Driving to LAX, Zoe announces she wants to break up before leaving for an opera fellowship in Italy. Marx, more relieved than devastated, continues with his planned Tokyo trip and invites Sadie, who joins to support meetings about a possible Morikami collaboration on a Ghost School adaptation.

Jet-lagged, they game through the early mornings—Sadie discovers Harvest Moon’s gentle loop while Marx studies EverQuest’s online systems for Counterpart High’s future. Over breakfast, Sadie admits shame over Both Sides’ failure and doubts her instincts; Marx reassures her. With Marx’s father, they attend Noh, exchange gifts, and Sadie receives a scarf depicting Ōi’s Cherry Blossoms at Night, underscoring themes of artistic labor and female invisibility.

At the Nezu Shrine’s torii gates, Sadie experiences a quiet epiphany: life is a series of thresholds, and failure is a gate to pass through. Dinner with Marx’s mother deepens this theme as she praises the craft behind William Morris’s Strawberry Thief and laments shallow computer-aided design, reframing failure as discipline and perseverance.

A dream leads Marx to propose turning Mapletown into an online role-playing world, giving away entry and monetizing ongoing play and customization. He and Sadie brainstorm until dawn and call Sam, who approves the pivot. They celebrate with conbini food as the sun rises, their collaboration newly energized.

Out with Marx’s high school friends, Midori and Swan, Sadie hears of Marx’s romantic past and is warned not to sleep with him. That night, Sadie initiates sex with Marx, the ease between them intact. Back in L.A., after customs and baggage claim, Marx returns to drive Sadie home, signaling a strengthened personal and professional alliance.