Confessions Page #2

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The specter of his illness would hang over her even after he had passed.

It would only make her suffer. That was his judgement, and I agreed.

That's so cruel on the kid!

It would've been crueler to do otherwise.

Even though he wanted to hold Manami more than anyone, he couldn't...

As hard as it was for me, I think it was a hundred times harder for him.

I gave Manami every bit of love I had.

When she turned one, I went back to work.

Until she was six, she'd wait for me at the local nursery.

And after that, I entrusted her to a Ms. Takenaka I met via a volunteer center.

She took care of a dog called Shaggy.

Manami really loved that dog,

so she put her in charge of feeding it.

At the start of this year, Takenaka was hospitalised.

Every day I finished work by the time she finished nursery.

Except on Wednesdays, when there were staff meetings.

Then I'd go and meet her early, and have her...

wait until the meeting was over in the school infirmary.

Manami really loved a character called Cotton Bunny.

Her bag, her handkerchief, her tissues, her shoes...

Hey, Shimomura, you remember this pouch, right?

Buy it for me Mommy!

I already bought this one for you.

Why don't you just buy her it? It's only a pouch.

Thinking about it now, you were probably right.

Because in the end...

Manami?

Manami! Manami!

...it was the last thing Manami ever asked me to do for her.

Miss!

On the 13th of February...

Miss!

...the police determined that she had slipped into the pool, and drowned.

There were bread crumbs beside Shaggy,

and it was the same bread Manami was given at the nursery.

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.

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