After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

CHAPTER 23 
Aomame 
THE LIGHT WAS DEFINITELY THERE 
It was past midnight, the day had shifted from Sunday to Monday, but still sleep 
wouldn’t come. 
Aomame finished her bath, put on pajamas, slipped into bed, and turned out the 
light. Staying up late wouldn’t accomplish a thing. For the time being she had left it 
all up to Tamaru. Much better to get some sleep and think again in the morning when 
her mind was fresh. But she was wide awake, and her body wanted to be up and 
moving. It didn’t look like she would be getting to sleep anytime soon. 
She gave up, got out of bed, and threw a robe over her pajamas. She boiled water, 
made herbal tea, and sat at the dining table, slowly sipping it. A thought came to her, 
but what it was exactly, she couldn’t say. It had a thick, furtive form, like far-off rain 
clouds. She could make out its shape but not its outline. There was a disconnect of 
some kind between shape and outline. Mug in hand, she went over to the window, and 
looked out at the playground through a gap in the curtains. 
There was no one there, of course. Past one a.m. now, the sandbox, swings, and 
slide were deserted. It was a particularly silent night. The wind had died down, and 
there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, just the two moons floating above the frozen 
branches of the trees. The position of the moons had shifted with the earth’s rotation, 
but they were still visible. 
Aomame stood there, thinking about Bobblehead’s run-down apartment building, 
and the name card in the slot on the door of apartment 303. A white card with the 
typed name 
Kawana
. The card wasn’t new, by any means. The edges were curled up, 
and there were faint moisture stains on it. The card had been in the slot for some time. 
Tamaru would find out for her if it was really Tengo Kawana who lived there, or 
someone else with the same last name. At the latest, he would probably report back by 
tomorrow. He wasn’t the kind of person who wasted time. Then she would know for 
sure. 
Depending on the outcome
, she thought, 
I might actually see Tengo before much 
longer
. The possibility made it hard to breathe, like the air around her had suddenly 
gotten thin. 
But things might not work out that easily. Even if the person living in 303 was 
Tengo Kawana, Bobblehead was hidden away somewhere in the same building. And 
he was planning something—what, she didn’t know, but it couldn’t be good. He was 

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undoubtedly hatching a clever plan, breathing down their necks, doing what he could 
to prevent them from seeing each other. 
No, there’s nothing to worry about
, Aomame told herself. 
Tamaru can be trusted. 
He’s more meticulous, capable, and experienced than anyone I know. If I leave it up 
to him, he will fend off Bobblehead for me. Bobblehead is a danger not just to me, but 
to Tamaru as well, a risk factor that has to be eliminated
. 
But what if Tamaru decides that it isn’t advisable for Tengo and me to meet, then 
what will I do? If that happens, then Tamaru will surely cut off any possibility of 
Tengo and me ever seeing each other. Tamaru and I are pretty friendly, but his top 
priority is what will benefit the dowager and keep her out of harm’s way. That’s his 
real job—he isn’t doing all this for my sake
. 
This made her uneasy. Getting Tengo and her together, letting them see each other 
again—where did this fall on Tamaru’s list of priorities? She had no way of knowing. 
Maybe telling Tamaru about Tengo had been a fatal mistake. 
Shouldn’t I have taken 
care of everything myself?
But what’s done is done. I’ve told Tamaru everything. I had no choice. Bobblehead 
must be lying in wait for me, and it would be suicide to waltz right in all alone. Time 
is ticking away and I don’t have the leisure to put things on hold and see how they 
might develop. Opening up to Tamaru about everything, and putting it all in his 
hands, was the best choice at the time
. 
Aomame decided to stop thinking about Tengo—and stop looking at the moons. 
The moonlight wreaked havoc on her mind. It changed the tides in inlets, stirred up 
life in the woods. She drank the last of her herbal tea, left the window, went to the 
kitchen, and rinsed out the mug. She longed for a sip of brandy, but she knew she 
shouldn’t have any alcohol while pregnant. 
She sat on the sofa, switched on the small reading lamp beside it, and began 
rereading 
Air Chrysalis
. She had read the novel at least ten times. It wasn’t a long 
book, and by now she had nearly memorized it. But she wanted to read it again, 
slowly, attentively. She figured she might as well, since she wasn’t about to get to 
sleep. There might be something in it she had overlooked. 
Air Chrysalis
was like a book with a secret code, and Eriko Fukada must have told 
the story in order to get a message across. Tengo rewrote it, creating something more 
polished, more effective. They had formed a team to create a novel with a wider 
appeal. As Leader had said, it was a collaborative effort. If Leader was to be believed, 
when 
Air Chrysalis
became a bestseller and certain secrets were revealed within, the 
Little People lost their power, and the 
voice
no longer spoke. Because of this, the well 
dried up, the flow was cut off. This is how much influence the novel had exerted. 
She focused on each line as she read. 
By the time the clock showed 2:30, she was already two-thirds of the way through the 
novel. She closed the book and tried to put into words the strong emotions she was 
feeling. Though she wouldn’t go so far as to call it a revelation, she had a strong, 
specific image in her mind.