At dusk, the March sunset spilled over everyone, and before nightfall, one could already catch a hint of summer in the air.
Some girls on the street had already impatiently changed into skirts. Whenever the wind blew, lifting their hems, their snow-white thighs dazzled the eyes of the men nearby.
I've never loved summer this much before, the men thought.
But a twenty-seven-year-old woman named Jiana felt little warmth.
By the standards of a hundred-point scale, she was probably an eighty.
She had left the military the previous year and returned home, but soon moved out to live alone.
Sometimes, she recalled her life in the Federal Military, but those memories were anything but pleasant. They were a nightmare! The Feminism Movement had given women the chance to enlist, and she had been among those brainwashed by the idea that "women, too, have the right and duty to protect their country."
After only a little mental preparation, she had joined the Federal Army at nineteen and become an honorable female soldier.
She had thought it would be the beginning of a new life, but it was actually the beginning of a nightmare.
This year, thanks to her experience serving on the front lines, she had managed to leave the military instead of deserting.
The weather had warmed considerably, and many girls who loved dressing up had put on long skirts. If she had still been nineteen, she would have changed into one too.
But now, she would not do that. Even in summer, she would not wear a long skirt.
She returned home amid the fading afterglow of hope, with no change in her mood—dejected and listless.
She ate a little, watched television for a while, and prepared to rest.
She now worked for the Social Services Bureau in Bu