Pathway to Japanese Literature

Houko and Sueki

I. A Girl Whose Hair Is Cut

(Letter from Houko)

Thank you for the letter, Sueki-chan.

Truly, your dear sister feels not the least bit lonely upon this two-year-old bedding, all thanks to you, Sueki-chan.

So you're going……?

Every day, Sueki-chan goes to the school's backyard and looks at that carving in the yamamomo tree hollow, I hear.

I too never fail to look at the white birch trunks in the woods behind the sanatorium where we took our walks.

One is from when I was four and you were two, and the other is the tale from a year after that.
And in both, your and my initials are carved.

Beloved one, those who cannot bear separation, cherished soul…….

However, when I look at your letter today, Sueki-chan, it says that from the carved surface bearing my name, tree sap had welled up and flowed toward you like tears.

So you wondered whether something had changed with me, or whether your own inadequacies had made me cry—with what felt like tearful apologies—it ended up making me the one who wept instead.

But it’s all right.

What change could there possibly be in me whom Sueki-chan protects?
The fever too has, of late, begun to give me hope.
But compared to before, I’ve become terribly emaciated—if Sueki-chan were to hold me now, I’d feel as light as a feather, don’t you think?

But it's all right…… Don't worry.

I would probably die if I became lonely—
Every day, Sueki-chan comes to see me—how could I possibly die?
I don’t force myself to sleep without thinking of anything during the day, but at night, choosing moonlit hours, I wander from village to village and come to gaze quietly upon Sueki-chan’s sleeping face.
And I know full well that Sueki-chan does the same.

Why is that? Why is it that we love one another so deeply⁉ That is... Just as one could never answer why the sun shines and children are born, there is no answer to be found. I too can only say that I love because I love. We met during my fourth year and your second year at girls' school—only for me to end up at the sanatorium a year later... And yet Sueki chooses to suffer alongside me.

Hey, that heartrending letter Sueki-chan sent me some time ago, you know?
In that—

God gave Elder Sister the suffering of illness, but to me, He gave Elder Sister herself so I might share in that suffering.
Elder Sister’s illness is, in truth, my own illness.
He must have been testing us—to suffer together, endure together, and thus make our way through this world—.

But He hasn’t subjected Sueki to any greater suffering than this already—
If that were to happen, it would be a double burden for Sueki now.

Your worries aren't simple things I can comprehend…….
The stepfather's circumstances, the uncanny grandmother who can neither move nor speak, and then Mother being murdered four or five years ago—precisely because I know all these things so well, they weigh on my mind.

“And having your hair cut while you slept—mightn’t that be the same thing that happened before Mother was killed?”

“Sueki, hey, be strong…….
You have to become strong there.”
I understood what it was like for Sueki in that dark household…….
When I thought about it, being separated like this became so frustrating…….
But originally, Sueki was me and I was Sueki—so no matter what distances or farnesses existed, I didn’t think it posed any problem.

"Sueki, hey—send me a detailed reply at once."

"If you care about Elder Sister while her cough and fever worsen, hurry—not a moment to lose."

"Your Houko"

………………………

The murder of Sueki Sagara’s mother occurred about four years prior.

In Ishimachi, Oyu—Sueki’s mother and daughter of the household belonging to Daikousai, a renowned doll shop—was truly beautiful.
Fair-skinned, with a slender face and gracefully slim figure, there lingered about her an air of innocence even as someone’s mother.

However, from Sueki's perspective, the first adopted son—who would have been her biological father—died soon after, while the second one, the current Kyōkichi, possessed strong business ambitions and closed their long-established shop to instead run ventures like a cellophane company.

Was it because Kyōkichi had an eye for the zeitgeist? His swift abandonment of shop curtains and tradition—shedding attachments without hesitation—must have been Daikousai’s crowning achievement, distinguishing it from competitors preoccupied with crafting mannequin dolls.

Thus Sueki grew up in the suburban mansion district and entered a black-collared mission school that clashed with her mother and grandmother’s sensibilities.
Yet as summer neared that year, a dreadful tragedy struck this household.

Suddenly, without any warning or forewarning, an unexpected person perished at the hands of another unexpected person.

Until then, the Sagara household had known no particular disturbances…… Except that Sueki’s mother had contracted tuberculosis, which led Kyōkichi to spend more nights away from home—and for these reasons and others, their home was never bright.
However, those circumstances alone did not constitute a motive for murder.

