The manga centers on middle school teacher Umi Yamauchi, who one day sees a news report of the murder of Yūki Suzuki, his friend from his own middle school years. A few days later, Umi's girlfriend Tamao Yagisawa, a rookie editor at a literary publication, notices that the murder bears a striking similarity to a plot event in a certain novel that was nominated but failed to win a literary prize. 6o3o2p