They didn't talk for a while after that, just sat on the couches (white, leather, very comfortable just as Yuki had predicted) and watched some of the anime DVDs Yuki had dug out. In fact, they kept watching TV well into the night, Yuri briefly getting up to fix a quick meal which they ate using folding trays in front of the couches.

It was Miki who finally broke the silence, looking out of the living room and asking "So... who gets which bedroom?"

Yuki was up instantly, running towards the rooms, yelling "I pick first! Me, me!" with Miki chasing after, scolding her. Yuri and Kurumi shared an exasperated grin, and went to follow them.

There were three rooms in the house; a master suite almost as big as the living room with a large king-size bed and its own bathroom, as well as two smaller separate bedrooms, one of which had a gorgeous picture window overlooking the mountains, while the other had a complex TV and game setup.

Yuki kept running in and out of each room, loudly debating with herself which one she really wanted. After she had momentarily departed the master suite, Yuri spoke up.

"Kurumi-san, perhaps... you and I should share the big room. That way we ensure Yuki gets some space to herself, she won't drive Miki crazy, and I think the two of us will get along well."

Kurumi laughed, and nodded. "Sounds good to me. You want to break the news to them?"

Yuri nodded, and did the scary intense thing she was capable of to get Yuki and Miki to stop running. "Yuki-chan, why don't you take the room with the TV and the games, and let Miki have the one with the view? She'll like the light for reading and you'll like to play games before going to bed."

Yuki nodded, and almost immediately ran for the bathroom, saying that she wanted to take the first hot bath of the evening. After some exploration and discussion they figured out that the guest bathroom had both a western-style shower and a traditional Japanese hot bath, big enough to fit two at a time. Miki and Yuki went first, both of them only grudgingly getting out of the tub when Kurumi yelled at them. Soon after Yuri and Kurumi were done, and everybody was in pajamas and in bed.

Kurumi wondered if she might have trouble sleeping. She'd walked the entire house to lock the entrances and even put up a security screen across the glass doors that the owner foolishly hadn't been using, so rationally she knew security shouldn't be an issue, she just feared what her subconscious might do late at night. But the bed was softer than any she'd slept in for a long, long time, and she had just enough time to hear Yuri's gentle breathing before falling deep asleep.

Kurumi woke the next morning to actual sunlight hitting the mountain peaks outside, and quiet, still, cold air throughout the house. She looked over at Yuri, who had just pushed herself up on one arm and was rubbing her eyes with the other. "Good morning," she said, smiling at Kurumi, and Kurumi wished her good morning in return.

They spent most of the rest of the day exploring the inside and outside of the house. They found the kitchen had an attached pantry with a substantial stockpile of food, and they found even more food in the form of bags of rice outside in the barn, along with firewood, cooking oil, and other non-perishables. Yuri carefully took inventory in her notebook, while Miki and Kurumi looked for the renewable power and water systems and found everything brand new, with system manuals carefully placed nearby.

After lunch they sat around the table and jointly took stock of their inventory. "It looks like we'll have enough food and supplies to last at least six months," Yuri said, totaling everything up in her books.

Miki grinned. "And that's even before we investigate the surrounding area; I'm sure some of these other farms have plenty of supplies we can use, too."

"Then we better go soon, Mii-kun," Yuki said, sitting down at the table and putting a large framed photo on the table in front of her. "In a few weeks we'll be stuck here until spring."

The other three women were shocked, both because the uncharacteristically blunt outburst from Yuki and because they hadn't even realized she wasn't still glued to the TV.

"What do you mean, Yuki-chan?" asked Yuri.

"I was looking at the photos around the house while you were exploring elsewhere," she answered. "There's a lot of good ones of Chiba with a bunch of different girlfriends, but this one stood out. See," she pointed at the photo, "I didn't realize it at first, but look how much snow there is surrounding the house."

"Wow... it's up past the first floor!" Miki exclaimed. "I wouldn't have even noticed the house was there if you hadn't pointed it out, Yuki-senpai."

Yuki nodded, blushing slightly. "And look at the date... this was last year in early November. There's a similar picture in the hallway that's dated early April. Maybe it's not typical, but we could be snowed in up here for half the year, in the worst case scenario."

The other three looked at each other for a moment. "It's mid-October now..." Kurumi started.

"We can last the winter with what we've got." Yuri said confidently. "The issue isn't food... but I don't know what other supplies we might want."

Kurumi kept staring at the photo. "Chiba-san... in the photo he has a parka, and boots, and snow shoes. We should look for where he kept those, but I'd want spares, and we didn't pick any up from that store."

"Yes," Miki interjected, "And if we're serious about farming long term, we should look at the other farms around here sooner rather than later. If we find animals, we'll want to bring them back here; there's no guarantee that they'll survive the winter otherwise."

They all looked at each other and nodded, then got up to start the mad dash of preparation for winter.