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Summary by Nitrokart
A few months before the events of Twilight at the Daito Apartment, Mito, Leila, and Seika (collectively referred to in this summary as "the Clover Trio" for simplicity's sake) are handing out protest flyers when Leila decides that she's at her wit's end -- she can't bear to just stand around anymore! She wants to take action against the redevelopment plans, but as a middle schooler, there isn't a lot she or the Clover Trio can do.
After discussing the situation for a bit, Leila has an epiphany: Daito's Town Hall wants to replace the apartments with a business center, which must mean that they're interested in making money -- so if she and the Clover Trio could find a way to increase the apartment complex's perceived value, the Town Hall would have no choice but to stop the redevelopment plans!
While Seika and Mito like the idea on paper, they're lost on how to increase property values on their own. Leila says she has them covered, though, and takes the two of them with her to the local library. Once there, Leila announces that the Clover Trio need to start combing through old books and newspapers to learn about the history of the Daito Apartment Complex -- but after two hours of searching, the three of them are only able to track down one lead: an old newspaper article that recaps some sort of festival held at the Complex.
The Clover Trio take this information back to an old man named Otake, a longtime resident of the Complex and the unofficial leader of their protest efforts. Otake mentions that festivals of all shapes and sizes were once commonplace at the Complex, and that the tenants from different buildings would coordinate to put on a new festival every month. Over time, though, interest in these festivals faded away, until only one was still regularly celebrated: the Daito Apartment Complex's Summer Festival.
Otake mentions that the Summer Festival was once one of the biggest events in all of Daito Ward, and gushes over his memories of attending. Spurred on by Otake's reaction, Leila puts her plan into motion: if the Daito Apartment Complex's Summer Festival used to be one of the biggest events in the district, then they'll just have to bring it back!
Initially, though, Leila has few ideas beyond just having a festival -- she hadn't thought about themes, attractions, advertising, etc. Likewise, she consults the help of not only the fellow Clover Trio, but Mitama, Mikage, and Kanagi. When Mitama asks Leila what she needs from them, Leila reflexively responds by saying that she wants to make sure the Summer Festival is a lot of fun, and that the events they host should reflect that.
Mikage suggests that they turn the Summer Festival into a town-wide game of tag, but the idea is quickly shot down when Kanagi mentions that the Complex's Rules and Development committee would never approve something like that. Mito suggests that they could show out-of-towners all of the flowers around the Complex, to which Mitama sarcastically adds that they should offer to host complementary picnics.
After quite a while of bouncing ideas around, the girls finally come to a conclusion: the theme of the upcoming Summer Festival will be... The Daito Cafe!
The day of the Summer Festival finally rolls around, and the turnout is huge! Tons of people of all ages show up from all over Kamihama -- even a few Magical Girls drop by! Emiri, Rika, Hinano, and Akira are the first girls to make an appearance, and they thank Mitama for letting them know about the event. Leila is initially confused, but Mitama says that over the past few days, she'd been letting their fellow Magical Girls know about the Summer Festival whenever they stopped by her shop for Coordinations. Leila thanks Mitama for the free advertising as Mikage taste-tests all the desserts -- quality assurance and all :mitamapeace:
The peak of the day comes when the Clover Trio help get some live karaoke going, kicking things off by performing a song that Leila wrote specifically for this occasion: "See You Daito-morrow!" We don't get to hear more than a few lines of the song, but judging by the reaction of the Magical Girls in attendance, the Clover Trio knocked it out of the park!
We skip forward to the end of the Festival, and everyone agrees that it was a resounding success -- especially since every person that came was told about the redevelopment protests! But Leila's not satisfied -- the Complex's Summer Festival was such a success that she can't let it be a one-off event: they're bringing the Monthly Festivals back!
We immediately skip forward to the next month's festival, which doesn't appear to have an overarching theme, but features several booths and attractions nonetheless. Many Magical Girls from around the city have booths of their own -- Manaka is selling limited-run burgers exclusives to the event, Meiyui is offering ramen with free toppings, Hinano is set to host a science demonstration for the kids in attendance, and Nanaka hosts a free flower arrangement course. Ayaka also shows up and insists that she has a story to tell, but it doesn't appear that anyone listens to it.
Off to the side, Leila and Mitama gush about how big of a turnout the festival was able to net, but also voice their concerns about longevity -- does Leila really have the resources and creativity to host a new festival every month? Leila responds by saying that at the very least, she has next month's plan covered -- by way of an unusual discovery made by one of the Complex's older residents.
A few days prior, Leila says that an old woman approached her as she was handing out flyers and asked if she was taking ideas for the next month's festival. The woman goes on to show Leila an ancient handscroll she'd found while going through some of her late husband's belongings. The box the handscroll had been stored in contained an additional note -- one claiming that the handscroll shows the path to a buried treasure! The gears start turning in Leila's head, and the theming for next month's festival starts writing itself -- they'll have a Complex-wide treasure hunt!
We skip forward to the next month, and the Complex's 3rd Monthly Festival appears to have netter another impressive turnout -- with an unusually high number of Magical Girls. The entire Nanaka Mafia has stopped by, along with the History Club, the Yakumo sisters, Kanagi, and Himika. Their motives for finding the treasure all appear to be different; Nanaka's banking on the treasure being an ancient vase so she can use it for a fancy flower arrangement, Mikura wants to study the artifact and ensure its preservation, Seria thinks it'd make for an interesting documentary, and Himika only seems to be interested in the treasure's monetary value.
