The two must investigate their feelings for one another, as well as delve into what it means to be human and adult, and to deal with both the good and bad in everyday life. Yet Eriko’s death is also the catalyst that brings Mikage and Yuichi together after months of being apart. When Eriko is killed in the “Full Moon” section, Mikage and Yuichi’s worlds begin truly to unravel. Because they are lost to themselves, they are unable to find identity in one another. Though it seems clear that they hold feelings for each other, feelings that may even surpass friendship, neither can act on these feelings, due to their shared sadness and isolation.
Over the course of the first two sections, Mikage and Yuichi must wade through the debris of death, displacement, and self-loathing that seeks to tear them apart. She learns that Eriko used to be a man, Yuji, who was married to Yuichi’s mother, and that Yuichi’s birth mother died when he was young, just like Mikage’s. Mikage meets Eriko, Yuichi’s mother, and falls in love with her as well.
Kitchens are safe spaces for Mikage, and tied to life, in that they are communal spaces that breed creativity. Mikage instantly falls in love with the Tanabes’ apartment, especially as they have a nice, lived-in kitchen. When she is not in the kitchen in her apartment, where Mikage sleeps to feel at peace, she feels confused by her inability to find peace or a place in the world, and so takes Yuichi up on the offer to live with him and his mother. Yuichi asks Mikage to move in with him and his mother, Eriko, as Mikage will need to move out of her apartment. He also feels a sense of loss at Mikage’s grandmother’s death, and wants to help Mikage if he can. Yuichi was very close to Mikage’s grandmother. While Mikage is deep in grief, she receives an invitation from a classmate, Yuichi Tanabes, to live with him and his mother. This feeling evolves into desolation, and Mikage questions her own purpose for living as well. Her parents died when she was younger, and she now feels that she has no connection left in the world. Mikage, who is the narrative voice of the first two sections of the novel, is thrown into a depressive spiral at the death of her last blood relative. “Kitchen” opens with the death of Mikage’s grandmother. The first story introduces the characters Mikage Sakurai and Yuichi Tanabe, and comprises the “Kitchen” and “Full Moon” sections.
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