Confessions

by Kanae Minato

Manami’s death wasn’t an accident. She was murdered by some of the students in this very class.

How do I justify letting them go free when it’s possible A might kill again?

intended to kill Manami but didn’t actually cause her death; while B had no desire to kill her but brought about her death.

I added some blood to the cartons that went to A and B

We haven’t seen Naoki since that day you left, when you told us what you’d done to him and Shūya.

left. After school that day, we all got the same text—“If you tell what A and B did, you’re C”

But doing something good or remarkable isn’t easy. It’s much easier to condemn people who do the wrong thing than it is to do the right thing yourself.

“That’s all I really wanted,” he said. “Just somebody to notice me.”

That night, Naoki killed his mother.

But the more we went, the more Naoki felt trapped and the more he lashed out at his mother.

We’re just a mirror he uses to stare at his own reflection. None of this would have happened if he wasn’t so self-absorbed.

I suppose you may be wondering why I hate Werther so much. It’s because I’ve been in love with Naoki ever since the first grade.

One of Naoki’s sisters told me that when she asked him why he had killed their mother, he said it was because he wanted the police to arrest him.

Mother’s body had a single stab wound to the belly and a contusion on the back of the head.

The school or society may have something to do with the problem, but a child’s personality first and foremost is molded in the home,

Moriguchi-sensei gave me milk infected with the AIDS virus.

“No,” he said. “You’re wrong.” A smile spread over his face. “She opened her eyes while I was standing there holding her. And then I dropped her in and let her drown.”

I suspect that Father was pretending to be mildly depressed as a way to avoid dealing with Naoki’s troubles—or maybe he really was depressed because of Naoki’s troubles.

I want them to find Naoki innocent. But that can only happen once they find out what he was really thinking.

They’re not really interested in anything except trains and porn.

It wasn’t that he didn’t have any friends—he avoided people because he didn’t want to be with them.

Don’t worry about them thinking you had anything to do with this. We’ve never been friends. I can’t stand kids like you anyway—worthless but full of yourself. Compared to a genius like me, you’re pretty much a complete failure.

Watanabe’s last words came back to me again. He had been looking down on me all along, using me. He wanted to be a murderer, and he had exploited me to do it. But the girl was still alive. It was Watanabe’s plan that was the failure.

Moriguchi’s little girl regaining consciousness and looking up at me…or my letting go and dropping her in the water. But once I’d done it, I left without looking back. My legs weren’t shaking anymore. I’d succeeded where Watanabe had failed.

Weak people find even weaker people to be their victims.

So if I’m going to go on living, I’ve got no choice but to do it in this house.

My hair covers my eyes and ears and hides my face; it protects me and lets me know I’m still alive.

I’m going to the police to confess. Everything. He may get off easier than me, but at least he’ll know that I was the one who killed her—of my own free will. That’ll get him.

Her body looked skinny and fragile as she fell down the stairs.

Had my mother learned of the prize I’d won in the science fair in spite of all the Lunacy news?

But perhaps, just perhaps, if I did something horrible, my mother might come running to be with me again.

If you’re going to commit a crime, it ought to be something that can get people talking, whip the media into a frenzy—which means there’s only one crime that will do, and that’s murder.

She was dead! My plan was a success. My mother would come now. She would take me in her arms and apologize for all the pain she’d caused me, and we’d never have to be apart again.

Their stares filled me with a deep feeling of satisfaction.

Now I’d been granted my wish—in a most unexpected fashion. It was beyond anything I could have imagined, a complete success. If my mother would have come running to help a son accused of murder, she was even more likely to come for one who had AIDS.

But if you miss her that much, why don’t you just go see her? Tokyo’s not that far away, and you know where she works. The only reason you’re still waiting for her is that you’re a coward. You’re afraid she’ll send you away. You figured out long ago that she doesn’t want you anymore.”

Planting the bomb has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I killed the class president.

The bomb went off in Laboratory Three in the Electrical Engineering Department at K University. Your bomb, detonated by your own hand.