went off to work in the dangerous mines to earn money. He is drinking and gambling destructively. When Gen gets back home with rice, he finds that his mother is spitting up blood and has collapsed. They again need money they don't have for a doctor. Ryuta sticks up a casino to pay for Kimie's treatment, and the mob is after him, so he must flee Hiroshima. But every exit is staked, so he gives himself up to the police, who are the only ones who can insure he is not killed, and put in a reformatory. In July 1948, in Hiroshima City, Gen is tearing down a wall to collect bricks, as well as scrap iron to earn a living. A girl has hanged herself because of the radiation scars that made everyone treat her as a monster. Gen worries that Katsuko will try again. He writes Koji for money to help with their mother's hospital bills. He sees a girl put stones in her sleeves, preparing to throw herself into the river, and rescues her, only to discover it's Natsue. But she forgets her own woes when Gen hurts himself. She is angry at everyone who has treated her cruelly, and Gen decides to take her back to join the orphans, asking Katsuko to keep an eye on her. Gen is accused of being a thief when he sticks his head in a window to smell the beef he can't afford. Natsue tries again, so he takes her and Katsuko to see someone with arms wrapped in bandages, sewing with only her feet and mouth. They decide to learn to sew too, and open a clothing store. Gen isn't getting much for scrap, and sees other orphans getting paid well for copper, so he looks for where they got it. They steal it by boat from a shipyard, but the first time Gen and an orphan, Musubi, try, the shipyard owners are already watching and catch them, intending to beat them to death. They throw stones in the river, pretending to have jumped in and drowned. Then they fill their boat with too much copper, and it sinks. They go to a shooting range and dig up spent copper bullets, but dangerous men have already claimed the place. "Papa" declares he's ready to fight to the death for the orphans, who alone have treated him like a human