"What's wrong, touka" is the first line of the chapter's epigraph. It's from a conversation between Hiroshi and Hiroshi's mother, who has just died. Hiroshi tells his mother that he's worried about his aunt's death, but he doesn't want her to worry about him. He's also worried about her health, because she's been in the hospital for a long time. He tells her that he can eat a lot of miso in her hospital room, and she can put it away at nearly 100. She's a big fan of snake wine, and he thinks she drank it with a snake, too. He also says that he used to let the cicada loose in his store once, and that she was mad at him for letting the snake loose in the store. He adds that he feels like he knew her, too, because he passed people on. He says he feels people like people who have not died, because they're seen in a long, long time, and they don't die. He thinks that someday, sadness will turn into loneliness, and people will doubt each other in their minds again, as long as the two of them are still alive. That's how he feels about his mom, and it makes him feel a little bit of a bet.