Sanaa enters the dōjō for the first time with a smile on her face, and Jiro knows he’s the one who put it there. The kiss he planted on her neck still tingles on his lips from the previous night, accelerating his heart and lightening his mood.
Goodbyes are said at the okiya and Jiro’s mother makes up for her earlier behavior by hugging Sanaa and asking her over for tea. Miko and Yoichi walk off together, and Jiro watches them go sadly.
Making an educated guess, Jiro deposits himself outside of the transitway stop closest to the Hana Okiya at seven-ten. He figures Sanaa will disembark the train here in another ten minutes and hopefully he’ll be able to catch her and escort her the rest of the way.
Waiting in the dōjō the next day for Sanaa to arrive, Jiro checks the time over and over. It’s 1:00… then 1:01.
Jiro arrives at Izakaya Tanaka fifteen minutes before he’s scheduled to meet Sanaa, and his heart is beating so fast he thinks he may die before he sees her. This’ll be the first time they’ve ever socialized outside of the dōjō unsupervised.
Sanaa’s not doing well in practice today. Her reaction time is completely off, and she keeps blinking her eyes, staring out into space past him when they’re between kata.
Sakai’s taxi deposits him outside of Section 6 of Ku 2, the Medical Services Ward. He lets the car door close itself, and lengthening his stride, he waves himself past the monitors and down the long hall to room 236.
Jiro and Sakai arrive home to Ku 6 from Ku 10 in time to get called out again for dinner with their relatives, the Suzukis. Jiro spends the entire meal talking with Masa enthusiastically about the new weapons Masa’s been creating in his workspace.
