Big Salute for the 578th Month Commemoration of the Establishment of Houen City

On that day, the older brother and Chika-bou went through the dust from Phosphorous City to the black market to exchange a bit of scrap metal for cash. With the money they received, they got cigarettes, tea, dried scraps of meat, white sugar and fever medicine, but they weren't able to find the little sister's shoes. Tired of walking, they sat down in some shade. It was then that three strange booms echoed out into the autumn air. Cannons had been fired to commemorate the 578th month of the city's establishment. Without knowing it, Chikako remembered the pipe bomb that had exploded in a back street late two years ago. Perhaps it was because the persimmons she had seen on the way up the hill had been so mushy.