After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

Air 
Chrysalis
had stopped selling and had practically vanished from the public eye, and 
Tengo knew exactly where the missing Fuka-Eri happened to be. If Komatsu had 
something he needed to discuss, then he would surely call. No calls simply meant he 
didn’t have anything to talk about. 
But Tengo was thinking that it was getting about time to call him. 
I’ll tell you all 
about it sometime, before long
. Komatsu’s words had stuck with him, oddly enough, 
and he couldn’t shake them. 
Tengo called his friend who was subbing for him at the cram school, to see how 
things were going. 
“Everything’s fine,” his friend replied. “How is your father doing?” 
“He has been in a coma the whole time,” Tengo explained. “He’s breathing, and 
his temperature and blood pressure are low but stable. But he’s unconscious. I don’t 
think he’s in any pain. It’s like he has gone over completely to the dream world.” 
“Not such a bad way to go,” his friend said, without much emotion. What he was 
trying to say was 
This might sound a little insensitive, but depending on how you look 
at it, that’s not such a bad way to die
. But he had left out such prefatory remarks. If 
you study for a few years in a mathematics department, you get used to that kind of 
abbreviated conversation. 
“Have you looked at the moon recently?” Tengo suddenly asked. This friend was 
probably the only person he knew who wouldn’t find it suspicious to be asked, out of 
the blue, about the moon. 
His friend gave it some thought. “Now that you mention it, I don’t recall looking at 
the moon recently. What’s going on with the moon?” 
“When you have a chance, would you look at it for me? And tell me what you 
think.” 
“What I think? From what standpoint?” 
“Any standpoint at all. I would just like to hear what you think when you see the 
moon.” 

---

572
A short pause. “It might be hard to find the right way to express what I think about 
it.” 
“No, don’t worry about expression. What’s important are the most obvious 
characteristics.” 
“You want me to look at the moon and tell you what I think are the most obvious 
characteristics?” 
“That’s right,” Tengo replied. “If nothing strikes you, then that’s fine.” 
“It’s overcast today, so I don’t think you can see the moon, but when it clears up 
I’ll take a look. If I remember.” 
Tengo thanked him and hung up. 
If he remembers
. This was one of the problems 
with math department graduates. When it came to areas they weren’t interested in, 
their memory was surprisingly short-lived. 
When visiting hours were over and Tengo was leaving the sanatorium he said good-
bye to Nurse Tamura, the nurse at the reception desk. “Thank you. Good night,” he 
said. 
“How many more days will you be here?” she asked, pressing the bridge of her 
glasses on her nose. She seemed to have finished her shift, because she had changed 
from her uniform into a pleated dark purple skirt, a white blouse, and a gray cardigan. 
Tengo came to a halt and thought for a minute. “I’m not sure. It depends on how 
things go.” 
“Can you still take time off from your job?” 
“I asked somebody to teach my classes for me, so I should be okay for a while.” 
“Where do you usually eat?” the nurse asked. 
“At a restaurant in town,” he replied. “They only provide breakfast at the inn so I 
go someplace nearby and eat their set meal, or a rice bowl, that sort of thing.” 
“Is it good?” 
“I wouldn’t say that. Though I don’t really notice what it tastes like.” 
“That won’t do,” the nurse said, looking displeased. “You have to eat more 
nutritious food. I mean, look—these days your face reminds me of a horse sleeping 
standing up.” 
“A horse sleeping standing up?” Tengo asked, surprised. 
“Horses sleep standing up. You’ve never seen that?” 
Tengo shook his head. “No, I never have.” 
“Their faces look like yours,” the middle-aged nurse said. “Go check out your face 
in the mirror. At first glance you can’t tell they’re asleep, but if you look closely you 
will see that their eyes are open, but they aren’t seeing anything.” 
“Horses sleep with their eyes open?” 
The nurse nodded deeply. “Just like you.” 
For a moment Tengo did think about going to the bathroom and looking at himself 
in the mirror, but he decided against it. “I understand. I’ll try to eat better from now 
on.” 
“Would you care to go out to get some