I hadn't been expecting it, but my phone rang. It was Fohl.

"Hey- you're still up?"

"I uh, couldn't sleep," he said.

"Same here honestly - but don't worry, things'll be fine," I said.

I had no reassurance myself, but I couldn't very well let my self-doubt leak through, now then could I?

That was one part of being the lead here. Even if you weren't sure of the outcome of a case, you had to appear professional.

There was a good reason that people said 'A lawyer that defends himself has a fool for a client,' because it was hard to take an objective look at a situation when you were inside of it.

Same thing here -while I didn't have a huge attachment to Fohl, I couldn't very well say that I was approaching this through anything approaching an objective lens.

"Alright, right," Fohl said wearily. He paused. "Sorry I bothered calling you and waking you up."

"No problem, I get that things can be stressful," I said to him.

"Right so-" his voice then suddenly cut off as I heard a faint voice in the background yell out, "Is that Naofumi? Gimme the phone!" and then there were the sounds of what seemed like some kind of struggle.

"Hello? Fohl?"

"Naofumi!" Atla's voice then came from the speaker. Behind her, I could just barely make out what Fohl was yelling. "Sis, weren't you sleeping?"

"Why are you calling me at night? Did you want to hear my voice that badly?" Atla asked, breathless.

"Actually it was Fohl who called me, not the other way around-" I began to say, though she didn't seem to register any of it and kept speaking over me.

"Ah, if you want to hear my voice that badly, I'll send you a recording! And don't worry, I don't mind staying up all night talking with you... or doing other things for that matter... ehehe..."

"ATLA!" Fohl yelled so loudly I could hear it louder than Atla's voice.

"and you know what-" Atla said, before I hung up the phone and then switched it off, and decided to go back to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up early, got dressed, made sure that i was looking as good as I could, and then turned my phone on again.

Atla had left me a voicemail about forty minutes in length, which I was not going to listen to.

For today, i had scrounged up enough money to take a taxi. i could've taken the bus but I'd have to switch multiple times on an unfamiliar route, it would end up taking at least an hour later, and I did not want to risk being late. Not for today.

Upon checking sure my appearance was up to par, I called Fohl to make sure that he was also getting up and ready to meet at the intended place. Fohl sounded exchausted, likely from last night, but said that they would be there.

I also called Erhard, who was already on his way.

I hadn't bene to where we were going before, but it was impossible to miss the huge building housing the law offices.

We had agreed to meet up somewhere beforehand, after all, we needed to strategize before walking into the lion's den.

I was the first one there, then again, I had arrived about an hour ahead of time so that was to be expected.

I was antsy, and nearly jumped out of my seat when my phone buzzed.

Oh, it was a message from Raphtalia. Just wishing me luck with what happened- she even sent a tanuki emoji at the end. Hmm... that made me think once again of how she would look like wearing racoon ears, and why was it that it was so easy to imagine a tail wagging behind her?

Anyway, that was nice of her, and I gave her a 'thumbs up' in response to let her know that I had read the message.

While I tapped my foot, I glanced around, and headed into the café that we were supposed to meet in.

Given how long we'd be there, it was just out of courtesy, though I brought something to drink. I thought of coffee first of all, but I didn't want to be jittery before the meeting, which made me turn to the lemonade instead.

I personally found lemonade to be a rip-off, I could so easily make a pitcher at home for a fraction of a cost of what they charged, though it was one of he cheapest things on the menu, and so I begrudgingly passed over my coins.

Erhard was the next to arrive, though it still took him twenty minutes to come.

"So odd to see you dressed like a respectable member of society for once," I said, jokingly, though he did look quite pristine. "Almost like you're a real lawyer."

He snorted. "I am a real lawyer!" He then pulled on the collar of his suit- he looked rather uncomfortable in it. "Unlike someone else I know..."

"Well, I am a lawyer in training," I told him.

He sat down, seeing i was sipping on a drink.

"Already started eating without us?"

"Well, you guys took so long to come here?"

"So long, kid, I'm here five minutes before the time," Erhard said. "Now, where are your kids?"

"They should be here," I said, though I called Fohl one more time to confirm that he was on the way.

This place was rather close to where they lived - at first glance I would think that that seemed to be odd, but then again, they were supposed to be related to the person in charge of this law firm we were up against, so it made some sense that they would live near there.

I didn't know the full history of what had gone down, but it was a messy situation regardless.

And they say that there are two sides to every story and though I wouldn't take everything that Fohl said at face value, the fact remained that, even if there was more to the story than I knew, what kind of man would take funds away from two orphans? It made no sense.

"They're on the way," I told Erhard.

"Good," Erhard said. Those two were the guests of honor- there was little reason for us to be here if they weren't.