Team vs Team in the White Day Wars

1: White Day Wars, Commence

Kanami: Mihono-chan, did you hear!? There's a team event starting! They're calling it the White Day Wars!
Kanami: For some reason, they found aradama carrying candies and marshmallows. So they put together a competition to defeat and collect them!
Mihono: I just found out about it myself! They said we can form our own teams with anyone from any school, and whoever gets the most sweets wins.
Mihono: And, more importantly, the winning team gets some kind of awesome secret prize!
Kanami: Even if we're not directly competing, it still sounds pretty fun! So, want to team up, Mihono-chan?
Mihono: Course I do! Let's go around and see if anyone else wants to join us!
Ban Tsugumi: Now then, the cookies and macarons are ready. Please eat them, Shichinosato-san.
Kofuki: I still don't get why you made these, but if you're giving then I'll take 'em. (chew chew, chew chew...)
Kofuki: ...Mmmm... There's this weird... Grassy? Taste to the cookies. And these macarons kinda taste like medicine.
Tsugumi: Have you noticed any changes to your body yet? To tell the truth, I mixed several things into them while I was cooking.
Tsugumi: Barley grass juice, protein powder, coconut oil, chia seeds, acai pulp, along with...
Kofuki: Well no shit it tastes awful!! What're you gonna do if this stuff messes me up!?
Tsugumi: Everything I put in there should be good for you. Though knowing you, you'll be fine, Shichinosato-san. And like they say, failure is the path to success.
Kofuki: If you thought it'd fail, then don't give it to me!! Use yourself if you want a test subject!! I'm never eating anything you cook ever again!!
Mihono: 'Scuse us! Are you two busy right now? I wanted to ask you about the White Day Wars...
Tsugumi: Ah, you came at just the right time. I made these sweets, so...
Kofuki: Stop, dumbass!!
Kanami: --Anyway, we're looking for people to join our team! Did either of you say you'd help anybody else yet?
Tsugumi: I haven't. Actually, this is the first I've heard of any White Day Wars.
Kofuki: Same. But I'm always down to kill some aradama. Don't need any kind of prize besides that.
Kofuki: So anyway, I'm joining as a one man team! That way I get all the aradama to myself!
Tsugumi: That's how Shichinosato-san is... Now that I think of it, I did receive instructions to investigate the candy carrying aradama.
Tsugumi: So do you mind if I join you, Shichinosato-san?
Kofuki: Fine, whatever! Just don't mess with me anymore!
Tsugumi: ...Fufufu. I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of effect those sweets have on her in combat.
Kanami: And they're gone... Well, we can't afford to lose to them! We'll just have to look for allies while we're out there fighting!
Ellen: ...Kaoru, did you hear? It sounds like there's some big fun event going on?
Kaoru: Fun? You sure you don't mean annoying?
Ellen: What are you saying! They're all turning it into a competition! Of course it'll be fun!
Nene: Ne-!
Ellen: See, Nene's getting into it too! We should make a team together, Kaoru! Let's start getting candy right away!!

