The 'other side' consisted of a group of four people, three men and a woman. All of them were wearing plain attire and could've been confused for businessman, though, knowing where they worked, they were definitely lawyers. The one 'in charge' based on how they entered the room was an old man who looked like he was close to or past retirement (I had heard that many lawyers worked even after they had retired for a long time, either out of necessity or for other reasons) who had a balding head and grey hair.
They looked at the kids, who were the standout among our group (Atla and Fohl slightly fidgeted though to their credit they didn't do anything else). They stared at Erhard, slightly taken aback - he looked more like a bodybuilder than a lawyer, yet was clearly the head of our group. They then looked at me, and were probably taken aback by my age. The youngest among them looked to be about forty, so they were probably wondering who on Earth I was. I was not really old enough to be anything other than a greenhorn lawyer, and if Erhard wanted someone to be his assistant, they wouldn't pick someone like me.
Basically, their attitude towards me seemed to be, 'Who let this kid in here?' I mean, Atla and Fohl were also kids but there was a reason as to why they were there. Unlike me, who was a complete stranger to them and apparently had no reason to be there.
As was customary Erhard and their leader shook hands, with Erhard's giant hands dwarfing that man's. After they were done shaking hands, the older man winced, despite an attempt to look composed.
It looked like Erhard might have shaken his hand a bit too hard. I didn't even know whether this was done on purpose or not, but had to suppress a smile at that.
As for us, the others, I guess we should've greeted each other, but there was still an air of frostiness as they didn't seem to fully understand who I was until Erhard introduced me.
"Hello, good morning," Erhard said. Honestly it was quite shocking just how well he played a professional in this role- then again I figured if he couldn't at least do that he wouldn't have gotten very far. "My name is Erhard, I'm serving the children as their attorney, and this is Iwatani Naofumi, Fohl's legal guardian."
Now that caught many of them off guard. They hadn't been preparing for something like that.
"Pardon me, did you say legal guardian?"
"That is correct," Erhard said, taking out the necessary paperwork.
The meeting was likely supposed to go in a different direction once the deposition started, but everything froze as we had already tossed a metaphorical grenade on that side.
Yes, they realized quickly enough, that I couldn't have been Fohl's actual father, given that I didn't match their description of him. Apparently the guy was quite famous- how much did Melty's father hate him for that to be the case?
Given this, one of them was making a frantic phone call. "Yes... yes... there is a situation..."
Erhard and I couldn't really communicate too well given the other side was in the room, though we hadn't expected for what we said to have this kind of a bombshell.
They did their best to verify what we had given them, and when it was apparent that this was real, they said that they needed to "discuss things with their higher-ups."
Which meant that he was probably coming.
They left, leaving us all alone for what felt like eternity. I was starting to believe this had to be some sort of underhanded psychological tactic to try and break us given just how long it was all taking, but they insisted that their boss was just taking time to come in.
"Relax kiddo," Erhard said, used to this kind of stuff. "Law is more about waiting and just watching then it is about big television-like moments, you know."
For their part, Fohl and Atla were quite well behaved.
My phone vibrated, and I saw a message from Raphtalia asking how things were going.
Was school over now? Or was this just texting during lunch break? Either way, I told her that things were going very boring for now.
This almost felt like a police interrogation given how much they were making us wait!
Until finally, after what indeed felt like forever, the door opened and someone walked in.
I turned around to see that, to my surprise, I recognized who it was.
He hadn't really recognized me, at least not initially, as he stormed into the place looking like he owned it (which he very might well have) and glanced at Erhard, not sure how to judge him. Erhard had something about him that made it difficult to place him in a basket. The guy decided to ignore him and then face me, upon which he did a double-take.
"You!?" the man asked.
Ah, there was something off about things always, I felt. I had heard Melty's father's voice over the phone, but I had never heard it before. Else I'd have recognized him.
I had only seen him once, in a picture, but even that fleeting memory was engraved into my mind.
I was sure that he remembered me as well.
This guy was that woman's father.
Meaning that she and Melty were siblings.
Several puzzle pieces fell together in my mind. She had not used the last name 'Melromarc' so was she living under an alias? And I had seen this guy once before, in a photo in my law school.
Didn't recognize who it was at the time, or why he was important, but he probably was.
Something that Melty had said then came back to me.
"My parents know someone on the school board"- she had said, as if they had some big sway with the school. I was sure that now, that was indeed true.