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undoubtedly hatching a clever plan,
breathing down their necks, doing what he could
to prevent them from seeing each other.
No, there’s nothing to worry about
, Aomame told herself.
Tamaru can be trusted.
He’s more meticulous, capable, and experienced than anyone I know. If I leave it up
to him, he will fend off Bobblehead for me. Bobblehead is a danger not just to me, but
to Tamaru as well, a risk factor that has to be eliminated
.
But what if Tamaru decides that it isn’t advisable for Tengo and me to meet, then
what will I do? If that happens, then Tamaru will surely cut off any possibility of
Tengo and me ever seeing each other. Tamaru and I are pretty friendly, but his top
priority is what will benefit the dowager and keep her out of harm’s way. That’s his
real job—he isn’t doing all this for my sake
.
This made her uneasy. Getting Tengo and her together, letting them see each other
again—where did this fall on Tamaru’s list of priorities? She had no way of knowing.
Maybe telling Tamaru about Tengo had been a fatal mistake.
Shouldn’t I have taken
care of everything myself?
But what’s done is done. I’ve told Tamaru everything. I had no choice. Bobblehead
must be lying in wait for me, and it would be suicide to waltz right in all alone. Time
is ticking away and I don’t have the leisure to put things on hold and see how they
might develop. Opening up to Tamaru about everything, and putting it all in his
hands, was the best choice at the time
.
Aomame decided to stop thinking about Tengo—and stop looking at the moons.
The moonlight wreaked havoc on her mind. It changed the tides in inlets, stirred up
life in the woods. She drank the last of her herbal tea, left the window, went to the
kitchen, and rinsed out the mug. She longed for a sip of brandy, but she knew she
shouldn’t have any alcohol while pregnant.
She sat on the sofa, switched on the small reading lamp beside it, and began
rereading
Air Chrysalis
. She had read the novel at least ten times. It wasn’t a long
book, and by now she had nearly memorized it. But
she wanted to read it again,
slowly, attentively. She figured she might as well, since she wasn’t about to get to
sleep. There might be something in it she had overlooked.
Air Chrysalis
was like a book with a secret code, and Eriko Fukada must have told
the story in order to get a message across. Tengo rewrote it, creating something more
polished, more effective. They had formed a team to create a novel with a wider
appeal.
As Leader had said, it was a collaborative effort. If Leader was to be believed,
when
Air Chrysalis
became a bestseller and certain secrets were revealed within, the
Little People lost their power, and the
voice
no longer spoke. Because of this, the well
dried up, the flow was cut off. This is how much influence the novel had exerted.
She focused on each line as she read.
By the time the clock showed 2:30, she was already two-thirds of the way through the
novel. She closed the book and tried to put into words the strong emotions she was
feeling. Though she wouldn’t go so far as to call
it a revelation, she had a strong,
specific image in her mind.
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