Tokyo Island

The lottery to choose her next husband was to take place at the Imperial Palace. Kiyoko got up earlier than usual and headed down to Odaiba. The inlet, covered with black stones, was always gloomy, and it was hard to believe it was in the South Seas. Hemmed in by jutting cliffs, the seawater appearing to rise up so much it blocked the entrance, it was an oppressive site. Kiyoko felt locked in and just couldn’t bring herself to enjoy the beach. This was the very spot where, five years before, she and her husband Takashi had stumbled ashore after their cruiser had been wrecked. In the midst of a terrible storm, as she spied the island in the distance, she’d been overjoyed, but now she spent each day gazing back out at the ocean knowing she couldn’t escape.