And, Live

Toko Ikuta lost her parents in a car accident when she was three years old. Afterward, she was raised by her uncle, who owned a barbershop in Morioka, and she had a happy childhood. Toko Ikuta was active as a local idol and dreamed of becoming an actress. At the age of 19, she was preparing to audition in Tokyo. The day before her audition, on March 11, 2011, the Great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck Japan. In the autumn of 2011, Toko Ikuta worked at a café and went with her Korean coworker, Han Yoo-Ri, to volunteer in Kesennuma, an area recovering from the devastating tsunami. There, she met Kiyotaka Shimizu, a university student from Tokyo and a member of a student volunteer group. While spending time together in Kesennuma, Toko Ikuta and Kiyotaka Shimizu developed feelings for each other.