This chapter opens with a soliloquy by the Governess, in which she tells us that sometimes she feels like she wishes she could touch him. She asks if he would like to do so, and she tells her that she doesn't know if she can keep up this pace. The Governess then asks if she should bring her right hand up so he can touch her skin. She says that when she closes her eyes, her mind "fixates" on his hand, and so she gives him permission to move against her skin and over her clothes. She feels that they are "point blank" and that "with negative skin, to skin contact, it's an enormous dissonance." She says she'll keep her hand to herself, too, and that she's sorry that they didn't touch each other. She wonders if this means that they haven't been able to hold each other, and wonders if she thought to herself that she was happy. She's so sorry that she still hasn't had a bath. She wants to do something early to make sure that hongyo is thinking of her.