And Suga and Yumi, who at that time still did their hair in girlish hairstyles, were now long past forty while Takao and Kazuya, who were then not even born, were old enough to be going to the university. Even Naoichi, Yumi’s child by Iwamoto, was attending Hitotsubashi Commercial College by now. When Iwamoto had without warning died of typhus while the children were still small, Yumi had belatedly taken up flower arrangement, become a teacher, and with the help of Yukitomo and Tomo had managed to give Naoichi an education. Tomo’s destination today was the small house in a backstreet off Kagura Hill where Yumi lived. She had not come to see Yumi herself, who would be out teaching now that the New Year’s holiday was over, but a young woman called Kayo who occupied a small room on the second floor of her home.

She slid open the ill-fitting lattice door of the poorly-built, semidetached house and called out, whereupon an elderly woman with pure white hair and a clear-eyed gaze emerged from the dim interior busily wiping her hands as though she had been doing the washing. Peering out through the door she recognized Tomo and immediately knelt and bowed low to the floor.

‘Well, I never – Mrs. Shirakawa from the big house! Oh dear, and the children have all had colds since the end of the year, so I’m sure Yumi hasn’t even been to pay her respects yet. But a happy New Year to you …’ And giving Tomo no time to return her greetings she deferentially ushered her into the house. It was Yumi’s elder sister Shin, now a widow too, whose presence in the house was what enabled Yumi to leave behind her youngest daughter, who was still at primary school, and go out to teach.

‘I’m afraid we’ve put you to a lot of trouble,’ said Tomo. ‘But I was glad at least to hear it was an easy delivery.’

‘Yes – do you know, we were so worried, you’d have thought even Yumi had never had any children herself. But then, it was an easy birth after all! And a lovely, plump, goodlooking boy it is, too. I can’t say myself, but Yumi says there’s no doubt about it, he’s the very image of Mr. Kazuya.’

‘I’m ashamed of him, behaving like this when he’s only a student still … But then, Kazuya hasn’t got a real mother. It seems that leaves its mark in all kinds of ways …’

‘Oh, but it’s the kind of thing that often happens with the gentlemen, isn’t if ? Why, Kayo said if only she had two pairs of hands, she could earn her living and keep the child somehow.’