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Why do I have to go through this? So just cheerfully pay up. Then you can go back to
your quiet life again.”
The man’s voice echoed loudly down the hallway.
This man is enjoying the sound
of his own voice
, Aomame thought.
He’s getting a kick out of insulting people,
making fun of them and abusing them
. She could sense the perverse pleasure he was
getting from this.
“You’re quite the stubborn lady, aren’t you, Miss Takai. I’m impressed. You’re
like a shellfish at the bottom of a deep ocean, maintaining a strict silence. But I know
you’re in there. You’re there, glaring at me through the door. The tension is making
your underarms sweat. Do I have that right?”
Thirteen more knocks. Then he stopped. Aomame realized she was, indeed,
sweating under her arms.
“All right. That’s enough for today. But I’ll be back soon. I’m starting to grow
fond of this door. There are lots of doors in the world, and this one is not bad at all. It
is definitely a door worth knocking on. At this rate I won’t be able to relax unless I
drop by here regularly to give it a few good knocks. Good-bye, Miss Takai. I’ll be
back.”
Silence reigned. The fee collector had apparently left for good, but she hadn’t
heard any footsteps. Maybe he was pretending to have left and was waiting outside
the door. Aomame gripped the bat even tighter and waited a couple of minutes.
“I’m still here,” the fee collector suddenly announced. “Ha! You thought I left,
didn’t you? But I’m still here. I lied. Sorry about that, Miss Takai. That’s the sort of
person I am.”
She heard him cough. An intentionally grating cough.
“I’ve been at this job for a long time. And over the years I’ve become able to
picture the people on the other side of the door. This is the truth. Quite a few people
hide behind their door and try to get away with not paying the NHK fee. I’ve been
dealing with them for decades. Listen, Miss Takai.”
He knocked three times, louder than he ever had.
“Listen, Miss Takai. You’re very clever at hiding, like a flounder on the sea floor
covered in sand.
Mimicry
, they call it. But in the end you won’t be able to escape.
Someone will come and open this door. You can count on it. As a veteran NHK fee
collector, I guarantee it. You can hide as cleverly as you like, but in the final analysis
mimicry is deception, pure and simple. It doesn’t solve a thing. It’s true, Miss Takai.
I’ll be on my way soon. Don’t worry, this time for real. But I’ll be back soon. When
you hear a knock, you’ll know it’s me. Well, see you, Miss Takai. Take care!”
She couldn’t hear any footsteps this time, either. She waited five minutes, then
went up to the door and listened carefully. She squinted through the peephole. No one
was outside. This time the fee collector really had left, it seemed.
Aomame leaned the metal bat up against the kitchen counter. She slid the round
out of the pistol’s chamber, set the safety, wrapped it back up in a pair of thick tights,
and returned it to the drawer. She lay down on the sofa and closed her eyes. The
man’s voice still rang in her ears.
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