Lake Kawaguchi is the setting for a two-day, one-night trip on which Hiromi and Naemura consummate their relationship. The lakeside resort offers Hiromi a rare interval alone with him, yet the intimacy does not become a shared plan for the future; her priority remains pursuing an acting career.

The Invitation

At a café where they often met, Naemura showed Hiromi a guidebook photograph of Mount Fuji and proposed a visit, recalling that she had never seen it. His earlier indecision gave way, at their next meeting, to this concrete invitation. Hiromi was so thrilled that, had they been alone, she might have thrown her arms around his neck.

The Trip

They used a long weekend to travel for two days and one night. Hiromi told the orphanage she would be going away with a group of high-school friends. She did not know what pretext Naemura gave his wife and did not care to find out. The trip thus depended on concealment on both sides, though the account gives no further detail about his explanation.

They stayed at a resort on the banks of Lake Kawaguchi. Hiromi found the setting lovely and the food delicious, but her happiness at finally being alone with Naemura eclipsed the surroundings. The lake and resort provide the setting for an emotional culmination rather than becoming the focus of her attention.

Intimacy and Separate Futures

During the stay, Hiromi and Naemura consummated their relationship. The moment confirms their intimacy, but it does not redirect Hiromi toward a future as a couple. She was not interested in making a shared future with him; working out her own path came first, and she saw acting as her only option. Her love of the stage had begun with the glamour of the first performance she saw.

That distinction shapes the trip’s significance: closeness is achieved, but a common life is not. Hiromi’s next steps lead toward the Balalaika troupe, the company that had staged the performance that inspired her. She auditioned in Tokyo that February despite having no acting experience and little expectation of success, and won a place. The position made her a trainee for two years without a regular salary, with the company able to find her part-time work and arrange shared housing with other trainees. Lake Kawaguchi therefore marks a private high point in her relationship with Naemura while her independent ambition remains the force directing her future.