At first I didn't know what awoke me – a faint siren far away in the distance, lasting a very long time. But the papers have been so full of air-raid information recently, it didn't take me long to work out it was a precautionary alarm. Because of the blackout curtains, I had no idea of the time, and quietly got up to peer through the window. It was just starting to get light – perhaps six o’clock or so.

Hiro was sound asleep. I’d wake him if the precautionary alarms progressed to a real air raid alarm, I thought, remembering to listen for a succession of seven short blasts. In heightened anticipation, aware of my beating heart, I lay completely still, concentrating on the distant sounds. After perhaps as long as half an hour, instead of short blasts, I recognized the sound of the all-clear. Hiro had managed to sleep through the whole thing.

‘Of course I heard it, but saw no point of getting up, it was so far away,’ he said when he got up. ‘Even Jay-jay didn't stir, though I’m sure she heard too,’ he smiled, patting her as she jumped on the bed.

Noticing how shaken I was, Hiro suddenly seemed to realize I had little exposure to air raid alarms.

‘I guess you don't hear them much here,’ he said. ‘In Hongkew and the eastern industrial areas, we’ve become used to the sirens.’ He gave me a soft nudge on the shoulder to comfort me.

But rather than being comforted, I now knew that he was exposed to so much more danger at the factory.

Friday, 7 July

I went to the Holy Trinity Cathedral yesterday, via a roundabout route. First I visited Agnes at the hospital and then went on to visit Irma, and then to the Cathedral with the excuse that I happened to be in the neighbourhood. My motives? Of course I wanted to pay Agnes a visit and report on her progress to Irma at the Friend's office. But deep down, was it the Cathedral that attracted me, the desire to see Mr Ikemoto again?