For generations, this village has had a custom where the village chief decides who the villagers will marry, and so Mei and I were engaged. I wasn't the one to choose, but I was happy. That's because I had secretly loved my childhood friend Mei since we were kids. And the same was true of my best friend Takeshi... One night, Takeshi raped Mei... and she became pregnant. Our engagement was broken off. As a way of taking responsibility, Mei and Takeshi got married, and in my despair, I fled to Tokyo. Eight years have passed since then...