I think it was Sojun Ikkyuu who wrote the poem “Every New Year is a milestone in your journey to the underworld.”
A wise saying. Truly a wise saying. The wise thing about it is how it’s so, like, wise, man. The fact that his name literally means “taking a break” is another nugget of wisdom.
Nothing beats a holiday. That’s such a wonderful appellation, Godiego would be raving about what a beautiful name it is.
Most events for which people say “Happy this!” or “Happy that!”—and I don’t just mean New Year’s, but also birthdays and graduations and whatnot—aren’t actually that happy, since they involve the passage of time.
All the events celebrated in society are ultimately portents of the end. Getting one year older is a countdown to the end of your life, and it’s fair to say the celebration of graduation indicates a sort of expulsion. These days, when an idol group gets fired, they’ll even call it “graduation” to make it sound pretty. Once you start thinking that way, it’s no longer an auspicious occasion at all. The only happy or lucky thing going on here is my happy-go-lucky brain. Kya-ha! Lucky me! Time to have another normal year!
And so, on that note, I’d been enthusiastically committed to making like Sojun Ikkyuu and lazing New Year’s away. Don’t rush, don’t rush, a break here, a break there… But in spite of that, this purimiamu Japaniizu burando product automatically celebrates the Niuu Iyaa on its own, no mess, no fuss! Aw shucks, spewing gratuitous English like a shopping channel when I can’t actually speak English is sooo Japanese…
In the end, Komachi dragged me along for the traditional New Year’s visit to the shrine.
We met up with Yukinoshita and Yuigahama at Inage Sengen Shrine to do New Year’s-y stuff like drawing fortunes, and then we ran into Miura and her friends, so Yuigahama joined them, and Komachi said she’d forgotten to buy a protection charm and went back…
Long story short, after being abandoned, Yukinoshita and I headed straight home.
Although it wasn’t far at all and didn’t take that long—it was just a few stops on the train—each and every moment lingers so vividly in my memory. I don’t think I’ll be able to easily forget the timid pressure hanging on my sleeve at odd moments, or her small hand, lifted up just slightly for a wave when we parted ways.
And so my New Year’s finally came to a close.
After being swept along in the waves of shrinegoers (without being scolded from a distance), I ended the New Year’s-appropriate events smoothly, and I returned to my empty home.
My parents must have gone out somewhere. I started nodding off while in the kotatsu, the family cat in my arms, as I waited for Komachi’s return.
This is it… This is the right way to spend your New Year’s…
There’s no need at all to be bumping into girls first thing in the New Year and get your heart beating out of your chest. You’ve got to let Mr. Heart take a break in the New Year, too! Well, except that if he does, I’ll die.