Two days after K hears the music, Miu returns from Athens with an official. The police begin taking their investigation seriously, but nothing turns up. K departs for Japan right before Sumire’s parents arrive. As they say goodbye, Miu assures K that she will handle Sumire’s parents and any reporters. She tells K that she likes him. On the ferry, K watches Miu until she disappears in the distance.

His flight to Japan from Athens is canceled, and K stays the night. He wanders the city and its ancient ruins but feels lonely, wondering if he should have stayed on the island. K realizes just how much he misses Sumire and how important they were to each other. The pain is intense, though he always knew their friendship would one day end because of his unrequited love for her.

K laments the loss of his special relationship with Sumire and ponders what life is like for her on the other side. He wonders if she found the other Miu and can finally have a relationship with her. He also thinks of what life could be like for him there. K knows he has no way of reaching it and realizes that he does not want to anyway.

He thinks ahead to arriving home and wonders who he will be after the loss of Sumire. He knows he will be different, having lost an essential part of himself. K lies down on the stones of the Acropolis and looks at the night sky, watching for satellites.

On the Sunday after the new school term begins, K’s girlfriend calls him in a panic. She asks if he can come to the supermarket. When he arrives, an employee directs K to the security office, where he finds his girlfriend and her son, a student he calls Carrot, and an unhappy security guard.

The security guard explains that he caught Carrot stealing eight staplers, worth ¥6,800. The guard explains to K that this is a serious offense because it is not the first time Carrot has stolen from the store. In fact, Carrot seems to only steal from this one store, and he only ever steals classroom supplies. K argues that this does not make sense, as it makes Carrot more likely to be caught.

When K asks Carrot why he steals, Carrot does not respond. K notices that Carrot seems strange, emotionless and disinterested, as though he is not really there. The guard demands that they come to some kind of resolution. When he challenges K, asking if he knows why Carrot is stealing, K pushes back. He tells the guard that he never noticed anything that would hint at Carrot stealing. He argues that when a child does this, it is usually about something else. K believes that if they do not identify what is bothering Carrot, they cannot stop him from stealing. 

The guard suggests a harsh punishment and goes on to argue that not everyone is, or can be, evil. He argues that Carrot needs to learn the hard truths of the world. They are interrupted when another guard comes in, asking for the key to their storage closet. When they cannot find the key, the guard dismisses K, Carrot, and K’s girlfriend, warning that another offense will be met harshly.

When they leave, K tells his girlfriend to drive home. He will talk to Carrot and bring him home later. He takes Carrot to a café and orders him ice cream, but the boy does not touch it. Carrot will not speak, and K begins talking. He reveals that he was in Greece because his friend disappeared, and he notices that Carrot seems interested. K goes on to talk about how much Sumire meant to him and how lost he is without her. He tells Carrot about how alone he was as a child, feeling out of place at school and at home. It was not until college, K reveals, that he found someone who did not make him lonely.

As K and Carrot walk home, they stop at a bridge over a small river. Carrot takes the storage key from the security office out of his pocket and hands it to K. K realizes that the boy stole it but tells Carrot that it is too late to bring it back. He drops the key into the river and feels intense relief wash over him.

At Carrot’s house, K’s girlfriend thanks him for speaking with Carrot and offers to drive him home. She laments that she does not know how to talk to Carrot anymore and suspects that he knows about her affair with K. When they arrive at K’s apartment, K tells his girlfriend that he believes they should break up, as it is best for everyone. His girlfriend pushes back, saying it is not the best for her. She is lonely. Later, K realizes that he was not thinking of everyone when he decided to break up with his girlfriend. He was thinking of Sumire.

Time goes on, and the new year arrives. Miu never reaches out, and Sumire’s birthday comes and goes. K stops following the news, hoping for a development. Carrot moves on to the next grade, and whenever K sees him, he wonders what the child is thinking. He feels he did the right thing speaking with him, though.

K sees Miu once, driving next to his taxi. They drive next to each other for some time, but she never notices that he is next to her. As he watches, K feels as though she is an empty shell. K realizes that this is how life moves. Even after a tragic loss, time keeps marching forward, and so, too, do their lives.

At night, K dreams and often wakes hoping the phone will be ringing, with Sumire on the other end. One night, the phone does ring. It is Sumire. She tells him that she is back from her odyssey. When he asks where she is, she tells him that she is in her usual telephone box. She describes the litter in it and the “mold-colored half-moon” above her.

K says he is coming to get her, but she tells him to wait. She is running out of change and needs to figure out exactly where she is. Sumire tells him that she wants him to come, and she will call him again soon. Before hanging up, she tells K how lonely she was without him. She understands that they are a part of each other.

As K waits, he looks out his window at the sky, seeing the same moon Sumire described. He is relieved to know that, despite the distance between them, they are looking at the same moon.