In this chapter, the girls discuss their upcoming trip to the mountains with tenma, who has arranged most of the travel arrangements. The girls feel lonely going on such a trip with only four other girls, but they decide to ask tenma to bring along a boyfriend for the next trip. Akira asks about the other girls and finds out that they are members of the "muffin circle" from university, and they are very good at skiing. She tells Akira that she would like to encourage the girls to go skiing with her, but the others around her aren't good enough for her. She feels superior around them, and she wonders why she is a "swarm heart symbol" . She asks if she should encourage them, but Akira says she doesn't mind if the guys try to pick her up, as long as they don't look too good. She says she would rather be with her boyfriend, but she knows that he would be disappointed in her if he saw her, as she is "a snowman." She tells him that love and gratification are two different things, and that it is her fault that she is still a long way from adulthood