The novel opens with a soliloquy in which the protagonist laments the fact that he is now twenty-seven years old. He laments that his mother and father are constantly pestering him, and that he has no choice but to act like a child. He tells his mother that he will be twenty-six years old by the time he comes home for the new year. The protagonist tells his father that she is the only person on her side who does not have children. She tells him that the count down to midnight is about to begin and that she and her son have not yet set off on their most important trip of the year. She then tells her son that she has visited a shrine in her neighborhood and that there are many people there who she wants to take her for a walk. She says that she wishes she could go on a trip with her family, but that she cannot because her husband is at home alone with his wife. She also shows her son a pamphlet for his office, which she says must have been from when his father joined the company. She asks her son if he is going to do dinner tonight, but he says he will head back home. He then asks her what she thinks of the picture of her son with his beard on his head. She replies that she thinks it is rude for him to shave on his days of off, and she says that her father is in his mid-fifties and that her grandfather is not close to his age. She adds that she looks much younger than her age. He asks her if she thinks the picture with the red border looks good. She answers that it does, and then she asks him what he thinks of it. He replies that he thinks it looks good and that his wife was in the shop the other day. He says that he had planned to come home without asking his husband what he was up to, but when he found out that his birthday was on January 1, he came home early. He is happy that he was able to cheer him up.