TUESDAY

There was no need for Rui to set her alarm, because like every other day her parents were together, she awoke from her sleep to the sound of muffled voices yelling at each other. That could only mean one thing, and she shrank in sadness as she opened her bedroom door. Sure enough, her mommy and daddy were at each other's throats again, and she listened as their argument echoed through the apartment.

"I can't buy my daughter something nice every once in a while?" Kaori demanded.

"She's our daughter," Hiro countered. "How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"You didn't answer my question, dumbass! Am I not allowed to buy her something nice?"

Hiro let out a sarcastic laugh and retorted with, "I should be asking you that question, Kaori. Because it seems like every time I try to do something with her or get her a little gift, you jump down my throat and make me out to be the bad guy!"

"Because all you do is try to buy her affections!"

"And you don't?!" Hiro shoved the notsobig receipt in her face and exclaimed, "Because I've got a 110,000-yen bill right here that says otherwise! How is this any different from me taking her to Tokyo Disneyland?"

"THAT WAS MY DAY TO HAVE HER, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! You really think you could just pull a stunt like that and not have it go unpunished?"

"Unpunished?" Hiro's eyes widened as he demanded, "Kaori, what did you do?"

"Oh...you haven't seen the updated terms, have you?" She tossed the divorce settlement at him, and Hiro was able to snatch it before it floated to the floor. As he read through the document, Kaori could see him getting angrier and angrier before he crumpled up the paper and threw it back at her, screaming, "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! Zero visitation rights because I made an honest mistake?!"

"Honest, my ass. You're always making mistakes."

"And you're gonna stand there and tell me that you don't?"

"Oh, I have. The biggest mistake I ever made was saying 'I do.'" Hiro seethed with rage as Kaori gloated, "I don't care what Kisaki-sama says; I'm not changing these terms. You don't deserve to be her father."

"And you don't deserve to be her mother, you spiteful bitch!" Kaori flipped the table over and prepared to attack her husband, but the two of them were quickly stopped when Rui toddled into the living room and sadly asked, "Why are you fighting again?" The blood drained from Hiro and Kaori's faces as they righted the table and sat down, trying in vain to put on a facade of togetherness. "Sweetie, mommy and daddy are having a conversation for adults," Hiro said. "Just cover your ears and-"

"But I'm tired of covering my ears, daddy. I don't like seeing you screaming and yelling at each other." Rui began to cry as she begged, "Why can't you be nice to each other? Why can't you be nice to me?"

That question hit the Maedas like a dagger to the heart as Kaori replied with a shaken, "But we are nice to you, baby. You have everything you could ever want."

"No, I don't," Rui sobbed. "I don't care about the clothes or the stuffed animals or the trips or the toys! The only thing I want is you! I want you to stop fighting! I want us to be a family!"

"But...but honey..."

"No buts! I want grandma and grandpa to pick me up from school today! At least when they argue, they say they're sorry afterwards!" Rui stormed to her bedroom and slammed the door, which served as a signal to Hiro that it was time for him to leave. He grabbed his jacket and opened the door, but before he left, he turned around and spat, "It's your fault that she's acting like this."

"Oh, I know it's your fault. Now get the hell out of my house before I have you arrested for assault."

"I never touched you, you stupid..." Kaori cut him off by holding up the crumpled divorce agreement with a smug grin. Hiro narrowed his eyes at her and declared, "This isn't over."

"Yes, it is. OUT."

Hiro slammed the door as hard as he could, knocking some pictures off of the wall in the process. Kaori smoothed out the paper and stared at it for a few seconds before she thought to herself, Looks like I'm gonna have to do this the hard way. A devious smile was on her face as she pulled out her phone and looked up her finances. She and Hiro still shared a bank account, and after cycling through their history of written checks, she found exactly what she was looking for.

Eri sat in her office drinking her afternoon tea when her phone rang. "Hello?"

"Kisaki-sama!" the voice said sweetly. "It's Kaori Maeda!"

Eri let out an exhausted sigh and said, "Maeda-san, if you had any other lawyer, they would've dropped you like a ton of bricks after what you pulled on Sunday. Consider yourself lucky."

"And I do. Listen, I took your advice and revised the divorce agreement."

"Has your husband read it?"

"Of course! He even signed off on it, too!" A suspicious glare was in Eri's eyes as she pretended to be happy for her, exclaiming, "Great! Bring it down to my office and we'll get everything squared away."

"I'm already on my way. I should be there in about five minutes."

"Wonderful. See you in a few." Eri pressed the receiver button and called security as soon as she heard the line go dead. "Security. How can we help you?"

"This is Eri Kisaki on the tenth floor. I'm just requesting a couple of officers in my office within the next five minutes. The client that visited me on Sunday is coming back, and I don't want a repeat of what happened last time."

