Malice (23 page)

Interview: Harumi Nitta

Mr. Hayashida gave you my name? Junichi Hayashida? I don't even remember a Hayashida in my class. No … No, I'm sure he was there. I've just kind of blocked the whole thing out, I guess.

So, where to begin? My maiden name was Masuoka, and, yes, I was a student leader. They picked one boy and one girl every year. It's not like we had any real responsibilities. We mostly just made sure everyone got their homework assignments and delivered messages for the teacher. Oh, and we helped run student meetings in homeroom. Boy, there's a word I haven't used in years. I don't have any kids.

On Hidaka and Nonoguchi:

I'm really sorry, but I hardly remember either of them. I mostly hung out with the girls. That's just how it is in middle school.

On bullying:

There was probably some bullying going on with the boys, but I never noticed anything. It's hard to say what I would've done if I had noticed, but probably telling the teacher would've been a good place to start.

I'm sorry, but … my husband will be home any minute. If you've got what you need, can we wrap this up? I really don't think I know anything that'd be of any help. Also, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone else I went to that middle school. It's just … a difficult subject. I haven't even told my husband. Thanks.

Interview: Masatoshi Tsuburaya

Thanks for coming out here. Why not come inside? Sure … we can talk right here in the hall, if you prefer.

On Hidaka and Nonoguchi:

Oh, I remember them, sure. I've been retired, let's see … about ten years, but I remember every single one of the students in my classes. You spend that much time with the same kids for a whole year, you get to know them pretty well. And those two were in my first class after I started teaching at that school. You don't forget your first bunch of students.

Nonoguchi, he was a star in composition. He might not have gotten 100 on every paper, but he was right up there. As for Hidaka, no, he didn't leave too much of an impression on me in terms of his schoolwork. Good or bad.

On bullying:

I don't think Hidaka got bullied much, and Nonoguchi definitely didn't. There were some bad kids, sure, but I never heard about anything happening to him.

Hayashida said he was bullied.…

Well, that comes as a real surprise! I certainly had no idea. And don't give me that detective look, that's the honest truth. There wouldn't be any point lying about it now, would there?

Look, the reason why I said Nonoguchi definitely wasn't bullied is because, if anything, he was on the other side of the equation. He had this phase where he was hanging out with the bad kids; it got to the point where I was pretty worried about him. His parents even came in to talk to me about it. I seem to recall talking to him about all of this on occasion.

Of course when a kid starts hanging out with the wrong crowd, there isn't much that's going to save him if he doesn't have an ally. I don't mean me, or any other teacher, or his parents. It was his friend Hidaka that turned him around. You wouldn't know it to look at him, but that Hidaka was a tough cookie. He couldn't stand to see people getting stepped on. He'd even lay into us teachers sometimes if he felt like we were being too hard on the class.

I think it was around New Year's when those two boys came to my house to visit. It was more like Hidaka brought Nonoguchi along with him. They didn't say much, but I got the feeling that they were there to apologize for giving me grief at school.

I was sure the two of them would go on to be best friends for life, so it was a bit of a shock when they ended up going off to different high schools. They both did pretty well in their classes, so I wouldn't think they'd have had any trouble getting into the same place if they'd wanted to.

It's really a shame what happened. I wonder what went wrong along the way. I wouldn't have expected that of either of them.

Interview: Tomoyo Hirosawa

The Nonoguchi boy? Sure, I remember him. They were our neighbors. He came by every once in a while to buy bread. We had a shop, up until about ten years ago.

On the murder:

Now that was a surprise. I mean, those boys? Doing those things? It's enough to make you wonder.

On Nonoguchi's childhood:

Well … I don't mean to speak ill of him, but little Osamu had a … dark side, you might say. Kinda like he was too grown-up sometimes, maybe even a little depressed.

I think it was back in elementary school, but there was a while when he didn't even go to school. I saw him up on the second floor of his house one day, and I called up to him.

“Hey there, Osamu. Are you sick? Do you have a cold?”

But, Detective, he didn't even answer. A little boy like that! He just pulled his head back inside and shut the curtains. It was a little creepy, to be honest. When you'd see him on the street, he'd always walk way off to one side and never look you in the eyes.

I heard later from a friend that there was a stretch where he didn't go to school at all. I don't know the reason why, but everyone said it was the parents' fault. They were both regular working people, nice enough, but I think they both felt like they deserved more. You know how people are sometimes. And they were overprotective of that boy! I remember the mother saying something about wanting to send him to some private elementary school. “We don't have the connections,” she told me, “so Osamu's slumming it at the local school.”

I never!
Slumming
it? My daughter and son both went to that school and they turned out fine, thank you very much.

That family never did fit in, though. I think they only moved here because of Mr. Nonoguchi's work. They must have come from some pretty fancy neighborhood if they thought our town wasn't up to snuff.

Anyway, it's not hard to see why their boy wouldn't want to go to school, what with his parents saying things like that. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree and all that. Of course, they got worried when he stopped going altogether. Not that you ever saw them dragging him back to school.

I think the only reason he ended up going again was thanks to Kunihiko. That's right, the Hidakas' boy. The one who got killed. Kunihiko used to drop by Osamu's house every morning to walk with him to school. I don't know who arranged it, but since they were in the same year, maybe one of the teachers put him up to it.

I'd see them every morning. First Kunihiko would pass by the house, and he'd always say hello to me in a nice big voice. That's a good kid right there, I'd say to myself. Then I'd see him walking back the other direction with Osamu in tow. It was funny, 'cause Kunihiko would always say hi again, but you wouldn't hear a peep out of Osamu. He'd just be there, walking along, looking down at the ground. Every day.

I guess that's what got Osamu going to school more regularly, though. Seeing as how he made it all the way to college, I'd say he owed Kunihiko a debt. Course after what happened … It's enough to make you wonder.

