Mizuki goes to bed and he has a dream one night of a life long gone. Instead of being in the therapy office where he sleeps, he — in his dream, to be clear — wakes up in a cute little house. He's young, just a child, and as he wanders downstairs into the living room, he sees his mother sitting in a rocking chair with knitting needles. She's making a scarf, it would seem. Or maybe a sweater... it's hard to tell.

Outside, the snow comes down so hard that it's difficult to see five feet out the window. Ice accumulates on the glass as he watches out the window, and before he knows it, he's being scooped up into mom's lap.

"It's the worst winter we've had in years," she says softly. "Did you know, my love, that they say every 100 years, the spirits who control the seasons lose control of their magic? That's why this winter will be so bad — that's what Olivia says, anyway."

The wind howls as if in warning, an answer to his mother's words.

Little Mizuki is, of course, too little to understand more than that, as his mother drones on about famine and having to help the spirits regain their strength through "sacrifice". Mizuki who is dreaming, though, will be able to clearly understand every meaning behind those words as he comes to.