Rainbow-Colored Summer (Summary)

Rainbow-Colored Summer
Everyday Lives Written in the Notebook
七色夏模様
ノートに記された日常

Kagome is organizing notes from what everyone was doing this summer so she can take a break from all the notes about the war.

-Kuroe•Iroha-
Mitama of course offering more swimsuit adjustments for her summer campaign. Kuroe can't stop thinking about Iroha, so her outfit ended up with little similarities to Iroha's.

Kuroe is working at the beach to help with SUP lessons, meets Mikazuki Villa, brat crew, Mifuyu, and Sakurako in her pso swimsuit.

An announcement says a big white dog named Summer is lost at the beach and if found to notify the lost children center. Immediately after Felicia is announced lost as well. Immediately after THAT, a 3rd announcement that Touka is lost - except Touka grabs the mic and yells where the heck is Mifuyu!? Yachiyo and Mifuyu both go running to the lost center.

Everyone is here today to take SUP lessons, which Kuroe is helping with.

Nemu is doing wheelchair SUP boarding with the help of the instructor who is watching them. Sakurako is also there to do the carrying and assisting.

Touka and Felicia get into a fight over Kuroe, both wanting her to teach them how to do things.
Felicia wants to do tandem boarding, Touka wants to do everything, Yachiyo wants to do SUP yoga, Tsuruno wants to race and be the best boarder of them all, Sana wants to do boarding with a dog, but might have to settle with Mokyu. Tsuruno points out it might be weird to onlookers to see an empty paddle board moving around in the water.

Kuroe wonders how tf Iroha keeps up with all these people daily.

Kuroe and Iroha go out boarding together peacefully, until Tsuruno and Felicia fly on by showing off. Iroha wants to go jump to Felicia's board, but Tsuruno warns her that Felicia spun it out while Sana was on. Kuroe keeps thinking how nice everyone gets along, notes the flower they both have on their swimsuits is anemone.

Kuroe falls into the ocean after a big wave hits her, but she can't swim...! Iroha jumps in after her despite warning. Good thing the water was shallow enough that Kuroe can just stand up. But where Iroha jumped in isn't, so she starts drowning. Kuroe grabs her but gets pulled in with her. Tsuruno points out its still shallow water, so her and Felicia go in after them.

Everything turns out fine, but Tsuruno and Felicia were scared they could have drowned by panicking. Kuroe and Iroha share an awkward moment of not being able to say anything, until Touka screams at her to come over.

Touka asked her if there's any boards with a jet engine, generally running her around bugging her. By the time Kuroe gets away, Iroha is missing, and no one knows where she went. They split up into groups to look for her while the life guards and other adults investigate.

Every speculates Iroha went over to the small mystery island they saw earlier to find the lost dog. It has a hidden path that shows when the tide gets low, so kids leave shells behind to mark the path. Mifuyu and Ui are going to go with Kuroe in case there's a witch, and they'll deal with being yelled at by adults later if they find out. Kuroe finds the flowers that were on Iroha's swimsuit, figuring she did take that path to the island.

On the island, Kuroe recognizes Iroha's sandal prints in the ground due to her gushing over Iroha the entire time they were in close proximity. She hopes to herself that Ui doesn't think she's creepy. Next they find a trail of petals, just like Iroha mentioned earlier so she can Hansel and Gretel her way back if she's lost.

They hear a doggo and find Iroha, whose phone of course died and she can't leave because she can't swim over the sunken trail.

After Iroha explains her story and apologizes profusely. Kuroe tells her she's a great person, always putting herself in danger for the sake of others no matter how foolish it is. Iroha tells her she's always being called stubborn, but she can't help but try to save people right in front of her, or else she feels regret in knowing she did nothing.

With the tide down, they start walking back across the trail. Mifuyu called Yachiyo and is behind with Ui while the dog runs around. Iroha picks up some shells to give to the others, but slips and then falls into the water, drowning again.

Kuroe thinks back to what Iroha told her and dives in after her. She knows Iroha would have jumped right in if Kuroe fell, so she finds the courage to try to be a little like her.

They make it to the surface, and Mifuyu and Ui form a chain to pull them up without falling in themselves. Mikazuki come running to the rescue as the crazy dog makes a run for the beach. Touka, Nemu, and Sakurako are at the shore with towels, oxygen tanks, and first aid kits at the ready.

Ui, Kuroe, and Iroha fall into the sand, exhausted from the little adventure. Iroha apologizes again, but Kuroe says Iroha helped her a lot too. Ui says it's weird, she feels so relieved, but exhausted. Iroha says they all do, but to her it's the feeling of being alive. Kuroe agrees, alive haha...

A life guard scolds Mifuyu and Yachiyo for going to the island and potentially having people drown. He also tells Kuroe that jumping in to save someone like that wasn't the smart thing to do. He tells them all he's done, and is glad they're all okay. He offers to have them come to their beach BBQ and rest.

Felicia now loves Kuroe, for both saving Iroha and for the meats. Kuroe tells her no, it's everyone else who did all the work, so Felicia says alright, I'm the best then! Yachiyo thanks her for saving Iroha, Nemu is impressed by their bravery, but Touka and Sakurako are mad at Iroha for making them worry. The dog did get back to its owner though, so her mission was a success.

Tsuruno declares Kuroe and Iroha the MVPs of the day, and... Felicia says she is, and Touka says she did her best too, so everyone is the MVP! They all cheer and enjoy their meals.

A few days later, Kuroe sees Mitama again with a burning question. She explains that the adjustment must have also made her feel more like Iroha on top of the similar swimsuit, since she's never been brave or able to swim that deep before. Mitama tells her she didn't do anything like that during the adjustments, though. She teases that it might have been a life or death feat of strength, or perhaps Kuroe-chan's unique magic instead.

Outside, Kuroe reflects that maybe she's become a little more like Iroha, and had so much fun despite the pain and sunburn. She seems to want to have another vacation like this again. Iroha texts her, thanking her again for everything and saying she would like to play with her again some time. She will send all the photos everyone took. Kuroe texts her back, saying thanks, and yeah, she'll come play again.



-Promised Blood-

Promised Blood have taken a trip to Yuna's (?) vacation home / a villa, but Hikaru and Ao plopped in front of the AC instead of going out to enjoy the summer. Shortly after Yuna took them out to a waterfall to splash around while they wait for Juri and everyone else. Yuna then has to leave to go get everyone instead of switching to her swimsuit. Juri has summer classes, Sakuya is at her club, Urara has something personal to take care of, and Ranka is doing school work.

Everyone arrives at the river by the station. They decide to go walk to the villa instead of calling her to come meet them. Juri calls Yuna, but can't hear anything she says due to them being at the base of a waterfall. All Juri hears is Yuna say be careful, but not the part about Yuna never having walked there herself. Yuna naturally is worried if they'll be okay.

Yuna can't help but worry, so she goes to talk to the villa's manager for directions by foot. She tells Ao and Hikaru to call if anything happens, but as she leaves they realize they both left their phones at the villa.

PB squad walk through a trail, wondering if there's any beetles to catch. They stumble upon a campsite people are using when Yuna calls Juri and sends directions to her. However, the road they have to take is closed due to a landslide. Juri takes off in a random direction while Sakuya runs after her and tells Urara to call Yuna back. Yuna sends Urara new directions and tells her to save it. Juri and Ranka are happy as can be exploring like kids, but Juri is disappointed when Urara runs up to them with new directions.

Yuna keeps calling over and over like a worried mother, interrupting the adventure every 5 steps, with Juri and everyone looking more and more sad with each call. They keep missing every landmark and make no progress getting to the villa. Ao and Hikaru end up splashing Yuna, causing her to drop the phone into the water. Juri got cut off mid call and can't get through to her. The squad all realize they can't reach any of the 3 at the villa now, but they still have directions at least.

They arrive at another road, also closed due to construction. Then a guy stops them on another trail that's closed due to a small fire. They wonder if something is stopping them from ever reaching the villa, or if this is all pure coincidence.

Finally they arrive at a conbini and decide to buy some drinks. They spot a flyer on the wall for a campground sponsored treasure hunt orienteering event for kids. Juri wants to enter while Sakuya and Urara protest. Juri calls Ranka out for not being confident, so Ranka joins her in wanting to enter the event. Juri and Ranka take off, leaving Sakuya and Urara behind.

Turns out Yuna's phone wasn't waterproof, as Ao and Hikaru apologize to her. Ao offers her phone, so Yuna goes to the villa to get it, along with water guns and floaties for them to play with. Sakuya and Urara give up on trying to call, so they decide to head to the villa without the kids. Juri and Ranka, meanwhile, are exploring a cave, thinking it's like a dungeon in an RPG. Sakuya and Urara come across another camp, with a lost little girl.

Juri and Ranka find the coveted treasure chest, only to find it just has flying discs with the campgrounds logo on them inside. They laugh it off and head outside, only to find they took a wrong turn. Juri completely forgot they were here to go to Yuna's villa, but she somehow forgot the directions she was told. She figured Urara would take care of it. Ranka starts worrying and Juri gets mad that she was expected to handle this. Until suddenly they hear a loud buzzing noise coming their way...

Yuna returns with a pile of goodies for Ao and Hikaru to play with, and Ao unlocks her phone for Yuna to use. Sakurara reunite the lost girl with her parents, but they took a wrong way again. They go ask a staff member, who tells them they're really far away from the address, and there's no transportation services out here, so they have to walk. Urara thinks they must be cursed. Juri Ranka encounter a huge wasp that chases them away.

Sakurara reach a fork in the road. Their app says go right, but with everything that's happened so far, they're not so sure about that. They get a call from Yuna, who finds out they're close by through the GPS. Sakuya says according to their app they're still far away though. Urara realizes she must have messed up writing down the address. Yuna tells them she's on her way to get them. Juri and Ranka are still running from the wasp.

Sakuya and Urara are now at the villa enjoying cold drinks with the others. Yuna is about to call Juri when she hears Juri yelling out in the woods "Damn, you're persistent!! Shall I make ya well-done!?" Ranka yells that she can't, as that'll cause a forest fire. They run into the party and dive into the water. Juri grabs Yuna and tells her to dive too. Everyone starts panicking over the wasp they brought with them. Juri tells Urara and Sakuya to get in too, but Yuna tells them to just calm down and don't move. The wasp immediately leaves.

Juri and Ranka are relieved to be rid of it, but Yuna tells them it wasn't a wasp, but a carpenter bee. Urara knows that those are gentle bees that only look like wasps. Yuna follows up telling Juri that running away makes you an enemy to them. But enough about that, Yuna wants to hear the rest of what Juri should be saying. Juri says sorry, but now that they're like this anyway, might as well just play in their clothes. She yanks Urara and Sakuya into the water with them. Yuna has some choice words to say, but for now she wants everyone to just enjoy their vacation.



-Azalea Sisters-

Ayame hands Konoha a schedule of what she's going to do over summer vacation, but it's all plans to play, except for Tuesday which is scheduled to be at Felicia's house with Felicia, Sana, and Kako to do their homework. Mama Konoha doesn't think Ayame will spend much time studying that day, but decides to trust her for now. Ayame also just put "going out with Felicia on Friday", but doesn't say where.

Hazuki then hands her schedule over too, which has almost no mention of playing. Konoha is worried that Hazuki isn't making friends at school since she's always so busy. Konoha is out of tea, so Hazuki heads out to the store before it closes.

Outside, Hazuki finds a witch and handles it just fine on her own, saving a girl from her class before Konoha and Ayame even show up. The girl wakes up and notices Hazuki immediately, who is still transformed. Hazuki stutters that it's cosplay. The girl then asks her if she wants to go to Kamiket with her on friday.

That friday, Hazuki is in her transformed outfit at Kamiket with her schoolmate. She spots someone dressed as Mocha Rabbit by a crowd. She wonders how someone can wear a huge outfit like that on a hot day. Her classmate says her cosplay is awesome, wondering if it's from smartphone game. She says she's also a closet otaku like Hazuki. Hazuki unfortunately has no idea what any of this is. Anime, or something? She's just lying to hide what her outfit actually is. She hasn't even told her sisters what she's doing today.

Ayame is suddenly heard yelling to Felicia to slow down. She tells Felicia that she lied on her schedule, so her family has no idea she's here today. Felicia doesn't want Yachiyo knowing, because she'd never hear the end of her complaining about only kids going here. They both form a pact to never tell their parents about their adventure today.

Hazuki's classmate has a fancy camera and is now snapping pics of Hazuki's cosplay. A crowd starts forming around them, also asking to take pics. Hazuki reluctantly lets them, all the while keeping an eye on Ayame, hoping they're too busy to notice her.

Ayame already saw Hazuki, though, and is wondering why she's here, since she doesn't seem the type to enjoy Kamiket. She thinks Hazuki knew all along and is taking pics as proof she lied. She wonders if she should tell Felicia, but she thinks she'll take all her lunch as punishment. She tells Felicia to start heading to the Decagon Ball area.

Hazuki knows Ayame loves Decagon Ball, so she wants to avoid it, but her classmate starts dragging her there to see a favorite cosplayer. More back and forth shifty eyes between Ayame and Hazuki. Classmate finds the cosplayer as Celery this time (Decagon Ball, so a food related character name obviously), who has a perfectly recreated giant tail that absorbed the Green Beans one by one in the show (Cell? lol).

