"I don't get it."
"All right. Let's try something else." He moved off, swiftly, angrily, shucked the geta from his feet, entered one of the cottages, and a moment later returned. He held a child's rubber balloon. "It's round," he said, holding it up for Blair to see.
"Okay. A round balloon."
Naito blew it up. Instead of inflating to a round shape it extended itself into a long, banana like form. Then he blew it up again, and this time shapes like fingers came out of it at various points.
"Well?" said Blair.
"You still don't see, do you? Tell me, what do you want me to do."
"Oh, the water illusion, and the balloon thing are clever enough—I don't have any idea how you do it," said Blair, "but the tricks, well, they lack drama, if you see what I mean. No flash. I'd like a good visual trick. One I can really photograph."
Now Naito seemed to seethe inside. He breathed quickly, heavily as he talked. "What will you have?" he said. "What will you have, Mr. Blair? I can do the Hindu rope trick, I can fascinate snakes, and I can put Yuki in a box and saw her in half. Is that the kind of thing you might understand?"
"Well, it ought to be something sort of new," said Blair.
"New," repeated Naito. "Something new. Very well, then. But first you must understand. This time you must understand. We will have tea."