"Mm-hm!" As she spoke, she withdrew a plain cloth sleeve from her bag, offering it toward him. "I was planning to give it to you on New Years, but since you called me out here anyway, I thought it wouldn't hurt for you to get it a little early. It's a charm for happiness!"

Inside the sleeve, Walter would find a homemade omamori. The outside cloth was colored in plain, neutral tones — though funnily enough, with a pattern of feathers — and at the top, she had tied it with a white string.