Midori’s capacity for openness and spontaneity is emphasized in the scene while she and Toru are watching her neighbor’s house burn, and she doesn't heed Toru’s suggestion to “gather your valuables together and get ready to evacuate this place,”. Instead she banters with him and solidifies her decision to stay by casually stating that “if something bad happens, we can think about it then”. Midori proceeds to sing/strum five folk and pop songs including “Lemon Tree”, “Puff,” “Five Hundred Miles”, “Where have all the flowers gone?”, and “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore”. The domestic, sometimes naïve, repertoire obviously contrasts with the dramatic, yet cathartic, visual of the burning house. The songs are simple cultural anchors that Midori uses while witnessing something beyond ordinary; they are keeping and forming memories through music, even amid disruption. The juxtaposition here makes the scene feel like a memory that is in formation, and music is the vehicle that mediates how the event will be remembered by Toru while he narrates the story.
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