Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Chapter 4
Title: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Chapter 4
Pairing: Kato Shigeaki/Nishikido Ryo
Rating: Eventually NC-17, I'd say about PG-13 for now
Warnings: Ryo's mouth and sexual harassment
Disclaimer: Don't own them
Summary: Nishikido Ryo, talent manager and song writer, is being sued for sexual harassment. He takes his case to the Johnny & Associates law firm where he meets defense attorney Kato Shigeaki, whom he finds incredibly fun to tease.
A/N: Huge thanks to my friend L who ran through this and told me to stop being vague-y mc-vague pants and use new words. The last chapter should hopefully be up by the end of the week, unless I get really busy with my school stuff. I make no promises though, but it shouldn't be much later than that either way.
A/N2: I'm totally fine with constructive criticism, even if it might seem harsh, that's how you grow as a writer after all.
Shige adjusted his tie and smoothed out his suit, taking deep calming breaths as he stared at the stained wood of the door. He would have preferred to have more time before having to face Nishikido again, but had had a job to do, and he’d be damned if he did it anything less than spectacularly. Squaring his shoulders and standing up to his fullest height, he determinedly pushed the door open and entered his office. His gut twisted nervously as he watched Nishikido rise from his chair and turn on him with a glare. He swallowed nervously but forced himself to return the expression as the petite man marched up to him. Shige closed the door with a definite click before propping his hands on his hips.
“Alright, let’s get this over with then.”
Nishikido continued to glare at him, the silence stretching on like a hot summer night. The minutes seemed like eternity before Nishikido made him move, stomping up to Shige and grabbing his tie, pulling his face level with his own to look directly into his eyes. The glare softened just a fraction before angry lips pressed roughly against Shige’s unexpected ones. It lasted barely a second before Nishikido pulled away and let go of his tie to punch him firmly on the shoulder.
“I’m not some sixteen year old kid who can only think with his dick, Kato-san. I can keep myself from giving in to the urge to touch you, even if I’d rather not. There was no need to run away like some scared school girl, we are both adults and are able to talk like we are. Now stop gaping like a fish and tell me how you’re going to save my ass.”
Shige cleared his throat, unable to help but smile slightly as he made his way around his desk to take his own seat. He waited for Nishikido to reclaim his position opposite him before beginning to talk.
“We have a meeting with the plaintiff tomorrow to see if we can’t settle this before it goes to court. You’re required to be present, dress appropriately; we’ll be meeting in the small conference room on the first floor. We’re going to try to avoid relying on Yamashita-san’s willingness to speak for you if we can; we don’t want to pull him into this if we don’t have to since he’s the boss of both you and the plaintiff’s. That’s not to say that we won’t fall back on that if need be, I’ve heard that the lawyer for the plaintiff’s is highly skilled.” Shige paused to allow everything to sink in, “If all goes well we can get them to drop the charges; if not we should have a court date set by the end of the week.”
Nishikido sighed, slumping down in his seat and running a hand through his hair, “What are the chances that we won’t have to go to court?”
Shige’s eyes widened slightly at the sight before him. In all their meetings he had never seen Nishikido display anything other than cocky arrogance, not once. Now, being able to see that he was indeed worried about his situation, Shige could feel himself falling for Nishikido a little bit more.
“That will depend on how good the other lawyer is. I think we can talk our way out of this, but since you seem to be generally perceived as a lecher it might be a bit difficult.”
Nishikido snorted, “I don’t think you can lose if it comes to talking; you’re smart, Kato, and you talk a lot.”
Shige glared playfully, a slight smirk adorning his lips, “How kind of you, Nishikido-san, but do try to address me formally tomorrow. It won’t help your case any to come off as a pompous asshole.”
Nishikido’s laughter filled the room. He hadn’t expected this when he had gotten dressed that morning, but Shige was beginning to feel a lot easier about how smoothly the rest of the case would go. Now if only his heart would stop pounding so wildly, and if Nishikido’s smile wouldn’t make his insides melt.
******
“The defendant has a number of fellow co-workers that deny ever witnessing any acts of sexual harassment against the plaintiff’s, nor have they ever heard any lewd comments from the defendant.” Shige stated. He couldn’t decide what the most annoying part of this meeting was; the haughty over-stuffed, and over-priced, prosecutor that sat across the wooden table from him, or the overly made-up woman trying too hard to produce fake tears to the chubby man’s left. “You lack proof of any of your accusations.”
