After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

This man’s lying
, Aomame thought. 
That’s just ridiculous, that he can sense when 
somebody is at home. I haven’t made a sound. His real goal is to just stand in front of 
a random apartment, make a racket, and intimidate all the other residents, to make 
people decide they would prefer to pay the fee than to have him plant himself outside 
their door like that. This man must have tried the same tactics elsewhere and had 
good results
. 
“Miss Takai, I know you find me unpleasant. I can understand perfectly what 
you’re thinking. And you’re right—I 
am
an unpleasant person. I’m aware of that. But 
you have to understand, Miss Takai, that pleasant people don’t make good fee 
collectors. There are tons of people in the world who have decided they aren’t going 
to pay the NHK subscription fee, and if you’re going to collect from people like that 
you can’t always act so nice. I would rather leave with no problem, just say, 
Is that 
right? You don’t want to pay the fee? I understand. Sorry to bother you
. But I can’t. 
Collecting the fee is my job, and besides, personally I don’t like it when people 
pretend not to be at home.” 
The man stopped and paused. And then he knocked on the door ten times in a row. 
“Miss Takai, you must be finding this annoying. Aren’t you starting to feel like a 
real thief by now? Think about it. We’re not talking about a lot of money here. 
Enough to buy a modest dinner at your neighborhood chain restaurant. Just pay it, and 
you won’t be treated like a thief. You won’t have anyone yelling at you outside or 
banging on your door anymore. Miss Takai, I know you’re hiding in there. You think 
you can hide and get away from me forever. Well—go ahead and try. You can keep 
as quiet as you like, but one of these days somebody is going to find you. You can’t 
act so sneaky forever. Consider this: there are people a whole lot poorer than you all 
over Japan who faithfully pay their fee every month. Is that fair?” 
Fifteen knocks on the door followed. Aomame counted them. 
“I get it, Miss Takai. You’re pretty stubborn too. Fine. I’ll be going now. I can’t 
stand outside here forever. But rest assured, I’ll be back. Once I decide on something, 
I don’t give up easily. And I don’t like people pretending to be out. I’ll be back, and 
I’ll knock on your door. I’ll keep banging on your door until the whole world has 
heard it. I promise you this, a promise just between you and me. All right? Well, I’ll 
be seeing you soon.” 
She didn’t hear any footsteps. Perhaps he had on rubber soles. Aomame stayed still 
there for five minutes, staring at the door. The hallway outside was quiet again, and 
she couldn’t hear a thing. She crept to the front door, summoned her courage, and 
peered out the peephole. No one was there. 
She reset the safety on the pistol and took some deep breaths to get her heart rate 
back down. She switched on the gas, heated up water, made green tea, and drank it. 
It 
was only an NHK collector
, she told herself. But there was something malicious, sick 
even, about his voice. Whether this was directed at her personally or at the fictitious 

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Miss Takai, she couldn’t tell. Still, that husky voice and persistent knock disturbed 
her, like something clammy sticking to your bare skin. 
Aomame undressed and took a shower. She carefully scrubbed herself in the hot 
water. After she finished and had put on clean clothes, she felt a bit better. The 
clammy sensation was gone. She sat down on the sofa and drank the rest of the tea. 
She tried to read her book but couldn’t concentrate on the words. Fragments of the 
man’s voice came back to her. 
“You think you can hide and get away from me forever. Well—go ahead and try. 
You can keep as quiet as you like, but one of these days somebody is going to find 
you.” 
She shook her head. The man just said whatever nonsense popped into his head, 
yelling things just to make people feel bad. 
He doesn’t know a thing about me—what 
I’ve done, why I’m here
. Still, her heart wouldn’t stop pounding. 
You can keep as quiet as you like, but one of these days somebody is going to find 
you
. 
The fee collector’s words sounded like they had deeper implications. 
Maybe it was 
just a coincidence
, she thought, 
but that man knew exactly what to say to upset me
. 
Aomame gave up reading and closed her eyes as she lay on the sofa. 
Tengo, where are you?
she wondered. She said it out loud. “Tengo, where are 
you?” 
Find me now. Before someone else does
. 

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