Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

The next day, Tsukuru pays Aka a visit at the headquarters of his company BEYOND. Aka is much more accommodating than Ao, insisting that he will make time to speak with Tsukuru. Aka’s company sells a program that helps large corporations get maximum efficiency out of their workers by getting them to buy into the values of discipline and following orders.

After discussing this business at length, Tsukuru bluntly asks Aka about Shiro. Aka confesses that he knows that Shiro’s accusation wasn’t true—the details of her story didn’t add up. He insinuates that she was experiencing mental health issues brought on by the pressure to excel in music, and perhaps the feeling that she could never live up to her own lofty expectations. Aka guesses that Shiro accused Tsukuru because she liked him and was jealous that he had moved to Tokyo. When Tsukuru presses Aka for details about Shiro’s murder, Aka tells him about meeting her for dinner in Hamamatsu. By then, Shiro was no longer the beautiful girl she had once been. If one did not know her, they might still say she was attractive, but to Aka, she seemed changed in some ugly way that was hidden beneath the surface.

As he did with Ao, Tsukuru asks Aka if he recalls the Liszt piano piece Le Mal du Pays. Aka does not recall the piece. As Tsukuru prepares to leave, Aka asks him to stay and talk, and reveals that he is gay. Tsukuru offers his old friend a compassionate response. Before Tsukuru leaves, Aka tells him an allegory that involves choosing between having one’s toenails or one’s fingernails removed by pliers. He tells Tsukuru this is what life is all about—the freedom to choose.

Tsukuru returns to Tokyo. He calls Sara and arranges a dinner with her a couple days hence.

The next day at work, Tsukuru meets Sakamoto, a new hire. The two men and a stationmaster have a conversation about the odd things people leave behind at train stations. The stationmaster reveals one such example—a jar which contains two fingers. Forensic analysis showed that the fingers were likely amputated from someone born with six fingers on each hand, a condition the stationmaster claims is not as uncommon as one might think. Tsukuru, the stationmaster, and Sakamoto discuss the nature of dominant genes, and Tsukuru recalls the story of Midorikawa. In the story, Midorikawa placed a bag on the piano while he performed in front of Haida’s father. Tsukuru wonders if perhaps the bag contained the man’s own amputated fingers.

Tsukuru and Sara have dinner. Sara relates to Aka’s assertion that Shiro somehow lost her beauty though she still remained attractive to outsiders. Sara describes it as the person losing her color. After dinner, Sara returns with Tsukuru to his apartment where they begin having sex until Tsukuru loses his erection. Sara is sympathetic. When she finally leaves for home, Tsukuru tells her that he wants to be with her for a long time, which pleases her. As Tsukuru prepares to go to sleep, he uncomfortably recalls Haida appearing in the dream he had about having sex with Shiro. He wonders if in some alternate reality, the story of him raping Shiro is actually true.