Author Kosaku Esemori met Reiji’s mother when he first arrived in their miserable backwater as a teenager. How intimate was their relationship? Then, it turns out Reiji and Nagi aren’t the only ones in town with suicidal ideation. Is it true that a double suicide unites two souls as one? (Hint: The answer is no.)

Now that Ms. Shiba and Chako have each found out about the other’s relationship with Reiji, things get ugly. While Chako’s parents tighten their stranglehold on her, Reiji’s mother, Yuko, secretly meets with Gen and Esemori. And then, Ms. Shiba makes Yuko a reprehensible offer…

Reiji’s teacher Ms. Shiba and best friend Gen are both determined to prevent him from killing himself, but their motives aren’t pure, and their methods are dubious. Meanwhile, Chako obsessively pursues the writer she hero-worships, while pop idol Nagi schemes to keep her hooks in Reiji.

Reiji’s life is as miserable as the small town he can’t escape. The most interesting thing that’s ever happened there is a double suicide down by the river. Does Reiji have any power over his fate, or will he too fall into the abyss?

Reiji’s life is as miserable as the small town he can’t escape. The most interesting thing that’s ever happened there is a double suicide down by the river. Does Reiji have any power over his fate, or will he too fall into the abyss?

Reiji, Gen, and Chako have escaped to Tokyo, the city of their dreams. Now what? To understand their present and dream of a better future, they need to better understand their town’s past. Finally, the truth about teenaged Esemori and Yuko’s relationship unspools in a tale of violence, redemption, lost love, regret...and fire.

Reiji’s mother is checked out, he’s stuck caring for his grandmother with dementia, and his childhood friend treats him like a lackey. Then beautiful, big-city pop star Nagi miraculously shows up working the counter at the local convenience store. Reiji is starstruck. When she offers him the ultimate way out of his claustrophobic existence, will he succumb to temptation…?

As Reiji grapples with Gen’s latest act of violence, Chako’s parents fight to save their daughter from herself. Meanwhile, Ms. Shiba is back to her old tricks, and this time her target is Reiji’s former lover, Nagi. Then Reiji hears yet another story about who his father is, this time from his rarely lucid grandmother…

Reiji, Gen, and Chako become ever more entangled in Ms. Shiba’s web of lies and manipulation. Finally, the childhood friends have the courage to leave town for Tokyo. But sometimes achieving a dream only leads to new problems. Is it true that you can never escape yourself?

Reiji’s mother, Yuko, meets his sometime lover, Nagi. This should go well. Meanwhile, Ms. Shiba reconnects with Reiji’s older stepbrother, Kazumasa. How did escaping their miserable small town work out for him? Then, Nagi vanishes. How far will she go to escape her demons...?

As Reiji and his mother recover in the hospital from their injuries, they receive a series of visitors with differing agendas: Gen, Esemori, and Chako. Then Nagi is attacked! Plus, Gen not only reveals a dark secret from his past but makes a surprising love confession…

Reiji’s life is as miserable as the small town he can’t escape. The most interesting thing that’s ever happened there is a double suicide down by the river. Does Reiji have any power over his fate, or will he too fall into the abyss?