March 14th. Kopo had been calculating since morning.
“What’s the exact right return gift for what I got on Valentine’s…”
Spice said flatly, “3.14… Pi. A number that never divides evenly.”
“Huh?”
“Today’s also Pi Day. A number with a beginning but no end. Maybe there’s no such thing as the exact right return gift.”
Kopo thought for a while, then took a single bar of white chocolate and headed to where Ohisama was.
When he tried to hand it over, the words wouldn’t come out right. Like 3.14159265…, continuing on and on, he’d start to speak, stop, start again, stop again.
Ohisama reached out first and took the chocolate.
“Got it. That’s enough.”
Kopo was still trying to say something, but nothing more came out.
Margin note: In Kopo’s pocket, a folded “List of Return-Gift Words (Unfinished)” remained.
【Today’s Drop】
- White Day (March 14): The day for returning the favor for Valentine’s Day gifts. A custom that originated in Japan.
- Pi Day (March 14): An anniversary based on the mathematical constant pi (π ≈ 3.14). Pi is an infinite, non-repeating decimal.
This is an English translation of “円周率のお返し”, part of Tales of Amencho Town (蛙鳴町奇譚).