Kyu-Shirataki opened in 1947 as a small stop on the Sekihoku Line, in what is now the town of Engaru. For its first 40 years, it was not even an official station, only a temporary stopping place. It became a real station in 1987, when JR Hokkaido took over the line.
Over the years, fewer and fewer people used it. By the end, only four trains a day stopped there: one in the morning toward town, and three coming back in the afternoon and evening.
That one morning train was hers. She was a student at Engaru High School, and for three years, she caught it here.
Boarding at Kyu-Shirataki also let her sleep a little longer. Otherwise, she would have had to catch the same train one station earlier, at Shirataki.