Tokyo: Are you even a proper lawyer?

Rio Arimura stood in front of Masashi Akiyama, speaking faster than usual.

"...The incident occurred late the night before last, or early yesterday morning, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Shiodome Sanatorium, in the psychiatric ward of the inpatient building."

Rio Arimura spread out the notes she had hastily written on her hand. "There were four deceased. The first one was nurse Junko Imai, 23 years old. She committed suicide by cutting her wrists in the nurses' dormitory. The estimated time of death was between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. Her roommate, fellow nurse Miyuki Nagai, who is also the daughter of our client."

Masashi Akiyama was fully awake. He walked behind his desk, sat down, picked up a pen, and gestured for Rio Arimura to continue.

"The other three deceased were all inpatients in this ward." Rio Arimura took a deep breath. "They were Takeru Satoh, 32, with bipolar disorder; Tatsuya Nakamura, 28, with schizophrenia and violent tendencies; and Hiroshi Kobayashi, 35, with antisocial personality disorder. Their deaths occurred slightly later than Junko Imai's, between approximately 3 and 5 a.m. The deaths took place in their respective wards, and the preliminary cause of death is determined to be... a drug overdose. The on-duty nurse discovered the abnormality during morning rounds."

"A drug overdose?" Masashi Akiyama frowned slightly. "Medication management in psychiatric wards is very strict. How did they obtain a lethal dose of drugs?"

"That's the problem." Rio Arimura's face was grim. "According to the police's preliminary investigation, the drug composition detected in the bodies of the three victims was complex, including large doses of sedatives, antipsychotics, and even anesthetics not prescribed by the usual prescription. And according to the medication records and the nurses' station surveillance footage, the only person with unusual entry and exit records around the time of the incident... was Miyuki Nagai. She claimed she couldn't sleep and went to the nurses' station to get a sleeping pill, but the surveillance footage showed her staying in the dispensing room for far longer than the usual time to get medication. Moreover, the cabinet in the dispensing room that stores special controlled drugs showed signs of being opened abnormally. Although no direct fingerprints were found, there were subtle signs of prying on the lock."

"Motive?" Masashi Akiyama asked.

"About a week ago, a patient riot occurred in the ward's break room," Rio Arimura wrote, flipping through the notes. "At the time, nurse Junko Imai was violently assaulted and severely humiliated by several patients while trying to quell the riot. Miyuki Nagai was also present, but...out of fear, she failed to intervene or seek help in time. Afterward, Junko Imai suffered physical and mental trauma. Although she continued to work as usual, other nurses reported that her mental state was extremely poor. Miyuki Nagai, on the other hand, was constantly on the verge of intense self-blame and a breakdown. The police initially speculated that Miyuki Nagai, possibly due to extreme guilt and hatred towards the patients who assaulted her, first assisted or witnessed Junko Imai's suicide, and then used her position to steal medication and poison the three main patients involved in the assault, attempting...revenge or atonement."

"A very straightforward guess: Where is Miyuki Nagai currently?"

"She has been formally arrested by the police on suspicion of murder and theft of controlled drugs, and is currently being held in the Metropolitan Police Department's detention center. Her parents contacted us early this morning through a friend, pleading with us to defend their daughter."

Rio Arimura paused, then added, "The Nagai couple seem to be very honest and upright people. The mother kept crying, and the father's eyes were red. They are willing to pay the lawyer's fees, but the amount is probably..."

"We'll talk about the money later." Masashi Akiyama stood up. "Let's meet the client first. No, to be precise, the client's parents."

The Nagai couple looked older and more haggard than Masashi Akiyama had expected.

They sat on the sofa in the reception room, like two leaves shivering in the autumn wind.

Mrs. Nagai clutched her handkerchief tightly, her eyes were red and swollen, and her voice was so hoarse that she could barely utter a complete sentence.

Mr. Nagai tried to straighten his hunched back, and they repeated incoherently how kind and timid their daughter was, how she would even cry when she saw an injured stray cat, how she could possibly harm someone, that there must be a mistake, that the people at the hospital must have forced her...

Masashi Akiyama listened quietly and asked about Miyuki Nagai's personality, upbringing, and her situation after starting work at the Shiodome Sanatorium.

The answers he received were largely consistent with Rio Arimura's initial assessment: introverted, obedient, highly dependent, lacking in assertiveness, with a strong sense of morality, and even somewhat cowardly.

It is indeed quite incongruous for a girl like this to suddenly become a suspect in a serial murder case.

"We believe in Miyuki, Attorney Akiyama, please, you must save her! She must be terrified, or she's being used!" Mrs. Nagai almost knelt down.

Masashi Akiyama helped her up and said calmly, "I will go see her. Since I accepted the commission, I will do my best."

On the way to the Metropolitan Police Department after leaving the office, Rio Arimura couldn't help but whisper, "Attorney Akiyama, I don't think Ms. Nagai really seems like the killer. Someone with that kind of personality, even if they were subjected to a huge shock, would be more likely to harm themselves than to plan such a complicated revenge killing, including picking locks and stealing medicine..."

"It doesn't mean it isn't," Masashi Akiyama said calmly. He did have doubts about whether Miyuki Nagai was the murderer.

However, lawyers should not let their own opinions dictate the course of events; Rio Arimura's idea is clearly wrong.

"An outburst after extreme repression can sometimes give rise to drastically different personality traits, and the police's speculation is not entirely illogical. Guilt and hatred are two extremely strong driving forces."

"But……"

“Arimura,” Masashi Akiyama interrupted her, “we are lawyers, not detectives, and certainly not a jury. Our primary task is not to believe our clients are innocent based on feelings, but to find loopholes in the chain of evidence and secure the most favorable outcome for our clients. Acting on emotions will only affect our judgment.”

Rio Arimura pursed her lips and stopped talking, but her face still showed her dissatisfaction.

In the Metropolitan Police Department's meeting room, Miyuki Nagai was led in by a policewoman.

She was wearing the blue uniform of the detention center, her hair was disheveled, her face was as pale as paper, and she had dark circles under her eyes.

She kept her head down, her eyes unfocused and unfocused, and her body was slightly hunched.

The policewoman told her to sit down, and she sat down stiffly, like a puppet.

Miyuki Nagai placed her hands on her knees, her fingers unconsciously twisting together until her knuckles turned white.

This demeanor is nothing like the innocent, kind, even overly kind daughter that Mrs. Nagai described.

Masashi Akiyama and Rio Arimura sat opposite her. They exchanged a glance, and after a brief self-introduction and explanation of their engagement, Masashi Akiyama began to ask questions.

However, to everyone's surprise, Miyuki Nagai did not cooperate.