Tokyo: Are you even a proper lawyer?

Masashi Akiyama and Rio Arimura split up and traveled around Tokyo during the winter.

Following the clues, Masashi Akiyama found two former employees of the convenience store. One was working at an izakaya (Japanese pub), while the other had retreated to his hometown in the countryside.

They all admitted that before Yuna Sakura's incident, they had indeed vaguely sensed that the store manager, Kenichi Nakajima, was overly enthusiastic towards the female high school part-time workers.

But when asked about specific details and whether they could testify in court, they all fell silent, their eyes filled with fear and evasion.

"Manager Nakajima's brother... is a district councilor." The young izakaya employee lowered his voice in the smoky back alley, "Someone wanted to report him for harassment before, but then... that person never showed up around here again. Mr. Takahashi, I'm really... sorry."

The former shop assistant, living in the countryside, choked up on the phone: "Yuna is a good girl... but I still have an elderly mother to support. I'm so sorry, so very sorry..."

There were no direct witnesses, no physical evidence, no surveillance cameras in the office, and the only witness, Yuna Sakura, has been silenced forever.

Kenichi Nakajima remains active in the public eye, his mask of compassion growing ever more firmly in place, and he has even begun to have media outlets write reports about him.

Inside the firm.

"The existing evidence is far from sufficient."

Masashi Akiyama tossed the documents in his hand onto the table, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed his temples.

"The clerk's vague testimony can only be considered circumstantial evidence and cannot form a valid chain of evidence. The photos of the scratches on the wall can be explained as any accident. Public attention is waning, and if there is no decisive breakthrough within two weeks, this case... may really have to be closed as a suicide."

Rio Arimura bit her lip, her fingers unconsciously twisting together.

Looking at the delicate and shy smiling face on the photocopy of Yuna's student ID on the table, she felt a tightness and pain in her chest.

Is this really going to be the end of it? Let that scumbag continue to wear his cloak of hypocrisy and roam free?

Just then, Rieko Uchida, who had been quietly curled up in the corner of the sofa in the reception area, slowly raised her head.

Her face was paler than usual, and her eyes were dark and bluish-black.

"If... no evidence can be found..."

"Then let me... be the evidence."

Masashi Akiyama and Rio Arimura both looked at her.

Rieko Uchida stood up and walked to her desk.

"I'll go to that convenience store," she said. "I'll go work there, or I'll go as a customer. I look... kind of his type, right? I'll find a way to make him make a move on me. Just like he did to Yuna."

She paused, her gaze sweeping over the small voice recorder and miniature camera that Masashi Akiyama used for evidence collection on the table.

"Then, I recorded everything."

"No way!" Rio Arimura blurted out almost immediately, standing up abruptly, the chair legs scraping against the floor with a screeching sound.

Her face was filled with shock and disapproval. "This is too dangerous! Uchida-san, how could you put yourself in that situation? That man is a beast! What if, what if he..."

"So what?" Rieko Uchida interrupted her. "Yuna is already dead. If my danger can bring me evidence to send that scumbag to prison, and clear Yuna's name... I think it's worth it."

"This isn't a question of whether it's worth it!" Rio Arimura exclaimed, "This is irresponsible towards your own life! Besides, how can you guarantee you'll actually record it? How can you guarantee he won't do something even more extreme? This is fundamentally a gamble!"

"Attorney Arimura is right," Masashi Akiyama interjected. "This plan is too risky and has too many uncontrollable variables. Uchida-san, your courage is commendable, but frankly, you lack the ability to protect yourself in this situation. If you really want to use yourself as bait, we need someone... who is more capable of protecting themselves, or rather, someone who, even if something unexpected happens, has enough weight to deter the other party from acting recklessly."

"The ability to protect oneself... someone who would deter the other party from acting recklessly..." Rieko Uchida murmured repeatedly, her eyes somewhat vacant.

A few seconds later, her pupils contracted slightly as a name surfaced in her mind.

Large sunflower.

The brown-haired girl who took over the bullying baton after Ayaka Fukuda went to prison, leading a small group to subtly ostracize and emotionally abuse her.

