Toki-sensei, hello.

Actually, your evening sounds really nice. I couldn’t help saying aloud “Lovely evening…” as I was reading your letter. I’d like to have the sort of life where I always had the time to prepare food for later (I do sometimes make up my mind to cook, but it doesn’t last).

Music to me is the brain’s photo album. Every time I listen to an old song, it unlocks a memory in my mind. A heartbreak that never fades, but also of course things that make my heart beat so much it feels like it’s going to burst. No matter how completely something’s been forgotten, for an instant the emotion returns. When I have a bad breakup or something, I’m the type who throws out mementos, photos, everything that reminds me of that person. But the only thing I can’t do is stop listening to the music that reminds me of them. In any case I’d probably hear it somewhere out of the blue, and maybe I like the song anyway. If someone does the song at a concert, I can’t help blubbering…. (In my teen years when I had my heart broken a lot, I was one of those girls who cries hysterically at concerts. I know I should have cried over the inspiration of the music rather than my lost-love emotion!) These days though, I’m quite happy to find myself slightly melancholic by the songs of unrequited love from my teen years. No more tears.

So it’s March, and we both have birthdays this month. I’m somehow glad our birthdays are only ten days apart. Have you ever met somebody with the same birthday as you? Since starting this job, I’ve met two very recently. And both were even born in the same year as me. As a child I didn’t have many friends who were born in March. I often felt different, but now I’m glad I’ve met so many great people born in March. (There’s a surprising amount of people in this industry who were born in March! Maybe there’s a reason..?!)

In the blink of an eye, we’ve come to our last exchange. I haven’t had my fill of talking to you yet, though. Let’s pick up where we’ve left off over those boiled potatoes they give out in Japanese curry shops.