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stirring
, Fuka-Eri had said.
“I got pregnant the night of that storm,” Aomame said. “But I didn’t have
those
sorts of
relations with anyone on that day, or for several months before and after.”
She paused and waited until this reality had sunk in, then continued.
“But
it
definitely happened that night. And I’m certain that the child I’m carrying
is yours. I can’t explain it, but I know it’s
true
.”
The memory of the strange sexual encounter he had with Fuka-Eri that night came
back to him. Lightning was crashing outside, huge drops of rain lashing the window.
The Little People were indeed stirring. He was lying there, faceup in bed, his whole
body numb, and Fuka-Eri straddled him, inserted his penis inside her, and squeezed
out his semen. She looked like she was in a complete trance. Her eyes were closed
from start to finish, as if she were lost in meditation. Her breasts were ample and
round, and she had no pubic hair. The whole scene was unreal, but he knew it had
really happened.
The next morning, Fuka-Eri had acted as if she had no memory of the events of the
previous night, or else tried to give the impression that she didn’t remember. To
Tengo it had felt more like a business transaction than sex. On that stormy night,
Fuka-Eri used his body to collect his semen, down to the very last drop. Even now,
Tengo could recall that strange sensation. Fuka-Eri had seemed to become a totally
different person.
“There is something I recall,” Tengo said dryly. “Something that happened to me
that night that logic can’t explain.”
Aomame looked deep into his eyes.
“At the time,” he went on, “I didn’t know what it meant. Even now, I’m not sure.
But if you did get pregnant that night, and there’s no other possible explanation for it,
then the child inside you has to be mine.”
Fuka-Eri must have been the conduit. That was the role she had been assigned, to
act as the passage linking Tengo and Aomame, physically connecting the two of them
over a limited period of time. Tengo knew this must be true.
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“Someday I’ll tell you exactly what happened then,” Tengo said, “but right now I
don’t think I have the words to explain it.”
“But you really believe it, right? That the
little one
inside me is your child?”
“From the bottom of my heart,” Tengo said.
“Good,” Aomame said. “That’s all I wanted to know. As long as you believe that,
then I don’t care about the rest. I don’t need any explanations.”
“So you’re pregnant,” Tengo asked again.
“Four months along,” Aomame said, guiding his hand to rest on her belly.
Tengo was quiet, seeking signs of life there. It was still very tiny, but his hand
could feel the warmth.
“Where are we moving on to? You, me, and the
little one
.”
“Somewhere that’s not here,” Aomame replied. “A world with only one moon. The
place where we belong. Where the Little People have no power.”
“Little People?” Tengo frowned slightly.
“You described the Little People in detail in
Air Chrysalis
. What they look like,
what they do.”
Tengo nodded.
“They really exist in this world,” Aomame said. “Just like you described them.”
When he had rewritten the novel, he had thought the Little People were merely the
figment of the active imagination of a seventeen-year-old girl. Or that they were at
most a kind of metaphor or symbol. But Tengo could now believe that the Little
People really existed, that they had real powers.
“Not just the Little People,” Aomame said, “but all of it really exists in this
world—air chrysalises,
maza
and
dohta
, two moons.”
“And you know the pathway out of
this world
?”
“We’ll take the pathway I took to get into this world so that we can get out of it.
That’s the only exit I can think of.” She added, “Do you have the manuscript of the
novel you’re writing?”
“Right here,” Tengo said, lightly tapping the russet-colored bag slung over his
shoulder. It struck him as strange. How did she know about this?
Aomame gave a hesitant smile. “I just know.”
“It looks like you know a lot of things,” Tengo said. It was the first time he had
seen her smile. It was the faintest of smiles, yet he felt the tides start to shift all over
the world. He knew it was happening.
“Don’t let go of it,” Aomame said. “It’s very important for us.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t.”
“We came into
this world
so that we could meet. We didn’t realize it ourselves, but
that was the purpose of us coming here. We faced all kinds of complications—things
that didn’t make sense, things that defied explanation. Weird things, gory things, sad
things. And sometimes, even beautiful things. We were asked to make a vow, and we
did. We were forced to go through hard times, and we made it. We were able to
accomplish the goal that we came here to accomplish. But danger is closing in fast.
They want the
dohta
inside of me. You know what the
dohta
signifies, I imagine.”
Tengo took a deep breath. “You’re having our
dohta
—yours and mine.”
“I don’t know all the details of whatever principle’s behind it, but I’m giving birth
to a
dohta
. Either through an air chrysalis, or else I’m the air chrysalis. And they’re
793
trying to get ahold of all three of us. To make a new system so they can
hear the
voice
.”
“But what’s my role in this? Assuming I have a role beyond being the father of the
dohta
.”
“You are—” Aomame began, and stopped. The next words wouldn’t come. There
were several gaps that remained, gaps they would have to work together, over time, to
fill in.
“I decided to find you,” Tengo said, “but I couldn’t.
You
found
me
. I actually
didn’t do anything. It seems—how should I put it?—unfair.”
“Unfair?”
“I owe you a lot. But in the end, I wasn’t much help.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” Aomame said firmly. “You’re the one who guided
me this far. In an invisible way. The two of us are one.”
“I think I saw that
dohta
,” Tengo said. “Or at least what the
dohta signifies
. It was
you as a ten-year-old, asleep inside the faint light of an air chrysalis. I could touch her
fingers. It only happened once.”
Aomame leaned her head on Tengo’s shoulder. “We don’t owe each other
anything. Not a thing. But what we do need to worry about is protecting this
little one
.
They’re closing in. Almost on top of us. I can hear their footsteps.”
“I won’t ever let anyone else get the two of you—you or the
little one
. Now that
we’ve met each other, we’ve found what we were looking for when we came to this
world. This is a dangerous place. But you said you know where there’s an exit.”
“I think so,” Aomame said. “If I’m not mistaken.”
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