Insults and rumors can derail a career; a bit of encouragement can give someone the strength to pursue their dreams. When a high school boy skipping class to sketch shoe designs and a taciturn woman drinking a morning beer meet in a Tokyo park, they say little, but the woman bids farewell with an ancient tanka poem. Will the boy figure out the poem's meaning-and its corresponding response-before it's too late?

    Fran, the cat-eared girl, becomes his wielder, and wants only to grow stronger, while the sword wants to know why he is here. Together, the strange duo’s journey has only just begun!