The last tomato - Hiroshima told in his own words: (5)

　
(5) Dark as pitch in an instant

I did not know how much time I spent. I fell down in the thicket without consciousness for a while. My surrounding was dark as pitch when I was noticed. I remember it was a deep-blue sky without any cloud till then. It became pitch-dark in an instant. I thought that I might see a dream at first. In darkness, I looked around my own body confusedly. The figure of Mr. Saito who must have been next to me was not in my sight. It seemed not to be a dream somehow. I came out of the thicket and jumped down on the ground.

I did not know what happened and what I should do. However, I began to walk forward the direction of the house evacuation to meet with my classmates in any way. Then I just found Mr. Saito, who was beside me a while ago, was coming in this direction. I went close to him and said, "Hey! Saito.", but I could not speak anything. My throat seemed to be stuck and the voice did not come out from me.
Mr. Saito did not notice me since it was dark as pitch. I saw him disappearing into the darkness without meeting each other.

I had no memory where and how I walked along. In a while, I returned back again in front of the door of the city office. The surrounding was still darkness. There was a large porch in front of the city office, and in front of the porch there was a street for the city street car. However, all the wires and telegraph poles of the street car felt down and blocked the road , and then I could not walk. Of course, the street cars had stopped. When I went to the porch of the door, I met many people running and coming out of the city office, raising screams, "Uhoh, Uhoh", which I could not recognize.

I looked around the surroundings. Many people were coming and gathering to the city office from all the directions. I also heard voices, "Damaged Ah and damaged Ah". At that time, for the first time I understood I was damaged by the air raid. However, the siren of the air-raid alarm, which should resound far and wide to the whole city if it was normal, did not sound only on this day. It was natural that I did not know the reason why, since we were suddenly bombed.

Two young women came to me, shook my shoulder and asked, "Are we injured?" I saw that fragments of glass were pierced everywhere of them and their blood was flowing down through their faces and bodies in drops. However, since it was dark, red blood did not look red. "You are seriously injured" I answered. They disappeared into the crowded, saying, "We are already hopeless."

As for not only two women but also all the people that were in the surroundings, the fragments of glass were stuck in all over their bodies. There was a grandmother accompanied by her small child. She grasped her child's hand firmly and began to pray "namu-amida-butsu, namu-amida-butsu" soon.
I united my hands involuntarily, praying, " God help me. God help me." Neighboring darkness did not still clear up. I felt fear suddenly. I thought, "It is bad for me to stay here, so I have to escape somehow."

(To be continued)