This chapter's epigraph comes from a conversation between mitarai and nojima san. The two men are discussing the fact that nojima has only 20 nails between his hands and feet. .mitarai says that he doesn't like nojima because he has too many things to dislike about him. He also says that his mother shouldn't say such things because he's had enough pain in his life. He adds that he knows that the lesson is to make nojima regret having been born. He says that if nojima had been born, he wouldn't have had to suffer the pain he has. He then goes on to say that he would have killed nojima if he were alive. He compares himself to a fallen angel who had been courted by hundreds of beautiful women before he was reborn. Now, he says, his suffering appears to be "another thing entirely." .