Thrown off by the touch of her cold fingers, I asked with excessive bluntness, “What?” “Um, Mizuho, I have a request. Will you listen?” I scratched the back of my neck, as I’m wont to do when I’m uneasy. “I mean, I’ll listen, but... I’m changing schools tomorrow. Is there anything I can do for you?” “Yes. Actually, that’s why it’s only you who can do it.” Staring bullets at my hand as she gripped it, she went on. “I’ll write you letters, and I want you to reply to them. And then, um, I’ll reply back to those replies.” I thought about what she was saying. “You mean, you want us to be penpals?” “Y-Yeah. That’s the word,” Kiriko confirmed bashfully. “Why me, though? It’d probably be more fun to do with someone you’re closer to.” “Well, you can’t send a letter to someone who lives nearby, right? That’s boring. I’ve always wanted to send letters to someone far away.” “But I’ve never written a letter in my life.” “Then we’re even. Good luck to us both,” she said, shaking my hand up and down. “Hey, hold on, you can’t ask me this out of the blue...” In the end, though, I accepted Kiriko’s request. Having never written a letter worth calling a letter outside of New Year’s cards, the old-fashioned idea seemed fresh and interesting to me. And getting such an earnest request from a girl my age got me so excited that I wasn’t about to turn her down. She sighed with satisfaction. “I’m glad. I wasn’t sure what I’d do if you refused.” After handing her a note with my new address, she smiled, said “Wait for my first letter,” and ran home with a speedy trot.