Unforeseen Disaster

At 9:30 PM, Shiraishi slightly parted the blinds and glanced outside—there were basically no reporters visible outside the Police Station anymore.

However...

With Shiraishi's Lv7 Counter-Surveillance, looking out the window, he easily spotted two hidden bastards!

Counter-Surveillance and Tracking and Surveillance were a pair of very complementary abilities. As long as Tracking and Surveillance was added up, Counter-Surveillance only needed "one-tenth" of the points to reach the same level as Tracking and Surveillance...

Of course, although Shiraishi's "Tracking and Surveillance" panel showed Lv7, the actual effect it produced was Lv7(-4).

It could only achieve the effect of Lv3, which was about the same as the "police academy passing standard," weaker than the average level of the First Investigation Division...

No wonder, a 2.3-meter, 150-kilogram Little Giant found it hard to hide himself; even doing nothing, he was already very conspicuous.

That it could still achieve the effect of Lv3 was already skillful...

The reason for "wasting" points in this area was mainly for Counter-Surveillance!

"They're really persistent," Shiraishi curled his lips.

Let them ambush if they want...

Shiraishi wasn't planning on leaving work yet, not only because he was waiting for news from the Criminal Affairs Division, but also because he was working overtime.

The Chief's work was not easy, especially in a large Police Station like Beika Town.

In summary, it was "stamping, shaking hands, and waving"...

Normally, major cases were rare, but the Chief had to deal with a lot of documents. Every day, just "stamping" consumed most of his working hours.

Shiraishi was relatively better off now, after all, Ebihara had not yet retired. Every day, he mainly taught Shiraishi how to categorize documents, understand which ones needed careful reading, which ones needed speed-reading, and which ones... stamped and done!

This also gave Shiraishi two new abilities, Document Organization and Document Speed-Reading, though both were only Lv2. If Shiraishi had spare points like before, he would definitely add them now.

In addition to this desk work, the Chief also had to frequently meet with important people in his jurisdiction, engage in Public Relations, and receive Public Relations, which was the so-called "shaking hands."

Furthermore, for the "favorability" of the residents in the jurisdiction, public events had to be organized every month to actively boost his presence, which was the "waving."

Now, for the latter two items, Shiraishi had no time at all and was working overtime "stamping"!

After all, having just taken office, Shiraishi dared not be careless with any document...

It wasn't that he didn't trust Chief Ebihara, but... as a "newcomer," Shiraishi always felt uneasy about stamping documents without reading them!

As a result, it was easy to work overtime until late at night, especially today when he was busy with the case all day.

Knock knock knock—

A knock on the door.

"Come in."

Aoki walked in at this moment.

"You've worked hard. Did you find anything?" Shiraishi could tell from Aoki's conflicted expression that something was up.

"We did find something... but I'm sorry, it wasn't us who found it," Aoki said helplessly.

"Oh?" Shiraishi looked over curiously.

"It's like this... We discovered that Miki Law Firm seems to have obtained some important Witness testimony, which has already been directly submitted to the Prosecution. The Witness has already been questioned by the Prosecution, and we wanted to contact the Witness, but the Prosecution..." Aoki's tone was somewhat troubled.

Shiraishi nodded upon hearing this, signaling him to stop—this wasn't Aoki's problem. It was his own unwillingness to take orders from the Prosecution, so naturally, they wouldn't cooperate now!

"However, this Witness testimony should be unfavorable to Tsubokura," Aoki then stated what he had learned.

"Miki Law Firm... I recall it was the law firm assigned by the Court to Tsubokura at the beginning, right?" Shiraishi's Lv7 Memory allowed him not only to remember people but also documents.

He had looked through the case file before. After Tsubokura was prosecuted, he couldn't afford to hire a lawyer himself, so the Bar Association assigned him to Miki Law Firm to represent him.

This was also a normal procedure. Generally, those who couldn't afford a lawyer would have the Bar Association coordinate and assign them to these major law firms.

