This recap follows the sixteen collected stories from New Year, 2026 through The Yule Ball, Part 1. It contains spoilers throughout. For individual posts and their publication dates, see Reading order.

A life at home

Augustus Tabernak has largely withdrawn from the world. He lives in his parents’ comfortable home in Manila, surrounded by the things that occupy him—books, games, his phone, and his own thoughts—while resisting the occasions that require him to leave. His family’s questions about work, marriage, and what he has been doing feel intrusive, particularly when he has little he wants to report. He has friends, material security, and considerable freedom, but finds it difficult to turn these into a satisfying life. ^[1]

On New Year’s Eve, Emily helps draw him into a spontaneous trip to Tagaytay and Taal. Benny is visiting from New Zealand with his wife, Tina, and the group includes Juno, Danny, and Joshua. Food, teasing, familiar complaints, and views of the lake give them a day together. August remains conscious of his unhappiness even in company. The outing ends with the thought that he should put it on August’s blog. ^[1]

Another August

One friend can offer a more unusual reason to go out. Elmer Gatdula is an engineer whose fortune supports increasingly extraordinary experiments in his private laboratory. August agrees to test Elmer’s cloning machine. The result is another person with his appearance and shared history, immediately capable of arguing with him. The experiment leaves injuries and a practical problem Elmer expects August to take home. ^[2]

August’s clone cannot simply be hidden away or treated as an object. August’s parents initially inspect him as a scientific marvel, then welcome him as a guest, and soon treat him as family. He is more accommodating than August, joining activities and accepting responsibilities August avoids. The family sometimes carries a conversation from one to the other as though speaking to the same person. August gains relief from some expectations, yet feels displaced by someone who can apparently provide a more agreeable version of himself. ^{[5, 6]}

The clone also becomes part of the group chat and develops his own friendship with Elmer. Arguments about whether the two are the same person become disputes over attention, property, and the right to speak for one another. August’s resentment sometimes turns physical; when he attempts to attack the clone near the stairs, the clone avoids him and August ends up on the floor. Their common beginning does not prevent their lives from diverging. ^{[5, 6, 7]}

Dreams and possible lives

The collection also moves outside the main sequence of waking events. In a dream, an unnamed narrator describes a crowded Chinese restaurant in a Manila building late at night. The account leaves the dreamer’s identity unresolved. ^[3]

During a shopping trip with Emily, August encounters another set of possible worlds in the displays at IKEA (store). Arranged rooms become imagined households with Jason, Rex, Jon, and Jackson. Inside them, domestic intimacy brings its own strains: Jason’s need to discuss belief, Rex’s worries about appearance and money, the prospect of Canada in Jon’s life, and jealousy surrounding Jackson and Iris. Affection exists alongside irritation, insecurity, and demands that a partner may struggle to meet. ^[4]

These scenes unfold within August’s imagining rather than establishing four complete, confirmed relationship histories. The store’s products and announcements repeatedly reconnect them to the shopping trip. Jon also appears in messages outside the vignettes, and a film outing is arranged in the framing story. That contact is distinct from the household August imagines with him. ^[4]

Love and the end of the world

At the Valentine’s Day gathering, Danny brings his new girlfriend, Valerie. August recognizes Valerie’s charm while finding the romantic happiness around him difficult to bear. He and Emily entertain the possibility of marrying each other at forty, but the attention he wants that evening is from men who are not giving it to him. ^[5]

David has become especially important. August has offered him companionship and gifts during a difficult transition after a breakup, and fears that David may no longer need him. His unanswered Valentine’s message makes that fear immediate. He also contacts Kiran, hoping for some affection. Meanwhile, the clone and Elmer talk closely together, giving August another relationship to watch from outside. ^[5]

During the same outing, news arrives of The CERN disaster. A black hole created in an experiment has failed to dissipate. Reports escalate from an alarming curiosity to a threat of planetary destruction. August’s loneliness shapes his response: the possibility that everything might end offers him a disturbing kind of comfort. ^[5]

