“Walking along the tile-roofed wall of the university, I turned aside and approached the upper school. Behind the white board fence of the school playground, from a dusky clump of bushes under the black cherry trees, an insect’s voice could be heard.”

The narrator leads the readers from the adult world, symbolized by the university, toward a state of childhood, symbolized by the playground. The insect’s voice rings out from a dark, hidden place, suggesting what will emerge as a motif in this story: What is most beautiful and true is often hidden and difficult to find.

“Walking more slowly and listening to that voice, and furthermore reluctant to part with it, I turned right so as not to leave the playground behind.”

The voice of an insect draws the narrator toward the playground, foreshadowing the later emergence of the bell cricket. Rerouting his walk so as to stay within the playground, he wants to return to the authentic state of individuality and innocence that childhood provides.

“At the base of the embankment was a bobbing cluster of beautiful varicolored lanterns, such as one might see at a festival in a remote country village.”

The narrator shows enthusiasm for the scene, describing the lanterns as beautiful and likening them to Japanese festivities, implying that the lanterns are celebratory. Connecting the lanterns to a remote country village adds to their simple, pure beauty.