Zene reveals to Albireo that although his giant insects are powerful and lay many eggs, they become weaker every generation. The two enter the Deiva Temple, into which Zene had herded a group of people and told them to go through the doorway at the rear. The people of the New Race don't know who built the Deiva Temples, yet they always settle near one, for it's where the Destiny Stones are found. Zene kills the two "men" who disobeyed his orders.
Albireo knows Zene must have a reason why he's making everyone go through the Deiva Temples and wishes he would stop and explain rather than killing. Zene says that at first he did, but the response was always the same--"kill all the Old Race and let the world be destroyed." It puzzled him that no one wanted to try living together. Finally he decided using violence to force people to obey was the best way to save as many as possible.
Since Zene doesn't want to be pestered with a million questions, he agrees to answer three. Albireo still wants to know why they can't mate with whomever they please. He cares so much for Seiberheigen, he can't imagine ever wanting anyone else. Zene makes up his mind to choose Albireo. He makes a bet, promising to answer that question and explain about the Genjuu Bunsho if Albireo wins. He makes Albireo wash up in a cold waterfall to clean up after crying. They share a Destiny Stone, Zene stating that Albireo wins if the Stone doesn't break or if Zene becomes the female.
The Stone shatters.
What Seiberheigen's testing revealed is that the Stones react to temperature. Whoever has the warmest hand becomes the male. Zene knew that mechanism in advance.
Now that Seiberheigen is famous, he receives invitations from all over, even from people who used to bully him when he was a child but now want to be his friend. His father never let him attend elementary school, claiming that half the world's children don't go to school so he shouldn't either. Now he realizes his father meant the children of the New Race.
When he discovered his town's small library, the young Ray Jean felt he was in heaven. He tried to share all the exciting information with his father, but Heinz would hit him for being annoying. Still, the boy was desperate to communicate with his father. It was a difficult childhood, but he was happy. He felt that he had a burning desire inside him, like a star, warming him and giving him a purpose.
He decided he wanted a telescope. He learned that one was being offered as second prize for a children's science report competition, so he entered the contest. He was disappointed when he took first prize instead. That was when people started to notice his intelligence. He went to college early, the university paying to put his father in the hospital for him. He was thrilled at the chance to read more books.
Cherry Jack contacts Seiberheigen to tell him the nurse, Makiwo, wants to give him something. He also wants to verify that the professor won't be participating in the next expedition to the New Continent. The reason is that he intends to go on his own, unofficially.
Makiwo runs into Murakami and tells him she quit her job at the hospital. Murakami is in town learning new bodyguard techniques. Makiwo wonders if he intends to see the professor while he's in town, though he says he hadn't thought about it. When she goes to meet Seiberheigen, she asks the same thing, and she gets the same expression in response. She reveals that she met the professor's third sibling after Seiberheigen had left the New Continent.
At his hotel, Murakami ponders the two business cards he received from Seiberheigen. The first was the one handed out to everyone. The second, delivered to his room at the base on the New Continent, had the professor's home address and his private phone number hand-written on it. He knows it's a sign of how close their relationship is. He contemplates whether he should call the professor and offer his own private address.
Makiwo relates the details of her meeting with Ray Jean's third sibling, how he rode in a white, dinosaur-shaped submarine that moved his body for him. He introduced himself as Noavis, child of the undying queen Mordre who rules the world. Cherry Jack realizes that his father and Heinz could have met up with members of the New Race without actually going to the New Continent, if submarines were involved. Noavis says he doesn't welcome Ray Jean, but for the sake of his dear Zene, he will extend an invitation. He admits that he killed Heinz.
His message is that Ray Jean should come to "World's Center Island" by going through the underground door in the Deiva Temple. He gives the professor an atlas for the sake of the truth. It's an incredible treasure, because there are currently no accurate maps of the changed earth's surface. The gift also includes a mysterious box. Watching him, Makiwo is reminded of her attraction to Zene. She has kind of an idea why Murakami and Seiberheigen are hesitating to pursue their relationship.
Murakami wonders what would hppen if he gave his private card to Seiberheigen. Would they be able to hang out as friends--and is that really what he wants? His life changed when he met the professor. He gets the feeling that if they meet again, his life will undergo another huge change. He knows that Seiberheigen must already have decided to go back to the New Continent.
Murakami's medical exam after returning from the New Continent showed some differences--a tendency to gain weight, a decrease in sperm production--but it was all attributed to a hormone imbalance caused by stress. With time, he started returning to normal, until he went back to his original condition. The big question for Seiberheigen is how they should interpret that fact. He really misses Murakami and waits by the phone all day in case he calls while in town.
The professor wants to ask Murakami to come with him to the New Continent, though that would force him to quit his job and head into a dangerous situation. Mentally, he's already counting on Murakami coming along. He wonders whether they'll have to take a load of gas masks, or if the effects of the Destiny Stone have worn off.
Seiberheigen's assistant Mrs. Steiner drives up to Murakami and abducts him. She offers to take care of his father and dog and to give him twenty years' pay if he'll agree to "disappear" for a while--with the professor, of course. Back at Seiberheigen's estate, they detect someone hacking the security system and know it's time to get moving.
Mrs. Steiner is positive Seiberheigen's assumption that Murakami wants to come is correct. She can read the professor's behavior, and the way he turns all puppyish is a signal to her that he is confident in Murakami's love for him. However, she's afraid that Murakami's ties to the rest of society are holding him back from doing what he wants.
Before he answers, Murakami wants to test whether he will still suffer weakness at the slightest whiff of the professor's scent. When he reveals that he used to sniff Seiberheigen's personal belongings (smuggled to him by the professor's lab assistant), she pulls a gun on him and accuses him of being a stalker. He puts her mind at ease (somewhat) by claiming to have used the scent for no dirtier purpose than practicing the hundred-meter dash. [Note: the joke is that, supposedly, a man uses the same amount of energy running a hundred meters as having sex.]
They have to hurry to leave. Because the New Continent is the focus of so much attention, a lot of people want to take Seiberheigen's place as the one in charge of investigating it. Still others think it should be left completely alone. In any case, the professor is in danger. He escapes from his house with Makiwo and Cherry Jack through a secret underground passage. Mrs. Steiner has been protecting the professor to the best of her ability, but she admits that now it's time for a "prince" to guard him.
Seiberheigen emerges from the tunnel and immediately smells Murakami. He runs forward in excitement, but Murakami stops him by asking for forty years' pay. The professor isn't sure he has that much money, but he doesn't hesitate an instant to agree to sell his house to cover it. He practically glows when Murakami says he's welcome to use his first name, Shizuma, if he wishes.
Mrs. Steiner, who is in love with Seiberheigen though she married someone else, is slightly jealous of Murakami. However, she thinks it's better to see the professor paired up with another man than another woman. Makiwo, who had glared at Mrs. Steiner during their first meeting out of the fear she would come between the two men, goes through a total attitude reversal at hearing that.
Murakami shows no sign of weakening in Seiberheigen's presence.
End Volume 4