As Yakumo slowly recovers, he confides in Konatsu that he considers stopping rakugo. YotarÅ and Higuchi go to see some films of rakugo performances made many years ago when Yurakutei Kikuhiko and then Yurakutei Sukeroku were young. YotarÅ gains a greater understanding of their motivations and learns the truth about the deaths of Sukeroku and Miyokichi from Matsuda.