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was the smallest, Tatsuya, you do the talking."

      "Okay. But don't run off."

      They set off again and soon overtook the girls.

      Tatsuya's voice was rather weak as he said: "Excuse me," but the girls stopped and looked round.

      "What is it?" said one girl, shifting her parcel from one hand to the other.

      Tatsuya was already beginning to lose his nerve.

      "My name is Tsugawa—Tatsuya Tsugawa," he stammered. "I'm a member of the boxing club. I'm sorry if . . ."

      "A boxer? Well!"

      He almost added that he was in the featherweight class. For a moment he wondered if this was going to work— the odds were against it. He began to feel a little more at ease. He told himself he didn't mind if they turned him down. It was too crazy to work out, but now that he had given them his name, he had to win.

      The atmosphere was still a little tense, and for Tatsuya it was something like being challenged by a young tough on the street—both pleasant and ticklish. A faint smile came to his lips.

      By this time Nishimura had slipped away.

      "I'm all out of breath," he went on. "I had a job catching up . . . we're college students . . . we wanted to go out tonight . . . but we had no girls to go out with. We don't want to embarrass you, but if you're not doing anything else, we'd like you to join us. There are five of us. We've been trying to find some girls for a long time, but up to now we haven't found any worth talking to. Would you like to join us?"

      "Well, it's very nice of you, but there are only three of us."

      "Oh, don't let that worry you. As a matter of fact, it's safer that way," replied Tatsuya.

      The girls withdrew a little, whispered together, and began to laugh at something. While this was going on, Tatsuya waved vigorously to his companions, who were watching developments from the corner. Nishimura was jumping up and down excitedly.

      "My mother's in the hairdresser's over there," said one of the girls. "We were going to meet her, so I'll ask her to take home the things we got shopping. It's a nuisance carrying them around with us. Can you wait here a few minutes?"

      "It's a lot of stuff for her to carry."

      "Oh, no. She has a car."

      "Well, be sure and come back."

      "We'll come back. I'll tell you what, Sachiko can stay with you as a hostage."

      "That's all right, but we'd like to know the rest of your names too."

      He went back to the others feeling very pleased with himself.

      "What do you think of that, boys. Pretty smooth, eh? You nipped off very smartly, Nishimura!"

      "I'm sorry, I haven't got your nerve."

      "What! As a punishment, you'll have to do as we tell you tonight. Well, they're called Eiko, Sachiko, and Yuki. I tell you now, Eiko's mine. I guess I deserve her, after all."

      "What! The one with the funny eyes?"

      "Yeah, she's got one single eyelid and one double, one, two, one, two—she's a boxer's kind."

      "Yeah, and you're jealous. Little imperfections make her better."

      When the girls were all gathered, introductions were made and they went off to a night club, a good one that was not too expensive.

      "I hope we've got enough cash," said Matsuno, who was acting as treasurer.

      "How about if Nishimura and the next lowest number hock their watches in a pawnshop to be on the safe side. It'd be bad if we couldn't pay the bill."

      "Eight thousand yen won't be enough," said Tatsuya. "But let's spend that first, and then Sahara can use his influence. He said this place let him chalk up a bill once before. But don't overdo things with the girls because I promised them we wouldn't give them any trouble."

      "Okay, but listen to who's talking!"

      Tatsuya managed to keep Eiko to himself the whole evening. About eleven, the girls said they should go, but Nishimura persuaded them to stay another half hour.

      Tatsuya went to the dance floor with Eiko. When the music ended, Eiko stopped him on the way back to the table.

      "Here's some money. Please keep it. It's just the taxi fare." She handed him something wrapped in a handkerchief.

      "Ahh . . . ?"

      But she cut him short: "Don't worry. We've had a lovely time, Tatsuya. All quite unexpected."

      "Well, as a matter of fact, we are a bit short of money."

      "I thought so," said Eiko with a smile.

      Tatsuya remembered Eiko saying as they were leaving the night club that she wanted to see him box one day.

      "By the way, you remember the handkerchief you gave me with the money in? Well, anyhow, Matsuno was sick in it on the way home that night and we had to throw it away," Tatsuya said.

      "How unromantic!" said Sachiko.

      Eiko dropped Tatsuya at the entrance to the hospital and they said good-bye. She turned, gave a toot of the horn, and drove off; Tatsuya found himself staring vacantly at the disappearing car.

      "Don't be a fool! Did you expect her to come into surgery and bandage you up?" he told himself.

      As he slowly made his way up the stairs to surgery he met a friend of his, a soccer player, coming down with his arm in a sling.

      "Well?" he looked inquiringly at his injury.

      "I won on a TKO," replied Tatsuya.

      "Congratulations," said his friend and shook his free hand warmly.

      Tatsuya's cut was not serious but they made him lie down for an hour while they treated him. A nurse came in and said there was a call for him. The doctor told her to take a message and leave it at the reception desk.

      When they had finished, he asked about the call and was told that someone had rung up to find out if he was still in the hospital. Tatsuya figured it was Eda. He was surprised and a little annoyed to hear a big car honking just behind him as he walked out of the gate. He jumped aside and looked round. The car was moving along slowly and Eiko was waving at him from inside.

      "Well! What's going on here?" he asked puzzled.

      "I've got rid of the others."

      "How did you know I was still in the hospital?"

      "I phoned just now."

      "So it was you!"

      Tatsuya got in beside her. She was now wearing Western clothes. He was delighted at her quick and efficient ways, and it made up for whatever annoyance he had felt in the afternoon.

      He drank a lot that night and his cut began to hurt, but with Eiko there it did not seem to matter.

      After that he went out with her a lot. Each time he was amazed at the number of people she knew. Wherever they went, at least one or two people would nod to her. At first she introduced him to her friends, but he always looked awkward and hardly spoke to them, so she soon stopped.

      Tatsuya once wondered but could not decide whether her friends were mainly men or women. Anyhow, the men were not his business; their relationship wasn't close enough for him to complain if she had been in love with them.

      Up till then Tatsuya had only been interested in sensual pleasure. The women he knew best were those of the red light districts. In the confusion of modern life, love was out of the question for Tatsuya. No matter what kind of girls he might have been in love with, they always shattered any romantic illusions quickly enough, and he had no way of telling whether Eiko might not do the same.

      Among his friends, emotions, and love in particular, came to be looked at from a materialistic point of view; the word "love" was only used with contempt.

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