After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

wasn’t there
. She was a foreign element, 
brandishing strange principles that bothered others. The class was all in agreement on 
this. Aomame reacted by keeping a low profile. 
“I tried to do my best, but children’s unity is stronger than you might think, and the 
way Miss Aomame reacted to this was to transform herself into something close to a 
ghost. Nowadays we would have referred her to counseling, but such a system wasn’t 
in place back then. I was still young, and it took all I had to get everybody in the class 
on the same page. Though I’m sure that sounds like I’m trying to excuse myself.” 
Ushikawa could understand what she was getting at. Being an elementary school 
teacher was hard work. To a certain extent, you had to let the children figure out 
things on their own. 
“There is always just a thin line separating deep faith from intolerance,” Ushikawa 
said. “And it’s very hard for people to do anything about it.” 
“Absolutely,” the woman said. “But still, at a different level there should have 
been something I could do. I tried talking with Miss Aomame any number of times, 
but she would barely respond. She had a very strong will, and once she was set on 
something she wouldn’t change her mind. She was quite bright, very quick-witted, 
with a strong desire to learn. But she tried hard to suppress any of that, to keep it from 
showing. Probably 
not standing out
was her only way of protecting herself. I’m sure 
if she had been living in a normal environment she would have been an outstanding 
pupil. I feel really bad looking back on it now.” 
“Did you ever speak with her parents?” 
The teacher nodded. “Many times. Her parents came to school to complain about 
religious persecution. When they did, I asked them to try to make more of an effort to 
help their daughter fit in to the class. I asked if they could bend their principles just a 
little. They refused point-blank. Their top priority was keeping true to the rules of 
their faith. To them the highest happiness lay in going to heaven, and life in this 
profane world was merely transient. But this was the logic of an adult worldview. 
Unfortunately, I could never get them to see how much pain it was causing their 
young daughter to be ignored in class, shunned by the other children—how this would 
lead to an emotional wound that might never heal.” 
Ushikawa told her how Aomame was a leading softball player on teams in college 
and in a company, and how she was working as a very capable fitness instructor in a 
high-class sports club. Or rather, 
had been working
until recently, he should have 
said, but he didn’t insist on making the distinction. 
“I’m very glad to hear that,” the woman said. She blushed slightly. “I’m so 
relieved to hear that she grew up all right, and is healthy and independent now.” 

---

615
“There was one thing, though, that I wasn’t able to find out,” Ushikawa said, a 
seemingly innocent smile rising to his lips. “Do you think it was possible that Tengo 
Kawana and Miss Aomame had a close personal relationship?” 
The woman teacher linked her fingers together and thought about this. “That may 
have been possible. But I never saw it myself, or heard about it. I find it hard to 
picture any child in that class ever being really friendly with Miss Aomame. Perhaps 
Tengo did reach out to her. He was a very kind, responsible sort of boy. But even 
supposing it did happen, Miss Aomame wouldn’t have opened up that easily. She was 
like an oyster stuck on a rock. It can’t easily be pried open.” 
The teacher stopped for a moment, and then added, “It pains me to have to put it 
this way, but there was nothing I could do at the time. As I said before, I was 
inexperienced and not very effective.” 
“If Mr. Kawana and Miss Aomame did have a close relationship, that would have 
caused quite a sensation in class, and you would have heard of it. Am I right?” 
The teacher nodded. “There was intolerance on both sides.” 
“It has been very helpful to be able to talk with you,” Ushikawa said, thanking her. 
“I hope what I’ve said about Miss Aomame won’t become an obstacle in awarding 
the grant,” the teacher said worriedly. “As the teacher in charge of the class I had 
ultimate responsibility for problems like that arising in the classroom. It wasn’t the 
fault of either Tengo or Miss Aomame.” 
Ushikawa shook his head. “Please don’t worry about that. I’m merely checking the 
background behind a work of fiction. Religious issues, as I’m sure you know, can be 
very complicated. Mr. Kawana is a major talent, and I know he will soon make a 
name for himself.” 
Hearing this, the teacher gave a satisfied smile. Something in her small eyes caught 
the sunlight and glistened, like a glacier on the faraway face of a mountain. She is 
remembering Tengo when he was a boy, Ushikawa surmised. It was twenty-some 
years ago, but for her it was like yesterday. 
As he waited near the main gate of the school for the bus back to Tsudanuma 
Station, Ushikawa thought about his own teachers in elementary school. Did they still 
remember him? Even if they did, it wouldn’t make their eyes sparkle with a friendly 
glimmer. 
What he had verified was very close to his hypothesis. Tengo was the top student 
in his class, and he was popular. Aomame had no friends and was ignored by 
everyone. There was little possibility that the two of them would have gotten close. 
They were simply too unalike. Plus, when she was in fifth grade Aomame moved out 
of Ichikawa and went to another school. Any connection was severed then. 
If he had to list one thing they had in common in elementary school, it would be 
this: they had both unwillingly had to obey their parents. Their parents’ goals might 
have been different—proselytizing and fee collection—but both Tengo and Aomame 
were required to traipse all over town with their parents. In class they were in totally 
different positions, yet both of them must have been equally lonely, searching 
desperately for