Category: Uncategorized

Y93 M01 D13

To the Doda Family:

We regret to inform you that your son’s most recent letter to his pen pal has not been delivered. After careful review, we have found that both have been participating in what we classify as high-risk behavior. In light of the recent, highly publicized incident in Tanmono, we have begun taking a proactive approach to curtailing abuses of the pen pal program. We understand that it may cause your son some distress to be disconnected from someone with whom he has corresponded for so many years, however we feel that it is in the best interest of both children to discontinue any further communication.

We know that parents are often curious as to how we make these decisions. Rest assured that we regularly review all correspondence between pen pals. In the case of your son, we have identified a few key factors that put him at risk:

1. Due to earlier, more lenient policies, both children have exchanged information that they might use to identify each other. While neither was ever permitted to exchange any explicitly identifying information, the review process has raised concerns that the large number of small details shared between the two could make it possible for one of them to find the other.
2. Your child has expressed an interest in identifying his pen pal and has encouraged his pen pal to try to identify him. 
3. Your child has expressed an abnormal level of emotional attachment to his pen pal. For several months, he has been signing his letters with the valediction “Love” and has, in turn, received letters signed with, “Longingly.” Additionally, both have exchanged romantic poetry and short stories with one another.

To ensure the safety of both children, we request that you dispose of previous letters. We understand that this can cause some emotional distress in the child, but we feel that recent events have proven that protecting our children from physical harm must take priority. Naturally, we have requested that the family of his pen pal do the same. 

We do not suggest that families take any further disciplinary action. In our experience, children who have formed these sorts of emotional attachments usually correct their behavior after being separated from the object of their misplaced affection. Typically, they go on to form healthier relationships with individuals they have met in person. For the time being, we have discontinued your son’s enrollment in our program. If and when you feel he is ready to begin correspondence with a new pen pal, we ask that you reenroll through your local school district.

Thank you for your understanding on this matter.

Sincerely,

Hagiuda Nobutaka

Director of Westward Pen Pals

Y93 M01 D11

To My Pen Pal:

It’s really nice of you to say that you liked my poem! I’m not sure I’m really as good as you say. You’ve been doing this sort of thing for so long, and I’m just starting to get a hang of it. Besides, even if I do get good, I’ll owe it all to you! I never would’ve given it a try if it weren’t for you! 

Good luck with your training. I know you’ll do great! Please tell me all about it in your next letter. Is it a hard martial art to learn? My grandpa used to do one he calls Ringen before he settled down with grandma. I don’t really have the strength for that kind of thing, though. 

It’s funny that you mention dreams. Actually, I’ve been having a recurring one for a few nights now! Well, maybe not exactly recurring. The details change, but it’s always in the same forest. For some reason, I’m always a panda bear! It feels like I’m looking for something, though I’m never sure what that is. What do you do in your dreams?

Hope to hear back from you soon!

Love,

Your Pen Pal ♡

Y93 M01 D08

To My Pen Pal:

As winter continues, one cannot help but take refuge in the glowing warmth of the hearth. I hope the cold weather gives you an opportunity to spend more time bonding with your family. 

Your poem touched me deeply. I did not expect you to write one in response to my own. You praised me for improving in my writing, but it seems you have surpassed me before I even noticed. I will be sure to double my efforts so that I may remain an interesting correspondent. 

Master █████ will be coming by today to train me in Masatomo Kenpo today, so I will need to be brief as well. I have indeed seen the Abe-Iga Hotel. My family visited it when it first opened, and we were impressed with its unique architectural style. It has since been surpassed as the tallest building in the city, but I still believe it is worthy of consideration when discussing our country’s recent achievements.

Before I end this letter, I wish to ask you a question. Have you had any unusual dreams lately? For several nights, I have been far more lucid than normal while asleep. This morning, I overheard my father and mother having a conversation about their own dreams, which is quite strange for them. Please forgive me if this is too personal a topic.

Longingly,

Your Pen Pal

Y93 M01 D05

To My Pen Pal:

Thanks for sending the poems! I really loved them! You’ve gotten so much better since we started writing each other. I blushed a little when I read the one you wrote just for me, and I tried writing a poem for you too. Here it is:

Friends at a distance
Hearts ache for one another
Forbidden by law
Both pray to the stars above
Their deepest wishes granted
Love ultimately prevails

I tried to make it sound like something you would write. I hope you aren’t offended, since it definitely didn’t come out as well as yours did. Just like you, I’ll keep practicing so that we can work on them together one day.

I’m glad you feel the same way about our friendship, but I still feel grateful to you. I think it’s alright for us both to feel gratitude towards each other, right? In fact, it’s probably the best we could hope for! 

Today I have to keep the letter a little short. I spent too much time away from my chores already to come up with the poem. I’ll make it up to you in the next letter!

Love,

Your Pen Pal ♡

P. S. Have you ever gotten a chance to see the Abe-Iga Hotel? I saw some pictures of it on a brochure recently! It looks so pretty!

