"So maybe this will teach him a lesson. This is what justice looks like."

"Father, I...

"...can you check your email?"

"What?"

"Just, there's something I sent you that I think you should see."

That's a misstep in their dance and he's suspicious again. He grabs his phone and goes into his email app...

...reads...

................reads..............

..............................looks up at Tōkan. "What. Is the meaning of this."

"Well, you see... this is what justice looks like. You go after people weaker than you, just for defending themselves, because you're a bully. You hide behind other people, so they'll take the fall for you, and you stand on your pedestal thinking you're untouchable.

"You're not untouchable, father, and Ōta Makino eats men like you for breakfast."

Kokonoe Tochima is, quite literally, speechless.

"I'm not here to gloat, Father. I'm here to make sure you understand that that's going public if you don't get your prosecutor off my boyfriend's case before tomorrow morning."

"My prosecutor?"

"Are you saying you didn't scour heaven and earth to find her, someone who'd take your money despite the obvious hit to her career this would be?"

"Boy."

"The proof is right there. You really need to do better than that at hiding your fingers if you want to one-up Ōta Kaiyō, you know, six layers deep is not enough indirection.

"Are you going to call your prosecutor off?"

"Yes."

"Good! And now that we have this effective admission on record," he says, grabbing his phone from his pocket and showing the voice recording app he's been using, "and with the understanding that all of this is being synchronously backed up into cloud storage so you cannot actually do anything about it, let's talk about the rest of what I want.

"One, I want cousin Dai to be your heir."

"—what?"

"I don't want it. Any of it. Any of you. Give it to him, that boy deserves it, he's so much better than me, he's going to be a boon to the Kokonoe empire.

"Two: you let him go to America first, get his education. Seriously, Father, Yale and Stanford, and you wanted to keep him here? You are out of your goddamn fucking mind.

"Three: the school. It's mine. Everything else, Dai's, but the school you give to me."

"You're seventeen."

"Obviously not now, any more than you're giving Dai everything right now. But the school will go to me later, got it? That's it, that's what I want. You get your perfect heir, and Dai is perfect, and you get rid of me, which you've wanted for so long. The only real cost to you is the school, which I know you hate anyway. So really, Father, you should take this. It'll be much better than the hit to your reputation you'll take from all of this coming out.

"Does it feel nice to be condescended to like this by someone who has power over you? Bet it doesn't. But since you lack a shred of empathy in your body you will obviously not take this opportunity to reflect on the kinds of things you inflict on others and maybe become a better person. So, if you won't become a better person, at least have the decency to put a better person in your place when you leave. Maybe with Dai there this family will stop being the pit of backstabbing snakes it is and we can work towards more than just the fucking natural order of things. Like, say, the flourishing of humans.

"Any questions, Father?"

"...do not. Call me Father."

"Deal! It's been a pleasure doing business with you, Kokonoe-san."

"Yamada Inori-san."

...what. Why are they waking him up in the middle of the night, ugh.

He gets up, irritated, and looks at the person who's calling his name.

"The charges against you have been dropped," she says, opening the door to his cell and stepping out of the way.

"...took their sweet time," he says, swinging his feet around the bed and putting his mask back on. "Any idea where my pipe is?"

"...I'm sorry?"