After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

part of some larger organization.” 
“I had the same impression. Unless they had some special ulterior motive, a large 
organization would never hire a conspicuous man like that to undertake a secret 
investigation.” 
“So why is he doing this investigation—and for whom?” 
“You got me,” Tamaru said. “All I know is he’s good at what he does and he’s 
dangerous. Anything beyond that is just speculation. Though my own modest 
speculation leads me to believe that, in some form or another, Sakigake is involved.” 
Aomame considered this prospect. “And the man has moved on.” 
“Right. I don’t know where he has gone, though. But if I had to make a logical 
guess I would say that he is trying to track you down.” 
“But you told me it was next to impossible to find this place.” 
“Correct. A person could investigate all he wanted and never discover anything 
that linked the dowager to the apartment. Any possible connection has been erased. 
But I’m talking about the short term. If it’s long term, chinks in the armor will appear, 
just where you least expect them. You might wander outside, for instance, and be 
spotted. That’s just one possibility.” 

---

677
“I don’t go outside,” Aomame insisted. But this wasn’t entirely true. She had left 
the apartment twice: once when she ran over to the playground in search of Tengo, 
the other time when she took the taxi to the turnout on the Metropolitan Expressway 
No. 3, near Sangenjaya, in search of an exit. But she couldn’t reveal this to Tamaru. 
“Then how is he going to locate this place?” 
“If I were him, I would take another look at your personal information. Consider 
what kind of person you are, where you came from, what kind of life you have led up 
till now, what you’re thinking, what you’re hoping for in life, what you’re not hoping 
for. I would take all the information I could get my hands on, lay it all out on a table, 
verify it, and dissect it from top to bottom.” 
“Expose me, in other words.” 
“That’s right. Expose you under a cold, harsh light. Use tweezers and a magnifying 
glass to check out every nook and cranny, to discover patterns in the way you act.” 
“I don’t get it. Would an analysis like that really turn up where I am now?” 
“I don’t know,” Tamaru said. “It might, and it might not. It depends. I’m just 
saying 
that’s what I would do
. Because I can’t think of anything else. Every person 
has his set routines when it comes to thinking and acting, and where there’s a routine, 
there’s a weak point.” 
“It sounds like a scientific investigation.” 
“People need routines. It’s like a theme in music. But it also restricts your thoughts 
and actions and limits your freedom. It structures your priorities and in some cases 
distorts your logic. In the present situation, you don’t want to move from where you 
are now. At least until the end of the year you have refused to move to a safer 
location—because you’re searching for 
something
there. And until you find that 
something you can’t leave. Or you don’t want to leave.” 
Aomame was silent. 
“What that might be, or how much you really want it, I have no idea. And I don’t 
plan to ask. But from my perspective that 
something
constitutes your personal weak 
point.” 
“You may be right,” Aomame admitted. 
“And Bobblehead’s going to follow that. He will mercilessly trace that personal 
element that’s restraining you. He thinks it will lead to a breakthrough—provided he 
is as skilled as I imagine and is able to trace fragmentary clues to arrive at that point.” 
“I don’t think he will be able to,” Aomame said. “He won’t be able to find a path. 
Because it’s something that is found only in my heart.” 
“You’re a hundred percent sure of that?” 
Aomame thought about it. “Not a hundred percent. Call it ninety-eight.” 
“Well, then you had better be very concerned about that two percent. As I said, this 
guy is a professional. He is very smart, and very persistent.” 
Aomame didn’t reply. 
“A professional is like a hunting dog,” Tamaru said. “He can sniff out what normal 
people can’t smell, hear what they can’t pick up. If you do the same things everyone 
else does, in the same way, then you’re no professional. Even if you are, you’re not 
going to survive for long. So you need to be vigilant. I know you are a very cautious 
person, but you have to be much more careful than you have been up till now. The 
most important things aren’t decided by percentages.” 

---

678
“There’s something I would like to ask you,” Aomame said. 
“What would that be?” 
“What do you plan to do if Bobblehead shows up there again?” 
Tamaru was silent for a moment. The question seemed to have caught him by 
surprise. “I probably won’t do anything. I’ll just leave him be. There’s nothing he can 
do around here.” 
“But what if he starts to do something that bothers you?” 
“Like what, for instance?” 
“I don’t know. Something that’s a nuisance.” 
Tamaru made a small sound in the back of his throat. “I think I would send him a 
message.” 
“As a fellow professional?” 
“I suppose. But before I actually did anything, I would need to find out who he’s 
working with. If he has backup, I could be the one in danger instead of him. I would 
want to make sure of that before I did anything.” 
“Like checking the depth of the water before jumping in a pool.” 
“That is one way of putting it.” 
“But you believe he is acting on his own. You said he probably doesn’t have any 
backup.” 
“I did, but sometimes my intuition is off,” Tamaru said. “And unfortunately, I 
don’t have eyes in the back of my head. At any rate, I would like you to keep an eye 
out, all right? See if there’s anyone suspicious around, any change in the scenery 
outside, anything out of the ordinary. If you notice anything unusual, no matter how 
small, make sure you let me know.” 
“I understand. I will be careful,” Aomame said. She didn’t need to be told.