I’m sure you’re all thrilled to know that I’ll be teaching you English once more for all of your last year at Shizuka- hey, don’t give me that look, Hagihara! You got a perfectly fine English grade last year.” The class laughed, an air of engagement already palpable that wasn’t before.
“Now, we have a new student here today… Miss Juniper Sakamura, yes? And you’ve only just arrived in town, too.”
June, slightly taken aback, just nodded. None of her other teachers so far had even noticed her existence in the back corner of the class. “Uh, yeah- I just moved here yesterday. How did you know, sir?”
Daimon’s smile widened and he shrugged. “Teacher’s intuition. Juniper is an English name, by the way. Are your parents English?”
She nodded. “Yeah, my mom was American, but we lived in Japan ever since I was born… so it’s not gonna help with my English skill, sorry…” She rubbed her neck apologetically, prompting Mr Daimon to laugh warmly in response and turn the blackboard.
“No worries at all. Now, Juniper is a type of tree, as you may know; can anybody here tell me the English word for tree?”
APRIL 8 - MONDAY - AFTER SCHOOL
After the bell rang to signify the end of the school day, Mr Daimon was packing up his things, and the class had broken out in conversation.
June turned to face the still-perky Aoi, smiling. “You were right. He’s brilliant. I can’t believe I can still actually remember half the words he taught us.”
“I know, right?” Aoi responded happily while double checking through her bag to make sure she had everything, before turning back to face June. “I had him last year as well, and he was… well, more friend than teacher. He would always be able to tell when I was feeling down, or out of it, or upset, and try to check up on me after class… Once you look past the eccentricity, he’s probably the best guy in this place.”
Daimon nodded to the class, and after placing his gloves back on (seemingly oblivious to the giggles of the class and the warm springtime weather outside), he left the room. After he had gone, June turned back to her new friend. It was as if she had been under some sort of spell that had now been removed. Her back slumped forwards once more, some strands of hair falling forward to slightly obscure her face. Her eyes regained that same absent glaze they had earlier, as if she had slightly tuned out. And she stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder to leave… Except this time, she motioned for June to come with her, too.
June promptly slid all her books into her bag, snapped it shut, and pulled her jacket on, hurrying to follow Aoi out to the hallway.
“Hey, Akisada!”
June spun to face the shrill voice that had come from the other end of the hallway. Aoi let out a barely audible groan, rolling her eyes and slowly turning her body, her head following along behind before finally focusing on the girl who had come out of a classroom on the other end of the hallway. June was pretty sure she knew exactly what was about to happen, but was awkwardly stuck in place by the classroom door, like being unable to look away from a car crash.
It was the girl from before. June was certain. She had golden blonde hair with curls that looked like they cost several thousand yen a week to maintain, and a face framed in perfectly subtle makeup. Her uniform was bare-bones but effective; short-sleeved white shirt with no tie, a skirt which was cut exceedingly high, no tights, shoes that definitely weren’t uniform. She stood a couple of inches taller than June, even.
Despite how it frustrated her, she could only describe the girl as breathtaking. She was beautiful.
“Akisadaaaa!” Her singsong taunt trailed down the hallway. Other students cleared out, awkwardly shuffling past June to make their way to the staircase, hurrying down to the lower floors. As she approached, no posse this time, June recalled the name Aoi had given her. Jitsuko Tezuka. And when Jitsuko arrived by the lockers, June suddenly understood Aoi’s behaviour from before. Jitsuko was physically and mentally overbearing to be next to.
“Don’t expect peace between us now that we aren’t in the same class, Akisada.” She spat the name like it was foul. “I hear you have Miss White for maths? Me and Miss White are very close… acquaintances, and we both know how you struggle with… simple mathematics.”
Jitsuko giggled for a few seconds, a smirk plastered on her face. “I wonder how you’re going to graduate without a passing grade in maths? Payback is sweet, Akisada.”
June was frustrated. Her hands curled into fists by her side unknowingly. She was frustrated with herself for not helping her new friend- she felt like a deer in the headlights beneath the pretty girl, who hadn’t even given her an errant eye.
But, she was mostly frustrated at Aoi. It was unfair, sure, but June couldn’t help it- Aoi was just standing there. No reaction, no retort- eyes simply glossed over, as though she were looking straight through Jitsuko to a nothingness beyond. She desperately willed Aoi to fight back, to say something to her tormentor.
