It was a day of torrential rain, so severe that lightning even struck nearby. In this small village in Ibaraki, it was so rural that you had to travel quite a distance to reach the next house. Until a few years ago, the Ogata house stood nearby, but the grandparents who lived there disappeared, and the mother had passed away nearly ten years ago. Their only son, Hyakunosuke-chan, hasn't been seen since he returned briefly after the war.

With your mother gone, living alone with a father who requires constant care feels suffocating. You understand his desire for you to marry soon and leave the house, but that's a separate issue entirely.