Oshima and Kafka arrive at the mountain cabin, to find everything the same as when Kafka left it last week. Oshima warns him again about how easy it is to get lost in the woods, and shares a story about how, when Japanese troops ran practice drills in the forest here, two soldiers disappeared and were never seen again. He explains it another way: the forest is a labyrinth. Oshima says that there is another world parallel to our own, and when entering the forest, you could easily go too far and slip into the other world and not be able to get back.

Kafka reads on the porch until it gets dark, then he goes to bed. He cannot sleep for thinking about Miss Saeki; he wonders if she felt the same things that he did. He wishes he were older so that he could understand her better. He falls asleep, hoping that she will appear in his dreams. 

It’s Saturday, and Hoshino rents a car and returns to the apartment. He listens to his new classical music CD of Beethoven’s Archduke Trio while Nakata cooks. The food is wonderful. They eat dinner. Nakata has never cooked for another person; he’s never had a friend or family over to cook for them.