Chapter 8 Summary

The next class day, the janitor talks with Yoko and enjoys her slow way, which helps him speak fluently. He starts saving anything that she might be able to use in her studies. The other students draw an insulting picture of Yoko and post it on a bulletin board. This causes Yoko to vow not to attend school any longer, but being unable to tell Ko, she decides to keep on going to class.

When Mother returns from Aomori, she tells Ko and Yoko that her parents are dead and that nothing is left from the bombings. Mother dies later that day. Mrs. Masuda helps the family to bring Mother to the crematorium, thirty minutes before Ko returns from the University. Ko and Yoko pick up Mother's ashes the next morning and use a mess kit as an urn. A Buddhist monk refuses...