Kyoichi

Kyoichi, the older brother of Daisuké Taniguchi, is caught between wanting an explanation for Daisuké’s disappearance and fearing what a serious search might uncover. His limited efforts, his speculative accusations against Makoto Hara, and his eventual visit to an Osaka apartment make him an uneasy investigator: his concern is real, but it repeatedly takes the form of anger, suspicion, and retreat. His attraction to Misuzu further entangles the search with older family rivalries and feelings he does not openly discuss.

Identity and Background

Kyoichi is Daisuké’s elder brother and part of the family left to reckon with Daisuké’s disappearance after the earthquake. He has a strained relationship with Misuzu, whose past romance was with his younger brother. Kido suspects that Kyoichi’s feelings for Misuzu predated the search and that she chose Daisuké over him; Kido also notices signs that the two are privately messaging. This history is presented as Kido’s inference rather than a confession from Kyoichi, keeping the emotional triangle partly obscured.

The family’s circumstances make the disappearance more than a private mystery. Once Kido tells Kyoichi that the census records have been updated to show Daisuké as alive and unmarried, Kyoichi begins to regard the matter as something the family must handle internally. He is relieved that the police search is unlikely to grow into a public investigation, even as he voices outrage at the police and continues to insist that his brother may have been murdered. His position is therefore contradictory: he resents official inaction but also fears attention that might bring unwanted complications.

The Search for Daisuké

Kyoichi has shown little initiative in searching, wary of stumbling into trouble. His mother’s distress changes the pressure on him: she rebukes him tearfully and urges him to make a greater effort because she wants to see her younger son again before she dies. Her plea gives the search a direct family stake that Kyoichi’s suspicions alone cannot supply.

Kido locates Daisuké’s pre-Town S address through the family-register attachment: a very cheap, deteriorated apartment beside the Yodo River in Osaka City’s Kita district. Kido proposes that he, Rié, and Kyoichi go there together. Before Rié can answer, however, Kyoichi says he has business in Osaka and visits the building-management office himself. The manager, after hearing about the missing brother and examining Daisuké’s photograph, says he is fairly certain Daisuké had lived there. When Kyoichi shows him a photograph of X, the manager does not recognize that face.

That basic inquiry yields an important distinction in the identity mystery. The manager’s recollection supports the conclusion that Daisuké was still Daisuké while living in the Osaka apartment; only later did he encounter X and lose his name and family register. Kyoichi is furious that the police did not pursue even this elementary lead. His visit is thus both a rare act of initiative and a source of renewed resentment: he finds a piece of the answer through a straightforward inquiry, but the discovery does not establish what happened to Daisuké afterward.

Suspicion and Family Conflict

Kyoichi repeatedly claims that Daisuké must have been murdered, although he cannot identify what happened. He speculates that North Korean agents may have taken his brother, using a term he appears to have picked up online. When Kido doubts this theory, Kyoichi lets go of that particular explanation but retains the broader conviction that a murder, if there was one, must have followed some sinister chain of events rather than ordinary mischief. The suspicion is less a developed account of the disappearance than an attempt to make its uncertainty fit the threatening image he has of his brother’s fate.

His account grows sharper when Kido later tells him what he has learned about Hara. Kyoichi reacts with repeated disbelief, then says that the new information confirms what he had suspected: Hara killed Daisuké. He emphasizes that Hara was the child of a murderer. Kido cautions against leaping from that background to a conclusion, arguing that Hara wanted to escape it and be accepted by society, goals that murder would have endangered. Kyoichi counters that a person could conceal a crime and that Hara’s parentage makes him less predictable than Kido suggests. Their disagreement exposes the gap between evidence and fear: Kido argues from Hara’s apparent aims, while Kyoichi treats those aims as no guarantee against violence.

Misuzu and the Impersonated Account

Misuzu creates a social-media account under Daisuké’s name and posts as though she were him, hoping the real Daisuké will discover it and contact her. Kido disapproves of the deception but understands that Kyoichi devised the scheme. The account is intended as bait, but it also turns recollection into performance: Misuzu presents a cheerful, vigorous, competitive, and sensitive version of Daisuké, including posts about a song that makes him cry. Kido reads this as the Daisuké she wishes she could recover, shaped by her memories and by the love she still feels.

Watching the exchange, Kido also recognizes Kyoichi’s attraction to Misuzu and suspects it has a longer history than the current search. The account therefore serves two purposes in the plot: it is an attempt to draw Daisuké out, and it makes visible the unresolved feelings among the people looking for him. Kyoichi’s involvement places him close to Misuzu, but the evidence does not show him directly explaining his feelings to her or resolving their strained relationship.

Characterization and Narrative Role

Kyoichi’s conduct is marked by opposing impulses. He wants to believe Daisuké has been wronged and is angered by the police’s failure to investigate, yet he has held back from searching because he fears encountering trouble. He is relieved when the official search has lost momentum, but his mother’s plea and his own trip to Osaka draw him back into action. The account does not make him either a steady detective or a detached sibling; his practical contribution arrives alongside distrust, old resentment, and uncertainty.

His suspicions about Hara also sharpen the story’s question of whether a person can be judged through family history. Kyoichi treats Hara’s father’s crimes as evidence that Hara may be capable of murder, while Kido insists that Hara’s effort to escape that inheritance matters. Kyoichi’s fear is understandable in the context of a missing brother, but the narrative leaves his accusation unconfirmed. His role is to keep the possibility of violence alive without turning suspicion into proof, while his Osaka inquiry supplies a concrete point in Daisuké’s history that the family can establish.