Chapter 4: Standard

Kensuke's confident and arrogant words left Masayoshi dumbfounded.

"You think you can get me acquitted? There should be limits to your joke, young man!"

Perhaps due to some level of acceptance towards Kensuke, Masayoshi didn't get too angry hearing his words, but instead offered a well-intentioned reminder.

"This case was solved by that famous detective, Kogoro Mouri. He has absolute evidence that can prove my guilt!"

"Absolute evidence? No, no, no, you've got it all wrong, Sakaguchi-san."

Kensuke's smile remained on his face.

In the dimly lit room, his smile appeared especially audacious, tinged with a hint of cunning.

"In this world, there's no such thing as absolute evidence. Even the strongest shield has its weaknesses. As long as we find a spear stronger than that shield, so-called absolute evidence will crumble on its own!"

Masayoshi's heart skipped a beat. He stared at Masayoshi's face, looking at his unabashed smile, and subconsciously swallowed hard.

"If you still don't believe me, I can show you my credentials."

Kensuke took a stack of documents from his briefcase and displayed them for Masayoshi to see.

"These are all the assessment scores I received during my training and internships at the Judicial Training Institute after passing the bar exam."

Each sheet was filled with straight A+ grades.

Masayoshi widened his eyes and took a sharp breath.

Japan's legal system was known to be highly rigorous and competitive. Generally, getting an A on these assessments was already considered exceptional, but receiving A+ grades was akin to being the top student in an elite class.

"Youngsters these days sure are scary."

Masayoshi sighed sincerely.

Combined with Kensuke's previous words and the sensitivity of a lawyer, he had a vague sense of what kind of person he was dealing with and the methods he might employ.

After careful consideration, Masayoshi finally nodded and said, "Alright, I agree to have you as my defense attorney."

Kensuke's grin grew even more audacious as he saw Masayoshi's approval, which raised the trust meter by one level, now reaching two levels.

"Very well, let's sign the contract."

He then pulled out a contract from his briefcase and handed it to Masayoshi.

The contract detailed the conversion of the public defense to a private one and the attorney fees for this particular case.

"1 million yen!" exclaimed Masayoshi when he saw the number on the paper.

"That's too expensive! Even the best lawyers in Japan would charge around 3 million for a case like this!"

"What do you think I've been talking to you for all this time?" Kensuke's lips curled slightly. "Consider yourself lucky, Sakaguchi-san. This is just my current rate as a new lawyer. When you see the prices I will charge in the future, you'll be grateful that I gave you such a good deal."

Masayoshi clenched his teeth, his face fluctuating.

While he had no problem affording one or two million yen, he felt a bit uneasy about spending it on a person that he had just met less than half an hour ago.

"Don't hesitate. With one million yen, you can avoid prison and return to a life of freedom. Even if you have to dig into your wife's secret savings from the refrigerator, it's still a better deal!"

Masayoshi chuckled. "Funny how you're using polite language now."

After a moment of contemplation, Masayoshi took the pen and signed the contract.

As Kensuke looked at the name on the contract, he grinned widely. His smile, in that moment, resembled that of a devil who had just concluded a deal.

"Of course, I only talk like this with smart people. Fools are never in the equation."

...

In the following weeks, Kensuke and Masayoshi had thorough discussions.

While this case was part of the original Conan anime, Kensuke's memory of it wasn't very clear. After all, who could remember every detail of an anime with over a thousand episodes, convoluted main and side storylines, and various standalone cases?

Kensuke only had a general outline of the story. The Conan anime consisted of numerous standalone episodes that were often forgettable, and he had little recollection of the details. Moreover, animation could only depict so much and couldn't be compared to the complexity of the real world.

Therefore, he needed to have a detailed conversation with the person involved in the case to extract all the relevant information, not missing any details.

Here's the general background of the case:

Masayoshi Sakaguchi had a son named Masato Sakaguchi, who, eight years ago, had committed suicide due to severe bullying by his classmate, Takeshi Maehara.

Masayoshi was a lawyer specializing in juvenile cases, and he had forgiven Takeshi at the time because Takeshi had shown remorse for his actions.

But eight years later, when they crossed paths again, Masayoshi discovered that Takeshi had not truly repented, but instead had become even worse. So, he used his dog, named John, whom he had trained using a combination of commands. He invited Takeshi to his home on a certain day, found the right moment, and remotely controlled the dog using a phone to make it stay on the second floor. He then led Takeshi to the second floor and pushed him down the stairs, causing him to break his neck on the wall and die.

Later, through the investigation by Kogoro Mouri (99% of work is done by Conan), they deciphered the several commands that Masayoshi had used to train the dog.

"So, this case actually lacks direct evidence," Kensuke immediately remarked after hearing Masayoshi's account. "Everything was deduced by that detective. And because he pointed out aspects regarding the dog's commands, you couldn't refute it, so you decided to confess?"

"Yes," Masayoshi nodded. "Although it's not direct evidence, the circumstantial evidence against me was strong enough, and arguing further would have been pointless."

"Sakaguchi-san, It seems you're not well-versed in the law despite being a lawyer" Kensuke resumed his acerbic remarks. That's just how he talked, by his nature, even before crossing over into this world, he is a very blunt person.

"In a judicial trial, direct evidence is the most crucial! Relying on some minor deductions at most counts as conjecture! Even if they were guessed correctly and seemingly validated, it's still circumstantial evidence. Unless all the circumstantial evidence can be logically connected without contradictions or errors, it's impossible to convict! You don't even understand this; confessing so easily truly lowers the standards for criminals!"

Masayoshi was left speechless after hearing Kensuke's harsh remark.

After a pause, Masayoshi added, "Actually, there is some direct evidence. There was an eyewitness at the scene of Takeshi's death who saw the entire incident unfold."

"Oh? Who was it?"

"A 20-year-old female college student named Sanae Sugita, who attended the same university as Takeshi," Masayoshi explained. "She was invited to my house by Takeshi that day and even left my place in a mess."

"I see," Kensuke said, propping his chin on his hand, his eyes slightly narrowed, radiating a mysterious glint.

He now knew how to win— the turning point in this trial lay with this woman, Sanae Sugita!

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