Imprint Trivia Quiz

Answer: A top hat

The story begins with Christopher in a wooden boat with a number of Japanese men. The full boat is steered through the fog until it hits a dead body. The man at the helm mentions that another body has been found in disgust, and says that although they usually sink like lead, this one was probably pregnant. He flips it over with his oar to check, then pushes it aside before the boat moves on.
When the boat arrives at its destination, Christopher walks behind the other men, who are eager to begin their nights with the local prostitutes. Christopher walks down the main drag, while a woman plays a stringed instrument in a nearby building, to find all of the women locked in cages, begging for men. He sits down for a moment and looks inside, past the pleading women, to find on girl kneeling in the corner. As he watches, one woman yells at her to do her job and go to the front of the cage.
As Christopher watches, an short, old woman comes up behind him and asks if he's American, to which he nods. She asks him if any of her ladies would be good for him, but he mentions that he's looking for a specific girl.

Answer: Komomo

Christopher asks the short, old woman if any of her ladies is named Komono, as that is who he traveled to Japan to find. However, she says that no one on the island has that name, so she can't help in that matter. When Christopher says he will leave, since he has no purpose there any longer, the woman suggests he stay the night as her ladies will make him happy, and there is no sense leaving so early.

He decides to select the one in the back. While he waits for her arrival, he remembers Komomo.

He arrived in Japan long ago and fell in love with Komomo. When he returned to America, he vowed to her that he would return and bring her back with him, but since then, he has spent his years wandering the lands, searching for clues to find her once again.

His memory involves Komomo, at the top of a field with a pinwheel in her hand. While Christopher drinks some of his tea, he looks up to find a pinwheel in his room, and it begins spinning before his lady arrives.

Answer: Six months ago

The girl that Christopher selected slowly makes her way into the room, and after she lights a candle inside a lantern, he discovers that the left side of her face is horribly disfigured- her mouth, having been cut, is slit partway up her cheek. Despite this, she assures him that he can do what he wants with her as she is his for the night.

He asks why she did not go up to the edge of the cage, like the other woman, and she explains that she didn't want to be grabbed by the hands of the lost souls that wander through.

She quickly alerts Christopher that she sees one of these souls in the corner of the room, but Christopher turns and finds nothing there. She also explains that she feels a closer connection to the dead than the loving as she was cursed from birth.

She asks Christopher is he thinks she's a freak, but he says he doesn't as he finds all things strange. She mentions that he's here to see Komomo and he's surprised as she knows Komomo's name. She says that she did, in fact, arrive on the island, but since that time, she passed away- hanged herself because she could wait no longer for her American man.

She was found at the temple and thrown into the river. Christopher is shocked by this, saying that he never should have come back for her. When he tries to leave, the girl tells him not too, as the island is populated by demons and prostitutes at night, and it is no longer a part of the real world.

Answer: His sister

The girl asks Christopher what he liked about Komomo, to get him to stay, and he says that she reminded him of his little sister, who also passed away. She suggests that he drink some sake, as it usually takes away some of the pain. While Christopher lies down, he asks the girl if she would like to sleep, but she says that a sleeping face is a horrible thing to have in her trade.

As she says this, Christopher notices a figure rise from behind the girl. When she turns around, nothing is to be seen.

He blames it on the sake. After this, she tries to seduce Christopher, claiming that she's fit, and he can do what he wishes, but he decides against it, saying that although she is very attractive, despite the disfigurement, he just isn't in the mood, having heard about Komomo so soon.

She agrees, and says that he may just relax if he so chooses. Christopher says that he's a journalist, and asks the girl if she would tell him a story as he goes to sleep, about her life. She finds this odd as most men don't want to talk with her, but she decides to tell him anyways.

Answer: In the mountains

To begin her story, the girl says that she lived in a small village in the mountains, and life was harder there, though it was nowhere near the island. Her father spend most of his time in bed with a lung disease while her mother acted as a midwife in the house.

She had no friends due to her disfigurement, and many of the townspeople detested her, but she was shown kindness by a Buddhist priest, who taught her right from wrong in the eyes of his God. Her father, feeling too much of a burden, died in the river, and her mother, feeling she could not support her daughter alone, sent her away.

After that, she was bought and sold until she arrived on the island where she currently works. Finding herself unattractive in front of men, she had a hard time getting 'clients', and she was punished for it by not being fed. Komomo came in at this point, giving her food and friendship when no one else could help her. Komomo confided in her and told her that her American man would come, and she would no longer need to do what she does, but the other girls brought her idea down for her, claiming she was like the rest of them. Komomo was also regarded as a favourite since the men liked her best and she made the most business, and because of it, she was disliked by the other girls.

Answer: A ring

After a jade ring was stolen from the brothel's owner, Komomo, being disliked for being the most charming, was placed into the spotlight as an object of her's was found in the owner's room. The girl followed as the others tied Komomo up and placed her in a large room where the owner said not to touch her face, but they could touch the rest of her body.

