Ch. 1: Snow Falling on the Island of Eternal Summer
Shariat in the Land of Frozen Treats, Month of Rainbow…-.
Having woken Juri from his slumber, I accompanied him back to his home country of Shariat.
Within the castle town, beautiful white snow danced in the air.
Juri: “What? Snow!?”
Juri shouted in a loud voice and looked up at the sky, confused.
Juri: “But the sun’s out, right? …this is some crazy weather.”
He squinted his beautiful, clear eyes and frowned curiously.
(Since the ground in Shariat is made of ice, I thought it was normal for it to snow but…)
The sun shone brilliantly in the sky even as the snow fell.
Thinking it strange, I looked up to the sky when…-.
??: “Brother Juri! Welcome back!”
Some very young boys who called Juri ‘brother’ were running towards us, waving their hands.
Juri: “Ooh, hey guys! You’re all looking good.”
Juri’s confused expression vanished immediately and he smiled as brilliant as the sun, pulling his little brothers into a hug.
Servant: “Lord Juri…! Welcome home!!”
Just like his younger brothers, all of the surrounding servants greeted Juri.
Juri: “Sorry for making you all worry.”
Juri stood and directed that same bright smile at the servants.
I watched over the scene with a warm feeling in my heart…
Juri’s Brother: “Hey, Brother Juri, it’s snowing! I’ve never seen such a thing!”
(What? It’s the first time…?)
Juri: “You’re looking a tad confused.”
Seeing me standing there blinking in confusion, Juri explained the situation with a smile on his face.
Juri: “Although the ground’s made of ice, this place has a warm tropical climate, so it’s an everlasting summer. That’s why snow never falls… or at least it never did.”
OO: “The ground is frozen, but it’s an eternal summer…”
Juri: “All the islands that make up Shariat have their ground chilled by the ice crystals at the bottom of the sea. On account of those crystals, not even the sun can melt it.”
Telling me as much, Juri stood alone in the falling snowflakes and looked up at the brilliant sun.
Ch. 2: Juri's Brothers
The scorching hot sun shone in the sky, and white snowflakes fluttered down…-.
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Juri: “Although the ground’s made of ice, this here place has a warm tropical climate, so it’s an everlasting summer. That’s why snow never falls… or at least it never did.”
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Juri looked up at the sky, a quizzical expression on his face.
Juri’s Brother: “Brother, we’re all going to go play in the snow over there!”
The tallest of Juri’s younger brothers spoke up and then ran off.
The remaining five younger brothers followed after him, innocently competing as they chased behind.
Servant: “Ah…princes!”
Juri: “Ah, don’t worry. We’re still close to the castle. Besides, they can’t play to their heart’s content if there’re adults hanging around to fret over them.”
Saying as much, Juri held back the servants as they were about to chase after his brothers.
Juri: “Guys, be sure to come on back home by evening!”
Juri waved both hands in the air, seeing his younger brothers off with a smile.
(I get the feeling Juri is a tolerant and kind older brother…)
Watching how close the brothers all were warmed my heart.
And yet…-.
…
……
Juri: “That’s odd… just how far did those boys get…”
Though the sun was about to set, Juri’s brothers had yet to return.
On top of that, the weather had started getting worse and turned to a blizzard in the blink of an eye.
Juri: “I’m going to go look for them! You head on to the castle!”
OO: “I’m going too…-.”
Juri: “No, just wait for me… I don’t want you getting caught up in something dangerous now.”
(…if I force him to take me with him, I wonder if I’d just end up getting in the way.)
OO: “Alright.”
OO: “I’ll wait here for you to come back.”
Juri: “Yeah! Now I can leave without worrying.”
OO: “But please be careful.”
Juri: “Yeah, you got it. Now then, I’ll be going out for a bit.”
As I worried for Juri’s younger brothers, I waited alone in the castle for them to return.
…
……
Time continued to pass after Juri left, and the landscape was already engulfed in darkness.
(Juri… he hasn’t come back yet.)
As unease filled my mind, my heart started to pound when…-.
Servant: “…Lord Juri!”
Juri returned to the castle, alone…-.
Juri: “It’s no good. I couldn’t find ‘em anywhere…”
(Oh no… they’re out in this weather…)
Juri shook his head, seemingly full of regret, and it was clear he was deeply worried about his brothers.
Juri: “To top it off, the people in town are having a rough time too…”
OO: “Eh? The townspeople are…?”
Juri: “For this country, it’s the first time anyone’s experienced something like a blizzard. They have no experience with snow, so it’s chaos out there.”
I turned my attention to the window where I could see the blizzard raging outside.
(Shariat was originally the land of eternal summer…)
Juri: “I’m really at a loss…”
Juri seemed to be venting his feelings of helplessness as he violently scratched at his head.
Ch. 3: Night of the Furious Blizzard
Despite the furious blizzard that raged outside in the night, Juri’s brothers who had gone out to play had not returned.
Juri’s Butler: “Lord Juri… you should assemble the soldiers and send them out in a search party…”
Juri: “I would but… just look outside.”
The violent winds rattled the windows, and outside was pure white. We couldn’t even see the darkness of the night.
Juri: “It’s a blizzard so bad you can’t even see your hand in front of your face. It’d be useless to search around aimlessly out there, and there’d just be more victims…”
Juri spoke from where he sat on the sofa, his leg bouncing from being unable to make himself relax.
