Pathway to Japanese Literature

I

“Actual crime incidents tend to hold little interest for you all.” “From our perspective as legal professionals, what we find fascinating often fails to engage your attention, while the cases that particularly captivate you all strike us as rather dull.” “This divergence stems from how detective novelists’ central interests differ fundamentally from us legal professionals’, wouldn’t you agree?” “Consider how detective novels typically focus on depicting up to the criminal’s capture as their narrative climax—whereas for legal practitioners, while apprehending criminals matters greatly, our true efforts and interests lie in everything that follows their arrest.” “That’s precisely why your novels’ core appeal inevitably diverges from our professional concerns.”

Mr. Tsuchida Hachirou, formerly a prosecutor at the Tokyo District Court and now in the position of an attorney, said this as he blew a puff of Three Castles smoke toward the ceiling, then looked at me with a meaningful smile.

There was a reason he had brought up this matter.

I had visited Mr. Tsuchida many times before and heard about various cases he had handled, but in truth, I had not yet used a single one as material for a novel. As he himself had just correctly stated, the true stories Mr. Tsuchida enthusiastically recounted were likely fascinating from a legal perspective, but to me—a complete layperson in legal matters—they remained largely uninteresting. Admittedly, these cases might have been extremely complex for legal experts, but from the perspective of detective novel enthusiasts, they were largely utterly uninteresting.

Occasionally, when I approached detective novel tropes from the opposite direction, he would look utterly foolish,

“That’s a simple murder case. There’s nothing problematic about it.” or perhaps,

"That sort of thing might exist in detective novels, but as a factual matter, it’s inconceivable," he would dismiss them with characteristic brusqueness. It seemed he had recently come to recognize how vastly my interests diverged from his own—that what I sought lay far from his legal preoccupations—and so when I visited him that day, stubbornly pursuing material for my work, he rebuffed me outright from the very first. Yet even as he spoke these dismissals, he continued his account.

II

“Today, I shall tell you about a case that might be of some reference to you. Though I cannot say how interesting it will prove to be, that part depends on your skill—feel free to embellish it with whatever fanciful imaginings you like. However, since I was directly involved in this entire matter in a professional capacity, I cannot disclose the real names of the parties involved. Since I will be using pseudonyms throughout, I ask that you listen with that understanding.”

The case first began during my time as a prosecutor. Since these are pseudonyms, you may not immediately recall even if I mention them, but in the autumn of Showa X, there was an incident where Suyama Haruichi—the twenty-five-year-old son of Suyama Kenkichi, a prominent industrialist—stood as the defendant in a criminal trial. This story begins with that incident, but at that time, the one who filed the indictment against Suyama Haruichi was none other than myself.

The incident itself was an utterly commonplace, unremarkable matter—precisely the kind of thing that would never serve as material for your novel. “No—if anything, it would make for a sensational novel.” “A love story, then.” Given that the defendant’s father was Suyama Kenkichi—a man of so-called high society—the case became an extremely famous incident. Mr. Kenkichi’s eldest daughter—that is, defendant Haruichi’s sister—had married into the household of a certain viscount’s heir; Mr. Kenkichi’s wife’s brother had become a member of the House of Peers; and Mr. Kenkichi himself was an executive at a major corporation. Given that Haruichi—the only son of such a man, and moreover a student at XX University—had become a criminal defendant, one might well say it would have been strange if society had not made an uproar. However, the incident itself was quite romantic as I have just described, making it perfect fodder for newspaper articles.

The case was straightforward—simply a story of Suyama Haruichi developing an intense passion for a young woman and ultimately killing her in a fit of jealous rage. However, when I say "killed," I use the term in its ordinary sense, for as I will explain later, it was not what you would call a murder case. I had indicted him under the charge of crime of injury resulting in death. As it was an exceedingly famous case—you may have already surmised as much—I shall nevertheless outline the basic sequence of events for the sake of proper procedure.

To begin with, Suyama Kenkichi had risen from utter poverty to amass a vast fortune through his own efforts and become a member of high society—undoubtedly an impressive feat—yet it seems he failed spectacularly in educating his own son. They had two children—a boy and a girl—and the daughter was safely married into the household of a certain viscount. The boy, Haruichi, had managed to stay out of trouble until around the time he graduated middle school, but from when he entered XX University onward, he apparently began what is called going astray. This may be unnecessary speculation, but after all—being the only son of such a household—perhaps due to excessive spoiling, Haruichi began frequenting cafés to flirt with waitresses and indulging in teahouse entertainment from around his university enrollment. Mr. Kenkichi also seems to have been quite troubled by this, but given that he had at least entered university, he apparently intended to have him marry quickly after graduation and use his parental influence to secure him a suitable position.

However, in the autumn of the year before he was to graduate the following year, Haruichi finally caused an outrageous incident. Of course, true to form as a playboy son, Haruichi had already been spending absurd amounts of money on café waitresses and geishas for various reasons up to that point, but in the late spring of the year I mentioned earlier, he became intensely infatuated with a certain woman and even went so far as to promise marriage. The woman was working at a café called Palloma in Ginza at the time—a nineteen-year-old named Akita Sayoko, who was usually called Yoshiko at the shop. According to later investigations into Haruichi, he first met Sayoko around mid-May, and by June the two had properly become lovers. And so it seems the two of them went out to various places and stayed overnight together.

The romance had begun with Haruichi, but before long the woman too became utterly infatuated, until finally it reached the point where she was actively inviting him out, and the two would go everywhere together. As a legal professional, I must admit to my great regret that I am ill-equipped to narrate this love story—which veers into sensational fiction territory—with any particular skill. Nevertheless, the fact remains that these two, who first met in May, soon became lovers and ultimately made vows of marriage.

On Haruichi’s part as well, he had likely initially intended to make her his wife. He had made a proposal for her to become his wife. When Sayoko first received Haruichi’s proposal, she apparently refused outright, citing that the difference in their social standing was too great—but not only was she swayed by Haruichi’s ardor, she had been fond of him from the start—so she ultimately accepted his offer. Moreover, from that point onward, she seems to have genuinely believed that she would become his wife without any complications once Haruichi graduated from school.

Of course, since Sayoko was dead, I could not fully comprehend her state of mind, but based on various circumstances, it seemed reasonable to believe so. However, Haruichi himself persistently insisted before me that no such thing had occurred—that even Sayoko had not seriously considered such matters.

III That a romance between such a bourgeois only son and a café waitress would progress smoothly toward marriage was scarcely conceivable from the outset. True to form, some misfortune began to cast its shadow over Haruichi and Sayoko. Moreover, a calamity greater than ordinary befell them both. Intoxicated by their honeyed passion, they passed through July and August until September arrived. It was in this month that changes first manifested in Sayoko's body. While Sayoko herself might have welcomed this development, for Haruichi it became a grave crisis.

The reason being, Mr. and Mrs. Kenkichi—who had been extremely attentive to their son’s circumstances—had long been searching far and wide for a bride to secure for him as soon as possible, but during summer vacation, they finally set their sights on the daughter of a certain law professor. At the very least, a young lady who had greatly pleased Mr. and Mrs. Kenkichi had now appeared. I must admit, rather shamefully, that I have never seriously been in love with a woman nor had one seriously in love with me, so I have never given much thought to what someone in Haruichi’s position might do—or how they ought to act—in such circumstances. However, considering various circumstances, it seems Haruichi had genuinely loved Sayoko—at least for a time—so one cannot imagine Kenkichi and his wife’s proposal was readily accepted by him.

Undoubtedly, in this situation, there must have been a fairly prolonged conflict between father and son. However, judging by the outcome, the son had ultimately obeyed his parents. And so by around October, Haruichi had already formally become engaged to a certain professor’s daughter. The questions were whether Haruichi had truly broken off with Sayoko and whether Sayoko would withdraw quietly. To the first question—strangely enough, or perhaps not strange at all—the answer could be given with an exceedingly simple “Yes.” Far from breaking it off, he had even begun to develop feelings of love for the young lady who was to become his future wife. This matter was later clearly stated to me by Haruichi.

As for the latter problem, however, it led to grave consequences.

