Komura returns home to find his wife has permanently left him, having watched earthquake coverage for five days straight.

Komura accepts his coworker's offer to travel to Kushiro and deliver a mysterious sealed box to a stranger.

Shimao joins Komura in bed at the love hotel, but he cannot stay aroused due to visions of the earthquake's destruction.

Miyake lights an elaborate driftwood bonfire on the beach and invites Junko and Keisuke to warm themselves beside it.

Junko stays alone with Miyake after Keisuke leaves, and Miyake offers that they could die together once the fire burns out.

Yoshiya spots a man with a missing earlobe on the subway and impulsively begins to follow him across Tokyo.

Yoshiya passes through a gap in a sheet-metal fence and emerges onto an open baseball field with the man nowhere in sight.

Yoshiya dances alone on the pitcher's mound and then kneels and calls out 'Oh God.'

Nimit drives Satsuki to a private swimming pool where she swims alone every day for a week.

Nimit takes Satsuki to an impoverished village to meet an old soothsayer who holds her hand for ten minutes.

Katagiri returns from work to find a giant talking frog waiting in his apartment with freshly brewed tea.

Frog tells Katagiri that a catastrophic earthquake will destroy Tokyo and that only Katagiri can help him battle Worm underground.

Katagiri is shot by a stranger on the night of the battle and wakes up in the hospital the next morning.

Sayoko calls Junpei at two in the morning to help calm Sala's recurring nightmares about the Earthquake Man.

Junpei decides to propose to Sayoko and creates a new, happy ending for the story of the two bear best friends.

The six stories in after the quake unfold in the weeks following the Kobe earthquake, tracing the lives of ordinary people quietly unraveled by a disaster they experienced only at a distance. Komura's wife abandons him and he travels to Kushiro to deliver a mysterious box, awakening emotions he has long suppressed. Junko and Miyake share a midnight bonfire on a desolate beach and edge toward an ambiguous pact born from shared emptiness. Yoshiya follows a stranger across Tokyo into a surreal underworld and emerges on a baseball field where he dances his way to a fragile self-acceptance. Satsuki travels to Thailand and is guided by her driver Nimit to a village soothsayer who diagnoses the stone of resentment hardened inside her. Katagiri battles a giant worm beneath Tokyo with the help of a giant talking frog, and Junpei finally resolves to stop waiting and ask Sayoko to marry him.

The headline events across all six stories of the collection.

Sasaki offers to cover Komura's travel costs to Kushiro if Komura delivers a package to Sasaki's sister Keiko.

Shimao tells Komura that no matter how far you travel, you can never get away from yourself.

Shimao jokes that the delivered box contained the essential 'something' missing from Komura, and he represses a surge of rage.

Keisuke accompanies Junko to Miyake's bonfire but complains about the cold and leaves the beach early.

Junko recalls writing a high school essay arguing that Jack London's protagonist in 'To Build a Fire' secretly sought death.

Miyake tells Junko that he left a wife and two children in Kobe and assumes they survived the earthquake.

Yoshiya's mother reveals she had two abortions performed by an obstetrician with a missing earlobe who denied paternity.

Yoshiya trails the stranger through darkening factory streets, a scrapyard, and a narrow alley leading to a sheet-metal fence.

Satsuki hesitates on the plane before pressing her call button to volunteer as a doctor for a passenger in need.

Satsuki tells Nimit about her late father's deep love of jazz music during one of their long drives.

The soothsayer tells Satsuki she will dream of a snake that eats her stone, then reveals the man in Kobe is alive and unharmed.

Frog proves his existence by threatening one of Katagiri's delinquent clients, who vows to repay his entire loan immediately.

Frog and Katagiri finalize their plan to descend through the bank's basement shaft on the night before the earthquake.

Junpei meets Takatsuki and Sayoko at Waseda University, falls in love with Sayoko, but keeps his feelings completely secret.

Sayoko and Takatsuki divorce before Sala's second birthday, and Junpei helps both friends through the difficult transition.

Behind the headline events of each story lie the encounters, confessions, and quiet decisions that give the collection its texture. Komura is nudged toward self-examination by his coworker's errand and Shimao's disarming observations during the drive through Kushiro's icy streets. Junko and Miyake deepen their bond as Keisuke retreats from the cold and Miyake quietly reveals that he abandoned a family in Kobe. Yoshiya learns the buried truth of his origins from his mother's confession about the obstetrician with a missing earlobe, a revelation that propels his midnight pursuit across the city. Satsuki's journey is shaped by Nimit's jazz-filled drives and the soothsayer's final disclosure that the man she wished dead is alive and she should be grateful. Katagiri is convinced of Frog's reality when a menacing client caves, and Junpei's backstory of friendship, silent love, and divorce lays the groundwork for his eventual resolution.

Significant supporting moments that shape each story's arc.

Komura becomes curious about the delivered box's contents for the first time, wondering what is truly inside himself.

Shimao tells Komura he has not traveled far at all and is only at the very beginning of understanding himself.

Miyake tells Junko about his recurring nightmare of being slowly trapped and suffocating to death inside a refrigerator.

Miyake explains that his painting 'Landscape with Flatiron' is not really about an iron and that some objects represent something else entirely.

Junko breaks into tears beside the dying fire and tells Miyake she feels completely empty inside; he consoles her gently.

Yoshiya recalls praying to God as a child to help him catch fly balls during baseball games, but God never answered.

Miss Osaki attempted suicide after the obstetrician denied paternity but was stopped by a passerby named Mr. Tabata, who converted her to faith.

Yoshiya realizes that chasing the stranger with the missing earlobe was like chasing a darkness that lives inside himself.

Yoshiya concludes that hearts are not stones and that all of God's children can dance.

Satsuki privately admits to herself that she has been hoping the unnamed man in Kobe died violently in the earthquake.

Satsuki cries on her last night in Thailand, admitting she has wished the earthquake would make the unnamed man suffer.

Nimit tells Satsuki not to put her feelings into words, warning that words themselves can turn into stone.

Frog appears in Katagiri's hospital room and reveals that their battle against Worm was fought entirely in the imagination.

Frog's disintegrating body releases a swarm of bugs that crawl into Katagiri, who screams and wakes into yet another dream.

Junpei and Sayoko kiss after putting Sala to bed, reigniting feelings they first felt as university students years before.

Each story in the collection pivots on a moment of revelation or emotional fracture that forces a character to confront something long buried. Komura's first flicker of genuine curiosity about the box signals the start of his inner awakening, while Shimao confirms he has only just begun. Miyake's confession of his refrigerator nightmare and his ambiguous offer to die together become the emotional core of his bond with Junko. Yoshiya's childhood betrayal by a silent God and the truth about his mother's attempted suicide drive his obsessive pursuit, which culminates in his realization that the search was always inward. Satsuki's private admission of her wish for a man's death and Nimit's warning that words turn to stone push her toward the dream she needs. Frog's revelation that the earthquake battle was fought in the imagination reframes Katagiri's courage, and Junpei's kiss with Sayoko finally breaks years of passive longing into decisive love.