The Decay of the Angel - Yukio Mishima

immorality, retreated trembling behind bolted gates in
the face of scandal.
But something in the letter aroused Tōru’s delicate
guard. That Keiko, so staunch an ally of his father,
should be inviting him—might it not be to make sport
of him? Might her intention in introducing him to all
those pretentious guests as the son of Shigekuni
Honda not be to excite them and so to embarrass not
Honda but Tōru himself? That was it. There could be
little doubt.
Tōru’s combative instincts were aroused. He would
go to the party as the son of the notorious Honda. No
one of course would touch upon the matter. But he
would shine as a son unapologetic for a notorious
father.
The sensitive spirit would move silently among
them, a faint, beautiful, somehow sad smile on its lips,
the skeletons of family scandal (such beastly little
affairs), no doing of its own, ranged beside it. Tōru
could see all the pale poetry. The contempt and
interference of the old would push the girls irresistibly
in Tōru’s direction. Keiko’s calculations would prove
faulty.
Not owning a tuxedo, Tōru had to put in a quick
order for one. He slipped into it when, on the
nineteenth, it was delivered, and went over to show