A Thin Line Between Lust and Love

The Trial: Day One

       February. The second and shortest month of the year. A month where things are going to come to light. While most of the world prepares for one of the biggest, romantic holidays of the year, Valentine's Day, those in Tokyo are looking out for a trial to begin. One of them happens to be a man who may as well refer to himself as a former "father" of Lighthouse Tokyo, Sensui Shinobu. Unlike his former pupil, Shinobu spent his days in police custody waiting it out while a case was built around him.

His defense team was entirely human and while they secretly agreed with Shinobu's motives, they didn't agree with his methods. They had quite the case ahead of them. After telling his side of the story, Shinobu's lawyer, named Daigo Juunichiro, laid out the good points.

"In your mind, humans are good and yokai are bad."

"Yes," Shinobu quoted, "The New Testament, Mark 1:27 and 1 Kings 22:23 specifically, tells us so. Impure and deceitful spirits out to spread the anti-gospel of Christ. My job, my purpose was to ensure that society knew the truth."

"And you thought that by capturing this Kurama character, you would be well on your way to do so?"

"Kurama was one of the most feared yokai around. He may not have been grand in stature or hideous in appearance but he was definitely as intimidating as they come. Having him trapped in the body of a human was the only way I could get him to learn how to break free from his wicked ways. That was my goal. Since yokai insisted on living like and with humans, the least they could do was embrace the word of God. Think about it. With the entire community of all the demons of the earth on God's side, Armageddon will clearly be in his favor and I will receive his highest form of admiration by becoming an archangel."

"And what of the other yokai you've...hypnotized according to reports?"

"Sacrifices. Offerings to the Lord above."

"Including the superpowered humans you've recruited?"

"Yes. They gave their lives to God and were baptized in his name. I'm sure that those who've died are enjoying their heavenly homes as we speak."

"Shinobu, you do realize what you're looking at, right? Charges such as unlawful kidnapping, child endangerment, multiple counts of murder or, at the very least, second-degree manslaughter, unlawful use and possession of a firearm. Possibly, a count of conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping due to your connection with a member of the yokai association. Unlawful abduction of a corpse, mistreatment of a corpse. Second-degree arson that resulted in death and multiple counts of abuse."

"Abuse? Abuse?! Where? Who?"

Juunichiro pulled out his phone and showed his client Shuuichi's video that is still going viral, "See? If this is permissible in court, there's your abuse charges. Shinobu, you're looking at a very long sentence here, the death penalty at the most. This is going to be a difficult case to rule in your favor."

Stoic as ever, Shinobu sat down in a chair across the interrogation table from where his lawyer sat, leaned forward, and said, "So be it."

Meanwhile, Kiyoni and Shuuichi spoke with the association's lawyer, a quarter-blooded feline named Touma, via a video call. The pair were inside Kiyoni's apartment and had just finished breakfast thanks to Chef Shuuichi.

"If anything, I found it really ridiculous for you to create that video," Touya opined.

"There was no other option," Shuuichi explained, "Given my previous reputation, I had to do something to show the world, the community that I'm a changed man, that everything I did was purely circumstantial."

"What charges are we looking at," Kiyoni questioned from her apartment bed.

"Only manslaughter," Touma answered, "However, as Kurama described, that may not stick considering the circumstantial evidence against him. It would be more applicable to Shinobu than Kurama since the former was the one who planned it all."