“Three places.”
“You were five.”
“Temporarily.”
Kenji remembered. He’d made that up on the spot, exhausted, desperate. Haha to Kodomobeya Oji-san no 1--- Nenkan no Nari...
He grated the daikon. Too hard—he scraped his knuckle. Haruko didn’t rush to help. She just sat at the table, knitting a scarf no one had asked for. “Three places
Kenji walked to the kitchen. He had a job offer—a small one, at a local grocery, managing the vegetable section. It wasn’t glory. It was chopping cabbages and rotating the carrots. at a local grocery
“Uncle Kenji,” she said, peering into the children’s room. “You really live here?”