Oki Toshio
Oki is described as a successful novelist in his fifties at the present timeline of the novel. Despite the presence of his family, the novelist's loneliness was thought to have compelled him to visit his ex-lover and affair partner, Otoko Ueno.[8] However, readers have expressed their curiosity as to whether he is seeking for the love with Otoko of the present, or the passionate love he had inscribed in his own novel to immortalise.[2] This is shown through the novel with his entanglement with Otoko's female lover and protegé, Keiko Sakami in whom he saw the Otoko in his memories.[8]
Ueno Otoko
In the present timeline, Otoko is written as a successful painter in her 30s, living with a female lover and protegé, Keiko Sakami. Her art is often described in the novel as a result of her miscarriage after her affair with the older married Oki, in which her baby was born prematurely, where her art was noticed to have some sort of depiction of a baby in one way or another that critics have interpreted to depict grief and longing.[8] When meeting Oki for the first time, she was hesitant to be alone with him, and would instead send her lover to meet and escort Oki away.[2] Although her relationship with Keiko was described as those of lovers, readers have noticed that there were never any explicit description of intimate moments between the two women outside of the indication that they share a bed together. Instead, Otoko's homosexuality was rationalised in the novel as being the result of her past trauma.[3]
Keiko Sakami
Keiko is Otoko's younger female lover and protegé. She is known in the plot to be extremely attached to her lover,[2] whom she refers to as sensē (teacher),[3] to the extent of wanting to take revenge on behalf of her. In the novel, she sought out to seduce both Oki and his son, Taichiro Kawabata. However, as the story progressed, she and her lover, in addition to the readers, did not have clear knowledge of the true motives behind her actions both wondered if the motives behind her actions towards Oki.[7] The matter was made controversial by some critics when taken into account that Keiko had never explicitly defined her sexuality, with the only indication of her being lesbian being her hate for men.[3]
Keiko is criticised as being the only manipulative character in this story that can take control of the story's flow. Unlike other characters, she is able to make others act and think the way she wants them think in order to exact her revenge.[7] In addition to a manipulative persona, her disrespect for those older than her is also noticed by readers from the often subtle depictions throughout the novel through her interactions with her own lover, in which she picks up a rude method of speech when speaking to the older woman.[7]
Oki Taichiro
Taichiro is the son of Oki Toshio, and one of the romantic interests of Keiko Sakami. Taichiro first meets Keiko in the airport, where she was wearing a dazzling kimono.[5] Taichiro is criticised to be submissive towards Keiko's will. One instance that was particularly pulled apart was when he did not object when Keiko confirmed their plans of marriage to his mother, allowing her to manipulate his life.[7] His existence was interpreted by some as the reason for Otoko's pain, in which his atonement presented itself in the form of Otoko's lover, Keiko.[8]
