A year ago, Keishin was racing out of his apartment building to campus when he got caught in the elevator with his pregnant neighbor, Liz. The rescue team didn’t come before Liz’s water broke, and Keishin had to help her deliver the baby. Liz holding the baby looked like the ultimate image of happiness to Keishin.

Hana bolts awake at the sound of rustling paper in her bag. Inside is a message from Haruto. He has folded time, and they must get back to him.

Hana and Keishin travel to the Valley of Stars, where they meet Fumiko, a lifelong friend of Hana’s family. She welcomes them in and shows them how she and her children are painting stars. The paintings are everyone’s hopes and dreams. Then, she leads them to Haruto’s mother, Masako. Masako takes them to Haruto, who is hiding there. Hana is horrified to see that the Shiikuin caught up to Haruto and broke both his hands when he wouldn’t tell them Hana and Keishin’s whereabouts. Finally, he lied and said that they’d gone looking for Toshio at Lotus Lake. He folded time for Hana but had to swallow the paper so that the Shiikuin wouldn’t find it. However, he did see inside the past first.

Haruto tells Hana and Keishin what he saw. Twenty-one years ago, Toshio confronted Chiyo for ruining their family’s life by stealing a choice. He didn’t understand why their life wasn’t enough for her. When the Shiikuin came to take Chiyo, Toshio held Hana and did nothing to defend Chiyo. Before the Shiikuin exiled her, they let her hold Hana one last time. Then, they took her to the pawnshop door. At the last moment, they decided not to kill her and instead to punish her with a fate worse than death.

Haruto, Hana, and Keishin try to decide what fate the Shiikuin would have chosen for Chiyo. Masako interrupts, insisting that she won’t host an outsider at her home. Keishin leaves Hana and Haruto to spend the night together. Haruto remarks on Hana and Keishin’s connection, worrying that she doesn’t care for him. Hana insists that she’ll love him someday and reminds him that their marriage in a month is fated.

Keishin spends the night at an inn, reflecting on his life’s purpose. Everything has changed since he met Hana. Fumiko visits and tells him her story. She explains that her children are in fact her late sister’s children. She regrets envying her sister’s life as a mother because longing “is a life sentence” (221). Keishin has a revelation about Chiyo’s potential fate.

Keishin remembers the day his father died. At the funeral, his stepmother suggested that they be friends even if Keishin didn’t see her as his mother. In the present, he realizes that his fate has been the same as Fumiko’s and Chiyo’s.

Hana and Haruto lie in bed talking about friendship and love. When Haruto asks to kiss her, Hana lets him. Suddenly, Keishin bursts in, interrupting the moment. He suggests that Chiyo must be in a place where she’s constantly longing for Hana since holding Hana was her greatest desire. Masako shares the rumors she heard at the Night Market about dead children who aren’t really children or dead. She suggests that they go there for more information.

Before going to the Night Market, Hana and Keishin travel to Lotus Lake. They know that the Shiikuin will expect them there and don’t want them to discover Haruto’s lie. They throw origami fish into the water to deceive the Shiikuin into thinking that they’re hiding in the lake. From there, they head to the market.

Hana and Keishin row down a subterranean river that leads to the Night Market. Keishin stops rowing to ask about the Shiikuin and why they care about the choices so much. Hana hesitates but suggests that the truth might convince him to go home. Keishin muses on the concept of home since no maps have home marked on them. Finally, Hana reveals that the choices they take from clients are actually pieces of their clients’ souls. They use the choices to give the people in Hana’s world souls since they’re born without them. The Horishi then maps each choice—or soul fragment—on their skin. Hana insists that because of this, she isn’t real and Keishin can’t be with her. When Keishin protests, Hana starts crying. She cares for Keishin more than Haruto—which she discovered when she kissed Haruto. She and Keishin hold each other and cry.

The companions arrive at the Night Market and find an inn for the night. In their room, they continue talking about their connection and future. Hana doesn’t think they have a future, but Keishin insists that they have the present. They share a bittersweet kiss and then have sex.

After a night of lovemaking, Hana and Keishin head to the Night Market.

At the market, the companions meet with Natsuki at a stall that sells memory pearls. Natsuki challenges them to a game of dice. One of them must give him a precious, happy memory. If they lose at dice, they forfeit the memory. If they win, Natsuki will answer their question about the children. Keishin insists on offering his memory, and Natsuki turns the memory of his night with Hana into a pearl. Afraid of what will happen, Keishin drifts into thought and imagines talking to Ramesh. He asks Ramesh what will happen next. Ramesh predicts that he’ll win the game. Ramesh’s prediction proves correct, and Natsuki points them to stall 510 to locate the children’s whereabouts.

The vendor at stall 510 writes down where the children are. The children are babies who appear different at birth and whose families therefore think are “soulless.” If Hana’s family fails to get choices from their clients, they don’t have enough souls for the newborn babies. All “soulless” children are then consigned to one location. The vendor’s answer points them away from the Night Market.