Pathway to Japanese Literature

Author: Hamao Shiro "I can't let things stay like this. ...Might as well just finish him off."

While walking around Hyotan Pond in Asakusa Park, Tojiro muttered to himself. Yet this was merely him involuntarily voicing the churning frustration in his chest; he hadn't yet conceived any concrete plan to eliminate the man. It was simply that Yonosuke's inexcusably cursed existence and last night's nauseating events had now risen anew in his mind. It had been about a year since Tojiro took up residence at Restaurant N-tei in Shinjuku as a cook.

He had reached twenty-three years of age without ever knowing worldly amusements. In truth, he was an unusual sort of young man to be working such a position in such an establishment. His sole diversion lay in reading. Whenever free moments allowed, he would voraciously consume academic texts or, failing that, self-cultivation manuals. Tojiro—cook at Restaurant N-tei—nursed ambitions of one day becoming an eminent lawyer who might brandish his torrential eloquence in court. Naturally, he lacked the means for formal schooling. Thus compelled to self-study, he had for some time been poring over XX University’s jurisprudence lecture transcripts in pursuit of legal mastery.

Given that he was such a serious young man, it went without saying that the master placed considerable trust in him. Therefore, given that today was not a scheduled regular day off, it was no great mystery that he had been granted leave to walk through Asakusa Park.

But given that Tojiro neither indulged in frivolous pastimes nor drank heavily, it was by no means strange that he began to develop serious romantic feelings. He too was human. Moreover, he was still a young man in the bloom of youth.

The object of his affection was none other than a young woman named Miyoko, who had been working at the same restaurant for about eight months. Before coming to N-tei, Miyoko had worked at quite a number of establishments. However, she had never before encountered a cook as earnest and promising as Tojiro.

Tojiro had secretly begun to harbor feelings for Miyoko not long after she started working at N-tei. And so he gradually became obsessed with her. However, it took him considerable time until he clearly confessed his heart to her. Of course, no one can easily express such feelings. However, for someone as earnest and single-minded as he was, declaring his love proved particularly challenging.

When he finally mustered the courage to confess his feelings, Tojiro felt he should have spoken up much sooner. To such an extent had Miyoko given him an answer that was both simple and clear—one he found profoundly welcome. He was overjoyed. It began to feel almost wasteful merely being under the same roof with her. He wanted to talk with her at every little opportunity. Of course, he seized every moment when the master and other waitresses were absent to speak with Miyoko. However, she was quite open about it. Even when others were present, she clearly showed him affection. This was both intensely delightful and deeply embarrassing for Tojiro.

In this manner, about two months passed like a dream. Only the last thing remained. But this was not because Tojiro lacked the courage to cross the final line—or so he himself believed. The opportunity simply never arose. If only there had been an opportunity, Miyoko would have been completely his. He was indeed only waiting for an opportunity.

However, about half a year ago, something of no small consequence occurred to him. Namely, it was the appearance of Yonosuke.

Yonosuke was a distant relative of N-tei’s master, but had come from the countryside this time to help at the restaurant. In both seriousness and promise, he nearly matched Tojiro. However, in terms of physical appearance, he was incomparably superior to Tojiro.

Tojiro was by no means handsome. To tell the truth, what he had felt most self-conscious about when confessing his love to Miyoko was his own face. No matter how favorably one looked at him, he could not be called handsome. He was not an exceptionally ugly man, but by no means handsome. In contrast, Yonosuke was a handsome young man who truly surpassed the norm. Thick eyebrows; a high, well-proportioned nose with smooth, gentle lines rather than sharp angles; skin so fair it seemed impossible he’d spent his days beneath the rural sun; and plump cheeks—these elements combined to form Yonosuke’s face.

Yonosuke was two years younger than Tojiro. Therefore, had Tojiro been profoundly moved by Yonosuke’s beauty, it would have been entirely natural—yet unfortunately, events did not unfold in that direction. No, Tojiro had already felt a certain unease when he first laid eyes on this handsome youth. This feeling had indeed materialized. Yonosuke’s beauty had ended up swaying Miyoko’s heart above all else—more than it could ever affect those of his own gender.

