The Devil's Disciple
Prosecutor Tsuchida, I am being held here as a murderer. But the truth is that I am probably not that murderer. That’s right. Probably.
The horrific things I am about to describe are not entirely without relation to you. In fact it is fair to say that it is you who have made me suffer so. And because of that only you can understand my pain. Part of me hates you for this. I curse you for it. But now I beg you. I bow down before you. In the name of that friendship we once shared, that friendship of unparalleled closeness, I beg of you to believe what I have to say.
Hamao wrote in the 1930s, which was a period of political turmoil and cultural change in Japan when homosexuality was seen as a pathology and a perversion by modern sexology and psychiatry. Hamao was influenced by the American writer S.S. Van Dine. He also showed his heterodox tendencies and explored themes such as homosexuality, crime, and psychology in his stories.
The Devil’s Disciple is a short story by Hamao Shirō, a Japanese writer of detective fiction. It is about a prisoner who is accused of murder but blames his former lover, a prosecutor, for driving him to do so. He also accuses the prosecutor of being a serial killer who framed him for other crimes. The story is a psychological thriller that explores the themes of homosexuality, guilt, and revenge.
If you like the shocking effect, this novella will fascinate and amaze you about how dark human nature can be.