As Tetsuya Yamagami prepares to stand trial in the slaying of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a childhood acquaintance offered reminiscences and hopes for what the proceedings will unravel.

The trial gets under way at the Nara District Court on Oct. 28.

The former classmate agreed to a wide-ranging interview with The Asahi Shimbun.

Excerpts follow：

Question: What kind of connection did you have with Yamagami, now 45 years old?

Answer: When we were in the same class, he sat close to me, so I began talking to him. He was a lone wolf type. What comes to mind is seeing him sleeping at his desk in the classroom during breaks between classes. He often wore slippers in school, and I recall the slapping sound he made when he walked.

But he always smiled when I spoke to him. He was like that, not just with me. He was kind to everyone. He also spoke in a respectful manner. When we unexpectedly met outside of the school building, he would shyly say, “Aren’t you so-and-so?”

Q: What sort of things was Yamagami into back then?

A: He was a member of the cheerleading team. They practiced in an area near the entrance to the school ground, and we could hear their shouts year-round extend to beyond the schoolyard. He was also keen on sit-ups which he did with someone sitting on him.

He was shy and did not like to stand out, so he didn’t speak up much in class. In class photos taken for the graduation yearbook, he would inevitably be away from the center. It was very difficult to make out his face in the photos.

Even then, I always wondered why someone like that joined the cheerleading team.

I once asked him and he responded, “It is a manly thing to do and cool.”

But now I believe that he wanted something he could become really interested in so as not to surrender to the harsh life he was experiencing.

Q: Did he ever confide in you?

A: It was only later that I learned that he had problems regarding his mother’s religion and that he had also attended one of its gatherings. He never showed that side in school, but he likely put his face down on the desk in the classroom because he was worried about it.

But because he was someone who really hated troubling others, I don’t think he would have responded even if I had asked him.

I once asked him if he liked being alone and he bashfully smiled and said, “I guess you’re right.”

Q: How do you view what he did?

A: Immediately after it happened, I could not connect it to my senior high school days. Could he really kill someone? I felt it could not happen that someone would turn into the devil after 20 years had passed.

Having a family member die, fashioning a handgun and practicing shooting it. I could not imagine how someone who was so pure and kind like him could reach such a stage.

I wondered what he was feeling when he fired the gun. Just from the news videos, he seemed not to be nervous at all. In his heart, he may have felt that he was doing the right thing.

Of course, we cannot permit the killing of people. I feel like I am partly responsible.

Q: What do you mean?

A: I had another acquaintance whose parent was a member of a different religious organization, and I was asked to join. But it ended with me thinking what a bother it would be.

Because it was about religion, I felt I should not touch upon it and tried to avoid taking it seriously.

But, in fact, a friend close to me was really suffering. He probably couldn’t raise his voice because those of us around him adopted that attitude.

I felt it was a crime to only think about making my own life better and avoiding taking his problems seriously.

Things might have turned out differently if we had focused on a social issue rather than considering it to be his personal problem. I feel if I had said something, he would not have fired the gun.

Q: Did the incident change anything in your life?

A: Although I was also part of the generation that faced difficulties finding a job out of school, I am now involved in work that I love. But that was only because of the support given to me by my parents. Because of Yamagami’s family environment, he went in a bad direction.

I have frequently come to think that I was just lucky.

Q: In the upcoming trial, a wide gap exists between prosecutors and the defense team over how closely to delve into the former Unification Church. What kind of revelations are you hoping for?

A: I can understand prosecutors trying to focus on what occurred and their argument that a severe punishment should be given to a dangerous individual who killed a former prime minister just like that.

But if they end it there and do not look into his background, I feel that would totally be the bad behavior of Japan until now. 

It is not only because he committed murder and hand-fashioned a dangerous gun.

I hope they will take into consideration the struggle that someone as pure as him must have endured to fall so far after suffering for 20 years.

If they do not go that far, there will be no change in the bad habit of politicians and those in power of not looking squarely at social problems.