Twenty-five years after the earlier events, Ted, carrying his suitcase and the ashes of his best friend (the artist known as C. Jat), tells Louisa at the station that he cannot take responsibility. Louisa accepts this and pretends to leave, then hints she will ask a suspicious group of young men to help her sell the painting. Ted panics, and their argument escalates as Louisa insists she has no one and asks to go with Ted to sell the painting over Easter.

Ted resists, suggesting alternatives like her foster home or calling Social Services, but Louisa refuses and curses the foster home. A ticket inspector confronts them, claiming Louisa slipped through the barrier. Louisa impulsively offers the boxed painting as payment; Ted stops her. When the inspector grabs Louisa’s wrist, she screams and pulls away, revealing bruises and scars on her arm. Seeing this, Ted steps between them and agrees to buy her ticket.

After Ted pays, he boards the train with his suitcase and the ashes, and asks Louisa if she is coming. Louisa questions his trustworthiness and demands names; they exchange names formally. She boards, marvels at the seats, and jokes about the risks of being murdered by acquaintances, needling Ted as he awkwardly struggles with his luggage and repairs his glasses with tape.

As the train departs, Louisa, usually talkative with riddles and jokes, falls silent. She watches her hometown recede, noting this is her first time leaving it. On the platform, she spots the ginger cat she saw earlier—associated with C. Jat—now clean and seemingly waving a paw at her, which she interprets as typical Fish humor, as if Fish had come back as a cat.