The protagonist and Ozu become disciples of Higuchi, who over the course of two years makes them do a variety of mundane tasks. The protagonist’s final task is to find a mythical tortoise brush that can purportedly clean anything; he is aided by Akashi, also a disciple of Higuchi. Upon finding the brush, Higuchi reveals that he has chosen the protagonist as his successor to carry on a “proxy proxy war†with Jogasaki, the original cause of which has become lost to time. Jogasaki chooses Ozu as his successor, who is revealed to have been a double agent all along.