In front of the door to the court room, Haruka, Thanatos, Morgana, and Taro waited. "Is this really going to be alright? I mean, what if the employer fails or if they do sudden, unexpected things?" Haruka walked the hallway up and down, not noticing that the landlord who would stand in for her sake was standing right next to Thanatos. The landlord walked towards Haruka and grabbed her by her shoulders.
"Don't be afraid; I am the best employer in the whole Memento. I will bring you justice. Never forget, revenge can really be great. Especially if you get them through legally."
Haruka calmed down a little. Yes, she wanted revenge for what Hideo did to her, and yes, she knew that revenge, often likened to a double-headed snake, bore a deceptive allure. While it promised the demise of one's adversary, its second head concealed a venomous strike that could lead to one's own downfall. This was what her master told her.
But this was a normal court case, and the outcome would be something good and not bad.
"Yeah, you are right." Haruka calmed herself down after hearing what the loyer said and then backed away after noticing that the loyer's face was surprisingly near hers.
They all walked inside and waited for the judge to arrive, which he did after two minutes. Everyone stood up and paid respect to the judge. The judge gave a sign for everyone to sit down.
Haruka looked around and saw only a few people; the only people who were present were the judge himself. The loyers of both sides, Hideo, she, and the others.
"Today we came here to judge the case of Hideo Shinigami. The attorney for Haruka may speak first." The judge spoke first, and Haruka was surprised that her name was even mentioned. In her memory, the plan was to make it a secret that she and Taro got turned into grim reapers.
"If the judge knows what happened to you, we'll have it a lot easier. It will, of course, still be kept secret from the general public that you and Taro have been turned into grim reapers." Thanatos explained this to her when he saw her questionable look.
"I want to begin with the woman who provided us with the needed information for this case, Helene Gravestone." All the people in the courtroom looked at the woman who entered the courtroom with dignity.
Helene walked to the place where the witnesses were to gather.
"By the time I spoke to him, he had already admitted everything; he confessed that he turned young Haruka into a Grim Reaper and that he just wanted to await his punishment." The judge and all the others who were in the judgment hall looked at Hideo, who had wounds scattered all across his body, and these wounds were obvious to have come from a whip and not the fight with Thanatos and Morgana.
"Lady Helene, you know that torture is forbidden by lore. Do you." The judge looked the woman in the eyes. Trying to scare her. Which was a complete failure.
"I don't know what you mean by torture. He tried to escape and hurt me. I just defended myself and asked him a few questions, and he was kind enough to answer." Helene showed a smile that showed every single person in this room not to dig deeper into this. Not even the judge himself.
'Everything that matters in the end is power.'
Good, then let's continue." The judge decided to put his own safety first and continued, and so began the battle between loyer and loyer. The attorney for Hideo tried his best to defend Hideo and ease his punishment, but all the people turned against him. The evidence was all against him, and Hideo also did not make a single gesture of denying what he did. His attorney accepted his fate and gave up.
"I will now announce the verdict. Hideo Shinigami will atone for his actions in prison. The term of imprisonment is 2100 years. If he behaves in any way strangely during this time, his right as successor to the Shinigami clan will be permanently revoked and transferred to his younger brother, and at the same time he will be banished to Esangro. The court is finished."
The judge slammed his hammer on a stone plate. The stoneplate began to levitate into midair, and the judgment got written on it as if he were a magician.
Everyone left the courtroom, and everybody got home. With the exception of Hideo, who got sent straight to prison.
Three hours later, Thanatos, Morgana, Haruka, Helene, Areus, Camilla, and Taro were sitting at the table eating lunch.
But Haruka somehow noticed a stare at her; she looked around and saw Camilla staring at her. She asked herself if she had done something wrong or if her table manners were considered rude by the grim reapers.
Camilla often ate with everyone; Areus and especially Helene saw her as more than a maid. She was Thanato's childhood friend and was often by his side, helping him when the two of them didn't even notice that something bothered him. In 180 years, many things happen, even for a grim reaper whose life is long.
Helene noticed this and wanted to ease Haruka's mood and distract Camilla from Haruka. "What brother, you child?"
"Well, I have a few questions. I know that we are eating, so don't bother. I will ask someone later on." Haruka wanted to be honest, even if she thought what she said was rude. When she was younger and her mother still looked for her, she always said that while eating, you don't talk and especially don't ask questions. She was at first uncomfortable with Camilla's stare, but she used the chance to say what had been on her mind for some time.
"Oh, don't mind, and ask whatever you want." All the attention shifted to Haruka, which was weird at first, but she still grinned at her courage and asked one of the questions she asked herself.
"What is Esangro? Since Hideo got his verdict, I am asking myself this question."
"Then say to me, child, what do you think it could be?" Helene rested her head in her hand and smiled at her. The smile was beautiful enough to make every single man fall in love with her.
"Let me think; it is something that happens when he behaves badly in jail, and for many beings, going to jail is already a hard judgment. If it can be used as a threat to make you behave well in prison, it must be a cruel place where no sane person would willingly go."
Helene began to chuckle when she heard that and looked at her husband. "You are right now, and people that are sane in their heads would want to go there." Helene said nothing and lost herself in the eyes of her beloved husband.
Thanatos noticed that she was in a state where she wouldn't give an answer, continued, and gave her an explanation.
"Esangro is a place in Memento that humans would consider hell on earth. It's a place where you go one step and your skin melts; another step in the next direction and your body freezes to death. If you eat, you get poisoned, and if you eat, you get healed from it. Your attacks heal your opponent, and your healing techniques harm you. A cut heals your wounds, and water gets extinguished by fire."
Haruka looked in disbelief. Nothing Thanatos said made sense; the things he said were completely random.
"His explanation is not wrong. You should be aware that this is written in our schoolbooks. Esangro is a place that defines logic. It is a place only my husband entered and came back alive."
Haruka looked at Areus after hearing this. She hoped that she would get from him an explanation she could understand.
"Explaining this place is something I can't do; I went there three times, and each time it was different. The random things got rearranged, and other random things happened. Everyone, including you and me, must simply accept. It is a place that devises logic, and if this Hideo gets there, the chances that he comes back are zero. The thing that never changed all three times was that it was always dangerous and that I died nearly every time."
Haruka felt as if she were dumping; how could something like this exist? She already watched movies with plots she used 200 percent of her brain to understand or books where she had to reread everything five times until she got how this thing happened and led to this. But in the end, she always got what they meant, even if it took time. But this was something different.
"Then why did you go there three times when it is this dangerous?"
"Well, you just have to know that I had my reasons for it." He looked at his wife with a smile. Haruka had no idea how crazy the people of this clan were when it came to love.
"Do you have anymore questions?" Helene asked.
"Eh, no, I don't have any; don't mind me and keep eating." Haruka responded that she thought that whatever she asked now were things for which she wouldn't have a single clue what they meant.
"Fine, if you go to grim school, you will find an answer to your questions while studying." When Haruka heard the words Morgana said, she decided that she would gladly drown herself in her studies when that meant that she would get answers she could understand.