After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

Air Chrysalis
, which was reworked by Tengo 
Kawana and became a bestseller. But she was supposedly missing now—a missing 
person’s report had been filed with the police, and the police had searched Sakigake 
headquarters not long ago. 
The contents of 
Air Chrysalis
were problematic for Sakigake, it appeared. 
Ushikawa had bought the novel and read through it carefully, though which parts 
were troublesome, and for what reason, he had no idea. He found the novel 
fascinating and well written. But to him, it seemed a harmless work of fantasy and he 
was sure the rest of the world must agree. Little People emerge from a goat’s mouth, 
create an air chrysalis, the main character splits into 
maza
and 
dohta
, and there are 
two moons. So where in the midst of this fantastical story are there elements that 
would damage Sakigake if they came out? 
But when Eriko Fukada was in the public eye, it would have been too risky to take 
any action against her. Which is why, Ushikawa surmised, they wanted him to 
approach Tengo. In Ushikawa’s view Tengo was a mere bit player in the bigger 
scheme of things. Ushikawa still couldn’t grasp why they were so fixated on Tengo. 
But as Ushikawa was just a foot soldier in these operations, he had to unquestioningly 
follow orders. The problem was, Tengo had quickly rejected the generous proposal 
that Ushikawa had worked hard to create, and the plan he had made to forge a 
connection with Tengo had come to a screeching halt. Right when he had been trying 
to think of another approach, Eriko Fukada’s father, Leader, had died, and things were 
left as they were. 
So Ushikawa was in the dark regarding Sakigake’s focus. He didn’t even know 
who was in charge now that they had lost Leader. In any case, they were trying to 
locate Aomame, find out why Leader had been murdered, and who was behind it. No 
doubt they would mete out some pretty harsh punishment on whoever had done it. 
And they were determined not to get the law involved. 
So what about Eriko Fukada? What was Sakigake’s take now on 
Air Chrysalis
? 
Did they still view the book as a threat? 
Eriko Fukada didn’t slow down or turn around, like a homing pigeon heading straight 
to her goal. He soon determined that that 
goal
was a midsized supermarket, the 
Marusho. Shopping basket in hand, Fuka-Eri went from one aisle to another, selecting 
various canned and fresh foods. Just selecting a single head of lettuce took time, as 

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she examined it from every possible angle. 
This is going to take a while
, Ushikawa 
thought. He left the supermarket, went across the street to a bus stop, and pretended to 
be waiting for a bus while he kept an eye on the store’s entrance. 
But no matter how long he waited, the girl didn’t emerge. Ushikawa started to get 
worried. Maybe she had left by another exit? As far as he could tell, though, the 
market had only the one door, facing the main street. Probably shopping was just 
taking time for her. Ushikawa recalled the serious, strangely depthless eyes of the girl 
as she contemplated heads of lettuce and decided to sit tight. Three buses came and 
went. Each time Ushikawa was the only one left behind. He regretted not having 
brought a newspaper. He could have hidden behind it. When you are shadowing 
someone a newspaper or magazine is an absolute must. But there was nothing he 
could do—he had dropped everything and rushed out of the apartment empty-handed. 
When Fuka-Eri finally emerged, his watch showed 3:35. The girl didn’t glance his 
way but marched off in the direction from which she had come. Ushikawa let some 
time pass and then set off in pursuit. The two shopping bags she carried looked heavy, 
but she carried them lightly, tripping down the street like a water skipper skimming 
across a puddle.