After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

But in the end you won’t be able to escape. Someone will come and open this 
door
. 

---

595
At least this man wasn’t from Sakigake. They would take a quieter, more indirect 
approach. They would never yell in an apartment hallway, insinuate things like that, 
putting their target on guard. That was not their MO. Aomame pictured Buzzcut and 
Ponytail. They would sneak up on you without making a sound. And before you knew 
it, they would be standing right behind you. 
Aomame shook her head, and breathed quietly. 
Maybe he really was an NHK fee collector. If so, it was strange that he didn’t 
notice the sticker that said they paid the subscription fee automatically. Aomame had 
checked that the sticker was pasted to the side of the door. Maybe the man was a 
mental patient. But the things he said had a bit too much reality to them for that. 
The 
man certainly did seem to sense my presence on the other side of the door. As if he 
had sniffed out my secret, or a part of it
. But he did not have the power to open the 
door and come in. The door had to be opened from inside. 
And I’m not planning on 
opening it
. 
No
, she thought, 
it’s hard to say that for sure. Someday I might open the door. If 
Tengo were to show up at the playground, I wouldn’t hesitate to open the door and 
rush outside. It doesn’t matter what might be waiting for me
. 
Aomame sank down into the garden chair on the balcony and gazed as usual through 
the cracks in the screen at the playground. A high school couple were sitting on the 
bench underneath the zelkova tree, discussing something, serious expressions on their 
faces. Two young mothers were watching their children, not yet old enough for 
kindergarten, playing in the sandbox. They were deep in conversation yet kept their 
eyes glued to their children. A typical afternoon scene in a park. Aomame stared at 
the top of the slide for a long time. 
She brought her hand down to her abdomen, shut her eyes, and listened carefully, 
trying to pick up the voice. Something was definitely alive inside her. A small, living 
something. She knew it. 
Dohta
, she whispered. 
Maza
, something replied. 

---

596