“I know someone has to have overheard Nishikido- san around the water cooler, talking about how he wanted to fondle my breasts”
Shige tried to suppress a grimace. Ever since she had first walked into the conference room, her high-pitched voice was grating on his nerves more and more every time she opened her mouth.
“Bullshit,” Nishikido shot out, sitting up straighter in his chair beside Shige, “Even Pi has bigger boobs than you do; why would I even want to bother with yours.”
Shige pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stave off the forming headache, “Nishikido-san, please control your outbursts. I realize that you are upset about being falsely accused, but please don’t speak out of turn.”
“You have a drunken pop star as a witness; how do you expect to defend your client against the much more credible witnesses my client has produced, Kato-san?”
Shige grit his teeth in frustration at the mocking tone of the prosecutor. What he wouldn’t give to be the one to knock the man down a peg.
“She’s not my type,” Nishikido cut in.
The prosecutor laughed, “The fact that my client isn’t your idea of the perfect woman is hardly a good defense, Nishikido-san. It doesn’t mean that you don’t find her appealing on some level.”
“Considering my ‘ideal woman,’ as you put it, has a penis, I really think it does.”
The look of shocked disgust on the man’s face felt oddly satisfying, in Shige’s opinion.
“So you see, my client couldn’t possibly have harassed your Nakamura-san sexually if he feels no sexual attraction to women.” Shige stated, smirking triumphantly.
“Prove that you’re homosexual!” The prosecutor demanded angrily.
“How? I’m certainly not going to kiss you,” Nishikido shot back, face contorting with disgust, “And kissing Kato-san would be horribly unprofessional, don’t you think; even if he is more attractive than you are.”
“Nishikido-san,” Shige sighed exasperatedly.
“If you’d really like a show, then I suppose we could always call someone else in, I guess.” He continued on, ignoring Shige’s protest.
“What I mean is,” the men bit out, “are there any past or current, partners that we could talk to?”
“Pi’s already agreed to be one of my witnesses, so I don’t think that he’d have a problem with that.”
Shige tensed at the mention of Yamashita. He had assumed that Nishikido was single, with the way he had been chasing him. It had never occurred to him that he might actually be in a relationship at all, let alone with someone so close to the situation here. His stomach twisted painfully with the knowledge; even if he weren’t representing him, Shige never had a chance with Nishikido after all.
“Are you claiming to have, at any point in time, had a sexual relationship with Yamashita-san?” It was tough to tell if the prosecutor was more shocked than the woman sitting silently beside him.
“Yes, I am.”
Shige’s heart wretched at the confirmation coming straight from Nishikido’s lips. His eyes hardened into a glare at the thought of those sinful lips. At the memory of what they had felt like pressed against his own lips; of Nishikido’s body pressed against his front and his back cushioned by the smooth leather of that sofa. Had Nishikido had sex with Yamashita on that very same couch? Did he lure Yamashita into that false sense of security with the pretense of watching a movie, or had Yamashita willingly allowed the affections’?
“Well then,” Shige was drawn from his thoughts by the huffy voice, “We’ll be looking into this matter thoroughly.”
“Why don’t we just call him now, and save us all some time?” Nishikido suggested, pulling his phone out and handing it to the haughty man, “Speed dial number two.”
The prosecutor reached out and took the phone, hitting the button for number two and setting it to speaker phone as it dialed.
“This is very informal. It goes against everything that I would normally do.” He snipped as they listened to the ringing.
“Ryo-chan,” Yamashita’s voice questioned through the receiver, “Shouldn’t you be in a meeting with Kato-san right now?”
“Yamashita-san. My name is Yanagi; I’m Nakamura-san’s lawyer. We would like to verify some information that Nishikido-san has given us.”
“Do I need to come down there?”
“Can you?” Yanagi perked up, “It would be much more suitable than speaking over the phone.”
“I need to finish up a few things here first, but I can be there in a half hour, if that’s alright?” Yamashita responded.
“Splendid! Thank you for your cooperation, Yamashita-san.”
“Of course, if you’ll excuse me now.”
“Yes, of course.” Yanagi hung up the phone and handed it back to Nishikido, “Shall we have a recess until Yamashita-san gets here?”
Shige offered a strained smile, “Yes, why don’t we?”
He continued to hold the fake smile as Yanagi led Nakamura from the room. Once the door clicked closed behind them he turned to glare coldly at Nishikido.
