Accompanying the release of the Summer Pockets teaser, the so called Summer Pockets -Prelude Book- was release in the Dengeki G’s February edition. This book gives us some new details on the protagonist and setting as well as a series of story extracts that introduce the heroines. These new details go along with the information we got about a year ago from the Summer Pockets Rough Note, so please read through that if you need to refresh your memory. With that said, let’s jump in! Thanks to Moetron for the scans.
Torishirojima
A fictional island in the Seto Inland Sea where the story takes place. The island has about only 2000 inhabitants, a single convenience store and not even a traffic light. The island only has a grade school and middle school, so high school students have to commute to the mainland by boat. While Torishirojima itself is fictional, locations have been based on real places from the Seto Sea region, so it’s possible readers may recognize those in-game.
Hairi Takahara
"When it comes down to it, I’m… like a wounded raven"
We previously knew Hairi’s reason for coming to Torishirojima was somehow related to his recently passed grandmother, but we now have a few more details about his background. Hairi used to be a dedicated swimmer at his high school in the city, but after a certain incident he is now afraid of going into the water. This has affected his personality, and people at the school started treating him like a nuisance. Because of this, he’s escaping to Torishirojima for the summer. Personality-wise, he’s approachable and easy going. Friends at school have commented that he would probably be popular with girls if their school wasn’t boys-only.
Shiroha Naruse
"You should probably not bother with me"
Case. 01 The Blue Sky, and the Pure White Girl
On the grey concrete pier there was a single white wavering speck.
It was as if a piece of a cloud had fallen from the sky.
Something white softly fluttering in the wind.
It was a girl.
The girl in her white uniform was absentmindedly looking in my direction.
Was an acquaintance of hers on this ship, I wonder.
She formed a gentle smile.
She obviously wasn’t looking at me, but I turned away timidly.
Looking up, a single bird flew above me.
It flew past the ship towards the island.
I know this scene…even though this is my first time coming here.
Case. 02 Go Ahead, Bon Appetit
Shiroha: “……”
She’s staring at the fish I’d caught. She wouldn’t eat it here and now, would she?
It’d be absurd, but maybe it’s a local thing.
If she eats it, I swear I won’t be surprised.
At least it won’t show on my face. I’m ready for it!
Hairi: “Go ahead, bon appetit.”
Shiroha: “Eh, are you going to eat it?”
Hairi: “Me? No, I….”
Shiroha: “If we’re eating it…”
What are those expecting eyes? Does she want me to eat it?
Hairi: “I got it”
I steeled myself. I took the still wriggling fish from Shiroha and bit into its head.
Shiroha: “Kyaaa! What are you doing!?”
Hairi: “Uueh”
I almost threw up.
Hairi: “That was horrible…”
Shiroha: “You’ll get sick if do that.”
Hairi: “Only because you were all ‘Are you gonna eat that?’”
Shiroha: “No, I meant that if we’re going to eat it we should cook it.”
Hairi: “Huh?”
Shiroha: “Just wait a bit.”
Out of nowhere, she put down a portable gas stove. She sprinkled some seasoning over the fish and fried it. Afterwards she deboned the fish with a pair of cooking chopsticks. Finally she put grated daikon on the fish and handed it to me. She’s very skilled.
Hairi: “That was delicious.”
Shiroha: “…I, I see.”
She seemed happy. Eating together must have made her loosen up a bit.
Good food really is amazing. I feel like I could ask her anything now.
Hairi: “By the way, why are you wearing your uniform?”
Shiroha: “That’s…”
She seemed really troubled, so there must be some reason why she couldn’t tell me.
I tried to just guess something at random.
Hairi: “Well I guess that happens. Like sometimes you can’t be bothered to pick out an outfit and just grab the jacket you’d use for gym.”
Shiroha: “It’s not like that.”
Hairi: “Really?”
Shiroha: “I’m not that irresponsible.”
She strongly denied it.
Ao Sorakado
"Anyway, when I’m sleeping just leave me alone"
Case. 03 Please Be Gentle to Begin With
Hairi: “…She’s just asleep…right?”
A girl was sitting down leaning at the base of a tree with her eyes closed.
…Could she have gotten sick and collapsed…?
Hairi: “Just to be sure…”
I got off the bike and walked over to her.
Ao: “…zz…zz…”
I could hear faint snoring.
That’s good. She’s just dozing off.
Hairi: “Man, this place is too calm. ”
Even if it’s a tiny island, this shouldn’t be normal.
