Kentaro Hirase

Editor Kyoka Izumi tells Rohan Kishibe about her new rookie Mika Saion and her million-seller hit manga, to which he responds, "Something seems off." Kyoka's bothered, but he's right. She's never met her, and only speaks with her older brother Soshi-on the phone, no less. Worried, she heads to the Saion estate, where Mika remains silent.

Four people lead ordinary lives in different places, their paths never crossing. A mysterious man appears in each story, always as someone else. One moment, a cram school instructor; the next, a truck driver, a barber - his identity constantly shifting. Then, death strikes. A detective pursues the truth, closing in on a revelation...

Miyamatsu, who works as a cable-car operator, is also a film extra. Through his different characters he has been living the life of a stranger, only playing that part. Finally he comes face to face with his own life, the one he had lost.

A boy, who looks out of place, visits a hair salon in a women’s prison where, as part of their job training, inmates cut the hair of regular customers. Under the watchful eyes of the prison officers, haircutting is the only act allowed between the hairdresser and the boy. Despite this, the time spent together is special to them both.

This story is about the various possibilities in life faced by a mother and her son. They arrive at a train station in a small rural town with some purpose in mind. On their way to their destination, the parent and child are faced with a variety of choices. While some of the choices are trivial, others are very important for the two.

In our lives, you have to endure moments when you don’t know how to behave. In a Japanese wedding, everything proceeds as planned, but you can’t do something else even if you are bored, and you can’t look displeased because it is an auspicious occasion. At the end, liberation should be awaiting…