メロウレイン / Futtara Doshaburi Mellow Rain

Days Growing Full — Part Two

 

In Place of an Afterword - Michi Ichiho

 

Amid the busyness of the end of the year, I had forgotten to buy a calendar for the coming year.

 

It would have been simple enough to order one using my phone, but I felt bad about making someone deliver a single calendar during the busiest delivery period of the year.

 

Instead, I decided to go out and buy one with Sei after the New Year.

 

“Sorry. I kept thinking I needed to buy it, but…”

 

“It’s fine. It’s nice having something specific to go out for.”

 

We checked the nearest Loft store, which was bustling with New Year sales.

Nothing.

 

I didn’t want to trouble the busy shop assistants by asking, so I assumed the calendar had either sold out or hadn’t been stocked there in the first place.

We tried another Loft near a different station, followed by a large bookshop.

Still nothing.

 

“Huh. It must be popular.”

 

We somehow managed to secure a table in another crowded café, and I complained about it while drinking a warm cup of coffee.

 

Sitting opposite me, Sei offered another possibility.

 

“Or perhaps it’s so unpopular that they hardly produce any.”

 

“I think it’s popular. The design’s simple, but the dates and days of the week are easy to read, and the space for writing notes is really useful.”

 

“Exactly. It’s ordinary enough, but surprisingly difficult to find anything quite like it. Whoever bought that one has excellent taste.”

 

“You’re just complimenting yourself!”

 

Of course, the shops had been crammed with an enormous variety of calendars, every available space filled with different designs. But none of them felt right.

 

There was something comforting about sharing the same feeling with Sei: that somehow, it simply had to be that particular calendar.

 

“What shall we do, Nakarai-san? It’s already getting towards evening.”

 

Should we give up and order one online, or keep looking?

 

“I’d like to search a little longer. It’s actually quite fun this way, like a treasure hunt.”

 

“Agreed.”

 

We would search for our calendar together, in unfamiliar shops near unfamiliar stations, in parts of the city neither of us knew.

 

And if we couldn’t find it, we’d go somewhere unfamiliar and have something delicious to eat instead.

 

I hoped that throughout the coming year we would continue to create little pleasures together from the things we couldn’t obtain.

 

“Ah.”

 

Sei looked out of the window.

 

Fine, powdery snow had begun to drift through the air.

 

He glanced across with a smile, as though thinking how cold it looked.

 

I knew what was going through his mind.

 

Once we finally got our calendar, the very first thing we’d have to write down was that it had snowed.

 

Exactly what I had been thinking, too.