Within two or three days of his arrival at N-tei, Tojiro already found himself witnessing Miyoko fawning over Yonosuke. That alone might have been tolerable, but Miyoko had utterly discarded her former manner altogether. Thus Tojiro came to receive not so much as a glance from her anymore.

Of course, he was tormented. He grew agitated. And in the midst of that suffering, he clung desperately to what offered no real support. It was that Yonosuke remained young and inexperienced, and that he was an extremely earnest young man. Tojiro's reliance was instantly betrayed. The fact that Yonosuke was still young, inexperienced, and earnest proved all the more detrimental. Yonosuke—who for the first time in his life had been loved by a city beauty (or so at least Yonosuke and Tojiro believed)—soon found himself ensnared by her coquetry and began adopting a rather proactive attitude himself.

In this way, several months of anguish passed for Tojiro. Of course, he tried by all means to pull Miyoko's feelings back to his side. But all of that proved utterly futile. However, based on his own feelings and Miyoko’s past attitude toward him, he could not bring himself to believe they had truly reconciled completely. Nor did he want to believe it. Yet recently, something occurred that threatened to upend this conviction of his from its very foundations.

It was a certain midnight about a week ago now.

Tojiro, who usually fell into a deathlike slumber utterly exhausted from his daytime labors—though reading had become quite impossible for him of late—awoke suddenly around two o’clock that night from an acute stomachache.

He had been suffering on his bed in a half-asleep state for some time, but upon fully awakening, he frantically rushed into the toilet. In such situations, anyone would spend a relatively long time in the toilet. When his suffering had finally subsided, he first felt some relief and tried to exit.

At that moment came the sound of footsteps quietly descending the stairs from the second floor. Having fully descended, there followed the noise of someone passing by the toilet where he was, then soon after came the sound of the shoji door to the room where he slept being closed.

At this moment, Tojiro remembered for the first time that when he had awoken earlier, Yonosuke—who usually slept beside him—had not been in his futon. When Tojiro returned to the room and got into bed, Yonosuke was sound asleep there. Tojiro stroked his slightly settled stomach and thought. At first, The bastard was sleepwalking again. he thought.

The young man who now lay with a beautiful sleeping countenance beside him had an unfortunate illness. That was sleepwalking. Back in his hometown, he had once suddenly struck his father sleeping beside him with a wooden stick in the middle of the night. After being awakened, he had known nothing. Apparently, on that evening, he had watched a swordplay performance by a certain troupe that had been touring the provinces. Of course, he had often sleepwalked before then as well, but as there had been no such violent instances up to that point, from then on, the household became highly vigilant and resolved to keep absolutely no dangerous objects in his bedroom.

When he had first come to N-tei, Tojiro had already been informed of this by the master beforehand, but he had only witnessed Yonosuke’s sleepwalking state once thus far.

When the sound of water running fiercely from the tap in the middle of the night showed no sign of stopping, the master came out to check and found Yonosuke pretending to wash his feet. When they struck him fiercely to rouse him, he had indeed been sleepwalking all along, running the water. Tojiro was watching that scene. And then, together with the master, they struck him.

Tojiro recalled that time while lying in bed. However, the next moment, he heard footsteps descending from above once more. The footsteps stopped near the toilet, and when the clattering sound of the toilet door opening reached his ears, Tojiro suddenly imagined something strange. Just as he thought the sound of the door opening again would retreat back upstairs, it instead came all the way to the front of Tojiro's bedroom. And then it fell silent for a while. The person outside seemed to be peering at what was happening within.

Tojiro glanced briefly toward Yonosuke. Yonosuke had turned his back to him but appeared to be asleep. Then suddenly from beyond the shoji, “Yon-chan… Yon-chan” A whisper-like voice reached his ears. Tojiro jolted. That was Miyoko’s voice.

But Yonosuke did not move a muscle.

Then, outside, “Yon-chan… You’ve already fallen asleep?” No sooner had this voice been heard than there came signs of departure from that spot, and the footsteps smoothly ascended straight back upstairs.

Still pressing his throbbing stomach, Tojiro lay staring at the ceiling for a while. Soon he turned toward Yonosuke,

“Hey, you. You there.”

