After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

CHAPTER 10 
Tengo 
A REAL REVOLUTION WITH REAL BLOODSHED 
“Transfer,” Fuka-Eri said. Then she took Tengo’s hand again. This was just before the 
train pulled into Tachikawa Station. 
They stepped off the train and walked down one set of stairs and up another to a 
different platform. Fuka-Eri never once let go of Tengo’s hand. They probably looked 
like a pair of fond lovers to the people around them. There was quite an age 
difference, but Tengo looked younger than his actual age. Their size difference also 
probably amused some onlookers. A happy Sunday-morning date in the spring. 
Through the hand holding his, however, Tengo felt no hint of affection for the 
opposite sex. The strength of her grip never changed. Her fingers had something like 
the meticulous professionalism of a doctor taking a patient’s pulse. It suddenly 
occurred to Tengo: 
Perhaps this girl thinks we can communicate wordlessly through 
the touch of fingers and palms
. But even supposing such communication had actually 
taken place, it was all traveling in one direction rather than back and forth. Fuka-Eri’s 
palm might well be absorbing what was in Tengo’s mind, but that didn’t mean that 
Tengo could read Fuka-Eri’s mind. This did not especially worry Tengo, however. 
There was nothing in his mind—no thoughts or feelings—that he would be concerned 
to have her know. 
Even if she has no feeling for me as a member of the opposite sex, she must like me 
to some extent
, Tengo surmised. 
Or at least she must not have a
bad 
impression of me. 
Otherwise, whatever her purpose, she wouldn’t go on holding my hand like this for 
such a long time
. 
Having changed now to the platform for the Oume Line, they boarded the waiting 
train. This station, Tachikawa, was the beginning of the Oume Line, which headed yet 
farther toward the hills northwest of Tokyo. The car was surprisingly crowded, full of 
old folks and family groups in Sunday hiking gear. Tengo and Fuka-Eri stood near the 
door. 
“We seem to have joined an outing,” Tengo said, scanning the crowd. 
“Is it okay to keep holding your hand,” Fuka-Eri asked Tengo. She had not let go 
even after they boarded the train. 
“That’s fine,” Tengo said. “Of course” 
Fuka-Eri seemed relieved and went on holding his hand. Her fingers and palm 
were as smooth as ever, and free of sweat. They still seemed to be trying to find and 
verify something inside him. 
“You’re not afraid anymore,” she asked without a question mark. 

---

107
“No, I’m not,” Tengo answered. He was not lying. His Sunday-morning panic 
attack had certainly lost its force, thanks perhaps to Fuka-Eri’s holding his hand. He 
was no longer sweating, nor could he hear his heart pounding. The hallucination paid 
him no visit, and his breathing was as calm as usual. 
“Good,” she said without inflection. 
Yes, good
, Tengo also thought. 
There was a simple, rapidly spoken announcement that the train would soon 
depart, and the train doors rumbled closed, sending an outsized shudder through the 
train as if some huge, ancient animal were waking itself from a long sleep. As though 
it had finally made up its mind, the train pulled slowly away from the platform. 
Still holding hands with Fuka-Eri, Tengo watched the scenery go past the train 
window. At first, it was just the usual residential area scenery, but the farther they 
went, the more the flat Musashino Plain gave way to views of distant mountains. 
After nearly a dozen stops, the two-track line narrowed down to a single line of rails, 
and they had to transfer to a four-car train. The surrounding mountains were 
becoming increasingly prominent. Now they had gone beyond commuting distance 
from downtown Tokyo. The hills out here retained the withered look of winter, which 
brought out the brilliance of the evergreens. The smell of the air was different, too, 
Tengo realized, as the train doors opened at each new station, and sounds were subtly 
different. Fields lay by the tracks, and farmhouses increased in number. Pickup trucks 
seemed to outnumber sedans.