Office worker Mamiya Shin Saburi regularly returns home late after playing go with his employer, Mr. Arita. The routine is not a private affair; his wife Akiko Kuniko Miyake and his younger sister Fumiko Michiko Kuwano comment on the late hours, and the gossip among his colleagues adds to the tension at home. The outsider view around Mamiya thickens when his envious colleague Yukita starts spinning a rumor that Mamiya is an informer for Arita, turning suspicion into a public nuisance. In this tense atmosphere, the dynamics of loyalty and obligation become the quiet engine of the drama.
Arita asks Mamiya to negotiate between his nephew Michio Arita Ken Uehara and Fumiko, the sister of Mamiya’s wife, testing how far Mamiya can navigate family ties and workplace loyalties at the same time. When Fumiko rejects the marriage proposal, Mamiya does not pressure her, but Yukita doubles down on the rumor about Mamiya using his sister to appease Arita, deepening the social fault lines surrounding the couple. The situation grows increasingly fraught as the rumor mill gnaws at Mamiya’s standing, gnawing at his sense of duty both to his sister and to his wife.
On the day he is set to be promoted to head of his department, Mamiya faces a fresh blow: Hayashi, the former accountant, is supposedly maneuvered by Yukita into believing that Mamiya’s informings cost him his status. The scheme is exposed, and Mamiya reacts with a sharp, public rebuke, slapping Yukita and resigning in the wake of the fallout. The announcement of the resignation is not just professional news; it recalibrates the entire balance of Mamiya’s personal world, forcing him to confront how to break the news to Akiko.
With his professional future in limbo, Mamiya seeks counsel from his former colleague Utsumi Chishū Ryū, who now runs his own company. In a turn that blends pragmatism with opportunity, Utsumi offers Mamiya a chance to work for him in Manchuria, a prospect that promises a fresh start far from the rumors and pressures that had crowded his life back home. The offer comes with an invitation to move, and Mamiya weighs the risks and rewards as his family—Akiko and Fumiko—consider what a relocation to a distant place might mean.
Ultimately, Mamiya accepts the offer and prepares to resettle in Manchuria with Akiko and Fumiko, stepping into a new chapter that promises change, distance, and the possibility of rebuilding a life beyond the pressures of office politics and social scrutiny. The story traces a careful arc from routine routine to upheaval, showing how a man, his wife, and his sister navigate a web of rumors, duty, and opportunity to seek a different future together.
