While we were waiting, Erhard bought himself a milkshake to my surprise, and ten minutes later the two walked in.
Both of them had come in neatly dressed, and I got the aura of two tigers entering in when they entered.
I waved them over.
"Sorry we were late," Fohl said.
"Nah, the two of us were just really early," I replied. "You two didn't have any problem coming here, did you?"
"No," Fohl said. There were some slight bags under his eyes, I guessed that Atla had kept him up all night with all the noise she was making.
"Hello, Naofumi, did you get my voicemail?" Atla asked.
"I did, but given that it was over forty minutes long I didn't hear it," I said.
"No problem, I'm sure we'll have lots of time together today!" Atla said.
Erhard chuckled. "You have quite the fan there."
"This isn't funny."
"It is if it's not happening to you," Erhard said.
"But it is happening to me," I said.
"And that's why it's funny," Erhard said. "Now, onto business - you know what the game plan is? Fohl, you have the story straight?"
Fohl nodded.
"Right, so things are going to be simple enough," Erhard said. "So long as you agree to say that Naofumi is your fat- legal guardian, don't give me that look kiddo, legal guardian, we can take things from there. Hopefully. But the other side's going to throw a fit regardless."
"You kids had breakfast?" I asked.
Fohl and Atla shook their heads - and despite offering them three times to get something, they both declined, though finally Atla did agree to take a slice of toast.
"You definitely don't want to go in there on an empty stomach," I told them.
"What are you, my mom?" Fohl retorted.
"Actually he's your only legal guardian, making him both your mother and father," Erhard said, smirking.
The two of us glared at him, but did not add on anything else to include him in the conversation.
"I mean to say that you're going to get hungry when you're up against them," I said to Fohl instead, completely ignoring Erhard, who snorted slightly upon seeing such.
"I think I'll honestly just throw up if it comes to that," he told me.
"Alright, whatever," I said.
We went over the whole game plan one more time before we decided to finally head out.
The building was massive, like, this was the sort of place graduates from my law school could only dream about entering after graduating.
In case you're wondering, no, these people wouldn't even give a second glance at our resumes if we were to send them in. Might as well just send them into the shredder, or rather, into the Recycle Bin now given that it was the digital age.
Nope, only the top students could even apply to come to this sort of place.
It was less of a law firm and more of a five star hotel.
"Yeesh," Erhard said. It was clear that even him, who had gotten into one of the top firms that someone from our law school could get into, was impressed.
We went up to the reception and I introduced ourselves.
"Come right this way, to the seventeenth floor, three doors to the left," the receptionist said.
I wasn't sure how things would go down.
I mean, we were on 'enemy territory' so to speak, though no one was overtly cold to us.
As it was, it seemed that no one really had time for us.
Everyone was moving around like worker drones in a hive, with the only people sparing us a second glance being to look at Fohl and Atla, who no doubt stood out in this 'grown person' world. They looked even more lost than I did, which is why I knew that I of all people couldn't lose my cool. However, as they were behaving, no one said anything.
My eyes flashed towards the big names in front- I recognized Melty's last name 'Melromarc' - looks like we really were somewhere that was associated with her. And why this whole issue had been brought up in the first place.
Come to think of it, that meant that Atla and Fohl were related somehow to Melty. And now I had adopted Fohl. Did that mean that I could boss Melty around as her uncle? It was worth enough trying just to see that look on her face.
Heh, people called her 'Hime-sama' but this unironically looked like a palace.
We went up the elevator - it had been so long since I had actually run into an elevator operator I was actually thrown for a spin when she asked us which floor.
"Seventeen," I answered.
We got off on that floor, the elevator's movement as smooth as one would expect from an establishment like this.
Third room to the right... it was a conference room with cameras and the like setup for the disposition.
"Oh, there's no like... judge here?" Fohl whispered.
"Nah, it's a deposition, just two sides with a mediator along with them' Erhard said. "You'll probably never even see the inside of a courtroom. At least, if you're lucky."
"Have you been in a real courtroom before?" I asked Erhard. I knew that most newbies would spend years working in an office and not even see the inside of a courtroom until some time.
"Well, not as an official attorney on either side," Erhard admitted. Right, he had quit after two weeks.
The room was empty, then again, we were rather early, and we took our seats.
I tapped my foot impatiently as I waited for things to begin.
"Wow, look at all those things down there!" Atla said.
Despite herself, she couldn't help but turn towards the window.
The view from here was incredible- I was sure that the owner of this establishment would have an even better view than we did. And at night, when the lights would all be turned on, it must've been quite scenic.
Without a doubt this was the kind of place that most law school students would kill to work at.
Even as we were admiring the view, which even Erhard had to begrudgingly look out at in admiration, the door gently opened and I turned my head to see the other side walk in.