Kumiko’s attempt to kill Noboru Wataya

Kumiko Okada’s attempt to kill her brother, Noboru Wataya, is presented as a deliberate act she intends to carry out at the hospital, followed by a willingness to face punishment. Its aftermath shifts the emphasis from the planned act to its legal consequences: Kumiko refuses release from jail, avoids visitors, and pleads guilty, while Toru Okada waits for her.

The Decision to Go to the Hospital

In a message sent from her brother’s office, Kumiko tells Toru that a taxi is waiting and that she must leave for the hospital. She says she intends to kill Noboru Wataya and take the punishment for doing so. The account establishes both the immediate plan and her expectation of its consequences; it does not describe what happens at the hospital.

Kumiko also explains how her feelings and reasons have changed. She says she no longer hates her brother and is calm about the prospect of ending his life. She frames the act as being for his sake as well as her own, saying it would give meaning to her life. Her stated rationale therefore joins concern for Noboru with a search for meaning, rather than presenting the attempt simply as an expression of hatred.

The Message and Its Personal Stakes

The hospital plan reaches Toru through a brief, urgent message. Kumiko says that time has run out, explains that she cannot continue writing, and closes with a goodbye. The communication makes the planned killing an act Kumiko discloses to her husband in advance, even as its hurried circumstances leave no room for a sustained exchange.

Before ending, she asks Toru to care for their returned cat, Mackerel. She is glad the cat has come back and recalls it as a symbol of something good that had grown between them. Her reference to their earlier loss of the cat ties the impending separation to the couple’s shared history: alongside the declared intention to kill Noboru and accept punishment, the message preserves a tender connection to Toru and their life together.

Imprisonment and the Plea

In a later conversation, Toru tells May Kasahara that Kumiko refused to be released from jail. She expects that she would be mobbed outside and prefers the peace and quiet of confinement. She also does not want to see Toru or anyone else until the case is settled. The account presents this as Kumiko’s choice, not as a decision by the authorities to keep her in custody.

Toru says that the trial is expected to begin sometime in the spring and that Kumiko is pleading guilty. She will accept the verdict, whatever it is; Toru expects a short trial and says a suspended sentence is possible, or, at worst, a light one. These are expectations reported by Toru, not a record of the trial’s eventual outcome or sentence.

Aftermath and Significance

The available account establishes the intention to kill Noboru, Kumiko’s resolve to accept punishment, and her subsequent guilty plea and preference to remain in jail. It does not establish the details of the act at the hospital or its precise immediate outcome. That distinction keeps the episode focused on Kumiko’s declared choice and its aftermath rather than supplying an unreported scene.

At the end of the later conversation, May asks whether Toru will stay home and wait for Kumiko again. Her question places the legal process beside the unresolved marriage: Kumiko has chosen confinement and distance, while Toru’s response is framed as waiting. The attempt thus leads not to a narrated reconciliation or a concluded sentence, but to a period of separation whose endpoint remains unsettled.