In the Meiji era, a popular novelist named Juji and an unsellable manga artist named Aichi share a complicated relationship that lies at the heart of this historical mystery. Their lives intersect within the fictional boarding house Ryokukan, where tensions between creative success and failure, public acclaim and obscurity, play out against a backdrop of shifting cultural and literary currents. The narrative draws on multiple literary works, weaving a layered story that blends drama and mystery as it explores the personal and professional dynamics between the two men across the Meiji and Taisho periods.