Fogg recovers in Zimmer’s apartment for over a month. Nevertheless, Zimmer is disgusted by Fogg’s pride-driven refusal to ask him for help. Fogg accepts Zimmer’s criticism, realizing that his behavior was cowardly. He resolves to think more selflessly.

One evening, Fogg penitently examines Victor’s clarinet case, which was ruined during his time in Central Park. His draft letter falls out of the case, reminding him to attend his physical examination. At his physical, Fogg’s anemia is so severe that the doctor cannot extract his blood on the first attempt. Fogg weighs in at around 115 pounds, prompting the examiners to sequester him from the group. He speaks to a psychiatrist, who suspects that Fogg has a substance use disorder. Fogg explains his situation in its entirety, which makes the psychiatrist uncomfortable. This culminates in Fogg’s justification that he gave up making an effort in life so that he could find the harmony of the universe within the chaos of his existence. The psychiatrist determines that Fogg is unfit for military service.

Fogg continues to recover at Zimmer’s apartment, regaining weight and going out with Zimmer to bars. On one such night, Zimmer encourages Fogg to pursue Kitty, indicating that she is deeply in love with him. Fogg hesitates to accept this, arguing that she hasn’t visited him since his rescue at Central Park, but Zimmer reminds him that she has restarted classes and work, which Fogg doesn’t know about because he sits at home all day. Zimmer points out that Kitty is also trying to show discretion around him, but Fogg doesn’t believe this because Kitty kissed him at the end of their first encounter. Zimmer argues that Kitty is a person who obeys her impulses and accepts any situation as a matter of fact; she doesn’t want to show too eager an interest in Fogg because she doesn’t want him to think that he owes her for saving his life.

Kitty’s father was a Chinese Nationalist general who escaped to Taiwan after the Communist Revolution. He was then assigned to the embassy in Japan, and Kitty grew up in Tokyo. Despite her privileged upbringing, Kitty witnessed her father’s courtly affairs, which culminated in the betrayal of his last mistress, whom he caught in bed with a younger man. Following the death of her mother, Kitty was sent to boarding school in the United States and elected to stay in the country after her father’s death, pursuing her dance program at Juilliard. Zimmer implies that Kitty and Fogg’s lives have followed similar paths, given that they are both orphans who experienced tragedy at a young age. Fogg is skeptical about Kitty’s story, but he later learns that all of it is true.

Fogg begins to feel guilty about staying at Zimmer’s apartment and depleting his friend’s finances. He reasons that Zimmer may be extending his generosity in order to feel better about himself, given that Zimmer was always intimidated by Fogg in the early days of their friendship. Fogg describes Zimmer as an aspiring poet with scholarly intensity. The object of Zimmer’s affections is a childhood friend of his named Anna, who left the country to pursue a career in journalism. Whenever Fogg and Zimmer return from their outings to the bar, Zimmer checks his mail to see if Anna has sent him any letters, and this habit inspires pity in Fogg.

When Zimmer starts a graduate program in comparative literature, Fogg resolves to look for work. He volunteers to work on a translation job that Zimmer’s friend had outsourced, and this arrangement allows Zimmer to focus on his studies while Fogg earns money on the side. That fall, Fogg randomly encounters Kitty, and the two reconnect over a long-winding conversation that makes Fogg feel comfortable around her. They return to Zimmer’s apartment for coffee and soon have sex, and Fogg acknowledges that he has fallen in love with Kitty.

Fogg fills his days with translation work and his passionate romance with Kitty. In late October, he finishes the translation, and he, Zimmer, and Kitty celebrate at Moon Palace. At the end of the meal, Fogg opens a fortune cookie that reads, “The sun is the past, the earth is the present, the moon is the future” (97). He keeps the fortune in his wallet. The following morning, he looks for a new job and answers an ad sent out by an elderly man who is seeking a live-in assistant. Fogg interviews for the position and gets the job, only later learning that he is the only person who applied.