MaruMAːShort-shortsːHappyNewYear2021

Short Story: Happy New Year (2021)

by Takabayashi Tomo

It’s New Year’s Eve and you’re in the kitchen, on the other side of the screen, making a simple pork stew in the microwave.

“Since we’re both doing the same, you should just come over Murata”

Even if you say that, it’s not like we’re family living under the same roof. That makes me angry at Fiance-kun and Mr. Bodyguard, or rather than angry, I should say I’m jealous of them. So I’m obediently staying under a different roof, ready to wait until morning for your New Year’s card to arrive.

This year was rather inconvenient here on Earth. Whether you were close or far away, the days when we couldn’t meet kept piling up.

You raise your plate through the data traffic, and it’s as if your smiling face were right in front of me, even if I can’t touch the tender meat, even if I can’t smell the sweet and spicy soy sauce.

"To think that one can have a phone call while looking at the other person’s face like this! This was unthinkable in my parents’ generation! The power of science is amazing!“

That’s right. In Showa terms that would be called a ‘videophone’. In Reiwa terms, it’s a 'remote countdown’. So, say… Brother of my friend, could you aim the phone correctly so that it shows Shibuya?

I want to be the first one to say 'Happy New Year’ right at that moment when the year changes. Or if at the very beginning you say "Looking forward to spending another year with you”, in other words, if you beat me to it, or if you say ‘Happy New Year’ first,

I will definitely say thank you,

I will definitely say it.

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