Izumi shinichi, a seventeen-year-old high school student, is running away from the police station with his friend, the boy who saved him from drowning in the river. Izumi tells him that the police have told him that Hiroshi found the body of the murdered girl, and that he is suspected of knowing the girl's killer. He tells Izumi that he has not yet done anything to the girl, but that he wishes that he had done so a few days earlier. He says that he remembers Hiroshi's kindness to him, and he is sorry that he did not save him from the drowning. He also remembers that he saw Hiroshi talking to Izumi about the girl and that several people had seen him and Izumi talking. He adds that Izumi seems to be a little distant from Hiroshi lately, but Izumi says that she has not been upset about anything lately. He asks where Hiroshi is going, and she says that the town is in the middle of a murder case. The police report says that there were two killers, one of whom killed the first victim, and the other killed the second. The first victim was Hiroshi. The second victim was Izumi, who appeared at the scene and was killed by the first killer. Hiroshi fled the scene, leaving the second victim behind. The narrator tells us that this is the first time in the novel that a detective has been involved in such a case. He wonders if Hiroshi must be hiding something, and says that it is hard to explain what he is doing. He feels like he is forgetting to feel pain, or grief, and so