Chapter 10: The Banality of Evil
(When Sato Miwako recovered consciousness from her brief stupor, she immediately felt the cold metallic touch and the painful ache of restraint around her wrists.
She found herself sitting back-to-back with Takagi Wataru, their hands cuffed behind them in an extremely awkward, crossed manner using their own handcuffs, making it nearly impossible to exert force.
She snapped her head up and saw the black-haired youth, fully dressed, sitting on the edge of the cheap bed opposite them, his hands resting on his knees. Between his fingers, a cold, gleaming dagger was being unconsciously twirled. His gaze was calm yet profound, fixed on them without blinking, as if examining or perhaps weighing his options.
"You!" Miwako was instantly wide awake, humiliation and fury surging in her heart. She shouted sternly, "Do you know what you are doing right now?! Assaulting an officer! Stealing a firearm! Illegal detention! Any one of these is enough to put you in prison for more than ten years! Release us immediately!"
Kuchiba Hiro raised his eyes, his tone flat and emotionless, as if discussing the weather: "What crime have I committed?"
"Endangering national security! It's clearly written on the arrest warrant!" Miwako gritted her teeth, trying to use authority to subdue him, "And your current actions!"
"How did I endanger national security?" he continued to ask, his voice devoid of emotion.
Miwako took a deep breath and recited the charges she had been told: "Deploying Sarin gas in crowded public places like Shibuya Station, causing multiple casualties and injuries, and creating extreme panic!"
The air froze for a few seconds.
Then, Kuchiba Hiro fell silent. Following that, he let out a low laugh, a sound devoid of pleasure, containing only endless absurdity and icy mockery.
Seeing that he had stopped speaking, Miwako suppressed the unease in her heart and tried to reason with him in her usual manner: "You are still young! Don't keep making mistakes! It's not too late to turn back now! Think about your future! Stop this foolish behavior!"
At this moment, Kuchiba Hiro understood completely. The two police officers before him, and even the superiors who issued the orders, were likely just unknowing cogs in a massive machine.
Were they innocent? They were just following orders. But were they truly innocent? They had unthinkingly become the knives pointed at him.
His laughter ceased abruptly.
"I am considering," he suddenly spoke, his voice as light as a whisper, yet the content was heavy as a thousand jun, "whether or not to kill you."
Miwako's expression changed dramatically.
Kuchiba Hiro ignored her reaction, seemingly immersed in his own world. He began to speak slowly, partly as an explanation to them, partly as a final justification for his next action, and primarily to force a cold reality into the minds of these two "innocents."
"The first story is about bullying. A 14-year-old girl was subjected to long-term abuse by over a dozen classmates, who took nude photos and videos of her. When the matter escalated, the school decided it was just a 'prank.' A Dean of Students 'earnestly' visited the victim: 'The perpetrators also have futures. Which is more beneficial for the future of the nation, the futures of ten perpetrators or the future of one victim?' The girl 'calmly considered' this, then left home. The next day, people found that girl frozen to death in a cold park."
He paused, then continued speaking.
"The second story is a joke. A child's father was killed by a military vehicle. Subsequently, the child was arrested and sentenced for 'potentially harboring resentment toward an allied nation and possessing anti-social tendencies.' The reasoning was: his father was killed by 'Big Brother,' and the hatred for a father's killer is irreconcilable, so he must hate 'Big Brother.' Hating 'Big Brother' means opposing the friendship treaty, which makes him a reactionary who needs pre-emptive 'correction.'"
His tone had no inflection, as if he were stating a common occurrence.
"The third story is about 'thought.' A High-ranking Nazi official, the core planner of the Genocide Program, was judged by the court to be guilty of 'premeditated murder.' Yet, in his personal life, he was a good husband and father, diligent and earnest in his work. He merely worked 'especially diligently' within that system to achieve personal advancement; apart from that, he had no personal motives. He never even realized what he was doing. Some scholars believe that this so-called 'law-abiding official' descended into 'extreme evil' precisely because of his 'thoughtlessness' when faced with choices—a thoughtless recklessness, smugly reciting 'truths' that had become trivial and hollow. This is 'The Banality of Evil.'"
"The difficulty of the problem lies in this," Kuchiba Hiro's gaze was like an ice pick stabbing toward Miwako, "we can never determine whether every individual submerged in a fanatic crowd or a cold system is truly a fervent extremist, or merely... a thoughtless and judgment-free imitator, drifting with the current. If the latter exists—this archetype of 'The Banality of Evil,' a tool incapable of thought, who simply executes orders perfectly... then how should their culpability be judged?"
The stories were finished.
Miwako froze. She seemed to vaguely touch upon the edges of his words, but the massive, cold shadow made her instinctively resist deeper thought. She struggled, trying to grasp the only anchor she knew: "You... the facts of your crime are conclusive! If you truly have been wronged, the law... the law will give you a fair judgment!"
Kuchiba Hiro slowly stood up, the dagger in his hand hanging by his side.
He did not refute, nor did he explain. He simply took a step forward, looked down at her, and asked the simplest yet most fatal question:
"Will you stop me?"
"Will you defy orders?"
"Are you my enemy?"
His gaze seemed capable of piercing the soul.
"I think, yes, you are.")