: A detective of a private detective agency is looking for the applicant’s missing husband and, at the same time entangled in the vicissitudes of the case, finds meaning in a completely different way of his own life.

A private search agency has filed a search for 34-year-old Hiroshi Nemuro, the head of the department of the Dainen trading company. The applicant, the wife of the missing person, is Haru Nemuro (the text of the application was filed at the beginning of the novel). The narrative is the thoughts and observations of the protagonist, not always presented in chronological sequence. There are fragments alternating with episodes of real time and the thoughts of the hero.

The main character, the detective who is entrusted with the case, tells in the first person about his actions. He drives a car and sees the cityscape: “solid white walls supporting the milky-white heavenly vault”, the road covered with rough concrete seems endless, continuing in the whitish sky. Pencil cases, “in which absolutely identical lives are arranged in order, no matter how many hundreds of these families are, are glazed frames with portraits of family members inserted in them.”

The detective is going to the applicant. The woman does not give him any sensible information, reports only about the box of matches found and the sports newspaper in the cloak of the missing husband. That morning, the husband agreed to meet at station S, but did not come. The hero tells her that in the first week she already paid 30 thousand yen, and for each subsequent week of searches she will have to make the same amount. He learns that for six months the applicant’s brother independently searched for him.

When the applicant turns on the light, the detective sees a lemon curtain that has transformed both the hostess and the room with its color. “A woman who really likes the lemon color. Woman’s room. ” “A woman is drinking a second bottle of beer. All this is very suspicious. ”

The applicant biting her thumbnail constantly refers to her brother: “Each person has one life card. Why, much ... brother says so ... and the world is a forest, dense thickets teeming with wild animals and poisonous reptiles, and you can get through them only when you are firmly convinced of safety ... ”The detective understands that he better to meet this same brother.

In the report, the detective writes that he visited the Kamelia cafe, where the matches were from (there were matches in the box with both white and black heads, which is suspicious). In the parking lot near the cafe, the applicant’s brother himself approached him. The hero doubts that this man is really the blood brother of that woman. He promises a detective to bring the diary of the missing person.

From the head of Nemuro-san, the hero finds out that the missing person had to transfer the documents to another employee, Tashiro-kun. This young employee "obviously lost next to the manager - he turned out to be a puny little man with a poor complexion, with impenetrable eyes hidden behind the thick glasses of glasses." Tashiro-kun tells the detective in private that the missing person was fond of nude photography.

The head of the detective reports that the brother with the same name is indeed listed, but there is no photo card. “If the applicant uses us to conceal his crime, it is our duty to be a scavenger, and I have no right to refuse such work.”

On the same day, February 12, the detective leaves for the city of F. (on the day of the disappearance, Tashiro-kun was to meet with a member of the city’s municipality, Mr. M., a propane merchant).

The detective speaks with the workers at Mr. M.’s base to get information. Guys tell him about minibuses with red lanterns in which you can drink and eat. They had not heard of Nemuro-san. Trying to find out who can provide useful information, the detective finds out that the secretary and the “smart salesman” are now in the office. It turned out to be a "self-styled brother." The detective is surprised why the brother himself did not provide him with information about this base and suspects them and his sister of secrecy. The brother, as he himself says, is here with the aim of blackmail. Blackmail will help pay the costs of the investigation.

The next episode describes the meeting between the detective and the applicant. Examining the room in detail, he notices that a piece of paper with a seven-digit number has been pinned to the curtain. The detective is still drunk.

What follows is a continued meeting with his brother at the fuel base. A detective and his brother decided to have a snack in one of the minibuses (the workers spoke about them). "Here they eat while standing, they drink while standing." Near three buses, visitors: two women and three guys - "a company of a well-known variety." The guys greeted their brother in all uniforms, the women waved. It is evident that he is the eldest over them.

From a conversation with the owner of the minibus, the detective understands that his brother is holding a stash here. The owner warns his brother about today's mess - such rumors are circulating. Almost immediately after this, groups of several people appear under the lights. Brother goes in their direction. An intoxicated detective is trying to quietly leave. The fight begins. The hero observes the beating of his brother: "I did not regret at all that I did not extend a helping hand, and did not think that I should do anything." He drives away in his car.

Again, an episode of a woman's stay. In a newspaper found in her husband’s coat, a woman finds an ad stating that drivers are required. Contact - by phone "Camellia".

A detective learns about the sale of a car to a missing taxi driver and his "passion" for diplomas. Nemuro-san had diplomas of various specialties for all occasions.

The hero writes a report on February 13 in the library. A detective notices a student nearby, cutting out an illustration from a magazine. He throws her a note: “I saw everything. I will be silent, but for this, follow me. ” A man offers a student to let her down. Hearing “Slurp!”, He forcefully slams the door in front of her and leaves.

The boss finds out about the death of his brother and informs the detective, hoping that he has an alibi (the head of the agency is wildly afraid of his office touching the police). The detective muses: "And the only thing that has to be regretted is that it was not possible to find out how he was going to blackmail." “But then why do I feel almost ragged?”

He recalls a student from the library: “when you, having been deprived of freedom, not saying where and why, are dragged in the dark, it is, of course, very offensive, but when without any explanation or excuse you are thrown in the middle of the road, it is many times more humiliating.”

In a cafe, he notices that on a matchbox, in an ad in a newspaper, and on paper attached to a lemon curtain, is the number of Camellia. The detective calls Tashiro-kun. They agree to meet and have a drink.

In the parking lot of the old man, the detective is trying to find out something about the missing Nemuro-san and the regular customers of the parking lot, but he says reluctantly.

