“Tetsuo, four-year olds don’t commit seppuku.”

“Pity four-year olds know how to live feed to YouTube.”

“They pulled the video within minutes.”

“Too late. Twenty-some people captured it, sent it on. It gives going viral a whole new meaning.”

“Seppuku.”

“Nobody outside of Japan would’ve cared if he shaved his head.”

“Did you see it?”

“Who hasn’t seen it?”

“No, I mean did you watch it? Did you hear him?”

“Apologizing. For what?”

“You saw the edited video.”

“There’s more?”

“I have it on my phone. The whole thing.”

“This isn’t edited? Where’d he get that voice?”

“Listen to him. To his words. Do you hear what he’s saying?”

“Nankin Daigyakusatsu? How can he know about the Rape of Nanking?”

“Are you listening?”

“That’s a grown man talking. Who did this?”

“You’re a philologist, dammit. Are you hearing him? His words?”

“The words, the patterns. He’s speaking WWII era Japanese. He’s – “

“He’s using the language of the Imperial Japanese Army, circa 1935, 1940, somewhere in there. I’ve already checked it.”

“He’s apologizing for taking part…what was that? Beheadings? Rape? What does a four-year old know about rape?”

“He goes on. Carving babies before their mothers’ eyes. Half burying people and letting the dogs loose on them. Everything we’ve denied, everything we hid.”

“A four-year old? Who did this to him?”

“Nobody. Listen to him. He’s near the end. He talks about the shame he brought on his people and himself and then – “

“Turn it off. A four-year old? How can a four-year old know about this?”

“According to some it is our past come back to haunt us.”

“You don’t believe – “

“Hang on, let me get this. Yes? Yes. Yes. Can you text me the link?”

“Important?”

“Another one.”

Joseph Carrabis has been everything from a long-haul trucker to a Chief Research Scientist and held patents covering mathematics, anthropology, neuroscience, and linguistics. He’s the author of several fiction and non-fiction titles a l available through Ingram and Amazon. Learn more about him at https://josephcarrabis.com and his work at http://nlb.pub/amazon.