2: Mai and Sayaka and Making Cookies

Kanami: It's a good thing we got Mai-chan and Sayaka-chan on our team. With the two of you here, we're unstoppable!
Mai: I think you might be getting your hopes too high...
Kanami: But we've already gotten so many sweets!
Mihono: So what'd we come to the cooking classroom for, anyway?
Mai: Well, I thought candy and marshmallows alone were too depressing. Since it's White Day, we should make cookies too.
Sayaka: -! Cookies...! Mai, I'll help.
Mai: I'd appreciate it! Can you start sifting wheat flour for me, Sayaka-chan?
Sayaka: Sift...?
Mai: This is a sifter. You pour it in the top, and it makes the flour much lighter. Do you think you can handle that?
Sayaka: Understood. I'll do it.
Kanami: Ah! They just updated the competition rankings!
Kanami: Let's see... Looks like a lot of toji joined in!
Kanami: First place right now is... Shichinosato-san and Ban-san's team!
Mihono: Just two people made it to first!? Nobody beats Fukki when it comes to getting rid of aradama, I guess.
Kanami: And Ellen-chan and Kaoru-chan's team are in second!
Mai: It's a little hard to picture that from the carefree Ellen-chan and lazy Kaoru-chan.
Mihono: Ahaha, you're right.
Sayaka: Mai, I sifted it all.
Mai: Thanks! Next, I need the batter... Ah, Sayaka-chan, your cheek's all white with flour?
Mai: Come here, I'll wipe it off for you.
Sayaka: Nn...
Mihono: We're only in fourth place... We're going to need more people if we want to stand a chance of getting that prize!
everyone's phones ring
Mihono: --Bad news! They just sent out an alert for another aradama sighting! We've gotta get going!
Sayaka: Mai, the cookies...
Mai: We'll have to leave them now and finish cooking later, okay?
Sayaka: Okay!
Kamo Chinami: So those four went and started baking sweets? Looking pretty girly in here~. I could start taking notes!
Chinami: --Ahh! That reminds me, Chinatsu-chan and Hoozuki-chan asked me for some White Day lessons! I'd better go see them as soon as these aradama are dealt with!

3: Chinami-sensei's White Day Lecture

Terashimo Hoozuki: Working as both a toji and a magazine model, with her scabbard looking cute as ever today, Chinami-sensei is here to answer our questions!
Hoozuki: To get things started, when it comes to White Day, I'd like to do something a little different from everyone else! Do you have any advice, Chinami-sensei-?
Chinami: I get complimented a lot in my line of work, but you're the only one who always admires my scabbard, Hoozuki-chan. A future lacquerer's got that special attention to detail, after all!
Chinami: So anyway, back to your question, it's nice to change things up, but being different for the sake of difference isn't going to work!
Chinami: What's most important is choosing something that suits you and you're comfortable with! Try starting with something you already like as a motif!
Hoozuki: I get it! So what if I put on some scabbard cosplay, and hand out scabbard shaped cookies!
Chinami: You sure you're not thinking of Halloween?
Shimoishii Chinatsu: I have a question for you too, Chinami-sensei.
Chinatsu: I've never baked any sweets before, so do you have any advice on how to not screw up for White Day?
Chinami: You've always so busy studying after all, Chinatsu-chan. Even though you're in the swordsmith department, don't you sit in on lectures for the engineering and research departments?
Chinatsu: Yes. I'm no good at dealing with free time. So I try to fill it with learning as much as possible...!
Chinami: A busybody like you doesn't have to force herself to make anything. You can buy something nice from from a store, you know?
Chinami: If your sweets don't turn out the way you want them, I'd hate to see you depressed over losing both time and ingredients.
Hoozuki: I see!
Mihono: No wonder Chinami-sensei has a lot of female fans. I feel like I'm learning a lot!
Kanami: Me, me! I have a question too! How are you planning on spending your White Day, Chinami-sensei?
Chinami: ...Well in my case, February and March are sort of a trial. Like she said, I have a lot of female fans.
Chinami: And so many of them send in chocolates and sweets for Valentines and White Day.
Chinami: I don't even want to think about the calories from eating them all, but with everyone's feelings baked into them, I can't exactly give those sweets to anyone else, you know?
Chinami: Plus, as a model, I need to watch my figure, so actually I'm on an extra strict diet right now...
Hoozuki: I'd expect no less from you, Sensei! Fighting the calories, you still eat all of them! That gentlemanly side of you is so charming!
Koike Saaya: Excuse me. I'm Koike Saaya, a third year high schooler with the Heijou Institute's patrol department! Another group of aradama have just been sighted, so we need all toji to prepare to sortie!
Chinami: --Well then. How does aradama extermination sound for burning some calories?
Chinatsu: Chinami-sensei! I'll give you backup!
Chinami: Okay! I'll count on you! And, Kanami-chan and Mihono-chan? Is it okay if I tag along with your team?
Kanami: Of course! We'd love to have you!
Saaya: ...The White Day Wars. It seems like there's already a huge stockpile of candy and marshmallows gathered from aradama.
Saaya: But I'd like to give everyone a taste of something a little better. I'll just add a special ingredient~.

