The Longest Night
いちばん長い夜
That night was the coldest and hardest one since the earthquake had struck.
A strong shook the hall just after the sun had gone down.
Dust fell from the , and the frightened children screamed in the dark.
Daichi's was getting worse with every passing hour of the long night.
His skin was burning with , and his breathing was becoming and quick.
Keiko stayed beside him, changing the cloth on his again and again.
"If we had given up on him yesterday, he would already be gone," she whispered.
Jin kept the small fire alive while the wind pushed against the walls.
The others were holding one another closely to share what little remained.
Yuki was singing a soft song to keep her son from crying in fear.
If they had stayed in their separate homes, many of them might have died.
But together, in one warm room, they were slowly surviving the terrible night.
Mori, who had argued so much before, was now carrying wood without complaint.
He admitted that he would have felt if he had done nothing useful.
Around midnight, Daichi's rose so high that Keiko looked truly afraid.
If the helicopter had come sooner, his leg would not have grown so bad.
Jin held the sick man's hand and spoke gently about the coming rescue.
"Just one more day," he repeated, though he was not sure himself.
Slowly, as the fire burned, Daichi's breathing became a little more steady.
The long hours passed, and no one in the hall slept very much.
Yet a strange, quiet strength was growing among these tired strangers together.
They had learned that they could on people they had just met.
When the first grey light touched the windows, everyone was still alive.
If they had not helped each other, that night would have destroyed them all.