Ulf pushed up his sungla.s.ses and looked at his friend. "Yeah, you're right about that. We get a lot of sun this time of the year, but it's not as hot as in j.a.pan." He laughed at the comparison and recalled the bleak winters from his previous life. "We don't get as much sun during winter, so it evens out."

"You mean light's out during winter?"

That question came just a bit too close to the memories Ulf had played along with before Yukio joined him in the morning sun.

"Yeah, and we don't even get much snow to mitigate the darkness."

Yukio must have noticed something, because he coughed, lit a cigarette and looked into the sky. "But right now the sun's getting warmer, the air is crisp and we're enjoying the outdoors in its full glory," he said after letting out a lungful of smoke.

'Where did you get that string of melodramatic drivel from?' It mattered little. Ulf was grateful his friend had changed the topic. His two first winters in j.a.pan had really been mental light's out.