“Shewas afraid of getting too close to anyone. To her, closeness representeda loss rather than a gain.”

“But to me, it's a wholelot more important to find something that makes you unafraid ofbeing alone, rather than to have so many friends that you wind upbeing terrified of solitude.”

“There's that, too, but more than that, what people are sayingabout me right now, it's not really about me, it's about them. It's notmy baggage to carry. Why should I want to shoulder everybody else'sburdens and beat myself up over their problems? I'm not that bighearted.”

“Something about the way Nanakotalked reminded Aoi of women her mother's age. Women who tookno interest in most of what went on in the world and, within theone tiny little slice of the world they did care about, refused tobelieve that a single shred of ill will or distrust or any other troublingsentiment could exist. The kind of woman she'd seen strikeup conversations with her mother in train stations and tourist spotsas if they were sisters or something. They were friendly as could be,and they'd overwhelm you with kindness. But let anything go wrong,Aoi reminded herself, and they would coldly shove you away almostevery time.”

“But Aoi found it impossible to fully open herself up to any of hernew friends. She could laugh with them, rant with them, even playat falling in love with them. But there remained a certain line she was loath to let anybody cross, and if someone tried to come closerthan that, she hastily erected a wall, not answering the phone andstaying away from classes until a more comfortable distance reasserteditself.”

“Every country's different.All that happy talk you hear about understanding one anotherand people everywhere being basically the same, it's all a bunchof crap. Everybody's different. And if you don't realize that, you'renever going to experience anything truly new.”

“She was grieving the loss of her youth, the closing down of possibilities as life became what it was rather than what it might have been.”