It was a bright, snowy afternoon. The air was cold and crisp. Snow covered the ground, trees, and bushes, and the pond was frozen. The castle grounds looked like a winter wonderland—peaceful and picturesque.

…Quite ironic, given the bloody battle that was about to occur.

Er, that is to say, the friendly game that's about to occur, to use Sariel's preferred description of the event.

Two teams stood facing each other.

And between these teams stood Cyran and Lucien. Since Sariel had been forced to play as well, he had enlisted Cyran and Lucien to help with officiating the game. Cyran would be tallying the score, and Lucien would—well, he would be the one to, uh, "keep things from getting out of hand." Keeping the Rhodolite princes and their foreign guests in line on just a normal day was already something that even the palace devil struggled with, and trying to do so during a snowball fight was probably near impossible. But then again, Lucien was Chevalier's best agent. So, if anyone was up to this vague and possibly dangerous task, it was him.

"How exactly do I keep score, though?" Cyran inquired. He had brought a small board and some chalk with him, but what exactly was the point system in a snowball fight? Who would even use a point system in a snowball fight? Once again, Cyran was left to ponder the crazy messes that he always got pulled into from being the head soldier of the third prince… For crying out loud, he was supposed to be a soldier! Why on earth was he even supervising a snowball fight?! Sigh…

"Simple. One point for each hit sounds fair enough, right?" Sariel replied.

"Shouldn't you give higher points to hits at certain body parts? Like, direct hits to the chest, face, and head would score more points? 5 points to the chest, and 10 points to the head?" Jin suggested. He grinned, and to "demonstrate," he lightly threw a snowball that he had been hiding behind his back to the side of Yves' head.

Yves, who had been standing next to Jin, hissed and shook off the snow like an angry cat. "Hey! Jin! It hasn't even started yet!" he protested.

"And remember to add extra points for the aesthetics of the throw!" Clavis gleefully told his trusty soldier. "The more intricate and complex the throw, the higher the points!"

"How do you even put in aesthetics when throwing a snowball?" Licht asked, though he wasn't sure if he even wanted to know the answer. He was already edging away from Clavis. Sure, the snowball fight hadn't begun yet, and Licht was (fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) in the same team as Clavis, but he still wouldn't put anything past Clavis and felt it best to put as much distance as possible between himself and Clavis.

Cyran was equally perplexed. "What are you talking about, Prince Clavis?"

Clavis laughed his usual suspicious laugh. "Oh, you'll see! If I tell you now, the surprise will be ruined. Not to worry, you'll all experience the full impact later!"

"That's what we're worried about," Licht muttered, backing away even more from Clavis and pulling Keith along with him.

Chevalier, who had been stoically watching the proceedings, then looked at his agent. "You there. You are also to deal with anyone who tries to go for Imladris."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Lucien promptly answered, bowing to his liege.

"Wait, what?" Imladris blinked in surprise.

"…What exactly do you mean by 'deal with'?" Leon warily asked Chevalier.

Chevalier only smirked in response. There was something foreboding about the smirk, and most of the princes had to repress the shudder going through their bodies.

"Riiight-o. Everyone who doesn't wanna die, steer clear of Imladris, then," Luke said, with Yves, Keith, and the twins nodding in agreement with him. They definitely didn't want to mess with Chevalier and his best agent. They still wanted to live, thank you very much!

"Wait, no, I don't really mind being hit by snowballs!" Imladris said earnestly. "It's all part of the game, and it's fun!"

"We would mind being 'dealt with', though," Leon told Imladris with a wry smile, as he started walking with his teammates toward the area that would serve as the "base" of their team.

Imladris shook her head. "Chevalier doesn't really mean it. Right, Chevalier?"

But Chevalier was also already walking off to the side, where Lucien had already set up a chair and a small table for him. On the table were a teapot, cups, and a book. Chevalier primly sat down and opened his book, ignoring the others around him.

"You only prepared one chair?" Gilbert pouted as he walked over to Chevalier. "How rude. You could have at least also gotten chairs for your teammates. I would like to rest and sit down as well."

