A Man

by Keiichirō Hirano

When Kido met with her husband as Rié’s attorney, he soon understood why her feelings toward him had hardened. Launching into a lengthy rant, the man emphasized his own suffering, railed against Rié’s stupidity and madness for pinning the responsibility on him, appealed to Kido as a lawyer and therefore fellow rational human being, described in tears the pain of losing a child, insisted on his great love for Rié, and finally pressed Kido to persuade her to get back together with him. In keeping with Rié’s appraisal of her husband, he did not appear to be a bad person. But it was heartrending for Kido to see how the man’s bloated sense of self-importance had hurt his wife, had put their young child through agony during what little time had remained to him, and was now in the process of bringing his own life to ruin.