At first, Sayoko seems to have been persuaded by Haruichi (an unpleasant term, but I use it for clarity) and complied. However, she gradually came to feel love herself, and particularly after conceiving Haruichi’s child, she became entirely his. This matter of Sayoko’s feelings later became an extremely significant point both as a legal issue and a matter of criminal circumstances, so I would ask you to consider it carefully. In other words—whether Sayoko had truly harbored genuine feelings for Haruichi or whether, through her professional consciousness as a café waitress, she had simply been toying with a bourgeois son—given that Sayoko was now dead, it had become considerably difficult to uncover the full truth. For your reference, I should note that I myself, as prosecutor at the time, supported the former view and presented it in court as a matter of extenuating circumstances, while Haruichi’s defense attorney strenuously argued for the latter position in opposition. That said, I do not claim that Haruichi intended to manipulate Sayoko from the very beginning. Indeed, he must have become infatuated with her for a time, just as he testified. However, there were absolutely no indications that Sayoko had entrapped Haruichi. Conversely, Haruichi’s defense attorney asserted that Sayoko was an utterly formidable woman, arguing that even if she had been pregnant, there was no way to determine whose child it might have been.

IV Until early October, Sayoko had apparently remained completely unaware of her romantic rival's emergence. Yet naturally, she could not have stayed ignorant of this forever. Through some chance occurrence, she came to hear that Haruichi's engagement was nearing formalization. Sayoko did not withdraw quietly. And the attitude she adopted then—though this admits of various interpretations depending on one's viewpoint—proved far from tranquil.

At this point, I should briefly mention Sayoko’s circumstances. Her family was a farming household in S Prefecture and had never been well-off to begin with. She had an older brother the same age as Haruichi—an unruly individual since childhood who left home early for Tokyo—drifting from place to place before somewhat settling down to obtain a driver’s license and work at a car dealership. However, unable to earn enough to send money home, Sayoko left her sixteen- and twelve-year-old siblings behind and moved into Café Palloma with an advance payment. It was said that six months had passed between her arrival at Palloma and her first meeting with Haruichi. For Sayoko—who had never worked at any other café—Palloma remained her first and only place of employment.

Given these circumstances, Sayoko had no choice but to work alone. However, it seems her brother Kiyoshi began visiting her occasionally after she started working at the café. And for her part, being siblings after all, Sayoko came to rely on him emotionally as her elder brother. However, ever since becoming a driver, Kiyoshi had not conducted himself well—he drank and dabbled in petty vices—so naturally, Sayoko’s employer did not think highly of him.

Putting aside the matter of the romantic affair, Sayoko’s nature was apparently one of considerable strength of will, intense emotions, and a rather assertive disposition. Now, returning to the main story—as soon as Sayoko learned that Haruichi was about to abandon her, she submitted a fierce protest. Naturally, it was directed at Haruichi. The details remain unclear due to lack of evidence, but according to the letters she left behind, she adopted a rather vehement attitude. The letters addressed to Haruichi from Sayoko, later submitted to the court as reference material, indeed vividly convey the feelings of a woman now on the verge of being cast aside.

Naturally, following the expected progression, she first made desperate efforts to somehow bring back the heart of the man who was trying to leave her. Several of these emotionally laden letters had been sent to Haruichi. When the two of them met, they had likely adopted this kind of attitude.

However, several letters sent after about twenty days had passed showed a considerable change in content. Having finally realized it was hopeless, she had fallen into a state of desperate resignation. In these, her resentment toward the man was depicted with profound depth. I do not believe Haruichi preserved all of Sayoko’s letters from this period—those containing numerous criticisms of his attitude—in their entirety. He would have undoubtedly destroyed anything unfavorable to himself. Therefore, since the letters I saw were only some of them—and those that do not clearly show the man’s poor behavior—the actual ones must have been far more vehement.

However, Sayoko’s letters around mid-November once again showed a change. This may have been a natural progression, but by this time she seemed to have reached a resolute decision—threatening letters were sent to Haruichi. To put it plainly: if Haruichi were to go through with marrying the professor’s daughter, she would personally appear before them and reveal everything, thereby ensuring the engagement’s collapse. This became her central declaration—that no matter what transpired, she would never permit their marriage to proceed undisturbed. Frequently written phrases included demands about how he intended to handle the child in her womb; declarations that while she might perish as she was, she wouldn’t die alone—she would certainly kill him first; and vows to curse him throughout her life.

In the final letter she sent to Haruichi, she had written something to this effect: specifying a certain date, time, and location, demanding that he meet her without fail—and warning that if he failed to comply, she could not be held responsible for what might happen. When a woman who truly loves a man with all her heart to the point of death is betrayed by him, whether such an attitude on her part is indeed natural or not—this is something I would rather ask you all. As I mentioned earlier, since Sayoko’s psychological state at this time was debated in court, considering such matters could hardly be considered superfluous for a legal professional.

V

The tragedy finally occurred on the night of November 22nd, the very day she had designated for their meeting.

Haruichi, alarmed by Sayoko's letter, met her that evening at a designated location in the suburbs. They reportedly walked around the area for about thirty minutes afterward. To discuss matters in detail, the two then took a taxi to a place called M—located approximately three ri (twelve kilometers) from Tokyo—and entered the N Hotel there. What they discussed and why they specifically went to the N Hotel before arriving—of course, no one besides those two could know such things. Therefore, after Sayoko's death, there remained no choice but to base matters on Haruichi's testimony alone—whether one believed it or not.

The two arrived at N Hotel by taxi just before seven o’clock in the evening. During their happier times, they had frequented N Hotel often, so the hotel employees remembered them well. When questioned, the hotel employees confirmed that their arrival time was indeed just before seven o'clock.

There, the two immediately reserved a room. The hotel had provided them with Room 7—a corner room on the lower floor—but since neither Haruichi nor Sayoko had mentioned anything about their departure time at that point, the hotel staff naturally assumed the two would be staying there that night.

For about an hour after that, there was no way for outsiders to know what the two of them discussed or did. At first, they had ordered whiskey and soda water, so the staff member brought whiskey, soda water, and two glasses—and that was all.

Just after eight o'clock, a laundry woman happened to pass through the garden outside Room 7. However, from inside came the sound of a man and a woman arguing violently. Since the argument sounded quite serious (the laundry woman explained), she quietly moved closer beneath the window. The room had its shutters closed, but the light inside allowed a partial view of the interior.

Regarding the situation at that time, the laundry woman has stated as follows. “The shutters were closed but not lowered, so with the light inside, I could see into the room fairly well.” “A young man and woman were standing facing each other about three feet apart.” “Both of them seemed extremely agitated.” Then the woman suddenly, “Now that it’s come to this... I’ll kill you!”

As she said this, she grabbed the whiskey bottle beside her and tried to hurl it at the man. The man seemed to suddenly lunge at the woman to seize the bottle, but as the woman appeared to be exerting all her strength, the man too looked desperate. As I gasped in shock, suddenly the man—

“You bastard, I’ll kill you!” He shouted—though I couldn’t tell which arm it was—and seemed to grab the woman by the neck before throwing her down with all his might. Terrified, I fled from the spot toward the corridor and was about to call for help when I heard a violent clang of metal striking something inside the room. “I frantically ran over and told the bellboy.”

The bellboy who heard the emergency ran to Room 7 and knocked on the door, but it was locked from the inside and would not open. As he was wondering what to do, there came a lock sound from within, and the door opened by itself. With his hair disheveled and his tie half-torn, Haruichi stood silent. Then he pointed to one side.

Where he pointed, the gas stove was burning, and Sayoko lay there with the stove as her pillow. The area around her head was covered in blood. Haruichi showed no signs of fleeing or attempting suicide and remained in the room with utmost calm, waiting for the officials to arrive.

VI From this point onward, matters became highly legalistic. Following standard procedure, both the preliminary judge and I—serving as prosecutor at the time—immediately rushed to the scene. The compulsory disposition was executed under the preliminary judge’s orders, and an investigation into Sayoko’s cause of death along with other procedures was soon conducted. Sayoko had been quite beautiful, her hair arranged to cover her ears, with a somewhat robust physique. Severe compression marks remained on her throat, but the fatal injury proved to be a contusion on the back of her head—death resulted not from external bleeding but rather from cerebral concussion.

