The city of South Aose sits quietly at the foot of a familiar mountain. The protagonist has been here before — this is where their mother is buried. Back now with their father and younger brother, settled at last after years of moving, they are finally building something like a permanent life. A school memorial service, a normal December, a normal year. And then their father is in a traffic accident. Searching the closet for things to bring him at the hospital, the protagonist finds something — a small jade pendant wrapped in old cloth, hidden at the back. Whatever that pendant is connected to will not stay hidden for long.