“Have you really had sex with Yamashita-san, because lying right now will only hurt your case?”
“I didn’t lie, so don’t worry about it.”
“Why am I just hearing about this now? You should have told me earlier!”
“What difference does it make? You know now,” Nishikido shrugged indifferently.
“It makes a huge difference! This changes the whole case; we could have ended all of this weeks ago!” Shige hissed.
“Quit whining like a little bitch, you never asked either, did you?”
“I’m supposed to magically know to ask, ‘oh, by the way, you don’t have sex with your boss, do you? Because not liking women will kind of put a kink in the plaintiff’s case,’ am I?”
“I think I made my preferences perfectly clear,” Nishikido shot back, “If my not so subtle way of hitting on you wasn’t enough evidence of my sexuality for you, then I think it should have been a dead giveaway when I had my tongue down your throat!”
Shige ground his teeth together as he clenched and unclenched his fists. He had never wanted to hit someone more than he wanted to punch Nishikido in his pretty face right at that moment.
“And I’m just supposed to assume that you aren’t merely a fickle, horny bastard that would have sex with anything that’s breathing, hmm?”
“Having a little faith in me doesn’t seem that unfair to expect.”
“You’ve yet to give me any reason why I should have faith in you.” Shige spoke lowly, standing from his chair.
With a glance at his wristwatch he stalked towards the door, “I’m getting some coffee; the caffeine might counter the migraine that I can feel forming. You can wait in my office until we have to be back here; I’ll be back in ten minutes to finish this meeting. You shouldn’t worry about it too much; there’s no basis for the plaintiff’s case, since you’ve got your relationship with Yamashita-san to clear your name.”
Shige stormed down the hall, nearly tearing the door to the break room off its hinges when he slammed it open. It was bad enough for him to tolerate Nishikido’s advances, and even worse for him to like and respond to them, but Shige would not condone infidelity; and he certainly wasn’t going to fool around with a man who’s already taken.
He snatched the coffee pot from its warmer, filled one of the Styrofoam cups with the warm, dark liquid, and slammed the pot back in place. Growling, he inhaled the soothing scent of the hot coffee before taking a gulp of it. Shige cursed as it scolded his tongue. Sitting down at the small square table in the center of the room, he allowed his shoulders to slump, and his head to hang, a long suffering sigh escaping his lips. He shouldn’t even be angry; he had no business falling for Nishikido in the first place. Besides that, just because Nishikido was an unfaithful bastard who had to hit on anything that moved, it didn’t mean that Shige had to accept his advances. He groaned as he cautiously sipped his coffee; clearly he had terrible taste in men. Checking his watch, he downed the rest of his cup and headed back to the meeting room. At least the case would be over now, and he wouldn’t have to fight the temptation of desire.
When he walked back into the conference room, significantly calmer than he had left it, he found that he was the last one to return. Even Yamashita was already seated beside Nishikido.
He bowed politely, “I’m sorry to have kept you all waiting.”
Shige carefully avoided Nishikido’s gaze as he reclaimed his spot on the other side of him. Yanagi wasted no time in getting down to business.
“Yamashita-san, Nishikido-san claims that he couldn’t have sexually harassed Nakamura-san because he’s homosexual, and he claims that he has had sexual relations with you. Can you verify any of this.”
“That’s true,” Yamashita replied, “I’ve honestly been wondering about this case, considering Nishikido-san has no interest in women.”
“You’re positive of this?”
“No offence, but I do think that I’d know who I’ve had sex with, Yanagi-san.”
Yanagi turned to look at Nakamura. Her shoulders sagged and her face clearly displayed her displeasure with the turn of events. She pouted and rose to her feet, sniffing disdainfully.
“I’m dropping the charges. Who would want to be groped by you anyway?”
As she stormed out of the room, Yanagi stood and bowed slightly, “Excuse me.”
Nishikido smirked at Shige, “told you I was innocent.”
Shige carefully schooled his features into a professional mask of cold detachment, “Congratulations Nishikido-san. It seems you’re cleared of all charges. I will finish up the paperwork for your case and have it mailed to you to sign,” He bowed stiffly, “If you’ll excuse me.”
“Shige!” Nishikido moved to grab his wrist.
Shige quickly snatched his arm away, “Please address me properly, Nishikido-san. We have nothing more to discuss and I have work to do. Have a good day; you as well Yamashita-san.”
With that Shige left the room, feeling like his heart lay shattered across the floor.
