Mitsuki Katsura Hirayama

Mitsuki Katsura Hirayama is the main character in this novel. She is the stereotype of the dutiful Japanese daughter who struggles to take care of her parents even though her marriage is falling apart and her health is suffering. She is the younger daughter of Noriko Katsura. Mitsuki was treated unfairly during her childhood in favor of her older sister, Natsuki. Mitsuki carries this resentment through her adulthood, even as her mother is dying. Mitsuki also resents her mother after Noriko put her husband in a nursing home even though he was not so sick that the family could not have cared for him at home. Despite the resentment she carries for her mother, Mitsuki wears herself out trying to do the best she can for her self-centered, demanding mother.

After Noriko dies, Mitsuki spends several nights at Hôtel du Lac in order to decide...