[ . . . . to psychologically corner someone you admired - ]

... it feels weird to say that I was good at my job, but - you know I went looking for evidence that Fuji-senpai was innocent. I... didn't end up finding any. Instead, when I talked to his family... they just said that he was desperate for promotion, and terrified of his juniors surpassing him.

[ . . . ]

When I got promoted to Field Ops, I thought Fuji-senpai was proud of me - he joked around with me and praised me that day too. But... there were rumors that he was jealous.

And then the false arrests started to stack up after that.

[he looks away, if only because he acknowledges how silly this might sound out loud - ]

.... it felt for a while like I was the reason he got judged. [ . . . ] Then when they caught me, they told me as much.