Other than that, if one were to look into it further, there was also Kyōkichi’s dissatisfaction…

That was, as commonly seen with adopted sons, a case where even the telephone remained registered under Oyu’s name.

Exactly four years prior, on an oppressively humid rainy morning at the end of May.
In the Western-style room that had become Oyu’s sickroom, Oyu had died as though sleeping—stabbed through the heart without showing any signs of agony, only expelling a faint amount of blood.
And at her side, Grandmother Maki was gripping a facial carving and had fainted, stained with splattered blood.

However, Grandmother’s consciousness never returned to its former state.
Or rather—perhaps it was the shock of awakening from a momentary fit of passion and seeing her daughter’s corpse—she had become like a corpse herself, unable to move her limbs or speak, capable only of seeing and hearing.

That room had been converted into a sickroom at Maki’s insistence; to keep dear Oyu’s condition from worsening, they had locked the door and kept Kyōkichi away.
That night too, the key remained inserted in the keyhole—in a state where even a duplicate key could not open it.
Moreover, the garden-facing windows were tightly latched, with no footprints in the damp soil beneath them.

And so everything pointed to Maki; yet even then, no matter how thoroughly they searched, they could find no precise motive for why she would kill her only daughter—whom she had raised while upholding her widowhood.
According to the maid’s testimony, there had been an argument the previous night.
……Oyu, not particularly ill-tempered yet separated from Kyōkichi, would grow lonely on certain nights; during such times, she would take out her frustrations harshly on her mother over various matters—and that night too, Maki’s tearful voice had been heard in the hallway.
Psychologists state that maternal love coexists with maternal hatred.
Applying this coexistence of love and hate to elderly Maki, the incident became increasingly shrouded in suspicion.

Could this be one of those common episodes of physical decline that come with old age? If that were indeed the case, then Maki's subsequent condition could be called retribution.

Her hands would not move, her feet would not move, her mouth would not speak—she would likely spend her life in a wheelchair—and Maki's state of merely breathing and gazing vacantly was too painful to look at directly. Was this punishment—to be unable to die, compelled to spend one's remaining days enduring such agony...?

Sueki, too, found herself pondering this from time to time.

(I simply cannot believe Grandmother would do something so heinous.)
If she could speak, if her limbs moved and she could write...
Surely an unimaginable truth would emerge from Grandmother's lips.
How could someone as good as Grandmother become a demon?)

Sueki had resolved this conviction alone.
If flesh-and-blood relatives hated each other—that would be dreadful—but why would such reality exist between them⁉ It grew all the more tragic precisely because these two had divided the household love meant for her.

However, even when Sueki tried to peer in, the adult world was a faintly blurred realm.

At last, what comes to all arrived for Sueki too.
Standing at the boundary between girlhood and adulthood, amidst a sweet bewilderment tinged with nostalgic helplessness, Sueki found nothing that made her heart flutter.
The dawn’s first light was darkened by thoughts of Grandmother.
Childlike innocence would eventually fade, diminish, and vanish…
However, Grandmother alone was certain to remain forever...
And so Sueki drifted through adolescence with a dark heart, like a sickly rose.

However, about four or five months later, she suddenly discovered something unusual in Grandmother's eyes.

By occasionally ceasing to blink, the desperate effort to keep her eyes wide open without blinking seemed to strain frantically toward capturing Sueki’s attention and compelling her acknowledgment.

That manifestation was the only one that had appeared in Grandmother.
But whether that was an expression of joy, sorrow, or desire—even Sueki couldn’t discern that far.
It was carried out through the ocular muscles—the only moving muscle in Grandmother’s entire body….
Could this be an unseen mouth, an unheard language?

(Perhaps...)

With this, she might finally understand something—Sueki felt her heart leap and began scrutinizing with renewed intensity.
For Grandmother, a long darkness had been split, and light appeared…… Yet after several such instances, what she thought was revelation ended in hollow disappointment.

Though she understood the pathos of Grandmother straining not to blink while pooling tears, this solitary signal made it impossible to grasp what she sought to convey or disclose.
In the end, Sueki too grew disheartened, and thereafter only observed when inspiration struck—there remained nothing particularly remarkable to witness.

Then, one day—Grandmother’s efforts collided with something concrete for the first time.