"We'll get some officers up there as soon as we can, Kisaki-sama."

"Thank you very much." Eri hung up the phone and sat patiently at her desk with her hands folded, knowing in her mind that something wasn't right. Just then, two security guards entered her office and stood on either side of her, with Eri giving a pleasant greeting to each as they did so. The trio stood ready as the door opened and Kaori Maeda walked into the office, a satisfied grin on her face. The first thing she said after she sat down was, "What's with the extra security?"

"I take it you forgot what happened on Sunday," Eri said with a hint of contempt. "This is just a necessary precaution to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"I guarantee nothing like that is gonna happen today, Kisaki-sama. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry that happened to you."

"That's the first time I've heard you apologize for anything in the time you've been my client. You're making progress." Kaori narrowed her eyes in irritation as Eri asked, "You said you revised the divorce settlement?"

"I did. And when I showed it to my husband, he finally did the right thing for once in his useless life and signed it." She pulled out the settlement and handed it to Eri, who looked at it for what seemed like forever, but was actually about a minute and a half. When she was done, she stood up and said, "Can I take a closer look at this in private, please?" Kaori's eyes widened ever so slightly at that suggestion, something Eri noticed right away. "Uh...you shouldn't need to. I signed it, he signed it, everything's the way it should be."

"I see that. I just found some...irregularities."

"What...kind of irregularities?" Kaori asked as she began to sweat.

"First of all, you told me that you revised the custody arrangements." Eri pointed to the paperwork and exclaimed, "Not only did you not revise them, you actively made them worse! Now in addition to zero visitation rights for your husband, you have a provision forbidding him from ever having any contact whatsoever with Rui!"

Kaori gulped back her nerves as Eri continued: "Second, there's the fact that throughout this entire process, not once-not once- have you changed the provision regarding the distribution of marital assets! From the very start, every single solitary bit of income the two of you have made over the last seven years goes to you, and only you! Nothing for your husband and nothing for your daughter! All of it goes to Kaori Maeda!"

Kaori was sweating through her clothes as Eri's verbal smackdown reached its apex with a furious, "And third, you actually had the audacity to forge his signature!" Eri pulled out a piece of older paperwork with Hiro's signature on it and practically shoved it in Kaori's face with a thunderous, "You see that? That little piece jutting out on the right of the top hiragana? Your husband has signed every piece of paperwork exactly the same!" To prove her point, Eri pulled every form with Hiro's signature out of the case file and laid them on the desk in front of Kaori, forcing her to realize the magnitude of her error. Eri was irate as she spat, "Who in the hell do you think you are? Did you really think you could pull the wool over my eyes with this pathetic little stunt?! What could your husband have possibly done to make you so hell-bent on ruining his life?! Do you really hate him that much?!"

That last question had a galvanizing effect on Kaori as she quickly regained her composure and sat up in her chair with a newfound confidence. "I don't know. Do you?"

Her question stopped Eri dead in her tracks as she sputtered out, "Wh...what did you say?"

"You heard me. I saw the way you reacted when he called you that day. The way your whole attitude changed in an instant, the way you lost your composure as soon as you heard his voice. Sounds to me like we're both in the same boat."

Eri sat down in her chair and retorted with a curt, "The only difference between you and me is that I don't try to actively ruin his life when he screws up. Don't think you can get out of this by trying to be my psychiatrist."

"All I'm doing is giving you my honest opinion, Kisaki-sama." Kaori pointed at Eri's left hand with a confident grin and said, "I see you're still wearing your wedding ring. I'm just gonna throw this out there and guess that you're divorced?

"Separated," Eri said with emphasis. "There's a difference."

"And how long have you been separated?"

"That's none of your business."

"Come on. Just between us." There was nowhere for Eri to hide. She had engaged Maeda in this conversation, and now it was time to bear her scars. She hung her head and replied, "Ten years."

"TEN YEARS?!" Kaori collapsed into derisive laughter, nearly falling out of her chair in the process. "You've been waiting on this guy to get his act together for a decade? Geez, and you have the nerve to call me pathetic..."

Seething with rage, Eri burst out of her seat and stabbed her finger towards the door, yelling, "THAT'S IT! As of this moment, you are no longer my client! Take your crappy little forgery and get the hell out of my sight!"

Kaori frowned and said, "I'm not saying anything that isn't true." She got up from her seat and took the divorce agreement back, delivering one final parting shot before she left. "Just between you and me, if I was in your shoes, I'd have cut the cord nine years ago. What's the point in waiting around for someone who's never gonna change?" Eri responded with a repeated jab of her finger towards the door. Kaori complied, but not before leaving with a smug, "You know I'm right, Kisaki-sama. It's time you gave up on him." She shut the door and left Eri to stew alongside the security guards, one of whom asked, "Do you need us for anything else?"

