Yukino Hara

Mihoko runs Kitanoyu, the public bathhouse left behind by her late husband, Junichi. Suzuki, a liquor store owner and former classmate of Junichi who has long harbored feelings for her, supports her in this endeavor. One day, Mihoko finds a man named Toru collapsed naked in front of the bathhouse; she nurses him back to health and hires him as a live-in employee, despite his amnesia. Toru is occasionally plagued by hallucinations of intimate encounters with a woman—visions in which he has been reduced to the status of a woman's pet. Over time, he finds himself drawn to Mihoko’s kindness, but...