6

"Are you sure you girls are going to be OK?" he asked, grinning at the mock exasperation on their faces at the implication that they wouldn't be. He knew full well that they were dying to hit the shops without him trailing behind them and they had jumped at the chance to go off alone.

"Just go, Dad!" "Liv and I have shopping to do."

"Fine," he said, once again hit by how thankful he was for how things had turned out. He couldn't bear to think of how things could have gone so differently.

"Well I'll see you both later then." Even though he was glad they were going to go off and have a fun day together, he couldn't help feeling a little bit jealous that he wasn't really wanted. He knew he was just being silly though. Shopping wasn't exactly his favourite activity. Although that said, he wasn't all that convinced that what Hiroshi had in store for him would be much better.

"Bye," they chorused in unison, turning away and walking off arm in arm. Elliot watched them go and a few steps later he was rewarded, as Olivia briefly turned to look back sympathetically and wave at him. He waved back, ignoring the slight warm feeling in his stomach, putting it down to the gratefulness he felt towards her for coming out all this way with him and helping him find Lizzie.

It was unfortunate that the airline had been unable to find them seats on a plane for another three days, but he supposed seeing a little bit more of Japan while they waited would be interesting. He doubted he would be returning any time soon. Hiroshi had offered to take them all to a hot spring today. Muttering something about the time of the month Lizzie and Olivia had decided they much preferred the chance for some shopping and so it ended up being arranged that Elliot would go with Hiroshi to check out this hot spring and then they'd all meet later for dinner.

Elliot liked Hiroshi. He was genuinely friendly and it was nice how willing he was to go out of his way to help them feel welcome in his country. It seemed he had appointed himself as their personal tour guide and it made Elliot feel that thanks to him they were getting the chance to experience a bit more of the real Japan rather than just the usual tourist traps. As for the food, well Elliot knew there was no way they would have managed to find the places that Hiroshi was taking them to without him, let alone be able to read the menu and order. They would have been confined to Western style places with English menus or to the kinds of restaurants that had pictures in the menus or plastic food models in the windows.

Hiroshi arrived at the hotel exactly on time and Elliot clambered into the passenger seat of his silver Honda civic hybrid.

"This is my daughter," he said as soon as Elliot had buckled his belt. Elliot turned around and saw a child with long pigtails and a huge smile just like her father's. Hiroshi said something to his daughter in Japanese then the child introduced herself.

"I'm Minami," she said naturally. "I'm eight."

"Nice to meet you Minami, I'm Elliot," he replied.

"She misses speaking English and asked to come," said Hiroshi. "So I let her have a day off summer school. She knows it's just for one day though, don't you, Minami! She will study tonight. I will make her." Elliot saw the groan on Minami's face, but it was good-natured.

"Today's just revision," she said cheerfully. "No problem."

"So it's your first time at a hot spring?" Hiroshi asked.

"Yeah, I must admit, I'm not sure what to really expect," replied Elliot.

"I'm taking you about an hour out of the city into the mountains. There's a beautiful rotemburo there."

"A what?" Elliot asked.

"Outside bath," Hiroshi explained. "Outside one is a bit cooler than inside one."

"Oh right." Elliot wondered what on earth this place would be like. Would it be open so that just anyone could see them? He had seen a short excerpt in the travel guide about "Onsen" or hot springs and was already a little nervous after having read that people bathed completely naked. He wondered what would happen with Hiroshi's daughter. He wasn't sure he was comfortable taking his clothes off in front of an eight year old girl.

They arrived around an hour later at the hot spring. It was a huge building and given the number of cars in the car park fairly popular, Elliot thought. As soon as they entered the building they had to remove their shoes and place them in a locker. Then they went to the front desk where they paid to use the baths, handed their locker key over and then received a couple of towels. One was a bath towel, but the other looked hardly much bigger than a large facecloth.

"Come on," said Hiroshi impatiently, leading the way excitedly. Elliot could tell he was looking forward to this and he wasn't sure really why a bath in the middle of a hot and humid summer would be so appealing.

They reached a couple of doorways and headed towards the one with the blue curtains. Minami went towards the one with the red curtains.

"She's going in alone?" Elliot asked amazed.

"Sure, she's been here many times. She's too big for men's one now really...One hour, ne!" he called after his daughter as she disappeared into the female baths.

Elliot followed Hiroshi into the huge changing room and was immediately hit by the fact that there were several men in various states of undress. He tried to keep his eyes on Hiroshi who led him to a shelf with large baskets on.

"You can put your clothes in here," Hiroshi instructed him, pointing out one of the empty baskets. "There's a locker if you want to put your wallet in it."

"OK," said Elliot turning round to see a row of small lockers. He turned back and was shocked to see Hiroshi had already stripped off to his waist.

"Come on," his new friend urged him, continuing to remove his clothes.

"I'm sorry," said Elliot awkwardly. "This is all just a bit different to what I'm used to."

"Use this towel if you want," Hiroshi said, handing him the smaller towel. Elliot wondered exactly just what he was supposed to be able to cover up with the tiny thing. Deciding to just go ahead and plunge into the unknown, he started to strip. He was suddenly aware of Hiroshi's eyes on him.

"What?" he asked, feeling more than a little self-conscious.

"Your tattoos," he replied. "Usually no tattoos allowed in hot spring."

