Aiko and Reina have been together for almost 20 years, yet one thing remains unsaid between them: "Daisuki," or, "I love you." As they approach their anniversary, their relationship comes to an impasse as Aiko the Japanese housewife begins demanding "I love you" with a side of marriage and romance. But Reina doesn't understand complex concepts like "love" or other heavy emotions. She's spent years supporting her girlfriend via a soul-sucking salary job and tending to their mutual needs in the bedroom. Isn't that sufficient? In a culture demanding Reina choose between the "feminine" and the "masculine" worlds, it's bad enough she's trying to find her role without Aiko adding extra pressure. Some words need not saying, but "I love you" is about to destroy a relationship already surviving strange side-lovers and even stranger exploits.

If society has taught Aiko anything, it's that one day she will marry a man. Not until she meets Reina, a lesbian with a knack for flirting, does she decide she wants to experience a different kind of sexual liberation - assuming she can overcome her insecurities and nosy family. As she succumbs more and more to Reina's charms, however, Aiko wonders if she can really abandon everyone's expectations. Reina has met plenty of girls like Aiko before: cute, naive, and ready to screw the status quo. After being burned by countless young women who go on to marry men and forget their lesbian lives, how can Reina trust yet another "good girl" following her around? Especially when she thinks she may be having those foreign feelings for her best friend instead. Time will only tell if Hatsukoi, or "first love," has really come to two such different people. Is their relationship genuine or just another footnote amongst flirting, lying, and sneaking around love hotels?

For over twenty years Reina has sexually celebrated the women around her with a reverence only tolerated by her wife, Aiko. But when Reina misinterprets the fluidity of their open relationship, she's backed into a corner where her gender dysphoria reigns supreme. In order to salvage her marriage, she may have to reanalyze the way she views the world, her life, and her experiences. Just when she thinks she's figured her spouse out, Aiko faces an unexpected transgression. Can she forgive her? Or will love finally give way to the fatigue that accompanies being with someone like Reina? A sick mother and unsympathetic sister are not helping Aiko's dilemma. Even the most passionate relationships sometimes fall asunder to "seikou," the sexual character at the core of one's identity. Will Reina and Aiko reunite with stronger hearts, or is it finally time to go their separate ways? And if they do split up, who will help them pick up the pieces - the stoic therapist, the desperate socialite, or the young couple who initiated this mess to begin with?

The day Aiko and Reina move into their own home together is supposed to be a joyous occasion. However, with Reina working five to six days a week, Aiko the budding housewife finds solitude tough to handle. She jumps headlong into making friends at the nearest lesbian get-together but meets one person not interested: Reina's bitter ex-girlfriend, who fills her emotional void with activism and her love for all-female musicals. While Aiko establishes herself as the queen of domesticity, Reina is nominated for a promotion at work. She soon discovers that being a woman in the professional world is rife with injustice, and begins to resent her gender and the way society treats it. With her ex-girlfriend now hanging around, it is a cold reminder as to what happens when Reina becomes a thorn in other women's families. Living together will give Aiko and Reina challenges never dreamed of before, yet it gives them the chance to build a life together, other women notwithstanding. Their first trial is to navigate the first few months of coming out, disappointment, glamorous show tunes, and a dark cloud of kataomoi, or "unrequited love," hanging over the city.

When Aiko declared her love for Reina twenty years ago, she knew it came with a price. Dreams of motherhood she once set aside, however, come rushing back when she assists her pregnant niece with a shocking secret. Other dreams left dormant surge when an intelligent, attractive man offers her a chance at a "normal" life, complete with a reassessment of her sexuality. If only she could have it all - especially the child! No one could be less maternal than Reina, and her wife's conversations about adoption, sperm donors, and other matters do nothing to improve that. Reina is more concerned with the American looking to chronicle her sordid history in the name of academia. Aiko and Reina have survived a gamut of obstacles determined to keep them apart. Yet nothing scares Reina more than losing her wife to the very things she can't give her, and nothing torments Aiko more than the emptiness in her life. If these two can't resolve their separate desires, then not even a heartfelt "koibumi," or love letter, may keep them together. "Koibumi." takes place from Jul. - Sept., 2013