murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood

"It feels like ancient history," said Naoko. "But anyway, sorry about
last night. I don't know, I was a bundle of nerves. I really shouldn't
have done that after you came here all the way from Tokyo."
"Never mind," I said. "Both of us have a lot of feelings we need to get
out in the open. So if you want to take those feelings and smash
somebody with them, smash me. Then we can understand each other
better."
"So if you understand me better, what then?"
"You don't get it, do you?" I said. "It's not a question of what then'.
Some people get a kick out of reading railway timetables and that's all
they do all day. Some people make huge model boats out of
matchsticks. So what's wrong if there happens to be one guy in the
world who enjoys trying to understand you?"
"Kind of like a hobby?" she said, amused.
"Yeah, I guess you could call it a hobby. Most normal people would
call it friendship or love or something, but if you want to call it a
hobby, that's OK, too."
"Tell me," said Naoko, "you liked Kizuki, too, didn't you?" "Of
course," I said.
"How about Reiko?"
"I like her a lot," I said. "She's really nice."
"How come you always like people like that - people like us, I mean?
We're all kind of weird and twisted and drowning - me and Kizuki and
Reiko. Why can't you like more normal people?"
"Because I don't see you like that," I said after giving it some thought.
"I don't see you or Kizuki or Reiko as "twisted' in any way. The guys I
think of as twisted are out there running around."
"But we are twisted," said Naoko. "I can see that."
We walked on in silence. The road left the fence and came out to a
circular grassy field ringed with trees like a pond.
"Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night so scared," said
Naoko, pressing up against my arm. "I'm scared I'll never get better
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