"Really? Why not?"

"Looks like mafia."

"Geez," Elliot replied, a little embarrassed.

"Maybe it's OK though. If nobody sees… We can hide your arm with this towel." Hiroshi grabbed the small towel he had handed Elliot earlier and hung it over his arm to hide the huge tattoo. Elliot realised he no longer had anything to cover the parts he had personally been more bothered about covering, although admittedly he was now less concerned about that than he was at the thought of upsetting the locals by giving them the impression the mafia had come for a bath with them.

"Hopefully nobody will look at your leg?" Hiroshi said doubtfully. "Anyway, you're a foreigner," he added, as if that would make everything better somehow.

"Are you sure I should go in?" Elliot asked.

"We're here now," Hiroshi shrugged. "Come on!"

They entered the baths and Elliot immediately saw the row of showers along the wall. Under Hiroshi's guidance he seated himself on the little bath stool and washed his body thoroughly before they wandered over to a large pool of water. Hiroshi slipped in quickly, sinking down to his shoulders, breathing a contented sigh as he did so. Elliot started to follow suit but as he put his foot in, the heat of the water shocked him into immediately removing it again.

"Geez, that's hot!" he exclaimed.

"Maybe 42`C? Not so hot," replied Hiroshi. Elliot noticed he now had his towel folded up and placed on his head, like the other two or three men that were also dotted around the huge pool. Deciding the heat would be better than the exposure, Elliot slipped into the pool, gritting his teeth as the hot water enveloped his body. A few seconds later his body adjusted and he started to feel better. He leaned back against the side of the pool and focused on the sensation of the hot water. It was surprisingly soothing. He hadn't realised how tense his shoulders had been but now the hot water seemed to be taking the tiredness away. The noise in the room of running water and the steamy air also added to the general atmosphere of the place to make it surprisingly relaxing. He started to understand why Hiroshi had been so keen for him to come.

Just as he was starting to feel a bit too hot, Hiroshi suddenly leapt to his feet and beckoned for him to follow. He did so obediently and he was led outside to another pool in the open air, although it was completely fenced off so no one from outside could enter or see in. This pool had a rim of huge rocks and a wooden structure that provided a roof over about half of it. Around the outside was a Japanese style garden, with some bushes, rocks and a few plants. It was extremely attractive. They sank into the pool, which to Elliot's relief was a little cooler than the one indoors and they stayed there for a while, relaxing and talking about Elliot's life in New York and Hiroshi's stay in the US.

Finally they decided it was time to leave, for Hiroshi's daughter would be waiting for them and so they wandered back over to the showers for a second time, before returning to the changing room to get dressed.

They were almost done, when suddenly completely out of nowhere there came a strange rattling and shaking sensation.

"Earthquake!" Hiroshi yelled. "Protect your head!" He sank to the floor, not that the shaking ground was giving them much of a choice. Elliot followed suit. There was no furniture to get under, so they both crouched with their hands over the heads. Elliot couldn't really tell how serious it was. Hiroshi had a worried frown on his face but he didn't seem to be panicking. The floor was shaking violently, the lockers were rattling and a few of the clothes baskets were thrown to the ground, but the quake didn't seem to be doing too much damage really. After a good minute of so, the ground finally stopped shaking and everyone shakily got back up to their feet and started looking around slightly dazed, trying to survey the damage.

They grabbed their things and then stepped out into the foyer where people were milling around in shock. They spotted Minami, who rushed to their side, wide-eyed. The hot spring staff were ushering everyone outside as was usual practice after a significant quake. As they passed through the lobby Elliot realised that it didn't look to him like much structural damage had been done, but that the little store in the lobby was a total mess with a lot of goods having been thrown from the shelves to the floor.

Outside, lots of people were busily trying to use their cell phones, probably to call relatives, Elliot thought. Generally though there was an air of calm, as though people were genuinely used to such things. He guessed it could have been a lot worse. Hiroshi was talking to some guy a few paces away. Minami was watching what was going on silently, slightly subdued. Hiroshi stepped back towards them, his face ashen.

"It's really bad," he said in disbelief.

"What do you mean?" asked Elliot.

"No one can get through directly to anyone in the city. The phone networks are down. That guy over there spoke to a friend who lives up north and they are getting breaking news bulletins on TV. They're saying the epicentre was right under Hiroshima and that it was a huge huge quake. They are guessing it was around at least magnitude 8!"

"What? But it didn't feel anywhere near that bad!" exclaimed Elliot in disbelief. "Surely they're exaggerating?"

"That's because we are over an hour away, in the mountains. They're saying Hiroshima and many surrounding villages have been almost completely devastated."

"Oh my God!" Elliot felt his legs start to buckle as he took in the information. "Liv and Lizzie! No….We've got to go and find them!"

"Elliot, you don't understand how big this is! In any case they won't let people just wander into the city after something like this, even assuming you could."

"What are you suggesting we do then? Just sit here?"

"No. We need to go to the nearest evacuation site and register them as missing. Then you need to contact your embassy I think."

"OK," Elliot replied. At least that sounded like a sensible first step. He would do that and find out just how bad this thing was. Japan was world-class for its earthquake proof buildings and the media were renowned for exaggerating. He had to stay calm and have faith that they would be OK. He refused to panic. They would be all right. He was certain of it.