“Ding-dong”

The intercom at the apartment rang.

When Saori Fukuura looked at the monitor, she saw several of her late son’s classmates and their parents standing there.

Saori knew one of them. She said to her husband, Daisuke, who was standing next to her.

“That’s the student who was bullying Hayato.”

*The classmates’ names have been withheld.

The students who bullied their son paying condolences

On May 20, 2017—one month after Hayato Fukuura took his own life—students from Kaisei Gakuen began paying their respects.

The school solicited students and parents who would want to visit the family and assigned them over the course of several days. Over the course of about a week, approximately 60 students and parents came to visit.

As they lit incense and bowed their heads before the portrait, several students began to weep. Saori and Daisuke expressed their gratitude to those who had come to pay their respects and offered words of encouragement to the students.

At the same time, there were many moments when Saori and Daisuke’s hearts were torn apart.

On the afternoon of May 20, the intercom rang. Thinking it was a student paying their respects, she checked the monitor and saw two sets of parents and children on the screen.

Saori couldn’t believe who she saw.

“That’s ■■. He’s the kid who bullied Hayayo.”

“What!?”

Daisuke was shocked, too. After Hayato’s death, Daisuke found a notebook in Hayato’s room. Along with details of the bullying and Hayato’s anguish, it contained the real names of the bullies.

There were 11 of them in total. Among them, the student they saw on the intercom screen was the one who Hayato wrote that had “looked down on (Hayato) the most.” He had come with his mother.

“Even if the student who bullied Hayato comes, let’s try not to get angry or blame them.”

Daisuke and Saori had decided this in advance. Pursuing the perpetrator wouldn’t bring Hayato back. What the bereaved family wanted was to ensure that no one else would ever suffer the same fate as Hayato. They had decided to focus solely on demanding measures to prevent a recurrence, so that the school would disclose the facts and the students responsible could reflect on their actions.

But they never imagined the student who bullied Hayato would come to see them in person. Anger and frustration welled up inside them. They managed to put on a calm front as they showed him into the room.

Most people bowed their heads and put their hands together in front of Hayato’s portrait. But ■■ just stared intently at Hayato’s portrait. They sat down at the table, served tea, and exchanged a few casual words with the parent and son. Even during that time, ■■ remained expressionless and said nothing. If anything, his attitude was defiant.

Daisuke spoke to him in a gentle tone, hoping that Daisuke’s kind words would prompt him to reflect on his own words and actions towards Hayato, and said the following.

“Live your youth to the fullest—for Hayato as well. Do your best in both your studies and sports.”

There was no response. Until the very end, neither the student nor his parent offered any words of apology.

A month after his death, a classmate asked, “Did you quit the club?”

Other students who bullied Hayato came to give condolences.

Out of the 11 people Hayato had listed in his notebook, seven came to visit. Each time, Daisuke and Saori felt as though their hearts might shatter, yet they remained determined not to become angry or place blame on anyone. Still, none of the seven apologized for the bullying.

It wasn’t just the students who had bullied them who had tortured Daisuke and Saori.

Even the students and parents mourning Hayato’s death said, “Why did he take his own life?”

There were many mourners who were unaware of the bullying. Why has the situation come to this?

The cause lay at Kaisei Gakuen.

By the time the visit started on May 20, Kaisei Gakuen had already conducted two information sessions. As the bereaved family could not attend, they learned the details afterward from students and parents who had taken part.

The initial meeting took place on May 7 and was aimed at parents of students who have been enrolled at Kaisei since junior high, same as Hayato. Since the school only shared excerpts from the suicide note and personal writings, the attendees were unable to fully understand the specifics of the bullying or Hayato’s feelings.

The second session was held on May 9. Of the school’s approximately 1,500 students, only about 40—all of whom had been attending Kaisei since junior high—were able to attend. School officials informed the students that Hayato had taken his own life, but they read almost none of his suicide note or personal writings. There was no mention of bullying whatsoever.

