The novel opens with Hiroyuki's response to the news that he has been fired from his job. Hiroyuki tells his father that he wishes his mother well and that he is no longer a member of the family. He asks his father to tell his mother he wishes her well, but his father refuses to listen to him. He tells Hiroyuki that he does not hate his "reckless side" and that all he did was make his father angry. He wants Hiroyuki to marry him and to stay with him.