Chapter 12: 2.6

Chapter 2: Great things are not done by impulse, but a series of small things brought together.

 

Part 6

 

 

In the blink of an eye, Christmas and New Year festivals were over. 

 

Wednesday, February 6th, the first day of Maimori Snow Festival’s sculpting period.

 

In the end, the people participating in the name of Maiei High were only me, Igarashi, and Saegusa. I tried telling them that we were the chosen ones who were given special missions, but the freezing cold did a better job demoralizing us.  

 

It was so cold that even with layers of inner shirts, down jackets, hats, and rubber gloves bore no effect. 

 

“T-this is colder than I imagined…We really are staying here for three days?” The first complaint came.

 

“This may seem like the worst, but the real show’s after sundown. There’s never too many jackets to wear out here.”

 

This was the first time here for Saegusa, and she was already complaining. No wonder. The temperature in Maimori at this time of the year was basically below freezing point. Although there are several places to warm up inside the Maimori Sports Ground, the actual location for the festival, none of the devices were even in the vicinity of the sculpting venue. In this temperature, with a gigantic cube of snow two meters high, deep, and wide looming in front of us, no matter how much time spent planning the work, it just seemed impossible to create art from this thing.

 

“It’s tough, but the sense of accomplishment you get when it’s finished isn’t something you get to experience often, so let’s go for it!”

 

The snow sculpting work will be for three days, from today to the 8th, within the restricted time of 10:00 to 21:30. For school, we would be accounted for as an official absence. Since we had only three people, we had already discussed everything during our countless meetings. This event was basically a race against time, afterall.

 

“Well then, let’s get started!”

 

I fished out a bottle of color spray from the toolbox provided by the management.

 

The first step of snow sculpting was to draw a perimeter. I placed one hand on the block, the other flipping through the plans. Then I started drawing the perimeter, lines and curves stretching from one edge to another. 

 

The perimeter marking served as a blueprint indicating where to cut in. It was said that a single misplaced line could spell disaster for the entire work. Which… There were many discrepancies in mine, some major and had to be redrawn. There was still a long road ahead.

 

“Sorry. I think I’ll tap out here. Good luck, Igarashi.” Realizing my limitations, I gave up. 

 

“Don’t be bummed, it wasn’t that bad. I’ll do my best!”

 

After that, it was my and Igarashi’s job to roughly remove snow along the perimeter. If not for the coldness, I would have been damp with sweat as I wielded my scoop shovel, shoving it into the cube, carving. We proceeded cautiously, snow starting to pile at our feet. When the process was done, the results were quite impressive.

 

Then Saegusa joined us as we began chiseling the finer parts, carving in with our chisels. Since it was her first year, Saegusa struggled a lot, carving out parts that she shouldn’t, making parts that should be symmetrical look uneven. 

 

“Komiya-senpai, how do I get this right?” she moaned.

 

“Hmm, I’m not good at this either… Let’s try being more careful, using constant, subtle pressure?”

 

Although it was the second year for I and Igarashi, and we had somewhat remembered the process, our performance until now was far from satisfactory. I could proudly claim that we were doing this with care, but nothing of creating a striking work of art. To put it bluntly, “high school students did their best,” should be the reception for our sculpture, nothing more.

 

It pained me to be able to offer only rudimentary advice like that. If Yuri was here, her hand would move with a frightening speed and accuracy, not to mention her otherworldly spatial awareness. She would have fixed the faults, turning imbalance into a flowing pose instead. She might even give us pointers of where to improve, where to cut and what shape will be made by doing it.

 

What was I fantasizing about? 

 

I slapped my cheeks hard with my gloved hands. Why was I even hoping for her to appear? It was precisely because of this, that I was still chasing her back. I needed to be more.

 

The three of us worked together, filling in each other’s shortcomings, moving across the sculpture. Finally, the initial unevenness was less visible. While our skills were still poor, our sculpting skills improved considerably for only half a day. Perhaps it was because of the pressure, of how we desperately raced against time. 

