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constructed … I was amazed. It was the first time I had ever been so astonished by someone’s talent.
    I wonder if you’ve noticed? A particularly creepy tendencyabout the way he makes the dolls? He doesn’t attempt to accurately reconstruct the subject of the doll. He subtly emphasizes one trait that suits the client who has hired him, and then he goes on with the restoration. What the doll creator seeks is not integrity, but rather imperfection. The soul dwells in the distorted part, in the instability that maintains such imperfection. But it’s a soul that suits the client.
    Being a photographer, I was deeply interested in the work he was doing. In both aspects of it—that first there was an object, and that there was an art to creating an “imitation” in a particular sense. I took dozens of photographs of his creations … I was creating another imitation of things that were imitations themselves. At that point, I felt as though I had ventured into territory where what was original no longer mattered. Do you get it now?
The sensation of being in that place was very soothing
.
    Why was it that you became a member of K2? Even coming up with a name for it was intentional. Don’t you think? The doll creator must have wanted to lower people’s resistance to purchasing a doll, even if only a little. To imply you’re not the only one to buy a doll. You’re not the only one who would do something like this. It means there’s no need to worry, because there are lots of other members … But I wonder. There must have been some who, on the contrary, objected to being considered a member of this group.
    In your next letter, I want you to be sure to tell me why you became a member of K2. Have you lost someone? Or did you love someone, someone whom you simply couldn’t have? You must know about that stalker guy. How outrageous, asking the doll creator to reproduce a woman who still existed out in the world.
    There was no way that he could have her. And yet, he didn’t want to be a nuisance to her either. Of course, it’s not like any of the dolls are made of wood. They’re silicone. You can have sex with them, if you want. I wonder if he’s still living with that doll … It’s repulsive to imagine a life like that, right? But then, isn’t everybody, to varying degrees, restored in some way? I mean, inside their own heads. A person who imagines having sex with a celebrity as they flip through a magazine’s photo spread understands the actual existence of that celebrity, don’t they? The mind makes up for what’s missing. When a woman thinks about a man she loves, she is restoring him in her mind, right? To some extent, the woman tailors the image to suit her. It’s simply one way of putting it—whether it’s in our imagination or as a doll, we as individuals all have the potential to be restored in various ways. Don’t you think?
    I mean, in this world there are too many things we want that we can’t have.
    … Are you planning to interview the doll creator as well? Ifigure you’ll go see him even if you end up giving up on this, so I have conditions. There are dos and don’ts about interviewing him. So before you meet with him you must make sure to let me know. Still, even now, I can’t help wondering … How is it that a person like him is able to live his life, without ever violating any laws?

5
    AKARI KIHARAZAKA’S APARTMENT. The scent of perfume is in the air.
    In the dining room there is a table, with two long white sofas behind it. Between the sofas is a low table. There is no television.
    “… So you actually came.”
    She smiles as she says this.
    “I didn’t think you had the courage.”
    With her back to me, she pulls a bottle of wine out of therack. She is wearing a white blouse over a short black skirt. There is a design on her black stockings. It is a pattern of branches that look like they might strangle something.
    She takes her glass and, rather than sit on a chair at