Title: An "Other Age" Summer
Theme: Beat the Heat
Author: tentsubasa
Summary: Trapped inside thanks to the soaking heat of August, Mio introduces her friends to an online dating sim. Nao is fine, but Kahoko fails miserably at it. A couple weeks later, school is back in session, but it's still scorching hot and she's still sucking. So she turns to some unlikely sources for help as they all try to beat the heat.
Genre: Friendship
Rating: K
Main Character: Kahoko Hino

Disclaimer: I do not own Kiniro no Corda or any affiliates. I don't own Zeiva's Other Age either, but you can play it online for free here: zeiva…deviantart…com/art/Other-Age-39931316.

"I'm bored. What should we do?" Mio asked as she sat up.

"It's too hot to do anything," Nao groaned from where she was lying on the floor.

"I'm with her," Kahoko agreed as she rolled over to try and find another cool spot.

Summer had set in with a vengeance. The city shimmered as concrete and asphalt baked. Dehumidifiers worked overtime as they attempted to wring the water from the saturated air. Needless to say, summer had effectively kyboshed the girls' summer plans.

Mio poked Nao with a slight pout. "I didn't mean outside, Nao-chan."

"It's too hot to move inside too though," Kahoko moaned. But under Mio's pleading gaze, she relented, "I suppose we could do something stationary."

"Like TV," Nao grunted.

Mio's eyes lit up. "I've got a better idea! Be right back."

The other two girls looked at each other and shrugged.

Laptop in hand, Mio plunked herself down between them. "I just found this great online dating sim."

Dating sim? They shared an amused glance. Typical Mio. But having nothing better to do, they watched the screen as a purple castle appeared with the words, "Other Age," in a fancy script.

"Oh, how cute!" Kahoko beamed at the roly-poly game mascot as Mio clicked it.

"See, you're this princess who gets this machine that matches you up with your dream guy," Mio explained. "And now for the personality quiz." She breezed through the questions as her friends watched curiously. And after the weird-looking machine did a strange dance, a guy in a grey cape appeared. Mio sighed in rapture. "Isn't Neody so handsome?"

"Uh oh," Nao teased, "Mio's got it bad. When's the wedding?"

Mio stuck out her tongue before continuing her narration. "After that, you respond to stuff he says to get him to go on a date." She demonstrated. "Then, you choose where to go," she clicked accordingly, "and now, you enter the minigame phase where you try and win a good ending."

"What's this game?" Kahoko asked.

"Survivor." Mio frowned. "It's so hard!"

"Can't be that bad," Nao dismissed.

"Wanna bet?" Mio challenged.

"Fine." She gave a curt nod and took the controls. After getting hopelessly lost five times, Nao finally started to get the hang of it. "Gah!" she cursed as her time ran out yet again. "Stupid time limit! Again!" She pushed the computer toward Mio.

"Why don't you fill it out this time?" Kahoko suggested. "I mean, there's more than one guy, right?"

"Yeah, Nao-chan!" Mio beamed. "Let's see who you get."

With a shrug, the girl filled in her answers and got somebody named Dornick. While she wasn't crazy about his looks, it didn't take long for all of them to get hooked on his sleuthing minigame.

After their sixth unsuccessful collaboration, Kahoko stuck her hand in front of the screen. "Stop. No more sleuthing. It's way too hot for my brain to be working this hard."

Mio laughed in agreement. "Why don't you take a turn, Kaho-chan?"