After the farce of my declared innocence, silence fell over the room. The judge finally broke it. "Continue, Prosecutor."
The prosecutor hesitated for a fraction of a second—a crack in his armor. I stepped into it. "What's the matter? Have your fabricated files gone missing? Or was this part of the plan you failed to script?"
The judge's gavel struck the sound block. "Tai… speak only when it is your turn."
The prosecutor shuffled his papers, trying to regain his footing. "Tai… were you at the hospital at 12:00 PM, on Monday, a month and a half ago?"
"I was," I replied calmly. "And there was a killer there trying to take my life."
A ripple of shock went through the judge and the jury. The prosecutor's grip tightened on his documents until his knuckles turned white.
"Why so tense?" I mocked. "You asked, and I answered. Would you like me to continue? Perhaps I can finish the rest of your speech for you."
"Be silent and listen to the next question!" he snapped.
I leaned forward. "Ah… so you've finally prepared yourself for the consequences."
"Question two," he barked. "You claimed you turned eighteen three months ago. Is it true that Saka took you in and raised you?"
"No, he didn't 'raise' me. That's a weak question; let me give you a better one. Would you like that?"
"Are you mocking me?"
I raised my voice, letting it echo through the hall. "Yes, I am mocking you. this entire trial is a travesty. You've labeled me a suspect without a shred of evidence. You've gathered a jury where half the members don't even understand the charges."
The judge pounded his gavel. "Tai… know your limits!"
"What limits? You haven't set any in this courtroom. If you're so confident, have the prosecutor bring out his witness for cross-examination."
The judge's face flushed with anger. "Fine. Prosecutor, bring forth your witness."
The prosecutor was visibly shaken as he signaled the witness to step forward. As I returned to my seat, still bound in chains since the start, I looked at the man approaching. My conscience flared with an uneasy heat.
The witness was the doctor.
The prosecutor began, "You claim Tai is the guilty party, correct?"
"That is correct," the doctor replied smoothly.
"Then, tell us everything."
I burst into a loud, uncontrollable laugh. I couldn't help it. In mere seconds, he had betrayed his own logic. These people clearly hadn't studied the law well enough to trap me.
The doctor faltered at my laughter, but under the gaze of the jury, he repeated the same lies from the interrogation.
"Objection," I stated.
"On what grounds?" the judge asked.
It was the most beautiful sentence I'd heard in the entire trial. I almost wanted to thank him. "I wish to cross-examine the witness myself."
The judge nodded. "Proceed. If he fails to provide a satisfactory answer, I will move to deliver the verdict."
I moved into the deep end, ready. I stepped toward the doctor. "What is your name?"
The judge frowned. "Why ask such a trivial question?"
"I don't know him," I said simply. "I'd like to know who is accusing me."
The judge looked at the doctor. "He has a point, yet you claimed to know him well."
"What?" I feigned surprise. "He knows me? I don't know him. Does that mean he was stalking me? Observing me?"
A low murmur broke out. "Stalking? Observing?" the judge muttered. "This is a new development. Continue, Tai."
"You say you know me, yet I am a stranger to you," I said, looming over him. "How?"
He silenced for a moment, then spoke with a calculated edge. "Firstly, my name is Saito. Secondly, I was present during the DNA analysis when your parents divorced."
The air grew colder. He was clever, escaping my trap by digging into my past. But it didn't matter.
"Then tell me," I whispered. "Who are my parents?"
"The girl, Nino… she is your sister," he said. "Not a full sister, but your maternal half-sister. You were born to a different father."
Silence.
Nino is my sister?
The girl who helped me, who deprived herself of her allowance to feed me, who bought me clothes… she was my own blood?
I refused to let the emotion swallow me. "You answered that quite fast," I noted. "But that has nothing to do with the charges. Which proves you are a liar. My evidence is clear: you faltered when the prosecutor asked about the crime, yet you answered a personal question about my sister with practiced ease."
Suddenly, the sound of clapping filled the room. It was the judge.
"Well played, Tai," he said, a strange glint in his eye.
"The honor is yours, Judge, for being a witness to this performance. I'm bored of him. I want to question someone else."
"I thought you had no one," the judge replied. "No matter. Who is it? Continue your spectacular show."
I walked toward the jury, every step announcing the end of the trial. I pointed to the school guard. I remembered him from when I used to help Nino and her friends.
"Him," I said.
The guard walked up, his nervousness written all over his face.
"You are a school guard, correct?" I asked.
"Yes. I've seen you once."
"Is it true that I was always waiting for Nino outside the school?"
"No," he answered firmly. "Absolutely not. She was the one who was always absent or leaving early because you were in the hospital. She was constantly there, and it ruined her grades."
"I rest my case!" I shouted.
"On what basis?" the judge asked, leaning forward.
"That is my definitive proof. I was in the hospital. He said it himself. Do you want my full medical records?"
The judge laughed. "Give them to me. I'll examine them myself."
I handed over the records. He smiled as he flipped through them. "You had this case in the palm of your hand from the start, didn't you?"
"From the very beginning," I replied. "There were obvious burdens they failed to see. In war, if a king stays in the rear, he has plans and flaws. But… when the king is at the front, he commands the field."
The judge slammed his gavel one final time.
He summoned the prosecutor, the client—whom I had never seen before—and the witness.
The second strike of the gavel silenced the room.
"Based on the evidence provided, this court finds the defendant, Tai, NOT GUILTY of all charges."
The third strike rang out.
"Court is adjourned."
(End of Chapter 28)