The following morning, with sore limbs and very little sleep, I climbed on the back of Isamu's motorcycle and insisted he drop me off at the Odawara's station. There, after a short wait, I caught the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. Before leaving the inn, while having a light breakfast, I had called the airline and thanks to Oscar's generous offer of an open return ticket confirmed a flight back for that very same evening. With not much time for goodbyes and feeling guilty that Isamu had to drive me out of his way, we only had a few minutes to spare. Only a few precious minutes to renew our promise to meet in Holland; and to steal a kiss on the train's platform surrounded by bashful Japanese folks who tried to nonchalantly look away.
Once by myself I held on to the warmth of Isamu's hand heatin
