Takeshi named him Kei—“jubilation”—to mark his fatherhood. Tuyet chose his middle name, Huy Hoang, for “glorious” to counterbalance the turmoil the seer-nun had predicted. As a precaution, she insisted that they use the baby’s shortened Viet name, Hoang, to confuse angry spirits that had been offended by the Japanese, who were, even by Takeshi’s admission, becoming crueler by the month as the tide of war turned against the empire.
