Heaven: A Novel

The doctor examines the narrator and assesses that his nose is healing well. Before the narrator leaves, the doctor asks him about getting his lazy eye treated. The narrator answers that he got surgery for it as a child, but his eye eventually reverted. The doctor encourages him to try again since the procedure is simple and inexpensive. It shocks the narrator to realize that he can live a life without his lazy eye.

The narrator reunites with Kojima and observes how she has gotten skinnier and more tired since the last time they met. Kojima shares that she has been rereading the narrator’s letters to remind her of his company. She has also been fasting as a way of showing solidarity for the “beautiful weakness” of those people who are often exploited by others. The narrator tells Kojima about his recent visit to the doctor, withholding his encounter with Momose. He has quietly been reckoning with Momose’s explanations about bullying and has considered some parts of his argument compellingly true.

Kojima tells the narrator how seeing him makes her feel “happamine,” which moves the narrator. He then tells her about the doctor’s suggestion to seek treatment for his eye.