“Everything’s going to be all right”
Piercing“Everything’s going to be all right” is a self-reassurance that Kawashima Masayuki also whispers to his baby. The phrase links two moments of intimate danger and care: it voices his determination not to harm the child, but its repetition cannot erase the ice pick poised beside her cheek.
Uses of the Reassurance
During the crisis beside the crib, Kawashima tells himself to calm down and recalls that he has already decided never to stab the baby. He ends that inward effort with “Everything’s going to be all right.” The words are part of an attempt to master his fear, not evidence that the danger has passed: he is gripping the ice pick and has placed its point next to the baby’s cheek.
He then insists to himself, “It really is all right, I’m not going to stab the baby.” The more explicit declaration names the threat directly, making the reassurance sound like an effort to hold a decision in place. When Yoko breaks the silence by asking what he is doing, the scene’s private words of control meet an external interruption.
A Whisper to the Baby
The phrase recurs in a different setting after Yoko tells Kawashima to pack and asks him to keep in touch. He nods, goes to the bedroom, bends over the crib, and lightly touches the baby’s downy cheek. Then he whispers, “Everything’s going to be all right,” so Yoko will not hear.
The whispered repetition carries the earlier reassurance from Kawashima’s private attempt to restrain himself into a moment of contact with the child. The gesture is gentle, but the secrecy and the phrase’s prior use beside the ice pick keep that gentleness in tension with the danger already established.
Significance
The expression functions both as a promise and as a form of self-command. Its recurrence connects the immediate threat at the crib with Kawashima’s later quiet farewell before leaving; in each case, he speaks reassurance in proximity to the baby, while the circumstances make certainty impossible. The words offer comfort, but their force comes from the fear they are trying to contain.
