kotobuki-yu
The shower in the unit bath has the pressure of someone breathing on you, so today I went to the sento, the public bath, two streets away. Kotobuki-yu. 460 yen. Mount Fuji painted on the wall above the big bath, a cracked tile in the corner of the women's side shaped like Australia.
It opens at three on Saturdays. At three there were six old ladies already undressed and waiting. They watched me wash like it was a test, then relaxed when I passed.
When I paid, the owner at the front asked where I lived. I said Corpo Sakura.
"Two-oh-two?"
I said yes.
She said Sawada-san came every Saturday at opening, for years. Hair flat on one side from sleeping. He worked nights, sorting mail at a big post centre, thirty years. He always bought a bottle of coffee milk and drank it standing up, here, by the counter. She pointed at the spot.
Then she gave me a coffee milk and didn't let me pay.
I drank it standing up.