A character-driven coming-of-age novel about three misfit teenage boys who bond over one hot summer in a suburb of Osaka. Kentaro lives in poverty with his single mother; Naoki, raised in a loving, stable home, struggles with a stutter; and Akira has just moved from Poland with his Japanese mother. The novel weaves a nostalgic slice-of-life narrative with the complexities of friendship and heavier themes of bullying, loneliness, feeling different, grief, self-harm and the cost of boys liking boys.

Kentaro has learned that life is easier when nobody notices him. Struggling at home, he spends most of his time with his only friend, Naoki, and dreams of growing up and vanishing into Osaka.

At the end of the rainy season, a half-Japanese boy, Akira, appears in the small town. Curious about the foreigner, Kentaro takes an interest in him, only to decide he is odd and not worth his time. Yet as the sweltering summer drags on, Akira keeps attaching himself to Kentaro and Naoki, and a reluctant friendship begins to take shape.

One night, fleeing an unstable situation at home and with nowhere else to go, Kentaro ends up at Akira’s door. In the safety of Akira’s room, the boys share things they have never told anyone before. The more time Kentaro spends with Akira, the wider his world becomes. Places that once seemed out of reach no longer feel quite so distant. But Akira remains difficult to understand, and the scars from his life in Europe grow harder to ignore.

By the end of the summer, Akira finally opens up about his past, leaving Kentaro to decide whether he wants somebody like Akira as a friend at all.