Classmate drags Hazuki towards Celery, but Ayame is panicking since Felicia is checking out the very same cosplayer. Hazuki tries to talk her way out, but Classmate wants the two together for a photo shoot. But suddenly Ayame and Felicia are gone? All that's left is the woman known as the Celery cosplayer? They take a photo together, and the woman asks why "you two" are hiding behind my tail? Felicia asks what the hell is Ayame doing. Ayame says ohh just wanted to see the tail up close. The stealth mission continues...

Hazuki notices the Mocha Rabbit cosplayer acting strange. She goes over to ask if she's okay. The rabbit can't find her friends, and while they do have a catalog of the place, she can't turn the pages with their giant stuffed rabbit hands, plus she can barely see out the suit. Hazuki asks her to just take the suit off, but the cosplayer can't be doing that and ruining the Mocha illusion. So The duo offer to take the Mocha to her friends, but Mocha wants to go to where they're selling a book called "The Secret of Moo Moo Farm".

Classmate has to go run off and get in line, so Hazuki and Mocha are chatting. Hazuki confides that she doesn't really get any of this convention stuff, but her classmate thought she was into cosplay so she's going with it for today. She also says that she kept this a secret from her family, but her sister is actually here too somewhere. They make it to the area Mocha wanted, so Hazuki is about to relax, but...

Felicia of course loves Moo Moo Farm. She spots a book on how to enjoy the farm 200%, filled with factoids even she didn't know! Hazuki takes cover behind Mocha Rabbit. Ayame and Felicia are hungry, so they head to the north exit where tables are set up, conveniently in the direction of that Mocha Rabbit. Ayame spots Hazuki nervously hiding behind the rabbit while Felicia is humming and skipping along. Ayame has to bribe Felicia to take the south exit with a piece of her fried chicken...

Mocha takes off towards her friends who are running off somewhere, and Classmate returns with what she wanted to buy. She wants to go the opposite direction of where the kids went, so Hazuki sighs in relief. Unfortunately, the area is closed off due to a person violently attacking a famous doujin author earlier. Someone in the crowd says they heard some young girls (Rui and Seira shown) took care of it.

They get directions to turn around and go back the way Ayame was, of course. Ayame and Felicia end up at a dead end and naturally have to turn around as well. Both groups are on a collision course with no signs of stopping. Hazuki and Ayame lock eyes as they're both dragged onward towards embarrassment. Felicia stops and notices Ayame isn't looking good at all. Hazuki also stops, saying she can't do this anymore. She wonders if this is the end.

Suddenly Mocha Rabbit appears, and a heavy burst of fog fills the convention, blinding everyone. Both sides take off, and can no longer see each other when the fog clears. Ayame and Felicia had fun and want to go again. Hazuki finally got to untransform, and did enjoy herself, despite everything.

Inside the changing room, Mocha Rabbit finally gets to take off her giant stuffed suit, revealing Konoha! She noticed Ayame acting strange and even found Hazuki here, with neither wanting to be found out. She even had to use fog magic to save them from meeting. Hazuki may have a busy, blunt schedule, but she at least still has fun as an ordinary middle school girl.



-Team Nanaka-

Kako has always looked forward to summer vacation throughout her life. They've taken a trip to a place called Toukan Village out in the sticks, far away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

The team are out walking about, looking at dozens of beetles. Kako trips over a tree root and panics over falling into beetles. Next they head to a river and splash about. Finally, they head to a shop and enjoy some ramune. They share their nostalgia, wishing summer vacation would never end. Kako asks them what they'd feel if summer really did never end. Akira and Meiyui both shout it would be the best!

That evening, Akira and Meiyui are thinking they're not going to make it in time for "that". They giggle at Kako who doesn't know what "that" is. She wonders where Nanaka went, but A and M say Ougama-sama must have gotten her. Kako slowly turns around she hears someone approaching her from behind, and just then a bright light flashes.

Nanaka wakes Kako up, telling her it's morning. She was sweating in her sleep. Kako looks and feels horrible, noting that she's now at the inn, and everyone is here like nothing happened. Nanaka tells her to stay at the inn today. Akira tells her that's a waste; she had more fun stuff planned for today. Kako asks her what day it is today. Everyone tell her in unison that it's August 62.

Kako explains that summer never ends in this village, and that everyone refuses to believe August should be over by now. No one panics or anything. They just enjoy their summer vacation in the village. When she first got to the village she had sensed a witch, but then Ougama-sama came to get them. Since then, everyone forgot about the witch and endlessly play.

She hears a wind chime that Nanaka brought with her. Earlier, Nanaka asked her to put magic in it as a charm to ward off evil. She wanted to bring more, but figured it would be too noisy. Nanaka had expected that if something were to happen to them, only Kako would be able to get them out by defeating the witch.

If only this were just a dream. Her soul gem is blackening, so she remembers when she spoke to everyone earlier about it. Kako noticed back then that their soul gems were getting worse just by being in the village, but they were all dead set on staying there for fun the entire month.

Unfortunately, Kako can't convince anyone to leave her alone, so they drag her out to the river to play again today. She told herself no fun, yet here she is in her swimsuit shooting Meiyui with a water gun. Nanaka wants everyone to leave early today before Ougama-sama shows up. Kako is certain this "person" is the witch who trapped them. She gets anyone who stays outside the inn in the evenings.

Nanaka interrupts Kako's internal pep-talk to tell her she heard that Ougama-sama hates summerisms...like the wind chime that's enchanted to protect Kako right now? And that swimsuit she's wearing too.

That evening, Kako brings up the courage to confront Ougama-sama in her swimsuit, ready to duke it out. Unfortunately, she feels herself fade away, and awakens at the inn with Nanaka waking her up again. She asks everyone if there's a way to leave the village, but they reply in unison that they're here to play all August. And so it is August 63, and summer vacation continues as a single wind chime is heard...

Today they're at a lighthouse. It's amazing that there's an ocean in the middle of the mountains...wait, that's complete nonsense. Kako is once again the only one phased by things, while everyone else wants to explore the lighthouse. Kako is startled by Nanaka staying behind, who wanted to tell Kako another thing she heard about Ougama-sama since she seemed so interested the day before. It turns out Ougama-sama hates watermelons.

That evening, Kako carries a huge watermelon with her to the middle of the village. She senses the witch approaching and transforms, though scared, and asks Ougama-sama if she'd like to split this watermelon, but...she wakes up the next day.

August 64: shaved ice vs. witch. Failed.
August 65: sparklers vs. witch. Failed.
August 66: wind chimes vs. witch. She sounds them out, but Ougama doesn't show up. Instead, Paola (water witch) shows up, and Nanaka suddenly shows up slicing at it, finally getting to see who the witch really is. Nanaka pulls Kako away from the witch to explain things to her while hiding.

Since the beginning, Nanaka wasn't actually trapped. She was pretending to so she could investigate the witch without drawing suspicion. Kako realizes Nanaka kept feeding her those rumors so she would attempt to draw the witch out. So far, it seems attacks against the witch don't work, but wind chimes seem to, so Nanaka made Kako experiment with various summer activities, no matter how embarrassing it was for her. In the end, it seems magical resonance is what is effective, so Kako figures they need more wind chimes. Nanaka says no, what they need is this massive electromagnetic radar that she points to. EHHHH!?

Nanaka has been planning to use this radar for some time, so Kako doesn't need to worry. Paola suddenly shows up and sets the radar on fire immediately. They get knocked into the woods and manage to escape, but now they're without a plan again. Kako offers to use the wind chime more, but they'd need one the size of the radar dish to work. Wait, a giant wind chime...?

Paola chases after them, but Kako takes the lead now, taking them to a shrine. She plans to use the bonshou / giant bell here to take the witch out. Only problem is, is this a shrine with a bonshou? They figure it's just a normal shrine, but Paola catches up to them again. Just before she can finish them off, Akira and Meiyui arrive and attack the witch. They regained their senses while the witch was distracted it seems, though they have no memory of losing it to begin with. Meiyui jokes that Akira and fighting are inseparable.

Nanaka now has a plan, and leaves Akira and Meiyui to keeping the witch at bay. While this Shinto shrine may not have a huge bell to ring, it does have a smaller suzu bell. While it may not work and feels like they're asking the gods for help, Kako assures her that their team always has luck on their side. Kako puts her magic into the bell, and it begins changing the whole village...into the witch's barrier. The witch's illusion over the entire village is broken, leaving it vulnerable.

Kako realizes all her nostalgia and feelings for summer were all dreams caused by the witch barrier over the village, created solely to drain their magic slowly. There's no shrine now, but the wind chime still exists since it was brought from outside. Kako begins putting magic into the chime while Akira makes an attack, but the witch still doesn't take damage.

Suddenly they're all back in the village again, the witch trying to force them into dreams once more. Akira starts drifting off but recovers, Nanaka is getting an idea of what the witch is trying. She turns to Kako, who is also drifting off into dreaming. The two have a back and forth of Kako feeling inferior and Nanaka sympathizing with her. She ends with asking what Kako wants: a nice dream with no future, or the hard reality that has a future.

In the end, Kako decides she wants to wake up from this dream and let summer vacation end. All that's left is the summer heat, and just a tinge of loneliness. Nanaka comes to get Kako, who was sitting alone. She tells Kako that Autumn has its good points too, and that Akira and Meiyui are waiting for her. Now that summer vacation has ended, Kako may still have all of her anxiety, but she will continue to live life to the fullest.



-Neo Magius-

At the community center, Miyuri is glued to her phone playing Little Vacation for the nostalgia. She explains the details of what it is to Himena. She sees Miyu's AI is with AI San, and they're both heading to the junk city. Miyu tells her she loves watching AI San-sama's legs the whole time. Himena LOLs and tells her she's max impurity.

San and the rest of the VIPs enter the room, ready to begin their meeting, and Miyu quickly hides her phone. Mitsune catches her doing so, but Miyu quickly tells her she absolutely didn't just hide virtual legs or anything of the sort! San is like virtual...what?

Meanwhile in Little Vacation, Tsuruno and Felicia AI go through the motions of the ending of Angels on the Road. Instead, however, we continue through the perspective of Shigure and Hagumu AI. Shigu still can't see anything through the telescope today. She checks every night for any sign of the two because they promised everything would be okay and they would show them shooting stars from the other world.

With the meeting now over, Miyu has a question to ask everyone: is there anyone who hasn't finished their summer vacation school projects yet? Hime and Shigu haven't, so Sasha teases them for being such terrible middle schoolers. Miyu offers the idea of everyone going stargazing for one night at camp, since they'll be busy with NeoMagi work later. Hime wants to see Orihime and Hiko on the moon boat, not for Tanabata since it's already passed, but for the lunar calendar version. Hiko has to correct her on the details, and she gets pouty.

San and Sasha are a bit worried about doing this, while Mitsune asks Miyu if she wanted to suggest this for a reason. Miyu says she wanted to catch a shooting star, as in film one. Only problem is there's no meteor shower, so it's all a game of chance looking for them for one night. Miyu then has a revelation while thinking back to her game: she can just ask Santa-san for a present in advance!

Himena and Shigure are all on board with the idea, asking Miyu is she's okay using her yearly present on this, shocking San. Miyu says she'll go ask her father when she gets home to relay the message to Santa-san, which Sasha finds adorable. San, Sasha, and Hagumu all telepathically talk about why they're encouraging this (except San). San asks Mitsune, and Mitsune replies "hm? you talking about the santa claus organization? it's a long story lol."

Himena is going to handle the campsite equipment and tents, Miyuri is going to get a telescope and video equipment from her astronomy club at school, and Shigu is going to research how best to film the stars. Sasha asks San if she's not going to say anything. San says they can do whatever they like, as failing is a part of research projects.

Back in Junk City, it has started snowing. Shigu wants to use bots (the mail carrier uwasa) to fix the dome over the city, something she learned she could do recently. Shigure keeps looking up at the sky, but she doesn't want to go to their world, she wants to learn about it, why their creators created this world, why they created them, and why they abandoned them. While the creators never answered their voices, Shigu has found a new goal: she wants to make their world a better place, so she's not going to stare up at the sky anymore.

Now Little Vacation has a water park, and what is known as "summer" inside of the dome. Shigure has figured out how to work the bots in the world enough to change the climate at this point. Her and Hagumu get into the water, but then it suddenly starts raining. Shigu realizes she made a mistake with the weather, and goes off to fix it.

At the campsite, it is also raining over their parade. Miyu is screaming why is this happening!? Miyu begged Santa-san for an early present, so why's it raining!? Mitsune jokes that she should've asked the organization if getting an advance on her present is even allowed in the first place. San tells Mitsune that's not the lesson she should be giving her. Himena tells them to get inside and wait it out until night. San is disappointed to hear Miyu imply that her project is relying entirely on luck and Santa-san.

At Crescent House, Ui is in the lab reading a popular manga about an astronomy club that is trying to catch a shooting star on video. Nemu has read the original novel it's based on, and Touka is mad she's the one out of the loop. Touka then explains about filming shooting stars and how satellites can look like shooting stars too. Nemu points out that Ui's way of calling it stardust is a much nicer than Touka's calling it manmade space debris and meteorites. Touka mentions there's websites where you can view public data on incoming debris so you can almost accurately depict when and where you can see a shooting star.

