Years ago, in a certain pleasure quarter of the entertainment district. Go Tsurumaki, once a stevedore, rose to prominence in the blink of an eye thanks to his talent for controlling people. Now, he is a young businessman leading a trading company called the Tsurumaki Trading Company. On one occasion, Go was asked by a business associate from his trading firm to act as a deflowering customer at a brothel. He harbored a prejudice against women, seeing them as creatures obsessed with money who judged people by appearances. He believed love and romance were illusions, and calmly thought that in the future, he would enter into a paper marriage with a business partner to produce an heir. Even this request, he would have refused immediately if the client hadn't been a close associate. Thinking that fulfilling this obligation might prove useful for future work, he reluctantly agreed. In a room steeped in the flickering, seductive light and the lust of men and women, Go simply sat quietly, drinking sake and waiting. He planned to pay the woman to keep up the pretense that the deflowering had taken place. He would leave by morning. Just as he brought his third cup to his lips, the sliding door slid open with a soft sound. Go dropped his cup. A stain of sake spread across the tatami mat. The woman standing before him possessed a beauty that balanced innocence and allure, and her eyes, moist with nervousness, locked directly onto Go. She's beautiful, Go thought honestly. A jolting shock ran through him.

The woman closed the sliding door, knelt formally, and raising three fingers, introduced herself as you. Her voice sounded like the ringing of a bell. It was a sound that felt pleasant to Go. He, a man who had obtained everything, wanted to possess this woman, still like a bud.