"It was my own decision to become a murderer!"
After Nagakura Shinpachi said those words, Kindaichi was stunned for a moment.
"But, however..."
He instinctively wanted to refute, but couldn't find a reason.
The teenagers, who believed they were on the side of justice, had always regarded Gao Yuan as the culprit behind this series of tragedies.
Without his enticement, many people would not have gone this far.
That's what Kindaichi thought.
However, the man standing before him, Nagakura Shinpachi, tells him that it was actually he who decided to kill.
Is it really true, as Gao Yuan has always claimed, that everyone has a dark side that will be exposed given the opportunity?
As the boy struggled with his decision, Yoruichi Toyama gently patted him.
"What I also want to ask is, since Mr. Nagakura has already decided to kill Mr. Yamanami to avenge himself, why must he use Takato's plan?"
"You also considered the possibility that it might not succeed, right?"
"Instead of doing that, we might as well find an opportunity to lure Mr. Shannan out and stab him in a secluded place..."
"Hey, hey!" Yamanami Keisuke felt a chill run down his spine when he was told that, but no one even glanced at him.
“I can tell that Mr. Nagakura is a gentle person,” Yoruichi Toyama said with a light laugh. “He doesn’t even have the strength to hit someone.”
"But the way you took out the syringe just now showed a lot of determination."
"If that's the case, then it doesn't matter if it's a knife or something else, right?"
"If you want to kill someone, there's always a way. Why use such a complicated plan?"
Kindaichi looked completely bewildered, not understanding what he meant.
However, after thinking silently for a while, Nagakura Shinpachi nodded.
"I see."
"You mean I'm a coward by nature, and I don't have the guts to kill?"
"It's just because that Mr. Gao Yuan provided me with a plan that allowed me to take revenge without paying the price."
"What I'm actually afraid of isn't the killing itself, but the punishment under the law!"
"How ridiculous! Kanna is already dead. I should have gone to any lengths to seek justice for her and punish the person who killed her. But I have to hesitate and hide within Mr. Takato's plan before I dare to take action..."
"How can I blame it on someone else for tempting me?"
He raised his eyelids, looked directly at Kindaichi who was becoming increasingly surprised as he listened, and said this earnestly.
Kindaichi was completely speechless.
Is that really the case?
Were all those who committed murder under Gao Yuan's influence because of... their own cowardice?
Putting everything else aside, at least the tutor whose illegitimate son was murdered by his classmate is definitely a case of...
As an adult, if he simply wanted revenge, he could have quietly killed those underage students.
But he didn't take any action until Gao Yuan provided the plan to another equally timid girl, at which point he got involved, wanting to kill without being held accountable.
Even if he was thinking about his existing family and didn't want his wife and children to be hurt, wasn't the boy who died also his child?
Even if Gao Yuan ultimately killed him as a "useless puppet," wasn't his previous behavior utterly despicable?
Kindaichi, considering the problem from this perspective for the first time, fell into deep thought.
Yoruichi Toyama shook her head as she watched Shinpachi Nagakura sincerely analyze himself.
"I didn't want you to think about those things, okay?"
"Huh?" Nagakura Shinpachi and Kindaichi widened their eyes at the same time.
My mind, which had just started to understand, immediately became confused again.
Yoruichi Toyama smiled gently.
"What I meant was that Mr. Nagakura just said things like he doesn't dare to do it himself and only has the courage to do it when someone else encourages him."
"For example, the fear of being punished by law."
"Those are all human nature; every ordinary person would probably think that way."
"We are all imperfect, so we can be cowardly and make mistakes."
"But the important thing is that we cannot be without principles and bottom lines."
"In the case of Mr. Nagakura, not killing people should be the bottom line."
"Besides, the method you're trying to use is to cover up your real motive for murder with a kidnapping case."
"You want Mr. Shannan to die with the stigma of a kidnapper, instead of exposing his true crimes."
"Do you think Ms. Kanna will accept this outcome?"
"Having been bullied and persecuted to the point of having no other choice but to end her young life, would she think that you stood up for her?"
"This isn't revenge at all; it's just you venting your anger!"
"Then you will have to take responsibility for the failure of the operation and ruin the rest of your life."
"Is this what Ms. Kanna wanted to see?"
"Didn't she wish that Mr. Nagakura, whom she loved so deeply, could live well for her sake as well?"
Yoruichi Toyama spoke louder and louder, each sentence seemingly trying to break down the last hard shell in Shinpachi Nagakura's heart.
Nagakura Shinpachi trembled as he listened to these words, and tears welled up in his eyes again.
“Yes…yes!” he said softly, “I…I didn’t do it for Kanna at all…I couldn’t do anything for her…”
"Even when I wanted to seek justice for her, I didn't know how to do it, and I ended up becoming a murderer myself..."
“You didn’t kill anyone,” Yoruichi Toyama corrected him. “Not yet, there’s still time.”
"You just chose the wrong way to take revenge."
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