The narrator returns to school and tells his classmates that he's going to try harder to pass the next math test. He tells them that he doesn't really love them, but that they're the only ones besides him who know what's up with him. He's not going to give up on them, he says, and he'll talk to his teacher about it. He also tells them about his infatuation with a girl named Sakaki, who he thinks is "freaky" because she has no friends. He says that if he were to date that girl, he'd want her. The narrator says that he has been in love with her for a year now, and that she's the only one he knows who knows how to talk about her like that. He wants her to shut her mouth and stop talking about girls like this. He goes on to say that he would have liked her even if she didn't have anyone to talk to, because she'd have no friends and no friends would make her creep out. He adds that he wants to go get her, because he thinks she would appreciate how great she is. He asks if he knows about literature, and the narrator says he does, and then he says he would like to know if he knew how to speak about a girl like that . He then tells the narrator to leave him alone for a moment, because the narrator is so bad about books that he can't even clean up his room. He complains about how sweaty he feels and says that his father is just as bad as his father about books. Then he says that when Sakaki got to class, her gym clothes were missing, so she must have forgotten them. He apologizes for his sin, and says he will spend his life "atoning" for it, but there is nowhere for him to go, because there are so many people in the town who don't understand French. He wonders if he should just go to the book-seller and ask them to teach him French.