★ Simplified Chinese rights have been sold!
★ The author’s first work after winning the Yamada Futarō Award.
★ Set in the clinical setting of healthcare, this hopeful story is penned by a practicing nurse.

They accompany one another, lean on each other, and strive to keep living.

Spica, a therapy dog engaged in animal-assisted intervention, and her trainer Haruka Nagikawa, together support a five-year-old child battling rhabdomyosarcoma, a middle school student tormented by obsessive-compulsive disorder, and a postpartum depressed mother along with her family. This experience not only transforms Haruka Nagikawa from within but also leads her to make a pivotal decision.

From reuniting with a fellow trainee who first introduced her to animal-assisted therapy, to learning how to reconcile with the mother who once gave her up for adoption—through the deep bonds between dogs and humans, this story reexamines the ideal boundaries of human relationships and the very meaning of one’s existence.

Set against the backdrop of real-life clinical settings, this hopeful tale is brought to life by a practicing nurse-author.

Maeda Homma
Born in 1986 in Miyagi Prefecture, Maeda works as a nurse while pursuing a career in fiction writing. In 2017, she won the 7th Poplar Publishing Novel Newcomer Award for “Erasing the Traces: Dead Morning, a Special Cleaning Company,” marking her official debut. Her 2019 novel, “The Secret Pain: Night Visit to the Medical Prison—South Ward,” was shortlisted for the 22nd Haruhiko Ōsugi Prize. In 2023, “You in the Blue Hour” earned her the 14th Kazutaro Yamada Prize. Other works include “Season Sanction.”