Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

Content Warning: The source text contains discussions of abortion and child loss.

Takako’s life is turned upside down when her boyfriend, Hideaki, tells her one night that he is getting married to another woman—a woman from their office. Hideaki reveals that his relationship with this other woman predates his with Takako. Takako, in shock, congratulates him, feeling uncertain of what to feel or say. He thanks her and nonchalantly suggests that they can still spend time together.

Back at her apartment, Takako breaks down into tears, finally feeling the weight of Hideaki’s betrayal. Over the next few weeks, Takako suffers at work, seeing both Hideaki and her coworker. She loses her appetite and begins to take on a sickly appearance. She eventually quits her job, unable to be in the same space as Hideaki and his fiancée. On her last day, Hideaki tells her they can still get dinner, even if she isn’t working in the office anymore.

Takako sleeps her days away in her apartment in Tokyo to deal with the pain. One day, her uncle, Satoru, calls her. Satoru owns a secondhand bookshop he inherited from Takako’s grandfather in the famous Jimbocho neighborhood.