Alternative to the "Koharu attracted to useless people" theory. I knew Ayase is lonely and isolated. Her strict upbringing seems to have damaged her social development. But this chapter is about Koharu and it clarifies a lot. Koharu is a little girl desperately lonely for adult attention. It appears that Ayase is the only adult who wants to or is able to spend time with her. I thought of Ayase as silly and delusional but it turns out that (for good or ill) she has tremendous influence on Koharu. I find the image at the bottom of page 16 ("Thank you for having me!") to be haunting.