After the Meiji Restoration, when brick-making became popular, the village headman sold off about half of the red clay hill located along the river about half a mile north of the village. Over time, a beggars' settlement formed around the clear spring that gushed out from the surrounding copse left behind. The villagers simply referred to it as "Kawakami."

Though it was a settlement, it comprised only four or five shabby fishcake-shaped huts. Yet, it still received postal deliveries and checks, and medicine peddlers from Toyama also visited. Recently, there was a sudden increase in the number of soldiers returning home in imposing military uniforms, which piqued the village's interest. Rumors spread that someone of noble status had fallen into disgrace and was hiding there.

According to the postman, one of the soldiers was named Nishimura. He was a handsome and gentle youth, resembling a film actor. Though he seemed new to the community, he had built a fishcake-shaped hut a bit away from the central area and was harboring a bedridden woman inside. The village children said they couldn't see her face clearly, but she appeared to be around forty, with an unsettlingly pale, refined face. They witnessed her receiving gifts from Nishimura, clasping her hands together and crying as she accepted them.

After that, Nishimura's reputation continued to rise. There were rumors about the relationship between Nishimura and the woman he was harboring. Eventually, a newspaper that was only delivered to one general store in the village published a large article with a photo about Nishimura.

"Private Second Class Nishimura was originally the only son of a wealthy family from the Tohoku region. When he was thirteen, his father passed away, and soon after, his family dispersed. He moved with his mother to Nagasaki to stay with relatives, but unfortunately, they fell into beggary. For the next seven years, he wandered from place to place, and last spring, his mother became bedridden with tuberculosis, which led them to settle in the Kawakami settlement. That year, he was required to undergo conscription examination and was called to the military, passing the examination with flying colors. Despite joining the army, Nishimura did not indulge in luxury. He didn't spend a single penny of his salary and even collected lost items like belt buckles and buttons during barrack clean-ups to sell to his troubled colleagues, saving the money. His practice of visiting his mother on Sundays became well-known in the regiment, and he was eventually commended by the regiment commander. His character was extremely gentle and mild, he worked diligently, had impeccable conduct, and his performance was excellent..."

Since then, Nishimura's reputation reached its peak. On Sundays, the village's babysitters would compete to go and observe how dutiful Nishimura was to his mother at the Kawakami settlement. Some even wept as they watched Nishimura wash the patient's dirt and his own shirt together in the large river on frosty mornings, saying, "I wish I could be Nishimura's bride," and "Truly."

Eventually, sympathetic people sent money to the newspaper company and the regiment on his behalf. Some even donated "fifty yen" under female names, making Nishimura suddenly wealthy. With the help of other settlement members, he rebuilt the fishcake-shaped hut where his mother lay into a more proper-looking corrugated galvanized-iron house. "One should indeed be dutiful to one's parents," the villagers marveled.

However, something significant happened shortly after. It was a beautiful Sunday morning when the cherry blossoms had just begun to bloom a little, and the larks were flying above the barley fields. Nishimura, wearing his khaki military uniform more neatly than usual, arrived in the Kawakami settlement with a truly stunning and trendy beauty who looked just like a movie actress.

On this day, however, Nishimura seemed somewhat reluctant, and as he got out of the car with a pale face that looked like he was about to cry, the trendy beauty forcibly pulled him by the hand into his corrugated metal house. It seemed his mother was still asleep, as both of them soon came back outside.

Then, Nishimura immediately tried to leave and headed towards the car, but the trendy beauty forcibly stopped him. She took out a red blanket and a basket full of delicious-looking food from the car, spread them out on a vacant lot in the woods, and gathered five or six disabled people left in the village to hold a strange feast.

First, Nishimura, who was blushing and shy, and the trendy beauty who was laughing and squealing, exchanged and drank red sake cups in front of the disabled people who were taken aback, in a manner resembling the San-san-ku-do ritual. Soon, the others also began to drink sake greedily from white sake cups and teacups. Among the luxurious cuisine were twisted bread, slender bottles that seemed to contain Western alcohol, and navel oranges, but most of the food consisted of canned goods that no one had ever seen or heard of before, and everyone ate them with great enjoyment.

