The New Year of the 454th year of the Lion Calendar had dawned.

New Year's Day—the day the calendar resets. December 31st magically transforms into January 1st. The sun rises on a new year…

From the perspective of the planet, more things remained unchanged than changed. The sun stayed in its place, the clouds drifted as usual, and the earth beneath remained solid. After all, dates were merely divisions imposed by humans.

And as much as humans arbitrarily defined them, they celebrated them just as freely. Although the passage of time merely shifted one year to the next, people reveled in the feeling of fresh winds carrying new beginnings. Yet that feeling was far from meaningless.

Where the heart leads, action follows.

If the world feels like it has changed entirely, and one acts upon that feeling, then the New Year can indeed become a splendid prologue to a story.

In households with the luxury of leisure, New Year celebrations often included special meals. Some set goals to finally succeed in dieting, while others swore to slay a dragon before the year’s end.