Tsuruno and Felicia AI hear that over the interwebs. Tsurubot wants to get that data so they can catch a shooting star.

Now night at the campsite, all the clouds are gone, leaving a perfectly starry sky. Shigure is shocked, as the chance of rain was at 80% for tonight. Miyu thanks Santa-san for letting her win the weather gacha. The team rush all the equipment out of the tent and shut their lights off. Miyu's phone is already connected to the telescope, but she then gets a text message moments before filming.

She's utterly shocked, as the message is from...Santa's reindeer, delivering a shooting star present to them! It says to point the telescope at the Milky Way lovers! Miyu shows the message to Himena - it's really a message from Santa-san! She then shows it to Hagu and Shigu, who see the message, but also a strange flash of two girls on it for a second. They both wonder if that was Santa-san. San wonders aloud who that message could be from, and Mitsune says "It's obvious, isn't it LOL? An agent at the organization..."

Suddenly a shower of shooting stars cross Orihime and Hikoboshi, and Miyuri catches it all on video. Himena says it looks like a bridge across the Milky Way. Miyu is overjoyed and thanks Santa-san for everything.

Tsuruno and Felicia AI collect all the smile energy into their pack, with Felicia noting something sparkly got caught in it. It's a little bit of the shooting stars the girls caught! And now they can fulfill their promise.

Touka now understands that the reindeer santas escaped into the sea of the internet, and caught a shooting star via video data. She gets a message from the server, saying "EMERGENCY ALERT Emergency notification to world administrator" Touka realizes those two are trying to break into the Little Vacation server, trying to give that shooting star data to someone inside the server. She wonders if imitating Santa-san is fun, and has no idea what the AI could be thinking given that they develop and change so rapidly.

She thinks back to when her papa would act as a substitute Santa-san, when he would tell her that one day she'll realize that it's better to give gifts than to receive them. She nyaas that she still doesn't understand.

In Little Vacation, live from Pirate Radio Central, there's an important message for the two girls hanging out in the pool: there's an unusual signal coming from the wishing star! Shigu and Hagu AI look up, and see their present from the reindeer santas...! Hagumu is tearing up, glad that they made it to the other side.

Shigure says it's their turn now. She created a little summer for Hagumun and came to realize that it's better to create a world for others than to be given one. Rather, she's happier to give a present than to receive one.

The next day, Miyu is as happy as can be with how the video turned out, so she's back to relaxing with her game. She looks at the game, sees what has happened, and runs straight to San-sama, saying something crazy happened! Virtual Miyabi and Virtual Azumi - their legs! - they have swimsuits with...bare legs...! San shakes her head, wondering what Miyu's even talking about.



-Masara & Kokoro-

Kokoro goes to the beach one day with Masara. She says it's so bright out, and Masara makes her laugh by mentioning the sun is strongest during the solstice in June. They overhear a tournament beginning their girl's division preliminaries for beach kickbase, a game that is like a combination of soccer and baseball.

A team of girls from Masara's swim team are worried that they can't find replacements since two of their teammates couldn't fly in due to bad wind. While MasaKoko were just going to watch, the team end up asking if they would be willing to join. Kokoro said they should both join, so Masara agrees. And thus their "hot" summer began.

They meet with the team's coach, do some light exercises and practice, and then their first mach begins. Kokoro scores a hit so Masara can run home, winning the game. The team can no go to the finals in 10 days, so they all thank their senpais for the winning hit. Next they go out to scout their rivals, who have won 6 years in a row, and Kokoro tells us that this isn't the end of the story of their involvement. They watch the opposing team win a game 10 to 0 in the 2nd inning of 5. The girls look demoralized, but their coach says if they want to win it's through them. Ashley walks on by and comments that they're playing something interesting looking.

The next day MasaKoko see Natsuki at the park, watching the team they helped yesterday practicing hard. Kokoro says that this meeting was a total coincidence. Masara tells the team they should be resting after their previous match, but they're too caught up on wanting to practice for the finals. Natsuki at least loves the enthusiasm.

Kokoro asks them why they're trying so hard to win. One girl says if they do win, the coach will do them one favor, so while they haven't told the coach yet, they will request that she get back into playing. Not back into beach kickbase, but baseball, as she was a member of the Japanese women's baseball world cup.

The news shocks everyone, especially Natsuki. She knows exactly who this woman is, the position she played, and that she retired this year. Her father was even an Olympic medalist, and she kept playing all her life to dedicate a gold medal to her late father. Women's baseball doesn't get official recognition in the Olympics, however, so their team disbanded and she retired. There is the world cup, but it's not the same.

Kokoro knows that Natsuki also quit baseball and started up cheerleading, and though she is hyped about cheerleading, she laughs and says she still carry some regret over baseball. Kokoro wonders how the coach feels now that she's working for something that isn't baseball.

And so a girl asks MasaKoko if they would join again for the finals and ensure they get the coach back into playing. Natsuki tells them if they do, she'll be there to help them practice too, though she won't be able to see them at the finals. Kokoro agrees, and Masara frowns, knowing she'd say that. Natsuki cheers in the hellishly intense training, and Kokoro is like "did she just say hellish...?"

That evening, Natsuki throws one final ball and calls the training over for today. MasaKoko are beat, shocked at how demonic Natsuki is at sports, though they have improved. On their way home, they spot the coach staring at the Japanese national team's uniform on display at a sporting store with a frown on her face.

As each day passes, they team becomes better and better. And then the day of the tournament arrives. First is the semifinals, which they don't have to play the super team in, but this team is still 7-0. They look scary too, but the team has been training hard and feel like they can win now. Sparing describing the game, they win 6-3.

Next is the other semifinals, which they watch the super team crush in a 10-0 in the 1st inning (It doesn't help that this team has Promised Blood's music playing and they all look angry lol). One of the girls says out loud that they have to win so the coach gets back into playing, which of course the coach ends up hearing. She asks is that why they practiced so hard, for her? The girl says yes, because the national uniform suits her more. The coach thinks about it, and then agrees to their request, but only if they win.

Ashley is telling Seira to hurry, as the match is about to begin. Ash tells Kokoro she wants to stream the match, and Riko isn't here so Seira is handling the camera test.

The final match begins, and Kokoro's team is keeping their opponents from scoring, which was all it took to make the crowd go wild. After a big hit, Masara scores the first point, and tension rises with the crowd. They know the other team is going to try to score now, but as long as they can defend until the 5th inning they'll win.

At the end of the 3rd inning, they ended up being down 1-2. The crowd is massive now, as practically everyone on the beach is here watching, including people who were watching the streams. Bottom of the 5th inning is still 1-2, with Kokoro's team on offense. Kokoro is up to kick with Masara and one girl on bases. Kokoro messes up the kick and is out, but Masara sprints for home. Absolutely no one expected Masara's sudden run, so their opponents were caught off guard. Thanks to that, it's tied again 2-2. But that's not all, folks. First base now runs thanks to a bad throw to home. The ball comes back and...safe! The crowd erupts!

The game ends in victory. Masara tells the coach she just listened to what she said and found the right chance to go for it. Kokoro thinks she was getting into the game, but as Masara denies the claim, she changes her mind and says I don't know, maybe I did loose my cool a little. Their opponents are already talking about next year, and Ashley is loving the footage.

And so they all ask the coach to get back into playing one more time. She was so happy seeing the game play out today, so they want her to get back into playing for her own sake. The coach realizes she may have been too caught up on trying to get to the Olympics that she stopped enjoying baseball as it is. Only problem is she'll have to find a team.

As she says that, the coach from the other team comes by to see her. Coach 2 asks Koko coach if she remembers her. She didn't even recognize her, but she was from her team in high school! As it turns out, a pro team is forming a women's division, and she wants to introduce Koko coach to the scout. Coach 2 encourages her that while they may not be in the Olympics, there's other world tournaments, and maybe one day the rules will change. The girls all tell her to go for it, as they'll win tournaments even if they don't have a coach. So she goes on to ask about the details.

Kokoro then explains what happened after that day. Ashley's stream went viral and girls all over wanted to join their team. The team is looking great, but they're struggling to juggle their time between kickbase and the swim team. As for the coach...

Natsuki shows a magazine article to Kokoro and Masara. The coach's picture is in it, with an announcement that she's joining the women's team. Natsuki wonders if she should beat the heat and get serious too. She didn't mean baseball though, she meant cheerleading. All the enthusiasm from the event inspiring others is something she wants to take to heart with her cheerleading. Kokoro thinks on that. Masara broke her cool to make a winning run to home base thanks to enthusiasm. She smiles and says that is absolutely true! Masara asks her why she was looking at her while saying that.



-Mizuna Girl's Academy-

Mizuna's summer specialty is seaside school, a summer school event that let students enjoy various summer activities by the sea. Only problem is an incident happened on the first day of it...

Ria, Sayuki, Mayu, Tsukuyo have all arrived at the beach and are in the same group, with high school students enjoying free time, though Mayu was late getting her swimsuit on. Tsumugi and Manaka are in another group, with Tsumugi wishing Sana was here. The middle school students are in charge of preparing for the campfire that night along with Yukika and the student council. A student tells Yukika that they're missing a watermelon, and another is frightened, saying a ghost appeared. Yukika asks if it's the student council's job to take care of ghosts.

The campfire can be handled tomorrow, so the high school team is out enjoying the water. After, Ria goes to her room to get more sunscreen. Tsukuyo was worried about joining, but now she's glad she did. Mayu mentions that there's still watermelon splitting and a campfire to enjoy, which makes Sayuki realize something and take off. The two remaining decide to go to the beach house, with Mayu taking a detour to their room to go get Ria. As Mayu gets to the rooms she hears someone fall, and sees Ria on the ground with a split melon and a wooden sword surrounding her in their room. Mayu screams, thinking Ria is dead.

Sayuki and Asuka rush in with Yukika, Manaka, and Tsumugi right behind them. Mayu tells them that Ria-chan...is dead... Except she's not, so they rush her to the school doc. They were told that Ria must have been hit on the head and fell unconscious. Mayu vows to find who did it, but Asuka interrupts her...because she admits that she did it. She explains that she was outside, practicing her sword swings for the splitting contest with this sword she calls the "legendary melon slicer", but her hand slipped, throwing it at Ria.

Sayuki tells them to wait, because it's actually her fault! That wooden sword is hers, and it's no "legendary melon slicer", it's actually a "cursed watermelon splitter"... It's a sword that strikes things the owner does not want to, so when she was reminded of the watermelon splitting contest, she thought she might have brought the wrong one. She remembers running to the beach house, but saw it was too late as Asuka had already began swinging it. She called out to Asuka, which she claims activated the curse. Asuka says it was her fault though, as her inexperience caused her hand to slip.

Now Yukika places the blame on herself, as her tendency to get into trouble likely caused the accident. Mayu tells them all they're not the culprits, however. Yukika hasn't experienced anything thrilling yet, so this isn't a typical event of hers. Mayu also thinks the two didn't use this sword on Ria, despite it being right here. If she was hit by the sword, it should have left a mark on her, no? The doc said she was likely hit in the head, but there's no indication it was the sword itself. Who's the culprit then? Well, Ria is a mahou shoujo, so someone with enough force to knock her unconscious must also be one...

As they remember, Ria was the only one in the room, as the four of them went to play until she left to get sunscreen, and this room is for Sayuki, Mayu-chan, Tsukuyo-chan, and Amime-san (as Sayuki says), so who else could have entered? Manaka and Tsumugi start glancing at each other in worry. They start telling each other to turn themselves in, making the team wonder what they're hiding.

Earlier that day, Tsumugi saw Ria laughing and Manaka getting mad. Manaka told Ria to go hit her head on a watermelon, and then she saw Manaka carrying a watermelon away. But Manaka says that was just her joking around with Ria. As Manaka suspects, Tsumugi must have stolen the watermelon and got caught by Ria, so she struck her down to keep her mouth shut. Tsumugi tells her she's awful! She's just imagining things now, plus Manaka was the one with the melon to begin with.

Without any proof, Mayu then moves on to alibis. She had heard Ria fall down just from outside the room and rushed in. This means the attack happened just before Mayu screamed. Yukika explains that Manaka and Tsumugi were with her when they heard the scream, as they were doing student council work. Tsumugi is happy to be in the clear thanks to Manaka explaining things, but she wouldn't have been a suspect to begin with if she didn't act suspicious.

Where did the watermelon come from? At Yukika's request, Manaka and Tsumugi were carrying  watermelons and firewood for the campfire, but Tsumugi got tired and set a melon on a bench nearby. Once they finished carrying the wood, they return to Yukika and heard the scream, meaning they forgot the watermelon on that bench. Yukika confirms, as a student told her one watermelon was missing. Did Ria take the watermelon to eat and someone attacked her for her crime? Asuka brings up an important point: where's Tsukuyo at...? Mayu told her to wait for her at the beach house, and the watermelon was left near it. They decide to head to the beach house and investigate the bench.

At the bench, they find Tsukuyo fainted and groaning. She's not hurt, so she may have saw something scary and passed out. Yukika thinks it may have been a ghost, as a student reported one appearing earlier. Tsukuyo wakes up, screaming that the ghost appeared. A voice calls out behind them, saying oh so you noticed me? Tsukuyo falls back to the ground, fainting once more. Asuka calls out to the ghost, ready to avenge her fallen comrade.