Nishimura, who was blushing and shy, was served alcohol by the fashionable beauty and drank with embarrassment. Eventually, the trendy beauty got completely drunk, stood on the blanket, and began to speak as if delivering a speech. Then she rolled up her red waistcloth above her navel and started dancing a strange dance, shaking her large, white buttocks. The disabled people applauded and praised her.

Up to that point, it was quite entertaining, but soon everyone was terrified when they saw Nishimura's mother, who was as thin as a ghost, come out from the tin-roofed hut next to them, wearing nothing but a white waistcloth.

Nishimura's mother, with her pale, thread-like body, disheveled hair, and eyes rolled back to reveal the whites, was grinding her teeth and had a terrifying expression like a demon. She pushed away Nishimura, who hurried to restrain her, and staggered towards the trendy beauty who had stopped dancing and was standing there in a daze. She clung tightly to the beauty, her eyes bulging, and opened her mouth wide as if to bite her. Mr. Nishimura desperately pulled her away and, grabbing the trendy beauty's hand, fled to the car. The mother, out of breath, collapsed, and everyone took care of her, but since they had been watching from a distance and her words were unusual, they couldn't understand what had happened. This was the report from the babysitters.

"Hmm. Isn't it obvious?" said the retired hardware store owner, who had been listening, as he looked around at the babysitters with a newspaper in hand. "Nishimura's mother was just trying to stop him from marrying such a woman."

The babysitters all had puzzled expressions. They reacted in a way that made it unclear whether they understood or not, and they dispersed from the front of the hardware store, looking somewhat disappointed.

However, around noon the next day, the village policeman, a person who appeared to be a department head wearing gold-embroidered clothes, the village doctor, and a military policeman with a pistol at their waists, all passed through the village towards Kawakami settlement while ringing their bicycle bells loudly. The villagers who lived along the street wondered if something had happened and rushed outside to see them. As one person went by and another started to run, a crowd gathered around Kawakami settlement. According to what they said when they returned, it was about Nishimura's mother hanging herself the previous night, and there was suspicion that the trendy beauty from the previous day might have killed her.

However, the situation was strange, and the rumors were varied. The next morning, people gathered at the hardware store, eagerly awaiting the truth, which was detailed in the newspaper. The headline read, "The True Nature of the Model Soldier."

"According to the investigation into Private Nishimura's character, he appeared gentle on the surface but was actually a kind of addict with an extremely abnormal sexual desire (hentai seiyoku). The woman who served as his mother was actually his lover, cherished by him since childhood. Recently, a famous pickpocket named Otama (who also had a perverted nature) saw the newspaper article about the model soldier and boldly sent a long, emotional letter and fifty yen to the regiment commander in an envelope with her real name and address. The police, learning of this from the newspaper article, secretly investigated her whereabouts. However, the audacious Otama managed to evade the police investigation and entered into a romantic relationship with Nishimura, completely manipulating him. They both went by car to mock his fake mother. This happened last Sunday morning. Nishimura did not return to the regiment but changed clothes at an inn near the station and fled with Otama. Meanwhile, Nishimura's fake mother, in a fit of rage, hanged herself, which was discovered yesterday morning. The investigators found no evidence of foul play. However, according to the local beggars, their lewd relationship was a common occurrence and not unusual, causing the investigators to stifle their laughter."

"What does this 'hentai seiyoku' mean?" someone asked. "I don't know either," replied the retired hardware store owner, surrounded by a crowd, in a dismissive tone.

"Recently, whenever there's a case the newspapers don't fully understand, they quickly label it as 'hentai.' Personally, I think Nishimura was indeed a filial son. However, he was deceived by a wicked woman and abandoned his seriously ill mother. I believe the beggars in the neighborhood, who knew nothing of duty or gratitude, found it troublesome to take care of her and criticized her in various ways, ultimately forcing her to hang herself. What do you think?" Everyone fell silent at once.