bloodstream, she could die. She leaves the hospital and Gen must look for her. She's in Itsukaichi, determined to make a special pot. Ryuta learns that sardines are swarming by the bucketful in Itsukaichi, so he suggests they look for her there. Gen helps a woman who has hurt her back, and inside her home is Natsue. She reveals that the pot is for her own ashes, but Gen is determined she must live. He finds Koji getting drunk trying to handle his grief at the imminent destruction and learns that there's lots of money to be made by people claiming land of people who died from the Bomb and selling it for high prices with the help of crooked politicians. Gen gets drunk too. Gen eavesdrops on Koji's cconversation with his girlfriend Hiroko who is unwilling to wait two years to get married so Gen will be old enough to be on his own, and also unwilling to have Akira and Gen live with them. Akira decides to go to Osaka to become a businessman for peace, and Gen determines not to be a burden on Koji, but be self-reliant. He'll fight to preserve their home, with the fallback position that he's welcome to come live with the orphans. It's October 1950, and war in Korea is escalating, as is the threat of more nuclear war. Volume 9: Breaking Down Borders Gen and Ryuta resist the demolishment of Gen's home, throwing rocks from the roof, but in vain. Gen wounds himself in his own hand to always remember the pain. Natsue finishes her pot and returns home to the orphans, who are celebrating Gen's joining them. He sees a crack in the pot, the jar slips, and is broken. Natsue is too weak and ill to make another, after she had put all her heart and soul into this one. Gen runs off. He'd actually broken it on purpose to give her a reason to keep living, to make another, but it didn't work. Gen and Ryuta get into a fight, scaring off a fortuneteller's customers. He bashes them in the head with a plank. Ryuta summons the orphans to help get Gen to the hospital, but he isn't to be found. A fortuneteller says he went to the hospital and tells Natsue she'll be well in a month, with an auspicious future, complete with husband and four children.