murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood

With Naoko gone, I went to sleep on the sofa. I hadn't intended to do
so, but I fell into the kind of deep sleep I had not had for a long time,
filled with a sense of Naoko's presence. In the kitchen were the dishes
Naoko used, in the bathroom was the toothbrush Naoko used, and in
the bedroom was the bed in which Naoko slept. Sleeping soundly in
this flat of hers, I wrung the fatigue from every cell of my body, drop
by drop. I dreamed of a butterfly dancing in the half-light.
When I awoke again, the hands of my watch were pointing to 4.35.
The light had changed, the wind had died, the shapes of the clouds
were different. I had sweated in my sleep, so I dried my face with a
small towel from my rucksack and put on a fresh vest. Going to the
kitchen, I drank some water and stood there looking through the
window over the sink. I was facing a window in the building opposite,
on the inside of which hung several paper cut-outs - a bird, a cloud, a
cow, a cat, all in skilful silhouette and joined together. As before,
there was no sign of anyone about, and there were no sounds of any
kind. I felt as if I were living alone in an extremely well-cared-for
ruin.
People started coming back to Area C a little after five Looking out of
the kitchen window, I saw three women passing below. All wore hats
that prevented me from telling their ages, but judging from their
voices, they were not very young. Shortly after they had disappeared
around a corner, four more women appeared from the same direction
and, like the first group, disappeared around the same corner. An
evening mood hung over everything. From the living room window I
could see trees and a line of hills. Above the ridge floated a border of
pale sunlight.
Naoko and Reiko came back together at 5.30. Naoko and I exchanged
proper greetings as if meeting for the first time. She seemed truly
embarrassed. Reiko noticed the book I had been reading and asked
what it was. Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, I told her.
"How could you bring a book like that to a place like this?" she
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