Shibata is in her 30's, working as the sole female employee at a factory. In order to avoid menial tasks and harassment, she states that she is pregnant. Except she is not pregnant, and she can only keep this up for the next nine months.

The chapters provide a countdown through the trimesters. Shibata experiments with leaving on time and finds that she has an abundance of time, as she does not need to fulfil menial tasks at work. She is glowing, can shop and make informed decisions, has baths and looks after herself.
There is a lot of societal commentary which governs how a pregnant person is expected to behave. For example, their diet, fitness regime, dress and decorum. There is also an public element of pregnancy which appears to invite strangers commentary and unsolicited opinions.

Emi Yagi has produced an atmospheric short story where loneliness has taken over one woman's life, and how a lie embodied can help one to escape the menial gender defined roles within a strong patriarchy.

I was fascinated by how easily Shibata embodied this lie and how she adapted her lifestyle to emulate pregnancy and how this has taken over her life, her protective mannerisms over her stomach and the need to check on the baby growth app and enter data into this..

This is a short dark story about a women who found a way to find her voice, within  a system which silenced her.