Alice in Kyoto Forest

It's been a while since we've seen the narrator, and he's wondering why he suddenly looks younger. He thinks maybe it's because he was younger when he first got older. He's not sure if that's true or not, but he does know that he hasn't been to a shrine in a long time. He also thinks that there's a torii gate in front of the shrine, which means that he can't go inside. He hopes that the shrine is still the same way it was when he was young. He wonders if he'll be able to see the narrator at a festival. He asks the shopkeeper if he can use money to buy food, and the shopkeeper tells him that he doesn't have to worry about it, since he already has all the food he needs. The shopkeeper tells the narrator that Ohara is still a long way away, so they can just walk there. The narrator wonders what he has to do to get his hair back to its original color, but the shopkeeper assures him that she can do whatever she wants with her newfound knowledge of the world. She's glad that they've come this far, and she's so glad to be back in the real world.