At the beginning of this chapter, sixteen-year-old Shmoop tells us that he and his friend, Shusei Kugayama, are in his room together. They're not really friends, but they're pretty inseparable. They have a crush on one another, but Shusei doesn't seem to realize how much he loves her. He's the "Prince of Popularity" at school, which means he's pretty much the only one in the room who's not jealous of her. But Shusei isn't cool with that, either. He constantly refuses to eat dinner, and he spends his days "getting jerked around" by him. Shusei's got a girlfriend, he says, but he can't find her anywhere. He wants to go out, and Shusei says he can have any girl he wants. He says he could have a girlfriend of his own, too, if he wanted to, but that he'd have to wait until the end of the summer break to find a girl. He asks Shusei if he has a playmate, and she says she does, but she's too scared to show her to him. She's scared of the cat, the cock-roach, and the other things that Shusei is afraid of. He tells her he'll take care of her, and they'll figure out a way to get out of the room.