I had to leave a comment here because there were none and I had to look elsewhere. The general consensus is the story was sort of ok until the "rape". I know that bothered a lot of people, but I look at it from a different angle. You have a minor raping an adult, and both are men. While, I don't approve of the scene, I can appreciate the logistics. You really have to consider that this is Japan,where LGBTQA+ are still not as "protected" as other countries (not criminal, just "hush-hush). That being said, Japanese are very reserved and have a strong sense of honor. A male cop getting raped by a male teenager is something you can't talk about. It brings the appearance of shame, not just to the cop, but to the family as well. Not to mention the teem was his sister's friend. There are so many reasons he would keep this quiet. He also considers it his duty to help the teen reform by trying to understand where his mindset is. I don't think he instantly falls in love with his rapist, but he does look at him from an adult's prospective of lonely child lashing out. When the teen protects him from the gang, it justifies his goal to help him reform.
That aside, my issue is with the entire wrap up of the story. It's like we fast-forwarded to the end and skipped the entire good-guy - bad guy monolog. The murderer was arrested, but we don't know who or why. The person they arrested had a different name and was taller than the math teacher. I'm assuming the uncle & his boyfriend took in Fuwa after the entire psycho mom episode. I've seen this kind of trope before and it usually ends with the kid living with the boyfriend & the mom getting therapy. The uncle and writer talk about "the teens" at the end, which supports this theory. Being a cop and gay himself, the uncle seems like the type that would take Fuwa in. It also helps that they'll be graduating soon, so it's not a long-term arrangement.
Like I said, my only issue was the murderer not being clear. I hoped thi helped others reconcile the other "wtf" threads. If anyone else can clarify the serial killer part, that would be great!
