55 pages • 1 hour read
After Dark
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Chapters 15-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 15 Summary
In a guest room in the Alphaville, Mari and Korogi sit disinterestedly watching the same Creatures of the Deep documentary as Shirakawa. They soon give up and turn off the television. Mari asks Korogi about herself. She and Komugi work as a team from 10pm to 10am. Korogi has been working at Alphaville for a year and a half.
Mari asks Korogi about her real name. Korogi says that it would have been dangerous to keep using her real name: She is hiding from certain people. Working at love hotels invites anonymity; it makes it easier to fly under the radar. She used to be an ordinary woman with an office job. She warns Mari that though the ground may feel solid, it can give way at any time.
Korogi does not know what will happen if the people she is running from catch her. She tells Mari that she has never told anyone else this. Mari believes her, which surprises Korogi, as they are strangers. Korogi shows her a burn scar—a brand—that her pursuers left on her back. For some reason, Korogi feels she can confide in Mari.
Mari wants to tell Korogi something she has not told anyone. She reveals that two months ago, Eri announced she was going to sleep for a long time. She has been asleep ever since. There is evidence that she still eats, showers, and changes clothes, but Mari and her parents have not seen her do so. The family physician could find nothing medically wrong with Eri; even a psychiatrist was at a loss. Mari’s parents take an optimistic view, thinking Eri will wake up when she has gotten enough rest. Mari, however, cannot stand the situation. Sometimes she cannot sleep, thinking of Eri in the next room. When it gets too bad, she leaves the house and stays out all night, like tonight.
Korogi is surprised, but she says Eri must be sleeping to deal with some big problem. She can relate. Korogi asks about Eri; Mari tells her that they were never close. Eri has had a brief career modeling and appearing in a few commercials. She is 21, a sociology major at an upscale university. Mari says that Eri is incredibly beautiful when she sleeps.
Korogi asks Mari if she believes in reincarnation. Mari does not. Korogi is terrified at the idea of nothingness after death. Korogi remarks that Mari has a strong grasp of herself. Mari has worked hard to overcome the lack of self-confidence she felt as a little girl. Mari reflects that she did work hard to create her own world that she feels comfortable in, but she wonders if that need to escape makes her a weak person. Korogi asks if Mari is a virgin; Mari blushes and confirms. Korogi advises her not to settle for anything less than the right person. All of the men Korogi has settled for have ground her down. Mari hopes Korogi can get away from whoever she is running from. Korogi feels like she is running from her own shadow.
Korogi tells Mari she thinks things will work out with Eri. She reflects on the nature of memories. To her, memories keep life going. She thinks she would not have survived this long without memories of the good times. She advises Mari to try to remember things about Eri. Korogi goes back to work.
Alone in the love hotel room, Mari feels strangely protected. She falls in to short, but deeply restful sleep—something she has needed for a long time.
Chapter 16 Summary
Just before 5am, Takahashi’s band is still practicing; Takahashi is playing the solo to “Sunnymoon for Two” by Sunny Rollins. After the song ends, the band members take a break, preparing for the next song. They are all evidently tired. One of them compliments Takahashi’s playing. Takahashi thanks him, and then packs up his trombone and excuses himself, saying he is meeting someone.
At 5am, Shirakawa still cannot sleep. He remains in the kitchen, disinterestedly watching the NHK news. His right hand hurts. It is “no ordinary pain he is feeling: it is a pain laden with memories” (212). He tries to relieve it by holding a cold bottle of Perrier to his hand. He wants to sleep, but something is bothering him. He wants to be in bed before his family gets up.
At 5:07am, Mari is still sleeping peacefully in the room in the Alphaville.
It is 5:09am. Eri Asai is now back on “this side” of the television screen. There is no indication of how she returned. Whatever events have been at work, they have completed their cycle. Eri sleeps peacefully on her bed. The darkest part of night has apparently passed.
It is 5:10am. In the 7-Eleven, Takahashi carefully shops for food. Choosing milk is very important to him. As he scrutinizes the expiration dates on the cartons, the cell phone, which Shirakawa left by the cheese, rings. Takahashi is suspicious, but he decides to answer. A man on the other end says, “You will never get away. No matter how far you run, we’re going to get you” (217). Takahashi is taken aback and tries to tell the man he is the wrong guy, but the man does not listen. The man promises that one day they will find him and tap him on the shoulder. He hangs up, leaving Takahashi confused about the threat. He decides it has nothing to do with him and leaves as quickly as possible.
At 5:24am, Takahashi calls Mari from the park. She does not want to get food, but she agrees to let him walk her to the station—he wants to talk to her more. Takahashi hangs up and thinks about the threat he received from the man on the phone. The more he thinks about it, the more he feels the threat was directed at him. He heads to the Alphaville as garbage trucks begin to move throughout the streets and Tokyo begins to awaken.
Chapter 17 Summary
At 5:38am, Takahashi and Mari walk side by side. Takahashi asks about Eri, if she is actually only sleeping or if she could be in some kind of coma. Mari thinks she is sleeping. She is not ready to talk about it. She is tired and her voice does not sound like her own to her.
Takahashi asks Mari if he can see her again sometime. Mari asks if he means a date; Takahashi says yes. Mari is taken aback. She does not understand why Takahashi would be interested in her. She thinks she has a dark personality, but Takahashi thinks that the ability to see the shadows in life is a mark of an intelligent person. Mari says she is a coward, but Takahashi disagrees: It takes a brave woman to stay out all night in the city. He figures she wanted to discover something and wonders if she did.
Takahashi reaffirms that he wants to meet her again. Mari says this may be impossible: She was chosen for a foreign exchange program. She is leaving for Beijing in a few days and will not be back until summer. Takahashi congratulates her and tells her he can wait. He asks for her address so he can write to her while she is in China.