Suddenly the girl’s body shifted and fell towards the ground.
Hairi: “Woah!”
By reflex I caught her.
Ao: “Hm…m, Uh…mm~”
The girls opened her eyes slowly.
Ao: “…Hm?”
Hairi: “…Hm?”
Ao: “…”
Hairi: “…”
Ao: “!!!???”
Hairi: “Uh, good morning?”
Ao: “UAAAAA!?”
That was more of a shout than a shriek.
Ao: “Wha, what!? Who’re you? Why you hugging me? Are you gonna violate me!? Please be gentle to begin with!”
Hairi: “So it’s okay to be rough later on?”
Ao: “Of course not!”
Case. 04 You Disappoint Me from the Bottom of My Heart
Hairi: (Is that…)
The light was coming from a lantern, and the one holding the lantern was…
Hairi: (Ao…?)
Her clothes were very different from her usual, so I wasn’t completely sure.
But the face lit up by the lantern was without a doubt Ao’s.
Hairi: (What’s she doing out here…?)
I remembered what Ao had been talking about a while ago.
Hairi: “Oh yeah, you mentioned a festival yesterday, but what is it actually about?”
Ao: “We take lanterns and let them drift down towards the ocean. It’s a ritual for sending off ancestors that passed.”
Hairi: “Heeh”
If it’s something important enough to put in a pamphlet, it’s probably quite a sight.
Hairi: “So what about the mountain?”
Ao: “It’s just a formality like I said. People carry the lanterns up into the mountains in a line.”
Hairi: “And what else?”
Ao: “Nothing else.”
Hairi: “…Isn’t that just lame?
Ao: “That’s what I’ve been saying all along. It’s dark. There’s lots of bugs and wild animals. It’s a total pain.”
Hairi: “You sound like you have a lot of experience with this?”
Ao: “Experience, well, it’s the duty of my family after all.”
Hairi: “Your family duty…!”
A word that filled my heart with excitement.
Ao: “Ah…You know, your eyes are sparkling…”
Hairi: “So that means the Sorakado family is basically a house of priestesses that protect the island!”
Ao: “We don’t have any special powers, so you can forget about that.”
Hairi: “…You disappoint me…from the bottom of my heart.”
Ao: “Don’t make shit up on your own and get disappointed when it’s not real!”
Kamome Kushima
"Let’s go. Back to the place where the pirate ship is"
Case. 05 Push Me as Well
Kamome: “Hey, couldn’t you help me by pushing my suitcase?”
Hairi: “Huh….Wha?”
Maybe she had just arrived at the island, as the girl had a heavy-looking suitcase with her. It was kind of a brazen request, but she must been very tired.
Hairi: “Sure that’s fine.”
Kamome: “Thank you… Kushima Kamome”
Hairi: “?”
Kamome: “That’s my name. It’d be weird if only you told me your name, wouldn’t it?”
Hairi: “Kushima…Kamome… Kamomeeh.”
Kamome: “I don’t want you dragging out the sound like that.”
Hairi: “When you say Kamome, it makes you want to go meeh.”
Kamome: “Why?”
Hairi: “Because that’s what they sound like” (TL note: ‘kamome’ refers to the common seagull.)
Kamome: “Those are black-tailed gulls.”
Hairi: “So what does a normal gull sound like?”
Kamome: “Um…maybe like kyaa kyaa…”
Hairi: “……”
Kamome. “I don’t want you looking at me like I’m some weird creature. It’s hard to cry like a seagull.”
Hairi: “How do you mean?”
Kamome: “Like kyaa kyaa… That’s enough, isn’t it? How many times are you going to make me do it?”
Hairi: “Sorry, sorry. So where do you want me to take this case?”
Kamome: “My house is about a 20 minute walk from here, so could you push it till we’re close.”
Hairi: “Sure, but could you get off?”
Kamome: “Push it with me on please.”
Hairi: “…What?”
The girl just looked up at me, smiling without a care in the world.
Kamome: “I’m tired.”
Case. 06 I Have to Ride This Wave
Kamome: “Now, there’s a small spring over that way.”
Hairi: “Okay.”
Kamome: “And…well…I was thinking of taking a little dip.”
Hairi: “Sure.”
Kamome: “…”
She looked at me questioningly, and it struck me.
Hairi: “…You’re not saying we should go together?”
Kamome: “I’m definitely not! I was just thinking of going there.”
Hairi: “Then you could’ve just gone on your own while I was sleeping.”
Kamome: “If I went while you slept, you might wake up and think ‘I wonder what that splashing is,’ and come over there.”