 

Around 16:00, as we were clearing the excess snow, Hiiragi-sensei arrived. 

 

“Ooh, you’re doing pretty well”

 

“You’re late! You said that you have classes, but wasn’t that only the first period?! Come and shove the snow for us!” I snapped.

 

Snow fell mercilessly. In snow sculpting, you couldn’t leave the snow as it is, since it would freeze up and stick to the sculpture. Because of that, even during the sculpting process, we were not spared from having to clear off the snow.

 

“Don’t be so upset, Komiya. I brought you some refreshments, so let’s take a break.” he announced.

 

After calling out the other two, Hiiragi-sensei revealed a box in his handbag. It contained several delicious looking cakes. We all gulped.

 

“I brought them online from a renowned patisserie in Ginza,” he explained.

 

Our grumbles went silent, such was the principle of capitalism.

 

“Thanks for the food–!”

 

We fought over the delicious ones and shared the decent ones. High-quality sugar consumed, my strength returned. When the night came, the heavy snowfall had hindered our sculpting. Alas, the first day ended with more progress than expected.

 

On the second day, Saegusa had gotten the hang of the sculpting process. While she was still slow, she did a fine job. Both I and Igarashi also gave it our all. The second day passed favorably. 

 

After three days of work, our snow sculpture of “Monomon”, the well-known anime character, came to completion.

 

***

 

The 31st Maimori Snow Festival had been thriving since the first day.

 

Both local residents and tourists seemed to be enjoying the festival atmosphere. Since it was Maimori’s biggest event, the town went full-on festival mode. Stalls waffled with the scents of mouthwatering foods, amazake to the left, ramen to the right, with sizzling konamono and steaming nikuman around the corner. 

[TN: amazake, traditional sweet, low-alcohol Japanese drink made from fermented rice.]

[TN: konamono, flour based dishes such as okonomiyaki or takoyaki.]

[TN: Nikuman, Japanese-style steamed pork buns]

You are reading story Blue Outline at novel35.com

[TN: What a barrage of TNs]

 

Those were merely appetizers for the snow sculptures, the very representation of a snow country, the main event that all these tourists came here for. With the total of fifty sculptures placed at every interval, the fair ground was a sight to behold. 

 

For our sculpture… According to our plan, it was supposed to be a simple, undetailed sculpture of Monomon. The awkward curves, the messy texture that was better off none existent. We concluded the sculpting process at that, before we ruined it. People could already recognize it as monomon anyway. But the fact that we lacked the skill and knowledge needed in sculpting only a single snow sculpture was obvious.

 

No matter from which angle, the sculpture wasn’t something we could proudly present to others. But this was the result of our effort, we had done everything we could, there was satisfaction in that. 

 

***

 

It was the fifth and the final day of the Snow festival. Igarashi, who wasn’t athletic in the first place, slumped against the folding chair she brought while Segasa rushed to massage her shoulders. 

 

“I’m sooo tired…” she croaked in a voice that couldn’t possibly come from a highschool girl, “Every muscle hurts… Hahh, I think I have lost three kilos through the festival.”

 

“Are you alright? Don’t push yourself, you can go home now,” I reassured, “I heard that only one member has to attend the awarding ceremony, so I’ll stay… I’m sorry if I sounded like I was pushing you. If you insist then I suppose we could take a break in the resting area.” Was that too verbose, I wonder.

 

“Ngh–,” she groaned, “Ours won’t get any anyway, guess I’ll follow your word and go home. I think my anemia has just gotten worse.”

 

Now that she mentioned it, she did look pale. I wanted to see her off, but I had to attend the awarding ceremony. 

 

“Saegusa. I’m sorry, but could you accompany Igarashi home with me? Sorry, I know you’re tired too, but I just can’t let Igarashi go home alone in that state.”

 

“Yes, I will! Of course. I mean, you don’t need to apologize. That kind side of you, I… Ah, n-noting!” She turned to Igarashi. “I-Igarashi-senpai, let’s go!”