Kanoko in her whatever the fuck beach mushroom costume appears, with her telling Asuka NO IT'S ME! ME! Tsukuyo is groaning that it's the mushroom ghost. Kanoko had left to get a drink for Tsukuyo since she fainted, but she takes offense to being called a ghost. Tsukuyo never imagined THAT was her swimsuit, and apologizes for the trouble. Manaka asks how she swims in the thing, and Kanoko says she's been working on it. The team don't have time to hear it though, as they need to investigate the bench still.

Mayu asks Tsukuyo if the watermelon was here when she got here. Tsukuyo isn't sure since the shock, but she thinks there was one. Mayu believes everything is solved, and now knows that the murder weapon was in fact the watermelon.

Mayu asks Kanoko if she heard her scream right after Tsukuyo-chan fainted, and she did. Mayu then walks through the incident. Ria went to get room to get sunscreen, and must have had the window open because it was hot. And then the watermelon flew in from the window, killing her instantly. Immediately after that, the wooden sword flew in through the same window, slicing the watermelon in half and landing next to her, creating the scene she saw.

How did the watermelon go flying? Well, Manaka-chan was carrying it for Yukika, and it was left on the bench to take care of the exhausted Tsumugi-chan. And this bench it was left on behaves like a seesaw because it's old and worn out. Meaning when Tsukuyo-chan fainted onto the bench, the weight caused the bench to launch the watermelon, striking Ria-chan.

As for the sword, we know Asuka was practicing with it. When Sayuki yelled to her, she was startled enough to cause her to let loose the sword, straight into the watermelon. Everyone is skeptical, so they decide they need to ask the victim to confirm this wild series of coincidences. Manaka asks why they didn't just ask her to begin with.

Back at the room, Ria confirms a watermelon and sword flew in from the window. The melon hit her, and she saw a glimpse of a sword slicing the melon as she hit the ground. So who is the culprit responsible for this crime? Well, no one. As Mayu says, it was all an unfortunate accident caused by a series of coincidences. Ria laughs and agrees, as that watermelon saved her from getting chopped by the sword.

One mystery still remains, however. Why did Ria open the window in the first place? Ria says she didn't open it. She tried to close it because someone left it open. Then the person who left it open was... Mayu, because she was late getting her swimsuit on and forgot to close it. Oh, Mayu... So everyone apologizes to Ria for their behavior. That evening, Ria is screaming out to the ocean that she didn't get a chance to show off her new swimsuit because she spent the day knocked out.



-Daito Apartment Complex-

Every year the community runs an event for the kids during summer vacation. This year, Mito hears, is that they're going to have nagashi soumen. She also invites herself in joining Reira and Seika on the committee for running the event. They try to talk her out of it, but Mito wants to be with them as much as possible during their vacation.

They then see 3 little girls crying at the park. One tells them that Aa-chan is moving away to another country. Reira knows these 3 have been close friends their entire lives at these apartments, and now one is going away in 2 weeks. Reira has an idea though: they can all join the nagashi soumen event and make fun memories together! One girl asks Seika if she's mad at them, not realizing the Seika stares really hard when nervous. The kids like these 3 onee-chans, so they decide to join the event.

Later that day, Reira can't think of anything to do for the event. Seika asks if comedic ultra nagashi soumen is still off the table, as in no one can eat their noodles unless they can get laughs out of their joke. Reira thinks that would be too hard for little kids, and Mito says she wouldn't be able to eat then.

They hear cicadas, and Mito comments how hot it is outside. She tells them they should all go to the new water park since it's too hot to think. Reira remembers the water slide was fun, and Seika says if they put noodles through that, they'd go flying fast. Reira thinks that's a great idea.

Reira thinks nagashi soumen based on a water slide would be fun and original. They decide to go ask the 3 kids since they're the stars of this event. All 3 of them love the idea and want to know how that'll work, but Mito says that's a secret for now.

They trio go and ask the community chairman if they would cooperate with the complex builders in installing equipment to make this happen. At the building company, a guy tells them that making a water slide style nagashi soumen stand would require a lot of creativity and planning to build such a thing. He says that since the event is once a year and Mito-chan has come a long way, he wouldn't mind helping them. He then realizes he could use scaffolding, so he's fine handling construction.

Next they go to the complex's water services. The old man there is excited to help out and can hardly believe it's time for the annual event. He says everyone at this complex is like family to him and hasn't gotten to see Mito-chan in a while, so he'll join with the builder and make the best waterslide they can. With construction handled, Mito declares the event ready to go. Except she forgot one important thing: the soumen!

The chairman tells everyone to get fired up. Reira doesn't get why, they're just going to a dry noodle shop around here... He tells her she'll see when they go in. The chairman greets the grumpy old lady running the shop, who asks what he wants. Seika and Mito are already scared. Reira heard the store is famous for its noodles, but the owner has a reputation for being an oddball who will kick anyone out she doesn't like. Seika can't handle talking to her, so Reira steps up.

The old lady is like "you want MY soumen for some watermacallit...? I ain't selling no noodles for some weird event!" Reira tells her that yes it's an unexpected event, but there's 3 girls and one is about to leave the country, so she wants them to make memories at this event. She asks if the woman can make an exception this one time. She tells Reira she'll help if she's so determined. The chairman is impressed by her, but Reira says she's glad the old lady was able to understand.

Back at the complex, Reira approves of a model of how the slide will look, so construction begins. The old lady delivers a huge amount of noodles, and Mito asks if she can have a nibble. Reira reminds her that eating the noodles as is will make her sick. The construction is now complete, and the kids are excited to see it in action on the day of the event. Later, strong winds pick up and break the soumen stand apart, 2 days before the event.

There's no postponing the event, and Aa-chan would be gone by the time things get fixed. No one knows what to do, so the chairman reassures them at least the noodles are here, so they can still have a "normal soumen eating party." Reira has been given a deadline, so she calls her party to split up and come up with ideas by the morning.

Reira heads to Walnuts to ask Manaka for advice. She suggests having different sauces and condiments, like tomatoes or curry, and letting everyone build their own meal. Manaka says that creating an enjoyable atmosphere to eat in is kinda like entertainment, except little kids probably won't appreciate the idea. They need a more playful idea to make it work. Reira continues all throughout the day and night, but returns home unable to think of anything else.

Mito and Seika group call her, wondering if she came up with anything. Reira only knows they need something playful, and that it has to be able to be ready in half a day. Mito and Seika couldn't come up with anything either. Manaka's a la carte idea may end up being their last resort.

The next day, they decide to just go with the idea and get it ready fast, otherwise they'll be stuck eating all the noodles like wanko soba, as Seika says. Reira gets an idea out of that - why not do a wanko soumen contest? They rush the idea to the chairman who quickly approves, and so everyone rushes to get things ready. The chairman runs out of bowls, so the girls run around asking everyone in the complex for spare bowls.

After collecting bowls, Seika hands Reira a bag full of toys and cute things she got from the Oji-san who runs the general store when she was getting bowls from him, saying it would be great prizes for the kids. Mito wants to hand them out to everyone. Reira agrees - they should make it fun for every kid. Upon thinking that, she realizes something - instead of a contest to see who eats the most, how about...

And now the day of the event. Reira announces that they had to cancel the nagashi soumen event, but in its place will be a wanko soumen event. Aa-chan knows that means a contest to eat the most noodles over and over in their bowl wins. Mito corrects her that while true, in this event there's no winning or losing! Seika says (with her serious stare going on) on the back of every bowl is a number on a sticker, and every point the eater gets can be redeemed for a present, so everyone can eat a lot and get lots of presents.

The kids are all excited getting their presents as they finish their bowls. Reira and Seika are losing their cool trying to keep up with all the kids, but Mito seems to be doing fine. After the event ends, Aa-chan and friends tell Reira they've never had so much fun eating noodles before. Aa-chan got a set of 3 hairpins as a present, so she divided them with her friends. That way they won't be lonely when the miss each other, and they'll never forget this day. The girls start tearing up, including Seika and Mito. They'll never forget Aa-chan either.

As the girls watch the sun set, they prayed that the little girls' friendship would last forever, no matter the distance. Afterwards, they said their goodbyes like they always do. "Byebye, see you tomorrow!"



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-Part 2-
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-Madoka-

Madoka and friends go south to a private resort this summer. Mami-san and Sayaka-chan immediately declare a summer battle game using water guns, with the prize being gifts everyone was asked to bring with them. Madoka got something really special, because...

Flashback to when Madoka was getting ready in her room. Junko is asking her over and over if she forgot anything, did she remember her homework, and then tells her to go off and enjoy the things she can only do now.

With that promise being made, Madoka wants to make lots of memories on this vacation. They gather all the gifts together, and Madoka asks Homura what she brought. Homura doesn't say it, but it's something she got for Madoka. Sayaka and Mami then explains the rules, but Madoka notices everyone glancing at the gifts nervously.

Every grabs their water guns, and the teams are: MadoHomu, SayaKyou, and MamiNagi (who could have guessed). If you get hit, you go back to your team's base, and each person has 3 lives, one hit = one life. No magic or telepathy are allowed. The team with the most lives when the timer goes off wins. Madoka starts asking Homura how they should tackle the game - do they go alone and risk being shot, both go and risk losing their base, or defend while the other teams fight it out? Homura was lost in thought, though, wondering what Kaname-san's prize is. They announce that first place gets 3 prizs, 2nd 2 prizes, and last 1 prize.

Mami shuffled them around and assigned which ranks get what prizes randomly so only she knows. Madoka realizes her prize is assigned to the team that gets last place. Nagisa is happy her gift is in the pile for first, and Kyouko tells her to keep it a secret. They finally decide that the team that gets knocked out first is in last place, so they're now ready to begin.

Game start, and Homu's mind is still occupied by the fact that Madoka's prize is for last place. Kyouko wastes no time and fires at Madoka. Madoka takes off running, and Mami takes a shot at her next, and hits. Both teams have formed an alliance, concentrating on taking out the MadoHomu team.

Madoka and Homura both take hits by Sayaka and Mami working together, sending them back to their base. Mami is too good at this, since she uses guns all the time. Madoka brings up that Homura also uses guns, but Homura says she's still learning. Homura doesn't want them to lose, but she can't help but wonder what Madoka's prize is. Current lives remaining: Madoka: 1, Homura: 2, everyone else: 3.

Mami is going all out while her theme blasts, impressing Sayaka. Kyouko wants to win too, so she's going for it. Mami wants to win because she wants Nagisa's present. Earlier, Nagisa was snickering that she she can't wait to see the face of whoever opens her present. Nagisa cheers Mami on, who tells her let's win. Nagisa's eyes go wide - win...? Winning's going to be a bit of a problem.

Madoka sees team MamiNagi waver. Her and Homura try to think of a plan, but Kyouko takes the chance and fires at them, missing. Thanks to a pep talk by Madoka, Homura can now concentrate on the game. They stand back to back, ready to fight back and win first.

Homura is going to aim for Mami and Nagisa, so Madoka can focus on Kyouko and Sayaka. They hold position and fire back, pushing both teams away from them. Kyouko tells both teams to go all out, since there's no way they can fight back against all 4 at once, right? There's nowhere to dodge, so Mami opens fire, but... Nagisa shot Mami!? Nagisa apologizes, and Sayaka wonders to herself - did no one just notice Nagisa aimed right for Mami?

Nagisa feels so bad, but she thinks back to when an employee offered her some resort cheesecake. It's good for 2 days refrigerated, so Mami buys an entire cake. Nagisa wants that cheesecake that Mami got for her no matter what, and she knows for certain that cheesecake is in the 2nd place prize pool. She shot Mami so they have a handicap when they go against Kyouko and Sayaka. Faking her innocence, Nagisa is forgiven by Mami.

Homura knows Kyouko is most worried about Mami, so she thinks there will be more infighting to sway that advantage further. The game is about to be flipped over.

Kyouko wants to knock Madoka's team out, but Mami's expertise will be the end of her team. She wonders if there's another way to feign an accident to drop her to 1 life. The 4 get back into firing range, so Homura and Madoka split to avoid being surrounded. Sayaka goes after Mami, and Mami's back is now exposed. Kyouko takes the chance and hits Mami dead on. She tries to play it off, but Mami knows that was on purpose since they're out of firing range. Kyouko smiles and says guess you wouldn't believe anything I say now. Mami is now down to 1 life remaining, just like Madoka.

The teams all return to discuss plans. Kyouko tells Sayaka they should team up with Madoka and Homura now so they can knock Mami out, leaving only Nagisa for their team. Sayaka is worried, thinking back to earlier. Sayaka surprises Madoka in her resort room, catching her wrapping a ribbon on her present. Sayaka caught a glimpse of what it is, not realizing Madoka was hiding here with her present. Sayaka wants Madoka's present, which is in the 2nd place pool, but Kyouko wants to win 1st.

Kyouko tells Sayaka to charge at Mami. Nagisa didn't get the memo that they're enemies now. Kyouko yells to MadokHomu that she's not shooting at them until Mami is down, and asks for backup. MadoHomu are staying put, so KyouSaya go after Mami anyway. Mami takes off and hits Sayaka, knocking her down to 2 lives. Homura notices Sayaka isn't trying.

