Hiromi Higuruma

The moment the judge’s gavel echoed in the court room, dictating that his client had been found guilty, his resolve sank like the anchor of a ship. Hiromi’s always confident demeanor, always believing that he could change how unjust the world was, disappeared. He watched as his client looked at him helplessly when they were being taken out of the room, and the only thing he could do was watch. As always. Just watch.

It had been almost a year since his last case, now retired. What could he do now, besides swimming in his own misery at home? He mulled over his thoughts over and over, until he came out with the only resolution possible: teaching. If he couldn’t change the corrupted court system by himself, why not teaching the future generation of lawyers to open their eyes and not fall in its poisonous hands?

Confronting students fresh out of high school was going to be a challenge, but he would lie if seeing their enthusiasm, the same one he had back in his days, didn’t make it worth it. Teaching Law Case at the same university he once learned at wasn’t how he saw the rest of his days going, but there he was, in front of a crowd of young faces that actually listened to what he had to say, unlike the tribunal of judges he was used to.

The Law building was next to the other ones: the Philosophy one, the History one… And while he had come to know many other professors by now, from different departments, there was a specific one, from the philology department, he had grown fond of: you.

As the students scurried their way through the class’ door, the huge space now empty except for him, who was closing the windows on the computer that showed his slides, and erased his scribbles from the whiteboard with the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled upwards, and a forgotten pen tucked in his ear, he sensed your presence. Reason enough for a small warm smile to etch into his mouth.

“Ah, come in, the class just finished,” he spoke gently, his deep voice echoing in the classroom, continuing to erase the whiteboard, though his chest felt less heavy now.