Chapter Three

Even while I was taking my midterm exams at university,the mysterious packages kept arriving.

Not every day, but about five times a week.

The mailman had started giving me a puzzled smile.
He probably thought I was playing some kind of prank.

But the letters inside had grown calmer over time.

Summer break is finally here.
Your last summer as a teenager—what kind of challenge will you take on?
Make sure to sleep early and wake up early.
And maybe try writing in a journal before bed.

To be honest, I felt a little grateful for these letters.
Because they had saved me.

Last month’s exams turned out better than I expected.

I hadn’t studied much—just crammed the night before—
so I didn’t get everything right.

But when I saw a question straight from the textbook, I thought, Yes!

After the test, I apologized to the professor who was supervising in the big lecture hall.

I’d missed a lot of classes, but he was kinder than I expected.

“You’ve got a doctor’s note, right?
You can’t get full attendance credit, of course,
but if you take the exams, you should be able to earn the credits.”

I let out a huge sigh of relief.

Attendance points—those were what I’d been most worried about.
Because of the pneumonia, I’d missed so many lectures.
Whole chunks of the semester were just... gone.

I thought taking the exams would be pointless.
But I’m glad I did.

I probably didn’t pass every class,
but I didn’t fail everything either.

And that was thanks to the letters.

In a way, they protected my college life.

So I decided to buy a box to keep them in.

I figured I could find one at the 100-yen store.

I slipped on my favorite sneakers.

My summer had just begun.