In other words, it was determined that when violently shoved by Haruichi, the moment she fell onto her back, her head struck the steel of a large gas stove positioned against the wall with tremendous force, resulting in instant death.

Later, Haruichi stated to me as follows: “When rumors spread that I was to marry the daughter of Dr. S, a legal scholar, Sayoko initially sent me frequent letters, saying things like she couldn’t believe it and didn’t want to believe it.” “However, after some time had passed, she suddenly began sending threatening letters.” “And when we met again—the meeting place wasn’t fixed—she would say the same kinds of things.” “In other words, if I were to leave Sayoko as things were, she would not withdraw silently—she would surely take revenge. As her first act, she said she would take all the many letters I had sent her to Dr. S’s household and expose everything.”

"In response to this, I never gave a clear answer. Of course, had she carried out what she threatened, I would have been in serious trouble—and back then, if I'd carelessly said the wrong thing, there was no telling what Sayoko might actually do."

"In essence, Sayoko was what you'd call a quintessential café girl through and through." "She never gave a damn about men." "So there's no way she could've been genuinely in love with me." "If she'd really loved me, she wouldn't have sent those threatening letters in the first place." "I bitterly regret ever getting tangled up with that woman now." "Even if you want to call it a marriage promise, it was obviously just some careless joke." "Anyone with an ounce of common sense would understand that." "There was never any possibility of me actually marrying a woman like her." "I did indeed send those letters you've seen." "But those were just the sort of empty gestures café patrons make when playing romantic games with the girls—neither of us took any of it seriously."

“As for the child she claims is mine—of course there’s no way to know whose it really is. To believe every child conceived by geishas or café girls is one’s own—only a truly foolish man would do such a thing.”

“To put it plainly—since they were who they were, I became who I was.” “That said, I never believed someone from a family like mine could cleanly break things off with a café girl.” “I’d always assumed I’d have to pay some amount eventually.” “But given how viciously they came at me this time, I deliberately avoided mentioning money myself.” “This might sound like baseless conjecture—and I apologize—but those frequent threatening letters might not have been Sayoko’s idea alone.” “I’ve never met him, but they say she’s got some ill-tempered brother working at a garage—probably his doing.” “That bastard was pulling her strings from behind.” “Someone like me makes easy prey, you see.”

As the threatening language in the letters grew increasingly severe, and on the other hand, my marriage plans were gradually taking shape, I found myself compelled to deal with the woman. “Then this time, Sayoko came to me saying something like, ‘If you don’t take care of the child, I’ll be in trouble.’”

It was around mid-November.

I thought to myself that it had finally come. Of course, it was about the severance payment. And then there was the child support. Though I couldn't quite gauge how much Sayoko would demand. At the same time, I felt greatly relieved on my part. If I just paid up, things would be settled—Father would surely provide a substantial amount of money in this situation. I thought that by doing so, matters would be settled fairly smoothly.

The subsequent letter from Sayoko did not mention a single word about money. Even she must have felt some hesitation. Yet whenever she requested to meet—and we did meet—she would bring up money in no uncertain terms. On one occasion, she finally named her price: one thousand yen as severance pay, and two thousand yen upfront for child support. "I knew the amount could be negotiated down, but when I told her I couldn't produce such sums on such short notice, she left that day without giving a proper answer—just walked away."

What do you think? Whether for better or worse, Haruichi’s feelings toward the café girl were nothing if not thorough, wouldn’t you agree? He simply reduces everything to absurd simplicity in his thinking. Though of course, how much truth resides in Haruichi’s testimony up to this point remains an entirely separate question.

Now, regarding the events of the crime day, he proceeds to describe them as follows. “The last letter from Sayoko, as you can see, simply says there’s an urgent matter and asks me to come to a certain place—this was sent via special delivery.” “I finally headed out to settle the negotiation.” “As part of that severance payment, I would give her five hundred yen, so I called Café Palloma from another location and asked her to bring the letters I had sent.” (Since she was at the café at that time.)

I arrived at the designated location around six in the evening. She must have managed to leave the café somehow. After that, we walked through the woods and trampled through the wild grass while discussing various matters, but she persistently fixated on the issue of money. As it was getting dark and cold, it was decided that we would talk at the N Hotel we often frequented. Of course, I intended to return immediately once the negotiation was settled.

We arrived around seven in the evening. At the hotel that knew us beforehand, they promptly guided us to Room 7, which was available. At any rate, I thought that today I would settle things clearly once and for all, so to bolster my courage, I ordered whiskey. Since I knew Sayoko drank alcohol, I also ordered carbonated water.

After the whiskey arrived, I gulped down three glasses straight. Sayoko also mixed whiskey into her carbonated water and drank it. She was a woman who handled both alcohol and cigarettes without hesitation. From this, you should have largely grasped her nature.

After that, we sat facing each other and talked for about an hour, but during this time, nearly all of Sayoko’s conversation was dominated by money and other material concerns. In other words, she was trying to squeeze out even a little extra. For her, this was natural enough, but her attitude at that time was no different from that of a prostitute’s—there wasn’t a trace of demeanor toward a man to whom she had supposedly offered even a shred of love or romance. In this way, over the course of about an hour, Sayoko cried, threatened me, and put on all sorts of acts. Since it would disadvantage me to break things off first, I tried to settle matters as peacefully as possible through coaxing and persuasion.

"I stated that I absolutely could not pay more than a thousand yen—since I was giving half even now, she should hand over the letters I had sent." However, since she said, "Anyway, I’ll take the five hundred yen for now," I handed over the five hundred yen still in its envelope and demanded she give me the letters, to which she replied, "I don’t have them now." "This goes against our agreement," leading to a fierce argument. Then her eyes finally blazed as she snapped, "You think I’ll let some greenhorn like you mock me? To hell with all of this!" "I’ll kill you!" While shouting this, she grabbed the nearby whiskey bottle and swung at me. I was startled and grabbed her arm, so a fierce fight broke out.

"No, it was not a threat. I truly believe that Sayoko intended to kill me. At that time too, I naturally believed that. So I was startled and, I believe, shouted, 'You're trying to kill me?!' 'I absolutely have no recollection of ever saying, "I'll kill you!"' 'If there is anyone who claims to have heard me say such a thing, they are mistaken.' Once we began grappling, she frantically clung to me, so I tried to pull Sayoko away, but as she clung on with all her strength, I had no choice but to grab her neck from below with my right hand and push her off. At that moment, how violently Sayoko lashed out at me should be evident from the scars on my arm, as you can plainly see. So in a fit of anger, while grabbing Sayoko's neck, I shoved her forward with all my strength, and with that momentum, she staggered unsteadily and fell onto her back. In an instant, her head struck the blazing gas stove; with a clang, she let out an eerie scream and fell motionless."

“I must state clearly that I had not the slightest intention of killing her. “I have no recollection of ever saying I would kill her, nor did I have any intention to kill her. “I would gain nothing from killing her. “No—if I could have killed Sayoko without anyone discovering it, that would be one thing. But even leaving a single mark on her would have risked exposing everything. “I have therefore never once thought of killing Sayoko. “If I had intended to kill her, why would I have needed to go to a hotel? “I could have just strangled her in that suburban grassland and been done with it. “It was truly my act of defending myself and lashing out in anger that caused this accident. “And I believe that having drunk a considerable amount of whiskey at the time was also a mistake.”

What Suyama Haruichi related to me was essentially as outlined above. While the wording naturally differed across contexts—the police station, prosecutor’s office, preliminary hearing, and public trial—the legal substance remained entirely consistent.

7

In legal terms, Suyama Haruichi clearly explained the motive for his crime, absolutely denied any intent to kill, and acknowledged his awareness of having committed assault. However, regarding his own violence, he argued for some degree of self-defense while also claiming that due to having consumed large amounts of whiskey at the time of the offense, he was not in a normal psychological state.

On the other hand, the autopsy results clearly showed that Sayoko’s death had a direct cause in Haruichi’s violent acts.

