That was quite a discovery for me, the fact that arbitrary kindness makes me uncomfortable, but that being treated fairly feels good.

El cuerpo y la mente son inseparables, una misma cosa.

I had a habit of acting as though I were having a conversation with someone beside me – with the me who was not really right there beside me – as if to validate these random effervescences.

I could imagine Toko’s life story – she would fall perfectly in love with a guy, marry him, have children, then they would have her grandchildren and eventually she would die peacefully, surrounded by those children and grandchildren. My life story would probably play out quite a bit differently. The man I loved and children too might very well appear at some point, but their arrival would perhaps be strange and unexpected, and then again, they might never materialize at all.

I kissed the girl on the lips, as if to suck her breath inside me. When I did this, the girl wilted, ever so slightly. In my arms, gradually she became lighter, and more transparent. The smell of lilies rose up, filling my breast, overwhelming me. The taste of the kiss was so sweet, I couldn’t stop–even thoughI knew she would go on wilting if I continued. The girl was wilting by the instant, and something thick and strong was filling my breast.

What is love, really? People have the right to fall in love, but not the right to be loved. I fell in love with Nishino, but that’s not to say that he was then required to fall in love with me.

Those nights, I open Sensei’s briefcase and peer inside. The blank empty space unfolds, containing nothing within. It holds nothing more than an expanse of desolate absence.

Would you like consider a relationship with me, based on a premise of love.

A person can learn all manner of things, no matter where he finds himself, provided his spirit is determined.

How could anyone endure such a state, of having someone there and not there – not there and there – at the same time?