“I’m sorry. Please, trust me. I…don’t want her to be captured again. Can you keep this little secret?” asked Hellen. 

“I…You shouldn’t. She is a criminal.” mumbled Juniper. 

“She isn’t. Her sentence is wrong. She is not someone who should be imprisoned. She is just a kind girl who was beaten up by the world. Please, just don’t tell anyone.” said Hellen, defeated. 

Juniper rubbed her eyes with grief. 

“What…what would Klancy think? You siding against the truth.” said Juniper. 

“I didn’t side against the truth. I sided against prisons and punishment. I don’t want this endless cycle of punishments and revenge.” said Hellen with determination.

“And it doesn’t matter what that old geezer thinks. And besides, you know that old geezer is out for blood. You seriously need to stop idolizing him. He is nuts and he probably didn’t have sex in ages.” said Fushichin. 

“Wha- why are you like this? Why did you have to go against his words. Go against justice.” cried Juniper.     

“We are following our own justice. Juniper, it's time that you follow your own justice too. You know how cruel other people can be. If you explain to squad A9 or K3 what you saw, they will desperately try to capture her and put her in prison. You have no obligation to be this obedient.” said Hellen. 

“But…But…” cried Juniper. 

“Please, listen to your heart. Don’t you feel anything towards that girl? Towards needlessly punishing her?” asked Hellen. 

“I…I do…but I have no other options.” gasped Juniper with fear in her eyes. 

“Yes, you do. You can finally listen to love. Justice isn’t decided by laws made by politicians. It’s decided by the heart that’s within you.” said Hellen desperately. 

“I’m scared. I don’t wanna lie to Klancy. What would happen if you guys are caught?” asked Juniper. 

“I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll keep on trusting myself like I always did.” said Hellen. 

Juniper cried some more and wailed. Hellen looked at her with a sad expression. 

“I do wonder. How long can we hide the truth? The reason we won against criminals isn’t because we’re smarter or stronger. It's because we’re on the side of truth and they were on the side of lies. They will…eventually figure out Hori is hiding in this country.” said Fushichin. 

“I know. They have to leave this country. Otherwise, it's getting dangerous. They were careless to stroll around like this. I would have to talk to them.” said Hellen. 

“Hmm, I don’t know about you Hellen. But I personally wouldn’t mind Hori being captured again.” said Fushichin. 

Hellen’s eyes rose up. Soon anger filled her being and she frowned. 

“What do you mean? Are you going to betray me?” yelled Hellen. 

“Attachment is the source of suffering.” mumbled Fushichin. 

“What? I don’t want to hear philosophy from you, Fushichin, I only want your words that you trust-” said Hellen but Fushichin quickly interjected. 

“This isn’t a philosophy. This is the inner truth. I have completely neglected this truth till now. Your light has pressed on my heart, on my justice. I don’t want to lie anymore. If Klancy asks me what I found, I have no obligation to lie.” said Fushichin.

“You can’t! You know Hori will just be taken away.” said Hellen. 

“So, what? Why should I care? Why should you care about Hori so much? What would have happened if Juniper didn’t cry? What would have happened if Juniper told you that she would stay loyal to Klancy? Would you have killed her in your anger? And what is so special about Hori? Is she special enough to be saved in exchange for Kyong, Hui Ying and Dimitri’s lives?” asked Fushichin with a frown. 

Hellen trotted around and yelled “Stop trying to guilt trip me. I know we could have done better. But…it was unavoidable. They didn’t die because of my selfishness, they fought with us with their own courage.”

“Maybe you gaslit them into thinking they were heroes. You have a certain charisma, a certain air to you that makes others falter from their paths. You might have been a far better politician than Layla ever could.” said Fushichin. 

“What do you mean? You know we don’t have time to be arguing about this.” said Hellen with anger.

“Why such anger? Such rushyness? Existence goes on for eternity. There is always time for peace, time to discuss. You’re attached to Mew and Hori, aren’t you? If it means that they are safe, you’re willing to lie, cheat and kill whoever that stands in your way.” said Fushichin. 

“That’s not true. I just wanted to do the right thing!” yelled Hellen. 

“By threatening Juniper, to make her silent? It is her choice whether she want to reveal the truth. Afterall, detectives must reveal the truth. Without the truth being revealed to everyone, we cannot decide our futures as a democracy.” said Fushichin with a frown. 

“I…I can’t allow you to hurt people over ideologies like the truth or democracy. That’s all just nothing but heartless beliefs and dogmas. It's inhuman.” grunted Hellen. 

“Heart, yes. You’re all about heart. You think you’re this great lover who loves everyone so equally. But is that really true? You didn’t bat an eye killing those guards at the underground experiment lab, you didn’t hesitate in raising your gun towards Juniper when she was only doing her job.” said Fushichin. 