It couldn’t be helped. As a prince, Juri was concerned about the well-being of the soldiers while still worried about his brothers.
Juri: “It’s my fault… I wasn’t worried enough about the weather. If anything happens to them…”
(Juri…)
OO: “It’ll be alright… I’m sure they’re safe.”
I crouched down near Juri, hoping to encourage him.
Juri: “You…”
OO: “Let’s believe in them, alright Juri?”
Hoping to calm Juri even a little, I spoke with conviction.
Juri: “…yeah, that’s right.”
Juri: “Anyway, we can’t do anything but believe in them while we wait for this storm to pass.”
OO: “Right.”
Juri: “If it’s just a weird weather change, it should calm down eventually. But the problem is if there’s another cause…”
OO: “Another cause…?”
I saw Juri’s butler’s expression change to shock at those words.
Juri’s Butler: “Lord Juri. I’ve just remembered something… This blizzard… is it not possible that it is the doing of the yetis that live on the iceberg?”
Juri: “Yetis? The ones that live on the northern mountains?”
Juri’s Butler: “Indeed…”
Juri: “Tell me the story, and don’t skimp on the details.”
Juri’s Butler: “It’s a story I heard from my grandfather when I was quite young… Long ago, there was a dispute between the humans and the yetis, and during the conflict, the yetis called forth a horrible blizzard. Afterwards, they all compromised and the yetis promised to live in the northern mountains without coming down or interfering with the humans.”
Juri: “So something like that happened.”
Juri’s Butler: “Presently, we shouldn’t have a bad relationship with them, but I believe they may be capable of suddenly doing this…”
Juri: “…I don’t know, but I think now’s the time for desperate measures.”
Juri nodded as if having made a decision, then hopped up from the sofa.
Juri: “The northern mountains huh… I’m headed out for a bit!”
OO: “Wait Juri. This time, please take me along with you.”
Juri: “But…”
Juri looked back at me as if bewildered.
OO: “I don’t want to just wait around here when you’re going somewhere dangerous Juri.”
Juri: “But isn’t it safer here?”
OO: “Still…”
Juri: “…”
OO: “I get anxious left here by myself… and my worry just continues to grow when I think about if something happened to you. And your brothers… I want to hurry and find them as quick as possible.”
Juri: “I’m sorry… for not realizing you were thinking of it like that.”
Juri: “…alright. Let’s go together. This may be kinda pathetic, but I’m worried too.”
Juri seemed a little embarrassed as he put his hand on the back of his neck.
Juri: “So I’d really appreciate… you being there with me.”
OO: “Juri…”
Juri: “I swear, I’ll protect you no matter what happens.”
Though he said he was worried, those words alone were expressed with an encouraging nod.
Ch. 4: Source of the Blizzard
In the abnormal blizzard, it stood out as a possibility that the source was the yetis.
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Juri’s Butler: “Lord Juri. I’ve just remembered something… This blizzard… is it not possible that it is the doing of the yetis that lives on the iceberg?”
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Because of that, Juri and I arrived at the mountains where the yetis lived…-.
Juri: “! Over there…!”
Sheltering from the blizzard in a cavern entrance at the base of the mountain, we saw the second oldest brother, Ichigo.
Juri: “Ichigo! Thank goodness…!!”
Juri was overcome as he rushed to his brother, kneeling down beside Ichigo and tightly holding him in his arms.
Ichigo: “…brother… sorry…”
Juri: “I was so worried.”
Ichigo: “Not that…”
Juri: “…? What’s wrong?”
Realizing there was something off about Ichigo’s behavior, Juri peered straight into his eyes.
Juri: “Ichigo?”
Ichigo: “The snow, it’s our fault…”
Juri: “What do you mean?”
(It’s their fault?)
Ichigo: “I’m sorry… I’m really sorry Brother.”
Ichigo spoke while his lips trembled.
Ichigo: “We… we’ve been sneaking into the snowy mountains to play, even though we were told not to. Then we became friends with one of the yeti kids…”
Juri: “…!!”
Ichigo: “We really wanted to see the snow since we’d never seen it before… and so we asked the kid yeti, and they made it fall for us… and it became like this.”
Juri: “…! Ichigo…! That was a totally stupid thing to do!”
Juri raised his voice in anger, and it startled Ichigo, making him hunch his shoulders.
Twinkling tears started to form in the young boy’s eyes.
Juri: “…”
Juri sat in silence, his brow furrowed, his expression a mix of helplessness and troubled.
(Juri…)
OO: “…Ichigo, do you understand now just how much you made Juri worry?”
Ichigo: “Yeah…”
OO: “Juri, Ichigo looks like he’s really sorry about what he did, so…”
Juri: “…is that right?”
Ichigo: “…I’m sorry.”
Juri: “It’s fine… I’m sorry for shouting.”
Juri put his hand on Ichigo’s head and looked at me in apology.
I smiled back, trying to tell him not to worry about me.
OO: “Ichigo, are your other brothers in the cave with you?”
Ichigo: “That’s… there was an avalanche and we got separated…”
OO: “Oh no…!”
Juri: “What did you say…!? Why didn’t you lead with that!? Which way!?”
Ichigo: “Th-that way…!”
The blizzard was getting worse…
Juri turned in the direction Ichigo had indicated, clenching his fist.