In the courtroom, back then.
'Why… why are you looking at me like that…'
When the judge declared the defendant guilty, Higuruma froze, his gaze shifting between those seated above and those below.
Up there, the ones in power no longer carried even a trace of justice in their eyes. Only the defendant below stared straight at him.
The man said nothing, yet the doubt, the emptiness, and the disappointment in his eyes felt like barbed needles, piercing deep into Higuruma's heart.
The evidence had been more than sufficient. That man was innocent.
During the first trial, Higuruma had presented an extremely strong defense and secured a not guilty verdict.
At the time, both the defendant and his assistant believed they had won.
Only Higuruma frowned. He knew too well that public opinion never cared about so-called "evidence."
Sure enough, after the verdict, a flood of insults came from nowhere and swallowed them whole.
"Prosecution is useless." "Lawyers are immoral." Labels like these were thrown at both the court and him.
Under pressure from public opinion, the court initiated a second trial, a retrial based on the first verdict.
Unlike the defense, which could only rely on limited funds and manpower, the prosecution could pour in large amounts of taxpayer money and resources for investigation.
And yet, even under those conditions, in the second trial, the prosecution failed to present any new evidence to overturn his arguments.
Instead, they used an absurd reason "There's no reason to suspect the culprit is some completely unknown person," and with that, they changed the verdict from not guilty to life imprisonment.
Because they had no leads on the real culprit, those sitting above chose to sacrifice an innocent young man to calm the public and protect their own reputation.
As for a third trial… the threshold was extremely high. The doors of the court were not easily opened.
From the very beginning, this trial had only one destined outcome.
Guilty.
* * *
"Higuruma, after this, you should have learned your lesson, right? Don't be so stubborn. Stop taking these thankless cases."
A friend's voice echoed in Higuruma's ear.
It was after a previous loss, when he had been blamed by a client, and they had been sitting together in a park.
"You keep taking these kinds of defenses. The court and prosecutors don't understand you. And when you lose, your clients resent you. It's not worth it."
She was a lawyer too.
But the difference was that he often worked as a public defender, taking on difficult cases that no one else wanted, where the effort far outweighed the reward.
"They're already at their breaking point, both financially and mentally. If no one understands them, it's only natural they take it out on me."
Higuruma didn't resent them. In fact, he even thought it was natural.
As their defense lawyer, he was the light that appeared when they were at their most helpless. By human nature, of course they would place all their hope on him.
And if he failed… resentment was only natural.
Being trapped in despair from the start was painful, but struggling toward hope only to realize it was impossible was even worse.
It was a deeper darkness, a heavier despair.
"Then what about you? What about your own mental state?"
Her question left him speechless.
"I… I'm not doing this to call myself righteous or anything. I've just always hated things like this since I was a kid. It's just a bad habit I can't fix…"
Higuruma's gaze drifted, lost in thought.
But in the end… how could this disgusting world ever be changed?
It had nothing to do with justice.
Only with what he believed in his heart.
* * *
"You're really strange…"
The memories faded, and Higuruma's thoughts returned to the present.
He had already sunk back into the bathtub, just like before, yet there wasn't a single wound on his body.
The domain had disappeared, and the shikigami, Judgeman, was gone as well.
The clash between him and Mukuro had ended in an instant, without even a real fight.
Mukuro was someone the Judgeman could not judge, and from beginning to end, he had shown no hostility. Unlike the other players Higuruma had faced before, who clearly wanted to kill him.
Even though Mukuro said he had killed many people he disliked, without seeing it himself, without a trial, Higuruma had no intention of declaring him guilty.
That was the "rule."
No matter what, he couldn't bring himself to act.
"A lot of people say that."
Mukuro didn't sit back down. Instead, he walked up to the bathtub.
"Stop being a lawyer. Come help us."
He extended his hand.
It was the first time he had ever made such an invitation.
"Have you ever killed someone by following your own will?" Higuruma asked again, though this time the question was slightly different.
He had lied before. When he said it felt "better than expected," that wasn't the truth.
When he killed the judge and the prosecutor, he didn't feel joy or satisfaction. What filled his heart instead was a deep sense of helplessness.
Because the law in his hands couldn't save those in despair, he had picked up the gavel beside him.
That gavel was meant to uphold justice.
Yet at that moment, it had become the weapon he used to kill.
Did he regret it?
No.
He only felt sorrow for the world.
To kill by following one's own will… it felt awful.
"No matter how many times you ask, my answer won't change. But I can tell you this. Personally, I'd rather never meet someone who makes me want to kill."
Mukuro's answer remained the same, though he added a condition.
"What do you want me to do with my points?" Higuruma returned to the topic while also quietly rejecting the invitation. "After the Culling Game ends, I'll probably turn myself in."
Becoming a powerful sorcerer hadn't changed his thinking.
He had killed, so he should face legal punishment.
But after this conversation, he felt a little more at ease.
At least now he knew that there were people who would hold onto their core no matter the situation, whether it was absolute good… or absolute evil.
Just like him. Stubborn to the end.
"I'll say it again. Come help me."
Mukuro didn't rush to talk about the points. Having someone like Higuruma in the jujutsu world was worth far more than thousands of points in the Culling Game.
He extended his hand once more.
"You're not the one who's wrong. This world is. The way this world runs is broken. Come with me. Let's rewrite the rules together."
**
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