いとしいこと

  As a side note, these two extras were published at the end of "Ashen Moon: Volume 1", but since they are not related to Soichi and Kato, I decided to include them in "Smiling at the Moon: Part 2" instead.   ◇:*:◆:*:◇ Smiling at the Moon: New Year's Eve Edition It was past 9 PM when I left Ryota's house on New Year's Eve. "Why don't you stay the night, bro? Isn't Michan going back to his parents' house tonight?" Ryota had tried to persuade me to stay, but I declined. I felt it would be too presumptuous to stay the night after already having dinner there. Inside the house, I hadn't realized how cold it was outside. The air was freezing, cold enough to make my breath frost. Snow— the snow I despise— was falling lightly. Yamada Shinji shoved his hands into his jacket pockets and wandered down the dark street. There were more cars than expected, probably people heading to New Year's shrine visits. After walking for abou...

As a side note, these two extras were published at the end of "Ashen Moon: Volume 1", but since they are not related to Soichi and Kato, I decided to include them in "Smiling at the Moon" instead.   The content warning is in the footnotes 0 . ◇:*:◆:*:◇ Smiling at the Moon: Valentine's Edition When he peeked into the bedroom, it was dim. The sheets on the bed formed a small mound. Kanou Michihiko sighed softly and stepped inside. It was dark outside, possibly because of the snow clouds, and opening the curtains did not change the room's brightness much. He picked up the alarm clock, which seemed to have been thrown, and placed it back on the side table. He also turned off the air conditioner. He had left it on to keep the room warm in the morning, but the cozy environment was definitely delaying the wake-up process. "Shinji, Shinji..." He called out, but only got an annoyed groan in response. When he persistently shook the sheet-covered moun...