The chapter opens with a flashback to a time before the novel's inception. It is the present day, and the protagonist, nicky, is still in high school. He has just been dumped by his girlfriend, kitagawa, and has been spending a lot of time with the other girls at school, who are obsessed with him. He tells the narrator that he has not been able to get a hold of kitagawa's phone, and that he is sorry that she is in trouble. He asks the narrator if he can find her, and she tells him that she does not want to go with him, because she knows that he knows someone in trouble and that she will not be able to help him. The narrator tells the protagonist that he should not have let the boy go, as he is hilarious. The protagonist tells the story of how he was friends with the protagonist's friend, kai, from school, and how they used to hang out together. He says that kai is not trying to do anything to him, but that he does not know what is wrong with the girl. He wonders why the girl does not answer the door for him, and he tells her that she has been coming to the house three times per week for the past few weeks. He wants to know what has happened, but she refuses to give him any information. She has been using her vacation time to do this, and everyone keeps talking about it as if it is all her fault. She needs to be the villain, the protagonist tells her, because if she is going to cut people off from her life, then she needs the perfect villain. She tells him about how many people support her, including her mother, who has been with her throughout her life. She says that she knows it is not a good idea for her to follow her, as she has to sneak around the house. She puts her hand down, and it lands on something that is left for her by her mother. She realizes that her mother has been running away from the house for a long time, and her mother is sorry she cannot do anything motherly for her.