落とし穴９２堀：夏の残骸 (Part1)
**Pitfall 92: Remnants of Summer**
**Remnants of Summer**
*Note: While the timeline is still around the end of January, please note that this chapter is themed to match the current real-world season of May.*
**Side: Yuki**
It is a clear, sunny day.
The cherry blossom season has long passed, the trees are lush and green, and the season is on the verge of the rainy season.
With this change, clothing is gradually transitioning from long-sleeved winter wear to slightly thinner spring attire, and finally to short-sleeved summer clothes.
This transitional period is incredibly difficult when it comes to dressing.
During the day, it’s hot—the sun is intense enough that you can’t bear to wear long sleeves—but once you step into the shade, it’s chilly, and by night, it’s genuinely cold.
It’s a season where deciding what to wear is a real headache.
Moreover, it’s not as if the weather is consistent; one day it’s scorching, the next it’s freezing. It’s a truly troublesome time.
On hot days, even the nights are stifling, sometimes to the point where opening the windows is barely enough to get by.
And today, feeling the room that refuses to cool down even with the windows open, I realize it’s going to be one of those hot nights.
"It’s definitely going to be hot tonight."
"I suppose so. The room is currently, let’s see... 31 degrees, so it probably won’t drop much by nightfall."
Labyris says this while looking at the thermometer attached to the air conditioner remote on the table.
Hearing that just makes me feel hotter.
Why is it already over 30 degrees at the end of May?
Is global warming hitting Weed, too?
"Actually, the main reason it feels so hot right now is because you’re sitting on me, Labyris."
That’s right.
The reason I’m feeling even hotter in this already sweltering situation is that Labyris is sitting on my lap, as she usually does.
"I’ve been busy with the kids and work lately, so we haven’t had much time together. I’m just making up for it."
"Well, that’s fine, but aren’t you just as hot as I am?"
"I don’t mind. It’s not like it’s rare for me to be pressed up against you and sweating."
"That’s not quite the same as the current situation, is it?"
"We could make it that situation right now if you want? I’m wearing a skirt, so it’d be easy."
Labyris, as always, is a petite girl with a surprisingly voluptuous figure.
If I were to just go along with this flow, things would get out of hand, so I decide to hold back.
"Let’s save that for tonight..."
Something clicked in my mind.
"Right. Even though it’s a day off, if we start fooling around in the middle of the day, everyone else will join in and it’ll be a mess. Plus, we can’t just leave the kids alone. Tonight is better."
I understand what Labyris is saying, but that wasn’t what I had a hunch about.
That’s not it.
Something about the night...
"Hm? It doesn’t seem like you’re thinking about that. But it’s vague. Your thoughts aren’t clear."
Since I’m in close contact with Labyris, she should be able to read my thoughts, but perhaps because my own thoughts are muddled, she can’t quite grasp them accurately.
Well, it’s natural, since I don’t even know what I’m thinking myself.
Hot, night, hmm... it’s still too early for fireworks.
No, calm down.
The root of the issue is wanting to do something about the heat.
But it’s too early to switch to short sleeves, so maybe something else to cool down... a way to enjoy the cool of the evening.
"Enjoying the cool?"
Ah, when you think of cooling off at night, there’s only one thing, isn’t there!
The moment I reached that answer, Labyris hopped off my lap.
"Wait, Yuki!? No way, we are not doing a test of courage!! It’s scary!!"
Labyris is terrible with ghosts, after all.
Perhaps because she can read my thoughts directly, her image of "ghosts" is more vivid than anyone else’s, which might be why she’s so terrified.
"No, you don’t have to participate if you don’t want to."
"I hate tests of courage, but I also hate being left out!"
Labyris puffs out her cheeks.
I think it’s cute.
However, as she said, members like Deryu who are easily frightened can’t participate, and it’s not really something people enjoy doing.
I don’t believe in curses or anything like that, but if people were constantly making noise around your grave, you wouldn’t be able to rest in peace either. I’d want to get rid of them too.
"Then, should we watch a winter movie instead?"
"That sounds nice."
"But will that actually cool us down?"
"It’s better than something scary. By the way, what happened to the place we built for the test of courage?"
She suddenly remembered and asked about the site we had constructed.
That place was an intentionally crafted environment where neither magic nor skills could be used, with no historical background and no real graves.
Literally, it was just a collection of ruins arranged to look the part; there was no foundation for actual ghosts to appear.
We held a test of courage there, but thanks to a certain idiotic goddess, it turned into a commotion where real ghosts appeared. After an all-nighter, we realized it was the work of that useless goddess—a classic case of "all that effort for nothing."
"Come to think of it, I’ve left it alone since then."
"You left it alone?"
"I’ve been pretty busy since then."
"That’s true, I suppose."
"Since I just remembered it, I’m going to go take a look. Want to come?"
"Sure. I know it was just Luna’s prank, so I’m not scared anymore. I’ll go with you."
And so, taking Jessica and Cleena as guards, we went to the test of courage site for the first time in a while.
"It’s been a long time since we’ve been here."
"Yeah. I had completely forgotten about it."
Jessica and Cleena seem to share my sentiment.
"But, Labyris, are you really okay?"
"Yeah. Labyris is a scaredy-cat."
"I’m fine here. I know it was just Luna playing a prank."
Even though Labyris says that while shaking and trembling at TV specials, it’s not very convincing, but there’s no point in raining on her parade when she’s trying her best.
I’d be in trouble if she got scared and had an accident on my lap.
"I won’t do that!"
Labyris says, pulling on my ear.
She’s riding on my shoulders as usual and seems calm for now.
Is she really okay? Well, don’t push yourself.
"I know."
"Alright. Let’s go. Watch your step."
"Yes."
"Yeah. I’ll be careful."
Since it had been left alone for so long, the grass had grown wild.
Well, trees don’t change much in a short time, but the grass had certainly taken over.
Since I designed it to look like a mountain path, it seems the weeds encroached as soon as people stopped walking through.
Fortunately, it wasn’t so overgrown that we couldn’t walk, so we strolled along until we reached the small observation post.
"Oh, this is where we explained the test of courage, wasn’t it?"
"We did."
"Yeah. And where we did the recording and monitoring."
That’s right.
Luna’s prank made the dolls move, and we stayed up all night investigating it.
"The equipment inside was left behind, too. What a waste."
"Should we recover it?"
"Let’s take a look inside first."
With that, we entered the observation post.
"It’s cleaner than I thought."
"Yeah. Even though it’s been abandoned for so long, it hasn’t changed much. It’s practically brand new."