Azami works as a proofreader at a newspaper company. She exchanges only superficial pleasantries with colleagues, and in her spare time she immerses herself in SNS and news site comment sections. Conversations with the few friends she meets rarely flow, bad dreams plague her, and headaches never cease. Her dull, flat daily life is upended when she discovers the existence of an idol named "Mikael Kaede" who is being dragged through online controversy. What if she too decided to "hate" this person, just like everyone else? A sharp, acutely observed portrait of contemporary life in the age of social media, tracing how ordinary people become swept up in the spectacle of online outrage.

Celebrity scandals and online outrage feel more compelling than war. This unhealthy pleasure is impossible to quit. We depend on social media, we are stirred by others’ comments, and our hearts race at the sight of an online pile-on.

Hatsuse and Hasumi share a house with a Java sparrow. One day, Hasumi makes a strange and unsettling request: "I died. So won't you kill me?" In prose where dreams and reality, past and present, life and death all blur together, this debut novel traces the fifty-five days leading up to Hatsuse's decision. Winner of the 68th Gunzo New Writer Award and nominated for the 173rd Akutagawa Prize.

"I died. So won't you kill me?" She pressed her ear to his chest. And indeed, his heart had stopped.