4: After the Sour Konbu Culprit!

Kanami: We sure pulled in a lot of candy and marshmallows, huh. It takes a while for just two people to move around.
Mihono: Let's see, we're supposed to leave what we won't eat in the storeroom, right?
Kanami: Whoa! There's so many sweets in here!
Mihono: They told everyone to freely drop them off, so it looks like they've been piling up one after another.
Mihono: --There we go. Now that that's taken care of, we should meet back up with the others.
Kanami and Mihono leave
Koike Saaya: ...Fufu. Looks like more sweets have been delivered.
Saaya: Then I'll get right to it. Just have to swap these in with the candies--
Kanami: Now!! Grab the suspect!!
Mihono: Give it up!!
Kanami and Mihono bust in and grab Saaya
Saaya: -!? But you left!?
Kanami: We made a lot of extra noise as we were leaving, then quietly came back in!
Mihono: We heard reports the candy stored here had some weird sour taste.
Mihono: But it's not like they could go bad that fast. We thought something was up, so we stayed on guard. And that's when you came sneaking in, Saaya-san.
Kanami: Saaya-san! Answer us! Why are you mixing sour konbu in with the candies!? That's really mean for a prank!
Saaya: P-Prank!? Sweets and sour konbu go hand in hand like perfect matrimony! Don't you feel the same way!?
Mihono: ...M-Mattremoney?
Saaya: It means marriage in French~. When the two combine, their flavors enhance each other.
Saaya: I was only giving everyone a taste of something better!
Kanami: ...Saaya-san, please listen carefully. Candy and sour konbu don't go together at all.
Saaya: Hmph! That's not true...! Everyone knows sweet and sour things have high affinity for each other...
Saaya: ...
Saaya: ... ...... .........
Saaya: ...Ah, you're right. This tastes terrible.
Mihono: You never even tried it!?
Saaya: Well, I eat a lot of sour konbu on its own, so...
Saaya: But there are lots of people who won't eat it, so I thought if I mixed it in with the candy they'd start realizing how great it tastes...
Kanami: Basically, you just thought you were helping out...
Saaya: What a heartbreaking incident...
Mihono: You don't get to say that!
phone rings
Saaya: --Headquarters is contacting me! There's reports of more aradama sightings!
Kanami: That's a bigger issue! We can deal with Saaya-san later; let's hurry!

5: Kotatsu Roundtable

Uraga Nao: Ahh~, reunited with Kotatsu-san at last~. If an aradama showed up right now, I don't know that I'd be able to escape from under here again~.
Mizushina Kinuka: That's no good~. But kotatsu have magic that makes you powerless the moment you enter them, after all~.
Nao: You get it, Mizushina-san~. Here, eat some oranges.
Kinuka: Don't go pushing unpeeled oranges in my face! But thank you, I will~.
Kinuka: Anyway, everybody sure seems to be getting all worked up over these White Day Wars~. Not like it has anything to do with us tucked away in here though~.
Nao: But it's doing a nice job of raising morale, isn't it~. Speaking of which, what are the rankings like now?
Kinuka: Let's see. Seems like first place is still Shichinosato-san and Ban-san. Their lead just keeps pulling farther ahead of the others.
Kinuka: Shichinosato-san seems to be in unusually good condition to be going at those aradama so enthusiastically. Could they be doping?
Kinuka: In second place is Kohagura-san's team. Though with the slacker Mashiko-san with her, they seem to be struggling to compete.
Nao: That girl never changes. Though, when it comes to a volunteer event like this, I can sort of understand how she feels~.
Nao: And I can't exactly say the prize is worth the effort either~.
Kinuka: Uraga-san, you know what the winner gets?
Nao: Ara, you mean you don't know, Mizushina-san? If you come in first... Ah, your phone's ringing~.
Kinuka: ...Understood! We'll be there right away.
Kinuka: --That was an urgent request. More aradama have appeared. Uraga-san, it seems we're needed.
Nao: I see, a swarm of aradama have been sighted in northeastern Izu. Reports from the scene say there could be up to one hundred of them. Several larger aradama were seen as well.
Kinuka: There's quite a lot this time, isn't there? Civilians in the area-- Seem to have practiced evacuation drills.
Nao: Then start studying the local topography and figuring out who to send where, miss strategic director.

