The chapter opens with a soliloquy by Mikey, who has just witnessed the kidnapping of Takemichi by the Tokyo Manji gang. He tells his friend that he will protect him from the gang, and that he has no choice but to do so. Mikey tells him that if he had been a dangerous person, things would have gotten ugly. He says that it is nice that he stood up for his friend, but that he would have done the same thing if he were someone dangerous. He asks his friend to join him in the fight, and he says that there is something special about him that makes him stand up to anyone.