"It's kinda a long story. Her folks had died years ago when someone accidentally started a fire in their lodge. She was the only one in her family to make it out -- 'cause this fella Hideomi and his friend Mitsuaki had been passing by. Hideomi pulled her outta the house and saved her. They ended up bein' really sweet on each other, except just before they were gonna announce their marriage, he killed himself and left her a note. Sayin' he and his friend had been the one to start the fire in the first place.

"So she killed Mitsuaki. When she got found out, that was when she tried to set herself on fire. But I was there with a buddy of mine, and we replaced the contents of the container with water." Heiji looked away a little. "The look on her face was awful. And the way she was cryin' and carryin' on... I asked if it wouldn't have been better if we'd just let her go through with it."