After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

This man is surely on the road to destruction
, Aomame thought. But she could find 
no hint of emaciation about him. He seemed sturdily built in every way and appeared 
to have the discipline to withstand intense pain. And yet she could sense that his flesh 
was headed for destruction. 
This man is diseased. I don’t know what his disease might 
be, but even if I don’t take steps to dispatch him right now, he will suffer intense pain 
as his flesh is slowly destroyed and he encounters inevitable death
. 
“I can’t stop its progress,” the man said, as if he had read Aomame’s thoughts. 
“Every part of me is being eaten away, my body hollowed out, and a horribly painful 
death awaits me. They’ll just throw me away like a useless old car.” 
“ ‘They’?” Aomame asked. “Who are ‘they’?” 
“I am talking about the ones who are eating away at my flesh like this,” the man 
said. “But never mind that. What I am looking for now is some way to have my very 
real pain eased to some extent. That is what I need more than anything, even if the 
solution is not complete. This pain is unbearable. At times—at certain times—the 
pain deepens dramatically, as if it has a direct link to the center of the earth. It is a 
kind of pain that no one else besides me can grasp. It has robbed me of many things, 
but in return it has given me much. Deep, special pain bestows deep, special grace—

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not that the grace alleviates the pain, of course. Nor can it prevent the coming 
destruction.” 
A deep silence followed for some moments. 
Aomame finally managed to speak. “I know I keep saying the same thing, but I 
can’t help thinking that the techniques at my disposal can do almost nothing for your 
problem—especially if it is something that has come to you as a payment for 
heavenly grace.” 
Leader sat up straight and looked at Aomame with those small, deep-set, glacier-
like eyes. Then he opened his long, thin lips. 
“No, I think you 
can
do something for me—something that 
only
you can do.” 
“I hope you’re right.” 
“I am right, I know it,” the man said. “I know a lot of things. If you are willing, I 
would like to have you start now. Do what you always do.” 
“I’ll try,” Aomame said, her voice tense and hollow. 
What I always do
, Aomame 
thought. 

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