Misumi Kubo, born in 1965, became known to the Japanese literary world when her story Mikumari, depicting an affair between a schoolboy and a married cosplayer ten years his senior, won the R-18 prize for erotic fiction. This story, which we feature in translation as part of Keshiki, then formed the first of five linked stories in her debut novel, Fugainai boku wa sora o mita (Gutless Wonder Gazes at Sky), which won the 2011 Yamamoto Shugoro Prize. Her other works include Seiten no mayoi kujira (Stray Whale on a Sunny Day), Kuraudo kurasuta o aisuru hoho (How to Love a Cloud Cluster), and Sayonara niruvana (Goodbye Nirvana).