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loved depressed him to the highest degree. Of course, he had had no intention to set out to make his girl student his lover. If he had had such definite intentions, he would not have been reluctant to grasp at the two opportunities which had already come within his reach. But, how could he bear to have his beloved student, this Yoshiko who had added beautiful colors and endless vitality to his lonely life, be suddenly snatched away by another? Although he had hesitated to grasp at the opportunities twice, he was waiting for a faint hope, in the bottom-most reaches of his heart, of the possibility of a third or a fourth opportunity, then starting a new life. Tokio was distressed and distracted. Feelings of jealousy, pity and regret blended together, swirling around in his brain like a cyclone. Mixed with these feelings, was a sense of his moral responsibility as a teacher which erupted into a fit of brief madness. Apart from these feelings, a sense of sacrifice for the sake of his beloved pupil's happiness, all the more distracted his mind. As a result, he consumed a large amount of saké at dinner from which he fell into a sleep.
The next day was a rainy Sunday. The noise of rain pattering on the grove in the backyard caused him to feel more forlorn. He could not help but wonder at the density of the rain falling against the old zelkova tree and how long it lasted falling boundlessly from the sky. Tokio had neither the spirit to read nor to pick up his pen. It was now autumn and while he lay on a rattan chair which felt chilly to his back and watched looking at the downpour he reflected upon his past life leading to this recent affair. He had gone through several such experiences before. He constantly tasted the bitterness of the
