The Fool's Judgement

(3) Red Handed

Sae had had a long day.

Even after all of her changes with her switch to defense attorney, the one thing that remained frustratingly stagnant was her workload. Hour after hour and day after day were spent reading, reviewing, and rereading documents, news sources and records. Sae was used to it, of course, and it did feel good to help people truly innocent, but it could be exhausting after a while. Thankfully for the woman, though, it was finally Saturday. She'd taken tomorrow off to finally enjoy some time off, maybe finish that book she'd been trying to get through.

Sae made it to her apartment door and reached to unlock it when she heard a small noise. She could make out the faintest sound of heavy breathing from the other end. She sighed to herself with a small smile. Makoto udually made it home before she, so Sae assumed her sister had been very tired.

'She probably went for a workout. I hear Ren-kun and that blonde boy he hangs out with usually go to that gym in Shibuya.' Sae reached for her keys and unlocked the door, quietly stepping inside.

"Makoto, I'm ho-" Sae stopped as she peered at the couch in the middle of their apartment. Her sister was there, yes, but so was her boyfriend. She peered at both her sister and Ren, noticing they both looked fairly disheveled, hair rough and faces red.

Sae wasn't an idiot. She knew what was happening even as Makoto practically jumped off of Ren and fixed her shirt.

"Oh, sis! Y-you're home early! Ren w-was just...showing me s-s-some new...aikido techniques?" Makoto looked horrified as she attempted to splutter out an excuse, Ren just laying on the couch as if he was afraid any movement would be his end.

"I...see. Ren-kun," she nodded to him, the teen slowly nodding his head in response. "I'll just...go take a bath." Sae excused herself as she walked over to her room. She put her bag down on her small desk and sighed.

'Can't believe this,' she thought. 'Couldn't even wait until they got to her bedroom could they.' Sae chuckled as she got ready for her bath, thinking of the odd predicament in the other room.

'Makoto's a teen. This was bound to happen. Besides, I trust Ren. They won't do too much while I'm here,' she reasoned in her head.

————————two weeks later————————

Sae opened the door slowly, peeking in to see if the two were on the couch. Thankfully, Makoto had told her this time that she was having Ren over for a study session, so the older Niijima knew to look out for the lovestruck teens as she entered her apartment.

Even though she knew her younger sister cared for her studying, she also knew Makoto was a teenager. A teenager who wasn't the 'goody two-shoes' suck up she had been a year ago. A teenager who was willing to take risks in her life.

Even if that did involve having a boy over.

But Sae trusted Makoto. And she trusted Ren. Even if the two were in the midst of their first relationship, she knew they wouldn't do anything too drastic.

'At least I hope they don't,' the lawyer thought to herself. Sae walked down the hall and noticed Makoto's door was shut, her Bichimaru plush sitting outside of the door. Sae pondered the small panda-dog's presence outside her sister's room.

'Well, that's strange...'

Sae shrugged it off and knocked on the door. When there was no response, she opened the door. This wasn't uncommon for Makoto when she was in the middle of a study session, tuning out the rest of the world as she buried her mind into her textbooks, so Sae expected nothing of it.

"Hello Makoto, how was your-" Sae stopped as, once again, she peered at the situation in front of her. Makoto and Ren were at each other again, this time with Ren atop her sister as they both sat in a slight state of undress. Makoto's face went bright red and Ren tried to look smaller, pulling his shirt back down as the older sister looked at the current predicament.

"S-SIS! CLOSE THE DOOR!" Makoto shouted in embarrassment, Sae immediately retreating as she closed the door behind her, leaving the two to return to their 'study session.' She leaned against the wall opposite the door to her sister's room, once again looking at the plushie sitting by the door.

Sae slapped her forehead as it all came together for her, kneeling down to the panda and whisper-shouting at it, her face a little red from earlier.

"Why didn't you warn me earlier?!"

————————one week later—————————

Sae peeked down the hallway after she returned home from work. She wasn't about to catch her sister and Ren going at one another for a third time, so she made sure to look at her sister's door.

Thankfully Makoto had explained everything after a very...awkward conversation. A conversation Ren conveniently decided to avoid as he ran out of the house after Sae had caught him atop her sister.

Seeing the Buchimaru plush at the door, Sae sighed and retreated to the couch, turning on some news show to try and clear her mind.

"At least she's warning me when she has him over," the older Niijima said to herself. 'He'll be going home soon anyway. She deserves to be with him as much as possible.'

Even if Sae didn't approve of the closeness of Makoto and Ren, she still knew the teens cared too much for their futures to risk anything dangerous to their young lives. Sae let out a long breath and returned to the news station she wasn't watching, pondering to herself once more.

'I really need to get out more.'