If I omit the detailed points of the investigation, I determined that Haruichi should be indicted under the charge of Crime of Causing Death Through Injury and immediately transferred the case to the preliminary judge. Of course, I did not simply indict him based solely on the defendant’s testimony. I conducted various investigations, but as they are unnecessary, I shall refrain from detailing them here beyond what I have already stated.

Haruichi was granted bail during the preliminary hearing, but the public trial did not commence until January of the following year. Even during the public trial, the defendant’s pleas remained unchanged from before. The trial proceeded without any major upheaval, and soon the time came for me to recommend a sentence.

I first outlined the sequence of events and clearly demonstrated the unambiguous nature of the crime. While I did not perceive any murderous intent on the defendant's part—this does not mean I uncritically accepted all his statements—it was absolutely inconceivable to regard this as legitimate self-defense as he claimed. Furthermore, considering the defendant's habitual alcohol consumption patterns, I found it implausible that he had been in such a confused mental state at the time; consequently, I maintained that he must bear responsibility for the Crime of Causing Death Through Injury. I then addressed mitigating circumstances: even if we were to accept all of the defendant's appeals as truthful, his conduct remained fundamentally incompatible with moral principles. Regardless of what sort of woman she might have been, the defendant's treatment of her demonstrated gross irresponsibility toward a female counterpart. Moreover, there exists no verifiable account of what discussions transpired between victim and defendant during the approximately two hours preceding the crime that evening. To be sure, the surviving letters indicate that the victim had repeatedly threatened the defendant. However, this does not permit us to conclude that on the day in question, the victim pressured him in precisely the manner he described. Furthermore, while the defendant insists that she demanded a severance payment, no such request appears in any of the extant correspondence. Admittedly, this scenario seems superficially plausible. But who can assert that mere plausibility constitutes proof? The defendant cites his bringing five hundred yen to the hotel that day as evidence of compliance with her demands. Yet investigation records show he customarily carried sums of three hundred or five hundred yen—this fact alone cannot substantiate his claim.

Moreover, among the letters addressed to the defendant from the victim, while there were those that proved extremely disadvantageous to her as outlined above, there were also a considerable number that could be recognized as showing her to have been a person of pure heart. Could we truly view this solely as the woman’s schemes, as the defendant claimed? First and foremost, would a nineteen-year-old girl who was genuinely in love with a young man and found herself in a position akin to the victim’s have taken the kind of attitude that Sayoko did? In other words, could we determine whether Sayoko had truly been in love with the defendant based on her having sent him threatening letters? In determining these matters, I would ask the judge to give them profound consideration; however, as I had previously stated, even if we were to accept that the victim had indeed been the kind of woman the defendant described, the defendant’s conduct would still remain unforgivable. Therefore, as the defendant’s actions clearly corresponded to the crime stipulated in Article 205 of the Penal Code and there were absolutely no extenuating circumstances, I deemed it necessary to impose an actual sentence and thus sought a three-year prison term for the defendant.

In response to this, Defense Attorneys A and B presented their arguments, but the two arguments were almost identical in substance. They took the forefront in arguing for acquittal. They asserted that the defendant’s actions clearly constituted self-defense. "The woman called Sayoko was not one to be handled through ordinary means, as evidenced by the threatening letters she sent to the defendant; moreover, on that night, there was someone other than the defendant who heard her say, 'I’ll kill you!'" (The laundry woman had appeared as a witness) and testified to seeing her raise a whiskey bottle; they therefore stated that had the defendant remained passive, he would surely have been killed. They further argued that a nineteen-year-old woman was by no means incapable of killing a young man through physical force, corroborating this by citing numerous instances where glass bottles filled with liquid had indeed served as murder weapons, thereby vigorously asserting the defendant’s innocence.

Opening with "Even if we were to deem him guilty," they then retreated to a secondary line of defense, vigorously advocating for leniency through arguments about extenuating circumstances. In particular, Defense Attorney A—expressing regret over holding views diametrically opposed to the prosecutor's—proceeded to articulate positions directly contradicting my own. He mercilessly disparaged Sayoko's character before concluding that the defendant had fallen victim to her machinations, asserting that letters penned by some café waitress deserved no credence—being either naive outpourings or cunningly crafted traps. They summarily dismissed this notion and further contended that a woman truly in love who had been abandoned might commit suicide, but would never resort to threats. Declaring they could readily resolve the prosecutor's doubts, they proclaimed: "A woman who sends such threatening letters could never have genuinely cared for the man." "If truly enamored, she would have been incapable of such conduct." Though delivering lengthy disquisitions on romantic psychology—and though the prosecutor had cast doubt on her financial motives—they maintained that a woman of such disreputable character would naturally prioritize monetary gain. "As for why Sayoko composed those threatening letters—they were plainly preliminary maneuvers toward this pecuniary resolution. That a prosecutor of your acumen failed to perceive this ill becomes your office," they jeered. Regarding whether threats were actually uttered that night: "On this point, as the prosecutor himself acknowledges, 'Only the defendant and victim could know.'" "While the prosecutor argues 'None can definitively claim she issued threats that night merely because she sent letters,' we counter: how can one presume she refrained from threatening language during their meeting simply because written threats existed? To conclude—had Sayoko harbored no intention of financial negotiation, what conceivable reason would she have had to lure the defendant out that night? Even Sayoko, after dispatching multiple threats, would not have visited that hotel intending to revisit fond memories." They further emphasized that since this incident occurred, "the defendant has already endured sufficient social condemnation." They insisted there remained no justification for seeking an actual prison term and fervently petitioned for a suspended sentence to be imposed.

The verdict was handed down one week later. The court recognized the defendant’s guilt (on this point, it shared the prosecutor’s view), sentenced him to a two-year prison term, but suspended the execution of the sentence for five years (this appears to have accommodated the defense’s argument), and thus handed down its ruling.

Thus, the incident that had once stirred public attention came to an end, and Haruichi ended up avoiding being sentenced to actual imprisonment. Needless to say, the engagement in question was called off, and there were reportedly brief newspaper accounts at the time stating he would lay low for a while and soon travel abroad to let public attention subside.

Now, due to circumstances, I resigned from my position as prosecutor in June of that year and moved to my current profession. Since I had handled various cases during my time as a prosecutor, Suyama Haruichi's case had long since faded from my mind.

Then, before I knew it, the day came when his name resurfaced in my mind. Here are two newspaper clippings. This is a portion of the society pages from a certain newspaper dated October 27 and 28 of that year.

The Mount H Tragedy

On the morning of X/X at around 8:00 a.m., a custodian from S Village office in the Mount H area of K Prefecture discovered what appeared to be an automobile half-submerged in S River about thirty meters below H National Highway while walking in the N direction on an errand. After hurriedly reporting this at the police box, officials and laborers descended to the cliff base and managed to pull the automobile up to S Riverbank by approximately 1:00 p.m. Upon inspection, they found inside a young gentleman with his head and face crushed and several other external injuries lying dead, though his identity remained under investigation. The driver’s seat had been almost completely crushed, with only what appeared to be the driver’s hunting cap remaining at the steering wheel; the driver’s body was nowhere to be found, and authorities were searching the river under the assumption that it had been washed away. This location formed the most dangerous sharp curve along the route, and though the prefecture had specifically marked it with warning signs, there were no recent reports of missing automobiles from the hot spring area near Mount H’s foothills. Investigators were currently examining whether a vehicle from the Tokyo area might have accidentally veered off the road and met with this disaster. (K Telephone)

Mangled Corpse Identified as Suyama Kenkichi’s Son The gentleman previously reported to have died in a fatal automobile crash on Mount H has been identified as Haruichi (26), the eldest son of Mr. Suyama Kenkichi. Haruichi was a man who had once become notorious for instigating a criminal incident; on the 25th of this month, he boarded a commercial vehicle from the nearby ○○ Taxi company (driver: Takatsuki Kiyoshi, 26 years old) at his home in XX Ward, XX Town, Tokyo City, drove to M Hot Springs at the mountain base, and in the evening hosted several geishas for entertainment at XX Pavilion in the same hot spring resort. Around ten o’clock that night, he departed under the pretext of visiting the lakeside hotel on Mount H; however, as it was reported that the driver Takatsuki Kiyoshi had also become heavily intoxicated that evening, investigators believe he lost control of the vehicle on the national highway at the cliff edge of the accident site, causing it to plunge down a ten-odd-fathom cliff into S River along with the automobile. Since only one automobile was recorded descending from the lakeside to the base that night—which encountered another vehicle ascending from approximately two kilometers below the scene—authorities estimate the accident likely occurred around 11:00 PM on the 25th. The automobile was nearly halved in the impact, and Suyama Haruichi is believed to have died instantaneously upon collision. Officials dispatched to the scene confirmed Haruichi’s body would undergo autopsy; however, the remains of driver Takatsuki, presumed to have shared this calamity, remained undiscovered.