He called out. However, whether Yonosuke was truly asleep at that moment or not, he kept his eyes tightly shut regardless, maintaining a facade of obliviousness. If at that instant Yonosuke had answered Tojiro, or if Tojiro had shaken him awake—allowing their conversation to unfold naturally—perhaps it might have spared one of them from meeting a fatal end. Yet ultimately Yonosuke never opened his eyes, and Tojiro made no further attempt to rouse him.

The next day, Tojiro claimed to have a stomachache and lay in bed all day.

But the ache in his chest outweighed the one in his stomach. Everything seemed to have fallen into chaos.

Even so, he still wondered—could it be? For Tojiro, the idea that Yonosuke would sneak into Miyoko’s room—she who slept under the same roof, moreover in the same room as another waitress—was simply unthinkable. After that, he resolved to somehow ascertain the facts. But after that, nothing happened. To be sure, even as Tojiro made his resolve, he would invariably fall into a deep sleep before long.

However, there was simply no way to explain last night’s incident.

He suddenly awoke around midnight.

With a snap, someone turned off the twelve-candlepower electric light that always hung above his head. Because the brightly lit room had suddenly gone dark, it might have been what actually roused him from sleep. At that moment, in the darkness, what he clearly heard was Yonosuke— “Oh, nothing, Kappa-san. You’re sleeping like a pig.” —was Yonosuke’s voice along with someone else stifling a laugh.

The autumn sunlight was shining serenely.

Tojiro walked along the edge of Asakusa Park’s pond, a burning flame smoldering in his chest. There was no way to put it into words. And to go out of his way...

He had never imagined that Yonosuke—with his face that wouldn’t hurt a fly—would say or do such brazen things. Women were women, but men were men. That bastard was a complete fraud through and through. His acting all serious and well-behaved had been nothing more than a means to hook women. Back when he was in the countryside—there was no telling what that guy had been up to there.

When he thought this, Tojiro was overcome by a feeling akin to having crushed a centipede underfoot.

This morning, when he had secured a day off by inventing the flimsy excuse that he needed to show a friend from his hometown around Tokyo, he even considered confessing last night’s events to the master. But he said nothing, thinking this might not lead to a favorable outcome for himself—that perhaps if Yonosuke ceased to exist through some other means, the situation might take a dramatic turn. Having barely slept the previous night, he had thought to skip work for the day—had even considered spending the autumn daylight hours asleep in some grassy field—but in the end, he found himself at his usual refuge: the park. He intended to enter a movie theater somewhere.

Perhaps because he hadn’t felt like eating breakfast and had left without doing so, he began to feel strangely hungry. However, Tojiro—who had no desire to go out of his way to enter a restaurant—bought about four eggs at a boiled egg vendor set up near the corner of the pond and slipped them directly into his sleeve. He intended to eat them while watching the movie.

After buying the eggs, he ambled along and came upon a crowd gathered there. Looking closer, a rickshaw stood propped up nearby, upon which a monk-like figure clad in a kesa robe was fervently proclaiming something. He abruptly stopped in his tracks and listened to the speech. He thought it might be some kind of religious sermon. But suddenly, the monk— “However, the current cabinet…” began to say.

Tojiro somehow lost interest and began walking toward the crowd ahead. He could now take no interest in any kind of talk. However, he was making an effort to take interest in every kind of talk.

At the center of the next crowd ahead, a college student-like man wearing a square academic cap was chattering away incessantly, a book clutched in his hand. He was vehemently denying. “Gentlemen, you would likely say such things rarely occur—and it is precisely because you think so that you are fools." “The problem is you all think of the law the same way as a doctor’s medicine.” “Medicine is something you only need once you’ve fallen ill.” “However, the law is not like that.” “You cannot exist even for a moment apart from the law.” “For example—do you know what kind of thing this ‘security deposit’ you hand over to landlords actually is?” “Very well.” “Some of you may already know this.” “Now then, among you there are surely landlords as well.” “Do those people know to what extent it is actually right for them to use that security deposit?” “Today you came here by train, or bus—no, perhaps by entaku.” “Do you know what it means to ride a train and buy a ticket?”

The man who appeared to be a college student was talking about the law.

