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206 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
It was the tragic love story of a very young girl and a man himself still young but with a wife and child: only the beauty of it had been heightened, to the point that it was unmarred by any moral questioning.
“Because you can’t write about someone you don’t love, someone you don’t even hate? All the time I’m typing I keep wondering why I didn’t let you go.”
“You’re talking nonsense again.”
“I’m serious. Holding on to you was a crime. I’ll probably regret it the rest of my life.”
"Your ears are lovely," he said, "but there's a kind of eerie beauty to your profile."
"I'm glad you think so!" Her slender neck flushed slightly. "I'll never forgot that, as long as I live. But how long will beauty last? A woman feels sad to think of that."
He had no reply. (p. 77)
"Is that what's on your mind?" Keiko nodded. "Why must you worry about that, at your age?"
"Because I'm not a fool like you, for twenty years loving someone who spoiled your life!"
Otogo was silent. (p. 113)
"Wouldn't it make you flesh crawl to touch a hairy skin?"
Still Otoko did not answer. (p. 123)
"Indeed you did!" Otoko was suspicious of her vacant air. "Keiko, where were you last night?"
There was no reply. (p. 170)