This chapter opens with a conversation between Mishima and Mishima's older brother, Sanada. Mishima tells his older brother that he's going to a festival to prepare for the upcoming school year. He doesn't know what he'll do with his life after the festival, but he does know that he wants to be friends with Mishima. When Mishima asks him why he needs to call him by his nickname, "Sanada," Mishima replies that he doesn1t know anything about pickled pepper picking. He also tells his brother that Mishima has changed in the past few years, and that he hasn1t changed at all. He tells Mishima that he thought they would have fun if they could become friends, but Mishima says that he only has one friend, and she isn1t like him. He wonders if Mishima will tell him about their summer vacation, because she has been texting him from time-to-time. He says that it is summer vacation for him, and he is glad that he went on the vacation because he felt like he was avoiding Mishima, but that he feels like he has gotten closer to her, so the vacation has gotten him down. He asks Mishima if he can see him once he returns to the ministry, and the two of them agree to meet at the festival.