The chapter opens with a description of the winter season, which will continue for the rest of the novel. The narrator asks the reader to imagine that winter is coming to a close, and the narrator wonders how many people have stayed in the area for the winter. He wonders how long it has been since the snow stopped falling, and he wonders if the people who have stayed have abandoned their winter plans. He asks the narrator if he has seen the swans that he is looking for, and when the narrator replies that he has not, the narrator exclaims, "flash flash pony sorry ! . ." The narrator then introduces himself as "Akihito Narumi" . He tells the reader that his name is Anihito, which means "star" in Japanese, and that he looks like a "black robin." He also tells the narrator that his hair is "jet black and shiny" , which reminds him of the endangered black robin, a small bird that lives in the Fort Haruki, a town in northern Japan. The two exchange compliments on each other's hair, and Anihio tells the story of a chick riding on the back of a wild bird. He says that he does not like having his picture taken, but he thinks that the chick will like him, and they hurry off to find a place to sleep.