Chapter Nine: At Lest He Never Walked Summary and Analysis

October 1, 2006 - Murakami City, Niigata Prefecture

Haruki is preparing to swim 0.93 miles, ride a bike for 24.8 miles and run 6.2 miles. The weather couldn't be better for conditioning. He is preparing to begin the swimming portion of the Murakami City Triathlon. It will be the fourth time that he's entered the competition although he never had qualified. As he looks at the Japan Sea, that toxin within him emerges. The sea looks calm but perhaps there is a school of poisonous jellyfish awaiting him. For some reason, he seems to always blow the swimming portion of triathlons. He was brutally kicked in the first triathlon he was in. Perhaps that incident has stayed in the back of his mind. But he was never an expert swimmer and had never been...