Beach chairs lined the shore. Masaru leaned deeply into the backrest and sighed heavily. It had been a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Tokyo. This was his first long drive since he got his license. At the water's edge, a woman in a swimsuit was playing joyfully with the waves. There was no need to refer to her so formally as 'woman.' Masaru's mother, Izumi, was laughing in a small bikini that made the onlooker blush. 'Hey, Masaru! Don't just sit there; come into the sea with me!' His beaming mother called out to him...