It was when Sueki casually opened the women’s magazine that her mother had looked at during her lifetime.
The frontispiece contained photographs of various chignon styles spanning several pages, among which was the hair-coiled round chignon that had suited Mother best.
During funerals, Mother—with her delicate, slender frame—instead appeared all the more youthful; pure in her all-black attire, she looked like a spirit.
Even Sueki felt a yearning toward it, and even now, whenever she thinks of Mother, that figure comes to mind.

But when she noticed... Grandmother's wide-open eyes were reflected in the windowpane ahead.
The unblinking eyes pooled with tears; something that seemed to scream Look! Quickly, Sueki! spread soundlessly.
"Is this... Grandmother?"

When she asked, the eyes closed as though drained of all strength.
The tears soaked her cheeks and streamed down torrentially; when wiped away, those eyes would open wide once more, repeating the same pattern.

Undeniably, there was something Grandmother sought in this photograph⁉ But if that were merely a recollection of Mother, then ultimately it amounted to nothing of consequence.
Then, as Sueki turned the page with evident disappointment, it began anew.

This time, there was a single person combing behind her, using a coarse-toothed comb to untangle and arrange the hair.
Upon doing so—what Grandmother was now trying to convey—Sueki finally felt she understood.
For some reason, she was urging Sueki to tie the round chignon.

II. Alice in Wonderland

“Grandmother… does this look all right…?”

Since the book provided detailed instructions on how to tie it, she finally managed—after spending a long time—to complete the style, albeit imperfectly.
However, when she finished the undercombing and straightened out the kinks, and the chignon began taking shape, her mother’s visage from when she was alive dimly appeared.

The undeniable mother-child resemblance lay concealed within her aged features….

Sueki, too, when she finished tying and looked at her face in the mirror, suddenly felt something hot inside her eyelids.
And before her eyes, both the photograph and the chignon tilted askew, until all she could see were ripples obscuring her vision.

(Mother lives within Grandmother’s face now…)

And the wound in Sueki’s heart began to throb dully.
Yet had this merely grazed Sueki’s raw sentiment⁉

That night—Stepfather Kyōkichi’s face looked different at the evening meal.

“Sueki, was it you? Was it you who had Grandmother tie that chignon…”

“No.”

“But Grandmother is like something artificial.”
“Of course, since she can’t write or speak, there’s no way she could communicate…”
“Who was it then… Tokiya? Or Shimoya?”
“Sueki probably knows who brought the hairdresser, but…”

Sueki remained silent for a moment, as if probing.
Stepfather was claiming... that it hadn't been Grandmother's instruction.
That assumption wasn't unreasonable, given his ignorance of Grandmother's eyes.
But when she considered confessing the truth... even Sueki found herself at a loss.

Stepfather Kyōkichi maintained an impassive demeanor toward Sueki due to their lack of blood relation.
He showed neither particular affection nor stepchild-like treatment; even after Mother's death, his attitude remained unchanged from her lifetime.
Consistently keeping his distance—never too close nor too far—he was a man concerned solely with social appearances.

Precisely because of this, Sueki found herself unable to properly explain that Grandmother’s will had finally been conveyed—especially to someone who until now had shown no interest whatsoever.
Or rather—why was he so concerned about Grandmother’s hair?—Sueki found herself wanting to demand.
Mother’s visage dimly floated up—from the hair-coiled round chignon that had suited her best, from within those wrinkles.
If that hadn’t pierced her heart—why would Stepfather—? As she thought this, Sueki too began to grow rebellious,

“That was me, Father. I was the one who tied it.”
“Neither Shimoya nor Tokiya nor anyone else knows about it.”
“What... You did it...?”

Kyōkichi, holding a sake cup, began to stare fixedly at Sueki. However, he seemed to have quickly realized something, and his face softened considerably.

“Now now Sueki, remembering’s all well and good, but that sort of thing simply won’t do.”
“Ah, of course—since Mother and Grandmother are parent and child, if you tie that chignon, they’d look alike.”
“But what has Grandmother done?”
“That won’t do. She’s suffering more than if she’d been punished like that.”
“That’s precisely the kind of thing that would make her remember and suffer.”
“Sueki, do you hate Grandmother that much?”

