The 31st will pass quietly. In some cities, they sprinkle paper confetti and keep taverns and restaurants lit until sunset.

In Iota, families huddle together, have hearty meals, and go to bed. Of course, some drink or gather in groups to watch the sun set and rise.

After all, Iota’s sun will rise earliest in the kingdom.

It would have been nice if we could watch the dawn together.

I hope whatever troubles you won’t exist in the new year.

Sent by Asha

P.S. This year wasn’t wasted just because I got to exchange letters with you.]

[To my kind friend

To be honest, I don’t place much significance on the changing of years. No, I tried not to. Yesterday or today, it’s equally cold, and the sun that always rises won’t look any different from usual.

The end of the year in Kasoche passed modestly as before. Everyone gathered at our house, the largest in Kasoche, to enjoy a feast.

We roasted wild boar forelegs and potatoes, and spread recently made jam between slices of bread. It required many hands, so even Dad and I helped.

Despite working hard until the 31st, I missed the actual celebration. Because I’m still young. I just had a moderate dinner and then had to vacate my seat.

If I’m ‘too young’ for that, shouldn’t I also leave potato peeling and soup making to my brother? The adults’ self-centered judgment felt particularly disappointing that day.

As you said, it would be nice if you were here.

Then I might look forward to the clock striking midnight, or waiting for sunrise. But since my friend is separated by mountains and seas, such imagination is futile.

At least I was fortunate not to have to look after children much younger than me. Until last year, adults would order me to play with toddlers just learning to walk or children who append ‘why?’ to the end of every sentence, because they had ‘important’ matters to discuss.

You can imagine how I felt then, can’t you?

It’s not that I hate those children. How adorable they are with their tiny leaf-like hands fidgeting as they run towards me.

But even I need my own time sometimes! Especially at the end of the year! But complaining like this is pointless since Mom and even my brother would dismiss me with ‘what are you talking about.’

My seriousness is easily dismissed as a momentary whim or impulse.

Even if I grow to be as tall as my younger brother or older brother and become embarrassed by today’s thoughts—my thoughts and feelings today remain the same.

So why……

Enough, let’s drop the gloomy talk.

Today I want to talk only about pleasant things. I’ve complained to you quite a bit these past few weeks. There’s no need to talk today about the episode where I once again confirmed that my likes and dislikes are completely unimportant to adults.

It’s dawn now.

Suddenly, don’t you have days when your eyes just snap open? Today was that day for me. My mind felt strangely clear, and I felt like it was a good day to do anything.

Just then, I saw your letter stuck in the window. It was precariously wedged in a very slightly opened gap.

Thanks to that, now, though not the first sunrise of the year, I’m watching the sunrise for the first time this year. Soon the rooster will crow loudly and the kitchen will become busy first.

These past few days, tomato soup has been served to soothe the adults’ hangovers, but today I’m praying for a different dish.

Kasoche is going through the coldest period of the year. Doors are closed, and people must spend two months on stored food.

You asked if ‘knife-like cold’ is real?

Of course it’s real! No, if anything, describing it as knife-like seems mild. When it’s really cold, it feels more like needles than knives. If even a little bare skin is exposed, it pricks that area repeatedly.

I also want to eat the fresh fruits you eat, not just fruits preserved in honey or sugar. I hear fruits from hot regions are so sour and sweet! Just imagining makes my mouth water.

For a while, I won’t be able to go out at all, so I’ll just have to stay quietly in my room. I already feel confined, but I don’t have the skill to smile sweetly at unwelcome figures in the hallway.

I want to go anywhere.

Good heavens, to have such an urge during a time when neither children nor adults can leave Kasoche! It’s maddening.

Um, I’m sorry for just laying out my emotions without explaining the clear circumstances to you. But even I find it overwhelming to start explaining feelings I’ve avoided confronting myself……

Also, I don’t know how much I should tell you.

We’ve already shared all kinds of stories, but I don’t want to give the impression of being ‘petty.’ I’m not sure what you think of me.

Suddenly I’m curious.

Asha, what do you think of me?

With an armful of friendship and luck, Carol

P.S. No, I won’t ask. Don’t answer.

P.P.S. No, I’ll listen after all. Will you tell me honestly?

P.P.P.S. But don’t be too honest.

P.P.P.P.S. It’s better if I don’t hear it.]

[To Carol

How fickle!

Reading your four lines of postscripts, I pondered considerably what to do. Then I decided to do as I please!

I’m also curious how you think of me. We, or rather I, speak with some facts appropriately omitted and others explained in excessive detail.

From the beginning, I’ve only shared what I wanted to tell you.

So what, how, and how much you say is up to you. If you want to pour out everything that’s been troubling you—whether it’s a person or situation—from beginning to end, then do so.

If you don’t want to, that’s also fine.

Do whatever makes you comfortable. No one will blame or condemn you for it. Surely you don’t think I would?

As long as it’s not something unethical, I can’t help but take your side. Of course, if you talk nonsense, I’ll threaten you to stop!

How about trusting me a little more?

Though that’s also up to you.

A passenger ship comes in and out once a week. While January is a difficult time for you when you can’t go anywhere, for me it’s when the island becomes most bustling.

Now that the memorial ceremony is over, it’s time to officially welcome vacationers.

The warmest island in the kingdom. Being separated from the mainland, there are occasionally people who visit to soothe their hearts or sort out their personal affairs.

The few restaurants are filled with outsiders, and among familiar faces are those who seem to be seeing the sea for the first time from any angle.

There are few inns on the island, so it’s become a long-standing custom for Iota people to rent out parts of their rooms for money. Sometimes outsiders and islanders match eyes this way and leave the island together. Other times, outsiders settle on the island.

Aila is a special case who caught a husband without renting out a room. Since you no longer seem to mind my sister’s glamorous romance stories, I’ll speak freely.

The story of a rich man, tired of his busy life, who came to a quiet island for vacation, happened to fall in love at first sight with the prettiest woman on the island, and ended up marrying her.

It sounds romantic at first glance, but the reality is different.

I don’t know about the rich man’s side, but at least Aila approached that man with a plan. Unlike me, my sister, who has been friendly with vacationers every year, can easily infer someone’s status or wealth by their speech or gait.

I couldn’t understand even after several explanations, but my sister can immediately grasp why someone visited the island and how long they’ll stay within three minutes.

How could the young master from a rich family not fall for someone with such a spider-web-like gaze? The young master thinks he and Aila are destined, but……

Destiny is created more deliberately and diligently than one might think.

Our house has never taken in vacationers until now. Because of me.

Unlike my sister, I’m not sociable, and I just feel uncomfortable around strangers. But this year might be different.

Grandfather says someone to whom he’s been indebted for a long time is coming to visit. Since all the inn spots are probably full, we can’t ask other houses for favors. He said he respects my opinion the most, but I don’t want to be that troublesome.

Above all, I’ll soon be seventeen.

I can’t throw tantrums forever. I’ve already whined longer than other kids. I feel like I’m still the same as before, but it feels unfair that years pass and I become an adult this way.

I don’t go to school, and I only flip through a few pages of textbooks with the goodwill of Aila, Rosette, and occasionally Bash.

Though it’s not mandatory to attend school. If only I could dive as deep as Rosette, I wouldn’t have these worries.