The story began three days before the trial that changed the world.
“Let’s see, Tsukasa’s courtroom is…,” I whispered to myself while walking down the fifth-floor hallway of a Tokyo district court in the Kasumigaseki district of Chiyoda-ku.
Come sit in on my trial today! We can go get food after (>_<) I wanna drink!
My stepsister, a judge, sent me that text message earlier.
Most people saw her occupation as a straitlaced one, but her casual way of talking destroyed that image.
She always spoke to me like this. I was her stepbrother, and she had a bit of an obsession with me.
One time, she said to me, “It’s important for judges to have an on-off switch. If I don’t cut loose whenever I get the chance, the balance will get thrown totally out of whack and kill me.”
I guess her occasional irresponsibility was a necessity.
Four o’clock, courtroom 505 was written at the end of her text.
My schedule was wide open since it was summer vacation, so there was no reason not to play along.
I’d walked to the courthouse from home, where I’d been playing video games all day.
This wasn’t the first time I’d come to watch one of my sister’s trials. They were very interesting and exciting to watch. I really respected her work, and I always enjoyed getting food with her after.
A few other students had also come to sit in on today’s trial. I’d decided to come in my school uniform, so I didn’t stand out much.
Here it is.
A sign hung on the door, just like she’d noted in her message.
16:00 ORAL ARGUMENT: CASE CLAIMING DAMAGES FOR BREACH OF MARRIAGE AGREEMENT, JUDGE: TSUKASA WAGATSUMA
I spied my sister’s name printed with the case details. Her last name differed from mine. I guess our parents decided it was more convenient not to change any names when they married each other.
It’s not four o’clock yet, but the light is on.
The lamp outside the courtroom was typically only lit when a trial was in session.
I peeked through the window on the wooden door to see inside.
“……!”
“……!”
There she was.
I spotted her in the judge’s seat of the ordinary courtroom.
She was busy quarreling with a flamboyant woman in garish clothes who had to be in her thirties.
They must have started earlier than the designated time because all necessary parties were already assembled.
When I opened the door to go inside, I saw that the gallery was already nearly full.
After finding an empty seat among the courtroom enthusiasts, I quickly sat down.
“Chief juuudge! Listen to me! I feel like I could just die! He blocked me on everything!” A sharp, hysterical voice echoed through the courtroom.
It belonged to the flamboyant woman in the plaintiff’s seat on the left side of the room.
Over to the right, the defendant’s spot was conspicuously empty. The accused and their representing attorney were absent.
“I’ve heard moooore than enough, including all the details about how you met on a dating app!” Judge Tsukasa Wagatsuma looked fed up as she spoke from the bench.
She was a slender five foot seven and wore a judge’s black robe.
At twenty-eight, her body was voluptuous, and her large chest protruded over her crossed arms.
Silky, long black hair flowed from her head.
Long lashes accented her reddish-brown eyes that burned with intellectual passion.
Had she stood in silence, she still would’ve seemed the image of a goddess from a piece of art.
At the moment, she was busy dealing with the plaintiff while wearing a stern expression.
“And furthermore, you don’t say ‘chief judge’ when there’s only one judge.”
Some trials could be held with only one judge, but other cases had a few.
Since my sister presided alone this time, calling her “chief” was unnecessary.
“Fine, just ‘judge,’ then! Please, can’t you make him come here?”
“As I told you before, this case does not require the presence of the defendant. I won’t summon him.”
“But I want to see himmmm! I’m begging you!”
“If begging was all it took, he’d be here already! That he responded only in writing and hasn’t appeared in person surely means he doesn’t want to see you! The plaintiff needs to understand this, calm down, and stop YELLING!”
Tsukasa’s tone got progressively sharper as she chastised the plaintiff.
Her domain would be war if she were a goddess—the kind who enjoyed watching blood spurt from her enemy.
You’re yelling, too, Tsukasa…, I thought. Apparently things were going off the rails again today.
“Okay, if he refuses to show, I can still ask him for the money, right?!”
The case contents in civil trials weren’t read out to the courtroom, unlike in criminal trials.
So even if you attended the trial, it was hard to understand the exact argument.
Still, I got the vibe that the plaintiff was pushing some kind of unreasonable monetary charge.
“The defendant has written in his statement that he was never married to you.”
“B-but I showed evidence that I spent two million yen for him, didn’t I?!” the woman sputtered as she argued her case.
Although observing from the gallery, I recognized by the woman’s garish makeup that she was trying to look younger than she actually was. Her outfit flaunted her tight, fake-looking breasts.
That…reeks of a lie.
I gauged the plaintiff’s responses while watching. My sister’s gaze found me in the crowd.
“Indeed, I verified the evidence that you spent two million yen. However!” After a second, she returned her attention to the plaintiff. “Even if you attempt to conceal the name of the hospital, it’s clear that the expense went toward cosmetic surgery!”
So they are fake.
“I spent two million yen for him” was vague enough to sound plausible. It may have been possible to claim damages had the two million been for medical expenses from assault or a canceled wedding reception, but…