Tokyo: Are you even a proper lawyer?

It was dusk when Rio Arimura walked out of the law firm building carrying a cardboard box.

The setting sun painted the Tokyo sky a gradient of orange-red, the glass curtain walls of the high-rise buildings reflected dazzling light, and the streets were teeming with people, each hurrying to some destination.

She alone didn't know where to go.

Instead of going home immediately, she carried the cardboard box and wandered aimlessly along the street.

The cardboard box wasn't heavy; it contained her personal belongings from her desk.

A mug, a few law books, a small succulent plant, and a photo of her with her parents.

The photo was taken on the day she passed the bar exam. Her parents are on either side of her, and all three of them are smiling broadly.

At that time, she thought she had finally embarked on the path of "defending justice".

How naive!

Rio Arimura twitched her lips, wanting to laugh, but instead tasted the salty liquid.

She raised her hand to wipe her face, only to realize that she had been crying uncontrollably.

My phone vibrated.

She freed one hand, took out her phone, and saw that some people were chatting in the colleagues' group.

She was about to cross it out when she caught a glimpse of her own name.

"I heard a village got expelled?"

"Really? Didn't they just win that wrongful conviction case?"

"So what if they won? They secretly hired outside help and even paid for it themselves—I heard they paid out 200,000! They're really stupid and have too much money."

"I guess she's just experiencing life as a rich girl? Judging from what she wears and uses, her family must be quite wealthy."

"What's the use of money? It's useless if you're brainless. In the legal profession, the worst thing you can do is let your emotions get the better of you."

"But seriously, I heard that Masashi Akiyama she hired was originally an employee of our firm? He's pretty capable, but his methods are a bit..."

"Who cares about the methods, as long as we win. But Arimura is really something, he could have just waited for the office to arrange the appeal, but he insisted on making things difficult for himself. Now look what happened, he lost his job and all his money went down the drain."

"Serves you right. Who do you think you are? A champion of justice?"

"Hahahahaha..."

Rio Arimura's finger hovered above the screen, trembling slightly.

She stared at the words, each one like a needle piercing her eyes and her heart.

She took a deep breath, turned off her phone, and put it back in her pocket.

The streetlights lit up one after another, casting her shadow long, very long behind her.

She didn't know how long she had walked, nor where she had ended up.

When she came to her senses, she was already standing in front of a familiar old apartment building.

Nerima Ward. Masashi Akiyama's private law firm.

The dim light streaming through the second-floor windows resembled a solitary lighthouse in the deepening night.

Rio Arimura stood downstairs, holding a cardboard box, looking up at the window.

She didn't know why she came here, nor what she could do here.

Her body made the choice before her brain, instinctively turning to the only person who "understood" her actions when she was most confused and helpless.

Even if that person might not care about her confusion at all.

She hesitated for a long time, but finally went up the stairs.

The wooden steps creaked softly beneath her feet, a sound that was particularly clear in the quiet hallway.

She stood in front of that familiar door, looking at the handwritten words "Akiyama Law Firm" on the doorplate. After a long while, she raised her hand and gently knocked on the door.

no respond.

She tapped it again, a little harder.

Footsteps came from inside the door, growing louder as they approached. Then, the door opened.

Masashi Akiyama stood inside the door, his white shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, two buttons undone at the collar, and a pen in his hand.

He appeared to be working, but upon seeing Rio Arimura, his brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

"What's up?"

His voice was flat, without surprise, without concern, and without even the most basic pleasantries.

Rio Arimura opened her mouth, wanting to say, "I've been fired," wanting to say, "I don't know what to do," wanting to say, "Did I do something wrong?"

But looking at Masashi Akiyama's expressionless face, all the words stuck in his throat, and in the end he could only squeeze out a dry sentence:

"Good evening."

Masashi Akiyama's gaze lingered on her face for two seconds, then swept over the cardboard box in her arms and her eyes, which were clearly red and swollen from crying. Then, he turned and walked back into the house, leaving her with a curt remark:

"Come in. Close the door behind you."

The office hasn't changed much since my last visit.

The only difference was that several case files were spread out on the sofa in the reception area, a half-finished cup of coffee was on the coffee table, and several cigarette butts were piled up in the ashtray.

Looks like he'll be staying up late again tonight.

Masashi Akiyama walked back to his desk, sat down, picked up his pen again, and began writing something on a document.

He didn't invite Rio Arimura to sit down, nor did he ask her why she came. He just kept working as if she didn't exist.

Rio Arimura stood there, holding the cardboard box, looking somewhat lost.

After a long while, she gently placed the cardboard box on the ground, walked to the sofa in the reception area, hesitated for a moment, and then sat down.

Silence spread through the air. Only the scratching of the pen on the paper and the rhythmic ticking of the old-fashioned clock on the wall could be heard.

"that……"

Rio Arimura finally couldn't help but speak, her voice a little hoarse:

"I... got fired."

Masashi Akiyama paused, his pen still. He looked up at her, then lowered his head to continue writing, his tone flat:

"I can tell."

"You...don't you have anything to say?" Rio Arimura's voice carried a hint of grievance.

"What did you say?" Akiyama Masashi asked without looking up. "Congratulations on escaping your misery? Or are you just trying to comfort you by saying 'they don't know what's good for them'?"

Rio Arimura choked.

She looked at Masashi Akiyama and suddenly felt an inexplicable anger rise from the bottom of her heart:

"You're so smug, aren't you? Watching me jump around like a clown, and in the end even the law firm didn't understand my behavior and threw me away like trash—you must be laughing at me in your heart right now, right? Thinking I deserved it, thinking I'm naive, thinking I…"

"I didn't." Masashi Akiyama interrupted her, finally putting down his pen, raising his head, and looking at her calmly. "Why would I laugh at you? You won the case and saved the client—in the end, you did a great job."

"But they don't think so!" Rio Arimura's voice rose in agitation. "They say I'm breaking the rules, that I'm acting on emotion, that I... that I'm a chuunibyou! I'm clearly doing the right thing! I'm clearly helping innocent people! Why doesn't anyone understand me? Why not even the people at the law firm..."

She couldn't continue; her voice choked in her throat, and tears welled up again. She wiped her face hard and stubbornly said:

"But no matter what, I will not change! Once I've promised, and once I've determined someone is innocent, I will help them to the end! That will never change!"