Mari is still confused as to why Takahashi is interested in her. He cannot give her a straight answer, but he says he might discover why if they go on their date when she returns.
Stopping before the automatic ticket gate, Mari tells Takahashi she remembered something about Eri right after he called her at the Alphaville. When she was in kindergarten, she and Eri got stuck in an elevator. Mari was paralyzed with fear. Eri decided to be a strong older sister, and, despite her own terror, held Mari in a tight embrace, comforting her. That was the one moment Mari can recall where she felt united with her older sister; from then on, they drifted apart.
Mari confesses to Takahashi that she does not want to go to China because she is scared. Takahashi reassures her. He tells her she is very pretty and promises to write her a long letter, like an old-fashioned novel. She leaves, and he stays at the station until her train is out of sight.
Chapter 18 Summary
At 6:40am, Mari enters Eri’s room. Eri is still in a deep sleep. Mari examines the room to be sure it really is Eri’s room, that nothing has changed. After a few minutes, Mari partially undresses and gets into bed with Eri. She cuddles up to her sleeping sister, her head on Eri’s chest. Without warning, tears spring up from Mari’s eyes. She sits up, suddenly feeling like “she has committed some utterly inexcusable act, something that she can never undo” (236). The feeling is overwhelming, and she continues to cry.
Somewhere deep down, she feels the flow of their lives beginning to connect. Mari kisses Eri once, then again, feeling like she is kissing herself. Comforted, she cuddles up to Eri once again. She whispers for Eri to “please come back” (237). She falls asleep.
The television appears to briefly flash, but the narrator comments that “we” may have just seen an optical illusion. Outside, in the new morning light, the world is waking up.
It is 6:43am. While taking inventory, the tired 7-Eleven clerk hears a cell phone ringing. He finds Guo’s phone and answers it. A voice on the other end threatens him in a similar manner as Takahashi.
It is 6:50am. The narrative camera soars high above Tokyo. Commuter trains move throughout the metropolis. People go about their morning rituals and commutes. Crows fly in to pick at uncollected garbage. Memories of the night cling to the dark areas between tall buildings as the sun rises.
At 6:52am, the camera returns to Eri’s room. After a long night spent among the night people of Tokyo, Mari sleeps soundly in Eri’s bed. Eri is still asleep, but the narrative camera notices a slight twitch of her lips, an indication of things to come.
Chapters 15-18 Analysis
The final section of After Dark brings the novel to its ambiguous conclusion. Shirakawa gets away with assaulting Guo, though he does not know that he is actively being pursued by the Chinese gang. In another example of a coincidence connecting Takahashi and Shirakawa, Takahashi receives the threat intended for Shirakawa when he answers Guo’s cell phone in the 7-Eleven. The nature of the threat evokes Takahashi’s terror at the interconnectedness of the collective, causing him to wonder if the message actually was intended for him. Projecting meaning onto the random event makes this an example of Synchronicity for Takahashi.
These chapters, especially the final one, showcase other examples of synchronicity. Shirakawa, Mari, and Korogi are all watching the same television documentary, for instance. The story comes full circle when the narrative camera returns to the sky, calling back to the concept of Voyeurism and the Narrative Camera from Chapter 1. Garbage trucks begin their routes, evoking thoughts of Shirakawa throwing away Guo’s belongings; the 7-Eleven employee answers Guo’s phone just like Takahashi did earlier in the night; and so on. Although no solid, Western-style climax and conclusion has occurred, the events of the story have changed the significance of these small moments, just as they have changed the characters themselves.
Takahashi chooses to leave nighttime Tokyo, as he’d promised. He concludes his final band practice, leaving them behind in favor of spending more time with Mari. Though Mari seems to believe she belongs in—or is at least strongly connected to—the dark world, Takahashi clearly disagrees. Where she views herself as a dark person and a coward with a weak sense of self, he views her as intelligent, self-assured, and brave. The possibility of their future relationship occurs in the morning, placing both of them firmly in the light. In contrast, Shirakawa’s last appearance occurs at 5am; he is haunted by pain and unable to sleep, showing the hold that “dark” Tokyo has on him.
Korogi provides Mari with the key to reconciling her strained relationship with Eri, which leads to the final stages of the sisters’ plotline. Korogi is in hiding, on the run from unknown people—she has abandoned her old life in the daylight to seek refuge in the anonymity that the dark provides, not unlike Eri’s escape into sleep. Korogi is a firm believer in reincarnation, which shows the depths of despair she feels in her current life: Death represents an escape, a chance to start over, which she does not have in her current life. This is in stark contrast to Mari’s belief in nothing after death; the contrast in perspective adds depth to Mari’s discomfort regarding Eri’s sleeping state.
The emphasis that Korogi places on memories helps Mari recall the time when she and Eri were stuck in an elevator as children. The whole time they were trapped, Mari recalls, “The important thing is that during that whole time in the dark, Eri was holding me. And it wasn’t just some ordinary hug. She squeezed me so hard our two bodies felt as if they were melting into one” (231). Once again, Mari embodies the theme of The Individual and the Collective, describing yet another instance of feeling as though she and another person became one. She adds that, at the time, it felt like separating meant they would be separated forever—a sense of reverse foreshadowing, given that the sisters did, in fact, proceed to inhabit separate worlds. Mari tries to recreate this moment when she later cuddles up to Eri in her bed.
Mari’s recollection of their closeness, and her attempt to recreate it, reunites the flow of the sisters’ lives. Eri is no longer trapped in the television world. The Man with No Face is gone, though the flickering of the television threatens the potential for his return. Most significantly, Eri stirs, showing that the connection between herself and Mari has drawn her back toward the light—the world of daytime Tokyo.
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