"Earth to Eiji," Mina Hongo said. "Come in, Eiji."
"Eh?"
"I didn't invite you over here so you could zone out on me." Mina and Eiji Suzuki were sitting on the couch in her apartment. Mina swirled her glass of red wine. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, considering I destroyed a family today."
"I'm sure the Tachibanas will recover-"
"I wasn't talking about Kyohei's parents, Mina. I was talking about Sei's family. Sei's voice when she fired him, the look in Amy's eyes as she left…they really cared for him. And I wrecked it. If they can come back from this, it'll be no thanks to me."
Mina put her wine glass down on her coffee table. "Eiji, I've been reading up on abusers, how cunning and devious they can be. It may look like you ruined something for Kyohei, but you didn't. It wasn't a good environment-"
"I didn't do this for Kyohei, Mina. I didn't do this because there was actual evidence Kyohei was being abused or mistreated in any way. Our investigation didn't uncover anything that couldn't be accounted for by the stress of working for mercenaries. I just wanted to get Sei, for anything I could come up with. And when we couldn't get any evidence, I tried to invent some by letting a brawl start in my squad room. I knew Jo could wipe the floor with all of us and I deliberately set her off just so I could get a scalp, never mind who got hurt. That's not what I'm supposed to do. I used you and I misused my badge. I thought I was better than that, but when push came to shove…" He trailed off.
"What about that cybot? 'Sei loves little boys'?"
"Another dead end. Trust me, no one - *no one* - is cunning enough to do something like that and leave no trace at all. Doesn't matter who they are or how much money they have. Someone always sees or hears something telling. Buying ay out of a conviction doesn't change what you are. And 'the lack of evidence is the proof' doesn't work in court very well. Ohato thinks maybe someone got wind of our investigation and wanted to smear Sei's name as part of some sort of vendetta, but there's nothing on that end; the organized crime side of it has been quiet. I'm sure that if Sei knew who controlled the cybot, we'd find a body somewhere and a hundred witnesses saying that if they'd seen anything she wasn't there; so she's probably drawing a blank, too. An unsolved mystery in a bunged up case that never should have happened. I'm happy to leave it alone. Just let it go cold and stay that way."
"Well, you haven't seen Kyohei since this started. I have. And believe me, if I could do it all over again, I never would have given him that damned flier. My best student, and his work was suffering because of…them. But since he started working at the Opera House - which, I might add, you had nothing to do with - his attendance is back up, his grades are improved, and he's relaxed and happy. I don't care what your captain says or how many officials that woman can pay to roast you over the coals. Some good did come of this."
"Oh, well, then I guess it's all right then." But he still sounded dispirited.