Eri’s Seven Years Living with the Master

Eri’s seven years living with the Master are marked by protection without explanation: she remains in his care, cut off from her parents, while the community they left behind closes itself to the outside world. The period’s decisive fact is not simply the absence of contact, but the Master’s failure to discover whether the Fukadas are alive or what has happened to them.

A long silence

When Tengo asks whether Eri has had any contact with her parents during the seven years, the Master confirms that there has been none at all. The separation is especially difficult to understand because, as the Master recalls, the Fukadas loved Eri deeply and regarded her as their most precious possession. They had told her she could come to his home if necessary, and he was the only person able to take her in. Yet neither parent sent word or sought to find out what had become of their daughter.

The family’s isolation reaches further back than Eri’s departure. Both of her parents had broken with their own families, leaving Eri to grow up without knowing any of her grandparents. With no other family refuge available, the Master’s home became the one place where she could be helped. That arrangement kept her safe in his care, but it could not replace the missing relationship or explain why the people who had directed her to him never made contact.

The community closes in

The silence developed alongside a change in the Pioneers. The Master remembers the group as having been relatively open since its founding, but says that, shortly before Eri ran away, it began gradually to isolate itself. The first sign he noticed was a delay in Fukada’s correspondence. Fukada had once written long letters about events inside the community and his own feelings; then the letters stopped, and the Master’s letters went unanswered.

Telephone contact offered no meaningful alternative. The Master could not reliably reach Fukada, and even when a call was put through, the short time allowed made a real conversation impossible. Fukada himself spoke abruptly, as though aware that someone else was listening. The detail does not establish what was happening to him, but it makes the breakdown in communication seem less like ordinary estrangement than a silence imposed under conditions the Master could not see.

Eventually, the Master went to the Pioneers’ grounds in person because letters and calls had failed and he needed to speak with Fukada about Eri. He was not allowed inside and was literally turned away, despite attempts to negotiate. By then, the entire property had been enclosed by a high fence, and outsiders were barred without exception. The visit brought no news; instead, the physical barrier confirmed how inaccessible the community had become.

From open farming community to fortress

The Master contrasts the Pioneers’ earlier public face with their later appearance. They had practiced organic farming peacefully and initially maintained a friendly attitude toward the outside world, winning the sympathy of local residents. Their transformation into what seemed to him a fortress therefore unsettled not only the Master but also their neighbors, who were equally astonished.

He distinguishes this new secrecy from the concealment he could understand in L’Aube, an armed faction pursuing revolution. In his view, the Pioneers had once had no comparable reason to hide themselves. Now both their members’ attitude and even their appearance seemed to have changed completely. The contrast offers the Master grounds for concern, but not the means to determine what the change meant or whether it explained the Fukadas’ disappearance.

Care without answers

Unable to enter the grounds or clarify what was happening, the Master could do only what remained within reach: look after Eri as well as he could. In this way, the seven years were at once a period of sustained care and a prolonged failure of investigation. His protective role did not grant him access to her parents, and his knowledge of the community’s increasing isolation could not tell him what had happened inside it.

Even after all those years, the Master has no information confirming whether Mr. and Mrs. Fukada are alive. He hopes the worst has not occurred, but considers the lack of news abnormal and believes something may have happened to them. He raises the possibility that they are being held against their will, while acknowledging that a still more terrible fate cannot be excluded. The account ends without resolving that uncertainty: the seven years have protected Eri from being left without shelter, but the silence surrounding her parents remains intact.