I wake up to a banner announcing "The Fimbulwinter Dance," a short event dedicated to some kind of winter ball. I was hoping the big winter event would be announced instead. Nevertheless, I read on.

The wolves of winter are coming! Beat them back to save the world!

From the sound of things, it's a collaborative boss fight. A raid, to be more accurate. It’s kinda like the Easter event last year, now that I think about it. It was a ton of fun! Everyone worked together to take down the Mecha Easter Bunny and his army of bunnygirl servants.

There's no ranking prize for this type of event, which doesn’t always sit right with some hardcore types, but everyone unlocks a dress uniform to wear to a celebratory dance — as long as we win. You’ll even be able to choose the outfit: a tuxedo or a dress.

To each their own, honestly! Even though I’m definitely going with the tux, it’s nice knowing we’re not being forced into boxes. I don’t think it’s fair when any gender gets a cooler set of equips than another.

I'm starting to get hype, even though I have to stop and wonder why there are so many canine bosses. Someone in charge must be a huge dog person.

An icy chill sweeps through the school and the dorms that very night. Fall gives way to winter. I’m sorry, Fimbulwinter, the time of three consecutive winters that serve as a prelude to Яagnarok. I feel like my name’s almost lore compliant! How cool is that?

And these two wolves are the ones that eat the sun and the moon. If we don’t defeat them in time, the world really is in danger! I don’t know who would put us all at risk like this, but I do know that my Reaper’s Scythe is going to see copious use.

The goal of this event is to maximize your damage output in a given number of turns. It’s very structured, entirely dependent on your stamina to see how many times you can run through the scenario. Without nearly as many potions in my inventory as I had for the Halloween tower, I’ll be limited to a fairly reasonable number of attacks per day.

But even though the scene’s been set for the event, it won’t start for another two days. Oh god. What the hell am I going to do for 48 hours?

***

You’ve attended 45 days in a row! Your next attendance bonus will be in 5 days!

The attendance bonus is so close now, I can almost taste it. Or is that the freshly-fallen snow on the tip of my tongue instead? I decide not to quick-teleport onto campus and walk past my fellow students building snowmen, carrying snowboards, and generally reveling in the spirit of the season. There’s a lot of aimless activity, not even anything that exchanges our stamina for progress on any front, but we are still just kids. Sometimes, we have to enjoy the sillier things in life. Maybe the wait won’t be so awful, after all.

Oddly enough, there’s no event gacha. There are no weapons with specific bonuses; there are no outfits that increase damage output; there’s absolutely nothing. Is it meant to be more accessible to newer students and people who are saving their hard-earned cash for the holiday later this month?

My fingers twitch by my side. I haven’t touched a cauldron since the start of Halloween. That event was such a nebulous blur of time that I’ll just say it outright: it’s probably been two weeks since I did a pull. That’s too long to go without trying to get something cool.

Could you imagine if I blew my luck on a non-limited item, though? I’d never hear the end of it from Thagomizer.

With the freedom to wear whatever I want without it affecting my stats, I change into the Student Council uniform to enjoy that a bit more. I’m still not over the fact that I finally pulled it!

As I sit in class, I catch AdAdstra looking out the window again and follow her gaze to the huge rainclouds gathering above the school. They’re always there. If I squint, I can make out something large beneath—

“You’re doing it again,” AdAstra says, distracting me. “Stop staring.”

She pulls out a pair of headphones and tunes me out with one more scornful look.

“Yeah, Яagnarok,” Thagomizer joins in. “You look like last year’s obsolete two-star.”

“Excuse you!” I feign offense. “I’m at least a three-star.”

“Sure you are.” Thagomizer reaches into her pocket and pulls out two long strips of paper. “Speaking of three-stars, do you still have those ice skates from last Christmas?”

I rummage around in my inventory. “Yeah, I think so. Two pairs. Why?”

“Because I happen to have two tickets to the skate rink.”

“And you wanna give them both to me? For me and my bad luck? Is that the joke?”

“I was thinking you could ask Marie♥ to go with you.”

“You’re kidding. Who are you and what have you done with Thagomizer? She’s not this generous with anything.” I look suspiciously at the person wearing my friend’s skin. “The Ghost of Halloween Future isn’t still possessing you, is it?”

Thagomizer laughs. “Яagnarok, please. You owing me a favor is the best payment I could hope for.”

“Are you sure?” I reach cautiously for the tickets. That does sound more like her, I guess.

“One hundred percent.”

“Where did you even get these?”

Thag mumbles something that I can’t make out. Aha! I’ll get to the bottom of this right now! “Can you repeat that?”

“I said, my fan club. Look, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You really don’t know how to take a compliment, do you?”

Thagomizer’s fan club: an eclectic group of guys and girls both who are utterly head-over-heels for our resident lucksack. They make up one of the optional, student-created clubs. Guilds, we call them. Since you can only join one, it’s not a decision to take lightly. I almost founded one back in my freshman year, actually, but I didn’t have nearly enough currency.

“Яagnarok? Respectfully, shut up and don’t look gift tickets in the mouth.” Thagomizer sighs. “Let me be your wingman.”

“Okay,” I finally agree. “Thank you. You’re a five-star friend.”

“Damn right I am.”

It’s quiet between us for a moment, with only the faint sound of music from AdAstra’s loud headphones.

“Shit, how do I ask her to go with me?”

“Just like that.”

“But what if she asks where I got these tickets?”

“Then make something up.”

Ms. Delphine finally arrives and shushes the room. Thagomizer slides the tickets across my desk before I can say anything else. I shoot her another grateful smile. She looks away.

In the cafeteria, I make my way to Marie♥’s table. She’s sitting by herself, the Black Shuck at her feet, sitting pretty to beg for scraps of her lunch.

I raise my voice but choke on the words. “I-Is this seat taken?”

“Яagnarok! Please, go ahead.”

She looks happy to see me. This is never going to get old.

“Thank you. Thank you for, um. Climbing the Halloween tower with me,” I stammer. “Would you like to keep hanging out? Before the next event?”

I pull out the tickets that Thagomizer so generously bequeathed to me. “There’s a skating rink not too far from school. I was thinking that, you know, even though it doesn’t actually cost stamina or give out EXP... maybe you wanted to go? I even have a spare pair of skates!”

“I’d love to go, Яagnarok!”

“That’s fine. Don’t worry about— Wait, did you say yes?”

“Of course I did!”

“Oh.” I let that sink in. “Oh. How about after school today, then?”

“It’s a date.”

Oh.