Book I, Earth Summary

Takezo and Matahachi, friends from the same village who joined the military together, wake on the battlefield to realize that they are among the few survivors. Both are wounded and fear capture. When they find a small farmhouse, they ask for help and a woman named Oko allows them to sleep in the woodshed. Her daughter, Akemi, brings them medicine and food and they discover she is the girl at the battlefield. One day they encounter a "freebooter" named Tsujikaze who says he knows Oko has recently sold items they took from corpses on the battlefields, and that he wants his share. After he leaves, Akemi says that Tsujikaze is the man believed to have murdered her father. Oko frantically hides everything in anticipation of Tsujikaze's visit and gives Takezo a sword he asks for. She gives Matahachi a...