THE GREAT WAR

i.

ACT 1 — SCENE 1
' Little Red Riding Hood '

     DESPITE HER SEEMINGLY SEMPITERNAL ENTHUSIASM, Riko Asano harbored a lot of irritation for just about anything. But, despite its negative connotation, her short temper is perhaps one of her strongest traits—after all, it's what made her pursue the field of law regardless of its dangers and her family's lack of faith in her capabilities, helping several victims continue on with their lives all while bettering her own.

     Upon feeling absolutely vexed when she discovered the existence of those who intentionally harm others just for their own entertainment at a rather young age and bothered by the nonchalance of those around her towards these cases of injustice, she spent a ridiculous amount of time behind her thick, hardcover books and persevered through several breakdowns to give them a taste of their own medicine. Most call it self-righteousness, sometimes even hypocrisy, given that she did have a fortunate upbringing and would never know what it feels like to have the entire world against her. Yet, quite frankly, Riko could care less about violence, even viewing it as a necessity between individuals who have committed equally wrongful acts against each other, and only among them.

     So when she had been forced to take on a case wherein she'd have to defend a public figure charged with sexual assault, her purposefully losing should no longer come as a surprise to her colleagues and superiors. Or to anyone, really. Riko's sure she had already shown her resentment towards the client himself from the very beginning.

     But once she had exited the courtroom, she was pulled to the side by a fuming senior lawyer determined to burn her ear off. "What the hell were you thinking? You do know that he's—"

     "A very close friend of the director, yes I'm very much aware." Riko sighs and crosses her arms. "I'm also fully prepared to face the consequences of my actions."

     "The director surely won't fire you, not with your skills, but your client is a very influential person! He can easily pull some strings and get himself out of there!"

     "Even if he does, he'll still face humiliation. He may be popular but he is convicted."

     "And what if he sends someone to harm you? Or even kill you? What if he takes your life as compensation for the life sentence you allowed him to have?"

     She grins. "That's part of the job though, isn't it? Taking risks? Facing danger? Ah, you of all people should know that, senpai."

     "Well then," Riko takes her lack of response as her cue to leave. She starts walking off mid-sentence, her car keys jingling as she waves goodbye without even looking back. "I'll be off now, see you around!"

     The warm rays of the afternoon sun hit her skin as she drove along the ever-so-busy roads of Tokyo, humming the tune of some R&B song with the roof of her car down. The stoplight turns red, and she leans back in her seat with her fingers drumming the steering wheel. She takes in the sight in front of her while she waits—Shibuya crossing, with all sorts of people living their own lives, perhaps even harder than her own. The realization that in the grand scheme of things, she's nothing more than a part of a crowd, makes her feel a bit better about herself. The bitter taste that came with experiencing her first-ever loss started dissipating, and her regrets of endangering her life for someone else finally disappeared completely.

     Underneath her previous casual disposition had actually been fear, momentarily tossed aside by her morals and perhaps a bit of altruism. She didn't know the young girl enough to protect her at the expense of her own safety and reputation yet she did it anyway, her desire to uphold justice and empathy towards the mistreated overpowering her other concerns. Still, that didn't mean that she wasn't bothered by the blood-chilling glare and several death threats given to her by her client before being pulled away, nor by the disappointed remarks shared by those that stood behind her. By the end of the trial, she felt hot all over, her hands even trembling inside the pocket of her cream slacks. It even took everything in her to force a smile at the young girl who she protected at the expense of her own safety and reputation, and even more to face her senior.