Part II, Chapter 23, Aomame Summary

There is still no mention of the Leader's death on the news. Aomame dresses professionally and puts the pistol in her bag. She hails a taxi and tells the driver to take the Expressway between Yohga and Ikejiri. The Expressway is full of traffic, just as Aomame hopes. The driver lets her out near the location of the emergency stairwell and tells her to be careful. She walks, just as she did the first day, toward the the stairwell, and discovers everything is as it was when she entered 1Q84. But the stairwell down is no longer there. She says a prayer, thinks of Tengo, and begins squeezing the trigger.

Part II, Chapter 23, Aomame Analysis

Aomame heads back to the place where she descended into 1Q84, only to discover the emergency stairwell she used to get down...