The hero also meets with Tomiyama - the lord to whom Nemuro sold his car. It turns out that Kamelia is an unspoken labor exchange for temporarily unemployed drivers.

The hero calls in the “Atelier of European clothing Piccolo” - the studio of his wife (piccolo - her school nickname). The wife has an assistant: "... how sweet she is, how skillful in love, just a charming girl." The detective returns to the topic of their separation. It turns out that he did not forgive his wife for her success in his business and simply ran away.

The hero travels along the road: "this is not the road, this is the canvas of the current time ... and I do not see, but only feel the time ...". He thinks about his rivalry withhim (missing): in justification for his indecision, the hero does not run away and does not return.

At her brother’s funeral, the applicant introduces the detective to her brother’s older group. It turned out to be a young man: “As if polished, delicate children's skin. Soft line of the chin - you won’t understand, a young man in front of you or a girl. If not for the traces of a shaven rare mustache, the lips are completely girlish. ” The “group” turned out to be young people who had once fled from home. Under the guidance of his brother, the boys traded themselves. The brother enjoyed authority, he was respected, he was one of them, he loved these guys.

The detective receives permission from the woman to see the family album "The Meaning of Memories." There he sees a photo of his brother, which confirms his relationship with the applicant. A woman wants to continue the search for her husband.

The applicant spoke of her miscarriage. Eight months ago, she shared the news of her pregnancy with her brother. He did not like women, so probably did not like children. The brother was a woman hater. Sister "was the only woman in the world who was not a woman for him." “We really really loved each other. So much so that it was even strange how our children did not start. And then a husband appeared. And he turned me into a woman again. ” “Brother very quickly found a common language with her husband.”

Tashiro, at a meeting with a detective, shows color photos of a nude made by his boss to a detective: "How bolder they are than professional photographs." “In general, the photographs were unpleasant, annoying, and it couldn’t be otherwise.”

Tashiro considers Nemuro-san a strong man - for giving up everything: “I wouldn’t be able to ... this nasty company ... I’m literally ready to kill myself, as I think that for the sake of this company I’m selling human lives ... ah, wherever you look, the same thing is everywhere ... I serve there, but what awaits me? I’ll become the head of the department, then the head of the department, then the head of the department ... and if you don’t even dream about it, life will seem even worse ... go around comrades, approach the authorities ... whoever does not follow this rule will kick anyone , with such as garbage, communicate ... "

“Everyone goes and goes without rest, but your goal is lost, you just have to watch. How others go ... for the sake of whatever, even the most insignificant goal, to go, just go - what happiness it is, I feel it with all my being.

They had a drink at the studio bar, waiting for Saeko, a model who, according to Tashiro, was photographed by Nemuro. "Some of its parts in the photograph have nothing to do with the original." Based on the girl’s appearance and conversation with her, the detective concludes that the pictures show another model.

Tashiro trails behind the detective from the bar, making excuses. He admits his lies, says that he found the pictures - they do not belong to Nemuro-san, and tries to tell a new story, but the detective does not believe him.

The hero comes to the woman. There, "where there should be a lemon window, a curtain hangs in a white and brown longitudinal strip!" "The one who meets me will differ as much as the lemon differs from the zebra ..." maybe this is a conditional sign announcing its return? He does not dare to come in.

The detective writes a false report for February 14th. However, this day has not yet arrived. He lay down on his bed, and while drinking whiskey, he waited for the morning. Tashiro-kun called early in the morning: he wanted to talk to the detective before suicide. He did not believe Tashiro and spoke with the young man rather rudely. But soon after the sounds in the receiver and the scream, the detective realized that he had really committed suicide.

On this day, the hero carried a letter of resignation and the rest of the time he was waiting for the police (like the last one talking with Tashiro), but no one appeared.

Early in the morning of the 15th, the detective comes into Kamelia to question the workers, but he is beaten. The hero is pushed into the car, and he goes to the applicant. She puts the wounded guest to bed. He asks permission to continue her business, despite the dismissal. Waking up periodically, the detective finally finds out that the contract has expired. He leaves the woman and finds himself in the middle of a concrete road. The hero describes the same landscape as at the very beginning of the story. “Only the street where my house is” disappeared. “The street around the bend is turning more and more for me into a white spot, as if it were erased with an excellent eraser. The erased color, the erased outlines, the erased forms, finally erased, it seems, the very existence of this street. "

“What if my usual sensations are not really real memories ...” All the people disappeared - not a soul around. "The impression that I was lured into a landscape in which they forgot to draw people ... But everything indicates that people have just been here." Finally, in the cafe, the hero sees a woman. And at the same moment noise boils up - people scurry about on the street. The hero pulls out the entire contents of the wallet - he tries to remember his name. He intends to learn about himself from a woman he saw in a cafe that is biting his thumbnail.

On a piece of paper the hero sees a plan and a seven-digit number, tries to get through it from a cafe. Busy

By taxi, the detective leaves for Vzgornaya street. "Having left on the street on which buses go, I jump out of a taxi at the very first telephone box." He calls the same number. He begs the woman who answers to come after him, and she agrees.

A few steps from the subway, the hero is hiding in the gap. A woman came looking for him, but does not see in the opening. “If she finds me, nothing will be decided. I need now a world of my own choosing. ” Having abandoned the search, the woman leaves.

“There is no need to look for a way into the past. Stop calling the phone number on a piece of paper. ” Coming up with the nicknames of a flattened cat on the road, the hero smiles generously.