Sixteen Years of Age, Spring, Still Buds

Upon returning from school one day, Ohana Matsumae learns that her mother is going on a moonlight flit with her boyfriend to escape from debt and they are sending her to live at her estranged grandmother's hot spring inn in the country. When her best friend, Kōichi Tanemura, hears of this, he confesses his love for Ohana before running off, not seeing her off when she leaves. As Ohana arrives at the Kissuisō inn, she makes a bad first impression with one of the employees, Minko Tsurugi, before being informed by her grandmother, Sui Sujima, that she is to work at the inn to earn her keep. She is shown around the inn by the head mistress, Tomoe Wajima, and another employee, Nako Oshimizu. When Ohana notices the hard work Minko has to do, she tries to do something nice for her by airing out her futon, but it ends up falling off a window and landing near some customers. As Minko is slapped by Sui for Ohana's mistake, Ohana demands to slapped even harder, though Minko doesn't particularly thank her for it.