This was always something that worried me about going to see my parents. Where I was from, it was the norm to get married before twenty, so I was already long past it. They were bound to marry me off. And once I’d been married off to a not-so-young man left in the village, it was highly unlikely that I would ever be able to return to Tokyo.
I was planning to leave on the night train departing Ueno at seven that evening, but I left the Hirais before noon. I hadn’t exactly wanted to take a last look at Tokyo, but the Mistress told me she couldn’t make me work right up until the very last minute and sent me on my way early.
I changed onto a train for Ueno at Shinjuku Station, and suddenly found myself reminiscing about my time in the city. Reluctant to go home, I started fantasizing about g
