The novel opens with a flashback to a time before the novel was published. The narrator, hamarin, is having lunch with a friend from class, a girl named san. She is the president of a literature club. The girl introduces herself as a friend of hers, and the narrator introduces her as a potential suitor. He then introduces himself as "friend vetting" , meaning that he wants to see if the suitor is "good for you" . He asks the girl if she dislikes him, and she replies that she does not. He tells her that she is beautiful, and that he does not like or dislike her. She then asks him if he dislikes azuma, and he says he does, but that he likes it when she is reduced to her appearance. He also tells the girl that he has just entered a new school and that she has an aura of high-claminess about her. He wonders if the girl's name is "azuma kun," and she asks him what would he say if he met her again. He says that he gets "susceptible to negative feelings," and he confesses that he is in love with the girl. She asks him to apologize, but he refuses, saying that he was just "in a bad mood." She then tells him that he should not worry about his feelings for her, because she is close to four aunts, and they all loved her very much. She tells him to be careful not to worry about her feelings for him, because women value those who are close to them very highly