After just a month of acting as a kind mother, she died. While driving home from a shopping trip, she had a head- on collision with a car going far faster than the speed limit. Naturally, it was considered an accident. But Kousaka knew something: at certain times of day, that road became an ideal place for committing suicide. And it was none other than his mother who’d told him that. After the funeral, something in Kousaka changed. That night, he washed his hands for hours. His right hand with which he’d touched his mother’s body felt unbearably disgusting. When Kousaka woke up from a light sleep the next morning, his world had changed. He sprang out of bed and ran into the bathroom. And he took a shower lasting hours. Everything in the world seemed to be dirty. Hair in the drain, mold on the walls, dust on the windowsill - just looking at these things made a chill go down his spine. And in this way, he became a clean freak. Kousaka himself saw no direct cause and effect between his mother’s death and his fastidiousness. It was nothing more than one impetus. Even if it weren’t for that particular incident, surely something else would have awakened this. It’s just something that’s always been in me.