A reminder of how thin the line between beauty and chaos could be.
-- Narrator

Importance: The line frames the mother’s first solo walk as an experience where the same city can feel inviting and destabilizing at once. It introduces the novel’s interest in how ordinary movement becomes a test of control, language, and belonging.

Lots of guys show up exactly once, said Alan. It isn’t easy being out in Japan.
-- Alan

Importance: Alan’s remark frames queer community in Tokyo as fragile, defined by appearances that may not repeat. It explains why the bar becomes a sanctuary, since even simple rituals like a shared drink signal recognition and safety.

She didn’t tell her son that other chances are reserved for the foolish and the lucky. Historically, her people were neither.
-- The mother

Importance: This reflection links the mother’s cautious hope to a broader history of precarity that shapes her parenting and fear...