The narrator and his stepmother attend the funeral of his step-aunt, which is the first time he has ever gone to a funeral. He forces himself to look at his dead step-aunt so that he can tell what sets dead bodies apart from living ones. The narrator and his stepmother leave the funeral early, and his stepmother suggests that they get salt to purify their apartment. She later observes how weird that day has been.

The next time the narrator goes to school, he discovers that his desk has been stuffed with trash. Before he can clean the mess up, Ninomiya comes in and taunts him for trying to kill everyone with the unpleasant smell. Ninomiya then threatens the narrator, telling him he would like to play a game with him after school. The narrator spends most of the class figuring out how he can convince his stepmother to let him get out of school, but he realizes that it won’t matter because his lazy eye will continue to affect him for the rest of his life. When school is dismissed, he tries to evade Ninomiya, but then he bumps into

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