Y93 M01 D02

To Our Westward Parents:

We hope that you all enjoyed the New Year festivities. The new semester will be upon us soon, and we are looking forward to seeing all of our wonderful families return to school. Before then, however, we wish to remind you of the top three rules regarding Westward Pen Pals.

1. Students must sign all letters as “your pen pal.” 
2. Students must not attempt to send gifts, money, or photographs.
3. Students must not provide any information that can be used to identify them.

Unfortunately, we have noticed that a significant number of students have tried to get around some of these restrictions by encoding their messages. Up to now, we have responded by redacting those portions of the letters. Going forward, however, we plan to combat this issue by refusing to carry any letters which we cannot easily read. 

We have also noticed that a few students have been particularly dedicated in their efforts to circumvent the system. Those who we believe have acted in bad faith will be suspended from the program. They may reenroll, but they will, if allowed back in, be assigned new pen pals going forward.

Thank you for understanding.

Sincerely,

Lezlie Jazz

Minister of Education

Y93 M01 D01

To My Pen Pal:

With the beginning of the year comes cold, icy weather. I hope that you and your family remain safe and warm even as you continue caring for the guests as your inn. In the ████████ household, we spent the day enjoying various traditional foods and composing poems related to the season. This is the first I wrote for the holiday: 

Icy white crystals fall
The whole earth glitters and gleams
Winter storms begin

It is undoubtedly the work of an amateur, but I hope you may still find something to enjoy in it. I would never share this with my father, but I composed an additional poem in secret. This one is meant only for your eyes: 

The pain of solitude
A friend’s words read in silence
Relief comes at last

I accept your gratitude, but I feel that it is misplaced. I deeply value your friendship, so there is no need to thank me. Instead, I ought to be the one thanking you. As you know, my father’s position in the ████████████ government keeps my family quite busy, and I have little interest in the students at my current high school. Your letters are all that break up the monotony of this existence. 

Please accept my apologies for doubting our ability to remain friends following graduation. Fate will surely bring us together somehow. When that day comes, I would be happy to view fireworks at your side.

Longingly,

Your Pen Pal

Y92 M12 D29

To My Pen Pal:

Happy New Year! I hope this letter reaches you in time! How are you and your family spending the day? Usually, we get a lot of guests on holidays, so I’ll probably spend most of it doing chores around the inn. From here, we can see the fireworks over ███████ City. They’re so beautiful! I wish you could come see them. 

In your last letter, you mentioned that you went to the cherry blossom festival by Lake Acamar when you were younger. I’ve never gotten to go myself, but there’s plenty of cherry trees right outside the inn! They don’t grow naturally in the ███████ Forest, so I’m sure it’s not as nice as it is out by the lake. At least we get to have a plum festival every year!

I need to get back to work, but first I wanna say that it’s really sweet of you to keep writing me these letters for so many years! Out here, I don’t have a ton of friends. It’s kind of sad to think that we won’t be able to keep doing this after we graduate in two years. I know you’ve said before that the program doesn’t give out information to former students, but I still have hope that we’ll be able to find each other and keep being friends after it’s over! This is my New Year’s wish: please keep believing in our friendship!

Love,

Your Pen Pal ♡

Day 75,043

Dear Polonius,

I hope that your journey in the Outer Darkness is going well. Though I know you will not receive this until you have returned, I wanted to be sure that you would have some notice that I will be leaving the world of Dagr within the next few days. One of my agents has found the blade. I’ve tasked the others with finding a wielder. Hopefully we can rid ourselves of the Exarchate before they regain access to their old portal network. If you have need of me, I will be returning to my observatory in my home universe.

Recently, I visited Ward, as we discussed. There are signs that one of Zer Manetho’s wayward creations has been sniffing around, but I was unable to follow the thing into the depths of the mental plane. I did, however, take some rubbings of the runic inscriptions I mentioned in my last letter. Perhaps you will find them interesting.

Kindest regards,

Linnaeus von Roslin

Pomp,

I hope this letter finds you well. Forgive me for not being present during your initiation ceremony. My own assignment has kept me very busy, but I have requested additional support from the ministry to keep things running here. The locals insist on waging a global war against one another, so you can imagine how many souls pass through to the underworld each day. 

It is good knowing that you received a relatively easy assignment. I feared that you could end up too overwhelmed by work to meet with me when things improve here. There is so much I want to discuss with you, but I would prefer to do it in person. Letters are far too impersonal. 

Looking forward to hearing from you soon, little brother.

Love,

Psych

2 Thunermos 531 ᛞ

Frolich,

Hope you and yours are safe. Sorry for the short letter. In a hurry. Wanted to let you know that the guild’s claiming the Hellmouth’s started corrupting Redcaps. Sounds like an excuse to take what little’s left outside their control. Do what you will with the information. Wish I could help more, but you know I’ve got my hands full here.

Keel