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Happy New Year. I gained an urna.
Well, strictly speaking it’s just a straight white hair on the right edge of my hairline, so maybe it’s not an urna but just a lucky hair?
I realised it after the New Year’s holiday, just as everyone was returning to their jobs and school.
I was tying up my hair as always to dab medicine onto my eyebrows when I discovered on my forehead what seemed to be a shining clear thread.
What a shock. Apparently I was the reincarnation of a bodhisattva.
Late last year was just packed with so much trouble that I even lost hair.
That’s why on New Year’s I very thoroughly purified myself.
I even used my own money for very generous donations.
Maybe that’s why a few hairs on my eyebrows were starting to grow back.
You’ve been working hard, my hair roots! Still kind of sparse though.
But still, I bet this was because my biggest cause of stress was gone now.
As for this urna, or lucky hair or whatever, didn’t this mean I was bound to be lucky this year!? Both in money and love.
Ah, but as a young girl I couldn’t exactly just leave some random hair growing on my forehead…
Maybe it would be fine if I covered it with my fringe?
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It was nice seeing all the familiar faces again after the break. I think every school was like this.
“Happy New Year,” I said as I stepped into my group.
“Happy New Year, Reika-sama!” they replied.
We began to chat about winter break.
“I’m fat from all the food I had on New Year’s day.”
“Don’t say that, Kikuno-san. I’ve gotten fatter too~”
“Me too, me too.”
It was the same conversation that every girl had after New Year’s.
Why did New Year’s food make you so fat?
Maybe it was all the rice cakes.
A Japanese soup containing mochi rice cakes. Considered the most auspicious of the dishes eaten on New Year’s Day.
Ozouni.
Sweet red bean ‘soup’, often with mochi rice cakes for New Year’s.
Oshiruko.
Mochi coated with a mixture of soy sauce and sugar, and wrapped with nori seaweed. Also eaten on New Year’s.
Isobeyaki had rice cakes too.
Every New Year’s you ended up with this weird sense of duty to finish the rice cakes off. Thanks to that you just ended up eating, didn’t you.
I wasn’t that fond of ozouni, but isobeyaki was delicious.
“Goodness! What a precious watch you have, Reika-sama!”
“Oh, this was my parents’ Christmas to me,” I explained.
“My!”
“How did you spend your Christmas?” somebody asked.
“Nothing special,” I said. “I just spent it with a small gathering of friends. And you all?”
“I went out to eat with my family, and then they got me the bag I wanted,” said one girl.
“I was invited to a party,” answered another.
“I was abroad the entire winter break,” explained a third.
How nice. I wish I could have spent Christmas and New Year’s overseas.
When I was little my family went to Hawaii for Christmas.
The mood was great, with costumed merrymakers all across town.
I could still remember being stunned by my first encounter with a real drag queen. Oniisama had gotten a kiss on the cheek…
Lately Oniisama was too busy to travel though. Without someone to have fun with, vacations hadn’t been as fun recently.
What was fun about swimming in a pool by yourself.
It’d be nice if I had a sister my age, or maybe a friend to go vacationing with.
While I was daydreaming the hallway grew noisy.
“It’s Kaburagi-sama and Enjou-sama!”
The girl’s voice heralded their first appearance of the year.
Every girl began to vacate their classrooms to watch.
“Let’s go too, Reika-sama!”
“Ehh…”
I couldn’t be bothered, but if everyone else was going… Up we go…
Did the pair seem more tan before? Maybe it was my imagination. Then again, maybe they went somewhere.
The girls around them sent their New Year’s greetings. While Enjou responded with a smile, Kaburagi’s responses were uninterested.
“So cool~”
“I greeted them!”
“Don’t they seem even more masculine than before the break?”
The girls in my group were watching with their hands clapsed together, entranced.
“Has it also been since before the break for you, Reika-sama?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a shame, isn’t it.”
Um, not really…
Anyhow, since today was just the ceremony, we were out of school before noon.
The Pivoine had its own greetings, so we all gathered at the salon.
When I arrived, my first greetings were for the new President of the Pivoine for this year. Not that the Presidents of the Pivoine really did anything.
Very Kaburagi of him, I supposed.
After that we relaxed, and greeted each other with some tea.
I was just doing so when Enjou and Kaburagi came along, so I said hello again.
“Happy New Year, Enjou-sama, Kaburagi-sama.”
“Happy New Year, Kisshouin-san.”
“Happy New Year.”
They really did seem kind of tanned, now that I was looking from up close…
I said as much, and they responded that they’d gone skiing in Canada.
Hmm~ Skiing gracefully in Canada, huh.
Quite different from how they spent their last winter, I had to say.
Ah, but I suppose the cold was the same.
“Oh, this is your souvenir, Kisshouin-san. Maple syrup.”
“It was the tastiest one,” Kaburagi added.
“Why thank you!”
Quite unlike the unlucky souvenir of last year.
I wanted to cook up some pancakes already.
Incidentally by that ‘tastiest one’ comment, Kaburagi, don’t tell me you went and compared them all?
Anyway, if the two of them were on holiday then I wonder what Yukino-kun was doing.
He wasn’t well, so I couldn’t imagine he could have gone skiing.
“Was Yukino-kun alone at home?” I asked.
“He went with my parents to Okinawa,” Enjou replied. “I think he’s looking a little better after relaxing somewhere warmer.”
“That sounds wonderful!”
I was finding it hard to mesh Yukino-kun and the tropics, but still, Okinawa was a nice place!
“But can Yukino-kun swim?”
“Technically. He’s been doing it to help his endurance.”
“I had no idea.”
“Apparently he was swimming in Okinawa too. I’ve seen some photos of my him and my parents at the beach or in the pool.”
“My, that sounds like fun. I hope to see these photos too.”
“We should visit the Pivoine again sometime.”
“Indeed.”
But I have to wonder if Yukino-kun hadn’t wanted to go with his oniichan.
Damned Kaburagi, how could you separate the two.
By instinct I sent him a look of blame.
He looked back at me and said,
“Miruku.”
Ha? Miruku?
“Ah, nothing. Sorry, I was thinking about Okinawa when I saw your face and that word just came to mind.”
“I see…”
“Don’t worry about it, Kisshouin-san,” agreed Enjou.
“I see…”
Wondering what on earth was going on, when I got home I looked the word up.
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Miruku, Okinawan god of fertility
Kaburagiiiiiiiiii!
My face brought Miruku to mind!? Are you saying I look like him!? This ridiculous face!?
You’re slandering a bodhisattva like me!?
Unforgivable!
I ended up venting to Hoya-chan the hoya kerii.
After all, people said that talking to plants would make them grow faster!
I spoke to Hoya-chan every day.
Later on I had some pancakes made, and then I ate them with the Canadian maple syrup.
What the hell!?
So delicious!
…In light of this wonderful maple syrup, I’ll forgive you just this once, Kaburagi.