"Rest? Are you tired already?" Imladris asked Gilbert. "We haven't even started yet, though…"

Gilbert only smiled at her and called out to Luke, "Luke! Be a good boy and get me a chair, would you?"

"Why do I gotta be your errand boy now?" Luke whined.

"No one should be sitting in the first place!" Silvio snapped at his teammates. He initially wasn't interested in joining this "waste of time," but now that he had been forced to participate, he definitely did not want to lose. So, he had to make sure that all of his teammates were pulling their weight. "We're not going to win if you two just sit around! Especially you, Chevalier! You're the team leader, so get up and help us with the preparations. We got a lot to do before the battle starts."

"What 'preparations' do you even need for a snowball fight?" Yves inquired with a puzzled frown on his face. "I mean, it's only a snowball fight…"

"Making some snowballs beforehand?" Nokto suggested with a shrug. "Got to have lots of 'ammunition' stocked, right? Just like with any other battle."

"And maybe some snow forts, too, like what those guys are doing," Luke added, pointing his thumb toward the opposite side of the "battlefield," where Clavis and Jin were already making a big pile of snow and seemingly shaping it into a wall.

Yves' eyes widened at the sight. "Wow, they really do mean serious business about this, don't they?"

"Which is why you two need to take this seriously, too!" Silvio shot at Chevalier and Gilbert. However, the former only went on with reading his book, and the latter only went on with nagging about chairs for everyone. Silvio was quite tempted to strangle them both, but due to his sense of self-preservation, he refrained from doing so.

Meanwhile, at the opposite team—

Clavis had gotten out his favorite shovel. This time not to dig pit traps, but to shovel snow and make their snow fort even higher. He vigorously shoveled snow toward their fort, though not really looking at where he was throwing the snow and covering Jin in the process.

"Hey, watch it!" Jin said as he brushed the snow off his hair and shoulders.

Clavis just ignored Jin's words. "Keep working, Jin! I know that you've probably got a bad back due to your old age, but you need to keep at it! The game's going to begin soon, so we need to be ready!"

"Who are you calling old? I'm in the prime of my youth!"

Clavis then glanced at his other team members, who were staring open-mouthed at his frantic snow-shoveling. "What are you guys just standing around there for? We need teamwork if we want to win, you know! Teamwork makes the dream work! Help me and Jin with our snow forts!"

Leon stared for a few more seconds, shook his head at the craziness of the situation, and laughed. With a "oh-to-heck-with-it" air, he walked over to Jin and helped with strengthening their base's "fortifications."

Rio, on the other hand, pouted. "But I don't want to win against the other team! Not if my mistress is in that team! I could never go against my mistress!"

Clavis paused from his shoveling and raised an eyebrow at Rio. "Really? Even if that shiny jingle-jangler is also in that team? I thought you wanted to beat him?"

At the reminder of Silvio, Rio's eyes darkened. "…On second thought, that team is so going down!"

"That's the spirit! Now, come and help me shovel more snow for our fort!" After handing Rio a spare shovel, Clavis turned to Licht and Keith. As well as Sariel, who had just returned from his discussion with Cyran and Lucien. "As members of Team Lelouch, you're required to help as well, you know."

"I don't wanna," Licht scowled, looking down at the ground and seemingly determined to ignore the snow fort that was slowly getting taller and wider.

Clavis smiled widely. "If you don't start making snowballs, you'll be feeling my snowball superiority as well, even if we are in the same team."

Licht and Keith exchanged a split-second look of panic, before they immediately got down on the ground and started forming snowballs. Sariel let out an exasperated sigh, but he figured that it was easier to make snowballs than to have to deal with whatever the hellcat was planning. Thus, he too knelt down and helped Licht and Keith with the snowballs.

"See? Isn't it more fun when we all work together as a team? Ahahaha!" The leader of Team Lelouch was quite pleased.

Back in Team Michel, Silvio was far from pleased. True, he had gotten most of his teammates making snowballs.

Or, at least, trying to.

"Ahh!" Yves gasped in surprise and disappointment when the snowball that he had been forming suddenly just crumbled into a shapeless heap in his hands.

"Wow, even when making snowballs, you have rotten luck, huh?" Luke said sympathetically to Yves.

