Izumi and the Narrator’s Flight

An affair drives Izumi and the narrator to abandon their families for Greece, where displacement and loss dissolve their confidence in their shared life.

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A Meeting at Work

Recognition and Compartmentalization An unexpected affinity The narrator and Izumi discover an unusually precise understanding of one another. Their conversations and sex feel like a natural continuation of that intimacy. An arrangement defended Both are married, yet they persuade themselves that their relationship can remain separate from their family lives. The confidence proves fragile.

The Affair Exposed

Their Private World Breaks Public consequences Izumi’s husband confronts the narrator’s family, and the narrator’s wife leaves with their son. Izumi’s marriage also collapses. Shared isolation The lovers meet in a bar until dawn, now with little to say. The comfort they once found in secrecy has turned into a crisis they cannot repair at home.

The Decision to Leave

Greece as Escape A proposed departure Izumi suggests moving to Greece, a place she had long wanted to visit. The narrator has no strong attachment to the destination but agrees. Cutting ties They combine their savings, resign from work, and pack lightly. Their speed of departure makes the decision feel like an attempt to discard their former selves.

Life on the Island

Peace Built from Few Things A smaller daily world They walk, study languages, sketch, and live on inexpensive food and wine. The quiet gives the narrator a rare sense of peace. An untested promise They imagine surviving for years, though practical worries remain. The ease of the island cannot erase their abandoned families or guarantee that their bond will hold.

The Cats and the Vanishing

The Relationship Becomes Uncertain A story of consumption The narrator reads about an elderly woman eaten by trapped cats. The article gives him and Izumi an image of dependence turned into violence. A disappearance without explanation After Izumi vanishes from their apartment, he hears music and feels his identity dissolve. He imagines cats have eaten the real him, but no explanation restores his certainty.

Before the couple leave Japan

After Izumi’s husband discovers the relationship

At dawn after the all-night drinking

The first months on the Greek island

One moonlit night in early winter