In this short scene, Furuya, the main character of the novel, is introduced. He is a student at a public high school in the town of shiyoh, in northeastern Japan. He has just returned from a trip to the city of Nagasaki, where he met the daughter of the school's principal. Furuya asks the girl why she is acting the way she does, and the girl replies that she has been busy with her studies. She has been studying for her master's degree, and her parents have not been able to provide for her. The girl asks him if he likes the movies and games that he has been playing, and he replies that he does. He tells her that the dead people who come to his house mean to attack him, and that he even has a collection of the dead's games, films, toys, and other things. He says that he used to like the movies just for the visual effects, but that his dead cat, Bub, has started to grow inside of him. The cat, he says, was a member of his family, but he tore it to pieces and put it into the mouth of his dead brother. He then grinds the poison grass to see if it will work, but it seems to him that it might not be possible. He decides to try again the next week, and if it does not work, he will bury the dead cat.