Chapter 5, The Rice-Sprouting Month Summary

As Jane continues to work on My American Housewife!, she also continues to see Sloan. They meet again in Fly, Oregon. Jane asks Sloan about his compulsive need to wear two condoms when they are together. Sloan tells her he is terrified about contracting some terrible disease like AIDS. When Jane assures him that she is clean and that she learned she was infertile during her marriage several years before, Sloan asks if they could have unprotected sex. Afterward, Jane begins to think that Sloan might want a deeper relationship but discovers that it was simply an experiment for Sloan.

Akiko recalls how her boss at the manga publication company set her up with John Ueno when Ueno's boss asked him if he knew anyone who might be compatible for his prize employee. Akiko remembers being pushed...