This chapter opens with a conversation between Hiroshi and Hiroshi's father, who has just returned from a visit to his son's school. Hiroshi tells his father that he and the other students at the school are in the middle of a foot race and that they are waiting for the results of the race so that they can congratulate each other on their victories. The father, however, does not want his son to win the race because he fears that his son will be disliked by the students. He tells his son that he will be in for the race after the wards end.