Pairing: Kato Shigeaki/Nishikido Ryo
Rating: Eventually NC-17, I'd say about PG-13 for now
Warnings: Ryo's mouth and sexual harassment
Disclaimer: Don't own them
Summary: Nishikido Ryo, talent manager and song writer, is being sued for sexual harassment. He takes his case to the Johnny & Associates law firm where he meets defense attorney Kato Shigeaki, whom he finds incredibly fun to tease.
A/N: Huge thanks to my friend L who ran through this and told me to stop being vague-y mc-vague pants and use new words. The last chapter should hopefully be up by the end of the week, unless I get really busy with my school stuff. I make no promises though, but it shouldn't be much later than that either way.
A/N2: I'm totally fine with constructive criticism, even if it might seem harsh, that's how you grow as a writer after all.
Shige adjusted his tie and smoothed out his suit, taking deep calming breaths as he stared at the stained wood of the door. He would have preferred to have more time before having to face Nishikido again, but had had a job to do, and he’d be damned if he did it anything less than spectacularly. Squaring his shoulders and standing up to his fullest height, he determinedly pushed the door open and entered his office. His gut twisted nervously as he watched Nishikido rise from his chair and turn on him with a glare. He swallowed nervously but forced himself to return the expression as the petite man marched up to him. Shige closed the door with a definite click before propping his hands on his hips.
“Alright, let’s get this over with then.”
Nishikido continued to glare at him, the silence stretching on like a hot summer night. The minutes seemed like eternity before Nishikido made him move, stomping up to Shige and grabbing his tie, pulling his face level with his own to look directly into his eyes. The glare softened just a fraction before angry lips pressed roughly against Shige’s unexpected ones. It lasted barely a second before Nishikido pulled away and let go of his tie to punch him firmly on the shoulder.
“I’m not some sixteen year old kid who can only think with his dick, Kato-san. I can keep myself from giving in to the urge to touch you, even if I’d rather not. There was no need to run away like some scared school girl, we are both adults and are able to talk like we are. Now stop gaping like a fish and tell me how you’re going to save my ass.”
Shige cleared his throat, unable to help but smile slightly as he made his way around his desk to take his own seat. He waited for Nishikido to reclaim his position opposite him before beginning to talk.
“We have a meeting with the plaintiff tomorrow to see if we can’t settle this before it goes to court. You’re required to be present, dress appropriately; we’ll be meeting in the small conference room on the first floor. We’re going to try to avoid relying on Yamashita-san’s willingness to speak for you if we can; we don’t want to pull him into this if we don’t have to since he’s the boss of both you and the plaintiff’s. That’s not to say that we won’t fall back on that if need be, I’ve heard that the lawyer for the plaintiff’s is highly skilled.” Shige paused to allow everything to sink in, “If all goes well we can get them to drop the charges; if not we should have a court date set by the end of the week.”
Nishikido sighed, slumping down in his seat and running a hand through his hair, “What are the chances that we won’t have to go to court?”
Shige’s eyes widened slightly at the sight before him. In all their meetings he had never seen Nishikido display anything other than cocky arrogance, not once. Now, being able to see that he was indeed worried about his situation, Shige could feel himself falling for Nishikido a little bit more.
“That will depend on how good the other lawyer is. I think we can talk our way out of this, but since you seem to be generally perceived as a lecher it might be a bit difficult.”
Nishikido snorted, “I don’t think you can lose if it comes to talking; you’re smart, Kato, and you talk a lot.”
Shige glared playfully, a slight smirk adorning his lips, “How kind of you, Nishikido-san, but do try to address me formally tomorrow. It won’t help your case any to come off as a pompous asshole.”
Nishikido’s laughter filled the room. He hadn’t expected this when he had gotten dressed that morning, but Shige was beginning to feel a lot easier about how smoothly the rest of the case would go. Now if only his heart would stop pounding so wildly, and if Nishikido’s smile wouldn’t make his insides melt.
******
“The defendant has a number of fellow co-workers that deny ever witnessing any acts of sexual harassment against the plaintiff’s, nor have they ever heard any lewd comments from the defendant.” Shige stated. He couldn’t decide what the most annoying part of this meeting was; the haughty over-stuffed, and over-priced, prosecutor that sat across the wooden table from him, or the overly made-up woman trying too hard to produce fake tears to the chubby man’s left. “You lack proof of any of your accusations.”
