Chapter 44 Summary: Mr. Koyasu’s Revelation About Love and the Walled Town
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
Unable to sleep, the protagonist puts on warm clothes and walks to the library, where Mr. Koyasu’s ghost is already waiting. The woodstove crackles with apple wood, filling the room with a scent of intimacy. Mr. Koyasu says he cannot leave the library and has taken shape to receive the visitor. They discuss the protagonist’s morning visit to the temple cemetery and the grave with three names. Mr. Koyasu explains that the grave contains only bones; the soul has no connection to bones and eventually vanishes into nothingness. He describes loneliness both in life and in death, but says the memory of having loved someone deeply makes a difference in how the soul remains.
The protagonist recounts his journey to the walled town and his impossible return. After his shadow leapt into a subterranean waterway, he chose to stay in the town but woke back in this world, with his shadow restored. Mr. Koyasu suggests that the return was not caused by an external will but by the protagonist’s own hidden longing. Comparing their experiences, Mr. Koyasu reveals that after losing his son, his wife killed herself, leaving only two scallions on the bed as an unsolvable riddle. This wound drove him to maintain the library as a haven for lost hearts. He chose the protagonist as his successor because he recognized a kindred spirit. Before fading away, he advises the protagonist to believe strongly to prevent a terrible fall.
Key Events
- The protagonist walks to the library late at night and finds Mr. Koyasu waiting, the room already warm.
- Mr. Koyasu reveals he cannot leave the library and took shape specifically to meet the protagonist.
- They discuss the protagonist’s visit to the grave and the distinction between bones and soul.
- Mr. Koyasu explains that souls of the dead eventually vanish into nothingness, but the memory of deep love affects how the soul lingers.
- The protagonist describes his journey to the walled town and how he returned against his conscious decision to stay.
- Mr. Koyasu theorizes that the protagonist’s own subconscious will brought him back, not an outside force.
- They compare their experiences of pure love that was suddenly severed: the protagonist’s teenage love vanished without explanation; Mr. Koyasu’s wife left two scallions as a mystery.
- Mr. Koyasu reveals he chose the protagonist as head librarian because he could sense his wounded heart.
- The protagonist admits he sometimes feels like a shadow tracing an outline of himself; Mr. Koyasu reassures him that shadow and self can swap roles.
- Mr. Koyasu suddenly gasps, regains composure, says he must go, and advises the protagonist to keep believing to prevent a terrible fall.
- He fades away, leaving the protagonist alone in silence.
Character Development
The protagonist deepens his self-doubt: he questions whether his love for the girl was “real” compared to Mr. Koyasu’s mature, adult love. He admits he may have lost sight of himself, feeling like a shadow. Mr. Koyasu’s reassurance about the legitimacy of pure, immature love gives him a new perspective, and his advice to believe strengthens the protagonist’s resolve to continue searching.
Mr. Koyasu is revealed more fully. His ghost retains the memory of his wife’s scallions, a stubborn riddle that defines his afterlife. He admits he became a different person after the wound, living only for the library. He shows empathy for the protagonist’s similar wound and reveals his criteria for choosing a successor: someone with a lost heart who can make the library a special place for others. His fading away underscores his transitory existence.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
- Shadow and Self: The protagonist’s feeling of being a mere outline echoes the earlier separation from his shadow. Mr. Koyasu asserts that shadow and self are interchangeable, a survival mechanism.
- Pure Love vs. Mature Love: The chapter contrasts the protagonist’s adolescent love (one hundred percent genuine but untested) with Mr. Koyasu’s long, rich marriage. Yet Mr. Koyasu validates the protagonist’s love as equally real and powerful.
- Scallions: A persistent symbol of an unsolvable mystery. The two scallions left by Mr. Koyasu’s wife represent the inexplicable gap between the living and the dead, and the way a single object can hold a wound for decades.
- The Walled Town as Inner Landscape: Mr. Koyasu’s theory that the return came from within suggests the walled town may be a projection of the protagonist’s psyche rather than an external realm.
- Belief and Will: The chapter ends with a direct command to believe strongly, linking faith in one’s own feelings to preventing catastrophe.
Why This Chapter Matters
This is a hinge chapter. Mr. Koyasu provides the most explicit metaphysical explanation for the protagonist’s impossible return, reframing it as a matter of internal will rather than external magic. It also humanizes Mr. Koyasu, making him a tragic figure whose library becomes a sanctuary for broken hearts. The chapter deepens the parallel between the two men’s losses and sets up a coming “terrible fall” that the protagonist must prepare for. It reaffirms the power of pure love as a force that can transcend even death.
Study Questions and Answers
1. What explanation does Mr. Koyasu offer for the protagonist’s return from the walled town?
Mr. Koyasu suggests that the protagonist’s own hidden will, stronger than his conscious decision to stay, propelled him back to this world. He compares it to a spring inside the heart that operates beyond logic and reason.
2. Why does Mr. Koyasu say he chose the protagonist to be the next librarian?
He recognized in the protagonist a person with a wounded heart, someone who had lost a deep love and carried a permanent scar. Mr. Koyasu needed a successor who could turn the library into a sanctuary for other lost souls.
3. What is the significance of the two scallions Mr. Koyasu’s wife left behind?
They represent an unsolvable riddle that has haunted Mr. Koyasu since his wife’s suicide. He never understood why she chose scallions, and even in the afterlife he remains alone with the mystery. The scallions symbolize the painful, inexplicable gaps left by sudden loss.