The summer I was evacuated to that town was the year the war ended. Since I wasn't part of an organized evacuation but was just staying with relatives, I didn't have any friends. The only thing I did was walk around the town by myself.
Every day, I walked down a narrow alley for a reason that made me ignore the warning of the woman at my boarding house.
Even in the daytime, the path was quiet, as if asleep. It was lined with slightly rundown houses. As I walked, a hedge came into view.
My heart began to pound—thump, thump. Peering through the hedge, I saw her, just as I'd hoped.
"Hello," the girl said, noticing me.
"H-hello..." I replied, my eyes darting around, unable to look directly at her.
Leaning out the window to water the garden plants, she was wearing only a white camisole.
She was probably fourteen or fifteen, a little older than me—a fifth grader. With her long hair tied in two pigtails and a lovely face, her chest was quite large for her age...no, even compared to the average Japanese woman at that time, her chest was large. Her breasts nearly spilled out of her camisole, the strap of which had slipped from her shoulder.
The girl on the other side of the hedge was always dressed like that. As I watched her water the plants and do chores, I caught glimpses of her large breasts through the gaps in her camisole. That was my reason for always taking this path.
I hadn't even experienced my first wet dream yet, let alone masturbated. Yet, every time I saw her, I felt an indescribable sensation—a restless heat deep inside my body—and I wanted to understand this unknown feeling.
"It's hot again today," she said.
"Yes, it is," I replied, watching the sweat glistening in her cleavage.
Oblivious to her own appearance, she chatted away. The summer sun was fierce, and the town, nestled in a basin, was sweltering.
"Hey, why don't you come up and have some tea? The landlady's out today," she said, smiling and beckoning me over.
As if drawn by her words, I stepped into the house.
"So, you're from Tokyo?" said the girl who introduced herself as Kanade.
She listened with great delight as I told her about the trams running through the city, the movies and revues I'd seen with my family, and the zoo and museum.
"Tokyo sounds like a wonderful place," she said.
"You should go there yourself someday," I replied innocently.
"That's impossible for me..." she said with a deeply lonely expression.
"Why?"
"I can't leave this place."
Kanade looked around the room. It was only about four and a half tatami mats in size and contained a folded futon in the corner, a small dresser with a mirror, and the low dining table at which we were sitting.
"You see, I was sold to this place."
I was speechless, unable to comprehend her words. She gave me a sad smile.
"You told me such happy stories. I should repay you."
She stood up and began to slip the straps of her camisole off her shoulders.
With a soft rustle, the camisole fell to the floor, leaving the girl completely naked.
Her body was completely different from my mother's, whose form I vaguely remembered. Her large breasts were too big for my small hands to hold and were tipped not with the familiar brown nipples I was used to but with small, fruit-like buds tinged with red that pointed slightly upward.
Her smooth, white skin, illuminated by sunlight from the window, gave way to a softly rounded mound below her belly, adorned with a small patch of pubic hair. I saw the shape and color of her slit, which looked like a red shellfish looking up at me from below.
As I stared, speechless, she knelt before me.
"I'm sorry. This is all I can offer you," she whispered. Her lips met mine.
Her slick, warm tongue slipped into my mouth and explored every corner.
Caught off guard by this unexpected act, my body went limp, as if melting. I offered no resistance as her hands pushed up my shirt and pulled down my trousers.
"Look at this. It's already like this," she said.
As she pulled down my underwear, my small, foreskin-covered penis sprang out.
When she lightly touched it with her fingers, a jolt of pleasure ran through my whole body and my hips jerked.
"Have you ever felt good with your penis?" she asked.
I shook my head.
"Then I'm your first," Kanade said with a happy smile. She took my penis into her mouth.
"I-I can't!"
With just a soft chu sound as she sucked on the tip, I ejaculated for the first time into her mouth.
The sensation was violent and completely different from urination; it was as if the very essence of my body was being pulled out. For a moment, I felt like I might lose consciousness.
"It's so thick...your first time," she said.
She opened her mouth, and inside, I could see a sticky, viscous mass that looked like diluted potato starch. With a small gulp, she swallowed it.
"How did it feel?" she asked.
I nodded, dumbfounded.
"Let me make you feel even better," she said, holding my still-quivering, unsoftened penis in her hand, straddled me, and guided it inside her body.
"I'll take you to Tokyo, Kanade," I said, clinging to her on the futon.
"Thank you. I'll be waiting," she replied.
Overjoyed by my childish words, Kanade smiled and kissed me.
We promised to meet again the next day and then parted ways.
The next morning, air raid sirens wailed through the town. American planes were coming.
"Why here...?" The adults panicked when a low, powerful sound echoed through the air.
"Bombs!" someone shouted. When I rushed outside, I saw a pillar of black smoke rising.
It was coming from the area where Kanade's house was.
Ignoring the adults trying to stop me, I ran out of the house.
Her house was on fire.
Red flames roared, and with a terrible cracking sound, the house began to collapse.
"Kanade! Kanade!"
The adults around me held me back as I tried to rush into the flames.
Still, I stretched out my hand and kept screaming.
'Kanaade!'"
I woke up to the sound of my own scream.
Kanade was standing beside the bed where I lay, at the end of my outstretched hand.
"Kanade! You're safe!" I breathed with relief.
"You were having that dream again, Grandpa. I'm Mio, your granddaughter," said the girl who looked so much like my wife in her youth. She smiled as she took my hand and placed it on her chest."