Two troubled, aimless and discontented twentysomethings, Mamoru (Tadanobu Asano) and Yuji (Joe Ogadiri), are temping as stockboys in a hand-towel factory. The seemingly more together and placid one, Mamoru, keeps in his home fish tank a poisonous, luminous saltwater red jellyfish; while the somewhat retarded Yuji’s thing is to have pleasant dreams of a promising future, but recently has stopped dreaming. The sullen passive boys take a strong dislike to their intrusive, gabby and over friendly harmless 55-year-old boss, Fujiwara (Takashi Sasano), even after he offers them a full-time position and a bonus. After delivering an oversized wooden desk to the boss’s home, the boys are brought a sushi takeout to Mamoru’s modest apartment as thanks. When the boss puts his hand in the fish tank holding the lethal jellyfish, Mamoru deliberately fails to warn him of the danger. When Mr. Fujiwara later realizes that the jellyfish was poisonous, he confronts Mamoru. The lad abruptly quits his job and plans on leaving town, thereby leaving his prized jellyfish with Yuri. When Yuri angrily goes to the boss’s apartment to retrieve his music CD he lent him, he finds the boss and his wife (Marumi Shiraishi) and daughter dead. Mamoru confesses to the crime when the police visit his pad, and in jail tells the space cadet Yuri to forget about him when he’s told by the visitor that he loves him and is willing to wait for his release.