Chapter 12 Summary

The story returns to 1941 and every day after Ishmael and Hatsue work the strawberry fields, they return to the hollow cedar tree. And with every daily rendezvous, Ishmael falls deeper and deeper in love with Hatsue. However, her impenetrable wall of seeming coldness leaves him in the dark as to what she is thinking. In fact, he is surprised when Hatsue says that they are doing something wrong by seeing each other. Hatsue explains that she is defying the will of her parents and that is evil, whereas Ishmael merely says that they are happy together and that is no bad thing. However, despite Hatsue's concerns, they continue to meet.

Eventually school starts again and Ishmael is once again surprised and put off by Hatsue's ability to utterly ignore him in the hallways. However, he gets used to it and eventually starts thinking...