The narrator begins this chapter by saying that he's glad to hear that a cold didn't go away overnight. He thinks that medicine works, but there's always a little lag between when you take medicine and when it actually works. For example, he says, if you go to the drugstore and buy some masking tape, it's obvious that you're buying something that's going to last a long time. He also says that some people have "a huge time lag" for anger. He says that if you eat too much gyoza in one year, you'll be sorry, and if you don't eat enough in the last seven months, you won't be sorry. The narrator then says that there are things in life that look back on you and make you feel bad about them. He compares the real price of gundam to the price of gunpowder, and says that when a company patents a new technology, it takes seven years for it to become a reality. He adds that the time it takes for a woman to give birth to a baby is also a time lag, because she has to wait 11 days before her baby's due date.