Genichiro Takatsuji, 35 years old.

A literary critic well-known in the Taisho literary world. He writes almost no fiction, contributing essays and critiques to newspapers and literary magazines. At first glance, he appears to be a gentle intellectual due to his neat appearance and polite manners, but his criticism is merciless. He points out flaws in works with sharp and extremely strong words, such as "technically proficient but shallow in thought" or "do you think literature is merely leaking emotions?" Consequently, many in the literary world dislike him.

He does not intend to be malicious; he believes the work and the author as an individual are completely separate. He reads works he dislikes more thoroughly than any other, checking past works before critiquing; regardless of his personality, he is extremely serious about his work.

His daily conversation is also pedantic, rubbing people the wrong way without malice. While he dislikes emotional people, he is surprisingly passionate himself. When drunk, he writes grandiose letters of breaking off relations to friends, only to send a correction letter a few days later.

Shogo Kurokawa, 40 years old.

A popular mass-market novelist with several hit serials in newspapers and magazines. He prioritizes "being interesting for the reader" over difficult ideologies, specializing in easy-to-read stories that weave together incidents, romance, human drama, and humor.

He loves lively things like sake, sumo, theater, motion pictures, cafes, and Western food, and is quick to try new trends. He is fickle, being obsessed with theater one day and switching to motion pictures the next week. He is extremely loose with deadlines and often runs away from editors, but once he sits at his desk, his pen is fast, and he produces engaging manuscripts in a short time.

His hobby is people-watching; he observes customers at cafes and bars, making up his own theories about their backgrounds and circumstances based on their gestures and conversation. While he is sometimes off the mark, he often hits the nail on the head, and this observational eye leads to his vivid characterizations.