“I… why would I… such a thing…”

Sueki found herself flustered and pressed to explain when Kyōkichi interpreted her actions from an unexpected angle.
Until then, there had been a keenness unbefitting a girl her age, and though faint, she had harbored suspicions toward her stepfather Kyōkichi...

"That was Grandmother's command, Father."

"What... Grandmother...?"

Instantly, Kyōkichi's cheek twitched sharply.
The color drained from his lips down to his fingertips, and it was some time before he managed to speak.

“Then what exactly did Grandmother do? Has her mouth become free, or her fingers…?”

“No.”

“Then what happened⁉”

Had Sueki possessed even a moment’s composure then, she might have discerned—as though through a mirror of her heart—her stepfather’s confusion and disarray, particularly how he dissolved into slackness when told it was not so.
However, when Sueki explained it to him, Kyōkichi grew quiet again as before.

“I see. Then I’ll allow it.
“If Grandmother hadn’t proposed it but you did instead, I would have put a stop to it right away.”

However, after two or three days had passed and she returned from school, Sueki was confronted with a bizarre scene in Grandmother’s parlor.
Stepfather stood blocking Grandmother’s front, staring fixedly at her.

In his demeanor there was a solemn resolve to get to the bottom of things today, while Grandmother maintained her usual expressionless countenance and an impenetrable calm.
Yet in her eyes there was an uncanny glint never before seen.
Indeed, that very spot alone appeared hollowed out, a sinister vitality gushing forth from the rippling waves of wrinkles like incarnate malice itself.
Contempt, hatred, scorn, mockery—such hues seemed to radiate from her gaze, or perhaps she felt righteous indignation at Kyōkichi’s reproach—regardless, the scene held something profoundly abnormal.

However, when Kyōkichi saw Sueki, he hastily pulled away. Brushing past her at the doorway, he gripped her shoulder firmly.

“Sueki, what day is today?”

“The seventeenth.”

“Right—even if the month’s different, it’s your mother’s death anniversary. I normally keep it contained, but today... I can’t.”

Kyōkichi's life was indeed a dark one.
Even now, the eyes' tear-stained sorrow was undeniably more intense than any hatred toward Grandmother.
When Sueki saw that, even her conviction—which had been so unshakable until then—began to waver precariously.

However, Grandmother's eyes softened with affection upon seeing her granddaughter; what had once been parched and dry began to moisten, tears tracing silently down her cheeks.
Sueki could no longer endure the depth of her doubts.
Pressing her own cheek against Grandmother's, over the cold wetness where tears streamed silently, Sueki realized she was crying.

“Oh Grandmother, what did Stepfather just say?”

Sueki paused, then drew in a sharp breath—but this merely showed that same emotion that stopped her blinking in both of them.
Sueki, seeing this, felt as though every possible recourse was exhausted.
Would she go on like this forever—listening to the clank of chains, endlessly dragged onward without release?

But then, Sueki noticed Grandmother’s eyes were fixed unwaveringly on something directly before her.
Not blinking... she was trying to communicate something to Sueki.

“What is it, Grandmother?”
“This... you mean this?”

Then Grandmother, when taking the key hung on the mantelpiece, suddenly displayed that arresting emotion of ceasing to blink. This key had served as proof of the locked room when Mother was murdered and had since been forgotten in this room. When she considered this—did Grandmother mean to lock the door of this very room where Sueki now slept with her? Especially since that recent scene with her stepfather lingered so vividly, Sueki felt something that made her shudder all the more given its immediacy.

Sueki was utterly alone beneath the vast sky.
Beloved Elder Sister Houko had been taken away to the sanatorium, while she barely managed to breathe amidst suspicion and dark clouds.

However, it was one year later.
Sueki’s house was in the midst of constructing a new mansion, but she suddenly came to suspect that her stepfather was the perpetrator.
It was when she got up in the morning and faced the mirror that she noticed the hair at her temples had been cut to a width of about four or five bu (approximately 1.2–1.5 centimeters).

(Who could it be...?)

The moment she thought this, a chill ran icily down her spine.
Two... soul-freezing entities came creeping over Sueki.

(That time too.
About a month before Mother was killed, her hair had been cut while she slept.
At the time, I hadn't paid it any mind, but when I thought about it, Mother had been killed just a month later.
And this time...)

It was clearly something like an omen.
It was undoubtedly a prelude to the tragedy that would inevitably befall someone before long.