Tojiro began listening to the man’s lecture, thinking, *I understand the law*. “Now, can you clearly discern whether a train ticket is merely a receipt for seven sen one-way, or a token certifying that you’ve been granted the right to ride the train?” “In this book, on page 128, there exists the precedent rendered by the Daishin’in.” “That point has been properly explained through legal precedents.” “Let me ask those of you who came by one-yen taxi—what would you do if your taxi broke down midway?” “An unscrupulous driver who doesn’t want to take you all the way from Shinjuku to here will make you get off around Hongo under the pretense of mechanical trouble.” “Just the other day, someone who had experienced such a situation came to consult me.” “I immediately opened this book to page 301 and showed it to them.” “Look, it’s clearly written here.” “Yet despite legal knowledge being so essential, it remains an utterly incomprehensible fact that most people scarcely recognize its necessity.” “Is not attempting to navigate society without knowledge of the law akin to walking a mountain path in the dark of night without a lantern?”

“However, gentlemen—you would counter that this should only be said of civil law.” “You’d say knowledge of criminal law and such isn’t necessary for righteous people.” “That’s precisely why it’s a problem!” “No matter how righteous a person may be, that knowledge is absolutely essential.” “Let me give an example—suppose there were a madman among you gentlemen—no, forgive me, of course none of you are here, which is precisely why you’re quietly listening to me now. But gentlemen! Nothing in this world is as fearsome as fools and madmen. Imagine if, while I’m speaking like this, a madman suddenly drew his sword and attacked—what would you do? If you could escape, there’d be no issue—but there’s no time for that.” “It’s a matter of either striking him down or getting cut down yourself.” “It’s perfectly clear, isn’t it? Of course you all would say to just hit him.” “Very well—but does that mean you can beat him to death, I ask you?” “Very well—but here’s what I want you all to briefly consider: the assailant is a madman.” “In our country’s law—of course—and in most countries, they do not hold the insane criminally responsible.” “Even if a madman kills someone, he’s certain to be acquitted.” “The question is whether self-defense can be established against the actions of the insane.” “Now, the Criminal Law merely states ‘an imminent and unlawful infringement’ and provides no further details whatsoever.” “Regarding this matter, there are various theories among legal scholars.” “However, on the whole, they align with the affirmative theory.” “You all might perhaps share the same conclusion, but do you know the reason? Let me change the example—what would you do if a rabid dog appeared?” “Of course, you would beat it to death.” “In such a case, can this be considered self-defense?” “Now, regarding animals…”

When he had listened this far, Tojiro felt as if he had been lightly jabbed by the man on his right. Feeling something strange, he thrust his hand into his right sleeve and found that the bag of Shikishima cigarettes he had just bought was missing. He frantically reached for the waist pouch secured by a cord around his neck and tucked into his obi, and upon confirming it was indeed there, felt relieved—but the man to his right had already vanished somewhere. It was just a single bag of cigarettes, but the sensation of having been pickpocketed was intensely unpleasant.

He left the street legal scholar right there and turned on his heel. Then, circling around the pond, he went into a movie theater called XX Theater. When he sat down in his seat and began noisily devouring eggs, what was being projected was a foreign comedy. Since morning, he had been tormented by unpleasant thoughts, but at last, watching the rapid-fire images allowed him to momentarily forget the weight in his chest. When that ended and the next film began, he became utterly engrossed in watching it.

It was a kind of crime film. A wicked scholar—the narrator kept calling him "Dr., Dr."—attempted to murder a certain Countess in order to embezzle her fortune. Though called a Countess, since the setting was France, she wasn’t actually a count’s wife—in fact, she had no husband at all. And as for how the Doctor would come into possession of her fortune should the woman die—that part Tojiro couldn’t quite grasp. But such things didn’t matter. In this film, what intrigued him was the method by which the Doctor killed the Countess—he didn’t do it himself. Here appeared a handsome young man, whom the Doctor hypnotized. Following this suggestion, the man ended up killing his lover—the Countess—in a trance one midnight.

The clock filled the screen. Exactly five minutes to two.

