In this chapter, we learn that the editor of a magazine is trying to pass the editor's baton from one person to another. This is a common practice in Japan, where people pass off important people's possessions as they go about their daily lives. The editor is upset that he is being passed off as a worthy recipient of the magazine's patronage. He is also upset because he feels that many of the society's important batons are being passed on to the next generation of artists without his knowledge. He recalls that in 2007, when he sent a patient with extremely weak condition to a hospital, the hospital refused to treat him because of the large size of the patient's hand.