The chapter opens with a soliloquy by the young protagonist, who tells the audience that he has come to find the "little black fox" . He asks the protagonist if he is "pretty" , and the protagonist replies that he must be "pretty plucky" to show up at the scene of the crime. The protagonist asks if he knows what will happen next, and when the protagonist answers that he does, the protagonist tells him that he is a good boy and that they should go home soon. He then tells the protagonist to follow the scent of a panting cat, and he asks if the protagonist saw a white cat. The boy says that he saw a female cat, but when he looked closer, he found a raccoon. He tells the boy that he was infatuated with cats, and that he should not act like a makami. The young protagonist asks why the protagonist is running away from the crime scene when he has not done anything wrong. When the protagonist says that the black fox is trying to block his path, he says that they cannot follow the fox because he has "a lot of guts," and that the fox is the embodiment of "mis fortune." The protagonist responds that the evil fox sure has him under his paw, but he should be careful, because he might do something wrong