slept

Voters got an early display of that work ethic when Takaichi slept in a parliamentary dormitory and got to her office to begin work at 3 a.m. on Nov. 7.

“Luckily, my daughter slept through it. I told my husband, ‘I’m done.

The mattress was soft as a cloud, and the bed’s exhausted occupant slept so deeply and so well that no dreams dared disturb her.

“Can it be nap time already? I hope you slept comfortably on your cots, despite the lumps. Or were you kept up all night, like that poor princess with the pea?”

She might have slept longer, after the exhausting hike of the previous day, but that plunk—plunk—plunking sound was as insistent as a blacksmith’s hammer.