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muffled that it was difficult to hear what he was saying.
    “Where is this classroom?”
    “My old junior high school.” To Noda, it felt quite unnerving to be seeing the same dream twice. And with Paprika sitting there next to him, he also felt rather uneasy – as if a total stranger might be about to witness some past act of self-gratification … “But when I was having that dream, I didn’t think it was a classroom. I thought I was at work.”
    “Why’s that, I wonder?” Paprika paused the picture. “And who is that man?”
    “Well, it’s because of him that I thought I was at work. It’s Sukenobu, one of our directors.”
    “Don’t you get on with him?”
    “You could say that. He’s frightened that I’ll rise too high in the company. He’s also jealous of my success with the zero-emissions vehicle. He says we’re rushing things too much. In fact, he’s been colluding with a Ministry official to obstruct the development.”
    “Why would he do that?”
    “He wants to be the next President. Well, it’s a long way off yet, but that’s why he’s worried about my age. I’m ten years younger than him, you see.”
    “And why’s he worried about that?”
    “He thinks he’ll be the first to die, or that he’ll be forced to retire when he goes senile.”
    The picture started again. Sukenobu continued to talk while writing something on the blackboard. He could be heard mentioning the poet Basho and his book Oku no Hosomichi . The words Hakutai no Kakyaku appeared on the blackboard.
    “It looks like a Japanese literature lesson.”
    “Classics. I hated those lessons. The teachers always had it in for me.”
    “And does your old teacher have something in common with this Sukenobu?” The picture was frozen again.
    “No. The teacher was always changing – sometimes it was a man, sometimes a woman, now young, now old. I had so many teachers of Japanese literature that they couldn’t possibly have anything in common with anyone. Except that they all had it in for me.”
    The picture started again. Sukenobu asked Noda something from the teacher’s podium. Noda stood and was about to answer. Freeze-frame.
    “This never actually happened in reality, but in the dream I mistakenly pronounced Hakutai as Hyakudai . I wonder why that was. I took the trouble to read Oku no Hosomichi recently, so I should know the correct reading is Hakutai .”
    On the screen, Sukenobu was facing Noda, scolding and chiding him.
    “Now. The problem is this next bit,” said Paprika.
    “Yes.”
    Noda’s classmates were laughing at him as he was being scolded. A low ripple of laughter could be heard, and as Noda’s line of vision surveyed the classroom, his classmates all appeared to have the faces of wild animals. Bears, tigers, boars, wolves, hyenas – all mocking him. Freeze – frame.
    “Why do they all look like wild animals?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Do you recognize any of them?”
    “No. I don’t know any wild animals! One of the bears looks a bit like the senior executive of a rival company, though.”
    “What’s his name?” Paprika was writing everything down on a memo pad.
    “Segawa. I don’t particularly see him as a problem, though.”
    “People who aren’t a problem in our waking lives often appear in our dreams. If someone who really was a problem appeared in your dream, the shock would wake you, wouldn’t it.”
    “I suppose so. As it happens, I don’t see Sukenobu as much of a problem either. Though I hope you won’t think me big-headed for saying that.”
    “You’ve every right to be big-headed. After all, you’re a big player, aren’t you?”
    “Yes, but do big players suffer from anxiety neurosis?”
    “Well, I don’t know about that.” Paprika restarted the picture.
    The experimental short moved on to the next scene. It was a funeral. A photograph of a middle-aged man could be seen surrounded by flowers. A woman in mourning dress turned to face Noda’s line of vision, and