softlyraining’s snowy book stack 
January 5th
ラストで君は「まさか！」と言う 冬の物語 (32% → 40%)
Made it through two stories today, both of which I quite liked! The first one, 裏サンタとユメ, is about an elementary school girl who does a ritual to summon 裏サンタ. From there, she wishes for her comatose brother to wake up. However, only after making this request does she learn the true nature of 裏サンタ: whatever you may wish for, he asks to receive something of equal or greater value in return, including the lives of others. I thought this was a unique concept, and I like that it try and “fix” things for the Yume by the end of it. The story was bittersweet, but I think that makes it stand out more from the rest of the collection.
The second one I read is called 冬のポケット. This one felt more like a literary short story in its approach. The ending’s open to some interpretation, which I think makes it more interesting than some of the more straight-forward stories in the book.
The cover says you can read these stories in 3 minutes, and this whole time I’ve never actually timed how long it takes me. I’ll try timing myself tomorrow, though my guess is it’ll be over 3 minutes.