One-Sided Love

Nishiwaki Tetsuro, once the star quarterback of Teito University's American football team, is now a freelance journalist. At a university reunion one night, he is reunited with Hiura Mizuki, whom he has not seen for more than a decade and who was once the team's manager. What shocks Tetsuro is not only that the old flame between them from that one night has not faded, but the person standing before him: a woman once graceful and feminine now speaks and behaves entirely like a man. Mizuki brings even more startling news—she has killed someone and intends to turn herself in. Tetsuro senses there is more to it, and together with his wife Ritsuko he takes her in, only to discover that matters are far more complicated than a single death: Mizuki disappears without a word, and Nakao Kosuke, a former teammate, is drawn in as well. As the truth is peeled back layer by layer, it points toward a group long overlooked by society—people struggling between biological sex and self-identity. This is not a honkaku mystery meant to be enjoyed as a puzzle. Keigo Higashino uses a murder case and the image of a Möbius strip: the front can become the back without anyone noticing, and there is no such thing as a hundred-percent woman or man. The novel is about how minorities hide themselves and survive, and about how far friendship and love can go in the face of prejudice. The original Japanese title is Kataomoi; it was published by Bungeishunju in 2001, was shortlisted for the 125th Naoki Prize, and the Chinese edition was translated by Zhao Jun.