In 1953, after the events surrounding the Musashino dismemberment case, Atsuko Chūzenji reflects on her participation in the investigation. She recalls how the descriptions by the witnesses who reported seeing a white-gloved man reminded her of Kubo and how strange Kubo's story "The Woman inside the Box" was. She also recalls her earlier investigation of a murder of a man by his wife and wonders why she is drawn to bizarre and violent stories. She concludes that writing about them is a kind of act of purification.