Akira is determined to keep Nori safe from their grandparent’s wrath and strikes a bargain with Yuko to marry, sire offspring, and take his place as head of the family. Nori survives her suicide attempt, and Akira explains that he had spent years trying get her back. She cuts her leg, but not deeply enough and is saved when the buyer rushes into the room. Nori vows to not live as a slave and plans to end her life when she is alone. Horrified but unable to stop the sale, Kiyomi stands aside while Nori is sold. When Nori is thirteen, Kiyomi receives a visit from her employer and discovers that Nori is to be sold immediately. She learns what Kiyomi has to teach and makes friends with a girl named Miyuki. Without other options, Nori submits to this new life. Kiyomi informs Nori that she will remain at the brothel until she is 16 at which point she will be sold to the highest bidder. Nori is whisked to a brothel and placed in the care and tutelage of the madam, Kiyomi.
The siblings’ bond continues to grow, but they are separated when Yuko sells Nori to an unknown man and woman when Akira is away at school. When Nori falls ill with scarlet fever, Akira insists that their grandmother pay for treatment, despite her initial unwillingness to help Nori. Although Akira is less openly demonstrative, he spends much of his time with Nori and even agrees to give her music lessons. Her attachment only grows when Akira secures freedoms for her such as leaving the attic and going outside. Nori is immediately smitten with Akira, adoring him, his talent as a violinist, and his kindness toward her. Nori’s life changes when her brother, Akira, previously unknown to her, comes Kyoto after his father’s death. To please her relatives, Nori obeys without question. Yuko impresses upon Nori the shame of her existence as the illegitimate daughter of her mother, Seiko, and an African-American GI.
In addition, Nori endures painful chemical baths to lighten her skin and monthly visits from her grandmother Yuko that often result in beatings. For the next two years, Nori lives in an attic as a virtual prisoner, attended only by a maid named Akiko and a tutor. Nori soon learns that the house belongs to her mother's estranged, aristocratic parents. In 1948, when she is eight years old, Nori Kamiza's mother brings her to an unfamiliar house in Kyoto and abandons her there.
The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Lemmie, Asha.
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