Were they friends?

I saw them play together quite a bit. They used to hang out with the boy from the futon shop. I'm pretty sure it was Kunihiko initiating things, though, as always. But they got along pretty well.

Kunihiko wasn't just nice to Osamu, you know. He was nice to all the kids, especially the little ones. That's part of the reason why I have real trouble believing what happened.

Interview: Yukio Matsushima

Well, I don't know what to say. I nearly fell down when I heard the news. Just hearing those names brings me way back. It's true, I played with them quite a bit back in elementary school. My parents ran a futon shop, and we always used to get in trouble, jumping on the new futons back in the warehouse.

But, to tell you the truth, we weren't like best buddies or anything. It was more that there just weren't any other kids our age in the neighborhood to play with. Toward the end of elementary school, I started hanging out more with my other friends, even the ones who lived farther away.

On Osamu and Nonoguchi's relationship:

Well, I wouldn't exactly describe them as the best of friends either. I'm not sure what you'd call them.

Mrs. Hirosawa, the baker on your street, said they were friends.

Well, that just goes to show you how little adults understand about kids.

The thing is, theirs wasn't what you'd call an “equal relationship.” Hidaka was always on top. I think things just sort of happened that way after he helped Nonoguchi out at school. He didn't lord it over him or anything, but you could tell by the way they acted. Hidaka was always the leader, Nonoguchi was always following. We used to go frog catching quite a bit, and it would always be Hidaka telling Nonoguchi what to do. That spot's dangerous, or find some better footing before you grab 'em, or take off your shoes. It wasn't like he was giving him orders. He was more like a mother hen, just flapping his wings. Kind of like a big brother, even though they were the same age.

Of course, I don't think Nonoguchi appreciated it all that much. He'd say things behind Hidaka's back. Never to his face, though.

In fact, I'm pretty sure that around the time I stopped playing with them, they stopped playing with each other, too. Part of the reason was Nonoguchi started going to an after-school program. That kind of cuts down on the playtime. But I also think Nonoguchi's mom didn't like the Hidakas. I overheard her once talking to him about them. “I hope you're not playing with that boy anymore!” she said, and she sounded pretty mean. The look on her face was enough to give you nightmares. It didn't make much sense to me as a kid. Why couldn't he play with Hidaka if he wanted to? What was wrong with his family? Even today I'm not sure why she said that.

On Nonoguchi's truancy:

Well, I don't know for sure, but maybe it was just that school didn't suit him. I don't think he ever had many friends. I remember him saying something about transferring to another school, a better one. But that never happened, and he stopped talking about it after a while.

That's about all I have for you. Sorry I don't remember more, but it was a couple of decades ago after all.

On the murder:

What do you want me to say? I was surprised. I mean, I only knew them as kids, so I obviously don't have the whole story, but it's not what I would've expected. At least, not the part about Hidaka using him as a ghostwriter. He might have been a bit overbearing with the kid, but he never pushed him around. And he had a real sense of justice, Hidaka did. Of course, people do change, and usually not for the better.

Interview: Junji Takahashi

Let me just say, never in a million years did I expect a detective to come down here and question me about this. I mean, I barely remembered those two till I read about 'em in the paper. We weren't close or nothing, so what's it got to do with me, right? And that whole ghostwriting thing, yeah, well, me and literature are about as far apart as you can get and still be on the same planet, and we got no plans of getting closer. (Laughs)

On middle school:

Man, I've been trying to forget that place ever since I got out of it! So Hayashida told you about me? He never did know when to shut up. (Laughs)

On bullying:

They talk about it like it's some big social problem these days, but whatever. Yeah, I gave a few wedgies in my day. (Laughs) I mean, we were just kids, right? And the way I see it, you need a bit of that when you're a kid. Not that I'm trying to make excuses or anything, but think about it: Once you grow up and get out there in the real world, there's all kinds of bad things waiting for you, right? So school is like practice for all that. You make it through the tough stuff, and you get a little stronger, a little wiser. That's what I think. They make such a big deal out of it these days, man. It's just kids being kids.

If you really want to know about what happened back then, there's a much better way than talking to me. Hey, I don't mind talking about it, but I've forgotten a bunch, and it's hard to keep it all straight sometimes. Hell, I lose track of what I'm saying when I'm trying to talk about something that happened yesterday! (Laughs)

So, right, it's much better if you just read that book, the one out under Hidaka's name. What was it called?
Forbidden
hunter or something?

Forbidden Hunting Grounds
?

Yeah, that was it. You heard about that one, Detective? Well, then you could've saved yourself the trouble coming out here to talk to me.

Anyway, I don't read books at all, but when I heard about the murder, I thought I might take a peak at that one. That was my first time ever in the library. I almost got nervous just walking in there, like I was going to get in trouble or something. (Laughs)

So, right, I read that book because when I heard about it, especially the part about Fujio being the model for one of the characters, it sounded like it was pretty much our middle school. So I thought, hey, maybe I show up in there, too.

You read it, Detective?

Right, well, don't tell anyone else this, but it's all true. No, seriously. It might be written up like it's a novel and stuff, but everything in there's the stone-cold truth, no frills. Course all the names are changed. But everything else is exactly like it happened. Read that, and you'll know it all. It's got stuff in there even I forgot.

You remember the bit about the kid getting wrapped in cellophane and dumped in the gym? Man, when I read that, I started sweating bullets. (Laughs) See, I was the one in charge of that whole thing. It's not like I'm proud about it. But, you know, a kid's gotta blow off steam somehow, right?

Anyway, it was Fujio calling all the shots. He didn't do much himself, not directly, but he gave the orders. It wasn't like he was our leader or nothing, but if you ran with his crew, you were guaranteed a good time. So we did. (Laughs)