 

Saegusa readily obliged my request, reaching for Igarashi’s bag with a blush. 

 

“Sorry, Komiya. I’ll leave the rest to you,” said Igarashi, clasping her hands together apologetically.

 

“Uh, yeah. Don’t sweat about it, get some rest… Really, I’m grateful for your hard work. Well, putting the quality of sculpture aside… I’m glad I participated.”

 

For two months, including the preparation period, we worked together toward a single goal. Perhaps it was because the strange sense of loneliness we carried, the bond we forged during the event was stronger than I had expected. 

 

Since the two of them had already left, the celebration party was set to a later date.

 

Despite everything, I was impressed by our results. Though, as the club leader, I needed to get more people to participate.

 

“Oi–, there you are, young man.”

 

Said a woman, imitating the voice of an old man.

 

Did she really think that I couldn’t recognize her voice? I was finally overwhelmed by the accumulated fatigue as I looked at the unexpected visitor. 

 

“Gehh…” came a sigh so feeble I didn’t want Utako to hear. “Yuri… and Seino too. What are you guys even doing here?”

 

“I had already told you before, hadn’t I? The Fishermen are coming to the festival; we are here for them,” explained Seino.

 

I don’t have anything to object to Seino, but Yuri… How dare she show up here after declining my request for her to participate. Did she even know what awkward was? If she came here thirty minutes earlier, when Igarashi was still around, there was bound to be bloodshed. Igarashi was quite aggressive when it came to Yuri’s attitude.

 

“You’re really lucky… If Igarashi hadn’t left yet, she would have cut you into pieces,” I mused.

 

“Don’t worry, I have a sketchbook I keep in remembrance of Sousuke, so that should save my life,” laughed Yuri.

 

“Uh, isn’t that from last night’s movie? And I mean, sketchbooks are paper, right? So how will it protect you?” Seino retorted.

 

What did the “In remembrance of Sousuke” supposed to mean? I ain’t dead!

 

“And with this ‘Monomon’… This is worse than I expected. ‘I can make a better snow sculpture! I’ll make a special one just for you, Utako!’, was it? Let alone a special one for Utako, how could you talk so big with this performance.”

 

“…I’m surprised you could still remember that… Aside from that, I don’t have anything to say.”

 

“Don’t underestimate my recollection, okay? That near-proposal too, was at the festival, right?” 

 

“You have an amazing memory,” I sighed, “Why don’t you use it in studying?”

 

“Sing my praise. Admire me. Worship me. Give me your offerings.”

 

“Why do I have to? Don’t get carried away,” I chided her.

 

As we exchanged some nonsense, people gathered into a crowd in an eyeblink. Everyone seemed to be in a rush, many floundered amidst the mass. What might it be…

 

“Ah! There!” called out Seino, tiptoeing, “Isn’t that the Fishermen in the center?!”

 

In the direction she pointed, two men stood out. Despite the freezing cold, the Fishermen wore suits. 

 

Thanks to Seino’s precise prediction of their direction via SNS, we were able to intercept their route just in time. Celebrity coming to Maimori was beyond rare, so onlookers continued to increase exponentially. Looking around, it was as if all the cell phones were directed at the Fishermen.

 

“Being a celebrity sure is hard,” I appalled, “With all these social media, do they even have privacy? I can’t even imagine how stressful this is.”

 

“Yeah, but social media’s also how they get more fans. Besides, by posting them, they get free advertisements, you know? It also establishes a way to interact with fans. Kaede-chan’s doing this too, haven’t you seen it already?” Seino shoved her phone into my face, the screen showed Sugawara-senpai’s SNS profile. 

 

“Oh, come to think of it, I’ve never checked it out before,” I recalled.

 

“Sousuke’s an old man, don’t expect him to understand that kind of culture. It’s about time he starts balding and smelling like an old man,” said Yuri, her eyes still on the Fishermen. 

 

“Can you stop with that abusive language? You don’t even know how to use a smartphone.”

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