As far as Maki was concerned, she really hadn't been the one who beat up Naoya.
But she didn't mind it. In fact, she almost wanted to do it again!
Across from her, however, Higuruma stared at her in disbelief.
He couldn't understand why she had admitted it so readily when it clearly had nothing to do with her!
While Higuruma was still puzzling over it, Judgeman behind him pronounced Maki's sentence.
It roared in Maki's direction.
"Guilty! Confiscation!"
The next instant, the effect of the domain, Deadly Sentencing, activated, and the Cursed Tool at Maki's waist vanished.
"Oh, shit!" Maki cried, looking anxiously down at her waist.
She had only remembered that she didn't need cursed energy. She had forgotten that Deadly Sentencing confiscated Cursed Tools first, then cursed techniques, then cursed energy!
She slapped her forehead in frustration.
"I should've taken the Cursed Tool off first!"
As the domain's effect took hold, Deadly Sentencing slowly disappeared, returning Higuruma and Maki to the theater.
Higuruma stood on the stage, water still dripping from his suit and gathering into a small puddle on the floor.
Looking at the girl across from him, who was now slapping her forehead in frustration after having her Cursed Tool confiscated, he felt an indescribable irritation rise in his chest.
He couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Why did you admit it?!"
Higuruma's voice exploded through the empty theater, startling even him.
There was an urgency in his tone that he hadn't anticipated, as if a string that had long been stretched taut had suddenly snapped.
Maki raised her head and blinked behind her round glasses.
"It was clearly the soul inside you that did it!"
Higuruma took a step forward, his soaked leather shoes thudding against the floor.
Water marks still lingered on his lenses,