The chapter opens with a conversation between Hayato and El Greco. El Greco tells Hayato that he is going to consult with a "yuki onna" , a woman who lives in a certain mountain. He asks Hayato to show him to the world, and he tells him that he will have to write a report for her. He tells El Greco that he does not want people to think that they have a "good relation ship" . He says that he wants to know why a woman would read a book called "yakumo koizumi," or "The Complete Works of yakumo," about a man who was supposed to be killed by his wife while she mourned for him. Hayato replies that it would be "simple enough" for one man to travel to a village and carry the body of a woman. He also says that it is a "miracle" that he survived, as he has bruises and frostbite all over his body. The author of the book, an English man who became a naturalized Japanese citizen, testified that he was told that he would be able to get closer to his wife after he died, and that she would eventually become his wife. The narrator says that the man's wife decided to let him live, for her children's sake. He adds that he had once met a woman in the mountains who thought herself to be a "looker," but that she did not realize that her husband was her husband until he told her about it. He wonders if it was a dream, but he says that sometimes he wonders if the dream really happened. He then tells the narrator that he has rented a house and that he suffers from acute signs of aging. He explains that he put his affairs in a gala when he asked himself who he could turn to for help if he ever needed it, since he could not "sponge off someone in his plight." The narrator replies that he could buy ice cream cones and other things easily, and it is "nerve racking" going into "mortal lish" all this business of buying and selling things. He comments that he likes to look at his options when he decides what to eat. He compares the fresh, fried tempura that he eats to curry, which is seasoned with "tentuyu sauce." He says he prefers to eat it "salted" rather than "seasoned" with "tenteduyu" sauce. He further says that his lover is the "most dreadful of creatures" because he has "gained immortal ity"