The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese (2020) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Imagase had been harboring romantic feelings for Kyoichi since their college days and was also gay. When Chikako hired him to investigate Kyoichi's infidelity, he saw the situation as a rare opportunity to get physically close to the man he had long desired. The kiss-for-silence bargain was a way for Imagase to satisfy his own feelings while still appearing to fulfill his professional role.

Foreshadowing: Imagase's emotional reaction when first running into Kyoichi hints that the meeting meant far more to him than a routine client assignment.

• imagase
• kyoichi
• kiss deal
• hidden feelings
• investigation

Chikako had already decided to divorce Kyoichi before she ever hired the investigator. She used the infidelity probe purely as a tool to collect evidence that would help her secure a more favorable financial settlement. Her manipulation meant the entire investigation was never about repairing the marriage but about profiting from its end.

Foreshadowing: Chikako's cold, transactional demeanor during the early scenes suggests she was treating the marriage as a business arrangement rather than an emotional bond.

• chikako
• divorce
• settlement
• manipulation
• investigation motive

Kyoichi was still grappling with his sexuality and could not fully accept the idea of committing to a same-sex relationship. He chose Natsuo because returning to a heterosexual relationship felt safer, more familiar, and socially acceptable to him at that point in his life. His decision was driven by fear and denial rather than genuine love for Natsuo.

Foreshadowing: Kyoichi's pattern of indecision and passive avoidance throughout the film foreshadows that any choice he makes under pressure is unlikely to last.

• kyoichi
• natsuo
• imagase
• choice
• identity

After spending the night together, both Kyoichi and Natsuo realized that Kyoichi's emotional attachment to Imagase had not gone away. Kyoichi could not give Natsuo the full commitment she deserved, and Natsuo recognized she was competing with someone Kyoichi could not let go of. The mutual acknowledgment of that imbalance made the relationship unsustainable.

Foreshadowing: Kyoichi's inability to stop thinking about Imagase even during the confrontation already suggested his heart was not in the choice he had made.

• kyoichi
• natsuo
• breakup
• imagase
• feelings

Imagase became deeply insecure as Kyoichi's relationship with Tamaki progressed, especially after the death of Yanagida brought them even closer. Rather than waiting to be abandoned, Imagase chose to leave on his own terms, ending the relationship and moving out of the apartment. His decision was an act of self-protection driven by jealousy and fear of being replaced.

Foreshadowing: Imagase's emotional volatility in earlier scenes hints at how vulnerable he becomes whenever Kyoichi's attention shifts toward someone else.

• imagase
• tamaki
• jealousy
• insecurity
• breakup

While on a surveillance job, Imagase spotted Tamaki leaving a gynecologist's office and realized she was being followed by the very target he was monitoring. He rushed to intervene, but arrived too late, and Tamaki fell down a flight of stairs, leaving her seriously injured. The accident forced Kyoichi and Imagase back into the same hospital room and set the stage for their final reconciliation.

Foreshadowing: Imagase's professional surveillance work had earlier been established as a constant presence in the characters' lives, making it plausible that his assignment would intersect with Kyoichi's world.

• tamaki
• stalking
• imagase
• accident
• hospital

Kyoichi used the reunion at the hospital to release months of pent-up frustration and hurt, openly admitting that their relationship had been deeply dysfunctional. The rejection was less about wanting Imagase gone and more about forcing both of them to confront the damage they had caused each other. Once that truth was spoken, he was able to forgive Imagase and choose him again.

Foreshadowing: Kyoichi's passivity throughout the film finally breaks in this scene, signaling that he is no longer willing to avoid difficult emotional confrontations.

• kyoichi
• imagase
• hospital
• rejection
• dysfunctional

Kyoichi was acknowledging that their bond had been built on manipulation, secrecy, and emotional imbalance rather than honest communication. Imagase had entered his life through a deceptive arrangement, used his position as an investigator to get close, and the relationship repeatedly cycled through breakups, jealousy, and reconciliations. Calling it dysfunctional was Kyoichi's way of admitting that the love they shared was real but had been expressed in deeply unhealthy ways.

Foreshadowing: The original kiss-for-silence bargain itself plants the seed of dysfunction, since their intimacy was born from a transaction rather than trust.

• dysfunctional
• kyoichi
• imagase
• manipulation
• honesty

Kyoichi's realization developed gradually as he and Imagase began living together after his separation from Chikako. Spending daily domestic life with Imagase caused Kyoichi to lose interest in pursuing women and to recognize that his emotional and physical attraction to Imagase was real. The shift was subtle rather than a single dramatic moment, reflecting his lifelong pattern of slow self-discovery.

Foreshadowing: Kyoichi's growing comfort around Imagase during their early secret meetings already hinted that his interest went beyond mere convenience.

• kyoichi
• imagase
• attraction
• realization
• identity

Yanagida's death removed the awkwardness of Tamaki being Kyoichi's boss's daughter and removed a barrier to their closeness. The shared grief brought Kyoichi and Tamaki emotionally closer together, which in turn deepened Tamaki's romantic involvement with Kyoichi. Ironically, this same closeness triggered the jealousy that caused Imagase to leave.

Foreshadowing: Yanagida's earlier offer to set Kyoichi up with Tamaki had already framed their relationship as something that could intensify if circumstances changed.

• yanagida
• tamaki
• kyoichi
• death
• grief

Ending the relationship with Tamaki, who was the daughter of a respected former superior, was seen as a betrayal of social and professional expectations. His colleagues viewed it as Kyoichi abandoning a stable, socially acceptable future for an unstable and secretive same-sex relationship. Their scorn reflected the conservative workplace culture rather than any judgment of Imagase personally.

Foreshadowing: Earlier hints about the rigid social expectations within Kyoichi's office foreshadow that his unconventional choice would carry professional consequences.

• colleagues
• tamaki
• scorn
• workplace
• social pressure

After the hospital confrontation and Kyoichi's confession about their dysfunction, the two reconcile and decide to move back in together. The ending is openly uncertain, with no promises that their relationship has been fixed or that it will last. Instead, the film closes on the bittersweet note that they have chosen each other again despite knowing the pattern of pain their bond has created.

Foreshadowing: The film's opening quote about mice being cornered by cheese foreshadows that the characters will continue to be drawn toward something that both tempts and traps them.

• ending
• kyoichi
• imagase
• reconciliation
• future