Confessions Page #2

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Manami had secretly been walking past the pool every week.

To give Shaggy food.

She's crying!

Aww, baby wants to cry!

Manami is gone.

I'll never touch her small hands again.

My hands will never again be able to feel her tiny cheeks...

Her soft hair...

Manami's death...

...was probably my fault. I failed as her guardian.

But...

I wasn't going to let it end like that.

Manami died.

But it was no accident.

She was killed by students from this class.

(Moriguchi's going crazy!)

What is it that protects you?

Your parents? Weapons?

No, your strongest ally is...

Juvenile law.

Under Article 41 of the penal code, those under fourteen years of age...

are not liable for their crimes.

And cannot be punished for them. Isn't that lovely?

There was a thirteen year old girl just the same as you.

She mixed all sorts of drugs into her family's food,

calling it a holy rite, and recorded the results...

in detail on an internet blog.

The Lunacy Incident?

That's right. The Lunacy Incident.

That was the name she used on her blog,

so the press gave it that name and turned it into a big scare story.

In the end, they never found a reason for...

...her to brutally murder her whole family.

But because of that, all sorts of foolish rumours began to spring up...

...and she even won admirers among people her age.

(Tell us who we need to punish!)

The only one who received a harsh punishment...

...was the teacher who told her specific details about various medicines.

All she had to do was write a few remorseful words in a...

...juvenile detention center and she was pronounced rehabilitated.

Even if you kill someone, you're not going to be punished for it.

(Exactly. That's why I did it!)

And there's no way for us to stop these crimes...

For us to stop child murderers.

If you felt like it, you could kill someone with a baseball bat...

...or a nice long kitchen knife...

...or a medicine ball from P.E...

...or even with your bare hands!

And there'd be nobody to stop you.

That hurts...

I'm sorry.

Hurry up, hurry up!

Guess even you wanted to find out who the culprits are, huh?

I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I have no intention of telling you their names.

The hell!? That's not fair!

Masami's father was Masayoshi Sakuramiya.

The reason that we had a special sort of funeral at our house...

...was because he wanted to finally hold Manami before she was gone.

The first time Manami was held by her father...

...her soul had already departed.

He confessed to me that his condition had worsened into AIDS.

But in the few months of life he had left...

...I couldn't bring myself to say anything to him.

I believe that along with Manami,

something important inside me died too.

Last week, I went to visit Ms. Takenaka, who had retired.

She gave me a box of Manami's things I had left with her.

And this was in the box.

The pouch I had never bought her,

Where did it come from?

Ms. Takenaka said she found it near Shaggy's kennel.

Shaggy...

The students sometimes drop their things here...

...while they play catch and clean the pool...

I remember it dawning on me that the only punishments children...

...ever have to deal with are a few extra laps, or having to clean the pool...

Don't be stupid! It's not me.

(I know who it is!)

Was Minami really alone at the pool that day?

There are two students responsible.

I'll refer to them as 'A' and 'B'.

'A' is a straight As student. Looking at him, you wouldn't expect him to have any problems at all.

But...there are some fairly unsettling rumours you hear from time to time...

Since he was in junior school, he's been picking up stray cats and dogs...

...and taking them home to kill with his Execution Machine.

Execution Machine?

Some sort of weird tool he made himself.

He puts photos of the animals he kills with it on his site.

(Einstein's Laboratory)

(A new machine is currently in development. Be prepared!)

I checked out A by calling his junior school teacher,

but was told there had been no problems with him at all.

Just as I was about to give up on him...

So what do you teach, Miss?

...'A' came to my office.

Science.

Lights and stuff?

If you want to know about that, shouldn't you just ask your dad?

There's something good inside. Try opening it!

Awesome, huh?

So I'm a test subject, huh?

Are you going to use this to torture animals?

No point in that.

Pop...

What?

Can't you hear that, Miss?

It's the sound of something important to you disappearing...

(All Japan Junior High Applied Science Fair)

Mugger Shocking Surprise Wallet.

Protects your important valuables from muggers.

It wasn't an Execution Machine?

Whatever. Just stamp here.

One report that stressed how safe it was with its new safety switch...

...and one full of perfectly played junior school sincerity...

They only made him seem more frightening.

'A service to humanity', huh?

There's no need to read every damn word.

Just tell me which one is better!

I consulted the Principal on the matter, but...

...he did little more than echo my concerns.

And in the end, the Anti-Theft Surprise Wallet won first place at the contest.

(SHUUYA SHUUYA SHUUYA SHUUYA...)

(It's Shuuya Watanabe!)

I asked 'A' about the truth behind Manami's death.

Just messin' with ya.

'A' told me the truth with a smile.

He hardly seemed to care that the woman before him...

...was the mother of the girl he killed.

'A''s motive...

Was pure naivety.

A desire to have the world notice him.

To be recognised as more talented than any of his peers.

But on the day that he got his wish and was published in the newspaper.

The world turned their eyes from him...

...to a certain girl of the same age.

(Junior high student murders family of four)

(Refers to herself as 'Lunacy' on a blog)

Even if you're recognised for doing good stuff, nobody gives a sh*t.

They all just care about that Lunacy freak.

An overdose? Hah!

If I wanted to kill someone, I could make everything myself. Just like this.

I want to kill this little brat.

That was the only thought that ran through my head.

'B' had transferred to our school, and joined the P.E club, but...

...it was all just athletics...

...and they wouldn't even let him hold a racket.

(DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE...)

He was fed up, but he didn't have the nerve to talk to the teacher.

So he got his mum to call in, quit the club...

...and began attending a cram school.

But his grades didn't get any better.

And though he worried, he was too lazy to do anything about it.

He holed up in the police station.

He got a shock when the person who came to meet him...

...wasn't me, but Mr. Tokura.

Why didn't Miss Moriguchi come?

What're you babbling about, idiot.

(DIE)

For violating the rule against juniors going to the arcade,

'B' was given a punishment.

He was to clean the school rooms and the poolside once a week.

(You gotta be kidding me. That little wimp did something so serious?)

I heard this from 'B' himself, at his home.

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