He lied to her because he knew he was going to be caught. But, I think he also lied because he knew their relationship was unhealthy. He wanted her to think he was going to be gone because he moved on, so she would too. If she knew the truth, or that he loved her too, she might try to wait around for him instead of growing and developing into a better and happier person. I think its also tied into the fact that he kept saying he was prepared to die. His brother's death really messed him up because he got so depressed. He threw his life away by committing a crime instead of suicide though. That's also tied into her not telling him her feelings sooner, because he might not have thrown his life away in that case. In the end though, he knew it was too late for him to take that back, and like she ironically told him "if you say you're going to die you just die", he did...at least, he made himself dead to her. He recognized that she could go on to heal and grow and cut her loose and owned up to his own actions too (going along with the police). At least, thats how I see it.
Wow thank you for explaining that
No problem! But since the time I wrote this comment I learned that the Japanese justice system actually goes quite easy on minors, even in the case of murder. So he definitely won’t be in prison for life. He’ll still be pretty young when he gets out. It’s very likely he’s get less that 10 years, or more like, theres pretty much no way he’d get more than that. There are a lot of cases of minors committing murder in Japan and getting incredibly light sentences. That’s not to say that it changes anything in the story, he’ll still always be a convicted murderer and be away in jail (most likely a juvenile one) while she’s transitioning into adulthood and experiencing so much of the world and life while he remains static and will come out of jail stigmatized. I think cutting her off like that was actually a very kind thing overall, even though it robs her of her autonomy over the situation. It’s definitely in her best interest to be completely honest. But! Knowing that he still has a life and hope ahead of him for some kind of life and some kind of happiness is nice for me as a reader. Even though they won’t be together I think their time together was important and will always be a part of them.
Thanks sm for this perspective
what happend ? and isobe ? i'm really stupid