Since they were going in pairs, it made sense to all of them that they might as well separate. Thus begins the first of our three tales at the Winter festival.

“Ah man, what should we do first?” Asaga was giddy as a schoolboy running around the event grounds. “Maybe this, or that?”

“Please don’t get too far from me.” His partner was a bit more reserved in her feelings as she followed him. “It’d be a pain if we separated.”

“Hehe, sorry ‘bout that.” He chuckled as he went to walk besides her. “Ya know, it’s nicer that it’s just the two of us. If the entire group was here, they might slow me down even more.”

“Sometimes I’d wish you’d slow down just a little bit.” She murmured while they continued walking. The venue was very well decorated with the holiday spirit. Lights were strung along the various booths illuminating the area with red and green hues. Just under them were the many different ornaments that were normally hung on a Christmas tree such as icicles and candy canes.

Light snowfall had graced the ground, leaving piles of it for the children to run around and throw snowballs. There were was quite a crowd moving around, many couples too. Though also a lot of groups as well.

“I thought they had a rule or something.” Asaga noticed it and made mention of how odd it appeared to them. This wasn’t lost on her either.

“I suppose that there isn’t anyone to enforce the rule.” She commented.

“Ooh, that looks fun.” It didn’t take long for him to want to change subjects when the man finally found a game he wanted to play. In a rush, he dragged her along towards the booth running it. Mifuru couldn’t put up much of a fight with how icy the ground had gotten. One had to be careful not to slip and fall.

“Please be more careful before pulling me like that.” She scolded him when they reached their destination. He had taken them to a place where there were multiple sleds lined up with people getting on them. It was mostly pairs with one sitting on the sled itself, while the other took the reins.

“Awesome.” He ignored her complaints, rushing up to the person running the games. “Can the two of us join?” He asked, pointing back to Mifuru who was lagging behind.

“Of course you can.” The woman told him. She explained to them the rule, which was that this was a simple race. All the puller had to do was drag the sled while the person riding it hung on and didn’t fall off. “Miss, I can watch your bag here while you’re out there.”

Asaga didn’t pay much mind to it, but the girl had on a simple bag. To most people that seemed normal, but she had never been seen with one before. “Don’t worry, I won’t let it get stolen.” The woman told her as it was exchanged. “I know there’s something valuable in there.”

“How did you know that?” Mifuru didn’t realize what the woman was insinuating with a simple guess given their situation. So she ended up sounding rather tense asking that question.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you wanted to surprise him with a special gift.” She gave a knowing smile as she set it aside in a safe place. The girl couldn’t fathom how she was apparently being obvious about this to strangers. But it wasn’t important since Asaga’s incessant begging for her to get on the sled was annoying.

“Okay, I’m on.” She informed him. This didn’t seem all that safe, since there was barely anything for her to hold on other than the handles in front. Meanwhile, he quickly picked up the rope and tied it around his waist.

“All right, I’m ready to win this thing.” The man was getting pumped up, which filled her with concern.

“I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be-” She was unable to finish her sentence, as the person blew the while to start the race.

In a flash, Asaga took off in record time. He left the other racers behind in his snow as the two of them quickly moved along the icy ground. This was a frightening experience for her, as the vehicle below her buckled from the speed her was running them with.

This course was a simple go one way and turn around towards the finish line. Which is why the poor girl had to hold on for dear life as he rounded the marker which directed them. The rope nearly gave way as this turn was being made, not to mention that she was almost flipped upside down.

Fortunately for her, she was able to maintain her balance as he completed the turn. “Hey, I’m supposed to handle the turning!” She yelled at him, but Asaga wouldn’t listen as he didn’t take a second to slow down. Instead, he sped up for the final stretch of this race. Something that was completely unnecessary as the rest of the racers had yet to reach the turning point themselves as he nearly ran into some of them.

He gave it one burst of energy as he reached the finish line. Just as quick as he started, he stopped right in his tracks to celebrate the easy victory.

“All right!” He did a fist pump. “We won the…” Asaga turned around to congratulate her, but was shocked to see the girl was no longer on the sled. Instead, she had gotten thrown off because of his sudden stop and flew straight for a pile of snow. Only her legs, and the panties under her dress, were shown.

He gave out an embarrassed yell because of both his blunder, and that this was the first time he had ever seen a lady’s underpants. The man ran over to her and helped dig her out so that others wouldn’t have to witness her in this state. It didn’t take long to get her sitting up, her face red from the freezing cold snow.

“W-we…” Her shivering made it difficult to speak up. “W-we’re no-not d-doing that a-again.” That icy stare from her made him instantly nod in agreement.

The lady running the place was kind enough to lend her a blanket to try to warm herself up, as well as drying her clothes.

“Here’s your bag back.” She said cautiously. “And I know you might be a little upset with him, but maybe now’s a good time to give him his gift?” This seemed to be a bad time, but the woman believed that they should try and raise their spirits once more.

“Thank you.” She was no longer shivering from the cold thanks to the blanket. “And, I will.” With that, the lady returned to her job and Asaga took her spot. He was quite remorseful about the recent events.

“Sorry ‘bout that.” He gingerly spoke to her, nervously scratching the back of his head. “Guess I got a little too caught up in the race.”

“It’s fine.” She forgave him. “Anyway, I had something I wanted to give you.” With that, she began to open up her bag. At first, he was taking a defensive stance in fear as to what she had in store. However, that quickly changed when he saw what she was showing him.

“No way.” Inside it was a gardening set. This bag was actually holding tools such as shears, hoes, and trowel. Not only that, but it also contained seeds for various vegetables to be grown in a home garden. “I can’t believe it. Ya got all this for me?”

“I remembered you talking about how much you missed farming back during Halloween, so I figured you’d like it.” She told him.

“But why?”

“Just… Take it as thanks for saving us before.” She referred to his saving move when she was fighting Marie. It was thanks to him that they all survived that encounter. “I figure I can use the excuse of the holiday to give it to you.”

“Well geez.” He was too much in shock to respond very well to her. “If ya got me this, then I gotta get ya a gift in return.”

“It’s really not something you have to do for me.” He didn’t listen to her. As the man was wondering what he could get for her, his eyes landed on something that was perfect.

“I got it.” Once more, he took her by the hand to dragged her out of the blanket. She wasn’t a fan of it as the harsh cold air hit her still damp clothing.

“Hey, what did I tell you earlier?” Her protests had little effect in slowing him down.

“I got the perfect gift for ya.” He pointed towards their next destination. It was a little shop that was selling clothes themed around the holiday. “Also, take it as an apology for getting you all wet.”

“Fine.” It would be nice to find something dry to wear in this cold weather. “But…” She stopped them, ripping her hand away from his. “I can walk for myself.” Now the two of them had their next destination planned out.