New neighbors and uncertain futures

The distant catastrophe soon changes the neighborhood. The Rothenburg und Eichenfels family arrives from Germany and moves opposite August’s home. At the Chinese New Year celebration at HATCH, Bishop Arturo Macatarungan asks the congregation to welcome the displaced newcomers. The emergency has become a matter of bread, introductions, shared food, and people living across the street. ^[6]

August is immediately attracted to Nikolaus Rothenburg und Eichenfels, or Niko, a twenty-nine-year-old architect. Niko becomes a frequent visitor, watching films and playing games with August and joining outings with the friends. Their trip to Intramuros (place) includes Manila Cathedral, arguments about history, and music from CUT. August’s favorite song, The Best I Never Had, concerns love that is not returned. Niko eventually makes his own position explicit: he wants friendship. ^{[6, 8]}

August’s relationship with David also develops beyond messages. On a science-museum outing, August uses the name Arya. David buys a novelty pin he dislikes because he knows August will enjoy it. At dinner, the presence of a noisy child, Jax, brings children and the future into their conversation. David’s interest in a career and family does not fit neatly with August’s wish to have him close and available. Their moments of affection coexist with questions about what a shared life could mean. ^[7]

August also revisits his place in his own family. His mother recounts the poverty and eventual improvement in circumstances that preceded his comfortable upbringing. August was adopted, but declines offers to learn more about his origins. He already feels like an outsider in many settings and does not expect more information to make his life simpler. ^[8]

Packing for the apocalypse

For Juno’s mother, the catastrophe is part of an approaching religious culmination. She insists that the family leave for Apayao, even if she must go alone. Juno and her brother, Apollo, consider staying in Manila, but cannot bear to leave their aging parents unsupported in a remote place. The friends come to help pack. ^[10]

At the house, preparations are interrupted by coffee, conversation, and prayer. Juno disputes her mother’s claimed levitation, while the mother urges the visitors toward repentance. Niko questions August about attraction and lust. Later, August encounters his clone and Apollo in an apparently serious private conversation in the kitchen, whose subject is not revealed. ^[10]

A television report explains the Wall of Light, an international effort that has slowed the black hole after immense destruction and sacrifice. It offers time and hope, without establishing that the danger is permanently over. Back home, August follows the extraordinary variety of responses to possible extinction. He wonders what it would mean to leave writing behind if the world containing it were itself destroyed. ^[10]

David’s absence

August and David have moments of public closeness, including dinner and a night out on Jupiter Street. Yet August remains preoccupied with how much he can know of David’s thoughts. In the following week, David says something has upset him and asks for space. August gives it to him without gaining a clear explanation of what has changed. ^[9]

David’s absence then runs through August’s ordinary worries. In Botulism, concern that he has eaten improperly canned chicken accompanies conversation with the clone and a visit with Dr. Taluntunan-Guyavera. Dr. Tal encourages him to think about an independent future, including further study or a move abroad. These remain possibilities rather than decisions carried out in the collection. ^[11]

On another shopping trip, the clone explains August’s silence to Emily as the emptiness following a breakup. August objects to being spoken for and resists discussing David with her. At thirty-five, he feels impatient with the gap between the life he hoped for and the one he has. He buys August’s Labubu partly in defiance of other people’s contempt for the dolls. The clone’s teasing claim to ownership brings their old argument about being separate people into a new, small possession. ^[12]

The loss continues to trouble August in Meso. At an exhibition of Mesopotamian history, he asks Elmer about building a time machine and travelling into the ancient past. Elmer says he could build one but refuses to make its dangers sound reassuring. The discussion creates another possible escape; no journey is shown. ^[13]

An angel made flesh

Through Armand Agoncillo, known online as Chalice, discussions of religion become part of August’s social life in another way. A conversation about guardian angels prompts disagreement with Elmer. Later, August visits the laboratory and stands before a new apparatus. The experiment gives physical form to Raziel, who identifies himself as August’s guardian angel. ^[14]

