“This is where it hurts,” Hatsue said again. 

“Are you all right?” And without thinking Shinji put his own hand on the spot. 

“When you press it, it feels a little better,” the girl said. 

And suddenly Shinji’s breast too was moving fast. 

Their cheeks came so close they were almost touching. They could plainly smell each other—it was a fragrance like that of salt water. They could feel each other’s warmth. 

Their dry, chapped lips touched. There was a slight taste of salt. 

“It’s like seaweed,” Shinji thought. 

“Your shadow’s giving you away,” he called out. 

Suddenly the figure of a girl dressed in wide-striped work-clothes came darting out, like some wild animal, and went running at full speed across the beach, never looking back. 

And thus it was that he laid his head on his knees and fell asleep. 

It was a naked girl who stood there, her head bent low, holding a white chemise to dry at the fire. Standing as she was, the chemise held down toward the fire with both hands, she was revealing the whole upper half of her body. 

When he realized that this was certainly no dream, the idea occurred to Shinji that, by using just a little cunning and pretending to be still asleep, he could watch her through half-closed eyes. And yet, her body was almost too beautiful to be watched without moving at all 

“Yes ...”
 “Why?”
 “You—you still haven’t taken everything off 

after an instant’s hesitation he began taking off his crew-neck sweater, saying not a word. Struck by the thought that Hatsue might run away while he was undressing 

“It looks like coral, doesn’t it? Wonder if it wouldn’t even make a pretty hair ornament?” 

Shinji sat down on the floor close beside the girl.
 Now that they were dressed, they could kiss in comfort. ... 

—and drove it in with all its might. 

Yasuo gave a shout. 

The girl did not yet realize how very attractive she was. Perhaps she might have if she had thought about it deeply enough, but just now she accepted Yasuo’s explanation that he had actually hidden here for no other reason than to frighten her. 

In an instant, taking advantage of her trustfulness, Yasuo snatched the pole away from her and caught her by the right wrist. The leather of Yasuo’s jacket was making creaking sounds. 

Yasuo had finally recovered his poise. He stood glaring at Hatsue. Now he was quite self-possessed and, intending to win the girl fairly, he fell unconsciously into an imitation of the open and aboveboard manner he imagined Shinji must have used on a similar occasion. 

“All right,” he said reasonably, “now will you listen to what I’ve got to say? You’ll be sorry if you don’t. So you’d better listen—unless you want everybody to know about you and Shinji.” 

Hatsue’s face was flushed and she was breathing hard. 

“Let go of my arm! What do you mean—about me and Shinji?” 

“Don’t act so innocent. As though you haven’t been playing around with Shinji! You really put one over on me.” 

“Don’t say such ridiculous things. I haven’t done any such thing.” 

“Me, I know all about it. What was it you did with Shinji up on the mountain the other day in the storm? ... Hey! just look at her blush! ... So now you’re going to do the same thing with me. Come on! Come on!” 

“Get away! Get away from me!” Hatsue struggled, trying to escape. 

Yasuo would not let her go. She would be sure to tell her father if she got away now before anything happened. But afterwards—then she wouldn’t tell a soul. Yasuo was hopelessly addicted to the pulp magazines, which came from the city, with their frequent confessions of girls who had been “seduced.” What a grand feeling it was to be able to do this to a girl and yet be sure that she could never tell anyone about it! 

Yasuo finally had Hatsue pinned to the ground beside the spring. One of the buckets had been knocked over and the water was running over the moss- covered earth. The light of the street lamp showed Hatsue’s nostrils quivering and her wide-open eyes flashing. Her hair was half in the spilled water. 

Suddenly Hatsue pursed her lips and spat full on Yasuo’s chin. 

This aroused his passion all the more and, feeling her heaving breasts beneath him, he thrust his face against her cheek.