Chapter 3, pages 126-153 Summary

In September of 1944, the boy, now a man, graduates from school and goes on to college. He doesn't mind that his father insists that he major in law as he expects to be called to war soon, where he will surely die. Though fearful of the constant air raid sirens as well as the potentiality of his own demise, the young man also looks forward to dying, seeing it as an escape from the constant burden of duty to which he has always felt unequal. In the meanwhile, he befriends another young man named Kusano.

Emulating the virility of boys such as Omi, the young man tries to convince himself that he is attracted to women. He performs the role of the typical lovesick male, but finds the exercise fatiguing and unfulfilling. His mind often wanders, against his will...