Tengo

In the bar with Komatsu, Tengo listens to the story of the kidnapping. Komatsu explains that his attackers drugged him, putting him to sleep. He awoke in a cube-shaped room furnished only with a bed, a desk, and a toilet. There were no windows, so Komatsu is not certain how much time passed. However, his captors brought meals at regular intervals and turned out the light periodically, so he thinks that they were following the ordinary patterns of day and night. Komatsu ate everything he was given and slept well at night, two facts which perplex him because he does not normally eat much or sleep soundly.

After what Komatsu believes was three days, two men in black suits came to speak with him. One had a buzzcut, and one had a ponytail. Only Buzzcut spoke. He refused to identify himself, but he allowed Komatsu to advance the “hypothesis” that he worked for Sakigake. He told Komatsu to call in to work and claim to be ill. Komatsu obeyed, and then the men left him alone again.

Ten days passed, all of which were exactly like the first three. During this time, Komatsu struggled primarily with boredom because he had nothing to do and nothing to read. When the men appeared again, Buzzcut explained that the people of Sakigake were greatly harmed by the publication of Air Chrysalis. Speaking of the adherents of the religion in the third person, he said, “The voice no longer speaks to them.” Somehow, Fuka-Eri’s story drove the voice to stop speaking to Leader, whom Buzzcut identified as Tamotsu Fukada, Fuka-Eri’s father. According to Buzzcut, the people of Sakigake were now desperate to find a new leader and get the voice back.

During this conversation, Buzzcut made it very clear that he was willing to kill if necessary. He ordered Komatsu to stop printing copies of Air Chrysalis. Supposedly, further dissemination of the novel would make it harder for Sakigake to achieve its goals.

Komatsu agreed to Buzzcut’s terms, and several days later he was abruptly returned home. As soon as possible, he visited the Professor and explained about Fukada’s death. After that, he returned to work and made arrangements to stop printing new copies of Air Chrysalis. It was not too difficult to convince his bosses that this was necessary. He hinted at a scandal involving a ghostwriter, and they let him do what was necessary.

After Komatsu finishes telling this story, Tengo thinks it over carefully. He theorizes that the death of Leader, the Receiver, made it impossible for Fuka-Eri’s dohta, the Perceiver, to continue functioning. If the adherents of Sakigake now want to find “one who hears the voice,” they may also need to find a new maza and dohta. Komatsu finds this idea interesting, although he seems less disposed than Tengo to accept the elements of the Air Chrysalis story as fact.

In any case, Komatsu tells Tengo that the story of Air Chrysalis is over. No more copies will be printed, and nobody will bother Tengo about the novella anymore. Tengo finds this hard to believe. As he leaves, he thinks that stories do not end so easily. According to Tengo, “a narrative takes its own direction, and continues on, almost automatically.” The story will surely continue as long as he lives in a world with two moons.