Chapters 7+8

Guess I didn't have much to say beyond summaries ... glad to be back into it tho =)


Chapter 7
Aomame
Quietly, So As Not to Wake the Butterfly

Aomame goes to the Willow House, a large residence surrounded by willow trees in a fashionable neighborhood. Outside is a man, Tamaru. He is a bodyguard, and deadly, but in his private life, he tinkers with gadgets and collects prog rock records. He greets Aomame and takes her to a waiting room. Aomame is a little bit early for her appointment, and they chat. He mentions the dead man in the Shibuya hotel, though Aomame denies knowing anything about that. Then Tamaru brings Aomame around back to the hothouse for her meeting.
A dowager, the owner of the house, is inside. As are many butterflies. She cultivates plants and keeps the butterflies, though they don’t live long. The dowager also makes semi-vague allusions to the dead man. She tells Aomame that they haven’t done anything wrong. Then she shows Aomame a set of photographs of the man’s wife. She is badly bruised. It turns out that the dowager shelters the wifes of abusive men after Aomame has disposed of them and has taken in Miyama’s (ex) wife.
After her meeting with the dowager, Aomame goes back to the front of the house, and sits with Tamaru for a while. He tells her of the other women that the dowager is looking after. Then Aomame asks him when the police got new uniforms and new guns. Tamaru tells Aomame that it was after the shootout at Lake Motosu in 1981, so, two years ago, which jibes with what the men at the hotel bar told Aomame. On the way out, Aomame wonders how she could have missed hearing about the Lake Motosu incident and the resulting reorganization of the police force. She had to get her thoughts straight and figure out what was going on.

Chapter 8
Tengo
Meeting New People in New Places

Tengo goes to meet Fuka-Eri at the train station. On the way we are treated to a look at Tengo’s childhood and his father’s history. It is Sunday, and Tengo doesn’t like Sundays, never has, because of how he used to accompany his father on his route to collect NHK subscription fees. Tengo knew that, among other reasons, his father liked bringing him along because it was more difficult for those that his father was collecting from to refuse him if he had his little kid in tow. Tengo didn’t like feeling like he was being used in this way. He always dreaded Sundays because of this. And so he is uneasy on this Sunday, on the train with Fuka-Eri.
They take the train out of Tokyo and go for a long way into the countryside. During the ride, Tengo learns some things about Fuka-Eri. She doesn’t like to read or write. Tengo surmises that she has dyslexia. He also figures out that she didn’t write Air Chrysalis by herself, then. Fuka-Eri confirms this, telling Tengo that Azami, the Professor’s daughter, two people she lives with, typed it up and printed it from Fuka-Eri’s dictation. She also confirms that Tengo is going to meet with the Professor.
Tengo begins to worry about his little scheme with Komatsu to rewrite Air Chrysalis. He was concerned before that it might cause a scandal if what they were up to was revealed, but now, knowing that Fuka-Eri is dyslexic, he is even more concerned should the story prove popular and Fuka-Eri becomes well-known because of it. But he feels that he is too close to it now, too involved with Air Chrysalis to abandon it. He has to see it through no matter what.
Fuka-Eri can tell Tengo is disturbed. Not only because of Sundays and what they mean to him but because of how nervous he is about his plan with Komatsu. Fuka-Eri tells him not to be afraid. She hold his hand and tells him, “Don’t be afraid. It’s not just another Sunday,” the first time he has heard her say two consecutive sentences.