Nora walks with Dylan to a restaurant on Castle Road and passes String Theory. The shopfront is empty, with a closure notice from Neil citing rising rent and laced with song-title farewells. Dylan jokes about the references and shares that he and his sister were named after musicians. Nora admits she used to play keyboards and recalls Neil’s past insult, now reframed by the shop’s fate.

Nora asks Dylan about parallel universes. Dylan says he’s happy in Bedford because of his friends and dogs. He reveals he briefly started Veterinary Medicine at Glasgow University but left after a week because he missed his dogs, and later family finances sealed the decision. He insists he doesn’t regret it.

Nora appreciates Dylan’s goodness but senses she may not feel the same attraction as the Nora of this life. Near the restaurant, a jogging Ash approaches—someone who, in other lives, had been a surgeon, a String Theory customer, a comfort in hospital, and a bearer of sad news about Voltaire. He appears to be training for an upcoming half-marathon.

Nora instinctively greets Ash, who responds with a kind but confused smile, since their prior connections don’t exist here. When Dylan asks who he was, Nora replies, “Someone I knew in another life.” They continue to the restaurant.