Summary

In Chapter 18 "Chrysanthemum," Alice happily plans Nori's wedding while Nori enjoys time with Noah. She also remembers her mother's final diary and begins to read the last entries. She finds out about Akira's childhood and her mother's feeling of being trapped in her life. She also reads about how her mother met her father and how happy they were together. Even so her mother knows, '"I am a Kamiza. and in the end, all roads lead home" (393) and that any happiness will be temporary. Nori learns how her father died and how her mother abandoned her marriage. After finishing the diary, she feels that she does not hate her mother, though neither does she forgive Seiko.

Noah returns home to finish preparing for the wedding, and while he is away, Nori receives a letter from Japan. It states that her grandmother has died...