Part I, Chapter 12, Tengo Summary

Fuka-Eri goes to make tea, and the Professor reveals to Tengo that it has been impossible to establish contact with her parents since she was ten. When he knew her before she left the commune, she was lively and talkative; after she left, she was quiet and withdrawn. In the past, the Professor had visited the communal farm to see Fukada, but after Fuka-Eri left, he was no longer admitted to the farm. They support themselves by selling vegetables, which are in high demand. But the Professor believes they are doing something else, as well. What for sure isn't known. But the communal farm has gone from being something of a farming experiment to a vastly-wealthy neoreligious cult.

On the train home, Tengo sees a little girl and her mother sitting nearby, and remembers a girl from...