This chapter opens with a soliloquy in which a group of Hirohito's men try to convince him to let the two men who are trapped in the pit escape. The men convince him that they will let them go if he agrees to let them out of the hole in the wall where the men are hiding. They also promise to tie a rope around the hole so that the men can't escape. They then tell him that he should drop the rope and give them the sign that says "gentatsu sama" . He agrees to do so. He then tells the men that he would like to see the pit in order to better understand what it is like to be trapped in it. He also tells them that he does not want to expose his master to public ridicule.