According to the newspaper articles, Suyama Haruichi had fallen off a cliff in an automobile due to the driver’s error; the driver’s body had yet to be discovered, and it appeared that this commotion had only been noticed a day after the incident occurred.

However, the next day’s newspapers did not carry any articles about this incident. The day after that, and the day after that as well, the newspapers maintained complete silence regarding this incident. As you know, at that time, another XX incident had occurred, so the newspapers were filled with that event, and incidents like Suyama Haruichi’s suspicious death were quickly forgotten by the public. Having left the prosecutor’s office, I had lost the means to ascertain the truth about the suspicious death incident, but in reality, I was anxiously waiting, desperately wanting to know any detailed information. I desperately wanted to know what the autopsy results were and how the authorities viewed them, but as I was no longer a government official, I had no means to investigate.

Why was I so eager to learn the authorities' opinion? Was it merely out of curiosity? No, that was not the case.

At the end of that month, I received a strange letter. As you can see, there is no sender’s name on the envelope. Moreover, it had come from very far away.

Let me read it here now. I believed it would be of interest to you as well. And by reading this, you will understand why I had been so eager to learn about that Mount H suspicious death incident.

Having spoken thus, Mr. Tsuchida slowly opened an envelope and began to read.

8

Mr. Tsuchida Hachirou I beg your forgiveness for the rudeness of suddenly sending you this letter.

You are now the only person I can truly trust and to whom I can open my heart. And if I am not mistaken in my beliefs, you will understand my present feelings to some extent. I earnestly entreat this from the depths of my heart. I implore you to read through to the end. I—I shall later reveal who I am—wish to disclose in this letter a certain criminal act. However, before that, there is something I particularly must convey to you.

I am not a legal professional. No, I had never opened a single page of legal texts. At least not until the incident I am about to describe occurred. You are of course a legal professional. You were once a prosecutor and are now a defense attorney. In any case, you remain a legal professional through and through. Your entire life revolves around the law, doesn't it? You would claim the law exists to serve justice. But does the law truly stand with justice? Does it side with the righteous and consistently punish wrongdoing? Or does it instead disgrace those in the right for the sake of wrongdoers? No—isn't that how it always works?

In the former case, it is still somewhat acceptable. In this case, the righteous can cry out against the law’s unfairness. They can assert their own righteousness. Even if ultimately defeated, they should still be able to point out their opponent’s wrongdoing.

In the latter case, what then? What then of those who were right—to rephrase, those who were right during their lifetimes, that is, those already dead and voiceless—what are they to do? The wrongdoer who tormented and abused him (or she) has the means to defend themselves within the bounds permitted by law. But the dead have no voice. The dead, no matter how they are insulted or shamed, do not even possess a single means to defend themselves. The dead must remain silent even if whipped. Moreover, when those insults, those humiliations, those abusive words are legal, even if the corpse should rage enough to break out of its grave and leap up, it cannot utter a single word in its own defense. This is an obvious truth. But is this obvious truth truly correct? Is this state of affairs truly acceptable?

Is a corpse simply supposed to endure endless insults? "The dead can no longer be saved; even if it's someone who killed him or her, they're still human—you would want to at least save that criminal's life." If this is how you hold your esteemed view, then I despise you and curse the law from the depths of my heart. This I particularly wish to say because you are now a defense attorney: should a man here kill a woman and request your defense, you would naturally take every measure within the law's permitted bounds to save that criminal. When doing so "within the law's permitted bounds," would you vilify the victimized woman as if she were a demon? Must you denounce a chaste girl as a temptress, a pure woman as a demon, and an innocent flower-like maiden as a harlot?

Moreover, this pitiful, unfortunate girl—already lying in her grave and unable to utter a single word in defense of her position—must helplessly endure every cold insult and humiliation that lashes her corpse. Would you dare do such a thing?

"If you can answer 'Yes,' then I have nothing but contempt for you." The sole excuse granted to you in such circumstances would be the single phrase: 'because I am a defense attorney.' However, when even judicial officers—who are vital organs of the state—are believed to have acknowledged or tolerated these insults and slander, I cannot help but question where the dignity of the law resides. Even if there were any reason—even if it were to save a single human life (and moreover, that human is a wrongdoer)—if one were to slander a pure maiden as a demоnic apparition, insult a chaste woman as a witch, and furthermore proclaim this to the world through judicial verdict, where then can the law’s virtue or righteousness be found? Where does the law presume to represent justice?

To wrongly and excessively punish someone guilty is a far lesser sin than casting into hell the soul of a pitiful girl who ought to be in heaven. How much graver then becomes the sin when they go so far as to falsely condemn the soul of a pure maiden to hell in order to unjustly lighten the punishment of a criminal deserving severe penalty—this sin must truly be declared greater than murder itself.

You will likely say that such a thing cannot happen. I will state this clearly. I am well acquainted with such unfortunate incidents. I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears.

IX

By now, I believe you have realized who I am. I am Akita Kiyoshi—the biological brother of Akita Sayoko, whose tragically brief life ended so young—in relation to the defendant Suyama Haruichi whom you prosecuted during your tenure as a prosecutor. Though my parents have disowned me due to my shame-laden past, I still hold nothing but love for my sister. Unfortunately—yes, truly unfortunately—being unable to relinquish this earthly affection has compelled me to report a certain matter here.

To put it simply, My sister was a tragic woman—because I couldn’t get my own life in order, she was forced to sell herself to save our parents and support our younger siblings. Had I been even slightly more responsible back then, Sayoko would never have had to work in a café and meet such a tragic fate. That’s why I too bear responsibility for her death. When I think of this, I can’t help but feel that guarding my sister’s corpse is my duty as her elder brother.

I am one who, in the name of this sacred brotherly love for my sister, lodge a vehement protest against the nation's judgment.

Sayoko was a pure maiden. As I have stated, she sold herself for her parents and siblings. She had no choice but to do this to survive. She became a waitress at Café Palloma. Why must this sacrifice be insulted by the world? Who would willingly choose to become such a sacrifice? She had no choice but to do so. Are they saying the way she chose her sacrifice was foolish? If that's how you see it, then I say this: when people face starvation, they don't stop to consider wisdom or folly in their struggle to survive.

Thus she became a café waitress. To believe she had the cunning to manipulate men would be like believing the sun rises in the west. She met that bourgeois playboy just six months after starting work. I refuse to believe Sayoko transformed into some monstrous seductress in so short a time—no one knew her true nature better than I, her own brother. She remained pure to the last.

Who defiled this pure, innocent woman?

He was the nouveau riche playboy heir convinced that any woman’s chastity could be bought with sufficient money. What manner of man was he, truly? A profligate son who lived off his parents while neglecting his studies, bellowing through pleasure districts. Was it she who had seduced him, or he who had seduced her? Wasn’t the answer truly simple? Could it be considered so unnatural that a nineteen-year-old girl—inexperienced in worldly matters—had believed she might become his wife? That she had fallen in love with a beast like him was her misfortune, but it was no sin of hers. If any fault lay with her, it resided solely in her failure to heed the counsel of me, her brother.

Due to my own lack of credibility, I was seldom granted opportunities to meet with Sayoko; however, when I learned she had grown close to Haruichi, I tried with all my might to sway her feelings. Yet this ended in failure. This may have naturally ended in failure. For once a young woman falls in love with another man, she will not heed the advice of her own flesh-and-blood brother.

This was how I worried about Sayoko from afar while thinking of her.

