Rashômon book 2: Otomi's virginity, the martyr

This is the second opus adapted from two short stories written by Japanese author Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. They both explore the complexity of human interaction; the ability to cover actions with conventions, hypocrisy with innuendo, or desire with unsaid things. Once again, the play of appearances is fully at work. Otomi's Virginity Otomi, a young servant, returns alone to her mistress’s house in a Tokyo neighborhood after it was evacuated by the army to pick up Kuro, the house cat. Shinko, a local beggar, broke earlier into the house, where he took shelter from the rain. Their encounter gets heated. Is the cat the cause, the object, or just an accessory in the subtle, erotic, and rough game that is about to take place? The Martyr Lorenzo, a devout orphan raised by Jesuits in Nagasaki, is accused by a young girl to have made her pregnant. Although he’s insisting that he’s not the father, he will accept public humiliation and his exclusion from the church to go on living like a pariah. Until...