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“Manager-san, if we turned the heat up for the winter, do you think Kamei-san could stay awake all year?"
Manager blinked. They were standing in the dorm’s front entrance, having dropped by to deliver some files to Haruna for an upcoming audition. Their shoes were still on their feet, not exactly expecting to stay any longer than it took to hand the papers over—certainly not expecting a question about turtle care. “Uh, even if that would work, we definitely can’t afford to blast the heating 24/7 for the entire winter. ”
Haruna smiled sheepishly. “Of course. Forget I asked...you must be busy, right? You should get going.”
Manager frowned, not even turning towards the door. “You wouldn’t ask for no reason, though. I would think you’d be used to Kamei-san’s hibernating by now. Is there a reason you don’t want her to go to sleep this winter?”
“I guess...I’ve been feeling somewhat lonely recently.” Haruna looked down. “Everyone’s been spending a lot of time out working or auditioning for all kinds of different jobs, so we hardly see each other. I've managed to put up with it since Kamei-san's been here with me, but she's already starting to slow down with the cold..."
Manager nodded. Everyone certainly had been busy as of late. A particular shift this year had been Maika, whose graduation from high school in the spring had freed her up to focus entirely on her career. Just last week, she had gone up to Hokkaido to shoot for a special promo related to an anime she had been cast in, and spent multiple weekdays in a row there. Honoka, for one, hadn’t failed to comment on how that would’ve tanked Maika’s already tenuous grades last year.
"I was talking about it with the others over the phone, and Shiho-chan said something like, 'the turning of the seasons always brings about farewells'."
Manager thought about it, glancing past Haruna to the living room and common area behind her, currently occupied by no one. No Mahoro sprawled out on the couch hogging control of the TV, no Team Bird running lines back and forth with each other, no Rinne and Chisa trying to help wrangle Rie’s cooking skills into something respectable. The rooms loomed large in their emptiness, framing Haruna’s small and solitary silhouette. "That's certainly a lonely-sounding line. And...I guess it's not exactly wrong."
“Right?"
"But," Manager continued, staring at a photo on a nearby wall of the 16 of them at the beach one summer day, "I think the turning of the seasons brings new meetings, as well." They smiled wistfully. "You know, the day I first met you outside the station, it was right at the beginning of fall. It's my favourite time of year to go out on walks. That walk was my first one since the spring, actually—I remember the summer heat had been even more unbearable than usual. If you hadn't happened to trip on that particular day, I probably wouldn't be here at all."
"Manager-san..."
They bent down to take their shoes off. “And I don’t just mean new meetings. You’ll see everyone again, just like how Kamei-san will wake up from her hibernation after a few months of rest.” They lined up their shoes against the step, put on a pair of house slippers, and walked inside, waving a hand at a corner of the common area. “It’ll be time to put up the Christmas tree soon, right? Chisa and Airi love doing that, they won’t miss it for the world. Wind will probably drag Mahoro into helping them put the other decorations up at some point too.”
A confused Haruna trailed after them as they spoke. “Manager-san? Where are you going?”
Manager grinned at her. “Nowhere, for now. I actually don’t have much left to do today, and what I do have I can just push to tomorrow. So...how about I make you some dinner and keep you company for a bit?”
Haruna’s eyes lit up. “Oh, that sounds lovely!”
“Well...don’t expect too much of the food. Rio-san told me it was best described as 'serviceable'.”
Haruna shook her head, following them around to the refrigerator. “Food someone made for you always tastes good. And food made with someone tastes even better! Oh, Manager, don’t use that one—that’s Satori-chan’s milk.”
“Oh, right.” They chuckled. “It’s been a while since I’ve had to really think about what’s in here, maybe you should take the ingredients out so I don’t touch anything I shouldn’t.” The girl nodded, so Manager moved out of the way, taking the opportunity to turn on the TV. It flickered to life on a news channel discussing the weather for the evening, and—
“Oh, Manager-san, it’s snowing!”
They turned their head to look out the window, and sure enough, the small specks of crystal white were floating down outside. “There’s the first snowfall. I guess it’s really winter, huh? Not that it’s sticking around, though.” The snow was melting almost as soon as it touched the ground. It wouldn’t be a surprise if there wasn't even any trace of it left in the morning.
“But before you know it, it’ll be cold enough for it to pile up on the ground,” Haruna said.
“That’s true.”
“Kamei-san will probably start really sleeping any day now, too.”
“Yeah.”
“...Manager-san, do you think we can make some for everyone else, too?”
Manager looked at the ingredients Haruna had laid out on the countertop. “Hmm. It’ll be a bit tight, but...I’m sure we can manage.”
Haruna clapped her hands together. “Hehe, yay!”