And so Homura and Madoka discuss teaming up with Mami's team now. If Mami is out, Kyouko will surely beat them, so they should help Mami hold on until all 3 teams are even in score. The alliances swap with Nagisa's approval, and Sayaka and Kyouko argue. Everyone fires at Kyouko, and Mami gets one hit in. Nagisa is now the only one at full lives. Everyone then goes after Kyouko except Nagisa, who cuts off Sayaka.

Sayaka and Nagisa stare each other down. Nagisa knows if Mami is out, there's no chance at 2nd place alone, and if Kyouko gets out, Mami could win on her own. Sayaka is pondering what's up with nagisa. She shot Mami in the back, so maybe she's after that cheesecake in the 2nd place pool?

Kyouko has no chance against 3 at once, and she yells to Sayaka to quit staring at Nagisa and help out. Sayaka wants 2nd place too, so she heads over to back Kyouko up. Unfortunately, Kyouko was shot by Madoka before she could make it. Madoka can't believe she even did it.

Just then the timer goes off, marking the end of the first half of the game. Lives remaining: Madoka: 1, Homura: 2, Sayaka: 2, Kyouko: 1, Mami: 1, Nagisa: 3.

During break time, Kyouko is arguing with Sayaka, who can't admit she wants 2nd place. Madoka and Homura come over and ask if something happened. Kyouko says nothing, it's just Sayaka doesn't seem to want to play. Sayaka then tells everyone that she was trying for 2nd. It was that moment that Madoka finally realized everyone was acting strange regarding this game.

Sayaka explains that she saw Madoka's prize and knew it was similar to hers, so she was aiming to get 2nd. Then Mami and Nagisa come over, and Homura begins admitting that she was trying to get last place for Madoka's present. Seeing everyone apologizing, Nagisa joins in and says sorry to Mami. Sayaka knew it - she did want the cheesecake in 2nd place. Mami has to break it to her that the cheesecake isn't in the present, the cheesecake was just something she got her. The cheesecake case is actually Kyouko's present, and there's no cheesecake inside. Nagisa is furious - whatdyou mean there's no cheesecake in the cheesecake case!? Kyouko explains she didn't have anything to put her present in, so Mami gave her the cheesecake case, leaving the actual cake in the fridge for tonight.

Even Kyouko was aiming for a specific prize - Homura's really nice thing that's sitting in the 1st place pool. Homura got something that Madoka would specifically like, though. That's what she meant by something really nice. Mami's turn is next, saying she wanted first because she heard Nagisa wanted to see who would open her present. Nagisa is mad hearing Mami thinking it was some jack in the box gag. Mami wanted to get 1st not because she wanted a specific present, but because she didn't want anyone else to get Nagisa's potentially scary prize.

Leaving only one person who was just playing for fun and not being distracted: Madoka. The timer goes off again, so everyone is ready for round 2, but this time everyone is going to play fair.

The game ends, with Mami being the last girl standing, having taken everyone out before the timer. End result: Mami Nagisa 1st, Sayaka Kyouko 2nd, Madoka Homura 3rd. Everyone is impressed Madoka managed to last until it was just her, Mami, and Kyouko remaining.

And now it's time for presents, starting with 3rd place. Madoka got this, so she lets Homura open it. Sayaka already knows what it is since she got the same thing. Inside is a Sagaribana Sagarin, a local plushy character based on the flower Barringtonia. Sayaka teases her, saying I guess it's cute if you look at it hard enough, but Madoka didn't get it's a joke. She looks worried, apologizing and asking Homura if it's not actually cute. Homura stammers that it's not not cute, but uh let's open the next present?

We know Sayaka's present, so Sayaka is going to open Kyouko's, except Kyouko isn't happy. Sayaka opens it, and it's a 3rd of these flower characters. As it turns out, all 6 of them bought the exact same thing for each other, so they ask each other WHY THIS.

Mami says she always buys tea or sweets, so she wanted to get something different. Homura saw Madoka staring at it at the store, so she bought one. Nagisa bought one because it was the weirdest thing she saw there and wanted to see the reaction of whoever got it. Madoka asks is it really that weird...? Kyouko traded a prize she got at the arcade for one with a local, though the box was thrown out. Nagisa realizes THAT THING was put into the cheesecake case. Everyone laughs at how this all turned out. Mami hands Madoka one, saying they may as well all get a prize.

Madoka looks back at photos of the day with her Sagarin, saying that this was one of her greatest summer memories. She enjoyed every moment of it, being together with all of her friends and this weird little present.



-Ashley & Riko-

Ash Onee-chan and Riko are doing summer homework in a library. Riko finishes before Ashley, so she goes off to check something. Ash finishes and finds Riko looking around, unable to find any reference material for her summer research project. Riko hasn't been able to think of a subject to write about yet, so Ash suggests beach combing - collecting things washed up on shore and researching what they are.

Riko loves the idea, but is nervous because she knows nothing about beach combing. Ash invites her over to her house to watch a movie about it, which just so happens to have been directed by her father. Riko loved the movie, especially the part about the main character giving their brother round sea glass, but notices Ash looked sad after watching it. Riko wonders if there's anything she can do to cheer Ash Onee-chan up, and decides she will look for something specific in secret while they go beach combing.

Now at the beach, Ash and Riko are ready for a day of fun before they start beach combing. However, Riko wants to find "that" while they go swimming (Riko has the most adorable Mameji inner tube that her parents pointed out to her while shopping). Riko notices shells under the water, so she sternly asks Ash Onee-chan to hold onto Mameji (the inner tube) while she suddenly dives under. She feels bad, but half lies to Ash that she was practicing her diving she learned at school.

Back from swimming, they get some drinks and Riko goes looking around for the thing she wants to find, but only finds pretty shells. Ash asks if she dropped something and offers to help look for it together. Being caught in the act, Riko plays it off and they go back. Ash wonders if Riko isn't having fun.

They eat yakisoba at the beachhouse and then get ready to start their beach combing. Before they can leave, however, they hear Akari yelling at Hotaru to not fall asleep. Akari tells her no sleeping or she's going to get heat stroke lying out on the beach. As it turns out, Akari is here too beach combing research for her summer project with Hotaru as her "guardian". Haruto was busy at a camp with his club, and her parents were busy, so she had to resort to asking Hotaru to come with her. They decide to all team up and beach comb together.

Ashley goes over the do's and dont's of beach combing with the kids: Avoid dangerous things like jellyfish, sea snakes, needles, flares, anything man-made, no catching anything alive, and only take what you need. Hotaru yawns, glad that Ashley is here to make her job easier.

Akari pulls out a picture book she brought, looking up the pink shells she picked up with Riko. The guardians discuss how prepared Akari was for this event. The kids wonder why the brown shells aren't a clam, and Ash tells them it's because something bigger ate it. They all look together in the book and find its a Bladder Moon Snail shell. Riko doesn't like the sound of shellfish eating shellfish.

Riko tells Akari to run off, and then whispers to her when they get far enough away from the guardians. Akari agrees to help her, and then yells to Hotaru that she's running off elsewhere. Hotaru tells her not to run too far off. Once again Ash looks sad, feeling a little lonely seeing Riko getting along with Akari.

Hotaru asks if she's tired. Ashley tells her no, she just misses playing with Riko since she seems to have more fun with someone her own age. Hotaru doesn't think so, but Ash says Riko always seems bored when they play together.

Riko and Akari are upset they can't find the thing, and it's almost time for them to go home. Akari suddenly remembers there's an area where flotsam washes up on shore, and grabs Riko and runs. The kids find the thing they were looking for as the guardians catch up. Ash, upset, asks why they ran, and Riko tells her she can't come closer. Ash says out loud that Riko really does have more fun without her. Riko apologizes, saying she's been doing things that are causing a misunderstanding. Akari agrees, and Hotaru tells Ash to listen to them.

Riko hands Ashley the thing she wanted to give her: a piece of round sea glass, just like from her father's movie. After seeing Ashley looking so sad, she decided to secretly look for some on the beach trip to cheer her up. They both apologize for misunderstandings. Ashley is so happy for the gift she says an entire thank you in EN before repeating it in JP.

Back at Ashley's house, Riko and Akari go over their spoils. Akari is sorting flotsam and jetsam, trying her hardest to not copy her picture book. Riko made a mini beach with all of her shells she found, putting little pictures of how she found each one by them.

Hotaru thanks Ash for inviting them over, and Ash says it's more fun doing projects together. Hotaru falls asleep on the spot during their conversation. Akari apologizes, saying she'll make sure Hotaru doesn't fall asleep during the movie. Ash doesn't mind.

Riko takes a photo of the sea glass using one of Ash's cameras to add to the project, and the girls finish their projects. With that out of the way, they can watch another of Ashley's father's movies as a reward. Akari goes to wake up Hotaru while Ashley grabs Kumanosuke and the sea glass so she can have both during the movie.



-Girls Across the Shore-

Yachiyo finishes shopping with Sana and Ui. Sana apologizes for having Yachiyo buy them colored pencils with cats on them, but Yachiyo says its her way of thanking them for helping. Now the two of them are set to do some drawing when they get home! ...Except Yachiyo is staring at a poster for Kamihama's Summer Music Festival that's happening again this year, saying they're accepting auditions for fresh new bands.

Yachiyo remembers the time when her old team were discussing entering. Kanae offered to start writing a song right away if they do enter, shocking little Mifuyu. Yachiyo sadly says now that dream won't ever come true, though. Even now, she thinks of Kanae and Melu as her family. She wonders if things had been slightly different, if their future would have changed.

Back at Crescent House, Sana and Ui finish drawing a picture book. Sana is a little afraid of how Yachiyo will react reading it. This book is called "Another Kamihama City", a world like their own, but everyone can use a little magic. At a maid cafe, something is about to happen.

Meru sighs at the cafe, hearing rumors that her fortune-telling isn't actually working. Ikumi is surprised to hear that, since her fortune-telling is super popular at Kumi's and said to be totally accurate. Mel says that lately it doesn't seem so, since a student failed their English exam after she predicted they would pass. Since then, there's been talk that she's losing it.

A woman enters the cafe, asking if this is where the fortune-telling corner is. The woman asks if she and her husband can make up. Meru says yes, as she can see a vision of the two smiling happily together. The woman seems utterly disappointed to hear that, and quietly thanks her for it. Later, Melu is whining loudly that she can't believe the woman came in hoping to hear her predict they wouldn't make up because of the rumors. Ryou comes in since her part-time job is over, but is worried what happened to Anna-chan's magic.

Mel suddenly jumps, realizing she hasn't read her own fortune lately. As she does, she sees a man announcing the newcomers to the stage at Kamihama Music Festival. Meru, Ryou, and Kanae are up on stage in their Halloween Castle outfits, and Kumi in her maid dress. The crowd goes wild for them.

Ikumi grabbed an application and shows it to everyone. Ryou points out they have to actually win at the auditions first to play up on stage at the festival. She also knows that Ikumi sings up on her maid stage, but wonders why her and everyone would be on a stage together. Mel doesn't know, but she clearly saw Ikumi on vocals, Ryou as the drummer, and her and someone she doesn't know on guitars. Ikumi is surprised that despite most of them being complete amateurs, their future is them being up on a huge stage. Meru agrees: there's no way that would happen. Ikumi asks her if she's okay with that. If she doesn't believe her own fortunes anymore, then who will? Meru then decides she will make sure this future comes true and believe! From here on they are now forming a band!

And then the next day, the last member of the band appeared. Kanae enters the cafe, mentioning she contacted them earlier about their recruiting a member. Melu jumps, realizing that's the person she saw in her fortune yesterday. Kanae gets the explanation, and is excited to join in. Mel will be the bass guitarist now, and Ryou is shocked someone would answer such a random request to join a band in a maid cafe.

At the local studio, they rent instruments and start practicing right away. Ikumi asks if she's kyun kyuning. Kanae tells her yeah, her voice is great, but the way she sings isn't really how a band should sound. Ryou smirks because Ikumi's an idol at a maid concert, but Kanae facepalms and apologizes because she didn't realize the bass guitarist and drummer have zero experience. Meru yells at her guitar to quit making such awful noises. Kanae explains it's howling, as in giving feedback because she turned it up too high. Meru gets it, but accidentally turns it up even higher, filling the studio with a massive screech. Ryou doesn't think this is going to work out...

Kanae compliments Ryou on being a natural with her drumming power, but so far she can only handle simple rhythms. She can't process how a human can keep multiple rhythms going with both hands and feet. The auditions are still some months away, so will they make it? Kanae disappointingly assures them she'll write a song they 4 of them can handle together.

And so the 4 practiced and practiced, and they seemed to slowly improve...? They finish recording a promotional video in their costumes as a rehearsal. They still need more on top of editing, but they're making progress. Kanae wonders why Ikumi is dressed as a maid while they're all in black and red. Ryou laughs that the vocalist should stand out from the rest. Ikumi asks if they're even allowed to apply since she's a known idol, but Ryou checked already and the rules say pros are welcome to apply as well, as there's no fan voting. Ryou is jokingly worried that the judges will be harsh on them, thinking Ikumi is trying to rebrand herself with a group of amateurs.

They continue practice the next day. Ryou's drumming is impressing Ikumi. The book narration continues, saying that there was one girl who seemed to be struggling. Melu yells that she messed up the same part of the song, and Ikumi takes notice she's not doing so well. Kanae tells her drums and bass are important to every band, but Meru takes that as being even more pressured. Ryou suggests Kanae record the bass part too since she has some experience with that as well, plus only the 2nd part of the audition is live.