When she learned Haruichi would abandon her, what sort of letter she sent him remains beyond my knowledge. Yet because she threatened Haruichi, how can anyone claim she never offered him her pure affection? Even if she spoke of the child in her womb, why should that be deemed unnatural? Why must that constitute extorting money? She must have thought of her poor parents back home—parents likely imagining her living in radiant happiness or perhaps as a contented married woman. And when she reflected on herself—pregnant with his child yet cast aside by that man, now forced to raise it alone—when she saw her own wretchedly lonely figure mirrored before her, what torment must she have endured? (O sister, why did you not speak a single word of this to your brother? Did you deem this brother so utterly unworthy of trust?)

Given that Sayoko found herself in such circumstances, was it unjust for her to threaten Haruichi? Was it unnatural? What would you have had her do in this situation? Would you have advised her to take her own life? Told her to withdraw in silence? What becomes of violated chastity? What becomes of the child growing in her womb? (No matter what anyone claims—that child was Haruichi's.)

Was the attitude she took not the most courageous and righteous possible for a woman? The words Sayoko wrote in those letters were no threats. I cannot say how legal professionals might interpret them, but I believe them to be words of truth. They constitute the natural right of violated chastity to demand accountability from its violator. No—they were nothing less than a mother's sacred duty toward the child growing in her own womb.

I refuse to believe that Sayoko ever mentioned a thousand-yen severance payment. But even had she done so, why should that be considered unjust? The pitiable Sayoko never spoke of money at all. She struggled until the very end to reclaim that man's heart. She must have exhausted every futile effort to prevent their relationship from rupturing.

As one piece of evidence, let me present the express letter she sent last.

Why did she not use the telephone? In this day and age, as long as there was a telephone in the other party's household, where was the need to entrust urgent matters to express mail? Probably, even if she had called, Haruichi must have arranged not to answer—but if Sayoko had truly intended to take revenge on him, could she not have used the telephone to speak with anyone in the Suyama household? The fact that she did not take this step stands as clear evidence that she preserved her feminine dignity.

Of course, no one besides them could know what the two of them discussed in the outskirts on the day that tragedy occurred. However, the monetary demand was of course a lie. The five hundred yen Haruichi brought was, just as you pointed out in court, nothing more than the man’s trick. You stated that the defendant had no intent to kill, but on what grounds can you assert that he harbored no such intent? You, as a legal professional, may be constrained to think in such rigid terms, but I am free to consider matters without such limitations.

You would argue that no murder motive can be recognized in the defendant. Indeed, as the defendant claimed, escalating matters would have been detrimental. However, it is not inconceivable that he could commit murder without being convicted of the crime and even gain something in return. Who can definitively state there was no motive that remains hidden from the world? The breaking of his engagement and his social reputation (though such a beast should have no reputation to speak of)—could it not be thought that sacrificing even these held greater significance for him than either gaining something or escaping from Sayoko?

I myself cannot definitively state that as a murder case due to a lack of conclusive evidence. However, there are ample grounds to believe so.

Haruichi had known about the hotel’s layout beforehand. Suppose he saw the stove after entering the hotel room. He could have deliberately angered Sayoko. Suppose he provoked her to lay hands on him, then slammed her into the stove he had targeted beforehand. This differed only in method from strangling her to death. It was a proper murder.

Why on earth did Haruichi need to bring Sayoko to the hotel? It was to have it classified as the crime of causing death through injury. As he himself stated—if he had truly intended to kill Sayoko, could he not have done so even out in the grasslands? (That’s the kind of trick he’d claim.) I do not think so. If Sayoko’s body had been discovered in those grasslands, he would undoubtedly have been convicted of murder. He had people nearby and wanted them to hear the woman berating him. He wanted others to witness her fury as plainly as possible. And thus he deftly succeeded in that scheme.

Suyama Haruichi possessed the cunning to mercilessly toy with a virgin, kill her afterward, and still secure a suspended sentence. It appears he was scheming for acquittal should circumstances allow.

"You will surely say: ‘Then why didn’t you come forward then? Why didn’t you voice those arguments?’ I cannot but scorn such naivety. Nothing in this world is more perilous than the law—once mishandled, there’s no predicting by what means it might rebound upon you."

I am a scoundrel. I am a certified scoundrel. I also have a prior gambling conviction. If I, of all people, were to appear before you all as a witness, what effect could there possibly be? And so, I am the victim’s flesh-and-blood brother. It would only be natural to speak in her defense. Moreover, even if I were to stand as a witness myself, I cannot recount a single concrete fact—and given that, there’s no telling what horrors I might suffer by falling into those defense attorneys’ cunning schemes.

I had already ceased to believe in the law by that time. Thus, however reluctantly, I found myself compelled to obscure my whereabouts for a period.

Ten What truly compelled me to carry out a certain plan was the atmosphere of that courtroom.

I was secretly among the spectators at that time. I shall refrain from describing that utterly loathsome courtroom scene here once again at this late hour. But what was I forced to witness and hear there? I once read a novel where a certain writer, from the perspective of a criminal case victim’s biological relative, became indignant upon hearing how easily the perpetrator had died and submitted a letter of protest. But in my case, it was far, far worse.

I saw the criminal escape punishment. (A suspended sentence is no different from acquittal.)

And so I had to listen as they continued to vilify and attack the girl who had been mercilessly manipulated and then brutally murdered. Have you ever once imagined the feelings of a flesh-and-blood brother forced to sit there listening as his sister—already murdered—was then relentlessly humiliated in court, bombarded with slander and fabrications so vile they would make even a tombstone shudder with tears of grief and outrage? Moreover, the very purpose of those insults was to obtain forgiveness for the villain. And yet, though those words came from defense attorneys whose profession is defending the accused, the state’s verdict endorsed them. In that verdict—why on earth did it state the defendant would receive a suspended sentence? Though phrased with utmost euphemism, did it not splendidly omit these very circumstances?

The verdict was unjust. The verdict stood incompatible with justice. My sister likely lies in her grave now, choking back tears of grief and outrage. I had believed you would promptly file an appeal with that same resolve you'd boldly declared in court. Yet you, contrary to that earlier fervor, let the judgment become final. No wonder—you weren't Sayoko's brother after all.

Eleven The fundamental reason the state prohibits private vengeance is that it operates under the premise—yes, it must be just—of delivering just judgment in place of the victim. If the state, through intent or negligence, fails in its duty—staining the innocent while leaving the guilty unpunished—must those who were pure still remain silent and endure?

I do not think so. I believe those who were killed while remaining pure may punish the wrongdoers. No—it is the right of those who remained pure. Truly, that is the right of the dead.

I resolved to take revenge. I resolved to settle matters with Haruichi in my sister’s place. No matter what it took, I resolved that I would surely avenge my sister. And through a particular method! “Haruichi used the law to escape.” “Then I too shall use the law to evade responsibility,” for this would serve as fitting retribution—both against Haruichi himself and against the law as an institution.

In other words, I must kill Haruichi and devise a method that will never be adjudicated as a murder case.

From that moment on, I devoured legal texts. I especially read the Penal Code. And so, I finally arrived at a certain plan.

I had to first get close to Haruichi. For this purpose, I possessed the advantage that my face remained unknown. How was I to approach him? I resolved to utilize my profession. First and foremost, I needed to assume a pseudonym and secure employment at an automobile company. To achieve this, I would have to forge or alter a driver’s license. This was undeniably criminal, yet trivial compared to the capital offense of murder. Thus did this scheme meet with splendid success—I came into full possession of a Class A automobile driver’s license under the name Takatsuki Kiyoshi.

The first thing I considered was becoming the chauffeur for the Suyama family’s private automobile, but this was far too reckless. I therefore investigated which automobile service the family used when going out while the Suyama family head was away in his private car, and determined that they frequented XX Taxi—an automobile company near their residence that exclusively stocked luxury cars. I bided my time. A pseudonym becomes more likely to be exposed the longer time passes. Even if I were recklessly hired by XX Taxi, should my identity be exposed before any opportunity arose to approach Haruichi, my carefully laid plans would be all for naught. I had been observing the situation for some time.