"No. You can both leave." The guards did so as Eri dialed Kumi and asked, "Do I have any other appointments scheduled today?"

"Let's see," Kumi said. "You have an estate settlement coming up in an hour and a half, and a workplace injury case at three." Eri removed her glasses and put her hand to her face as she said, "Kumi-san, see if you can have them reschedule. Something important came up, and I need to get back home."

"Is everything alright?" Kumi asked with concern.

"Everything's fine. I hate to do this on such short notice, but there's a family matter I need to take care of. I'm sure they'll understand."

"I'll do my best, Kisaki-sama."

"Thank you, Kumi-san." Eri grabbed her briefcase and her coat and left her office, catching the train back to her apartment. The first thing she did when she walked in the door was head straight for her kitchen and grab a bottle of wine from her refrigerator. She poured herself a glass and sat down at the kitchen table, trying in vain to calm her nerves. Kaori's words echoed in her head as she emptied the glass, with Eri letting out a frustrated sigh as she put her head in her hands. Dead silence hung in the air until a child's voice turned her attention to the living room.

"You don't believe that mean lady, do you, mommy?" To Eri's shock, the voice came from the six-year old visage of her daughter. Little Ran stepped into the kitchen and stood at the foot of the kitchen table, asking, "You'd never give up on daddy like that, would you?"

Eri stared at the ring on her finger and sighed. "No. Never. For all of his faults...and he has a lot of them...he's still a good person at heart. I just wish he'd get his act together."

"Do you think he will? Because I miss you, mommy. Home...doesn't feel like home without you there."

"I know, honey. I...I know."

"You didn't leave because I was bad, did you?" Eri gasped as tears welled in her eyes, and they soon began to fall as she said, "Ran...you're not the reason I left. Please, don't ever think that. Your father and I...just decided that it would be best if we didn't live together anymore."

"But it's been ten years, mommy. Why can't you and daddy say you're sorry?" Because we're both stubborn, Eri thought as she wiped her eyes. We each have to be right and damn the consequences. She regained her composure as best she could and replied, "Because your daddy needs to shape up. He needs to stop drinking and lusting after other women."

"And what about you? Is there anything you need to change?" Eri opened her mouth to respond, but the words died on her lips. She sat in silent contemplation as she racked her brain to come up with some kind of answer, and after two minutes, she found it. "I need to stop treating him like a child. I need to see the good he does instead of concentrating on the bad. I need to stop shutting him out."

"Do you think you can do that, mommy?"

"Of course, Ran," Eri said with a tearful smile. "For your sake."

"Don't just do it for me. Do it for yourself...and for daddy." Little Ran put her hand on Eri's knee and said, "I believe in you, mommy. I know you can do it."

Eri swooped down and enveloped little Ran in a giant hug, picking her up and rocking her back and forth. The smile on her face betrayed the tears falling from her eyes as she held onto the little girl, and when she tried to face her eye to eye, she instead found herself looking at her arms, clutched tight around nothing but air. She was now left alone with her thoughts, which turned to her teenage daughter and her husband. Eri pulled out her cell phone and dialed Kogoro's number, still not quite believing what she was about to do. The line rang three times before she heard a gruff "Hello?" on the other end.

"Kogoro...it's me."

"Eri?! Uh..." The sound of rustling paper and a shocked yell filled her ear as Kogoro fell out of his chair on his end of the call. Eri rolled her eyes and let out a small chuckle as her husband said, "Whatever it was, I didn't do it! You can't prove anything!"

"I'm not calling to fight, Kogoro. I just want to talk."

"About what?" Eri let out an aggravated groan and replied, "Kaori Maeda reached a new low today."

"And now that you mention it, so did her husband," Kogoro spat. "There's probably a lot to unpack between the two of us-are you free tonight?"

"I am, as a matter of fact."

"Do you want to meet up and talk about it?" Eri thought it over, remaining silent for a long time. So long, in fact, that Kogoro thought he lost the connection. "Are you still there?"

"I'm still here. And yes, I'd like to meet up and talk."

"Great! Does Shari work for you?"

"A sushi bar works just fine. Just make sure you stay sober while we're talking."

"I'll try my best. See you in a couple hours?"

"Sounds good." Eri hung up the phone and walked over to her bookcase, opening the center glass door and taking out a framed picture. It was a candid outdoor photo with five-year old Ran smiling brightly as she and Kogoro stood behind her as a unified front, beaming smiles on their faces. Eri let out a wistful sigh as she said, "Look at how young we were. Look at how happy we were." She shook her head in sadness and placed the photo back in the bookcase, whispering, "I wish we could be that way again." She shut the glass door and retreated to the bathroom to prepare for her meeting with her husband.