Chapter 1 opens with a flashback to the beginning of the novel. It is the spring of the year, and the protagonist is in his first year of college in Tokyo, a city in northeastern Japan. He has come to the city to start a new life, but he is still very much in love with the countryside, where he grew up. One day, however, the protagonist encounters a man who mocks him for being from the countryside. The man mocks the protagonist's granny for being clingy and clingy. The protagonist is offended by the man's mockery of him, for he is a "country bumpkin" , a term used to refer to a person who has lived in the countryside for a long time. He feels that the man is mocking him because he is from outside of the city, and he does not understand why the man would make fun of him for living in the "wasteland of tokyo." The protagonist realizes that he has lost his appetite for food in the city because of the man. He says that he would like to live there, but thanks to the man, he has not been able to enjoy it. He thinks that he will probably kill himself if the man continues to mock him.