A/N: Happy Groundhog Day, everyone! While we all wait on the visual acuity of a large, fuzzy rodent to predict the weather, here's a little something to celebrate Natsuki's "favorite" season!
Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater
(featuring the Kuga-Fujino family pets)
"This is Chie Harada, reporting live from in front of the Kuga-Fujino home in lovely residential Fuuka," the tall, spectacled girl said, holding her cell phone as if it were a microphone.
"You are such a goofball sometimes," Aoi told her. She received only an irrepressible grin in return, the armor of Chie's ego remaining undented.
"Ah, but you love it, don't you?"
Aoi was spared having to think up a reply when the front door of the house opened and Natsuki Kuga stepped out into the crisp February air. Of course, her wardrobe choices seemed designed to keep her out of the crisp February air: thick pants, heavy boots, a puffy winter coat, a dark blue knitted scarf wound around her lower face, and a hat snugged close over her head, ear-flaps pulled down. Chie started to flip open her cell phone to get a picture, but the third girl in their little group, Mai Tokiha, put her hand on Chie's arm to stop her.
"Now, Chie, Natsuki's a friend. Life embarrasses her enough without us helping it along."
"Aw, c'mon, Mai, Fujino would pay through the nose for pics of Natsuki looking so cute!" She winked at Aoi. "Just think, dinner at Maison Rouge..."
"Just think, having to find someone else to take with you to Maison Rouge because I'm in a snit over how you got the money to go out with." She smiled sweetly up at Chie, who laughed and flicked her phone back shut.
"Well, I can't beat that logic."
"Besides, if I know Fujino, she's not going to miss out on that opportunity on her own," Mai pointed out. As if to emphasize her point, there was a rumbling in the snow, and the six heads of Shizuru's hydra Kiyohime popped up from beneath the ground, the fourth and sixth heads holding a digital camera.
"Hey, wha—?" Natsuki yelped in surprise, freezing in mid-step on the front stairs. Kiyohime's fifth head watched the camera screen carefully while she lined up the shot and her second head pressed the shutter.
Flash!
Apparently the dimness of the overcast winter morning was enough to require extra light, or else some setting button on the camera had been bumped during its trip under the snow, because the flash went off. Natsuki was already off-balance from surprise, and, blinded, she missed the edge of the step when her foot came down. She windmilled desperately, but was already toppling forward. Kiyohime yanked her heads back as Natsuki faceplanted into the snow, nearly on top of her.
The other girls rushed forward through the snowy yard.
"Natsuki!"
"Kuga, are you okay?"
A muffled voice rose from the snow.
"...Just wake me when it's time for spring..."