Chapter 1 - It Was The Most Boring Town In The World 

           Aomame meets with the dowager, who gives her some bad news (or maybe good news): Tsubasa disappeared. The dowager speculates that she ran away on her own and is not attempting to search for the girl. She fills Aomame in on what she has found out about Sakigake and the Leader, suggesting that Aomame should be prepared to die during her last job. On her way out of the Willow House, Aomame stops Tamaru to ask him a favor: she needs a gun. In case the job goes wrong, she says, she would rather kill herself than be captured by Sakigake.

Chapter 2 - I Don't Have A Thing Except My Soul 

           Tengo listens to Sinfonietta while he writes. Later, he is visited at work by an interesting character. He introduces himself as Toshiharu Ushikawa, the director of the New Japan Foundation for the Advancement of Scholarship and the Arts. Ushikawa explains that his company selects young scholars and artists to invest in, offering Tengo three million yen to take time off of work and focus on writing his novel. Ushikawa says he has attended one of Tengo's lectures at the cram school and knows that Tengo is currently working on a lengthy novel. Tengo questions how Ushikawa knows so much about him and Ushikawa says that the company has capable "researchers." Tengo declines the offer but Ushikawa, unwilling to take no for an answer, says he'll be in touch with Tengo in a few days to get his answer.

Chapter 3 - You Can't Choose How You're Born, But You Can Choose How You Die 

           Aomame listens to Sinfonietta while she stretches. The next night, she goes to meet with the dowager (again). The dowager gives Aomame instructions as to what to do with her belongings and the contents of her bank account. Tamaru managed to get a gun, as Aomame requested, and he teaches her how to use it. At home, she practices loading the gun and reads the evening paper. There is an article about a female police officer who was found dead in a hotel - next to it, a picture of Ayumi.

Chapter 4 - It Might Be Better Not To Wish For Such A Thing 

           Tengo goes to the supermarket to buy edamame, which sends him into a series of flashbacks about Aomame and the time she held his hand at school. He wonders what Aomame is like today and what she would think of him if they met today. (...That's really all that happens in this whole chapter.)

Chapter 5 - The Vegetarian Cat Meets Up With The Rat 

           Aomame mourns the loss of Ayumi. She figures Ayumi picked up a guy at a bar, went with him to a hotel, and things went too far when they were having sex. She regrets not spending more time with Ayumi, believing that if she were with her that night, Ayumi would still be alive. The pager Tamaru gave Aomame finally goes off (rings? beeps? is paged?) and she calls the number. Tamaru tells her it's time - she is to meet the Leader that night at seven o'clock. Aomame has already packed her things and cleared out her apartment. As she looks around her empty apartment, she thinks about hte life she will be leaving behind, and she thinks of Tengo.

Chapter 6 - We Have Very Long Arms 

           A letter arrives from Komatsu - which Tengo finds strange because Komatsu is apparently not the letter-writing type - updating him about Fuka-eri's missing person status and the sales and reviews of Air Chrysalis. A few days later, Tengo gets a phone call from the husband of his girlfriend. She never showed up for their "date" the week before, and the husband tells Tengo that she won't be coming again. Tengo finds the husbands wording strange - he says his wife "will not be able to visit" anymore, that she is "irretrievably lost." Tengo worries about her well-being. Later that night, he gets a call from Ushikawa, who goes through another series of seemingly threatening backwards riddles about what it means for Tengo to decline the offer from the New Japan Foundation. He says he'll be calling back again to give Tengo another chance to change his answer.

Chapter 7 - Where You Are About To Set Foot 

           Aomame arrives in the hotel lobby a little before seven. Two men approach her and lead her to a suite in the hotel. They search her and her belongings but they don't notice the gun or the ice pick hidden in her bag. Aomame is given time to change, then led into the adjoining room.

Chapter 8 - Time For The Cats To Come Home 

           Days go by with Tengo holed up in his apartment. He finally decides to get out of the apartment and finds himself bording a train - after maneuvering through the train station to lose anyone who Ushikawa may have sent to follow him. He ends up going to visit his father for the first time in two years at the sanatorium where he has been living. Tengo's father's memory and awareness of what is happening around him seems to be going. He says that he doesn't have a son, and Tengo is nothing. Tengo asks about his mother and tries to find out whether or not this man is his biological father. The answers his father gives him assure Tengo that he is not his biological father, that the man from his memory is his real dad. Tengo's father asks Tengo to read to him, so Tengo reads the story about the town of cats which he had read on the train earlier that day.

Chapter 9 - What Comes As A Payment For Heavenly Grace 

           Aomame is led into the dark room where the Leader is resting. Before she sets to work on stretching the man's muscles, he explains his situation to her. He says that several times a month his muscles go stiff, paralyzing him for hours. During this paralysis, his mind functions with special clarity (typical Murakami right there). Also during this paralysis, he maintains an erection, and three teenage girls from Sakigake take turns having sex with him in an effort to get pregnant with his heir. Is it the duty of these girls (assigned by the Little People?) to have the Leader's child so that he can be destroyed.

Chapter 10 - You Have Declined Our Offer 

           A few weeks later, Tengo recieves a call from Fuka-eri. She is in the neighborhood and asks to come stay at Tengo's apartment. Eri tells him that Sakigake was searched by the police and something  (bad?) is going to happen, so she and Tengo have to join forces.

           Ushikawa comes to see Tengo (again) at work. Cue more backwards riddles about the organization having very long and very strong arms. Tengo still rejects the offer. After Ushikawa leaves, Tengo calls Eri to let he know he'll be home soon. She tells him to hurry up, because the Little People are stirring and a storm is coming.

Chapter 11 - Balance Itself Is The Good

           Aomame begins working on the Leader's muscles as a storm rolls in. She works her way to the back of the man's neck, preparing her ice pick and trying to reassure herself that this man deserves to die since their conversation humanized him a bit in her eyes. As she hesiates, the Leader tells her to hurry up and finish him, and Aomame realizes he knew all along that she was there to kill him. He demonstrates his power, freezing Aomame's hand in mid-air, to prove that he could stop her if he wanted to, but he really is prepared to die. He explains that the Little People have given him these powers and he has to listen to and obey them. They were responsible for Ayumi's death - they killed her because she was close to Aomame and they are unable to kill Aomame herself because she is a special being.

Chapter 12 - More Than I Could Count On My Fingers

           Tengo arrives back at his apartment before the storm comes. Tengo and Fuka-eri eat dinner and go to bed early because the Little People are watching. Tengo tells Eri the story of the town of cats. The story seems to startle Eri. She asks Tengo if he went to a town of cats and if he did a purification afterwards. Tengo says he didn't, and Eri is concerned that the Little People will find the entrance.

Comments

           I'm way behind on these. Way, way behind. But! I'm determined to finish. Reading-wise I'm in book 3, so my priority is to actually finish the book before the semester ends. The blog posts might take a bit longer than that.

           I read these chapters all at once before bed a few weeks ago and that night I totally had a Murakami dream. I wouldn't wish a Murakami dream on anyone - they're not fun. I dreamt that there was this other me that was asleep, and this other sleeping me was making a conscious effort to keep my mouth shut while I was asleep, because if my mouth opened the Little People would come out. I (actual me) woke up and my mouth was slightly ajar and I panicked. Note to self: No 1Q84 before bed.

           This is just one all-around confusing story. I know that it has an actual ending, though, so I'm holding out that everything will be explained better later, because the Leader's "explanation" has me lost.

           Also; Fuka-eri's whole "we are one" thing? EXO's concept. F'real.