Chapter 267: Unstable
Unstable
Tachibana’s Perspective
I was meeting with my lawyer.
“Kondo-kun was sent to a juvenile training school!? Why? You said the chances of that happening were low!”
I snapped before I could stop myself. My voice rose louder than I intended.
“Yeah, well, who would have thought he’d insist he was completely innocent, show no remorse, and keep repeating lies?”
The young lawyer’s tone sharpened, sounding almost defensive.
“Then what’s going to happen to me?”
“I don’t know. You can’t really tell until it happens.”
“How can you say something so careless!?”
I shouted again. The uncertainty of my future was eating away at me, leaving my mind unstable.
“If you hadn’t caused this incident in the first place, none of this would be happening. The irresponsible one is your past self.”
“I already know that! Fixing it is your job!”
I couldn’t hold back anymore.
“That may be true, but still…”
“Then find a way! Say I’m not responsible because of mental exhaustion or something. There must be options. I’ll probably be expelled from school, and if that happens, my record will be ruined for sure!”
My voice echoed through the room, then silence fell.
The young lawyer let out a long sigh.
“This is exactly why dealing with sheltered students is so draining.”
“What did you just say!?”
I stood up, anger flaring, but I couldn’t do anything.
“Listen to me and calm down. You really don’t understand how the world works. It’s true that some people are found not responsible because of mental illness, but that must be proven by experts. And even then, it doesn’t mean your problems are over.”
“What do you mean!?”
“Even if you’re found not guilty, do you really think you’ll walk out free?”
“Wait… you mean that’s not how it works…?”
Something inside me cracked.
“Of course not. If your crime was caused by a mental disorder, you’ll have to receive treatment first. After the not guilty verdict, you’ll be hospitalized until you recover.”
“…So that means…”
“It means that unlike a prison sentence, there’s no set end to it. You won’t know how long you’ll be confined in that hospital. It’s not easy. You need to face reality. The world doesn’t revolve around you. You have to take responsibility for what you’ve done.”
His words pierced through me, leaving only a cold, suffocating truth.
I often joke that Tachibana was going to end up in a mental hospital... it seems I'm right.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, if there was one to be diagnosed in the mental field, it's her.
DeleteI'm waiting for the moment this guy breaks like he broke our boy Eiji.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me or not,but i had a feeling that this weeks episode was about tachibana.
ReplyDeleteEpisodes are getting shorter and shorter. I guess we're nearing the end of the story and I hope we get more episodes of the main happy couple after these trails end.
ReplyDeleteWhat did I tell you? That b*tch Tachibana is going COMPLETELY CRAZY with each chapter as the story progresses. If she continues like this, she'll undoubtedly end up spending the rest of her miserable life in the asylum like the psychopath from Perfect Blue who tried to impersonate the female protagonist.
ReplyDeleteI just hope her mental breakdown is due to Eiji's success as a novelist (I hope he wins the award he was nominated for), or that Hayashi will testify against her, or even that our goddess Ichijo Ai will sadistically take it upon herself to destroy her.