Raziel is angry at being trapped in a body and cut off from the angelic communication he describes. August is fascinated by him and strongly attracted to him. Elmer thinks the procedure can be reversed, but he has accidentally knocked over the laptop that controls it. The shattered, unresponsive machine prevents an immediate attempt. ^[14]

For the moment, the angel must eat dinner and go somewhere to stay. He joins Elmer’s parents under an improvised Swedish cover story, experiencing food for the first time, and then accompanies August home. There he speaks of having watched over August since birth, including parts of his life August had considered entirely private. His insistence on remaining nearby continues despite the disruption of embodiment. The story ends with Raziel asking August to say a prayer, especially for him. ^[14]

Compassion and another attraction

In Tort, August and Juno eat ramen in his bedroom while Sugar rests nearby. August explains that he has unfriended Kiran after months of silence. Juno reminds him of the attack Kiran experienced; August minimizes it and argues that sending a message should still have been possible. Juno suggests that, whatever compassion he receives, he can make sure some comes from him. ^[15]

The next story opens with August saying he has been dating a Moroccan doctor, then returns to their first meeting. Juno takes him to Silver Linings for Annie’s exhibition, Fell. August privately dislikes the work but is overwhelmed when Annie introduces Youssef. August and his clone cannot find him online. The clone invokes Claud and Rex (past attachment) to question the supposed uniqueness of this new attraction. ^[16]

Raziel, meanwhile, is building a public life through charity work and Instagram. He cannot locate Youssef and reminds August that angels are not omniscient. Over a meal, he also challenges August’s account of David: August says David broke up with him and returned with another girlfriend, while Raziel recalls a recent visit and David’s attempts to be kind. August acknowledges an argument but refuses to explain it. ^[16]

Juno arranges dinner with Annie, who describes Youssef’s ambitions at Makati Med and the strain on their relationship. She had planned to take him to The Yule Ball, but has given away her own ticket. Believing Youssef might still attend, August and the clone buy tickets. Emily and Raziel join them. ^[16]

Getting ready for the ball

The clone will dress as Ravenclaw and August as Slytherin; Emily and Raziel choose Gryffindor. Raziel reads the Harry Potter books and watches the films, enjoying the series while arguing with the others about its characters. At Elmer’s house, August asks Quibble to design August’s wand using what the AI knows about him. ^[16]

On the day of the ball, Raziel brings a makeup team to the house and offers to share it. August tries on a blonde wig, and his father calls him beautiful and “my daughter.” The Unnamed makeup artist adapts a Luna Lovegood-inspired look to his Slytherin costume. When August sees the result, the beauty feels like something of his own finally becoming visible. ^[16]

Emily drives them to Muso World Manila. Fans gather around Raziel, while August and the others take photographs and enjoy their costumes. August scans the crowd for Youssef and Annie, but neither is shown to have arrived. At eight, the hosts appear and the doors open. As the line begins to move, August recalls his vow to shut himself indoors and recognizes how different it feels to be there: released and free. ^[16]

Where things stand

Part 1 ends at the entrance to the ball. Its opening has placed Youssef in August’s dating life, but the narrated sequence has yet to show their reunion or courtship. The clone has an independent place in the household; Raziel remains embodied and is now publicly recognizable. David’s later contact and argument complicate August’s earlier account of the separation. ^[16]

Other developments remain open: Niko has set a friendship boundary; Juno’s family’s arrival in Apayao has not been depicted; the Wall of Light has offered protection without a final resolution; and Elmer’s proposed time travel and reversal of Raziel’s embodiment have not been carried out in the collected stories. ^{[8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]}

For more detail, follow The Yule Ball, Youssef, August and his clone, August and David, The CERN disaster, and Guardian angels. See Timeline for a compact sequence of developments.