"I love you, love" is the first line of the chapter's first soliloquy, and it's one of the first lines of the novel. It's also the first of many that follow. The first line is "i love you" and the second is "I like you" . The third is "if you liked me back, and you were not kidding, we'd do stuff that was way better than what we're doing now" , and the fourth is "lots of stuff" and "a stamp of thanks" for having him. The narrator is embarrassed by the fact that he's not in love with anyone. He's embarrassed by his hands, which are covered in love notes. He says he'll just write some notes to calm himself down. He doesn't want to be a loser, he says. He wants to be his "girl friend" and he wants her to agree to do whatever he wants. He asks her if she's ready to leave without Aka, and she says she is. She's wearing hot springs-style swim trunks, and he says she looks like she might be at the age where she likes to take off her clothes. She says she was just pretending not to notice anything, and half of the readers of the book will be disappointed, but the narrator says that's okay, because he'd like to know if she needs him to pat Aka's head. She asks him if he needs her to pat his head, too, and asks him to let her know if there's anything she needs to talk about. He tells her that she should just let him know if anything's bothering her, and then he asks her to tell him what's going on. She tells him