No Longer Human ( PDFDrive )

119
might on the surface seem strikingly like another
man who reveres the clever, wordly-wise rules for
success embodied in the proverb "Let sleeping dogs
lie." Is it not true that no two human beings understand
anything whatsoever about each other, that
those who consider themselves bosom friends may be
utterly mistaken about their fellow and, failing to
realize this sad truth throughout a lifetime, weep
when they read in the newspapers about his death?
Horiki, I had to admit, participated in the settlement
after my running away, though reluctantly,
under pressure from Shizuko, and he was now behaving
exactly like the great benefactor to whom I
owed my rehabilitation or like the go-between of a
romance. The look on his face as he lectured me was
grave. Sometimes he would barge in late at night,
dead-drunk, to sleep at my place, or stop by to borrow
five yen (invariably five yen).
"You must stop your fooling around with women.
You've gone far enough. Society won't stand for
more."
What, I wondered, did he mean by "society"?
The plural of human beings? Where was the substance
of this thing called "society"? I had spent
my whole life thinking that society must certainly
be something powerful, harsh and severe, but to hear
Horiki talk made the words "Don't you mean your-