6: The Feelings Baked into Sweets

Mihono: The first annual! "Forget About the Teams, Let's All Bake Sweets Together" meetup~!
Kanami: Umm, so as an apology for everything lost in the sour konbu incident, Saaya-san provided all these ingredients for us. So we're all going to bake more sweets together!
Kanami: And guiding us today is none other than the eldest daughter of the Yanase Group, the patissier prodigy herself, Mai-chan!
Mai: Hey, Kanami-chan! Don't go calling me a prodigy or patissier or anything!
Sayaka: Patissier prodigy... It fits you, Mai.
Mai: Not you too, Sayaka-chan!
Kaoru: You can do it, everyone. It's all too much for me, so I'll let Nene handle my share.
Nene: Ne-!
Kofuki: ...Sigh. I wanted to kill time till more aradama showed up, but I don't think this is my thing.
Kiyoka: Do you not like baking, Shichinosato-san?
Kofuki: Besides hunting aradama, nothing's really any fun. And what's the point of all this cooking when it ends up the same in your stomach anyway? Might as well just eat it like this.
Kiyoka: That's not true! The greatest flavoring of all is a girl's feelings as she bakes them into her cooking!
Kiyoka: The feelings you have when you think about the person who'll be eating it make it so much tastier!
Kofuki: Tch... Fine, whatever. There's nothing better to do, so I'll give it a shot.
Kiyoka: Alright, let's do our best! --Ah, Shichinosato-san! Please don't go sneaking a taste of the ingredients already!
Kofuki: What's wrong with that? Raw cookie batter tastes pretty good, you know? You try some too, Kiyoka.
Kiyoka: I won't have any!
everyone's phones ring
Kofuki: --The phones going off like that can only mean more aradama.
Kofuki: Which means I've got no more time to waste on this! Wait for me, aradama-chan! I'll be right there!
Kiyoka: Ahh, but we're in the middle of cooking...!

7: Kiyoka's Confession!?

Kiyoka: Um... Thank you for waiting. Sorry I called you out here all of a sudden.
Kiyoka: ...These chocolates, I made them. I meant to give you them on Valentines Day, but I couldn't find the courage, and now it's already White Day...
Kiyoka: I've... I've always liked you!! If it's okay with you, will you please go out with me!?
Kiyoka: ...Phew, enough practice. It'd be nice if I could give someone chocolates like that someday...
bushes rustling
Kiyoka: -!? Is someone there!?
Kanami: Sorry, we didn't mean to hide, but...
Mihono: Yeah, we weren't trying to hide... Pft-hahaha...
Kiyoka: You two... Did you spy on me!?
Kanami: W-We weren't spying! We didn't spy on your solo love confession practice, Musumi-san!
Mihono: Yeah, yeah! We didn't spy on your fantasy about calling some guy out to give chocolates you meant to hand over on Valentines!
Kiyoka: You saw the whole thing, didn't you!!
Mihono: Don't worry! We aren't gonna tell anyone! But, I can't make any guarantees if you don't join our team, you know?
Kiyoka: You're blackmailing me!?
Mihono: I'm just kidding. But with you on our team, we'd be able to close the distance to first place.
Kiyoka: ...Okay then. I'll join your team, Hono-chan.
Kiyoka: But only on one condition: Let me watch you and Etou-san act out your dream confession together right now!
Mihono: Huhh!? I can't do that!!
Kanami: Mihono-chan! We have to get Musumi-san to work with us! So let's give it our best shot!
Mihono: Why're you getting into this, Kanami!?
everyone's phones ring
Mihono: Ah-! O-Oh no-! Looks like more aradama showed up! Guess we need to get going, huh-!
Kiyoka: I won't let you get out of this, Hono-chan! If aradama showed up, then you'll just have to confess while you're fighting!
Mihono: While we're fighting!? How do you expect me to pull that off!?

