Simile: Mikage's Blanket
After her grandmother has died, Mikage sleeps next to the refrigerator, "wrapped in a blanket, like Linus." By comparing herself to the sentimental character from Peanuts, who never lets go of his security blanket, she indicates how insecure she feels in this situation. She is all alone, bereft of family and security, and all she can cling to is the space that she feels most home in.
Simile: Mikage's Rush
When Yuichi calls Mikage and informs her about his mother's death, she rushes to come to him. She describes herself as "running around like a chicken with its head cut off." This simile emphasizes how confused she is after losing another dear person in her life.
Simile: Yuichi's Sadness
Mikage isn't exactly sure who Yuichi is when she sees him at her grandmother's funeral, but she remarks, "When he saw my grandmother's picture on the altar, again his tears fell like rain" (7). She notes that he is full of grief, grief that is even more visible than her own; in fact, she does not have her own sobbing moment until much later. Yuichi's tears are like rain, meaning that they fall and fall without ceasing, which is a powerful image and the most overtly emotional moment Yuichi has for a long time.
Metaphor: Talking about Eriko
After Eriko's death, Yuichi and Mikage come together and cook a fantastic dinner to assuage their grief. However, they do not talk about Eriko, and Mikage wonders if this is the best thing for them to do, even if it seems easy at the moment. She uses the metaphor of bills that one keeps pushing off eventually coming due: "a huge, terrifying premonition that those unpaid bills would inexorably come due" (62). This is effectively ominous, showing that people cannot repress grief too much or it will be even harder to ultimately deal with it.
Metaphor: The Demons
After Eriko tells Mikage how his wife died, Mikage feels "the darkness hindering [her] breathing," which means she is overwhelmed by all the sadness that life seems to throw at her. Later, in her "heavy, depressed sleep, [she] battled each demon in turn." The demons are a metaphor for the thoughts that cause her to doubt the positive nature of the world, and she fights them to keep a positive attitude.
