Kyoichi Taniguchi and Daisuké Taniguchi’s brotherhood

Kyoichi Taniguchi and Daisuké Taniguchi’s brotherhood is marked by an unequal, deteriorating bond: Kyoichi belittles his brother, resents his relationship with Misuzu, and ultimately refuses to help search for him, while Daisuké rejects any return to the family. Their estrangement is not a simple quarrel but a history of contempt, jealousy, and lost connection, brought into sharp relief by Daisuké’s insistence that the name Taniguchi be allowed to rest with the past.

Family Bond and Longstanding Contempt

Kyoichi’s attitude toward his brother is presented as a pattern of belittlement, not a single falling-out. Misuzu explains that Kyoichi liked to put Daisuké down and could not accept that she began dating him. In her account, Kyoichi’s pride was bound up with his inability to tolerate his brother’s relationship with her; the rivalry reaches beyond family status into a private resentment over Daisuké’s intimacy with someone Kyoichi desired.

Misuzu describes the brothers in contrasting terms. Kyoichi attracts women, while Daisuké is awkward and not conventionally handsome; he accepts being teased with a smile until, at times, he can no longer bear it. That outward shift can make his anger seem sudden to others, but Misuzu insists it has been accumulating. Her recollection gives the brothers’ conflict a history and a rhythm: Kyoichi’s repeated disparagement, Daisuké’s apparent accommodation, and the moment when accommodation fails.

Misuzu and the Source of the Rift

Misuzu discloses to Kido that she may have contributed to the brothers’ estrangement, because Kyoichi had a crush on her. She distinguishes his interest from enduring love: in her view, he wanted to possess the idea of her and add her to his romantic conquests, rather than remain attentive to who she had become. This account helps explain why her choice to date Daisuké was so difficult for Kyoichi to accept, and why his hostility toward his brother was entangled with rivalry over her.

The recollection also complicates the brothers’ conflict without resolving it into a sentimental rivalry. Misuzu acknowledges a role in the history but does not portray Kyoichi’s behavior as devotion. Her explanation makes his fixation on her a continuing motive, while Kyoichi’s contempt for Daisuké supplies the familial condition that lets jealousy deepen into estrangement.

The Search and Kyoichi’s Refusal

Later, when Kido seeks help locating the missing Daisuké, Kyoichi refuses to get involved. After looking up Kenkichi Kobayashi and reacting with revulsion to his crimes, he condemns Daisuké for willingly entering the dangerous world connected to such people. He treats Daisuké’s choices as foolish and beyond redemption, and fears involvement could draw him into the same chain of crimes. Kido concludes that he cannot rely on Kyoichi to help with the search.

Misuzu offers Kido another explanation for Kyoichi’s conduct: she says the search was merely an excuse to stay in touch with her, not a genuine effort to find his brother. The contrast is stark. Kyoichi had once reacted intensely to Daisuké’s relationship with Misuzu, yet when Daisuké is missing, his apparent concern does not translate into practical assistance. The brotherhood persists as a subject of discussion, but not as a dependable source of care.

Daisuké’s Rejection of Return

When Kido raises the possibility that Daisuké might return to the Taniguchi family, mentioning an estate and his mother’s wish to see him, Daisuké reacts sharply. Kido offers to help with the legal complications, but Daisuké rejects the proposal and makes clear that he will not meet the family, even if it means becoming homeless. The offer of inheritance and family contact cannot repair what has broken between them.

Daisuké asks that, whatever official family records say, the name Daisuké Taniguchi be left to rest. He names Misuzu as the exception to his refusal of contact with the family and says that seeing her again is something he has long wished for. His words set a boundary around the brotherhood: he does not seek restoration with the Taniguchis, even as his attachment to Misuzu remains alive. Kyoichi’s contempt and Daisuké’s refusal thus meet in a relationship that has become more absence than connection.

Names, Kinship, and Estrangement

The brothers’ conflict is also bound to the difference between a family record and a lived identity. Daisuké rejects the prospect of returning to the Taniguchis and asks that his name be allowed to remain behind, making family membership something he refuses rather than a bond he can simply resume. His words do not establish that the brothers reconcile; instead, they emphasize the distance between formal kinship and the relationship their history has produced.

Across the account, Kyoichi’s pride and jealousy help explain his belittling of Daisuké, while his later withdrawal confirms the practical limits of their bond. Misuzu’s recollections supply the intimate history; Kido’s search tests whether that history can yield assistance; and Daisuké’s refusal makes the estrangement explicit. The brotherhood matters precisely because the shared name and family tie remain, even when neither guarantees loyalty, reconciliation, or a way home.