At this point, one of the older residents proceeded to burn small pieces of bamboo, and shove the burning pieces into her armpits. Following this, a small needle was placed in behind each of Komomo's fingernails and her teeth.

As she hanged from the ceiling, she was asked more times, but the ring was never recovered. In her shame, Komomo hanged herself, and she never got rescued by her true love. All that said and done, Christopher is not amused by this.

He demands the truth from the woman and she says that prostitutes do always lie. Although she is hesitant at first, she offers him the true story this time.

Answer: A hairpin

The girl proceeds to tell a truer story: One day, she watched as the owner of the brothel put away the ring, and she took it from her cupboard. Later, as the owner was searching frantically for the jewelery, she came in and revealed the hairpin, claiming it was something she picked up while she was cleaning earlier.

After Komomo's torture, she visited her with some soup, to make sure that she was fed, just as she did the same earlier. However, after feeding her a bit of the soup, the girl strangled Komomo with the rope that was used to tie her up, killing her in the room. She explains to Christopher that she couldn't tolerate the kindness, having never had such a person in her life before, and although Komomo's body was in Hell, her soul would be redeemed and sent to Heaven, because despite the guilty things she did on the island, the act that she performed, killing Komomo, would be redemption.

She explains to Christopher that her eyes were the most beautiful she had ever seen and says that Buddha would have walked with her to Heaven. Christopher finds it odd that the girl asks her 'sis' if thats right after this, having never mentioned a sister in her story, but he doesn't go on with it.

Answer: Beggars

Christopher knows that she still isn't telling him everything. He demands more of the truth, and an omniscient voice says to 'tell him the truth'. He doesn't question this either, but the girl seems shaken by it, and she writhes in pain. He demands that he needs to know the truth, and she says that she'll finally tell him the true story. Her parents did not live in the same condition.

They were beggars who led themselves to the poorest town in the area, and compared to the island of prostitutes, it was much, much worse.

Her mother was not a midwife; she performed abortions, throwing the remains in the river. Her father was an alcoholic, and frequently beat her mother. Shortly after setting up their house on the river, her mother got pregnant with her.

After the birth, she took the child to the river and dropped it in. As she left, the pinwheels across the river picked up on the wind and began to spin.

Answer: Her father

Two days later, she was still alive in the river, and her mother kept her. As she grew up, she spent time helping her mother with her work. She remembers tending to the pinwheels across the river as the spun in the wind. The Buddhist priest, who earlier she said took her in, actually molested her, saying that it needed to be done if she didn't want to go to Hell.

The townspeople still disliked her immensely and little boys threw rocks at her as she passed. One day, the girl witnessed her father beating her mother out of the house.

As he finished with her, he turned around to face the girl, and he decided to molest her as well. That night, while her father went to the river to use the restroom, she killed him with a large mallet outside.

As he watched with his last breaths from the riverbed, a small hand protruded from the side of her head, underneath her hair, and cackled.

Answer: In prison

Christopher hears the cackling as well as she finishes this story. She thrashes around the room, taking down furniture along the way until she heads to the ground. As she stops yelling, she sits bolt upright, and the hand re-emerges from the side of her head. On this head is a small face, and as Christopher looks at its eyes, mouth, and teeth, the jade ring falls out of its mouth and to the floor. The girl begs for her 'sis' to stop as it bites her and it does. She asks Christopher is she has his attention yet, and explains that she was a twin, but only her mother knew.
She revises the story once more. Her mother and father were actually brother and sister. After the town knew, they ran them out. On their trip across the country, they stopped at the house on the river. She explains that she and her sister were cursed long before arriving there. Her sister persuaded her to kill her father, and to steal the ring for her.
As she finishes the story, the pinwheel in Christopher's room begins to spin. The girl states that regardless of her sister's decisions, it was her decision to kill Komomo and free her soul so that it could be sent to Heaven. Christopher, reeling from all of this, says that he never should have come to the island. 'Sis' speaks now, saying that she knows that Hell follows you wherever you go. She says that she knows what Christopher did to his sister. He doesn't deny that he killed her.
Mad with rage, Christopher says that he'll send them to Hell himself, and as he pulls a gun from its holster on the shelf, the girl and her 'sis' say that he can't kill them. He shoots them twice, and the second time, her body falls back and transforms into Komomo. She feels the exit wound in the back of her head and pulls out some of the brains. As she holds her hand out to Christopher, she says that she's been waiting for him to come back.

In the end, Christopher is placed in a Japanese prison. The guards speak about how he murdered the girl before giving him his food and drink for the day. As they leave, he takes his bowl to serve himself a drink, but inside the bucket, he finds an aborted child. As he sings a lullaby into the bucket and curls up to sleep against the wall, the ghosts of his little sister and Komomo, blowing into a pinwheel, stand behind him; an indication that he will be haunted by them forever.