The station is nearly empty when you step onto the platform. Snow muffles every sound — footsteps, wind, even the distant bell of a passing train. Warm light spills from a ramen shop down the street. Your companion stands beside you, breath misting in the air, smiling softly as if the cold itself were a kind of peace.

It’s the first day of your vacation, and for once, there’s nowhere you have to be. The snow keeps falling — slow, endless, quiet.