After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

deeper meaning
. 
Something about her is different that way. So we need to be certain of whatever facts 
we can.” 
“By 
we
, who do you mean, exactly?” Tengo asked. 
Komatsu looked uncharacteristically nonplussed. “Truth be told, it’s not me who 
wants to know whether the two of you had a sexual relationship, but Professor 
Ebisuno.” 
“So Professor Ebisuno knows that Fuka-Eri stayed at my apartment?” 
“Of course. He knew that the first day she showed up at your place. Fuka-Eri told 
him where she was.” 
“I had no idea,” Tengo said, surprised. She had told him she hadn’t revealed to 
anyone where she was. Not that it mattered much now. “There’s one thing I just don’t 
get. Professor Ebisuno is her legal guardian and protector, so you would expect him to 
pay attention to things like that. But in the crazy situation we’re in now you would 
think his top priority would be to make sure she’s safe—not whether she’s staying 
chaste or not.” 
Komatsu raised one corner of his lips. “I don’t really know the background. He just 
asked me to find out—to see you and ask whether the two of you had a physical 
relationship. That is why I asked you this, and the answer was no.” 
“That’s correct. Fuka-Eri and I did not have a physical relationship,” Tengo said 
firmly, gazing steadily into Komatsu’s eyes. Tengo didn’t feel like he was lying. 
“Good, then,” Komatsu said. He put another Marlboro between his lips, and lit a 
match. “That’s all I need to know.” 
“Fuka-Eri is an attractive girl, no question about it,” Tengo said. “But as you are 
well aware, I have gotten mixed up in something quite serious, unwillingly. I don’t 
want things to get any more complicated than they are. Besides, I was seeing 
somebody.” 
“I understand perfectly,” Komatsu said. “I know you’re a very clever person when 
it comes to things like that, with a very mature way of thinking. I will tell Professor 
Ebisuno what you said. I’m sorry I had to ask you. Don’t let it bother you.” 
“It doesn’t especially bother me. I just thought it was strange, why such a thing 
like that would come up at this point.” Tengo paused for a moment. “What was it you 
wanted to tell me?” 
Komatsu had finished his beer and ordered a Scotch highball from the bartender. 
“What’s your pleasure?” he asked Tengo. 
“I’ll have the same,” Tengo said. 

---

661
Two highballs in tall glasses were brought over to their table. 
“Well, first of all,” Komatsu began after a long silence, “I think that as much as 
possible we need to unravel some things about the situation that we’ve gotten 
entangled in. After all, we’re all in the same boat. By 
we
I mean the four of us—you, 
me, Fuka-Eri, and Professor Ebisuno.” 
“A very interesting group,” Tengo said, but his sarcasm didn’t seem to register 
with Komatsu. 
Komatsu went on. “I think each of the four of us had his own expectation 
regarding this plan, and we’re not all on the same level, or moving in the same 
direction. To put it another way, we weren’t all rowing our oars at the same rhythm 
and at the same angle.” 
“This isn’t the sort of group you would expect to be able to work well together.” 
“That might be true.” 
“And our boat was headed down the rapids toward a waterfall.” 
“Our boat was indeed headed down the rapids toward a waterfall,” Komatsu 
admitted. “I’m not trying to make excuses, but from the start this was an extremely 
simple plan. We fool everybody, we make a bit of money. Half for laughs, half for 
profit. That was our goal. But ever since Professor Ebisuno got involved, the plot has 
thickened. A number of complicated subplots lie just below the surface of the water, 
and the water is picking up speed. Your reworking of the novel far exceeded my 
expectations, thanks to which the book got great reviews and had amazing sales. And 
then this took our boat off to an unexpected place—a somewhat perilous place.” 
Tengo shook his head slightly. “It’s not a somewhat perilous place. It’s an 
extremely dangerous place.
” 
“You could be right.” 
“Don’t act like this doesn’t concern you. You’re the one who came up with this 
idea in the first place.” 
“Granted. I’m the one who had the idea and pushed the start button. Things went 
well at first, but unfortunately as it progressed I lost control. I do feel responsible for 
it, believe me. Especially about getting you involved, since I basically forced you into 
it. But it’s time for us to stop, take stock of where we are, and come up with a plan of 
action.” 
After getting all this out, Komatsu took a breath and drank his highball. He picked 
up the glass ashtray and, like a blind man feeling an object all over to understand what 
it is, carefully ran his long fingers over the surface. 
“To tell you the truth,” he finally said, “I was imprisoned for seventeen or eighteen 
days somewhere. From the end of August to the middle of September. The day it 
happened I was in my neighborhood, in the early afternoon, on my way to work. I was 
on the road to the Gotokuji Station. This large black car stopped beside me and the 
window slid down and someone called my name. I went over, wondering who it could 
be, when two men leapt out of the car and dragged me inside. Both of them were 
extremely powerful. One pinned my arms back, and the other put chloroform or 
something up to my nose. Just like in a movie, huh? But that stuff really does the 
trick, believe me. When I came to, I was being held in a tiny, windowless room. The 
walls were white, and it was like a cube. There was a small bed and a small wooden 
desk, but no chair. I was lying on the bed.” 

---

662
“You were kidnapped?” Tengo asked. 
Komatsu finished his inspection of the ashtray, returned it to the table, and looked 
up at Tengo. “That’s right. A real kidnapping. Like in that old movie, 
The Collector
. I 
don’t imagine most people in the world ever think they will end up kidnapped. The 
idea never occurs to them. Right? But when they kidnap you, believe me, you’re 
kidnapped. It’s kind of—how shall I put it?—surreal. You can’t believe you are 
actually
being kidnapped by someone. Could you believe it?” 
Komatsu stared at Tengo, as if looking for a reply. But it was a rhetorical question. 
Tengo was silent, waiting for him to continue. He hadn’t touched his highball. Beads 
of moisture had formed on the outside, wetting the coaster. 

---

663