Reiko Kusumoto

Reiko Kusumoto (, Kusumoto Reiko) is a character featured in Lost Judgment. She is the Vice Minister of Health and mother of Mitsuru Kusumoto.
==Profile==
===Appearance===
Kusumoto has an aged appearance and dresses formally.
===Personality===
As the Vice Minister of Health, Kusumoto seeks to improve Japan for all citizens living there. She approaches politics with an anti-establishment mindset, seeking to address Japan's issue by targeting the complacency and potential corruption of its politicians. This, as well as her popularity, gives her enough leverage to pose a danger to the government's status quo, to a point where even the Prime Minister of Japan has trouble with her.
Kusumoto is overall calm and level-headed, but was never able to move on from her son Mitsuru's suicide attempt. She cares for him deeply, and takes time out of her schedule every day to visit him while he is comatose, willing do anything for his wellbeing. Kusumoto's love for Mitsuru does not cloud her judgement, however, as she forgave the man who caused him to attempt suicide when he apologized to her. She also was not planning to punish him for his misdeed until she learned that the man was living fully guilt-free, after which she saw him as subhuman filth and murdered him, feeling absolutely no remorse until she learned of the consequences the murder had on others. 
Although Kitakata is indirectly responsible for her son's condition, to a lesser extent, Kusumoto also values him, as she is grateful to Kitakata for helping her avenge Mitsuru.
==Background==
In 2008, her son attempted to commit suicide by jumping off the roof of his school due to the bullying he endured, and was rendered comatose as a result. The bully, Shinya Kawai, begged for forgiveness afterward. Kusumoto visited her son every night, with Yoko Sawa being the only classmate of Mitsuru who would visit. Yu Kitakata, the teacher whose negligence allowed the suicide attempt to happen, contacted Kusumoto in 2016 and offered to kill Kawai to atone for his mistake, but she visited Kamurocho to meet Kawai before making a decision. 
In Kamurocho, Kusumoto was approached by Kawai, who mistook her as a woman looking for a date. Her son's bully unintentionally revealing his guilt to be a farce and forgetting the face of his victim's mother angered Kusumoto, which caused her to take up Kitakata's offer. Kawai was abducted by Kitakata's contacts, and Kusumoto stabbed him in the chest with Kitakata as the sole witness.
As a politician, Kusumoto had notable popularity which further rose following Mitsuru's tragedy. She became the Vice Minister of Health in 2021 following the arrest of her predecessor, Kaoru Ichinose, and his successors being unable to maintain control in the ensuing chaos. She also had Mitsuru transferred to Touto University Hospital in hopes of a potentially more viable recovery.
==Involvement==
===Lost Judgment: 2021-2022===
Kusumoto is the main obstacle preventing her political rivals from using the ¥160,000,000,000,000 taxpayer-funded pension, which is under the Ministry of Health's jurisdiction. Because of this, Hidemi Bando aims to find a weakness in her.
Following Sawa's murder, Kusumoto receives a phone call from Kitakata, who now goes by the name Jin Kuwana. Though the conversation appears to be Kuwana updating Kusumoto on current events, its real purpose is to see if her phone is wiretapped by Public Security, which is confirmed shortly. After the call, Bando enters the room to ask her about Kawai, suspecting she played a part in his disappearance. 
A few days later, outside the hospital, Takayuki Yagami and Fumiya Sugiura come into contact with Kusumoto in a taxi ride where they inform her Public Security is monitoring her, and request she turn herself in for the damage caused by Kuwana's murder conspiracy. Though she does not want to do so, Yagami gives her a phone to call him if she decides otherwise.
Being indirectly responsible for the death of the only person who would visit Mitsuru causes her to feel guilty, and she chooses to turn herself in to allow Sawa's killer to face justice. She calls Bando to Mitsuru's room to inform him of this, but before she can commit to her decision, Mitsuru wakes up, overwhelming her with relief. Bando convinces her to avoid turning herself in by telling her Mitsuru will be branded the child of a murderer if she does not change course. Kusumoto relents, and informs Public Security of Kuwana's link to the Kurokawa Academy graduates. She also has Kazuki Soma pass a message to Yagami: Do not mention her name at the retrial of Akihiro Ehara. Around this time, she receives a letter with a request from Kuwana, asking her to allow him to contact Yagami through her phone.
After Ehara's trial in 2022, Kuwana calls Kusumoto's phone. He states he does not harbor a grudge against her and is standing next to Kawai's preserved body, and that he is allowing Public Security to trace his location. Later in the day, Kuwana uploads an image of Kawai's body, and Kusumoto has a change of heart after seeing the pain on his face preserved. She meets Kuwana at the warehouse he hid the corpse, and tells him of her decision, adding that she wants to free him of his burden. Before going with the police, she calls Mitsuru to inform him of her absence, to which he says he will support her when she returns. After she is arrested for Kawai's murder, she fully cooperates with the investigation.
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Lost Judgment Characters
Category:Japanese Government
Category:Citizens' Liberal Party