Summary

In Chapter 10, Tsukuru goes home for a 3-day visit. His family is holding a Buddhist memorial service for Tsukuru's father and he plans to visit his friends during his stay. He goes to see Ao first. Ao is a successful salesman and has only a little free time and they agree to meet at a nearby Starbucks. Ao says he is married. He has a son and is expecting a daughter in the fall. They talk a little more, including about Tsukuru's life in Tokyo.

Tsukuru then asks Ao why he was shut out 16 years earlier. Ao seems surprised at the question after all this time. He asks if Tsukuru has any idea and Tsukuru assures him he doesn't. Ao says Shiro claimed she visited Tsukuru in Tokyo, and that he raped her during the night. She also said that Tsukuru might have...