“I know someone has to have overheard Nishikido- san around the water cooler, talking about how he wanted to fondle my breasts”
Shige tried to suppress a grimace. Ever since she had first walked into the conference room, her high-pitched voice was grating on his nerves more and more every time she opened her mouth.
“Bullshit,” Nishikido shot out, sitting up straighter in his chair beside Shige, “Even Pi has bigger boobs than you do; why would I even want to bother with yours.”
Shige pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stave off the forming headache, “Nishikido-san, please control your outbursts. I realize that you are upset about being falsely accused, but please don’t speak out of turn.”
“You have a drunken pop star as a witness; how do you expect to defend your client against the much more credible witnesses my client has produced, Kato-san?”
Shige grit his teeth in frustration at the mocking tone of the prosecutor. What he wouldn’t give to be the one to knock the man down a peg.
“She’s not my type,” Nishikido cut in.
The prosecutor laughed, “The fact that my client isn’t your idea of the perfect woman is hardly a good defense, Nishikido-san. It doesn’t mean that you don’t find her appealing on some level.”
“Considering my ‘ideal woman,’ as you put it, has a penis, I really think it does.”
The look of shocked disgust on the man’s face felt oddly satisfying, in Shige’s opinion.
“So you see, my client couldn’t possibly have harassed your Nakamura-san sexually if he feels no sexual attraction to women.” Shige stated, smirking triumphantly.
“Prove that you’re homosexual!” The prosecutor demanded angrily.
“How? I’m certainly not going to kiss you,” Nishikido shot back, face contorting with disgust, “And kissing Kato-san would be horribly unprofessional, don’t you think; even if he is more attractive than you are.”
“Nishikido-san,” Shige sighed exasperatedly.
“If you’d really like a show, then I suppose we could always call someone else in, I guess.” He continued on, ignoring Shige’s protest.
“What I mean is,” the men bit out, “are there any past or current, partners that we could talk to?”
“Pi’s already agreed to be one of my witnesses, so I don’t think that he’d have a problem with that.”
Shige tensed at the mention of Yamashita. He had assumed that Nishikido was single, with the way he had been chasing him. It had never occurred to him that he might actually be in a relationship at all, let alone with someone so close to the situation here. His stomach twisted painfully with the knowledge; even if he weren’t representing him, Shige never had a chance with Nishikido after all.
“Are you claiming to have, at any point in time, had a sexual relationship with Yamashita-san?” It was tough to tell if the prosecutor was more shocked than the woman sitting silently beside him.
“Yes, I am.”
Shige’s heart wretched at the confirmation coming straight from Nishikido’s lips. His eyes hardened into a glare at the thought of those sinful lips. At the memory of what they had felt like pressed against his own lips; of Nishikido’s body pressed against his front and his back cushioned by the smooth leather of that sofa. Had Nishikido had sex with Yamashita on that very same couch? Did he lure Yamashita into that false sense of security with the pretense of watching a movie, or had Yamashita willingly allowed the affections’?
“Well then,” Shige was drawn from his thoughts by the huffy voice, “We’ll be looking into this matter thoroughly.”
“Why don’t we just call him now, and save us all some time?” Nishikido suggested, pulling his phone out and handing it to the haughty man, “Speed dial number two.”
The prosecutor reached out and took the phone, hitting the button for number two and setting it to speaker phone as it dialed.
“This is very informal. It goes against everything that I would normally do.” He snipped as they listened to the ringing.
“Ryo-chan,” Yamashita’s voice questioned through the receiver, “Shouldn’t you be in a meeting with Kato-san right now?”
“Yamashita-san. My name is Yanagi; I’m Nakamura-san’s lawyer. We would like to verify some information that Nishikido-san has given us.”
“Do I need to come down there?”
“Can you?” Yanagi perked up, “It would be much more suitable than speaking over the phone.”
“I need to finish up a few things here first, but I can be there in a half hour, if that’s alright?” Yamashita responded.
“Splendid! Thank you for your cooperation, Yamashita-san.”
“Of course, if you’ll excuse me now.”
“Yes, of course.” Yanagi hung up the phone and handed it back to Nishikido, “Shall we have a recess until Yamashita-san gets here?”
Shige offered a strained smile, “Yes, why don’t we?”
He continued to hold the fake smile as Yanagi led Nakamura from the room. Once the door clicked closed behind them he turned to glare coldly at Nishikido.