“It was around two o’clock that night.” He bolted upright. He proceeded to the Countess’s room in a trance. “If one peers through the keyhole of the door (the narrator pronounced ‘to’ as ‘door’)...” As the narrator’s explanation continued, the film reached its climax. The actor portraying the young man demonstrated remarkable skill in depicting the scene of him leaving his room while sleepwalking. Contrary to the narrator’s account, he knocked rhythmically on the Countess’s bedroom door. Hearing her lover’s voice, the Countess opened the door—whereupon the man suddenly lunged and strangled her to death. This sequence proved intensely thrilling. Tojiro stared at the screen, clutching the empty egg bag.

From there, the story shifted to focus on the famous detective's brilliant efforts until it was finally revealed that the Doctor was the true culprit. When the Doctor realized how urgently he was being pursued, he had his car speed away in flight. Ultimately finding himself cornered with no escape route, he took his own life, while the young man was acquitted and even became a millionaire—rendering the latter half of the film thoroughly trite.

But Tojiro watched the film through without taking a breath.

It was already night when he left XX Theater. Usually, he would enter another theater, but for some reason, he walked to Tawaramachi and boarded a train.

When Tojiro had his ticket punched, he did not consider what legal significance such an act might hold. In his head floated images from the movie he had just seen. Particularly vivid remained the scene of the young man stealthily slipping out of his room alone from the film. When the train was passing Yotsuya Mitsuke, what raced through his mind was something entirely different.

“What would you do if a madman drew his sword and came at you?” “Would it be alright to beat him to death?”

The words of that street legal scholar kept floating back into his head. That night when he returned home, he feverishly pulled out the lecture notes he had been keeping and pored over them with intense focus. Until late into the night, a few lines from those notes flickered before his eyes and refused to fade away. It was the following text.

Self-defense requires that there be an unjust infringement. Moreover, "unjust" means that said infringement is not permitted under law. Therefore, if it is objectively unjust, that alone suffices. Even against acts by persons lacking legal responsibility or acts devoid of criminal intent or negligence, self-defense is established. From the following day onward, Tojiro immersed himself entirely in plotting murder. When he had said "I’ll take care of him" the previous day, there had been no preparation whatsoever. But already, the seed of crime had begun to sprout in his mind.

That Tojiro was earnest and rigid could not, unfortunately, be claimed to prevent him from becoming a criminal. The fact that he had some knowledge of the law could still not be said to absolutely prevent him from committing a crime. And the most unfortunate thing was that Tojiro simply could not abandon his utterly simple—one might even say innocent—belief that if only Yonosuke were gone, Miyoko would once again show him affection.

How to kill Yonosuke, and how to escape legal punishment—nothing else mattered. If he could just succeed in these two things, he believed his love for Miyoko would naturally follow. "Coincidence" had given him a strange suggestion.

As far as he knew, self-defense could be established even against acts by those deemed legally irresponsible. And as far as he knew, Yonosuke was a chronic sleepwalker. It went without saying that sleepwalkers could commit crimes while in such states. He had in fact witnessed the very act being committed on the screen. (Though admittedly, this differed slightly from actual sleepwalking.) How Tojiro intended to link his legal knowledge and cinematic impressions to the crime he planned to commit from here on out.

The reader has already surmised as much, I should think.

A few days later, he had completed a certain plan in his mind.

One evening about a week later, Tojiro appeared again in Asakusa. This time, Yonosuke was also with him. Because it was Yonosuke’s day off, Tojiro had lied to the master and left work from the evening as well. He had skillfully brought Yonosuke out to Asakusa. From this point on, everything had to proceed exactly according to his prearranged plan.

The two stood by a pond bustling with pedestrians when Tojiro abruptly halted before a street stall. There lay rows of white-sheathed daggers. He bought one of them. "Hey, you—this looks plenty sharp. Actually, a friend from back home came to Tokyo recently and went right back again. He asked me to find him a good dagger for self-defense. I'll probably send it tomorrow or so—what do you think? How does it feel in the hand?"

Having said this, Tojiro handed Yonosuke that dagger. Yonosuke, unexpectedly seeming interested in it, examined its contents while— “Hmm, this one’s pretty nice.” “Whether person or beast, this one’s a single stab.” He answered.

