The story starts on New Year's Day (year 1), immediately after Where Did the Cat Go? at one of Tsuruya's villas. Kyon comments that he prefers to celebrate in proper Japanese fashion, which he implies is due to laziness, but Haruhi Suzumiya insists on excitement instead. At the villa was a shrine, which Tsuruya's "crazy grandad" had built. It was the only thing he took seriously. Haruhi was enthused since, unlike a more public shrine, there was no crowding. Koizumi discovered the wolf was actually an extinct Japanese wolf, and noted there weren't any hunters around to explain the injury.