The new boy was stocky and well set-up, Minoru thought. He was fairly tall and going to get taller, too. Minoru knew the boy - Akira was his name - had suffered from a badly broken arm, but that seemed mended now. He didn't notice any disparity in the muscles of his shoulders or arms. Noriko-sama had been tending him; she would know how to keep him in trim, the old sailor thought.

Who the boy was, nobody had said. At least not to him. Besides being naturally inclined to mind his own ...