Aoi is now in her third year of high school, with entrance exams looming on the horizon. She and Kiyotaka are slowly and clumsily growing closer, but one day, Ensho—Kiyotaka’s nemesis—shows up and asks him to appraise a white porcelain incense holder. However, when Kiyotaka claims that it’s real, the counterfeiter denies it and leaves in an attempt to discredit him.

Some time later, Aoi is approached by Ensho after school. Kiyotaka arrives just in time to save her, but then he breaks up with her, sending her into the depths of despair. Two months later, Aoi receives a phone call from the manager. “Kiyotaka came back from Hyogo,” he says. What will become of the two now?