Tojiro acquired a relatively large iron paperweight at another store. He claimed this too had been requested by a friend. According to his plan, it was precisely this paperweight that was to be used for the murder. While looking at the movie theater stills, Tojiro searched for as many violent scenes as possible. And so he finally brought Yonosuke into a certain theater that exclusively screened Japanese films. His plan indeed succeeded.

The movies being shown were almost all swordplay films. In particular, in a movie starring a certain famous actor, a character who could even be thought a murderous maniac played an active role. Throughout the entire film, that character slaughtered dozens of people by cutting them down and stabbing them to death.

Each time a sword glinted sharply and a killer’s savage expression filled the screen in close-up... Yonosuke remained entranced by screen murders unfolding before him. *Kill more—slash harder—* Tojiro’s mind screamed silently.

Yonosuke too might perhaps be thinking the same. So much so that one might suppose he too was one of the enthusiastic spectators.

They returned to N-tei around eleven o'clock that night.

Explaining Tojiro’s plan in detail now might perhaps prove tedious for the reader. However, we shall take this opportunity to clarify it here.

Tojiro intended to kill Yonosuke under the pretext of self-defense. The fact that Yonosuke had been afflicted by sleepwalking episodes up to this point was known to many people. Indeed, in Yonosuke’s room at N-tei (that is, the shared bedroom of Tojiro and Yonosuke), there had been no dangerous items kept. Moreover, within only half a year of coming here, he had frequently been experiencing sleepwalking episodes. On one such occasion, Tojiro had in fact witnessed it. Therefore, even if Yonosuke were to be struck by an episode that night, it would be no wonder at all. And even if he were to launch a slashing attack in his trance against Tojiro lying beside him, that would not necessarily be an impossibility.

However, up until now, there had been no objects suitable for launching slashing attacks placed there. That is why Tojiro had sought out a dagger.

Items like kitchen knives kept in the kitchen were things he saw every day and thus likely wouldn't make a strong impression on Yonosuke. That was why Tojiro had made a special effort to buy a dagger. And so he repeatedly showed it to Yonosuke and made him handle it to ensure a vivid impression.

Furthermore, that night—as an immediate trigger for an episode—he had shown him sufficiently violent films. Yonosuke watched them with intense eagerness. Not being a doctor, Tojiro could conceive no means beyond this. And with this preparation, he believed it would suffice.

The reason he had obtained the dagger had been explained to Yonosuke. It was, of course, a complete fabrication. It was a lie that would be immediately exposed if anyone investigated this so-called friend from the country. However, he had told that lie only to Yonosuke. If Yonosuke were killed, when questioned, he could simply give any fabricated reason that came to mind. And the reason he had acquired the paperweight was similarly fabricated. To prove that the two of them had watched swordplay films at the movie theater, he had carefully brought back two programs. To establish as clearly as possible that they had indeed been at the movie theater that night, he had thoroughly memorized the scenes and stories of several swordplay films. Furthermore, he had even checked by his watch what time each movie had started and ended.

The reader would immediately come to understand that this final contrivance was in fact quite clumsy.

He intended to deliberately place the dagger in the nearby cupboard and leave its door open when going to bed. Of course, this had to be fully observed by Yonosuke. Late at night, probably around two o'clock, he would wake up. And then, he took out the dagger. Next, he lightly cut two places around his own throat. Then he thoroughly wiped the handle (this was of course to avoid being detected as the last user) and had Yonosuke, lying beside him, grasp it in his right hand. Tojiro knew Yonosuke was not left-handed. This would not be done while he was fully asleep; rather, shaking him awake so that Yonosuke was in a drowsy-eyed state would work better.

And then, when Yonosuke grasped it, he would without missing a beat split his forehead with the iron paperweight in a single strike.

The decisive moment would last but an instant. Yonosuke would die immediately. Next, he would let out a scream mimicking a struggle. He would position Yonosuke’s corpse in an appropriate spot. Thus, he would commit the murder flawlessly and escape punishment.

His testimony should proceed quite simply. He intended to state the following to the officials.