Mel is sad that this was all her idea, but she's dragging the band down. She demands them to give her 1 week to improve, as her power will bring about her future. Everyone agrees, happy to see her serious about this.

The next week, Melu plays her part perfectly. She's all smiles, though she mentions Kanae also changed her part a bit to be easier. All that's left is to record vocals and mix it all together into their video. Kanae sits at the studio, working on mixing. She realizes they haven't even come up with a band name yet. She asks herself if she should change one of Ikumi's lines, and Ikumi shows up behind her to suggest changing a kimi to boku (you to me). She just wanted to see if she could help Kanae out since she's been doing all the work by herself. Kanae goes with the change and tells her she wants to come up with a band name. And then the video was completed.

(Rough TL of Ikumi's new lyrics: ♪Though tomorrow's galaxy may have a world without me, my notes will keep the summer beat for eternity)

Thanks to their hard work, they made it to the 2nd round of auditions! Up next is a live performance in front of the tough panel of judges... There's still a ton of bands, and judging will be split into 3 days with each band having only 10 minutes. Meru and Ryou both realize they haven't played in front of an audience before. Meru starts having second thoughts and thinks the band name is too cocky for how they really play. Ryou tells her to just think of the audience as potatoes.

The next band up in front of the judges is... "Best Newcomers"? One of the judges stops looking angry for a second, saying THAT'S your band name? Another one laughs, saying now that's a grand entrance. Ryou counts them off.

(Again rough TL of lyrics: ♪I hear unknown words, everyone speaks a language different from yesterday. As the world accelerates into free fall I get left behind.)
知らない言葉が聞こえる みんなが昨日と違う言葉を話す
自由落下する世界の加速度に 僕は取り残された

They start off strong, but Kanae is the one to make a mistake for once, missing the timing. She's the one who hasn't been practicing enough now. They resituate themselves over telepathy, Kanae apologizing for her mistake, but the judges didn't even notice.

Back at the cafe, everyone is exhausted. They reassure Kanae that she's been helping them day by day, so it's okay for them to return the favor. Kanae smiles, thinking it's nice to be in a band. Then came the final day where the audition winners were announced. Unfortunately, the name of the 4 girl band wasn't called out.

Mel is crying in the cafe. They worked so hard, but her fortune didn't come true. A teen girl enters the cafe, and Ikumi greets her. The girl asks if Melu-chan is here, as she visited once about passing her English exam. She says that while she didn't pass, she tried one more time and did pass, so she came back to tell her. Everyone realizes her fortune was actually right all along. The girl wanted to come and thank her so people don't start thinking she was a fake.

Another person enters the cafe, the woman from the other day. Ryou can tell by her face that she made up with her husband. Ryou smirks and takes a guess that Meru's power somehow got stronger and that she can't see the near future anymore, but now she can see the far future. Meaning her fortunes weren't wrong, they just happen later.

A man enters the cafe - one of the audition judges. Meru is like OH, it's Potato-san? Ikumi quickly tells him oh it's nothing~! Anyway, he came here because he heard this is Best Newcomers' hangout, and wanted to tell the band they were great. He tells them while they didn't win, and they did miss one spot (they did get caught), their style was so unique that he wants to see them try again next year.

Melu thanks him and says she will make her future come true, which the judge is happy to hear. Everyone has a laugh. Thus the summer of the 4 comes to an end. It's a story of a memory of the future, or perhaps a possibility of the past, quietly put to rest. A story of countless dreams being woven as it continues to sleep... Until the day YOU find it. The end.

Yachiyo is staring in disbelief. Sana and Ui quietly ask her what she thought. Yachiyo is tearing up, thanking them. She can't believe they wrote such a story not for children. They tried their best to make a story with a slightly different future and a slightly different friends. Ui says it would be nice if, somewhere in the world, a summer like this really happened. Yachiyo agrees...somewhere that no one knows.



-Adjuster Shop-

Rena has some big news: there's an event she wants to go to called "Excitement on the Beach! Summer Creative Cooking Competition!" To be held at the Minaminagi beach, it's a contest with SayuSayu as one of the judges, and the winning prize is going to a special live performance. Kaede points out that the event name sounds like something Mitama-san would like, and Momoko agrees. Rena doesn't want to even hear talk like that. If Mitama were to join, disaster would strike. Momoko agrees, saying they need to keep this event a secret from her.

The next day, Mitama tells them at her shop that she's going to enter the competition... Kaede feels sorry for Rena, but Rena is worried about SayuSayu getting food poisoning as a judge. She wonders just how many mahou shoujo that woman's cooking has harmed. They wonder how they can get Mitama to not participate.

Kanagi enters the room, looking for Yakumo. Rena drags Kanagi into the telepathy conversation, asking her to help them. Kanagi agrees, but only because lives are at stake here. Though she's not confident in her ability to support them. Mitama mentions that other mahou shoujo are going to be there participating. Kaede and Momoko are like THAT'S IT! We can have all of them help too! Mitama is confused.

The day before the competition, KaMoRe are holding a meeting with the other girls coming to the beach. Momoko asks everyone to keep an eye on Mitama's cooking to ensure no one is harmed tomorrow. Sana, Meiyui, Manaka, Tsuruno, Kako, and Ria are here, all serious. Everyone is in agreement to keep Sayuki and the other judges safe. Rena says this isn't even for the concert tickets anymore. Sana says those watching will help, Meiyui says the Blue Seas Family will be there and can help, and Manaka will offer cooking advice to Mitama, plus her father will be a judge. Momoko wonders if they should warn her father ahead of time not to eat Mitama's food. They also wonder if they're allowed to choose to not judge someone's food. They huddle and come up with a secret plan.

The day of the competition, some girls are at the beach and ready to help, but Manaka is late and not responding to messages. Himika, Sae, and Reira show up together as spectators. Himika wanted to taste test, Reira wanted to learn more from watching Manaka-sensei, and Sae lies about also wanting to learn, but actually just wanted to connect with people at a local event. Momoko asks them if they can help out too.

Meguru is working as the announcer for the competition. She welcomes Sayuki, the famous chef of Walnuts, and others as judges. KaMoRe go over there plan again: swap Mitama's ingredients out once they begin, which is easy since they got the booth next to hers. According to what Kanagi told Momoko, what she brought with her looked really dangerous.

Meguru goes over the one simple rule: one hour to finish your dish with seafood as the main ingredient. Everything else is up to you to show off your culinary expertise. Everyone looks utterly serious or depressed except for Mitama, who looks happy as can be.

Mitama opens up her ingredients, revealing things she didn't have this morning when she was prepping with Kanagi. She also went fishing this morning since she was low on fish. Meguru announces her shock at what Yakumo and Izumi have prepared. KaMoRe are already panicking - Rena points out that Mitama has some really bad colored sauce packed in there. Kaede says something looks bad. Rena asks what does? It all looks bad! Kaede says she has raw cassava in there, which is super toxic if not cooked properly. Tsuruno tells them there's also pufferfish in there for some reason, another deadly as hell thing that requires a license to prepare. Rena asks why the hell didn't the managers check all this out!?

Momoko calls out to the audience members waiting to help. Meiyui offers to distract Mitama. Sana is worried that Kurumi-san hasn't shown up yet. Tsuruno goes up to Mitama and tells her something's going on in the audience. While distracted, Rena swaps the cassava for yams, and Kaede swaps the pufferfish with thread-sail filefish. So far Mitama doesn't seem to have noticed.

Meguru announces there's a foul smell coming from the Yakumo Izumi pair's pot, teasing if that's a secret spice they're adding to the mix. Kanagi's doing her best to swap out toxic ingredients as Mitama readies to pour them in. Their dish isn't poisonous, but their soup is turning all sorts of colors. Everyone is wondering where Manaka is, so Himika, Reira, and Sae offer to go look for her. Momoko offers to support Kanagi.

Kaede points out it isn't easy manipulating another team's cooking under watch like this. Sana offers to help out in that case, and Rena copies Kanagi to help. Mitama notices a pot go missing, but Kanagi distracts her by saying she's going to chop some ingredients. Mitama is impressed by how fast Kanagi is going. Kanagi2 almost calls her Mitama, but catches herself and tells her she changed some seasoning. Mitama thought she just went to chop, so Kanagi2 tells her it won't take long, so she can take a break.

Meguru announces WHAT THE HECK, YAKUMO! She just caught ketchup and chocolate getting tossed into the pot. She wonders if we're witnessing a revolution in the beach cooking scene, or if we're moments from witnessing total destruction!? Rena is getting pissed off at Mitama, so she asks Momoko to step in and distract Mitama so her and Sana can dump this trash. Momoko accidentally surprises Mitama, causing her to dump an entire bottle of hot sauce into the pot. Meguru announces Togame's bad timing, wondering if the goddess of cuisine if smiling on them, or if it's a dark, sinister smile.

Tsuruno senses magic being used. Mitama asks how Momoko's team is doing. Kaede laughs nervously because they haven't actually done much yet. Mitama says her team's doing well, but something seems to have gone missing. She suddenly gets inspired to run off to the beach to collect new ingredients. Sana chases after her to interfere while invisible. Rena says this is the perfect chance to cook something edible for Mitama while she's gone. Except cooking for another team will look suspicious.

Ria offers to use her concealment magic to fool everyone's eyes, and Meiyui offers to use her falsification to make everyone believe they cooked for their own team. Everyone works together to start making normal food for Mitama, abandoning their own cooking. Mitama is at the pier, wondering if what she got is good enough. Sana is shocked, knowing she HAS to hurry and tell everyone what she just saw...

Everyone looks defeated. They still have to actually taste test this "food" they made. Rena bravely offers to do it herself, as she's the one who started this whole mess, and she's going to be the one who protects SayuSayu!

Suddenly Manaka yells STOOOP! Tsumugi had held her up for some time, but she's here now. She understands the severity of the situation, and asks exactly what ingredients Mitama managed to get into the pot so far. Kako says they're not sure, but she'll use her power to recreate the dish. They ask her what she thinks, but Manaka replies there's no saving it, it's beyond her understanding. The ingredients in this dish is such a unique combination that she has no idea what it could possibly taste like. If it were her dish, it would be in the trash. She says it's some kind of miracle the dish has even kept the shape it's in.

Everyone looks down, but Manaka tells them at least it looks like there's nothing raw in there. It at least won't poison anyone, so it should technically be edible, so long as no further tampering happens. In fact, she even takes a bite since her father is one of the judges. Manaka's face lights up, but she's silent, worrying Rena.

Meguru announces time is almost up. She can smell aroma of the Yakumo Izumi dish from here, having a feeling they may have the best of the beach cooking. Tsuruno feels magic power again. Sana runs back to everyone, warning them Mitama is on her way back. Rena yells for everyone to get back to their original places. Meiyui uses her magic on the judges. Sana stutters that Mitama has some incredible thing...but...oh, no one can hear her...

Mitama smells something nice, asking of Kanagi did this all by herself. Kanagi notices Mitama has a freshly caught fish in her hands. Sea cucumbers and barnacles, to be precise. She figured these would accent the taste of the dish. Just before Mitama can add them, Meguru announces there's one minute left on the clock. Momoko and Rena rush to stop her with 5 seconds left. Kanagi tells her to stop, but she plops them in at the last second. Sayuki is the first judge, and her first dish is the Yakumo Izumi special...

Meguru announces something seems to be wrong with Sayuki. The moment she took a bite, she started groaning. Sayuki says it's super delicious~! Mitama is happy, while everyone else looks on in horror or shock. Momoko says what complete nonsense! Mitama smiles and tells her well, excuse me~ I was confident in the taste, you know~? Sayuki loves the viscous yam that burns with spices like a burning blade, and the aroma of the sea spreading in her mouth - THIS is exquisite!

Rena remembers swapping the cassava with yams as Mitama dumps hot sauce in, wondering how could that possibly be a good combo. Tsuruno guesses what she felt must have been Meguru-chan's magic at work. Tsuruno thinks back to each time Meguru announced something, magic would get used. Her power was stirring everyone up and making the outcome much better. Even Manaka said the dish tasted good when she tried it, though her brain couldn't catch up with the fact of how it was prepared. Kanagi didn't know about this magic, but brings up the sea cucumbers and barnacles that were added at the last second.

Manaka's father tries the dish, saying the sea cucumbers are like a kaleidoscope of flavor that changes with every bite. He even enjoys the barnacles, calling them a luxurious food. He finds the entire dish incredible, and asks Mitama if she has experience with the sea. Mitama tells him a fisherman once told her to put their catch right into the pot right away for the best flavor, and asked her to spread the word. He's utterly impressed and says it's the best of local seafood.

The winners are about to be announced. Kaede is disappointed they didn't even get to make their own dish. Rena at least is happy that SayuSayu is happy. Meguru announces Yakumo and Izumi win best summer chefs! Mitama is so happy to hear it. Kanagi tells her well, if you're happy...then that's fine I guess. Mitama doesn't get the comment.

Sayuki was so impressed by the food she got to eat that she wants to perform live on the beach as well, as long as the winners are okay with it. Mitama says of course! Sayuki tells everyone she's going to sing right here, right now. Momoko can't believe it. Rena starts crying, happy she did her best.

