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I would say that it's illegal to charge and hold citizens with no form of warrant, but I doubt that's a matter our captors care about much.

[Eiji gives a small, charming grin as he speaks. It's a light joke, of course. Really, all of this is a joke. Eiji will admit that, of the abductions he has been subjected to so far, this is perhaps the most immediately pleasant. Mobius was perhaps more modern and had more to it, but Mobius also decided it would be wise to try and wipe his mind and all he was away. Eiji can accept, and even find charming, the more 'rustic' scenery of this place if the trade off is that he gets to keep his mind.

Don't even get him started on Hell. That little detour can be pushed aside for now. Back there, he would have kept all communication that he could to text. The less he let the lot there see him, or that he had to see them, the better. This place looks like it might be cut of a different cloth, at least.]

Please, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Biwasaka Eiji. It is a pleasure to meet you all.

[He gives a small bow as he introduces himself. He is a gentleman. He will do what he can to present and be a gentleman whenever possible.]

Back home, I'm a lawyer. I specialize in defense. If any of you are interested in one when 'sentencing' begins, please. I'd be happy to help you with your case.

[He gives a playful wink as he speaks.]

Still though...even if it's meant to hold us, and we've been accused of crimes, I don't think this place is meant to punish us. I wonder. What do you think?

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["The right thing to do." Ritsu would laugh at that if they weren't conversing in public.]

I wonder if there's anyone like that here.

[Would you really do it if so? If they're out there listening to this and expect you to back those words up? That's the unspoken question he's asking of Eiji.

Not that he's doubting Eiji's ability to deal with the intolerable, mind you. Tadokoro Koki was nothing if not a loathsome, repugnant man with a personality so repulsive it repelled all others. Hardly anyone could stand to hold a conversation with Tadokoro for ten minutes without wanting to beat him senseless, and Ritsu was no exception. Really, he has no idea how Eiji tolerated him for long enough to defend him.

It's something he doubts Eiji is in a rush to repeat, given how it ended last time. The naive and idealistic may want to suggest that those with no supporters are simply down on their luck, but Eiji knows better, doesn't he?

It takes a particular and special kind of pathetic to be incapable of even putting on the mask of someone personable.]

[Would he do it? Eiji would not be excited to do it, but he would in fact do it. There may not be financial gain to be gotten by doing it - at the very least, there isn't any that is present right now - it could still look good. A good public appearance, of course, is power.

It could be worth it, if it could get Eiji a good name among the populace here.]

I suppose we'll see, won't we.

If they're listening, they know how to get ahold of me.

[It's a perfectly charming answer, he supposes. It's just...]

It's often said that the police have a duty to cleanly divide everything into black and white, but for defense attorneys like you, it's more about turning black into white, hm?

[Sure, it looks good to defend someone who has no one else on their side. It looks even better to win a case everyone thought was hopeless. There were certainly pros to getting Tadokoro off scotfree.

At the same time, though, did that outweigh how bad it looked when Minamide Himari killed herself when she heard the verdict? How about how bad it looked when Tadokoro chose to flee the very few consequences he saw instead of even going through the motions of being a rehabilitated member of society?

Tadokoro wasn't a pitiable underdog, and in the end, the reason he had no one on his side was because he was an utter failure of a human being: wholly reprehensible, and too socially inept and maladjusted to pretend to be anything else. Only bad publicity comes from defending someone like that.

So tell him. Does the good outweigh the bad?]

It's a bit of a magic trick we perform, you're right.

Innocence and guilt are heavily presumptive, and much goes into the presumptions that we make. The person's job, employment status, ethnicity, religion, their age, where they're from. Reputation. Personality. Their relationships. Even their clothes. Quite honestly, factors like alibi and location during the crime are almost secondary. We already have our expectations of innocence or guilt decided long before any evidence is presented.

[And it's true. There were few people as loathsome or useless as Tadokoro, even if Eiji thought he might find a use for him for a time. A miscalculation on Eiji's part, he'll have to admit.]

