The Logmaster - Chapter 15:

The next morning.

As he was being swayed around on the crowded train as usual, Omiichi was checking a news website on his smartphone.

Last night, I added a happy future for Yoshi. I wonder if he is waking up peacefully right now. Thinking about this, my heart felt just a little warmer.

In the local news section, a shocking headline caught my eye alongside a familiar place name.

“Breaking news: A homeless man fell to his death from a footbridge in Shinjuku Ward early this morning.”

(…No way…)

My heart is pounding with an unpleasant noise.

Feeling a cold sweat running down his spine, he tapped the article with trembling fingers. Then, when he saw the information about the victim, Omiichi gasped.

“The victim was identified as Yoshio Kimura (62), an unemployed man with no fixed address.

It is believed that at around 4 am this morning, while drunk, he lost his footing while attempting to descend the stairs of a footbridge, falling and hitting his head. He was not discovered until late, and was confirmed dead at the hospital where he was taken…”

“…?! Yoshi-san…?! Why…?!”

A voice involuntarily leaked out, and the passengers around me looked at me suspiciously.

Omiichi hurriedly covered his mouth and stared at the screen of his smartphone. Drunk and falling to his death? Soon after the happy party I’d added to?

With a confused mind, I quickly log into the site.

Find “Kimura Yoshio” in the Human list and tap the “History” button.

It detailed the happy scene, just as Omiichi had added it the night before.

Reunions with former friends, surprise parties, conversations under the cherry blossoms at night, and the taste of alcohol for the first time in a long time after overcoming trauma… Yoshi’s genuine joy and fulfillment are vividly recorded as if you had seen it with your own eyes.

(I’m glad… I was able to have a good time…)

Omiichi felt a slight sense of relief at this description.

However, that relief was quickly dashed to despair the moment I read the last few lines of the history.

“…The party continued until late into the night, and after saying goodbye to everyone, Kimura, comfortably drunk and euphoric, looked up at the cherry blossoms and muttered words of gratitude to his late father and mother. He then walked away slowly, satisfied. At 4:12 a.m., on his way back to his house (tent) with the help of a friend’s shoulder, he lost his balance on the steps of a nearby footbridge and fell with his friend. He hit the back of his head hard and lost consciousness. He died instantly from a cerebral hemorrhage caused by a head contusion. —Unplanned 21P—“

Omiichi simply wished for Yoshi-san’s happiness.

I wanted him to regain his past happiness, even if only for a moment.

So, how does it end up like this? Why does everything I do always backfire?

(If I… if I hadn’t added that future… would Yoshi-san have survived?)

(No, wait. The fall was an accident. I had no murderous intent. Wasn’t it Yoshi’s carelessness that he got drunk and lost his footing? It’s not my fault…)

Thoughts of guilt and self-justification clash violently in my head.

But no matter what happens, the fact remains that Yoshi died.

I couldn’t get any work done that day.

I couldn’t concentrate on the words on the monitor, and my fingers kept stopping as I typed.

The voices of my colleagues around me also sound distant.

He was completely consumed by a whirlpool of guilt, regret, and sadness. In the end, Omiichi left work at the regular time, unable to do much.

On the way home, he didn’t go straight home.

Before I knew it, my feet had naturally headed towards the pedestrian bridge where Yoshi had died.

Calling it atonement may sound too self-indulgent, but I felt compelled to do something.

As the sun set and the street lights began to light up one by one, Omiichi reached the pedestrian bridge he was looking for.

Old concrete staircase landing.

There, it seemed as if someone had left a plastic bottle of juice, several bouquets, and some sweets.

It was likely placed there by Yoshi’s fellow homeless people. It is a small gesture, but it conveys a warm sentiment of condolence.

Omiichi just sat there helplessly.

People passing by looked at him with strange eyes, but he didn’t have time to worry about it.

In his mind, he was talking to Yoshi-san, who was no longer with us.

(Yoshi-san… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…)

What does this apology mean?

Perhaps the “happy future” that I added was itself the indirect cause of his death. Perhaps he got drunk for the first time in a long time and lost his footing. If so, even though it was an unwanted outcome, it was a death that I caused.

But at the same time, I think this was a freak accident.

I wasn’t trying to kill him.

I just wanted you to be happy.

It was Yoshi-san who lost his footing, so I shouldn’t be held responsible.

Rereading the [History], one can see how happy Yoshi was right up until the time of his death.

The more I look at that record, the more I want to believe that I’m not at fault at all.

But no matter what, I couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt that welled up from the depths of my heart.

(What can I do now? The least I can do is repay Yoshi-san.)

Searching for answers, Omiichi once again pored over Yoshi-san’s history.

His upbringing, his suffering, and the past events that led to his downfall…

As he looked back through the records of his time as a salaryman, he came across graphic descriptions of the names of colleagues who had betrayed and betrayed him.

Even after Yoshi-san’s downfall, they remained at the company as if nothing had happened, got promoted, and are probably still living and laughing somewhere.

As he read the account, Omiichi felt a dark, cold emotion different to guilt or regret slowly take shape in his heart.

(…I can’t forgive that…)

(Good people like Yoshi-san are suffering, while people like that live happily…)

(Someone has to correct the absurdity of the world…)

(I have that power…)

(That’s right… These colleagues who framed Yoshi-san…)

(Let’s kill him…)

Omiichi’s heart sank silently but decisively into a dark, cold abyss.

Guilt was about to be overridden by a stronger, sweeter emotion: revenge.

Clearing Yoshi’s name was the only right thing he could do at the time; he was convinced.