Summary

In Nara, the mother follows the son through a shrine and the park’s crowds and tries to understand his small, private rituals, but he refuses to explain himself. When she asks whether he ever thinks about Chris, the question closes him off further. The son tells her it is time to go back to the ryokan, and the mother asks to stay behind for a while, promising she can find her own way. Alone, she wanders toward the hills, watches families and schoolchildren pass, and eventually feeds two young deer from her palm before returning to the ryokan as the light fades.

Back at the ryokan, the mother speaks with Mieko about what keeps a person in one place. Mieko admits Japan is the first place she has not tried to leave, and the mother hears an echo of her own restlessness in...