On the thirteenth night of the ninth month of the year,[a] Oseki Harada stands outside her parents' lower-class house, and overhears her father telling her mother how lucky they are that they have such good children.
Oseki, reluctant and polite at first, eventually bursts into tears when she tells her parents of her unhappy marriage with Isamu, who treats her cruelly, always picking on her for her low education, and even humiliating her in front of the servants.
He apologises for his shabby appearance, telling her how he turned to an irresponsible lifestyle after her wedding, was himself talked by his mother into an unhappy marriage which did not last, and is now living in a cheap inn.
While walking ahead with Roku, Oseki silently reminisces how he had been in love with her, and how she herself had fantasies of becoming his wife and working in his family's store, before her parents pressured her into the marriage with Isamu.
The Thirteenth Night first appeared in the December 1895 edition of Bungei kurabu magazine, a special issue devoted to female writers, which also contained a reprint of Higuchi's story Yamiyo.