It's late at night, and the manager of the boarding house where the narrator lives is waiting for him. The manager introduces himself as "Konoe" , and tells the narrator that the place was once a boarding house, but that it's now being used as a home for low- and moderate-income families. The narrator asks the manager if he knows anyone who needs a home to live in, and when the manager says that he does, the narrator asks him to help him out with gardening and landscaping. When the manager tells him that he is a cynic who is always on his nose, and that he likes courteous living and slow life, the writer asks him if he has low blood pressure and low blood sugar, and he says he does. He tells the writer that he has told the manager that he prefers men for companionship. The writer says that his mother is trying to get married to a man, and she is staying at the same place as the manager.