This chapter draws a parallel in which Ishigami's relationship with his high school students is juxtaposed with Yukawa's relationship with his graduate student. Ishigami explains to Kusanagi how he takes advantage of the "blind spots in students' assumptions," presenting, for example, an algebra problem as a geometry problem. Likewise, Yukawa chides a student for describing an experiment through the lens of solid-state physics instead of that of particle physics. They are two geniuses who sahre a common frustration with the inability of their students to appreciate the deeper meaning of the subject matter in which they are involved.

Both Ishigami and Yukwa are juxtaposed as professors who despair over the failure of their students to seek the underlying meaning of subject matter with which they are challenged and tested. Ishigami's students' are told to write down their feelings about math and explain why it is meaningful to them. Yukawa's graduate student is chided for seeking expected results rather than looking for the deeper meaning in those results.

In both instances, the professors (i.e. Ishigami and Yukawa) are not only referring to their students' failure to look past their basic assumption but also to Kusanagi's failure to overcome his own prejudicies with regard to the case as well. Kusanagi, as we will find out, is so preoccupied with the issue of Yusako's (and later Ishigami's) alibi on March 10, that he has failed to consider the possibility that another person may have been murdered on March 10 in order that the actual murder of Togashi by Yasuko on March 9 might be concealed. The implication in both Ishigami and Yukawa's frustration with their respective students is that Kusanagi, as one simultaneously being tested by Ishigami and guided by Yukawa, must do more than merely treat the murder case as a cookie-cutter problem that fits within his classic police detective paradigm that is preoccupied with the issue of alibis. He must

The chapter also places emphases on the role of intuition (or feelings) in helping a given character arrive at their conclusions. When Ishigami asks why Kusanagi would suggest that Ishigami is the type to make his questions too difficult, Kusanagi remarks that it is "just a feeling." Although Ishigami is confident in having navigated the all traps and pitfalls in the detectives' questioning, he can't shake off an inescapable feeling of having been discovered by his friend Yukawa. When asked by Kusanagi why he started to suspect Ishigami of involvement in Yasuko's murder of Togashi, Yukawa attributes his suspicion to a "feeling" and comments, "Now I'm guessing why you want to know why 'I had a feeling,' and all I can say is, it was a hunch. Call it intuition."Along with logic, intuition has an epistemological validity that enables people to gain insights that are not reducible to simple logical proofs.

The chapter ends with Yukawa's having a sudden flash of insight that causes him to turn extremely dour and inhospitable. He at last discovers in full the secret of Ishigami's plan. Yukawa's face is described as being "twisted with worry and pain," which is just as inscrutable to Kusanagi as the flat and emotionless expression on Ishigami's face. It's no coincidence that Ishigami is last depicted with a sheaf of papers containing math problems while Yukawa is last depicted having a flash of insight based on his observation of Ishigami's work schedule. The juxtaposition highlights the differences in their epistemological orientation: Ishigami being a man whose knowledge is derived from formulas and proof, Yukawa being one whose knowledge derives from observations and the insights that come from grasping cause-and-effect relationships among observed behaviors.