Heat and Fever

Heat and fever are generally representative of a transition or turning point, but also of the frustration inherent in waiting for that point. At times when Natsuko recollects being hot, she also expresses discomfort. For example, when she goes to a reading at Sengawa’s suggestion and finds the space uncomfortably warm, she finds herself drifting away mentally and unable to pay attention to the novelist who is reading. This event represents a shift in her life because it is how she meets Rika Yusa, who later becomes a close friend. There is also a suggestion that the heat is an internal state of Natsuko’s, as she observes that other people are dressed warmly but do not appear uncomfortable at all. This is again the case when Natsuko comes down with a fever after meeting with Yuriko Zen — at this stage, she is...