Debt of Silence

In the Republic of Tokai, a routine civil enforcement objection filed in Sakurazawa District Court unravels a decades-old secret. Makoto Aoyama, a successful entrepreneur, seeks to enforce a debt against Ken Nishimura, a struggling businessman. But when Nishimura files an objection claiming the debt was already paid, the courtroom becomes a stage where long-buried memories of high school bullying resurface. Twenty-eight years after a classmate's suicide, victim and perpetrator have traded places. Lawyer Ritsuko Kirino, tasked with investigating the truth, discovers that every layer of this case exposes the silent complicity of a society that looked away. Dorothy L. Sayers meets East Asian legal drama in this tale of meticulously plotted revenge, collective guilt, and the unpayable debt of silence.