the somiyas go on one last trip together before the wedding, visiting kyoto. there they meet professor onodera and his family. noriko changes her opinion of onodera's remarriage when she discovers that his new wife is a nice person. while packing their luggage for the trip home, noriko asks her father why they cannot simply stay as they are now, even if he does remarry – she cannot imagine herself any happier than living with and taking care of him. shukichi admonishes her, saying that she must embrace the new life she will build with satake, one in which he, shukichi, will have no part, because "that’s the order of human life and history." noriko asks her father’s forgiveness for her "selfishness" and agrees to go ahead with the marriage.