The narrator is sitting next to Carol in the audience, and he's worried that she's going to ask him to introduce himself to her. He wonders if she'll want to know him, since she doesn't have the money to do so. He's also worried about the draft law that's been drawn up to regulate mages's behavior. Carol hasn't come back yet, and the narrator is worried that her brother, who's a mage, isn't paying attention. He tells her that he'll throw punches at her brother when he sees her. Carol is so upset that she threatens to tell the teacher, but the narrator reassures her by saying that they used to be inseparable until they graduated from school. He says that his last test has come out, and that he plans to get his graduation paper the next week. He also says that he has no other choice, since he has to go to a "cure-people-born-with-disabilities" conference. He promises to take Carol with him when his family and he leave for the conference.