I've read through chapter 8 of this book now, and this last chapter almost made me cry. Since my last post where Chiyo-chan was told where her sister is staying, Chiyo-chan was told to take an instrument called a shamisen to Hatsumomo at a teahouse late at night. Chiyo-chan decides this is the perfect opportunity to find her sister since she is already out of the okiya. After bringing Hatsumomo the shamisen, she asks a maid how to get to the place Hatsumomo said her sister was at and follows the maid's directions. While walking around the town where she hopes her sister may be, Chiyo sees young women outside, who she thinks to be geisha because of their kimono and hair ornaments, but finds out are prostitutes because their obi (something that ties around their waist) are tied in the front instead of the back. She finds the place Hatsumomo named and asks two old women at the door if her sister, Satsu, is living there. They say no at first, and after much persistance on Chiyo's part, they give in, saying Chiyo must be a liar because if Satsu was as pretty as her, they'd have many more customers. I assumed at this point Satsu has become a prostitute. Chiyo finally gets the women to call down Satsu, but the women say she is busy with a customer so Chiyo must wait. Satsu comes down and the two reunite tearfully. Satsu says she is going to escape in a week and the two plan to meet at a certain spot. Chiyo leaves and returns to the okiya where she accidentally spies on Hatsumomo and her boyfriend. Hatsumomo's boyfriend is very angered and leaves, making Hatsumomo mad at Chiyo. Hatsumomo once again tries to ruin Chiyo's life by giving her money to escape (since she knows she met with her sister) but then brings her up to Mother's room claiming that Chiyo stole a brooch from her and sold it to a mysterious man. Chiyo says it wasn't true and that Hatsumomo had her boyfriend at the okiya. For this, Chiyo is in trouble for "stealing the brooch," Hatsumomo is punished for bringing a boyfriend, her boyfriend never sees her again because he is not allowed at the okiya anymore and has a wife, the maids do not receive their dried fish for allowing Hatsumomo to have her boyfriend at the okiya and the front door of the okiya is now locked at all times. This makes Chiyo's plan to escape much more difficult. Now, she decides to escape through the roof. In doing this, she falls into the courtyard of another okiya and women there bring her to her house after knocking on neighboring houses to find where she belongs. For trying to escape and breaking her arm, Chiyo is again beat, along with the other young girl at the okiya who was watching over the doorway but did not see her escape. Everyone at the okiya ignores Chiyo now. One day a package comes for her from Mr. Tanaka. He sends her the tiny mortuary tablets that were once at the alter in her home, plus two newer ones she does not recognize. In the letter, Mr. Tanaka explains that 6 weeks after Chiyo left, her mother passed away and weeks after her father did too. He also says that her sister came through the village and left with a young boy in the village. Mr. Tanaka says the boy's father misses his son and says to contact him if she ever finds her sister. Chiyo is very upset after having the letter read to her, and has lost all hope of being reunited with her family. Auntie, who read her the letter, says she must keep the tablets with her, for they are all that's left of her childhood.
After this section, I feel even worse for Chiyo. I know I would not have been able to survive in this situaiton. I hope that someday she will reunite with her sister, but now I feel like it will be impossible. I think from now on Chiyo will give up on rebelling and accept becoming a geisha. This seems like the only logical thing for her to do since she has no way out of the okiya. The book keeps getting better as more excitement is added to Chiyo's life.
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