Natsu spends the next 10 days researching voluntary single parenthood. She’s discovered that, though sperm donation has been happening in Japan for 60 years, the practice is largely confined to married couples. Single women and same-sex couples must utilize third-party sperm donation sites, taking on the risk of anonymous donors who haven’t been screened or vetted. Natsu finds herself stuck between her desire to have a child and the risks involved with the options available to her. Still, she keeps returning to the image of a woman holding a baby—first one of the women from the TV special, then her own mother, then herself.

Natsu continues to work on her novel, which is about working-class people in a fictionalized version of Osaka. In her spare time, she reads a book called Half a Dream about the children of sperm donors. She’s learned that there are around 10,000 people in Japan who were born to anonymous donors. She’s moved by the idea of people searching for their parents with nothing to go on but their own features.

Sengawa calls to check in on the book and invite Natsu to a high-profile writing event the following month. After the call, Natsu returns to her research.