I heard the print quantity itself wasn’t large. Is that true? If it’s difficult to answer you can skip it, but please know that the empty space on my bookshelf feels particularly cold these days.

Don’t you plan to write more poetry?

I’ve read all the recently contributed articles, but they’re all essays or short pieces.

Of course I like both the essays that let me glimpse your lifestyle and the short pieces perfect for reading briefly during commute……

As a reader who knew you as a poet first, it’s a bit disappointing.

I don’t intend to force you. I just wanted to let you know there’s a reader eagerly waiting for your ‘poetry’ too.

That doesn’t mean I hate the essays you recently started serializing. Rather, they were very much to my taste.

There aren’t many stories that develop daily life so charmingly and cohesively. Even more so because they don’t feel too pretentious.

Of course I’d gladly read even if you wrote about staying at a luxurious hotel in a big city.

Especially I—as many readers would feel—love the short note parts you share with your partner.

How lovely are the phrases written by the bedside, on the dining table when your sleeping and waking times don’t match!

Especially last week’s ‘Sandwich: lettuce, tomato, mushroom, orange sauce’ was good. The heart that personally writes the inner ingredients visible when you open it up.

Do you know how not to flutter at such things?

Reading this essay every week, I grow affectionate toward your partner as much as toward you.

I look forward to what tickling words they’ll say today. A man with white skin and skillful hands—even without other descriptions, it’s enough to stimulate an adult woman’s imagination.

That doesn’t mean I’m ‘seriously’ interested.

Just reading the essays, I can feel the solid bond between you and your partner. Such firm affection and trust make my heart comfortable just by witnessing it.

Really good.

There’s not a bit of falsehood or exaggeration in this ‘liking.’ Please believe me.

But Author Asha, I earnestly hope for this.

It’s been over two years since 『Children of Rempata』 was published. Specifically, two years and eight months have passed.

During that time you’ve been actively working, but haven’t contributed new poetry to any publication.

Have you perhaps lost interest in poetry? You haven’t resolved never to write it again, have you?

Oh, please not that! Letting such talent rot should be prevented at the literary world level. If Bloomier Publishing also handled poetry, I would have already requested manuscripts from you.

Please pity the heart of a mere editor who cannot do so.

Novels are good, essays are good too.

But your poetry has a different concise, deep, intuitive charm! Please, please understand this.

You wrote such a passage in a recent essay.

‘With one word from me, he thinks ten thoughts. When I turn away from one phrase, he falls into endless contemplation. I’m a little embarrassed, but he doesn’t understand at all.’

I feel exactly the same way.

You said your partner liked your poetry even before knowing you. Though you kept the detailed circumstances secret, I felt tremendous kinship with that partner just from that fact!

Please ask your sincere and faithful partner.

Whether your poetry is truly needed in this world. Then that person will answer ‘Of course.’ Right?

It’s funny to say this now, but I’m not forcing you.

Sincerely.

If you just continue writing safely in the future, I can easily fold away my greed. Come to think of it, I heard publishing house Ralac is hosting a party at year’s end, so I hope we can meet then.

May you always be happy.

With full respect, Winkle]

[To Winkle

Hello, Mr. Winkle. This is Asha.

Thank you for your passionate proposal regarding my next steps. Unfortunately, I have no plans to write poetry for the time being.

I’ve realized that stories like untangling tangled thread suit me better than compressed and condensed tales.

And your prediction was right. My lovely partner was delighted, asking ‘Are you finally writing poetry again?’

It was quite difficult to express refusal to that face— but I managed it.

I plan to attend the year-end party. I don’t know if you heard, but five editors earnestly requested it……

I received the cookbook well. My partner is reading it with more interest than I am.

I hope we can discuss this in more detail at Ralac’s party.

See you soon.

Asha]

[To Author Asha

I’m sending this to the publisher’s address since they said reader letters should go there.

I’ve written stories for magazines occasionally, but this is my first letter to an author. Please understand generously even if it’s somewhat scattered.

I’m Ende, in my thirties, living in Iderium. And I’m also the lucky one who discovered you by chance through a magazine.

My days are simple. I wake up in the morning, wash, dress, and feed two children, then send them to school. I do laundry and sweep and clean the house every day. After a late lunch and a brief moment of leisure, the children return.

Then it’s undressing, washing, feeding again……

The two children are very lovable, but it’s also true that days full of variables are exhausting. Broadly speaking, each day is the same, but looking closely, I’m always on edge wondering if something will happen.

So even when I rest briefly, it only feels like ‘catching my breath,’ not truly resting.

Until six months ago.

Since before marriage, I subscribed to and read various magazines. Books felt too serious, but magazines were short and good for reading in bits.

After marriage I had to cancel some, but I continue receiving one monthly and one quarterly magazine.

Coincidentally, both carry your manuscripts.

When I first noticed this fact, I simply thought ‘This person works actively.’

You’re serializing essays in one place and novels in another. Once I knew they were your writing, it was interesting that the sentences had similar aspects.

But after a month or two, I found myself waiting for your ‘next’ piece. For the past two months, I open to your serial section as soon as I receive the magazines.

Unlike essays, novels come only every three months, so it’s even slower……

I’m managing the remaining time with your past works, so it’s fine. Taking time to savor each line slowly, even winter and summer pass surprisingly quickly.

Though it’s regrettable I discovered you late, there are advantages too.

I can read through your works one by one without waiting. Being so absorbed, I quickly noticed a major common thread.

In novels, girls’ stories are central. Whether full-length or short, lots of cute and mischievous girls appear.

In essays, eight out of ten feature a tall cohabitant. That person’s words are quoted so often, they feel like someone I know.

There aren’t many poems so I’m not certain, but mountains, seas, and skies seem to appear mainly.

Anyone who likes your writing knows this. But when I discovered this fact myself, I felt a bit proud.

It had been a long time since I’d passionately investigated something like this.

I used to read books often in my girlhood too. I even submitted reader contributions to newspapers. Though they all got rejected due to poor skill.

I sometimes think it’s fortunate I remained as a reader.

I can read your writing without envy, with only a willing heart.

I’m happy to read your writing every month.

I heard you declined all manuscript requests during the period of writing your full-length novel, and thinking I might have waited through those days— just imagining it is painful.

Only the time reading your writing lets me breathe freely. I’m afraid such a loud expression might be distorted, but sincerely.

To confess honestly, when I first read your essays, I hesitated a bit. That story, the peaceful daily life with your partner, felt too romantic.

Romance is a good expression, but for me…… for me at that time, it was a distasteful word.

Because I, my younger self, was the type who pursued romance above all else. Fateful love and miraculous harmony.