The chapter opens with Hiroshi talking to Miho about how he's been craving a dip in the pine grove after all the hiking. He tells Miho that he'll be eating some fish, since he can't really catch himself. Miho tells him about a celestial maiden who came from the heavens and tried to keep her from coming back to heaven. She stole her robe from a pine tree and lived with a fisherman for some time. The robe looks like it's floating in the sea, but it hasn't been found since the eruption of the volcano at the end of the last chapter. The narrator tells Hiroshi that the prime minister of Japan, the mayor of Setagaya, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and the senator of Japan all have similar plans to keep the public ignorant of what's going on in their country. The prime minister wants to keep people ignorant of the government's plans, so he wants to make sure that the public doesn't know anything. The mayor wants to thank Hiroshi for his actions in the shiina case, but Hiroshi tells him to put the robe back where it belongs.