The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: Book 2, Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

Malta asks Toru where he has been for the past few days. She tells him that she has tried to call, but he has not answered his phone. Toru explains that he has been away but does not elaborate or say anything about the well. Then, Malta switches the conversation to talk about Creta. Malta asks Toru if he has seen Creta lately because Malta has been unable to contact her. Typically, Malta can always feel her sister's presence even if she is not close to her. However, around the same time Toru went missing, Malta stopped being able to feel her sister's presence. Toru decides it would be best if he did not tell Malta the truth, so he does not say anything about seeing Creta by the well.

Malta returns the topic of conversation to Toru. She asks if he notices anything different about his physical appearance. Toru examines himself but does not see anything worth mentioning. Malta tells him that she expects his body to have undergone a physical change and that whatever has happened to it will be easily noticeable. However, for the moment Toru does not see anything. Then, Malta says goodbye to Toru. As Toru hangs up the phone, he gets the feeling that this is the last time he will ever speak to Malta.

Now that he can think clearly again, Toru realizes he left his rope ladder over at the well. He goes back to the well to fetch it. At the top of the well, he senses Creta’s presence. He looks down into the well and calls her name. Toru is correct—Creta is at the bottom of the well, and she responds to him when he calls out to her. Toru asks Creta why she climbed into the well, and she says that she did it for the same reason he did: to think. Then, Creta asks Toru to climb down into the well with her, but he refuses.

Toru tells Creta that Malta is looking for her because she can no longer feel her presence. Creta did not mean to upset her sister, but she feels it is important for her to be alone for a while. Toru accepts Creta’s explanation and then heads home. The following day, he returns to the well to see if Creta is okay. When Toru arrives at the well, the rope ladder is missing, and someone has closed up the well. Toru lifts the well’s cover and says Creta’s name to see if she is still down there. When no one responds, he assumes Creta managed to get out of the well by herself.

Then, Toru looks over at May’s house to see if she is there. However, he does not see anyone. As he looks around the neighborhood, he feels there is something strange about it, as though he is entered into a new reality. With nothing else to do, Toru heads back to his home. At home Toru decides to shave because he desperately needs it after having been down in the well for several days.

As Toru shaves his face, he finds a bluish-black mark on his face that will not go away. At first, the mark causes Toru to panic, but he quickly talks himself down. He wonders if it is an allergic reaction or if it appeared while he was down in the well. He dwells on this subject and eventually hypothesizes that the mark came from his dream. If this is the case, Toru realizes his dream is not a dream at all—it is an alternate reality.

Toru wonders if someone put a curse on him, like the many people who have lived in the Miyawaki house. He decides to call his uncle and ask him about the history of his house. Toru’s uncle tells him that as far as he knows, nothing strange or bad has happened to the people who used to live in Toru’s house. After the call with his uncle, Toru heads to bed. He falls asleep quickly, but his sleep is restless. He wakes up in the middle of the night and feels someone next to him At first, he assumes the person is Kumiko, but after a moment he realizes Kumiko is missing and so it cannot be her. When he opens his eyes, he sees Creta is next to him in bed.