After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

How come? Is there some reason I shouldn’t feel sexual desire for 
her?
he wondered. It was true that on that stormy night they had had intercourse. But 
it wasn’t what he had wanted. It had all been 
her
doing. 
Intercourse
was exactly the right word to describe the act. She had climbed on top 
of Tengo, who had been numb and unable to move, and inserted his penis inside her. 
Fuka-Eri had seemed to be in some transcendent state then, like a fairy in the throes of 
a lewd dream. 
Afterward they lived together in the tiny apartment as if nothing had happened. 
The storm had stopped, morning came, and Fuka-Eri acted like she had completely 
forgotten the incident. And Tengo didn’t bring it up. He felt that if she really had 
forgotten, it was better to let her stay that way. It might be best if he himself forgot it 
too. Still, the question remained—why had she suddenly done such a thing? Was 
there some objective behind it all? Or had she been temporarily possessed? 
There was only one thing Tengo knew for sure: 
it wasn’t an act of love
. Fuka-Eri 
had a natural affinity for Tengo—that seemed certain. But it was farfetched to believe 
that she loved him, or desired him, or felt anything even close to these emotions. 
She 
felt no sexual desire for anyone
. Tengo wasn’t confident in his powers of observation 
when it came to people, but still he couldn’t quite imagine Fuka-Eri passionately 
making love with a man, her breath hot and heavy. Or even engaged in not-so-
passionate sex. That just wasn’t her. 
These thoughts ran through his head as he walked the streets of Koenji. The sun 
had set and a cold wind had picked up, but he didn’t mind. He liked to think while he 
walked, then sit down at his desk and give form to his thoughts. That was his way of 
doing things. That was why he walked a lot. It might rain, it might be windy, he didn’t 
care. As he walked he found himself in front of a bar called Mugiatama—“Ears of 
Wheat.” Tengo couldn’t think of anything better to do, so he popped inside and 

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633
ordered a Carlsberg draft beer. The bar had just opened and he was the only customer. 
He stopped thinking for a while, kept his mind a blank, and slowly sipped his beer. 
But just like nature abhors a vacuum, Tengo wasn’t afforded the leisure of keeping 
his mind blank for long. He couldn’t help thinking of Fuka-Eri. Like a scrap of a 
dream, she wended her way into his mind.