Joe looked at his watch. It was 11.30 am, near the time they needed to gather to eat lunch at the camp. He started to call his scattered group member.
"Oooi, everyone! It's time to go back for lunch!" he shouted to Taichi and Yamato who was playing around nearby. Hearing Joe, Koushirou --who was sat beside him, leaning his back on a tree trunk while playing with his laptop-- also looked at his watch.
"It's almost time, isn't it?" Koushirou confirmed. Joe nodded "Yes, do you know where the girls are? Maybe we need to look for them."
"There's no need. Look, they're here already. Oooi, here!" Taichi who had just reached Joe's place, waved at three girls of their group who was now walking to their direction from across the clearing.
Yamato, who went to pick up Takeru who was chasing butterfly nearby, were also here.
"Did you play with mud, Takeru?" Joe heard Yamato asked after they were near. Takeru honestly held out his hands. "No, onii-chan. Look, it's clean!"
"En, but don't forget to wash your hands before eating." Yamato reminded him. Takeru just nodded, smiling at him.
"I know, onii-chan."
"We're back! What time is it? I didn't bring my watch, but I'm starving now!" Mimi said loudly.
Airi, who did bring hers but forgot to look at it, guiltily sneak a glance at her watch. "It's 11.30, Mimi. I think we just go back in time."
"Yes, now we're all here, let's go back for lunch!" Joe cleaned up his things and started to stand up.
"Eh?" Sora suddenly look at the sky. Before Joe could ask what's wrong, the sky turned dark as if it's going to rain. To everyone astonishment, something small fell on Taichi's nose.
Taichi, with his eyes crossed, try to touch it. After feeling it, he said in a dumbfounded manner.
"Snow?"
"EEEH??!" they all exclaimed.
"It's snowing? But how!"
"It's in the middle of summer!"
"Everyone, calm down! Look, there's storm nearby!" Sora pointed to one side of the sky. As if cued by Sora, the wind around the clearing began to pick up, making them more panicked.
"If we run, can we reach our camp?"
"No, it's too dangerous. We can get hurt instead."
"Aaah, I'm afraid, it's cold!"
"Don't panic, we must take shelter now!"
"Look, there! There's a house! We can go there!" Takeru said excitedly, pointing at a lone building near them.
"Okay, let's go there first!" Joe decided. They ran quickly to the building.
"It's a shrine! Can we go inside?" Takeru asked aloud.
"It can't be helped, right. Let's go in, and close the door quickly." Yamato said decisively. Joe nodded, agreeing with Yamato. "Yes, it's dangerous if we don't go inside."
"Is everyone here?" Taichi asked. Sora looked around, counting their group members. "Yes, there's eight people."
Joe slumped to one side of wall, and sat there. "At this rate, we might be stuck here for a long time." He moaned pitifully. Koushirou patted his back consolingly, "it's okay, at least we are safe from the storm. It looks like a big one."
"Yes, I just hope this shrine can hold on." Yamato said from where he was sitting with Takeru beside him.
"I hope it doesn't get too cold. I didn't bring any jacket to the camp." Sora confessed worriedly. Airi, who was huddled next to her, perked up a bit.
"I brought more cardigan with me on my travel bag. If it gets too cold, I can lend you one, Sora." Airi offered. Sora, with a thankful smile, accepted "Okay, Airi."
"But if it gets too cold, it means this hat I brought especially for this summer camp is going to be useless." Mimi, huddled at the other side of Sora, pouted.
"The weather is too unpredictable. Before, it's hot and humid. But suddenly, it snows and there's storm nearby. I don't think there is a probability of storm at today's weather forecast." Koushirou analyzed.
"Yes, I also pay special attention of today's forecast, there is not even a chance of light rain today." Yamato confirmed. Takeru wondered, "Can weather forecast be wrong?"
"Well, it is possible." Joe began. Then, hearing the noise outside, he sighed "But never so wrong!"
"It doesn't sound like a storm, does it?" Koushirou suddenly said. They listened carefully. Sora exclaimed, "Is it a blizzard?!"
"Taichi just said there were snow right? And the sound from outside, it doesn't sound like rain to me." Koushiro said. Mimi looked around and went to a small paper window. She opened a small gap at the window, took a peek, then closed it again quickly.
"Yes, there's snow everywhere!" Mimi exclaimed.
--=--=--=--
After waiting for at least an hour, the blizzard outside finally had started to subsided. After they waited a few more minutes, there's no blizzard sound anymore.
"Is it finally over?" Mimi asked. Joe stood up and went to the door. "I'll go check it out first if it's safe to go out now."
"Joe-senpai, be careful." Koushirou warned.
"I also want to see snow!" Takeru said cheerfully. Yamato shook his head, "Wait for me to look first to see if it's safe." Yamato also walked to the door.
"I just want to hurry up and eat, I'm reeeally hungry." Mimi said dejectedly.
"Yes, me too. It isn't good if I skip my meals." Airi said worriedly.
"Why is that, Airi-san?" Takeru's voice startled Airi a bit. Turned out, Takeru had approached them just now, too quietly.
"Um, I sometimes got stomachache if I don't eat properly, so I tried to never skip my meals again after that." Airi explained to him.
"Oh, that sounds bad!" Takeru exclaimed. Then he shrugged of his backpack and rummage through it, he then gives a snack bar he fished out from his backpack to Airi. "Here, Airi-san. I have candy for you so you won't be hungry!" he said sincerely.
"Oh, Takeru-kun." Airi smiled, moved by his actions. Unfortunately, it wasn't nice to take Takeru's snack, nor was it good for Airi to eat sweets before a proper meal, so she had to decline.
"Thank you, but just save it for you to eat." Airi declined. "I'll be fine for a while, thank you for caring about me." She smiled at Takeru, who then blushed with a grin. "No, problem, Airi-san." He said while scratching his head, feeling a bit shy.
"Eh, I want to eat snack!" Mimi piped up. Sora just glance at her, and deadpanned "You can't eat snacks before you eat properly." She then glanced at Takeru too, just to make sure. "You too, Takeru-kun. Do you hear me?"
Takeru straighten up "Yes, Ma'am!" while Mimi whined, "But whyyy."
Suddenly, Joe yelled from the front door, making all of them turned around their head at him.
"EEEEEEH??!"