"The Way Things Are Going" is the epigraph of this chapter. It's about how things are going in the present, and how things can't be fixed in the future. The narrator wonders why things are happening the way they are. He wonders if he'd be able to reply with "I like you" or "I'm sorry" if she asked him out, but he doesn't know how to answer that question. He thinks it's okay to do that sometimes, but not always. He also wonders if they can go out on their own, and he wonders if she's saying that they're family, and that they should just keep going. He's not sure if that's right, but it seems like he's talking about the fact that he and his family are going to have to deal with the consequences of their actions. He feels like he has to lie down for a bit, and the narrator tells him that he'll feel better after a while. He tells the narrator to eat some of his special potato salad, which the narrator has skewered on the wall. He asks the narrator if he is really the same as his sister, miya, and his brother-in-law, chan, and wonders if the two of them are the same age. He then asks if she is conflicted about breaking off the relationship with Hayao, and if she wants to see him divorced. She also asks him if he has any right to apologize for being "the one sorry again" .