Even Haruichi, perhaps mindful of appearances, did not go out much that spring. Early summer arrived amidst this, and it was around that time he finally began going out. Perhaps his conscience was pricking him, for when he began going out again, he had become an oddly gloomy man—but his destinations were now the pleasure quarters. Deeming the time right, I moved into XX Taxi and began serving the Suyama household—taking advantage of a driver having just left.

Of course, it wasn't just Haruichi alone. Kenkichi's wife also rode. However, it was mostly Haruichi who rode. Whenever a call came from the Suyama household, even if it was another driver's turn, I would adjust things to make sure I could go myself. Thus on summer evenings like these, I would drive Buicks and Nashes—by day to Akasaka, by night to Yanagibashi, Mukojima, and Shinbashi—carrying that murderous playboy in my car.

Twelve

The opportunity did not come easily. In the heart of Greater Tokyo, devising a way to commit murder through my profession—one that would let me either escape entirely or avoid murder charges even if apprehended—was no simple matter. I endured with relentless patience, driving him—Haruichi—through the city in the car I controlled. By midsummer, I had expected Haruichi to retreat to mountains or seaside, but whether from social anxiety or not—even when his family departed for I Hot Springs—he ventured nowhere. This indicated he was avoiding public spaces where he might openly encounter society. Yet paradoxically, he continued his nightly carousing without restraint.

In the midst of this, rumors began circulating that Haruichi would take an overseas trip. If he were to leave Japan, all would be lost. No matter what it took, I had to take him down while he remained in Japan. I was beside myself with anxiety.

Summer had passed, and autumn winds began to blow. The rumors of an overseas trip sounded increasingly plausible. I even heard concrete details about whether he would board the late November ship or not. Yet for some reason, it was said Haruichi himself remained reluctant about the journey abroad. Now that I reflect on it, he seemed burdened by some unspoken trouble—since early autumn, his complexion had progressively lost its vitality, or so it appeared.

Then, in late September, there was suddenly a request for a car from the Suyama household. Unfortunately, that day I had taken other customers elsewhere, and when I returned, the car I had driven out had not yet come back. When I inquired of the driver who had finally returned at night, it appeared that Haruichi had taken a long drive that day to K in K Prefecture, where he went into a restaurant and got terribly drunk, and that the driver had considerable difficulty getting him into the car on the return trip.

I thought I'd messed up. I had let slip the perfect opportunity. Still, I felt there would be more opportunities.

Thirteen

On the night of October 24th, the telephone suddenly started ringing fiercely. When I hurriedly picked up the receiver, it was a call from Suyama. Moreover, Haruichi himself was on the line, requesting that a car be sent over early the next morning for a drive. With my heart pounding, I took the opportunity to ask about the destination and learned it was M Hot Springs at the foot of H Mountain. I immediately said, "Thank you," and hung up the phone.

Never before had I felt such gratitude as in that moment. The opportunity had come. Moreover, as for M Hot Springs at H Mountain—that road I knew well. While the road to M Hot Springs wasn’t ideal for a crime, once there, I could surely lure him to the upper lakeside.

I spent that night almost without sleeping a wink.

The morning of the 25th arrived. I made preparations to carry out my long-standing plan. As for preparations, it was merely a matter of bringing an extra set of clothes to wear and one additional hat. As for the remaining cash, I pocketed all of it. And then around nine in the morning, I withdrew a box-shaped Nash. At the Suyama residence's entrance, when I notified them of my arrival, after being made to wait for some time, Haruichi finally emerged. This was somewhat unusual—the impatient Haruichi had never once made the car wait before. So, while waiting outside, I even began to fear that perhaps the M-bound trip had been canceled.

Perhaps because I harbored such an extraordinary plan in my heart, Haruichi’s face that day appeared strangely severe to me. If I were to put it in slightly exaggerated terms, one could call it a look of grim determination. In any case, he looked different from his usual self. However, of course, this must have appeared so because my state of mind was not normal. He had no idea who I was—let alone could he have known about my plan.

With him aboard, I left Greater Tokyo.

Hoping that I myself would never again return to the capital holding such unpleasant memories, while resolving that Haruichi would never again behold the capital!

Around three in the afternoon, the car safely reached its destination. In any case, for a crime—especially the terrible crime I was about to commit—I had to wait for night to fall. I stopped the car in front of a place called XX-ya exactly as Haruichi commanded.

Then, just past six o'clock, Haruichi suddenly appeared at the inn’s entrance. I was somewhat taken aback, but he did not return; instead, he had the car driven about five blocks further up to a ryokan and restaurant called XX-rou. Autumn days are quick to fade. I was watching the sky while eating dinner at that house. The twilight in an onsen town has a strangely human atmosphere to it, as you are well aware. However, realizing I now had to carry out this grave act, I cast aside all sentimental feelings and began my preparations—in this case, the first step was to drink sake. You must remember how Haruichi once tried to use whiskey consumption as grounds to absolve himself of culpability. My method bears some resemblance. And just as with Haruichi’s case, drinking two or three go of sake left me entirely unaffected.

I drank sake as conspicuously as possible in front of as many people as possible. While listening to Haruichi making a chaotic uproar by gathering geisha upstairs,

“Driver, are you really all right drinking that much? Will the road be safe?” I clearly heard someone say. This should suffice to ensure my drinking sake left a strong impression on those present.

Past ten o’clock, Haruichi came out to the entrance looking frail. When I immediately tried to descend the mountain, he— “We’re not going back. “We’re going up—drive full speed to Lakeside!”

he said. Everything is being guided by my sister beneath the earth. In response to the command, I reversed the car’s direction.

Are you familiar with the geography of that area? The path to the lakeside consists entirely of steep slopes that curve left and right. And beside it, the raging torrent of the S River churns against the rocks as it flows. The road was generally about five and a half meters wide. And with each step upward, the bank of the S River gradually descended beneath the cliff. During the day, there were indeed many automobiles and pedestrians traveling back and forth between the lakeside and the hot springs below, but at this time of year—not even summer—no one unless they were particularly eccentric would have been driving around near ten o'clock at night.

After departing, about twenty minutes passed when I encountered a single truck coming from above; after that, I didn’t meet anyone else.

A moonless, starless night. The area was all mountains; on one side of the road stood a sheer cliff several meters high, while the other side was densely overgrown with pampas grass as tall as a person. And now, there remained not a single other soul in this scene apart from Haruichi and me.

To commit murder—what an opportune place and time this is.

I climbed and climbed. The destination was the highest cliff. There, the road formed nearly right angles, twisting sharply. If you stand at that spot during the day, you can look down over the entire lake spread out below. I had been targeting this spot all along. When I came about three cho short of that spot and peered inside the car, Haruichi had collapsed onto the cushion and was sleeping. This situation was not something I had accounted for in my plan. Upon seeing this, I realized with some surprise that everything was going smoothly. I stopped the car momentarily, quickly changed my clothes, and swapped my hat. And then I placed the clothes and hat I had been wearing up until then on the driver’s seat. As you have no doubt surmised, I first confirmed that there was no one around, set the car in motion, and then intended to swiftly leap out alone.

However, if Haruichi were to notice that I had leapt out and jumped down himself, it would all come to nothing—so I peered into the car. I changed clothes and was about to set the car in motion when I saw Haruichi’s ugly, drunkenly collapsed face. Would killing him like this truly constitute revenge? Is it acceptable to kill him without his knowledge? Would my sister be satisfied with that? I was overcome with such extreme hatred that I nearly vomited. Just as I was about to drive off with a roar, I suddenly reached out from my seat and shoved him. I struck him. And then,

“Wake up!” I shouted. Even so, he appeared to have grasped something, groaning, “It hurts... Water... water...”

He groaned. Giving water to a drunkard might be standard practice, but even so, with his life about to be taken, he’s an absurdly carefree bastard. I abruptly set the car in motion and at the same time, “If you wanna drink, I’ll give you all you want right now. Hey, Suyama! I’m Sayoko’s brother, you get that?!”

I shouted as I nimbly leapt down beside the car. The moment he heard this, he abruptly tried to lunge at me and rise up, but collapsed heavily inside the vehicle. It was truly an impression lasting but an instant.

The car accelerated and drove off.

