After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

Air Chrysalis
. This isn’t such a bad deal, you know.” 
Komatsu thought it over. “All right. I will begin by making sure 
Air Chrysalis
is 
no longer published. It may take some time, but I’ll find a way. And speaking 
personally, I can put this entire matter out of my mind. I think Tengo Kawana can do 
the same. He wasn’t enthusiastic about it from the very beginning. I got him involved 
against his will. His role in this is long past. And I don’t think Eriko Fukada will be a 
problem. She said that she doesn’t plan to write any more novels. Professor Ebisuno 
is the only one whose reaction I can’t gauge. Ultimately he wanted to determine if his 
friend, Tamotsu Fukada, was all right. He wants to know where he is now and what 
he’s doing. Whatever I might tell him, he may continue to pursue information on Mr. 
Fukada.” 
“Tamotsu Fukada is dead,” Buzzcut said. His voice was quiet, uninflected, but 
there was something terribly heavy within. 
“
Dead?
” Komatsu asked. 
“It happened recently,” Buzzcut said. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. 
“He died of a heart attack. It was over in a moment, and he didn’t suffer. Due to the 
circumstances, we didn’t submit a notification of death, and we held the funeral 
secretly at our compound. For religious reasons the body was incinerated, the bones 
crushed and sprinkled in the nearby mountains. Legally, this constitutes desecration of 
a body, but it would be difficult to make a formal case against us. But this is the truth. 
We never lie when it comes to matters of life and death. I would like you to let 
Professor Ebisuno know about this.” 
“A natural death.” 
Buzzcut nodded deeply. “Mr. Fukada was a very important person for us. No—
important is too trite a term to express what he was. He was a giant. His death has 
only been reported to a limited number of people. They grieved deeply for the loss. 
His wife—Eriko Fukada’s mother—died several years ago of stomach cancer. She 
refused chemotherapy, and passed away within our treatment facility. Her husband, 
Tamotsu, cared for her to the end.” 
“Even so, you didn’t file a notification of her death,” Komatsu asked. 
No words of denial came. 

---

689
“And Tamotsu Fukada passed away recently.” 
“Correct,” Buzzcut said. 
“Was this after 
Air Chrysalis
was published?” 
Buzzcut’s gaze went down to the table for a moment, then he raised his head and 
looked at Komatsu. 
“That’s right. Mr. Fukada passed away after 
Air Chrysalis
was published.” 
“Are the two events related?” Komatsu dared to ask. 
Buzzcut didn’t say anything for a while, pondering how he should respond. 
Finally, as if he had made up his mind, he spoke. “Fine. I think it might be best to let 
Professor Ebisuno know all the facts, so he will understand. Mr. Tamotsu Fukada was 
the real Leader, the 
one who hears the voice
. When his daughter, Eriko Fukada, 
published 
Air Chrysalis
, the voice stopped speaking to him, and at that point Mr. 
Fukuda himself put an end to his existence. It was a natural death. More precisely, he 
put an end to his own existence naturally.” 
“Eriko Fukada was the daughter of Leader,” Komatsu murmured. 
Buzzcut gave a concise, abbreviated nod. 
“And Eriko Fukada ended up driving her father to his death,” Komatsu continued. 
Buzzcut nodded once more. “That is correct.” 
“But the religion still continues to exist.” 
“The religion does still exist,” Buzzcut replied, and he stared at Komatsu with eyes 
like ancient pebbles frozen deep within a glacier. “Mr. Komatsu, the publication of