Interlude: A Man Named Haruka Yamagishi
HARUKA Yamagishi was a latchkey kid.
He was born to parents who both worked, which was rare at the time. He grew up largely comfortably, if a bit starved for love. A housekeeper took care of the household chores, and he only really saw his parents on their days off.
His mother and father got along well with each other, and would take time off to attend Haruka’s school events. He was proud to have parents like them. It made him feel lonely that they had so few opportunities for actual conversation, but he didn’t even realize how lonely he was because he’d been used to this lifestyle since such a young age.
Haruka loved to read. He was fascinated by the heroes in stories, the flashy action scenes, and the fantastic magic. He wanted to be like those characters someday.
He believed that doing the right thing was the shortest route to making friends who could trust each other. He believed that everyone was capable of mutual understanding. He believed that the bad guys could be reformed, and that rivals could decide to join forces and work together.
But Haruka was in for a rude awakening when he found himself forced to live as a member of a collectivist society.
His heroic plans quickly fell apart. When Haruka tried to stand up for what was right, people didn’t take his side like he hoped. When he thought he was doing the right thing, no one paid any attention—or they twisted around his ideas about justice to bully others.
The more Haruka insisted on staying true to his beliefs, the more the other kids his age disliked him. And it was no wonder. It’s hard to stay pure and innocent, and unfair to expect young children to use their limited reason to judge right from wrong.
But Haruka simply could not understand why everyone else didn’t do the right thing. All the while, he somehow understood that everyone hated him, and after agonizing over the issue without finding an answer, he decided to ask for advice from his parents, whom he respected.
After dinner, he sat on a chair in the living room, dangling his feet as he waited for his parents to come home. This chair, which had been designed for adults, was a little too big for Haruka.
Considering his admiration for his parents, he was sure they’d give him an answer that would satisfy him. This would solve everything. If he was wrong, he just had to get the right answer so he could change. Starting the very next day, he was sure he’d make friends and have as much fun as he wanted.
However, the first thing his mother did when she got home was scold him: “What are you doing up? Go to bed, now.”
Haruka had always been well-behaved and had never broken any rules, so this was the first time his mother had ever gotten angry at him. His mind went blank. Tears welled in his eyes and everything went blurry, but there was still something he desperately wanted to ask. He opened and closed his mouth helplessly.
Just as Haruka’s mother let out an aggrieved sigh that made him flinch, his father came home—also none too pleased to see Haruka still up at this time of night.
But Haruka refused to give up, and he finally managed to spit out his question. Unfortunately, the answer he received was a devastating one:
“Enough with that nonsense and go to bed already.”
That was the needle that burst the balloon carrying Haruka’s hopes and dreams. Wiping away tears, he returned to his room. He closed off his heart then. I don’t want to make my parents hate me any more than this, he thought.