In many ways, the job of a defense attorney is to do what we can to stir everything towards a gray, and drag what white we can from it.

[People are ever slaves to their preconceptions, huh? Not that it's a bad thing. In some ways, it's even justified. Cases like Tadokoro were proof that negative preconceptions had their reason for existing. Why shouldn't those too inept to even understand something so simple thus be punished for that ineptitude?]

In a country where the conviction rate is 99%, it's certainly no small feat — but perhaps it's that very reason that makes people fear defense attorneys and call them demons.

[Which, in Eiji's case, is a very apt way to describe him. It's almost funny.]

I don't doubt that you'd have the ability to turn even pitch black into white if you wanted to, but... would you want to?

[Privately, he's sure Eiji would have no moral qualms with doing so whatsoever. Nonetheless, Ritsu is curious to know if there's any case Eiji would refuse to take.]

[It's not a matter of shouldn't in Eiji's case. It's a matter of the fact that not only should they be punished, they're likely to be punished. To find a way to skirt that punishment. To mold it towards something else. That is a display of his talent as a lawyer.

If defense attorneys are demons, then Eiji reckons he surely is their king.

On that next question, Eiji closes his eyes. Tips his head up a bit, as he thinks.]

It depends on many things, I think.

Oh?

[Tell him, then.]

[The simplest thing it would depend on, of course, would be just how much it would benefit Eiji to do so. That isn't an answer he can say out loud, he's pretty sure. Not here at least. He doubts there are that many who share his mindset here.]

Circumstance, I suppose.

Is there even an iota, a bit, that could imply there might be innocence? Then that has to be pursued. Even the most black hearted man has some shred of decency in them.

[Eiji doesn't believe that, but it sounds good.]

Of course, decent pay wouldn't hurt either.

[He'll admit to some benefit out loud, of course. The expected type of benefit a scumbag lawyer would want. The most innocent kind Eiji could ask for.]

[It's too sanitized an answer. He can't blame Eiji for that, given the circumstances, but he's still a bit disappointed.

Thus he decides to prepare a specific scenario for Eiji to address.]

A man approaches you privately after seeing your message. He has a list of crimes so long it'd make even serial killers balk, yet he insists he isn't guilty of the specific crime he's been accused of. The populace hates him, and no one believes in his innocence — furthermore, they believe it does not matter even if he is innocent in this particular instance. He's still a monster, and the world would still be better off without him.

So the general consensus goes, anyway.

If you take his case, he'll pay you an inordinate amount of money, but your reputation will be forever tarnished. People will call you a heartless man who only cares about profit, and they'll refuse to do business with or associate with you.

Do you take the case?

[It's true. Eiji is playing a bit of soft ball right now, as he's uncertain of where the hearts of those here are. He isn't surprised that the answer doesn't satisfy Ritsu. Answers like that...they'd be far too gentle, wouldn't they? They're just not enough.

They aren't fully honest.

Eiji hums, considering this new scenario.]

I would take the case.

If there is a chance he's innocent, he should be defended of course. I don't care about proving that innocence to others on some ethical level. Only on a legal one.

And if he can pay that much...who am I to say no?

Certainly, he pays well, but it comes at a high opportunity cost, doesn't it?

[Lost connections, lost business opportunities, lost reputation... At what point does the cost become too much?]

It's true, there's a great loss of reputation. But here in lies the problem. In reality, no reputation is truly tarnished beyond repair, unless it is something truly unforgivable and irredeemable. Given enough time, and enough effort, some people will be pulled back to working with you. Not everyone, but some.

Hmmm?

[He seems to consider that.]

You don't think it's time or effort better spent elsewhere?

[Having to waste resources rehabilitating one's reputation is still a major setback.]

Once stained, a canvas can never be pristine again.

[And that's important, isn't it?]

It's true.

[Eiji admits that with a sigh.]

It's true that my reputation would be soiled among a great majority of people.

