Kanishk answers “What do you think happened to Kojima in...”

mutt asked this question about Heaven:

What do you think happened to Kojima in the end? After that scene at Whale Park, when she was carried away, narrator said that it was the last time he saw her. Maybe he never went back to school so that's why he never saw her again? I would much rather believe that than believe a darker alternative, but I'm unsure. Thoughts?

Kanishk I think it ends badly for Kojima. I think stripping really pushed her over the edge, as she started laughing and continued to even after Ninomiya and …moreI think it ends badly for Kojima. I think stripping really pushed her over the edge, as she started laughing and continued to even after Ninomiya and others had fled. During all this, the narrator is reminded of the philosophies that drove Kojima and Momose. He then imagines Momose saying that he agrees with her belief that their suffering has meaning, and that is why it is justified for him, Ninomiya and others to torment them - because it gives meaning to the narrator's and Kojima's lives. As he is imagining this, the voices the narrator is hearing in his head (those of Kojima and Momose) merge, hinting that the narrator finally realises that both the philosophies, although outwardly different, were similar in the sense that they could only lead him down a path of suffering. Remember that Kojima was not poor and could have also maintained a hygienic lifestyle if she wanted, but did not do so because of her adherence to her philosophy. Her "signs" were created by her only and unlike those of the narrator, were not natural.

Kojima had at one point early in the novel shared with the narrator that she believed that their suffering may ultimately lead their bullies to introspect on the moral consequences of their action, but judging from their philosophy, which Momose explained, it seems unlikely this could have happened. They were sociopaths. The reason Ninomiya and others stopped was that even they were shocked by Kojima stripping of her own volition, and ran only because a lady stumbled upon what was happening.

Even I'm not sure about what I mean with "pushed her over the edge". Maybe she went insane, or maybe she ended up gravely harming herself (she had early in the novel told the narrator that she would even be willing to harm herself if it could lead to a positive change in the bullies).

Students and teachers from the school later try to visit the narrator, so the school authorities did get a wind about what had happened at Dolphin Park, even though there was gossip about it (the narrator is told so by his mother). The narrator ultimately gets a surgery to correct his "sign", rejecting Kojima's masochistic philosophy.

The question whether Ninomiya and his cohorts get punished is left unanswered. I have read a little about how extreme bullying can get in Japan, so I know that authorities often don't give such cases the attention they deserve. There's also a part early in the novel in which a suicide by a bullying victim is depicted as being covered in the news. Upon seeing it, the narrator thinks about suicide, but thinks that Ninomiya and others would be let off easily due to being minors. But since the final episode of bullying verged on rape, maybe Ninomiya and others didn't get away without consequences.(less)

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