“I believed that a life has no value if a person is not a useful member of society. I was convinced that humans are born in order to be of service to the world and to others. But there became a time when that changed, because I changed.... I began to understand that we were born in order to see and listen to the world. And that's all this world wants of us. It doesn't matter that I was never a teacher or a member of the workforce, my life had meaning.”

This was a sweet novella, with a lot of emotion. Tokue just wants to connect with others, but because of the visible signs of her illness she is socially rejected. Sentaro's customers have no way of knowing that he has a criminal past; but still, he withdraws from the world and into his own shame. This was a simple slice of life story about their unexpected friendship, which explored deep issues like social stigma, societal value, and personal identity.