Chapter 24 opens with a soliloquy by Hiroshi, in which he laments the fact that his friend's band is so "stubborn" and so "stupid" that he can't stop listening to it. He says that he has listened to the music for "for forever" and that what he hears isn't music at all. It's just a mix of roughness and feroce. He compares the music to his mother's music and says that the music has caused him so much pain that it's his fault that he's been unable to enjoy her music. He also says that if he had said something like, "if music causes you nothing but pain," he would have had the ability to build a ship with his mother. He then goes on to say that if music doesn't cause pain, then music shouldn't be what saves him.