[Eiji could point out how his success with such a case, however, could open him up to a whole new group of clientele. After all, there are several among the rich and powerful who are monstrous in their morals. Unfortunately, that doesn't really answer the question of his stained reputation. And that stain does matter a great deal to Eiji.]

It's quite a paradox, isn't it? Great wealth or one's reputation. The former is very tempting, but the latter does matter more.

Edited 2023-02-28 16:40 (UTC)

[That's only natural. One's reputation is everything in life, ultimately. Eiji said it himself: innocence and guilt are heavily presumptive. If the people have a reason to find you distasteful, then you're already guilty.

A lawyer who wins against all odds is talented and brilliant if he's liked, but he's only corrupt and dirty if he isn't. There are some who may be foolish enough to think that that doesn't make a difference to them, but Eiji is smarter to know better.

Besides. Eiji loves the admiration and praise of the masses, doesn't he? It's an area where he and Ritsu differ.]

For someone as skilled as you, I'm sure obtaining wealth by other means would be an easy matter.

[Perhaps that was the true tragedy of Biwasaka Eiji. He never needed to dip his hands in something as risky as embezzlement to begin with.

Ritsu gets it, though; it was more about the power, wasn't it? That feeling that came from exploiting the law so thoroughly.]

[Ritsu, as always, knows Eiji too well. It’s true. He never needed to risk the chance that came with embezzlement to find his fortune. He could have accumulated wealth through far more legal, albeit it slower, means.

It was a show of power. A display of his intellect, and his knowledge of the law. He didn’t do it because it was the only way he could have. He did it because he could. To show he had the ability to.]

It’s true. I don’t think such theoretical, desperate ways would be needed here, do you, Ritsu?

Say, Ritsu. I wonder.

What do you think of our fellow cell mates so far?

[What does he think? Truthfully, he thinks they're fucking weird. It bothers him, the Pollyanna-esque behavior some of them have been exhibiting. He isn't sure yet what to make of it — whether they're people in denial, trying desperately to believe that their situation isn't so bad as if it'll become true simply if they will it to be true; whether they're actors concealing something far nastier; or whether they're simply stupid.

What bothers him even more is how eager everyone seems to be to get to know him better. It isn't right, he thinks. He doesn't trust it for a second, and when he contemplates on certain interactions, he can feel his skin crawling.

Unpleasant. That's what it is. That they should be so friendly, so pleasant... Ironically, it's the very thing that makes them unpleasant.

But he can't just say that.]

They're much friendlier than I expected.

[It's an innocuous statement. Complimentary, surely, to anyone else listening.

Eiji can read between the lines. He knows Ritsu too well to take his words at face value.]

[Eiji keeps a smile on his face as they talk. Oh yes. He can read between the lines here.]

Yet again, they’re drawn to your magnetic personality. Am I right, Ritsu?

[Moths to flame would be more apt, perhaps. Eiji has never met a man who could do gain the attention of other people the sane way Ritsu can. Who, without seemingly any effort, could draw people near and get them to divulge their secrets.

Eiji found that deeply impressive. In his own heart, deeper still, he even found himself a bit envious. For all of Eiji’s gentlemanly charm, even he could not charm as greatly as Ritsu.]

Well... I wonder.

[Is it something to be envious of? It comes with its drawbacks, Eiji. Sometimes, he feels like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, a gaggle of unwanted pests perpetually latched onto him.]

How about you, Eiji? What do you think of them so far?

[Eiji closes his eyes and tilts his head a bit at the question, thinking.]

It’s hard to say.

[And it is. Eiji, while skeptical of most of humanity, doesn’t possess the level of disdain Ritsu feels towards them. Still, most people let him down. At the same time, this lot does seem like an improvement over Mobius, and definitely over Hell.]

But I will say, like you, I think they’re interesting. They’re a curious lot on their own, and proactive so far.

[And being proactive counts for a lot.]

Edited 2023-03-28 14:34 (UTC)

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