Days later, KaMoRe and Kanagi are at the adjuster's. Mitama says since so many people are here now, she's going to treat everyone to the same dish she made at the competition. Everyone immediately tell her they're fine, we just ate, no need to worry about that miracle ever again. Momoko gets Kanagi to agree to them handling the cooking today. Mitama asks if that's okay. Momoko tells her of course, we should be the ones thanking you, riiight? Rena and Kaede are like yeaaah, you're so nice to us. Mitama is so happy to have such great friends who care for her.



-Tokime Clan-

At the village, the girls are all having an argument while Charu tries to calm them down. Charu narrates what happened that led to this point, starting with visiting Shizuka and having dinner.

Shizuka's and Chiharu's mothers present everyone's dinner: ayu, or sweetfish. Grilled with salt, boiled, fried, and with rice. Shizuka is disappointed Asahi couldn't be here to enjoy it. Everyone is enjoying this amazing meal. Shizuka's mother is happy to hear it, as she's tired of all the depressing talk going on lately. She says that tourism has declined a little, but it's not that big of a deal. Charu wonders if the village's daidai ikko isn't catching enough tourist attention. Ryouko brings up that the ayu is right in front of them.

They decide that the village's ayu would make a wonderful attraction, but this is only the beginning, as Charu says...

Shizuka says the ayu rice with the Tokime's traditional sauce would be the best. Ryouko disagrees, saying the salted and grilled ayu should be the lead attraction. Shizuka argues the rice is best as it's the Tokime clan's specialty, plus it tastes better. Sunao snaps that the Tokime family has always been all about the salt fish. Charu asks everyone to be quiet, as Chika-chan has something to say. She says that after eating today, she's been reminded that she prefers the ayu rice, making Charu angry.

Team Shizuka & Chika angrily stare down Team Ryouko and Sunao. Shizuka's mother returns, and Charu explains to her what's going on. We now return to the present where everyone is outside, ayu rice vs. salt grilled ayu. Shizuka suggests they compete by fishing for ayu, with a time limit of 90 minutes. Ryouko asks how this is fair, going up against a master of fishing. Shizuka tells her she will attempt tomozuri, or live lure fishing, in which they use an ayu as a lure to entice other ayu to attack and get hooked. Shizuka tells Ryouko she is free to use bait or any fishing method she wishes as a handicap. In fact, she even gives Ryouko a 10 points handicap for every 1 she catches. Ryouko agrees to the terms, and Shizuka asks Charu to be the judge.

And so the competition begins. Shizuka immediately gets a catch. While she continues getting them one after another, Ryouko finally catches her first. Shizuka's massive handicap isn't even phasing her, as she smiles and gets another catch in front of Ryouko.

Sunao brings Ryouko aside for a moment, telling her the ayu know she's here. Ryouko realizes she's been splashing around too much, and then realizes she needs to hide her presence. Sunao laughs, as that's her specialty at the temple. Ryouko begins silently focusing while Shizuka and Chika take notice, thinking she's given up. Ryouko suddenly gets another catch.

The timer runs out, and Charu counts the catches. Shizuka got 15, and Ryouko got 15, a tie not even counting the 10 to 1 handicap! Shizuka is ashamed a rookie caught up to her so quickly, and asks what Ryouko's secret is. Ryouko says she became one with nature and stopped letting the ayu realize she's there. Charu is glad the fighting is now over.

Shizuka interrupts, saying not yet. Sunao offers to compete against Chika next for the top ayu dish. They ask Charu to once again judge for them. Everyone change into their swimsuits to catch ayu bare handed next. Sunao and Chika are both fired up.

The match begins with Chika running off away from where Ryouko sees the most ayu. Chika wants to catch ones hiding amongst the rocks, and grabs one immediately, but it slips from her hands. She catches it again and Shizuka notices her looking disappointed with herself. Chika realizes different rivers have their own rules. Sunao gets her first catch.

Charu announces the teams are tied at 5 each. Shizuka tells Ryouko to turn this into a 2 vs 2 as it's going nowhere. Charu watches in amazement as the 4 of them start catching fish like crazy.

With time now up, Charu counts the totals again, and both teams tied again at 10 each. Everyone is exhausted at this point, having no more will to argue. Chika, staring at the ayu, thinking this is a subspecies of ayu thought to be extinct!

She pulls out her phone and shows everyone that these ayu have spots on them that were on an extinct subspecies. They're also slippery compared to normal ayu, which tipped her off that something was different. They agree to drop the arguments and get the adults involved, as this will surely be a huge tourist attraction.

And thus, while the Tokime clan was divided for a short time, they've once again united for the better good. They later told Asahi the whole story back at the temple. That river is now banned from fishing to protect the ayu there. Asahi asks if that means no more eating ayu here. Charu tells her there's another river nearby with normal ayu, so they can still eat them and keep the Tokime traditional cooking going. Sunao mentions that tourism has risen again, and all the adults are happy as can be once more.

Charu says the village is going all in on ayu, and even making a museum while there's high interest. Asahi will do her best to protect the fish from poachers, though she's also disappointed she missed their competition. Shizuka tells her she can join in now, as her and Ryouko aren't done battling it out. Chiharu cries out that she's sick of their stubborn competition~!!



-Trouble Counseling Room-

One day during summer vacation, Emiri attempts a lucky drawing, and wins the gold prize. She got super excited when the old lady celebrated her winning, except her gold prize was a luxury weighing scale... It wasn't even the special prize or super special prize. Whatever, Emiri says, she hasn't weighed herself in a while, so why not give it a try?

She steps onto the scale and looks shocked - she's gained a lot since last time! No way, this has to be some mistake, let's try again... Same results. Even taking a growth spurt into consideration, this isn't looking good.

Rika and friends enter the room, stopping by to play with Emiri. Sasara notices Emiri isn't her usual happy self. Emiri plays it off, saying oh nothing, just it's so hot out, yeah? Asuka sees the fancy scale, and Kanoko realizes it's super expensive and popular for how accurate it is. Emiri is like yeah...it's super accurate alright... Rika knows the look on her face must mean she weighed - Emiri tells her don't finish that sentence~!

Himika asks if she can weigh herself. She hasn't been getting enough food lately, so she's hoping she hasn't lost weight. She steps on, shocked to see her weight is that high despite only eating vegetable soup. Asuka volunteers next, wanting to see the results of her training. She's also gained weight...

One by one, everyone weighed themselves. Emiri is glad she's not the only one, but something's wrong. If they've all gained weight, they're going to ruin their vacation. She declares it's time to go on a diet!

Kanoko suggests they go swimming to lose weight. She has a new swimsuit (yes, that one) that she wants to wear. Rika denies that idea immediately; her and Emiri are not wearing swimsuits if they've gained weight, plus going to a pool every day would cost too much. Himika suggests a fasting diet, since it loses weight and saves money in one go. Sasara would prefer a healthier method though. Asuka has an idea: they can rent a giant exercise ball. She returns with it, saying that she heard you can lose weight just sitting and bouncing around. Emiri tries it first, and passes it to Rika.

Asuka is happy it's getting good reviews, so she declares they will come here daily to bounce around...except she could only get the one ball that was available. Asuka didn't realize the blunder of only letting one girl exercise at a time. Sasara immediately tells her no dying. It seems they have to find a more efficient method...

Emiri's stomach growls. All that exercise made her hungry, Riko as well. Kanoko offers some chocolate mushrooms. Everyone says no way, why would bring those! If we had one we wouldn't be able to stop ourselves! Himika has an idea, and tells everyone to follow her to a cake shop. She's not here for cake though - she's here for the air duct behind the store. The air coming from the duct smells of the delicious cakes inside, so Himika tells them to breathe in that cake smell and meditate. Imagine eating the cake, and your brain will think you're full! Emiri gives it a try, but it's just making her more hungry. Now everyone just wants to eat cake thanks to this torture. Himika is the only one with the fortitude to skip meals like this.

With easy options out of the way, Asuka suggests they just run. It's the tried and true method, after all. Sasara reminds them to be careful of heat stroke, but they're all prepared to run.

Emiri shouts out her name and FIGHT! Her idea to get hyped for running is to do what the sporty girls do and cheer. Next she cheers out Asukyan's name. Then Kano-chan's name. Kanoko is getting embarrassed and asks if they can just go run now. After some running, Emiri gets thirsty and Rika spots a store advertising a limited edition milk tea and offering samples. Everyone runs over to try it out, since it's super popular and runs out quick. Emiri scolds them for wasting all their efforts. They agree to stick with their water and not buy any. Emiri tearfully shouts goodbye milk tea!!!

They return to the counsel room and drink their water. They're disappointed it's not milk tea, and Emiri apologizes for bringing it up. Hinano, Ren, and Akira stop by and see them all exhausted. Hinano can't believe they went running in such hot weather. Hinano then reveals that they brought ice cream to share with everyone.

The runners all stare angrily at her. Emiri tells her that though she looks like an elementary schooler, she trusted her to be considerate as an adult. Hinano tells her the looks like an elementary schooler part was completely unnecessary. Rika explains to them they all went on a diet, so the ice cream is painful to look at. Emiri then explains the whole story to them.

The supply squad understand, but the ice cream is melting, so they have no choice but to eat it all. Emiri gives up and takes her share, as she can't let her senpai down. Everyone ended up agreeing, and they all had ice cream.

Satisfied, everyone vows to get back to dieting. Asuka would rather start tomorrow than continue today. Kanoko wants to give up and get back to work. Suddenly the old woman who awarded the scale to Emiri enters. She says she's been looking everywhere for Emiri-chan, since the scale she gave her was defective. She saw on TV that that model of scale was being mass recalled because it would display a much higher weight than normal.

Everyone is disappointed that today has been for nothing, though Himika at least didn't lose weight. As an apology, the old lady gives them more food to eat, and leaves the broken scale with them. They open the bag to find a ton of expensive ice cream. Everyone has their own excuses to not take any, though. In the end, Himika took it all to give to her siblings, who enjoyed it greatly. as Emiri says - Himikamin's family said it was totally delicious, so I guess things turned out alright?



-Nayuta-san Household-

Nayuta is talking to someone through comments on something. She asks if they have any bento recipes that work for a picnic, and signs "Nayutan". The person replies that summer is a battle against spoiling food. For summer bento, they feel a baguette should be the centerpiece, and signs their comment as "Tabi" (using kanji for travel). They say they can provide details if wanted. Nayuta replies saying yes please do.

Nayuta is glad she joined an online circle for cooking. Nayuta finds Rabi staring off into space, finding it unusual for her to be that way. Nayuta repeats to her that she's going to go on a picnic with Mikage, with Mitama's permission and Sudachi coming along as well. Rabi is glued to the TV, listening to the news saying that the economy is slowly improving. Again Nayuta finds her behavior odd.

Unfortunately, the picnic is set for Saturday, the one day Rabi can't make it. At least Nayuta is hoping to prepare the meal herself for once. Rabi tells her this is a good chance for Nayuta to become more independent. She tries to tell Nayuta something more, but she can't bring herself to say it. Nayuta hears the news talking about 70 million yen being stolen, and asks Rabi if she thinks she stole it. Rabi says no, it's just that she's going to be leaving for some time, as in no longer her servant. Rabi wants to tell her it's regarding the professor, but can't bring herself to say it, so she says it's a family matter.

Later, Rabi meets with Puella Care, asking them to work with her regarding the situation. Livia is fine with it so long as she gets paid, but mixes up her words and tells Rabi she's not trying to pry info out of her. Sudachi asks if Rabi is going to the picnic this weekend, but Rabi says she has something to take care of. She explains to them that Nayuta had declared she will handle all the food for Mikage-san and Sudachi-san, so she doesn't have to worry about a thing. Livia says that's a good thing, but Rabi is worried. Sudachi says she will do her best to help as well, making Livia rethink the issue.

Tasuke contacted everyone, telling them the time has come, and to get their personal matters taken care of before he contacts them again. Rabi knew this day would come, and Nayuta, alone, wonders aloud "why now?"

On the day of the picnic, Rabi finds Nayuta already up, having woken up at 2:30 A.M. and already began making the day's bento. She's making a dip for the baguette currently. Nayuta took some advice and is using antibacterial herbs in the dip so the food doesn't spoil. She's going to use a cooler bag just in case, and then go buy the baguette later, gaining Rabi's approval.

Rabi notices Nayuta has a mountain of things packed, wondering if she's going camping rather than to a picnic. Rabi wants to tell her no, but Nayuta needs to become independent. Nayuta gets a text that Mikage and Sudachi on their way, so she heads out to the store.

They meet her outside, where she's sweating and struggling to haul heavy bags. She decides last minute to leave some things behind. Rabi stares off as they say goodbye to her and make their way to the mountains. They're taking an easy route to get to the picnic sight.

Yozuru and Livia are following them, making sure nothing goes wrong. They spot Rabi also trailing them, and looks shocked to be caught. Rabi says she postponed whatever she had to take care of. She asks if they're here to watch Sudachi. Livia says she's a bit worried, so something like that.

Nayuta's group make it to the usual mountain rest area that overlooks the city. The others are glad things are going well, and they made it in time for lunch. Nayuta brings out the baguette, various dips, and some juice for them to enjoy. She reveals to Mikage that she didn't get Rabi's help at all for this.

