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Book: Tossing a Coin
I find this to be one of the most chilling and wonderful quotes of all time. Kiriyama doesn't speak much but when he does it sounds like poetry, sadistic poetry, and this line is no exception.
After the game starts Kazuo heads for the arranged meeting place he had told his gang about. When he reaches the southern tip of the island Kiriyama ends up running into Izumi Kanai and decides that since he doesn't really care either way he will toss a coin to figure out what he should do. Holding the girl back he does this and the coin comes up tails meaning Kazuo will play the game.
Thanks to this the girl still held in his arms has her throat immediately slashed and another 12 victims fall under his hand after that. Kiriyama feels no remorse or regret for what he has done and instead just feels absolutely nothing.
The idea of tossing the coin to ultimately decide the fate of not only himself but many people on the island seems almost absurd yet to Kiriyama it was a simple move to make. But a question we must ask is what would have happened if the coin had actually come up heads? More than likely Kiriyama would have saved the lives of many people by taking Sakamochi down. Thanks to his brillance and talent it should have been an easy task and yet rather than be a saviour, Kazuo becomes an angel of death.
To me this is the most tragic part about Kiriyama's character, that he could have saved so many lives but didn't. However as far as he is concerned saving many people and having their thanks would be no different than their blood being on his hands. None of us could truly understand this feeling and therefore never understand Kazuo's decision either.
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