Kujima Utaeba Ie Hororo

Arata Kouda meets a strange creature named Kujima one autumn, something vaguely birdlike that speaks human language and eats human food without the slightest embarrassment. Because Kujima is hungry, Arata brings him home for what is supposed to be a temporary stay. “Temporary” quickly stretches toward the entire winter when Kujima decides the family house is a perfectly good place to remain until spring.

The home is already tense. Arata's older brother failed his entrance exams, and worry has settled between family members who no longer know how to speak naturally around one another. Kujima understands none of their social rules or carefully avoided subjects, so he barges straight through the silence with blunt questions and peculiar appetites. He cannot magically solve their problems, but his presence makes it difficult for everyone to remain isolated inside the same anxiety, and the cold household begins changing before the season does.