Of course, Miki wouldn't personally handle such unprofitable cases; he just assigned a junior lawyer from the firm.

This "junior lawyer" was also a brave newcomer. Due to disagreements on "Not Guilty Defense" and "Sentencing Defense," he actually went behind the law firm's back to get Komikado involved. According to unofficial sources, Komikado's commission was paid out of the junior lawyer's own pocket.

It was precisely because of a Legal Scavenger of Komikado's caliber that the doubts in the case were brought to light.

Otherwise, ordinary appointed criminal defense lawyers usually just "persuaded the defendant to plead guilty, be cooperative, and ask for a reduced sentence"... They had no fighting spirit for defense, merely going through the motions, and could even be considered a form of plea bargaining!

Earlier, Shiraishi had reprimanded Shirai—his case handling details were clearly based on the assumption that Tsubokura only had an Appointed Public Defense Lawyer, which was why he had been so sloppy!

In this regard, Shiraishi was still unsure if Tsubokura was wrongly accused, but Shirai's criticism was not at all undeserved.

"Miki Law Firm... has Witness testimony unfavorable to the defendant? Was it because of this that they didn't pursue a Not Guilty Defense before? No... then why did they allow their junior lawyer to act so recklessly?" Shiraishi felt that Miki Law Firm's actions were very strange and illogical!

Miki Law Firm was the defense for the defendant; they would not proactively expose Witness testimony unfavorable to the defendant, as it would definitely be detrimental to their firm's reputation. Therefore, concealing this Witness testimony was in line with their logical course of action.

But what about afterward?

Why did they allow their junior lawyer to pursue a Not Guilty Defense?

Did they even keep it from their own people?

However, Aoki then explained: "Oh, we investigated that too... That Komikado was also previously part of Miki Law Firm, but they fell out later... I suspect Miki deliberately wanted to set up Komikado. It's very likely that Miki designed this case for Komikado to take over as the lawyer."

Aoki had made efforts from both the Prosecution and Miki Law Firm's side to find this "Witness" that the police had not contacted. Naturally, he noticed that Miki Law Firm's actions were strange and ended up investigating this matter as well.

"Huh?" Shiraishi was speechless for a moment, then sighed, "That really is an undeserved disaster..."

Shiraishi, whose Deduction Skills were Lv7, had already figured everything out based on the current clues!

Miki was an old Legal Scavenger, and if he took it seriously, he would naturally find that there were doubts about the case, and the prosecution's materials had major loopholes!

However, at the same time, he discovered an important Witness, unknown to both the Prosecution and the police, who could prove the defendant's guilt!

Therefore... Miki might have deliberately used this opportunity to drag "Kurokawa Kenji" into the mess!

Once Kurokawa became the defense Lawyer for the defendant and discovered the loopholes in the prosecution's evidence, Miki proactively handed over the "incriminating evidence" he possessed to the Prosecution.

This way, the defense Lawyer had changed. Handing over the Witness to the Prosecution at this point would not damage the reputation of the Miki Law Firm, would foster good relations with the Prosecution, and most importantly... it would trap Kurokawa, with whom he had a grudge!

Thinking about it this way, for Beika Town, it was entirely an "undeserved disaster" – getting caught in a conflict between Lawyers and taking two direct hits...

"However... if this Witness can truly confirm Tsubokura's guilt, it would be a good thing for us. I hope Section Chief Shirai was just in a hurry," Aoki comforted Shiraishi at this moment.

"A Witness that even the Miki Law Firm could find, and Section Chief Shirai didn't discover it before... Is that how you rush things?!" Shiraishi's opinion of Shirai grew even larger now—it wasn't that there were no clues; how could a Lawyer's office find clues that you couldn't? Were all your thoughts on unsavory Interrogation techniques?

Knock, knock, knock--

Just then, a knock sounded again.

Aka entered holding a notebook.

To Shiraishi's surprise, Fujisato Seiko, dressed in plainclothes, followed