Now, even though everyone in attendance seems to have seen the illustration on the handscroll, the treasure hunt isn't quite ready to get started. Leila reveals that the scroll itself had some additional notes, though they'd initially been illegible due to their being written in an ancient dialect. After consulting the help of the internet, the Daito Library, and the one and only Shizuka Tokime, the text was finally deciphered -- and it seems to be a clue about the treasure's whereabouts!
“Unearth the heart of the Miki Family’s Crest, which can be seen from the peak.”
The crowd of Magical Girls is initially perplexed, but Mikura and Nanaka clear the air by reminding everyone that the Daito Apartment Complex was built on the site of a mountain that was bulldozed and flattened during construction. Taking the phrase "seen from the peak" very literally, several of the girls make a beeline for the rooftops -- if the treasure was originally meant to be visible from the peak of a mountain, then looking down from the top of the apartment buildings is their best bet!
Nanaka is the first girl to leave, and most everyone seems to follow after her -- though after they reach the roof of Building 7, the girls begin to question how Nanaka knew to climb to the roof of that building in particular. Once all the Magical Girls are gathered around, Nanaka explains that her father used to know a man whose last name was Miki. This man had mentioned that his family had once been a prominent group of farmers in ancient Daito, and that they once had a mansion near the area where the Daito Apartment Complex was eventually built. Specifically, the mansion once stood on the ground that currently houses the Complex's community park -- and since Building 7 has the best view of the park, Nanaka knew it was the right place to go.
However, nobody can seem to see anything from the roof -- just the park in general. Because of this, Nanaka concludes that "the heart of the Miki Family's Crest" would've referred to the center of the mansion, and that there likely would've been some landmark that pointed to if from above. With the luxury of hindsight, though, needing such landmarks was unnecessary -- and so, the girls begin racing back down the stairs and towards the park! On the way down, though, Seika voices some concerns to Leila and Seika -- in her mind, something about the treasure hunt isn't adding up. She feels that the clue about the Miki Family's Crest was too simple, and that its instructions were redundant -- if the "heart of the Miki Family's Crest" was indeed meant to indicate that the treasure was buried in the center Miki Family's mansion, why would anyone need to look at the mansion from above to figure that out?
For the time being, though, things are moving too quickly for Seika's reservations to register. Before they know it, the girls are back outside and racing towards the park -- and Himika beats everyone there! She begins digging at a breakneck pace, moving so quickly and kicking up so much dirt that nobody can squeeze in to dig beside her -- if there's anything down there, it's hers now...
And then Himika stops digging, and informs the other girls that she heard a strange noise.
She reaches into the dirt and pulls out some kind of container (the event doesn't make it clear what the container looks like or what it was made of), but it's clear that it's in very, very bad condition. Meiyui accuses Himika of breaking the treasure with her reckless digging, and just as the girls are beginning to form a mob, Mikura calms them all down by noticing that there's something inside the container -- it's another note!
Himika hands the note over to Mikura, who reads it aloud to the group -- it's not the treasure, but instead another clue:
“The true treasure rests in the hollow of the moon, lying in the great river.”
The girls make quick work of deciphering this one -- Nanaka figures out that the "great river" refers to an ancient river that ran once ran through the site of the Daito Apartment Complex, and Mikura concludes that "the hollow of the moon" refers to a specific part of the river: the very tip of one of its concluding points. Since the river is rumored to have been shaped like a crescent moon, the girls have two spots to choose from -- and they decide to make a beeline for the nearest "tip."
Once again, though, the Clover Trio stay behind -- Seika is becoming more and more skeptical of this treasure hunt, especially after hearing that last clue. She reveals that the girls are slightly mistaken about the location of the river -- the river actually ran directly through the Complex's playground, and terminated not too far from their current location. If anything, the "hollow of the moon" referenced in the clue should be the exact spot where they dug up said clue. Moreover, given that the entire area was excavated when the Complex was built, it makes no sense that the original construction workers wouldn't have found the clue they just dug up -- which would imply that it was placed there after the Complex was built...
As Seika's skepticism grows, she and the Clover Trio get a surprise visitor -- Otake! He happened to be passing through and was curious about what the girls were doing. Leila tells him that they've embarked on a treasure hunt, and when Otake asks where they got that idea, Leila shows him the original handscroll that'd started everything. When Otake sees the scroll, his eyes light up -- he... recognizes the handwriting on the scroll?!
Otake says there's no mistaking it -- that's the handwriting of his old friend Okamiya-san, who passed away about ten years ago. Otake mentions how nostalgic he's feeling, and that's when the pieces start coming together -- and Otake reveals all...
Several decades ago, Otake recalls that he and Okamiya-san had gotten a bit tipsy at a Complex get-together and drew a few handscrolls, designed to look like the ones used in ancient Daito. Even after all these years, Otake can't help but marvel at how realistic his and Okamiya-san's handiwork was -- it was good enough to catch the Clover Trio off-guard, at least!
Otake says that he and Okamiya-san made several handscrolls and clues over the years, and buried them in a few different spots throughout the Complex. One of the clues they buried would lead directly to the treasure the girls had been looking for -- which was described in very broad strokes as a "ticket that could be exchanged for a prize."
Although they're understandably disappointed that they haven't been looking for a real treasure, the Clover Trio take note of the happiness on Otake's face at rediscovering his old game, and decide that it's best not to tell the other girls what happened. Instead, Otake heads over to aid the other girls in their search, while the Clover Trio stay behind to watch from the sidelines.
In a post-script from Seika, we find out that the treasure hunt may not have been so fruitless after all -- all of the digging around that the girls would go on to do that day ended up unearthing the ancient artifacts mentioned at the beginning of Twilight at the Daito Apartments! Those artifacts would go on to halt the redevelopment plans, which gave the Clover Trio the time they needed to conduct their investigation during the primary event story.
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