With the picnic over, they're going to walk up the mountain and back on a trail. Mii wants something more adventurous, so Nayuta offers to take the more difficult path next to it. Yozuru wonders if they'll be ok. Livia says it's still on the same beginner's course, so there's no way they could get lost. Rabi isn't so sure herself.

And, naturally, the 3 of them get completely lost. Rabi sees they've gone completely off the trail and into a campground at the neighboring ward. Yozuru can't believe that is even possible. Livia says getting lost on a beginner trail is like a talent all its own. It then begins raining, so they rush into a small shack at the camp. Inside, they find 2 little girls. The girls lost their parents, and ask Nayuta if she knows where to go. Mikage tells them they're lost too, and ask to sit with them.

Nayuta sits on a bench, but finds it leaning to one side. Under the bench, they find a business bag that's open - and it's filled to the brim with cash! Tens of millions of yen! A woman enters the shack, saying Ah, Hii-chan, so you were here, were you...? Nayuta thinks it's the mother, but suddenly she grabs the girl and demands Nayuta toss the bag over to her, threatening the girl with scissors. Nayuta remembers the news from the morning talking about someone who stole 70 million yen in Kamihama.

Mikage telepathically asks Nayutan what to do. She tells everyone to do as she says so the little girl doesn't get hurt. Outside in the rain, Livia and company hear sirens approaching. They watch as police surround the shack Nayuta and the kids entered. An officer approaches them, asking how long they've been here. Rabi says about 20 minutes, so the officer asks to question them, as there's a hostage situation in that shack.

The trio discuss what's happening and who the woman is. The woman appeared to have been cheated out of her money, and isn't a violent type. Livia is worried if Sudachi is going to be okay given the situation. Yozuru adds that she is, in essence, Sudachi's guardian. They want to get in and help, but wait for the police to further inform them.

Nayuta tries to be brave and strikes a conversation with the woman. Some time later, the door opens, and all 4 little girls are let outside. Nayuta is still inside, however. Mikage tells everyone that she volunteered to take the kids' place as the hostage.

The parents of the 2 girls arrive and get their kids safely. Rabi understands that Nayuta-sama should be relatively safe given who she is. Yozuru guesses Nayuta convinced the woman to see things from her position.

Inside, Nayuta sees that the woman doesn't seem to want to do any of this, as she easily let the children go. Rather, she seems like a kind person. Nayuta would prefer to have the woman surrender and not have to rely on her magic. Again she tries to talk to the woman.

The rain has stopped outside, and woman exits the shack with Nayuta by her side. The news is narrated, saying that the hostage convinced the criminal to give up, telling her that a mere 70 million yen isn't worth throwing her life away for, so she should atone and start over. Livia is shocked at hearing that. Yozuru says it's taboo to try provoking a criminal. Rabi agrees, and will scold Nayuta later for it.

An officer brings Nayuta over to them. She collapses into Rabi arms, saying she did her best. She hopes Rabi-san will be able to leave her home with peace of mind. The officer offers to take her to the hospital just in case. Rabi goes off on her, telling her what she did was completely dangerous, but she's happy she did what she did.

Mikage brings up the fact that everyone is just randomly at this campsite in the middle of not the mountain. She asks if they got here when they heard the sirens, but even that's way too quick. Livia and Yozuru know they've been found out.

Two days later, Mikage comes meowing at the door. NAAAYUUUTAAAN! RAAABIIITAAAN! With everyone here, the farewell party can begin. Nayuta and Mii are both sad she has to leave, but understand it's a "family matter", as Rabi lied to them about.

To help Rabi cheer up, the prepared a rare (no-bake) cheesecake with blue berry topping for her. Nayuta made it, and it tastes great enough to delight everyone, with Mikage saying it tastes just like it's from the store. While she would like to she made it alone, she's been getting help from a cooking circle. She asked, in tears, for an easy recipe that even someone like her can't mess up.

"Tabi" sent her a comment, telling her to get ingredients and dough from the store so lessen the chance of messing up. She also tells Nayutan to not go overboard and just stick to the recipe for maximum success.

Mikage asks, b-but you still actually *made* it, right? Nayuta tells her yes I made it, I just asked for a ton of help though. Regardless, Rabi is impressed at her initiative. She sought help on her own and is able to evaluate her own skill level, so she's certain Nayuta-sama will do ok without her.

Mikage asks if Rabi is going far away. She says no, nothing like that, and then gets a message from Urara. She looks intensely at the phone, and then turns back to them. She says Um, while this was a great party and everything, really sorry, but I don't have to leave anymore now. She asks if she can continue staying there.

Urara's message said sorry Rabi-san, what the professor meant by that message last week was uh... Not that "the time has come", but "when the time comes", take care of personal matters. Nayuta asks why the sudden plan change. Rabi explains there was a miscommunication that led to a misunderstanding. The two awkwardly say let's keep at it together huh... Mikage stares at them and continues enjoying the cheesecake.

That night, Rabi thinks back to Nayuta talking about getting help from her cooking circle. She didn't think this Nayutan in her circle was the Nayuta-sama herself. She thinks back to Nayuta saying word for word the advice she gave herself regarding not spoiling summer food. She gets a text comment from Nayutan, thanking Tabi for the advice, as the cheesecake was a big success! Rabi decides to keep her identity a secret, and is glad she didn't use her real name when she registered. She comments back, I'm glad I was able to help. -Tabi



-Minaminagi Liberty Academy-

Meguru is at the school studio, greeting her listeners with a low tone. She says she sounds unusual because the theme of the day is spooky urban legends. She starts off with a story of what she encountered this summer, a story that will chill the summer heat right off of you.

She begins telling the story of A-san and B-san, who are Hinano and Sakurako respectively, joining her at a nature sketching contest for an after school activity. They're at a field of giant sunflowers, and poor Hinano can barely be seen. Hinano fires back at Sakurako that it's a sunflower maze, so of course she's hard to see. Sakurako has no info on sunflower mazes, so she gets curious about it. Hinano tells her they can check it out after the sketching.

Sakurako ponders why can't sakura trees be a maze if sunflowers can. If she made a sakura maze, Ui and friends would love it. Hinano says they'd get lost and never come out, which reminds Meguru of an urban legend like that. Hinano tells her to quit talking and get to sketching. Sakurako sketches a photo realistic depiction of a sunflower. As Meguru is about to ask Hinano's opinion, she notices Hinano is missing.

A-san is missing, and they can't reach her on her phone. Sakurako threatens her, saying if you do not come out, I will declare you a lost child. They entered the sunflower maze to look for her.

Meanwhile, A-san noticed she walked too far away from her friends. Every direction she looks, there's only sunflowers. She told them she was going to walk around to find a better place to sketch, but they must not have been listening and might suspect she's missing.

Suddenly, she hears them call out to her. Hinano yells to Sakurako to not even think about calling her a lost child. She starts going through the maze to get back to them, but she's lost. She reaches the end of the maze, only to find herself at a cold beach. She turned around to find her way back, but she has no idea where she came from, and her phone has no signal.

Hinano stops by a vending machine during her wandering, but to her surprise the machine does not accept digital payment. Plus, every single drink in it were things she's never even heard of before. She calls it some old-fashioned vending machine, but then a certain phrase comes to her mind - "黄泉戸喫", or the myth that eating the underworld's food will trap you there with the dead for eternity. Hinano decides not to try her luck with this vending machine and continue on.

After some time, A-san heard voices of children, and saw them wearing what looked like really old style yukatas or kimonos of some sort. The children ask her if she didn't get ready because she was late. They surround her in her confusion, and only a single adult woman stood there, smiling at them all. They ask Hinano to come play with them, but she tells them she has to go back to her friends who are waiting for her. They insist, so she asks them why don't they ask the woman to play with them. The kids say no way, adults aren't allowed. She corrects them that she's not a child either.

The kids don't listen to her and drag her along, asking her to play 花いちもんめ, a game in which two teams sing to each other about who they want to take, play janken / rock-paper-scissors to see who takes a person, and continue until there's only 1 team remaining. They also ask her if she's heard of 面子, a card game, and 貝独楽, an old spinning top made of shells.

Though she wanted to leave, A-san stayed with the children for a while and played with them. Hinano realizes they're playing really really old games. Suddenly a school bell chimes from nowhere, distracting the children, and the woman approaches her. She points her to where the sunflowers are, and asks her to come stop by again some time. Hinano thanks her, and the woman thanks her in kind. Hinano takes the opportunity to sneak past the kids and back to the maze.

Hinano makes it back just in time, as Sakurako and Meguru were about to declare her lost. They ask here where she's been, but she's not sure how to answer that herself. Meguru realizes Hinano's story is just like an urban legend that's been spreading. One where a lost child joins children on the other side, joining the dead in their old timey world where memories collide. Meguru is reciting all of this to her listeners out of story as well.

Hinano mentions the woman who helped her, solidifying Meguru's belief that she got caught in an urban legend. Hinano reassures them she is here and fine. Sakurako wonders if it's because Hinano isn't an elementary schooler. She thinks because while Hinano is small, she was able to return because she's not in elementary school. Meguru agrees, as the legend said only little kids wouldn't make it back.

Hinano just now realizes that the kids tried to take her because they too thought she was a kid, but the woman watching them realized she wasn't. Sakurako is surprised, saying she will make a note that Hinano is even capable of deceiving strange phenomenon. Hinano yells at her to not make a note of it, and rather just forget it. She tells Sakurako what happened isn't scientific at all, it was just her making a mistake that led to some weird coincidence. Meguru tells her audience that while A-san denied the happening, she knew in her heart that it very well could be possible...

Meguru's story ends, and she moves onto the fan mail. She has another recently made urban legend going around about a fairy that comes to play that she shares with her audience. Hinano is listening in from elsewhere in the school, saying that girl never runs out of urban legends. Hinano knows what she experienced was definitely out of the ordinary.

Flashback to 2 weeks ago when that event occurred. The woman is telling the kids that Onee-chan should be here any time now to get them. Maria shows up, and the kids celebrate. Maria finished up preparing the children's festival and came to get everyone. The woman apologizes that she has no signal out here.

Maria asks if they were okay being out here waiting, as they're all wearing yukata and had nothing to do. The kids got used to wearing them, so they're fine. Maria thinks to herself that some of the kids don't have yukata, so the community fixed up old ones for them to wear.

The woman says this area still has that old vending machine that was there when she went to this place's after school child care center. She tells Maria that she taught the kids some old games no one plays anymore, but "that onee-san" who wandered by must have thought they were crazy. Maria asks who that onee-san is.

The kids tell her they were visited by the fairy onee-chan. She was tiny, but came to play with them and knew lots of things. The weird thing was, when the school bell chimed the fairy disappeared. When they asked Sensei, she told them the fairy could only stay until the bell chimed. One girl wishes she could have gone to the festival with the fairy.

The woman tells Maria that the "fairy" wore the same uniform as her. The kids loved her so much, but she clearly had somewhere she needed to be, so she had her sneak off while the kids were looking away, making them think she disappeared. Maria gets the story, and the woman says isn't that a cute idea for a fairy? Maria wishes she could have met this fairy too.


-Continue Reading... ? ? ? ? ?-

Kagome has finished going over the stories of this summer. She's a little envious of everyone, but she knows she's had fun summers like this before herself. She realizes she's had to speak through Aru-chan, and after moving and losing her childhood friend she didn't have anyone to spend time with anymore. However, all her notes are proof that she's grown little by little, and she's made connections with so many new people. She's become happier, and wants to make this summer vacation a great one as well. She decides to head to the library instead of sitting at home working on these stories.

Normal End


-Continue Reading... ? ? ? ? ?-

Now finishing her work at the library, Kagome wonders what she should do tomorrow. She could spend tomorrow at the library too, but she does want to spend time with friends too. Outside, Rii-chan tells her a witch is nearby. She decides she will text Iroha-san and let her know.

When she opens her phone, she surprises herself at just how many names fill her phone now. For quite some time now she has been in contact with many people, and even now she is calmly just contacting Iroha-san. She wonders what the difference is. She has zero problem doing interviews and recording people, but just saying something as simple as "would you like to hang out?" weigh heavily on her.

And she didn't notice she received so many messages while she was going through her memos. Sunao and friends returned to Kirimine Village and got a souvenir they would like to give her next they meet.

Juri sends her a message asking if she's good with games. PB doesn't have enough gamers and they want to beat the punks in Kamihama at this game. Worst case scenario, she can just come over and do some interviews if she wants.

Emiri got tons of free admission tickets to the pool and wants to know if Kagome will come hang out. She asks if she'd like to see Asukyan in a swimsuit.

Hazuki texted her asking if she knows anything about being a saleswoman since she's a book writer and all. She's been suddenly dragged into another event...

Mitama left a message that the Adjuster Shop is holding a big ol' customer appreciation party to beat the heat next Sunday. There's going to be a ton of people all there for fun, and wants Kagome-chan to come by and have fun too.

Kagome sees everyone being so normal. While she can be normal while writing and listening, she keeps making excuses to hide from everyone otherwise. Everyone else has been reaching out to her, but she keeps pushing everyone away. She finally gets some bravery and decides she wants to share her life with everyone.

Iroha calls her, letting her know she handled the witch. She stutters and blushes, but manages to ask Iroha-san if she would like to go with her to Mitama's party. It was in this moment that her summer vacation began.

True End