He accepts, of course. It'll be good to see his sister.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit, Mei? You've been quite reticent about your activities in America, lately."

"I'm here on work business."

That's a shockingly vague answer, coming from her. Normally, she's all-too-happy to tell him about her latest exploits in court. Normally, she would never miss an opportunity to remind him that he hadn't accomplished anything half so impressive when he was fifteen.

"What sort of 'work business'?"

(He noticed it too, obviously. She's never been any good at lying.)

"I can't say. It's classified."

He definitely does not want this conversation turning towards "things people at the table are hiding." He is perfectly happy to let it go.

Reiji is marginally better at lying than his daughter, but not so good at it that Gō can't tell he's hiding something. Are they both — no, Reiji looks as confused as he does.

This doesn't especially seem like the sort of situation where pushing on her will help. He will happily change the subject.

Then they should all be able to have a pleasant dinner with absolutely no uncomfortable questions, right?

She is perfectly happy to listen to her little brother talk about his courtroom exploits! He still has his perfect record, for now, but even with seven years' head start she's going to catch up to him eventually.

What a nice, pleasant family dinner!

"Say, have you been following the news about that serial killer who's trying to supplant the justice system?"

Why is he acting weird about that question, he's not working on the investigation — actually, it makes perfect sense given what happened with his father. Of course he'd feel weird about something like that.

Why is she acting weird about that question, it's not as if someone's brought up one of her crimes at the dinner table.

...Well, she did say she was here on classified work business. He doesn't have much to substantiate that guess, but even if it's only a guess, he'll need to be careful around her.

Everyone here except him is terrible at not giving away that they're hiding something, but unfortunately that doesn't tell him what they're hiding. 

"It's a bit pitiful, don't you think? It's the role of the prosecutor to enact justice, not the role of some upstart murderer with an untraceable poison."

What's the non-suspicious answer here? Is he supposed to agree with him, or is that actually more suspicious?

"Really, it's embarrassing that this is even an issue. If there weren't so many foolish prosecutors who can't even manage to do their jobs right, there would be no one for them to kill."

There. That is a true statement that does not involve admitting to being involved with the investigation even a little bit.

"Be that as it may, if a prosecutor has failed to get a guilty verdict — or if the court has declined to sentence someone to death? I believe a few of the recent cases have been criminals serving out prison terms — it is not the place of vigilantes to correct it."

"Obviously not. Still, perhaps you should remind your colleagues to be less careless."

Can Reiji please take the hint and change the topic.

He is perfectly happy to criticize certain prosecutors and officers for the rest of dinner.