Nokto, in contrast, snickered a bit. "That's just how Evie's luck goes…"

Yves glared at him. "Shut it, Nokto! I'll get the hang of snowball-making soon enough, you'll see!" And he quickly gathered more snow into his hands and tried again.

Well, most members of Team Michel were trying their best to make snowballs. However, Chevalier was still reading in his seat, and Gilbert was only standing there and watching the rest of them work. Silvio glared back and forth between the two of them.

"You know, you two are supposed to be the ones who can do practically everything!" the Benitoitian prince said angrily. "How about you two finally put your abilities to use for our team, huh? Go make snowballs!"

Imladris, who had been kneeling on the ground and making snowballs with the rest of Team Michel, now glanced toward Chevalier and then Gilbert. "Prince Silvio is right. You guys really should join us. It's fun! Besides, the point of this event is to strengthen bonds, remember? There's no team bonding if you're not going to join us…"

And just like that, Gilbert was also down on the ground and gathering up snow. "Well, if you insist, little rabbit."

Silvio's eye twitched in annoyance. He muttered bitterly, "Oh, so you wouldn't listen to me, but if she says so, you immediately do it…"

Gilbert quickly formed a snowball with ease, as though he was quite well-practiced with it. However, after he had set his first snowball on the ground, he was already pouting.

"It's cold!" Gilbert complained. "I get cold quite easily, you know. Just making a snowball makes me feel like I'm about to turn into a popsicle." Then, despite his complaints about being cold, he suddenly took off his gloves. He offered his hands to Imladris. "Feel how cold my hands are, little rabbit."

"Prince Gilbert, if you're really as cold as you say, you need to keep your gloves on!" Imladris said hurriedly. There surely would be consequences for Rhodolite if the Obsidianite prince lost some fingers due to frostbite. Even if it was his own doing…

"Hmmm. How about you hold my hands in your hands to keep them warm?"

"Uh, what?"

"Hold my hands, little rabbit. Go on. Like this—"

But before Gilbert could get any closer to Imladris, Lucien was already standing between them, serving as a protective barrier for Imladris.

"Touch Imladris, and you won't have to worry about having cold hands anymore," Chevalier said coolly from his seat, his eyes still on his book. "Because you won't have any hands at all."

Gilbert stood up. Brushing snow off his clothes, he smiled at Chevalier. "Is that a threat?"

"No. It's a promise."

"Will you two stop posturing and help us already?!" Silvio snapped, interrupting the two tigers.

"I've already done my part," Gilbert said.

"You only made one measly snowball!"

Just then, from the middle of the "battlefield," Cyran called out to everyone. "We'll begin in a few minutes, your Highnesses!"

Silvio swore loudly. "We don't even have a snow fort yet! We'll be totally exposed to their attacks!"

"Lemme see if I can make something real quick!" Luke said. Unlike Clavis, he didn't have shovels ready anywhere, anytime. So, he used his hands to pile up snow together. In just a few moments, he had already built up a massive pile of snow.

However, it really was only a pile.

"It's nothing like a snow fort," Yves said. He looked from Luke's "snow pile" to the opposite team's snow forts. Team Lelouch already had three snow forts—one big main fort, and two smaller forts on each side. And right now, Clavis was even placing small flags with his leopard crest on top of the forts, making Yves shake his head in exasperation at Clavis' antics.

"Yeah, it's more of just like a snow bank that you'd find on the side of a road," Nokto said as he studied Luke's work. "Still, I suppose that it's better than nothing."

"It doesn't look fancy, but it'll provide some defense at least," Luke stated as Yves and Nokto helped him lengthen the snow bank so that it would cover more of their team's base.

"Thanks, Luke! This will help a lot," Imladris said gratefully.

Cyran and Lucien stood at the side of the "battlefield," halfway between each team. Cyran's eyes were on his pocket watch, waiting for the time to start the "battle." As the seconds ticked closer and closer to the appointed time, the members of both teams stood still, eying their fellow members and the opposing players.

It was the calm before the storm, just like what could be felt before the start of actual warfare.

Then—

"It's time!" Cyran announced. "Let the game begin!"