No Longer Human ( PDFDrive )

144
ually become incapable of laughter, and were beginning
to experience the particular oppressiveness,
as if one's head were stuffed with broken glass, that
comes from getting drunk on gin.
"Don't be cheeky now. I for one have never been
tied up like a common criminal the way you have."
I was taken aback. Horiki at heart did not treat
me like a full human being. He could only consider
me as the living corpse of a would-be suicide, a person
dead to shame, an idiot ghost. His friendship had no
other purpose but to utilize me in whichever way
would most further his own pleasures. This thought
naturally did not make me very happy, but I realized
after a moment that it was entirely to be expected
that Horiki should take this view of me; that from
long ago, even as a child, I seemed to lack the qualifications
of a human being; and that, for all I know,
contempt, even from Horiki, might be entirely
merited.
I said, feigning tranquillity, "Crime. What's the
antonym of crime? This is a hard one."
"The law, of course," Horiki answered flatly. I
looked at his face again. Caught in the flashing red
light of a neon sign on a nearby building, Horiki's face
had the somber dignity of the relentless prosecutor.
I felt shaken to the core.
"Crime belongs in a different category."