The novel opens with a flashback to the early days of the novel's protagonist, a young woman named Mayoko, who is a student in the English teacher's college. Mayoko has just returned from a trip to Japan, where she met a young man named Ranmaru, who has married a woman named Mami. The young man, whom Mayoko calls "Ranmaru," is the protagonist's favorite student, and Mayoko is jealous of his success. She tells the young man that she will never forgive him for bullying her sister.