Nanao–Lemon hostile relationship

Nanao and Lemon’s relationship is defined by a collision of opposing roles: both are trying to locate the same suitcase for Minegishi, yet Lemon initially sees Nanao as the thief who took it from him and Tangerine. Their shared employer and objective briefly suggest an alliance, but suspicion, the stolen bag, and the danger of discovery turn that possibility into an increasingly direct confrontation.

Shared Client, Opposing Positions

Nanao understands that Lemon and Tangerine had been transporting the suitcase for Minegishi, while Minegishi had separately hired Nanao to steal that same suitcase. The coincidence is more than a resemblance between their assignments: both sides are working for one client and now need to find one missing object. Nanao suspects that Minegishi has a larger plan, but he does not know what it is. He can see, however, that the overlapping jobs leave Lemon and him with a practical common purpose.

Before approaching Lemon, Nanao considers disclosing that Minegishi hired him too. He expects Lemon to be wary and doubts that the explanation will be readily believed, but thinks that they might still make a deal if Lemon and Tangerine can overlook the fact that Nanao stole the suitcase from them. His imagined partnership is a tactical proposal, not evidence that trust already exists: the two men could cooperate because each needs the bag, even while the theft gives Lemon reason to treat Nanao as an enemy.

Nanao intends to get the first move, restrain Lemon, and then explain the situation. The plan depends on controlling the encounter quietly. A public commotion could bring police or reporters into the matter and make it harder for Nanao to conceal his failure from Minegishi. Thus, even before Lemon confronts him, their relationship is shaped by competing pressures: Nanao needs time and a chance to explain, while the suitcase’s disappearance makes him look like the person responsible for frustrating Lemon’s assignment.

Recognition and Failed Negotiation

The possibility of a calm approach vanishes when Nanao stands and finds Lemon already looking at him in the aisle. Lemon blocks the way and greets him as though they were familiar acquaintances, but the apparent friendliness is misleading: he immediately swings at Nanao. Nanao ducks, takes hold of Lemon’s wrist, and tries to control him without attracting attention. Lemon also seems unwilling to make a public scene, but he slips Nanao’s hold by making his hand appear to spasm. Their shared wish to keep the struggle contained does not make them allies; it only keeps the hostility confined to the train seats.

Lemon recognizes Nanao from a photograph and initially treats his unexpected appearance as a possible coincidence. Once he realizes that Nanao is the person who stole the suitcase, the discovery changes the terms of the encounter. Lemon says, in effect, that there is no need to frame Nanao now that he has actually taken the bag. Nanao tries to redirect the conversation toward Minegishi, asking whether Lemon was hired to return the suitcase. Lemon understands this as confirmation that Nanao is involved, but not as a reason to trust him.

Nanao argues that Minegishi’s use of two separate parties to transport or recover the suitcase suggests that the client does not trust Lemon and Tangerine. He frames the arrangement as a problem to interpret rather than a simple contest between thieves and pursuers. Lemon takes the suggestion badly. His gun hand becomes more threatening as he demands the suitcase and says he will search Nanao and return to his seat to find it. Nanao insists that he is looking for the bag too and that it is not at his seat. The explanation fails to ease Lemon’s suspicion: to Lemon, Nanao’s claim does not resolve the fact that he stole the suitcase.

A Contest for Control

The two men end up sitting opposite one another across the empty middle seat and trading punches over it. A reclined seat in front obstructs their movements, making clean strikes difficult; both are unaccustomed to this kind of seated fight. The cramped arrangement makes the train itself part of the confrontation. Nanao and Lemon cannot simply separate or take up open ground, and each move has to be made within the narrow space between the seats.

When Lemon attempts an uppercut, Nanao brings down the raised armrest, interrupting the attack. Lemon then reveals a small knife in his other hand. Nanao uses a magazine from the seat-back pocket to deflect the blade; its pages, showing photographs of rice paddies, are cut as Lemon pulls it away. The ordinary objects surrounding them—the armrest and magazine—become improvised defenses, but they do not end the danger. Lemon draws a gun after Nanao’s eyes close for an instant, and aims it at him. The negotiation has now given way to a direct threat, with Nanao warning that firing would draw attention to them.

A passing Shinkansen creates the opening that Nanao has been unable to make by force or persuasion. He remarks that the other train might be Murdoch, without intending the comment as a trick. Lemon turns to look, accepting the distraction without apparent suspicion. Nanao immediately seizes the gun hand and strikes Lemon, using a technique he had repeatedly practised as a teenager. Lemon loses consciousness. What began with Nanao hoping to restrain and explain has become a fight in which a moment of misplaced attention determines who controls the encounter.

Restraint and Unresolved Hostility

After Lemon collapses, Nanao moves him to the window seat and arranges him against the window. For a moment he considers killing him, but decides against it. Since killing the Wolf, Nanao feels that taking another life would be too risky; he also expects that Lemon’s death would leave him to face Tangerine’s anger. His restraint is therefore connected both to the consequences he anticipates and to his effort to avoid turning the pair into permanent enemies.

The immediate outcome is a reversal, not a reconciliation. Lemon had recognized Nanao as the suitcase thief and tried to force him to reveal where the bag was; Nanao instead defeats him and gains time to decide what to do next. Yet Nanao’s earlier hope of forming a team has not been fulfilled. His choice not to kill Lemon preserves some possibility of limiting the conflict, but Lemon is unconscious, the suitcase remains missing, and Tangerine has not been brought into any agreement. Their relationship remains hostile, held in temporary suspension by Nanao’s decision to spare the man he has just overpowered.

The encounter also exposes the difference between a shared objective and shared trust. Nanao and Lemon both need to find Minegishi’s suitcase, but the same client does not automatically make them partners. For Nanao, the overlapping assignment offers a possible route out of confrontation; for Lemon, Nanao’s actual theft outweighs the proposed explanation. Their brief opening toward cooperation is repeatedly overtaken by physical suspicion, until Nanao’s restraint—not mutual understanding—is the only thing that prevents the encounter from ending in another killing.