That spoiled young lady who, relying on her father being a district councilor, acted arrogantly at school and always said, "My dad is a councilor."

It was also that... Aoi Onishi, who was sent to practice Taekwondo by her parents who hoped she would become a phoenix since she was a child, and who is said to have already obtained a black belt, and who once easily threw a boy who provoked her out of the gym.

More importantly, her father is also a district councilor.

Although the jurisdictions may differ, in this society that values ​​connections and reputation, the identity of being a member of parliament's daughter is itself an invisible shield.

Even if Kenichi Nakajima were incredibly audacious, he probably wouldn't dare to act as recklessly towards another politician's daughter as he did towards the helpless Yuna Sakura.

Perhaps... this might work. Rieko Uchida thought.

This way, we can obtain evidence and teach that arrogant Big Sunflower a lesson it will never forget.

That's killing two birds with one stone.

The following afternoon, it was time for the private girls' high school to let out.

Students, bundled up in thick winter clothes, poured out of the school gate in small groups.

Rieko Uchida walked quietly along the edge of the crowd, carrying her schoolbag.

Her gaze was fixed on Aoi Oonishi, who was surrounded by several girls not far ahead.

Today, Daikichi is wearing an expensive cashmere coat, exquisite leather boots, and waving the latest mobile phone in her hand, loudly complaining!

"It's so annoying! When will that new perfume be restocked?! I've asked the counter three times already!"

The opportunity is here.

Rieko Uchida took a deep breath of the cold air, quickened her pace, and just as she was about to get close, she pretended to be bumped by a classmate running beside her, stumbled, and gently bumped into Aoi Onishi's side.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Rieko Uchida hurriedly bowed her head and apologized, her voice timid.

Aoi Oonishi frowned and gave her a disdainful look. "Hey, watch where you're going, Rieko. Can you afford to pay for the coat you've dirtied?"

"I'm so sorry!" Rieko Uchida lowered her head even further, her fingers nervously twisting the hem of her clothes. She murmured in a voice just loud enough for the other person to hear, as if talking to herself, "But... speaking of perfume, I think I heard someone say yesterday that the 'Smiling Convenience Store' near the station, the one with the resale counter, will restock the perfume you mentioned, Aoi, tomorrow morning. I think they only have two or three bottles left..."

Onishi Aoi's complaining abruptly stopped. She turned sharply, staring at Uchida Rieko: "What did you say? Convenience store? Tomorrow morning?"

"Y-yes..." Rieko Uchida seemed startled by her reaction, shrinking back slightly. "I heard it from a senior who happened to be passing by, I don't know if it's accurate..."

"What time? What specific time will we restock?" Dai Xi Kui asked eagerly, her eyes shining.

"Okay, it seems to be... shortly after the store opened in the morning? Around... nine o'clock?" Rieko Uchida made up a time.

"A little after nine o'clock..." Onishi Aoi seemed to be thinking, then waved her hand as if shooing away a fly, "Alright, alright, I know. You can go now."

Rieko Uchida felt as if she had been granted a pardon and quickly walked away.

The instant she bumped into Aoi Osaka, she had already slipped the recording pen deep into the right pocket of his open cashmere coat.

The next day at 9:10 a.m.

The "Smiling Convenience Store" has only been open for a short time.

The winter morning was chilly, and there were few pedestrians on the street.

As expected, Osaka Sunflower appeared.

She seemed to have dressed up specially, looking more refined than she usually does for school, as she pushed open the convenience store door.

Across the street, Rieko Uchida arrived early at the street corner opposite the convenience store, hiding herself under the sunshade of the breakfast stall and in the shadows of the early morning crowd.

She held a cup of soy milk that had long since gone cold in her hand, her eyes fixed on the glass door of the convenience store.

Time passed second by second.

It's 9:15. Daixi Kumi hasn't come out yet.

9:20. Still nothing.

Rieko Uchida's heart pounded heavily in her chest.

She gripped the soy milk cup tightly with her cold hands, her heart filled with a mixture of worry and excitement.

9:25.

The convenience store door was suddenly pushed open.

Dai Xi Kui rushed out.