The chapter opens with a conversation between the protagonist and his teacher. The protagonist tells his teacher that he's having a "cheat day" , which is when he eats all of the food that the teacher has prepared for him. This is his dad, who works in an import-export business. He speaks French, Italian, and English, and spends two-thirds of the year abroad. He's a "sore thumb" in Tohoku, the protagonist says, and he can't even say he likes him. He also tells the teacher that his sister and his sister's fiance are staying with his aunt at her house, and they're visiting their father and his wife's graves. He asks the teacher to take after his mom, because she's sick, instead of going to a hotel. He says that his mom's grave is full of her dead relatives, including her own son, who's in charge of the family business. The teacher tells the protagonist that while his mom was sick, his dad was off traveling with another woman, and left his sister hanging. When his mom died, he went back to Europe, but he came back to Japan because he wanted to come home and visit his family. The karate instructor, who introduces himself as "Koichi mobara," greets the protagonist. He tells him that his grand father, who runs a karate school in a town called Tokita, has invited the protagonist to come to his dojo for a memorial service for his late master, Segawa Sensei. The chapter ends with the protagonist asking the teacher how he ended up like this.