It was an uncannily eerie few seconds. Even though the entire surroundings were pitch black, only the scenery illuminated by the headlights was as bright as daytime. And while unfolding that scene, the pitch-black monster roared and charged forward with a thunderous noise.

The recoil threw me momentarily onto the earth, but lying prostrate, I kept my eyes fixed on the direction where the automobile was speeding away. What if Haruichi were to leap out before the car plunged over the cliff? What if he opened the door and emerged? If so, there would be no choice but to rush over and push him off the precipice. The automobile advanced with a roar like that of a wild beast. Those few seconds were truly breathless.

The midday-bright scene advanced steadily forward. It had formed a perfect triangle. Gradually, the triangle grew smaller. As I watched, the illuminated dirt road abruptly grew shorter ahead. In the blink of an eye, the car seemed to reach the cliff's edge—whereupon the surroundings, bright until that moment, suddenly plunged into darkness as an uncanny light radiated toward the opposite sky. But that too lasted only an instant. I believe I heard glass shattering in that moment. At the same time, I believe I heard Haruichi's scream.

In the next instant, the car lurched forward with a roar, and before I could even register that the rear wheels had lifted, the world suddenly plunged into darkness. I regained my senses and leapt up. Looking down from the cliff edge, all that could be heard was the thunderous roar of the raging rapids below. I knelt there. And there in the darkness, I called out my sister's name again and again.

Fourteen

I came out to the lakeside and arrived at K Station on the T Line on the opposite shore through the night. And so, without arousing anyone’s suspicion, I finally boarded the T Line and have now come to a port at the edge of Japan.

Simultaneous with sending this letter to you, I will immediately board a ship and depart Japan. First, I will depart for S Port, and from there, I intend to wander wherever my feet may take me. I have narrated at great length, but finally, I have one special request to make of you—of you as a lawyer.

I will likely not be arrested. However, should I be captured, I earnestly wish to impose upon your assistance. I have committed murder. But where exists evidence proving this as murder?

Certainly, if it becomes known that I am Sayoko's brother, a motive could be found there.

However, that motive alone cannot serve as evidence—this is something you, as a legal professional, are undoubtedly aware of. If I am arrested, I intend to answer as follows: "I truly have no excuse, but being rather fond of drink, I had consumed a considerable amount of sake at ×× Hall. That was my mistake. Though I believed myself unaffected, it seems the intoxication took hold nonetheless, and along the way I became quite disoriented. Looking back now, there appears to have been some mechanical issue with the car, but whether from drunkenness or not, I failed to notice it. Only when reaching that location did I realize the steering wheel had gone terribly awry. In an instant, the cliff loomed before me. I leapt out almost instinctively. I have no recollection whatsoever of how I opened the door in my panicked state. Though I immediately resolved to turn myself in, the enormity of my crime proved too great—I couldn't bring myself to surrender and fled."

It would be the crime of professional negligence resulting in death—the maximum penalty being three years' imprisonment. Compared to that murder charge, isn't this a world of difference? However, I now fear I may have made unnecessary modifications. I don't know what happened afterward, but if anticipating arrest, at least I didn't discard my clothing. This was naturally meant to make it seem the driver had fallen too—but has it truly succeeded? Were I caught, there'd be no way to explain it away. I hope the authorities are searching for my corpse.

My request to you concerns that matter. If I am arrested, I ask that you defend me with all your might.

I apologize for having troubled you with such a lengthy text to read. Finally, I pray for your good health.

Fifteen

This concludes the letter in its entirety.

And so, as Akita Kiyoshi had hoped, he had not been caught to this day. No—it remained unclear whether the authorities were even searching for him at all.

However, this is not where the story ends.

The day before yesterday—as you are likely aware—a lawyer named S came to visit me. He was indeed a former prosecutor and my old colleague. What’s more, he had been at the local district prosecutor’s office during the automobile incident and had personally investigated that case. When I asked what exactly had become of that incident, former Prosecutor S spoke as follows. “You no doubt assume Suyama Haruichi died from falling off the cliff.” “But here’s the peculiar thing.” “When we conducted the autopsy, we found a substantial quantity of poison in his stomach.” “An excessive amount of sleeping pills and a massive dose of toxic substance were discovered.” “According to specialists, complete respiratory arrest occurs approximately one hour after ingestion.” “Upon investigating the geisha who had been summoned to ×× Hall that evening, we learned he had been haphazardly mixing a white powder—claiming it was stomach medicine—into sake and drinking it just before departure.”

“It’s clear he intended to kill himself.” “But the specifics remain unclear.” “After his family learned of his unnatural death, they found a suicide note in his desk drawer that simply stated: ‘I want to die, so I die.’” “‘I don’t want to die like Grandfather’—that was all it said.” “The Suyama family has kept this strictly confidential—you wouldn’t know—but their household is cursed with a hereditary disease passed through their bloodline.” “And this disease tends to skip generations.”

“In other words, it’s not entirely impossible to consider things this way.” “At the time of the Akita Sayoko incident, Haruichi had been completely unaware that his family carried a hereditary disease in their bloodline. But while confined at home with his family’s permission, he apparently discovered writings detailing this secret—likely from the storehouse or somewhere similar. Whether these were his grandfather’s diary or someone else’s memoir remains unclear.” “We can imagine he learned how his grandfather’s body had gradually deteriorated until he became a living cadaver who severed all ties with the world before finally dying.” “Or perhaps someone told him.” “It’s possible some abnormality had manifested in parts of his body invisible to others—though since I’m no doctor, I can’t say what degree of symptoms would confirm it—but it must have been one of those scenarios.” “The crucial question is whether he was already dead in the car or still alive when his head was crushed.” “The autopsy report states this point remains unclear, but in any case, it was a matter of split-second timing.”

“It’s just like a case straight out of a criminal law textbook. There’s also the matter of the missing driver, but since I believe it’s currently under investigation, let’s hold off on that for now.”

Lawyer S’s account was thus. If that were indeed the case, while the incident became exceedingly complex, certain aspects also came into sharper relief upon closer scrutiny. Akita Kiyoshi had documented how Suyama Haruichi had grown increasingly despondent. Yet he also noted how Haruichi had persisted in his nightly carousing as before. Could this not have been an effort to numb his psychological torment? Thus did he ultimately resolve to take his own life. And so on that fateful day—after prolonged deliberation and having kept Akita waiting longer than ever—he must have departed with the grim determination of one prepared to die.

He caused a wild commotion at ×× Hall as his farewell to this world. And then, perhaps taking advantage of his drunken state, he swallowed the poison.

When Akita stopped the car and looked inside, Haruichi was likely already on the verge of death—precisely that much time had elapsed. Akita thought he was merely dead drunk. And then, "It hurts... Give me water!" He took that final scream—"It hurts... Give me water!"—as the drunken ramblings of an intoxicated man. Haruichi’s attempt to lunge at Akita—wasn’t that actually his death throes? Is it not possible that he drew his last breath there? If so, then Akita—believing he had splendidly achieved his revenge—was in fact watching with bated breath as the automobile carrying the corpse plunged from the cliff. The glass may have shattered, but Haruichi’s scream was likely Akita’s illusion.

In any case—whether Haruichi died from taking medication, perished in that crash, was already dead before the automobile plunged off the cliff, or still had even a breath of life left—this was a matter of immense interest to legal professionals.

However, it may be best to let the man who believes he has splendidly exacted his revenge continue thinking so.

Finally, there remained one problem. The problem lay in whether it would align with justice for me to steadfastly deny murderous intent as Akita—who had confessed to this crime—requested, should he ever be apprehended. However, this was a matter for us legal professionals and not for you mystery novelists, so I would refrain from elaborating.

“But I have a feeling that Akita Kiyoshi will never be caught.” “That is precisely why I have told you this story.”

Mr. Tsuchida’s story came to an end here.

For us mystery novelists as well, the final problem was a matter of great interest; however, the cunning Mr. Tsuchida Hachirou had already perceived my intentions and preemptively made his escape.

“You do, don’t you? You’re interested, aren’t you?”

With a look that seemed to say just that, he lit yet another cigarette.

(〈Weekly Asahi〉 Autumn Special Issue, September 20, Showa 4 (1929))