The first day of February.
Hearing a voice from beyond the dream, he had briefly wondered upon waking whether he had actually managed to fall asleep at all.
It was 1:49 in the morning, in the depths of winter.
Even by his usual waking time, there was still at least an hour to go.
But the five o'clock flight was due to depart from New Chitose Airport, and if he did not hurry out the door, he might not make it in time.
So he hastily began getting dressed.
He finished brushing his teeth and washing his face in five minutes, grabbed the travel bag he had packed the night before, and headed outside toward the pickup truck.
First, he took a slight detour and set off for nearby Urakawa Town.
After proposing the purchase of horses for the club's prediction campaign at February's Winter Mixed Sale, they had received financial backing from several wealthy investors. Matoba and Yahagi, both retired trainers, had also volunteered to join the purchasing team.
Matoba, who often dropped by the farm, would leave first on the flight transporting Ichiban Sakura to Canada, while Yahagi would depart a few days later.
When he arrived in Urakawa Town and met up with Matoba, the man—more than twice his age—actually looked far more energetic.
The snow was one thing, but the road sections left cracked by the earthquake required particular caution, so they drove especially slowly the entire way.
That was why they had needed to leave so early.
After detouring around several obvious fissures reported in the news, they finally reached a smoother stretch of road after passing Mukawa.
Though there was not much distance left to New Chitose Airport by then.
"The residents around Niikappu sure have had it rough. When I first came to