I kept reading, and made it to the end, but I was never quite sure why. I found the angst a bit over-the-top, especially Toru's insistence on sending Hideko away "for his own good" when it so obviously wasn't. And how conveniently Toru made it just in time to save the day when Hideko really needed him, thanks to a maid thinking to call him when she was too afraid to call the police for fear of getting fired. Could there be any more Dickensian coincidences or deus ex machina? Seemed like one after another.