• The chapter begins with a feeling of unease on the part of Yasuko about being on a date with Kudo. For some reason, it feels wrong. At the end of the chapter, we find out that her instrincts are not without merit, as we discover that she has been under police surveillance and that her decision to go out with Kudo results in Kudo becoming a suspect in the crime. Having diverged from Ishigami's plan and gone off script, Yasuko has brought unneeded suspicion upon Kudo.

• All of the other behavior demonstrated by the police is fully in accordance with Ishigami's predictions. Misato also comments on how remarkable it is that Ishigami has been able to predict so much of the police's behavior. The questioning about the kotatsu cord (i.e. the murder weapon) and the attempt to find fingerprints on the ticket stubs all fall within the scope of predictions made by Ishigami. It is only the issue of Kudo, which Yasuko caused through her own impatience and lack of prudence, that becomes a complicating factor for which Ishigami was unable to prepare for in advance.

• Had Yasuko actually taken Ishigami's phone call and trusted him not to overreact to the presence of Kudo, she might have spared Kudo the trouble of becoming a suspect in the case. In fact, Kudo's entry into the picture helps reinforce the theory that Yasuko had a male accomplice. As Kusanagi explains to Kishitani:

For all we actually know, Ms. Hanaoka and this Kudo might have been really close for years, but have been keeping it hidden....When it comes to committing this sort of crime, a hidden connection like that would be a big advantage. What better accomplice than someone no one else knows you have anything to do with?

• Kusanagi's words come dangerously close to home in the depth of insight demonstrated through this quote. Throughout the chapter, Kusanagi proves himself to be an experienced detective with good insights and keen perception. He is not taken in by the fact that the kotatsu cord identified by forensics doesn't match the one in Yasuko's house. He is also skeptical about the possibility of Kudo being a suspect. Even more important, his instincts are drawn to a more important matter, which is the fact that Ishigami and Yukawa entered the lunch box shop together. In this way, he lives up to Ishigami's assessment of him as "formidable."

• Kishitani is a foil for Kusanagi in this chapter. Through his simplistic interpretation of the evidence, Kishitani proves himself to be inexperienced and naive. He perfectly illustrates what Ishigami later mentions in regard to his students about the "blind assumptions" that cause people to mistake one phenomenon for another. In the case of Ishigami's students, they mistakenly confuse a geometry problem with an algebra problem. In Kishitani's case, he mistakenly perceives the issue of the kotatsu cord discrepancy to be exculpatory, whereas Kusanagi correctly perceives this to be distraction.

• Another foil is provided in the chapter, which is that of Misato vis-a-vis her mother. Yasuko feel guilty about going out with Kudo at a gut-level but is able to rationalize her decision with her adult intellect. Misato, being a junior high school girl, is more innocent and less adept in making excuses to justify wrong behavior. In calling out her mother's unwise behavior, Misato proves to be the voice of Yasuko's better judgment and unadulterated conscience, her childhood innocence revealing the sham and dishonesty in Yasuko's self-serving logic about being with Kudo in order to appear normal. Misato played this role previously when she struck Togashi on the head, unlike her mother, who made excuses for herself in order justify letting Togashi in her apartment, namely that her apartment lease might be revoked for causing a disturbance in the apartment building. Misato will play this role again towards the end of the chapter by taking a drastic action that will prevent Yasuko from trying to forget Ishigami's sacrifice in order to get together with Kudo.