Aomame

As Aomame continues her life of isolation in her apartment, she adheres strictly to her daily schedule. She soon realizes that her mouth muscles are getting too little use, so she asks Tamaru to send a set of Spanish language tapes, and she adds daily language study to her routine. As she practices pronouncing the strange sounds, she daydreams about moving to Costa Rica with Tengo.

In the past, Aomame never had trouble sleeping, and she rarely dreamed. Now her patterns change. She often awakes from vivid dreams in the middle of the night. When this happens, she usually spends a few minutes struggling to determine what is real and what is not. This is highly disconcerting to her.

All of Aomame’s dreams leave her with a sense of powerlessness. In one dream, she is aware of a presence in the room with her. She sits up in bed and finds herself alone, but she thinks she sees a large, dark hole in the wall. In another dream, Aomame stands naked on the Metropolitan Expressway Number 3. All the drivers stare disparagingly at her body until a kind middle-aged woman comes and wraps a coat around her. In the third dream, Aomame’s body slowly turns clear. She can look down and see her bones and uterus and heart through her skin.

When Tamaru next calls, Aomame asks for a home pregnancy test. He seems worried by this request. Soon after, he gets the dowager to call Aomame for a womanly chat. Aomame explains that she has not had sex recently, but she thinks she may be pregnant anyway. She suspects that conception may have happened magically on the day she killed Leader. Strange as this claim is, the dowager takes it seriously. She promises to send some pregnancy test kits with the next supply delivery.

Soon after this conversation, the threatening NHK collector comes back to Aomame’s door. As before, she stays silent while he shouts. By now she knows that the NHK fees for the apartment are paid. The door is marked with a sticker that indicates this fact. Still, he stands outside demanding the fees, and his words seem uncannily designed to frighten Aomame personally:

You’re very clever at hiding...But in the end you won’t be able to escape. Someone will come and open this door.

Aomame thinks this man may know who she is, but if so, she does not understand his plan. If he wanted to kill or kidnap her, he would be quiet—but he purposely attracts attention instead. Is he just crazy?

When he is finally gone, Aomame tries to calm herself. She puts a hand on her belly and tells herself that there is a life growing inside her. What kind of life is it—a child or a dohta?