However, there was something else that pained Sueki even more.
That was because even if there were a duplicate key to release the latch, she still couldn't imagine how the door had been opened.
Then, eyes were naturally directed inward.
Apart from Sueki, the only other person in the room was Grandmother.

Oh Grandmother... There's no way...
(She can't even move for a minute... How could she...)

No matter how much she shook her head, she couldn't deny reality.
Gradually that width too diminished, until she found herself gazing fearfully at Grandmother rather than mourning.

(Those hands... those legs...
The withered ones might creak into motion when no one was watching.
Listening to my breathing, she quietly rose—when it came to who cut the hair, it could only be Grandmother.)

Until just recently, she had desperately dismissed such thoughts whenever they arose, but now she muttered them as a matter of course.
Creepy—Grandmother like the pads of a cat’s paw…
In those immobile muscles lay a terrifying delusion.
To cover up the crime—my, she had kept up this act for so terribly long.

And now, a different kind of sinister aura enveloped that room.
Lately, Grandmother—once so compact—had grown even smaller, and what had been an exquisite bonsai stone now seemed nothing more than a crude wooden root doll; her white hair rippled like a sulfurous sea as she quietly rose.
Especially Grandmother’s specter-like nocturnal visage—
The gums where dentures had been removed appeared like black tooth polish, and when she pursed her lips, everything from the mouth upward crumpled into a shriveled mess, the face folding inward like a lantern being collapsed along its seams.
Moreover, her form—scissors in hand, listening to Sueki’s breathing—was precisely like a yōkai painting that could be nothing but a phantom.

However, for Sueki, this was a matter of stark reality.
Moreover, precisely because her attachment to Grandmother was abnormally deep, Sueki—worn down by this erosion of spirit and exhausted from deliberation—sought salvation at the sanatorium.
Then, when Sueki sent a reply as Houko had requested details, a return letter arrived with a book enclosed.
That was Lewis Carroll's famous children's story "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

III. Creepy Grandmother

(From Houko)

Sueki, I am now... being careful not to give words to the violence of my passion.
"I know exactly how terribly you suffer..."

With love... an invisible ribbon binds us.
Yet some ominous night-bird presence about you must be hindering me from reaching you in dreams.
"But even I cannot write these letters without fever's tremors and blood's agitation."
"I wish I could make greater sacrifices for your sake."
Sueki's immaculate celestial form——

“I believe Elder Sister must take Sueki’s worries upon herself,”
“Let us tread upon thorns and channel pain and blood back into dreams.”
“However, I believe that even slightly alleviating Sueki’s pain is Elder Sister’s sacred duty.”
“Sueki, what do you think of the book I sent you?”

“In sending you a book of fairy tales into your anguish and grief, it is not to say that this will wash away and soothe your worries.”
“What could it be? But I cannot believe that Elder Sister’s love cannot save Sueki.”

“This is Alice’s journey through Wonderland—a tale read so thoroughly it clings to one’s senses—where creatures like the Caterpillar, Mock Turtle, and Dodo engage in otherworldly conversations, mimicking human ways as they earnestly narrate a realm of metaphors and allegories.”
“And how does that relate to Sueki’s troubles?”

Sueki doesn’t want Grandmother to be the culprit—that much Elder Sister understands well.
“But for that matter, I believe we first require proof of how Sueki’s Stepfather entered that room.”
And so Sueki, while turning the pages, would carefully read the parts marked with red lines and pondered their hidden meanings.
A good thing…
“Now, on the fourth line of the first page,”

"Why would a book without pictures be useful?" Alice wondered.

This means you must never consider it meaningless or scorn it.
Then, on the fifth line:

"Oh dear Diana (the cat's name), how lovely it would be if you were here with me."
"But surely there aren't any dormice in the sky?"
"Though if they're bats, I think I could catch them."
"You see, they bear such striking resemblance to dormice."
"But I wonder if cats eat bats."

By now, Alice seemed to be growing tired and continued murmuring to herself in a dreamlike state.

"I wonder if cats eat bats... I wonder if a cat eats bats..."

And then,

"I wonder if bats eat cats..."

This came about because Alice had been unable to answer the previous questions, resulting in this becoming a serious error.

This time on page six,

“And besides, even if only my head were out…”

And so, poor Alice began thinking thus:

“If my shoulders don’t come out too, they’re no use at all.
Ah, if only I could fold up my body like a telescope.
If I just knew how to begin—the method—I’m sure I could do it.”

