Everyone was yawning.
	“Where should we go now?” Shunkichi asked. “Nowhere to go in the middle of the day really.”
	“Let us off at the beauty salon,” said Mitsuko and Tamiko. Shunkichi and Osamu didn’t object, and Mitsuko and Tamiko for their part seemed fine enough leaving Kyoko as the only woman in the car. Shunkichi and Osamu each gave in turn a brisk and rehearsed bow. The ladies waited for Natsuo’s goodbyes, and although neither girl’s date, he too saw them off warmly.
	It was close to the three o’clock in the afternoon in early April, nineteen fifty four. Shunkichi, driving Natsuo’s car, circled around the one way streets of town. Where to go? Of course, somewhere without many people around. The last two days there had been too many people around Lake Ashinoko. They could always go back to Ginza. Best to get Natsuo’s opinion.
	“Well, how about we go to that reclaimed land quarter out by Tsukishima. I saw a sketch out there once.”
	With all in agreement, they headed off.

	They gathered even from afar that the area around Kachidoki-bashi was backed up with cars.
	“I wonder what happened?” said Osamu, “maybe an accident?”
	But at second glance it was clear the drawbridge was up.
	“Ugh, let’s just forget it,” said Shunkichi, clicking his tongue impatiently.
	Natsuo and Kyoko, however, having never seen the bridge up, wanted to take a look. They parked the car and crossed in pairs over a portion of the iron bridge to get a better view, Shunkichi and Osamu looking somewhat uninterested.