As a result of these measures, Hayato’s suicide remained known only to students who have been attending Kaisei since junior high and their parents. As for the students, they were not even told the crucial fact that he had been suffering from bullying.

In addition, Kaisei Gakuen had also imposed restrictions on mourners.

Just as with the target audience for the information session, attendance was limited to students who have been attending Kaisei since junior high and their parents.

As a result, even during the mourning period, the bereaved family frequently received confusing messages.

Even though a month has passed since Hayato’s suicide, his classmates were still sending him text messages on his smartphone.

When Saori opened the app, she saw it was a message from a friend of Hayato’s from the computer club.

“Aren’t you coming to the club today?”

“Are you okay?”

“Did you quit the club?”

Only the students who had been attending Kaisei since junior high were aware that Hayato had died; the others didn’t even know.

Daily “media” reports

Both Saori and Daisuke were convinced.

“Kaisei Gakuen is trying to cover up what happened with Hayato.”

When they looked at it that way, everything that had happened up to that point suddenly made sense.

On April 21, the day after Hayato’s death, Daisuke received a call on his cell phone from Shinichiro Takegawa, the high school vice principal.

Although this was their first conversation since Hayato’s death, Takegawa cut straight to the point, saying, “The school has received inquiries from the media. We want to meet with you as soon as possible.”

It had only been a few hours since Hayato’s body was found. Daisuke was still struggling to come to terms with what had happened, yet he was already swamped with funeral arrangements. The police had told him to contact the school once the funeral schedule and other details were finalized and things had settled down.

However, Takegawa sounded flustered on the phone and demanded a meeting in a high-handed tone. Daisuke instantly blurted out, “I’m sorry.”

The following day, the 22nd, three faculty and staff members, including Takegawa, came to the funeral home.

After showing Hayato’s suicide note to the three of them, Saori pleaded through her tears, “Please make sure something like this never happens again at Kaisei!” and “Please make Hayato the last one to go through something like this!”

In response to Saori’s plea, Takegawa replied: “The media is sniffing around. We’ve been getting calls at the school since yesterday. How should we handle the media?”

Since neither Daisuke nor Saori could answer right away, Kawashima, the junior high school vice principal, said in a stern tone, “What do you want to do?!”

When they told them not to mention Hayato’s name, both Takegawa and Kawashima regained their calm demeanor and said, “Leave it to us.”

Furthermore, Kawashima stopped Saori and Daisuke who were trying to invite Hayato’s classmates to the funeral, saying,“Let’s not call the students. If we do, the information will inevitably leak to the media.”

It has been decided that only faculty and staff from Kaisei Gakuen will be allowed to come and offer incense.

After that, the school continued to send updates on the media’s activities. Takegawa would always call Daisuke’s cell phone.

April 25

“The Mainichi Shimbun contacted us regarding the suicide. The Nagasaki Shimbun has also said they will visit the school again after the weekend.”

“Please rest assured. I have told the reporters that if, by any chance, they were to interview a student, it would become a human rights issue.”

April 26

“It seems the Mainichi Shimbun has been visiting the prefecture to look into the suicide.”

“When children at school ask why Hayato is absent, they’re told, ‘We haven’t heard from his family.’”

“Sudden death,” scribbled on the back of a flyer

The daily phone calls from Takegawa were fueling Daisuke and Saori’s fear of the media.

Nevertheless, something startling happened then.

Shortly after 5:00 p.m. on April 27, Daisuke received another call from Takegawa. Referring to the sports festival to be held at Kaisei Gakuen the following day, the 28th, he said the following.

“KTN (TV Nagasaki) will be covering tomorrow’s sports festival. They might ask about this issue.”

And then he continued, “Since the media hasn’t realized it’s a student from Kaisei, we might as well just announce it a ‘sudden death.’”

Daisuke couldn’t believe his ears. He scribbled “sudden death” on the back of a flyer lying nearby.

To be continued.

(Originally published in Japanese on January 22 2026. Translation by Mana Shibata.)

Adults in the Student Suicide Case ~School Edition~: All articles