Clearly, this was annoying Jitsuko too, for a different reason. “Are you listening, Akisada?” She gave her shoulder a light push to try and coax a reaction, but the small girl simply stepped back and rebalanced. Jitsuko’s eyes flared up in annoyance. She almost snarled, leant forwards, and spat on Aoi.
June snapped from her trance, the frustration at the mistreatment building. She quickly ran through her options. She wanted to beat up this girl. Absolutely no chance, she reasoned. She could shout at her? Less effective…
June went for the middle ground. She stepped forward, and Jitsuko’s eyes flicked to her, as if noticing the black-haired student for the first time- but it was too late to react. June reached out and shoved her backwards, face red, and shouted.
“Fuck off!”
Jitsuko stumbled back a few steps before tripping, landing ungracefully on her shoulder. The tall girl frowned after a moment, staring June up and down for the first time while getting up. She dusted her skirt off and simply grinned. “Well… we’ll see how that turns out for you.”
June was silent, her hands awkwardly held out in front of her still, watching as Jitsuko moved towards the staircase. She gave June a final look before turning and heading down the stairs to the second floor.
June looked at her hands. She had done the right thing, right? Was that girl’s threat really… true? Could she actually stop Aoi from passing a class? Shit, had she just gotten herself in trouble on her first day, for no reason? No, she had been helping a friend, right?
“Ugh…”
June shook the thoughts from her head and turned to check on Aoi. Jitsuko’s spit had been aimed at Aoi’s face, but had missed and landed on her shoulder. June reached forward to wipe it off as the redhead slowly came back to life. “It’s fine, let’s just go. We don’t need to talk about-”
“Ah!”
Both girls cried out in unison, Aoi recoiling away from June’s touch and June quickly withdrawing her hand- she felt like she had gotten an electric shock through Aoi, and Aoi clearly felt the same, clutching her shoulder where June had touched her. Then, a few seconds later, they both reached for their head- June could feel a dull, throbbing pain that quickly rose.
Aoi stumbled forward, shaking her shoulder to check the pain had left before she looked up at June. “Whuh…?”
June gave a sly grin, shaking her hand until the pain fully dissipated. “Maybe that’s Jitsuko’s curse! Ooooooooo…”
That managed to get the tiniest of smiles out of Aoi, improving June's mood slightly. “Come on, June, let’s just go. I need to go home.”
The two girls descended the steps side by side, the awkward atmosphere still lingering. June was debating whether or not to ask Aoi about this ‘revenge’ Jitsuko had mentioned, but decided to leave the topic alone for the rest of the day. A chilled breeze hit them both as they stepped down onto the first floor, June pulling her blazer around her for warmth, while Aoi beelined for the lockers by the school entrance.
“Some spring this is…” Aoi grumbled under her breath, and opened her locker. A small gasp from the smaller girl caught June’s attention, who tilted her head inquisitively.
“My jacket... it’s gone,” Aoi mumbled quietly, “somebody must have taken it. I could’ve sworn I…”
She annoyedly checked the locking mechanism a few times, opening and closing it to check it wasn’t broken, but despite being in seemingly fine condition, Aoi’s locker was completely empty.
“Hey, I’m sure it’ll turn up, Aoi,” June responded, “maybe you left it at home?”
Aoi shook her head quietly, voice once again reduced to a whisper. “I bring it to school every day… it’s just... gone…” Her face scrunched in confusion. “Um… Speaking of which… where, uhm… where is everybody?”
June suddenly realised she was right. It was silent, and she couldn’t see a single person by the entrance. She leaned to look up and down the corridor they stood by, and sure enough, empty as well. Now she thought about it, their quick walk from the third floor had been in complete silence too, a contrast to the racket she remembered hearing throughout the day.
“I could’ve sworn it was packed almost two minutes ago when that… Tezuka girl was on you.” June mused, her voice echoing off the wooden floors, up and down the corridor. “Maybe something happened out front?”
“Yeah… I’ll find the coat later. Maybe somebody took it by accident.” Aoi slammed her empty locker shut, checked it was locked twice, and proceeded to the door with June trailing closely behind.
Aoi gave the door a light shove, but it didn’t budge. She frowned, giving it a stronger push, but with no movement again. June moved up to help, pushing with Aoi- the door budged slightly, but seemed to be caught on something. The two girls barged at the door at the same time, finally causing it to open by a few feet and reveal what it had been caught on.
Aihaba was blanketed in half a foot of pure, white snow.