Hairi: “Uh, yeah, I guess that could happen.”
Kamome: “Now then, I’ll go to the spring, so stay away for 30 minutes.”
Hairi: “Yessir.”
So she waited for me to wake up just to be sure.
Shortly thereafter, the sound of splashing water could be heard.
Splish splash…
Hairi: “…”
I wasn’t thinking about doing anything, but this splashing is bothering me. This is really awkward. If only I had some guy friends that could distract me with something stupid.
Kamome: “KYAAAAA!”
Hairi: “Wha?”
I should go there right. Alligators…couldn’t possibly be here. Sharks? Not those either. Anyway, this means I need to go.
Hairi: “I have to ride this wave!”
With a strange call, I charged forward.
Hairi: “Hey, you okay!?”
Kamome: “There’s something in here, something huge.”
Hairi: (Oh there something huge all right!)
Tsumugi Wenders
"I’m searching for something. I’m on a search for something to do"
Case. 07 What Are You Looking For
Tsumugi: “~~♪”
The voice of a…person? It sounds like someone humming a song.
Tsumugi: “~~♪”
Behind the lighthouse… No, it’s coming from above. I looked up,
Tsumugi: “~~♪”
and a girl was merrily humming at the top of the abandoned lighthouse.
Tsumugi: “~~♪”
Her appearance, the lighthouse, the sunset, the song…
It all was as if from a foreign picture book.
Hairi: “…This song”
It was a beautiful song. Maybe it was some foreign folk song or lullaby. I didn’t know it, but it somehow felt nostalgic. Just like that, my eyes and ears were stolen by the girl.
Tsumugi: “~~♪ ~~…?”
Partway through the song became weird. Actually…isn’t that really dangerous? She’s sitting outside the railing and not even holding onto anything.
Hairi: “He~y!”
Tsumugi: “Mugyu?”
…Mugyu?
Hairi: “What are you doing up the~re?”
Tsumugi: “…Searchi~ng.”
Hairi: “For wha~t?”
Tsumugi: “Myse~lf.”
An unexpected reply.
Tsumugi: “Oh, and can I add one mo~re?”
Hairi: “There’s more?”
Tsumugi: “I’m searching for something to do~.”
Case. 08 A New Step, with You
Tsumugi: “…So you can’t handle going into the water?”
Hairi: “Yeah, something like that.”
Tsumugi: “Mm…mugii… Well, to each their own.”
Like Tsumugi doesn’t want to go to school and I don’t want to go in the water, we both have something we’d rather not deal with. Despite that, some people will try to deal with it, or maybe they’re trying to help us deal with it.
Tsumugi: “If we go in the water together, I’m sure our friendship will deepen. We’ve been deepening our friendship all day, but we can go deeper”
Hairi: “Can we?”
Tsumugi: “And if we do that…I’m sure it’ll be fun. Let’s swim in the ocean to show we’re not wet behind the ears.”
Hairi: “That saying doesn’t make any sense if we’re going swimming.”
Tsumugi: “Oh really?”
It can be a pain when people try to bring up things we don’t want…but I was a bit happy.
…Water, huh. Tsumugi is beside me, and Shizuku is out in the water. This isn’t like that pool.
Tsumugi: “That’s a pretty weak reaction. Then it’s time for me to get serious. ”
Well, if she’s gonna go that far, I can at least go in up to my legs.
Tsumugi: “Hairi-san, if I pull really hard on your legs, I think I can drag you into the water. How about it?”
Hairi: “…”
I still take baths. At least this much…
Tsumugi: “Hairi-san? Are you listening? I’ll do it, really.”
I can deal with this, right here. If I’m doing it…it’s good to have Tsumugi by my side.
Hairi: “…Yeah.”
Tsumugi: “Mugyu? Wi, will you do it? The, then here we go. Ready…”
Hairi: “Sure, if it’s just dipping my legs, I’ll come.”
Saying that I took a step forward, but for some reason Tsumugi was…
Tsumugi: “Gyuuu!?”
She made a number of consecutive hand vaults backwards. It was very acrobatic.
And with a big splash…she fell into the ocean.
Well there you have it! Hopefully these snippets of dialogue provide more insight into the respective characters. For your convenience, we’ve assembled all the important details we have so far in the opening post of our Summer Pockets Pre-Release Discussion & Speculation Topic. If you’d like to share your thoughts and ideas of what you expect Summer Pockets to be like, please be sure to leave a post there and join the conversation!
