Summary

The first chapter is titled “The End.” It is dated April 1, 1945. It is written from the perspective of Hideki Kaneshiro. Hideki is a fourth-year student at a middle school. He and his classmates are standing outside their school, which is demolished by mortar fire while they stand there. Though their instinct is to run, Lieutenant Colonel Sano of the Imperial Japanese Army shouts at them to remain still, and they do. They all want to be like Sano, but they are still afraid. Several of the boys are whimpering. Hideki is a fourth-year student who is small for his age. He is among the 100 boys from his school, and they are all dressed in the tan uniforms and are being inducted into the Blood and Iron Student Corps. Their principal, Norio Kojima is there with Sano and the governor of Okinawa...