The chapter opens with the narrator's first encounter with a "drunken delinquent" . He's just returned from his first trip to the university, where he's been studying "such things at university" , and he asks his brother not to let him get too close to Soshiba's house. He tells his brother that he'd like to go, but that he can't because the professor has already invited him to a "seminar" to prepare for his exam. The narrator says he'll go anyway, since the professor won't have another chance to invite him to the exam. He also says that since he hasn't won the lottery before, it's good to have more than one person to help him prepare for the test. He thanks his brother for his help, and says that he always had a "quick -witted side" to him, which makes him a good match for his brother. He asks if his brother's intentions were to fall into his hands easily, and the narrator says that they weren't. He says he vaguely thought that he would focus on his studies after this "long distance stage" of their relationship was over, but since he knows that his brother will accept his choices, he has to "advance on his own path."