Chapter 5 Summary - Pink Trumpets (June 1971)

It is the last girls' track meet before the summer vacation - city finals for the junior high school of Kobe - and Yuki is warming up for her race. She thinks of the picture her mother had taken of her winning the 50-meter dash back in the third grade. As she stretches she sees a group of girls in red-and-black uniforms passing by and she hurriedly looks for the tall ninth-grade girl who ran the hurdles.

They had first met after Yuki had won the 1,000-meter event at a meet between their schools. After the racerace, she had gone for a drink of water and almost bumped into the tall girl. If she would just talk to me, Yuki thought, she would be happy. Her own race began after noon. During the race she unconsciously...