I visited the home of Kana, my first girlfriend, and found a huge portrait of a cult leader in the living room. She revealed that everyone in her family except her was a fanatical believer, but that did nothing to change my love for her. Just as the mood between us grew intimate, her adult-brother role-play relative returned and asked me to leave because the family was about to perform an important “circle ritual.” I respected their faith and went home, yet the strange name of that ceremony left me with a terrible feeling.