This post assumes that you are already familiar with Hige wo Soru. If you are not, then please review the story's main couple, Yoshida and Sayu. The main takeaway for this forum is if they had sex (and there are several plausible moments where that could have happened), Yoshida could have gone to jail and Sayu would have seen the man she loves hauled off to jail - a double tragedy and gross injustice.
So to avoid that unacceptable outcome in real life, here is one version of a Yoshida and Sayu law. Someone can be convicted of violating an age of consent law if it is beyond a reasonable doubt that:
# The defendant pursued the relationship solely because of the alleged victim's age, and,
# The essential nature of the relationship caused the alleged victim to suffer provable harm to their pursuit of life, liberty, or property, or,
# The defendant demonstrated callous and gross disregard for the alleged victim's evident welfare.
# The pursuit and existence of a sexual relationship in itself will not be construed by the finders of fact as a priori harm to the pursuit of life, liberty, or property, nor will it be construed by the finders of fact as a priori callous and gross disregard for evident welfare.
Now that I've given the forum a starting point, it's up to us to take what is written here and debate its merits in terms of good law, political considerations, and whether it fits the overall goal of keeping couples similar to Yoshida and Sayu under the law's good graces.