This... you see, Sueki...
“No matter how desperately you writhe and probe at doors, unless you can fold yourself up like this, not even an ant could pass through.
For one thing, in Alice too it says in the very next line—”
That was because Alice firmly believed it wasn’t impossible for her to do so—.
There now, Sueki—this is counsel from my deepest heart, that I might spare you even a little wasted effort.
“Stop this, and next turn to page twelve.”

Alice’s dear right foot

Along the hearthside rug

Near the ash stopper

This was likely the definitive answer.
"I feel there must certainly be one movable spot within the hearth.
Otherwise, could there be any intrusion like wind seeping through cracks—wherever you look, can one imagine such a thing⁉ Investigate it... I believe the truth must lie in the most ordinary of places."

But Sueki will surely not doubt Elder Sister.
You are now resting upon Elder Sister’s lap.
Gentle—eyes closed then opened—wavering, that chest and lips.

“In return, Elder Sister awaits your glad tidings.”

With love,

From Houko

From Houko

(Reply from Sueki)

“Elder Sister, you’re being quite cruel.”
“Taking those carefree words seriously, I spent the whole day rummaging through the hearth.”
“But far from moving, there was no response at all.”
“But I’ve finally realized why you did that—Elder Sister.”

My nerves—strained to a throbbing edge—found sound rest that single night through your grace, Elder Sister.

"Oh such a thing⁉ How could I resent you... When you showed such care for my health through those means... With this beautiful love and devotion⁉ Yet I find no moments to savor Elder Sister's visage that surfaces in my mind."

"But I shall soon move to the new residence."

"Then these dark moods shall lift, and I'll cross field and mountain to stay ever at your side."

"Until that time... Please don't chide poor Sueki..."

“Elder Sister—my beloved, my radiant Elder Sister. Sueki shall remain, for all eternity, Elder Sister’s handmaiden.”

From Sueki

(From Houko in reply to that)

“Sueki-chan, forgive me.”
“To you—so unbearably, adorably precious I could swallow you whole—I made you do such a thing…”
“But that you’ve comprehended my heart—nothing could be dearer.”
“For the astute Sueki-chan, this may have been foreseen—yet you require purification from that torment.”
“Otherwise, Sueki-chan’s body cannot endure.”

“By the way, I hear you’re moving. So I’ve come to understand why Sueki-chan’s hair was needed—the reason behind it all. Grandmother stands on the very brink of encountering a terrible fate.

Are you aware that hair expands and contracts with humidity… There exists someone who applied that principle to the movement of lock plates and constructed a secret device within the keyhole. That’s right. Attach a weight to the end of the hair strand, then pour hot water into the keyhole. Then, as humidity rises, the hair expands—causing the weight to lower and the lock plate to descend. Therefore, there must naturally have been a duplicate key—by merely connecting that device to the lock plate and pouring in hot water, the door would open effortlessly.”

“Well now, Sueki—who could it be?”

Having deemed two murders in the same room unthinkable, he had constructed that device in the new residence and was now lying in wait for another opportunity.

“So Sueki and Grandmother must escape quickly...
As soon as you finish reading this letter, get Grandmother into the car and come rushing here.
I swear by love and fidelity to pray for your safety.
I’ll warm Sueki-chan against my chest and gently enfold her.”

“Hurry, Sueki, hurry and escape here….”

………………………

Finally, Houko's speculation proved true.

The next day, Houko lay on the slope gazing enraptured at marten-like clouds adrift in the sky.
That fierce sky—the sea of trees casting emerald brilliance—formed a valley ablaze.

(Sueki will come, I'll hold Sueki, a new life will begin...)

Houko lay in a dreamlike bliss that permeated her very being, chasing heat shimmers as she envisioned a train flying through the sky.
A life for three—Grandmother's harshness would disappear.
Sueki's heart-wounds would eventually heal.
And their love would endure as something immaculate and supreme.

Why must it be forbidden for a woman to love a woman?
Here, where two girls would pledge eternal chastity...

Houko puckered her mouth and murmured a dreamy protest.
Lying prone, she felt the soil's breath and undulations from below brush against her nipples like Sueki's chest.
The spring's return drew near.
Houko caught the acrid stench of animal in her own breath.