The narrator tells us that he's glad he took the job because he'll be able to look at his dad from a different perspective. He's already ruined, he says, but he still has a lot to live up to. Atsuko asks him how he can help her, and he tells her that he only has five yen to withdraw from his bank account. He asks if she really thought she could get past the security of her apartment without him, and she tells him that she doesn't need him anymore, because she's seen him coming out of his apartment with "that unhappy look on his face" every month since he left. The narrator says that he can't believe it, because he has seen her come out of the apartment with such a sad look on her face for the past month. He tells her he was just trying to destroy the whole thing, and that he was afraid to see how she would look at him. He says he knew it was a lie, but that it was late to cancel the wedding, because the preparations were already underway. He gives her the rent for the month, which she thanks him for. She says that she misses her father, who was always with her, as if he were there to protect her. She asks him if he has eaten dinner yet, and when he says he hasn't, she asks him to carry it over to his grandfather's company, where it's not allowed to discriminate against men. She tells him to cheer up his father, because when he falls in love, "the greatest misfortune" happens.