“Have you really had sex with Yamashita-san, because lying right now will only hurt your case?”
“I didn’t lie, so don’t worry about it.”
“Why am I just hearing about this now? You should have told me earlier!”
“What difference does it make? You know now,” Nishikido shrugged indifferently.
“It makes a huge difference! This changes the whole case; we could have ended all of this weeks ago!” Shige hissed.
“Quit whining like a little bitch, you never asked either, did you?”
“I’m supposed to magically know to ask, ‘oh, by the way, you don’t have sex with your boss, do you? Because not liking women will kind of put a kink in the plaintiff’s case,’ am I?”
“I think I made my preferences perfectly clear,” Nishikido shot back, “If my not so subtle way of hitting on you wasn’t enough evidence of my sexuality for you, then I think it should have been a dead giveaway when I had my tongue down your throat!”
Shige ground his teeth together as he clenched and unclenched his fists. He had never wanted to hit someone more than he wanted to punch Nishikido in his pretty face right at that moment.
“And I’m just supposed to assume that you aren’t merely a fickle, horny bastard that would have sex with anything that’s breathing, hmm?”
“Having a little faith in me doesn’t seem that unfair to expect.”
“You’ve yet to give me any reason why I should have faith in you.” Shige spoke lowly, standing from his chair.
With a glance at his wristwatch he stalked towards the door, “I’m getting some coffee; the caffeine might counter the migraine that I can feel forming. You can wait in my office until we have to be back here; I’ll be back in ten minutes to finish this meeting. You shouldn’t worry about it too much; there’s no basis for the plaintiff’s case, since you’ve got your relationship with Yamashita-san to clear your name.”
Shige stormed down the hall, nearly tearing the door to the break room off its hinges when he slammed it open. It was bad enough for him to tolerate Nishikido’s advances, and even worse for him to like and respond to them, but Shige would not condone infidelity; and he certainly wasn’t going to fool around with a man who’s already taken.
He snatched the coffee pot from its warmer, filled one of the Styrofoam cups with the warm, dark liquid, and slammed the pot back in place. Growling, he inhaled the soothing scent of the hot coffee before taking a gulp of it. Shige cursed as it scolded his tongue. Sitting down at the small square table in the center of the room, he allowed his shoulders to slump, and his head to hang, a long suffering sigh escaping his lips. He shouldn’t even be angry; he had no business falling for Nishikido in the first place. Besides that, just because Nishikido was an unfaithful bastard who had to hit on anything that moved, it didn’t mean that Shige had to accept his advances. He groaned as he cautiously sipped his coffee; clearly he had terrible taste in men. Checking his watch, he downed the rest of his cup and headed back to the meeting room. At least the case would be over now, and he wouldn’t have to fight the temptation of desire.
When he walked back into the conference room, significantly calmer than he had left it, he found that he was the last one to return. Even Yamashita was already seated beside Nishikido.
He bowed politely, “I’m sorry to have kept you all waiting.”
Shige carefully avoided Nishikido’s gaze as he reclaimed his spot on the other side of him. Yanagi wasted no time in getting down to business.
“Yamashita-san, Nishikido-san claims that he couldn’t have sexually harassed Nakamura-san because he’s homosexual, and he claims that he has had sexual relations with you. Can you verify any of this.”
“That’s true,” Yamashita replied, “I’ve honestly been wondering about this case, considering Nishikido-san has no interest in women.”
“You’re positive of this?”
“No offence, but I do think that I’d know who I’ve had sex with, Yanagi-san.”
Yanagi turned to look at Nakamura. Her shoulders sagged and her face clearly displayed her displeasure with the turn of events. She pouted and rose to her feet, sniffing disdainfully.
“I’m dropping the charges. Who would want to be groped by you anyway?”
As she stormed out of the room, Yanagi stood and bowed slightly, “Excuse me.”
Nishikido smirked at Shige, “told you I was innocent.”
Shige carefully schooled his features into a professional mask of cold detachment, “Congratulations Nishikido-san. It seems you’re cleared of all charges. I will finish up the paperwork for your case and have it mailed to you to sign,” He bowed stiffly, “If you’ll excuse me.”
“Shige!” Nishikido moved to grab his wrist.
Shige quickly snatched his arm away, “Please address me properly, Nishikido-san. We have nothing more to discuss and I have work to do. Have a good day; you as well Yamashita-san.”
With that Shige left the room, feeling like his heart lay shattered across the floor.