Case NOT Closed

“All right, please excuse me. I need to meet with my client.”

Smiling, Kensuke didn’t care about what Mouri was thinking. He simply pushed through the couple’s shoulders and walked straight through.

“Honey, cheer up!”

“Eri, is all of this my fault?”

“No, it’s not—”

The voices of the Mouri couple behind him grew fainter.

Ignoring whatever they were saying, Kensuke hummed a song as he walked towards the courthouse’s lobby.

As agreed beforehand, the client’s brother, Nakamichi Hito, waited in the lobby. He would hand over the pre-arranged three million yen as the attorney’s fee.

“You, really…”

Conan’s voice sounded disapproving. “Is it necessary to stomp on every ant you encounter?”

“Oh, so you saw that just now.”

Kensuke turned his gaze, finding Haibara standing by the corridor wall.

Holding a carton of milk, she drank and spoke, “I agree, can’t you talk to people normally? Do you always have to argue with others to feel comfortable? I’m afraid that one day you’ll die in some obscure corner of a restroom, and I won’t be able to find your body.”

“Oh come one, it’s not that bad, and besides, you’re not qualified to say these things to me.”

Kensuke shrugged. “Unlike other jobs, my colleagues are my future adversaries. Eventually, Kisaki-san will be my opponent. I just want to blunt her edge, show her who’s boss. Is that not allowed?”

Haibara raised an eyebrow. “A person like you, taking civil cases?”

In Japan, lawyers usually face off in civil cases. The prosecutor’s office holds significant judicial power, possessing the exclusive right to prosecute all criminal cases that may lead to imprisonment. Therefore, lawyers seldom clash in criminal cases.

“Are you misunderstanding me? Why wouldn’t I take civil cases, as long as the client can pay, I take every case you know?”

Kensuke explained, “Besides, being a lawyer doesn’t mean spending the entire career as a lawyer.”

If there were recruitments from the prosecutor’s office, lawyers could become prosecutors, provided they passed the civil servant exam.

“Kisaki-san might become a prosecutor too. If there’s pressure from the Kujo-san side.”

Kensuke smirked.

“After all, this trial shattered her record of not losing, except to Kisaki-san, in her career as a prosecutor.”

“You’re really despicable, treating your former teacher like this.”

“What former teacher? She only supervised me during my internship for two months and often made me work overtime on reports, every knowledge I have is self-learn.”

“So, this is personal revenge?”

“Sort of, is there a problem with that?”

“….Not really.”

As they walked down the corridor, their conversation continued.

As they approached the lobby, they spotted Kujo Reiko acting nervously. She hid behind a potted plant, clinging to the wall, occasionally peeking towards the direction of the lobby.

It seemed she was avoiding the reporters.

After all, the lobby was crowded, and the remaining police officers were surrounded. Having just lost the case, with her pride, she couldn’t simply walk out.

Cough!

Hearing a cough behind her, Kujo Reiko nearly jumped.

Turning around, she saw Kensuke standing there, looking at her with a teasing expression.

“Professor Kujo, facing your dear student, how does the taste of failure feel?” Kensuke said with a smirk.

Reiko moved her mouth, sighed in resignation, and finally spoke, “Kensuke, I should have expected this.”

She couldn’t avoid feeling defeated, considering her pride. “You, who excel in analyzing human emotions, couldn’t possibly overlook my counter-strategy. If I had planned ahead and effectively refuted the credibility of your testimony regarding Mouri-san, I wouldn’t have lost this trial so easily.”

“Why dwell on it here? Trials, like life, don’t offer second chances.”

Kensuke, not one to be considerate in such situations, continued with his sarcastic remarks.

“So, Professor Kujo, have you considered settling down early? I can see that your hormones are imbalanced today, and it’s truly heartbreaking!”

“You— Sigh!”

Kujo Reiko massaged her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

Honestly, she didn’t have the energy to argue with this guy.

Kensuke always had a way of needling people. So, he resumed his sarcastic banter.

“Why do you have such talents and waste them like this?” Reiko sighed. “If you could be a prosecutor, it would be great! You know, fighting against evil, upholding justice – isn’t that appealing? I have a few positions open; are you interested?”

“Oh?”

Kensuke raised an eyebrow.

He hadn’t expected that Kujo would recruit him first before Kisaki Eri.

Without much thought, he rejected her proposal. “Sorry, I’m not interested. Find someone else!”

Kujo Reiko looked at him. “Is it because the salary is too low?”

Kensuke smiled without saying a word, and his expression gave away everything.

“Never mind, do as you wish. Dealing with one Eri is troublesome enough; now, having another Kensuke, I might as well resign…”

The rest of the words were mumbled by Kujo Reiko, a continuous stream of complaints.

The flow of people in the lobby gradually diminished. Reporters, unable to find anyone, began to disperse. Reiko left first. When there were no more reporters, Kensuke and Haibara finally emerged from the corridor.

The client Nakamichi Hito was waiting outside.

“This is the agreed-upon three million yen for your legal services, Kensuke-san. Thank you so much! I didn’t expect you to win the case!”

With the case won, the brother, Nakamichi Hito, looked genuinely delighted. He pulled out three bundles of banknotes, tightly bound with rubber bands, and eagerly stuffed them into Kensuke’s hands, thanking him profusely.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Kensuke said with a smirk, accepting the money and placing it in his briefcase.

With the money exchanged, they exchanged a few casual words but had nothing substantial to discuss. They each went their separate ways.

Before leaving, Kensuke did one thing—he took back the copy of the contract he had given to the Nakamichi brothers.

On the way back, Haibara, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.

“Actually, I’ve had a question since the beginning of this case.”

“Go on.”

“It’s about the contract between you and the client, the clause stating that you take not a penny if the trial is lost, but if won, you must receive three million yen— Isn’t that considered contingency fee in legal terms? Don’t tell me you don’t know what that is.”

“Hush!”

Kensuke extended a finger, gently pressing it against Haibara’s lips.

Smiling, he took out the neatly folded contract from his pocket.

At the same time, he pulled out a lighter and set the contract on fire.

Whoosh!

Flames rose, and the paper danced like moths in the fire.

Soon, it turned into ashes.

“Now, there’s nothing left.”

Kensuke gently blew, scattering the ashes on the street with the wind.

Haibara looked at Kensuke, squinting her eyes. “Earlier, you said a lawyer’s duty is to protect the client’s interests, right? To think I would fall for your lie, you are good.”

“I wasn’t lying.”

Kensuke blinked.

“The premise is that, as a lawyer, my interests must be guaranteed.”

After a pause, he smiled slightly.

“Moreover, didn’t I help the client win the case in the end?”

“You… You’re something else.”

Haibara shook her head.

Throughout the entire trial, Kensuke had indeed committed an act that couldn’t be justified. However, as he said, in the end, he did help the client win the case. Perhaps, that’s just Kensuke’s style.