Chapter 9

Aomame goes to the library to research past newspapers for a glimpse into world events in 1981.  The first event that caught her attention was an NHK sub fee collector who stabbed a college student with a butcher knife. She cannot comprehend that she has no recollection of such an event. She does recall a coal mine accident. Then she finds the story she is looking for, the Yamanashi gunfight with radicals where 3 officers are killed. Aomame is upset that she has no recollection of this and her face goes through a contorted transformation. She takes a deep breath, causing such noise, it startles the student in the next cubicle. It is compared to a whale rising to the surface. Here is a sea reference, which has been absent for awhile. This story eclipses the Lake Motosu incident, but she is confused as to why she can remember all of the other events at that time, except for these two stories. She theorizes that it's not she that is deranged, but the world around her. And it's not the old world, but a new, parallel, one, that of 1Q84. She must figure this out on her own. She tries to think back to when this new world had taken over. She thinks back to the cab ride and the Sinfonietta, and when she noticed the change in police paraphernalia. She goes back to the gun battle and takes furious notes. Then turns to background information on Leos Janacek.  Still, she cannot come up with a connection between the gun battle and the stabbing. She tells herself she must adapt to the rules of this new world for her survival. She buys the Janacek Sinfonietta and takes it home to listen to over a glass of white wine. It brings her no new insights into her quandry. She makes a meal from meager pickings in the fridge, one that will not constipate her. Constipation ranks up there with domestic violence and fanatic religious fundamentalists. She showers, and the sight of her body makes her recall that she is about to turn 30.  It will be spent in 1Q84, where she is, at present.

Other than living in two worlds, what stands out can't be mere coincidence. That one of the events she cannot remember involves an NHK fee collector, which figures so prominently in Tengo's past.