He left no isho (遺書, suicide note), so his deepest feelings can only be guessed — first from his jisatsu (自殺, suicide) at age 13, and secondly from the testimony of dōkyūsei (同級生, classmates) elicited in a tardy and grudging school and police investigation into the case.
On Oct. 11, the boy's body was found in the grounds of his 14-story apartment building. Tobiori jisatsu (飛び降り自殺, he had jumped to his death). He was a second-year student at Ojiyama chūgakkō (中学校, junior high school) in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture. The school's kōchō sensei (校長先生, principal) told a kisha kaiken (記者会見, press conference), "Ijime wa hāku shite inai (いじめは把握していない, So far as we know this is not a case of bullying)." The kyōiku iinkai (教育委員会, the board of education) denied an inga kankei (因果関係, cause-and-effect link) between ijime (いじめ, bullying) and 自殺. The three boys deemed the leading kagaisha (加害者, perpetrators) of what the victim went through said no いじめ had taken place, claiming: "Fuzaketa dake (ふざけただけ, We were just fooling around.")
Some fooling. Some fun. In November, three weeks after the death, the board of education distributed an ankēto (アンケート, questionnaire) to all 859 Ojiyama students. The results were not at first made public, leading to suspicions of a school inpei (隠蔽, coverup). In February the boy's family sued the families of the three alleged ringleaders for ¥77.2 million in songai baishō (損害賠償, damages). The アンケート found its way into the court proceedings, which gave the public its first look at its contents.