“Those guards were rapists, they were using those women for their sick entertainment and experiment.” yelled Hellen with rage and sorrow in her eyes. 

“But they were still human. Maybe if you notified the authorities and asked for help, things would have turned out better. But by selfishly trying to do everything, you ended up killing many people, including your allies.” said Fushichin. 

“I didn’t kill them!” yelled Hellen. 

“Can you really be sure? It's okay to doubt yourself sometimes. The reason I barely do anything to help anyone is that I know actions are louder than words. Words are just a simple mind game, there are people in the world who take word and logic very seriously. I’m not them, to me words are just entertainment, it is fun to confuse other idealistic and dogmatic people with logic that destroys their silly little minds.” said Fushichin with a playful smirk. 

“You take joy in wasting time, making fun of other people.” said Hellen with a hesitant tone. 

“No, Hellen. I take joy in destroying minds and thoughts. You don’t destroy the mind through meditation techniques. It helps you at the start, don’t get me wrong. Someone like you may benefit from it tremendously. But ultimately logic destroys logic itself. The mind realizes its own stupidity and surrenders. I am merely helping others reach this state. Reach the truth, that their mind is stupid and they should drop all beliefs, thoughts and ideologies.” said Fushichin with a monotone voice. 

Hellen paused for a while. She shook her head and said “Are you after my mind then?” 

Fushichin smiled “Yes, the mind of a hero. The mind of a lover. It is so dreamy, so idealistic. One can easily drown within its toxicity. But it's all an illusion. Your mind has become obsessed with the Sushihara household. That case that scarred your ideologies, now have created a new ideology. The Sushihara family isn’t that important. They are just a speck of dust in the vastness of this universe. But to you, that speck of dust has turned into the world. You need to let go of this belief. It isn’t the truth. The truth comes with peace, comes with a no mind, no thoughts. An empty, crystal-clear head.” 

Hellen’s body shook in fear, she fell to her knees and grabbed her head. 

“I don’t want anyone to suffer. I want to help everyone.” said Hellen with a weak tone. 

“Help yourself, Hellen. You only think of this world as a material. That torture, rape, murder, death is the only suffering there is. No, those things are just the material body’s experience. It is your desire, your beliefs, your knowledge, your fear that is true pain.” said Fushichin. 

“You’re saying that my desire to save Hori is…suffering?” asked Hellen. 

“Yes…Whether Hori goes to jail, gets executed or not, should not make you happy or unhappy in any way. A happiness that can be influenced by something as silly as that isn’t real happiness.” said Fushichin. 

Hellen looked at the grassy field in front of her.

What would happen if Hori was caught and executed? How would I feel? I…could I bear the pain? Why does it hurt me so much? What is wrong with me? If what I’m doing is right, why does it hurt so much? thought Hellen. 

“I…I am suffering.” said Hellen in a sad tone. 

“Yes…guilt. It is a toxin that runs within the veins of the kind hearted. But it is simply an illusion. Don’t lose sight of your true nature. Sight of that love. You view the world with your two eyes and are blinded by its splendor and beauty as well as its shadows and darkness. You never pondered and looked within, to see who is seeing sight, who is witnessing these events. Your true nature, that is unshaken by pain, thoughts and emotions.” said Fushichin. 

Hellen pondered for a while. 

“I…yeah. I guess I must have forgotten about myself from all the action that was going on.” said Hellen. 

“I’m not saying that fighting for justice and love is wrong. But you’re wanting something in return. I hesitated, thought I was seeing things. But deep inside, I too was afraid to criticize you. I didn’t want you to hate me. But then I realized, deep inside, you probably didn’t want Mew or Hori to end up hating you too. You and I aren’t so different after all.” said Fushichin with pondering eyes. 

“I’m afraid, Fushichin. If Klancy and the others know Hori is free. They will definitely try to capture her. I don’t know if I could hide the truth from them forever.” said Hellen. 

“You can’t. That’s why you have to hurry. Move Hori and Mew away from this country. They are rich, they should have enough money to move to a different country.” said Fushichin. 

“But there are also the other inmates.” pondered Hellen with worry. 

“Think of something. Let’s do it together.” said Fushichin with a warm smile. 

Hellen nodded. 

Fushichin looked at Juniper and said “Hey, don’t you dare rat us out.” 

Juniper looked a bit surprised and nodded “Yeah. I won’t. How could I after you two just showed me a whole bunch of drama in front of me. It feels weird, almost like I watched a movie or something.” 

“Then don’t forget about the themes of the movie. Justice isn’t in the law. It’s in the heart.” said Fushichin with a smile. 

Juniper nodded.