Part I, Chapter 2, Tengo Summary

Tengo's first memory dates from infancy, when he watched his mother engage in sexual relations with a man other than his father. As an adult, he wonders whether or not this memory was real or imagined, but he decides it was real. Recalling this memory also induces a sort of paralysis, causing Tengo to tremble and sweat. In public, he tells others it was simply dizziness.

Tengo is having dinner with a friend and editor named Komatsu at a cafe near Tokyo's Shinjuku Station. They are discussing the novella "Air Chrysalis" by a seventeen year-old girl named Fuka-Eri. Though the writing is rough, the plot is endearing. Tengo wants Komatsu to consider the story for publishing, but Komatsu won't commit to it, believing the girl only has one good story in her.

Tengo is 29 and is himself...