“I felt something cold against my throat in the middle of the night.” “Then, feeling a stabbing pain, I opened my eyes to find Yonosuke straddling me with a demonic expression, holding something white that gleamed.” “Since the light was on in the room, I could see everything clearly.” “I thought I would be killed the next instant.” “My body was pinned down and I couldn’t move.” “Of course, there was no chance to escape.” “Without thinking, I thrust out my right hand—when something hard brushed against it, I struck Yonosuke’s face in a frenzy, and he let out an ‘Ah!’ before collapsing.” “That is why I immediately called for help.”

Would the prosecutor actually believe this testimony? There was no reason he wouldn’t. After that, the master and others would surely go on to testify about Yonosuke’s usual behavior.

What a splendid scheme, Tojiro thought. And then he smiled involuntarily.

The time finally came to go to bed. Tojiro put away the dagger in the cupboard before Yonosuke's eyes as planned. Now all that remained was to sleep.

Yonosuke showed his beautiful profile and seemed to fall asleep almost immediately. Tojiro gazed intently at his face. It was nature's exquisite craftsmanship bestowed upon the male body. Yet Tojiro found it utterly impossible to harbor any goodwill toward masculine beauty. He now cursed Yonosuke's face.

Half past twelve came and went, and it became around one o'clock. The time was just approaching the dead of night. Yet somehow, the surroundings still remained unsettled.

Tojiro had to battle the intense drowsiness that inevitably accompanied his robust physique. Perhaps due to being excessively tense initially, he began growing profoundly exhausted as it neared two o'clock.

Tojiro began to doze off before he knew it.

And then, he began to be assailed by a strange dream. Yonosuke was standing there before he knew it. When he looked, there was something glinting in one hand. In the blink of an eye, Yonosuke had closed in on him. The next instant, Yonosuke’s face loomed before his own like a movie close-up.

The instant he felt something chillingly cold touch his throat. He tried to scream. "This isn’t a dream!" he jolted—and in that very instant, as an indescribable burning pain seared around his throat, Tojiro’s consciousness vanished forever.

Yonosuke was arrested that very night. He, however, insisted to the police officers that he had absolutely no recollection of killing Tojiro.

Before the prosecutor as well, he naturally maintained that assertion. He maintained that if he had killed Tojiro, it was entirely an act committed while asleep. He stated that he had often been assaulted by sleepwalking episodes in the past. He stated that there had particularly been a time when he was back home and struck his father's head with a wooden club.

The master of N-tei corroborated his claim. The dagger used and the paperweight beside it, however, were items unfamiliar to the master of N-tei. Moreover, the master stated that he believed such dangerous objects had never been present in that room. However, fortunately for Yonosuke, the Asakusa merchants remembered the buyer they had sold them to. They clearly stated that both the dagger and paperweight had been sold to the man who came with Yonosuke the previous night. Upon seeing the victim’s photograph, the two merchants confirmed the buyer.

The origin of the murder weapon, the buyer, and the reason it was present at the scene were clarified. The fact that Yonosuke had watched the movie with the victim the previous night was acknowledged through his detailed statement and other procedures. Moreover, it became clear that they had watched an adequately brutal movie. Yonosuke gave a detailed statement about the movie he had seen that night—as thorough as Tojiro himself would have described it had he carried out his planned crime.

Naturally, his mental state at the time of the crime was referred for expert appraisal. As a result, in accordance with Yonosuke's statement, it was concluded that his act of murder was an entirely unconscious one.

The preliminary judge determined that the case should not be referred to public trial. Yonosuke was finally released.

That was all there was to the incident.

However, was it truly a sleepwalking episode that led Yonosuke to kill Tojiro? Can there be no other way to consider it?

The evaluation had undoubtedly been conducted with care.

But could that truly grasp absolute truth? Could it not be mistaken? Moreover, were this treated as a murder case, both prosecutor and judge must have found it exceedingly difficult to explain the motive. Because they were legal professionals holding positions as officers of the law, in this case they had to seek out and explain a murder motive.

×　　×　　×　　× People who were neither doctors nor legal professionals needed neither place absolute trust in this evaluation nor conclusively prove a motive. Did Yonosuke kill Tojiro entirely in his sleep? Could no motive for murder be found in him? For example, suppose Yonosuke had… No—perhaps it would be more proper to leave anything further to the reader’s free imagination. (Published in Shin Seinen [New Youth], Showa 4 [1929], October issue)