And each time he finished a sentence, there was a tiny but meaningful lump of silence left behind. This lump floated there, enclosed in the car's restricted space like an imaginary miniature cloud, giving Aomame a strangely unsettled feeling.

“At the entrance to the original tower, there is a stone into which Jung carved …”

“My parents walked around me on tiptoe, afraid of hurting me. But I knew how dis…”

“In a sense, I'm the one who ruined me: I did it myself.”

“Losing you is most difficult for me, but the nature of my love for you is what …”