Synopsis

The chapter focuses on the protagonist's conflicted feelings about his brother's overbearing care and how he feels like he can't escape it. It flashes back to his brother's difficult past and the protagonist's inability to help during that time, and his need to make up for it now. The brother's actions are revealed to be a calculated plan to draw out a hidden threat by spreading rumors to draw a target out, all in an effort to allow the protagonist to rest. The chapter concludes with the protagonist being forced to stay and eat in an effort to recover.