8: White Day Wars, Concluded!

Kanami: They're finally publishing the results of the White Day Wars. I'm getting goosebumps...
Mihono: Thanks to Kiyoka joining us, we managed to haul in tons of sweets towards the end! We might've pulled off a big reversal...!
Kiyoka: Hono-chan, I helped you out, so you have to let me see your confession after, remember?
Mihono: I-I don't know what you're talking about~...
Tsugumi: We held first place through most of the competition, but I'm not sure about the results... Shichinosato-san only went after larger aradama in the second half, so our numbers could have fallen behind...
Tsugumi: Even after my sweets gave you a boost too...
Kofuki: It's not like I care about this ranking stuff anyway. I got to kill a ton of aradama, so I'm satisfied.
Ellen: Ahahaha! Look, Kaoru! Nene took all the marshmallows we found and made a sofa out of them!
Nene: Ne-! Ne-!
Kaoru: What's so fun about that... And you'd better eat all those marshmallows when you're done.
Ellen: Don't worry about it! I'm sure the staff will take care of it!
Kaoru: What staff?
Nao: ...Excuse me, is everyone here? I'm not sure why, but Mizushina-san and I have been asked to announce the results of the White Day Wars.
Kinuka: Thank you for all your hard work, everyone. Despite the many sightings of aradama, we were able to deal with them without civilian casualties.
Nao: All because of how quickly you were able to dispatch and suppress aradama as they appeared. Really, thank you all.
Nao: And with that, I'll now announce the first place winner. The overall winner of the first White Day Wars is... Kohagura Ellen's Team!
Ellen: ---!? We did it!! We did it, Kaoru!! Our team won!!
Kaoru: Who'd have guessed. Looks like it was worth getting dragged along by you.
Nene : Ne-!! Ne-!!
Kinuka: Congratulations. As a reward for their victory, all the sweets in the storeroom will be delivered to Ellen-san's team!
Ellen: ...Eh? All the sweets? Aren't you just dumping the leftovers on us...?
Nao: I should mention, by the way, that you can't refuse this offer.
Ellen: Are you serious!? What are we supposed do with a year's worth of candy and marshmallows!?
Kaoru: Tell me this is a joke... I really shouldn't have bothered with this in the first place...
Tsugumi: Our team only placed third in the end. Thank goodness we didn't win. Shichinosato-san made the right call.
Kanami: We came in second! We were so close to first place; that's so frustrating...!
Mihono: I'm a little frustrated too, but since we were this close to having our rooms filled wall to wall with candy and marshmallows, I think it turned out for the best?
Kiyoka: More importantly, Hono-chan, hurry up and do your confession--
Kinuka: Ah, everyone, may I have your attention for a moment? I said this earlier, but thanks to everyone's efforts, not a single civilian was harmed. That really is a remarkable achievement.
Kinuka: And so, in case this happens next year, I look forward to all of you participating in the White Day Wars again.
Mihono: Alright!! We're gonna win for sure next time-!!
Ellen: I've had enough of candy and marshmallows for one lifetime! Get a real prize if you want us to do this again!