It's been a long time since I posted anything on this site, but I've finally finished my second fanfic and I just came back from Korea. I highly suggest you read the first story in order to avoid spoiling yourself and to establish back story. This story contains 14 parts not including two tips and an epilogue. One chapter will be posted per week, but I must warn you that each chapter is a little on the long side. Fortunately, this one starts off with a bang unlike my last one so I hope you enjoy! ... All one or two of you...

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“Arrrgghh! Shin, I don’t get it!”
For the past twenty minutes, I have been struggling over the same math problem. Half the people in the café stare at me, but quickly go back to business. Shin, who had been reading an old court record, looks up at me.
“Which problem?”
I turn my book around and show the problem to him. All these numbers and letters and pies and all that other junk just make my head spin. I mean the teacher even flat out told us that these numbers were imaginary! How am I supposed to deal with that?! Just make up the answers and try to make it look as convincing as possible?!
“Ah. Okay, you multiply the entire equation by the denominator’s conjugate and—”
“I know that much! But how do I get rid of i2?!”
“i2 equals -1. See i is the square root of -1 so—”
“But negative numbers don’t have a square root!”
“Exactly. They’re imaginary.”
Oh great! Him too! Since Shin turns out to be brainwashed too, all hope is lost. My only choice is to give up, plant my face in my textbook, and sulk. In response, he gets out of his seat and pats my shoulder.
“I think you need a break. Let me get you a cup of coffee.”
I give an incomprehensible grunt in reply and he leaves to stand in line.

My name is Sunny DeLite and I am sixteen years old. That is Shin Mitsuru—I mean—Gregory Edgeworth the Second. He’s as high class as his name makes him sound. He’s a quiet gentleman who prefers a good book to video games. He’s a class higher than me in math, you know! A class that I’m sure is full of other nerdy dorky people who like doing these ridiculous math problems just for fun! And I’m sure he fits right in! He did all his homework during the first week of winter break! Plus, he’s always wearing a suit, but as if that isn’t dorky enough, he wears this frilly floofy neckpiece that he calls a cravat where the tie would be! But in spite of his dorkiness and seriously outdated fashion sense, he’s been a very good friend to me. In fact, now that I think about it, we’re almost inseparable. In the eight years that we’ve known each other, we’ve been through all sorts of scrapes and jams, but we stuck by each other no matter what. Well actually… we did have a big fight seven years ago… But we agreed never to speak of that ever again…

“Coffee?”
I lift my head from the textbook and grudgingly take the cup he offers me. It’s very hard to enjoy my coffee though, when he’s attempting to convince me that imaginary numbers make sense…
“You see, imaginary is simply a math term. Just like variable. The math term variable and the English vocabulary word variable don’t mean the same thing.”
“Shin, no matter how you go about it, you can’t deny that the teacher is contradicting herself!” I argue, slamming my coffee down on the table.
“Only because it would overcomplicate things if you were taught this back when you were first learning square roots.”
“Oh hush, trigonometry boy! We’re on winter break! Let me procrastinate in peace! It’s only three days after Christmas!”
“Sunny, school starts next week.”
At that moment, someone walks by and accidentally bumps our table, making my coffee spill into my lap.
“ACK!” When those labels warn you about the contents being hot, they aren’t kidding!
“Oh I’m very sorry…” the guy who did it apologizes. Already very cranky, I was ready to make a sharp retort, but it dies in my throat when I see who it is.
“Oh, Calando, hi,” Shin greets awkwardly, caught a little off guard.
His name is Calando Cadaverini and he’s a year higher than us in school. He’s the only other guy at our school who actually wears a suit everyday, but it looks like something you’d wear to a funeral. I personally don’t know him that well, but he always struck me as a tad creepy… I always kept my distance from him… He’s just got this intimidating vibe to him. I mean, he’s nice and all… I guess… but I can’t shake the feeling that if he doesn’t like you he’ll stab you when you turn your back on him…
“Sunny… Gregory… Nice to see both of you…” he says, handing me more napkins. “I suggest you get that out before it stains…”
“Eh… Thanks…”
I head to the bathroom, but not before hearing the last of their conversation…
“Well I should be going…”
“So… Calando… er… how’s the…uh… family doing?”
“Mama suggested I get a job, so I came to speak to the manager.”
“Well that’s… interesting…”
“Indeed… so would you dropping dead from cyanide in your tea, in fact…”
“Err… what?”
“… Oh did I say that last part out loud?”
…Like I said… Creepy…

So now I’m in the bathroom trying to wash out the coffee stain. I’ve been in here for a while, but I can’t tell if I’ve gotten it out yet… Well these pants are black anyway, so I wonder what the point is really. Someone flushes a toilet and comes out of the stall. A junior high student by the looks of her. Gives off that same eerie vibe as Calando. She’s wearing a plain black dress that makes her look like she should be at the funeral along with him. Looking at me, my wet pants, and my wet napkins, she instantly shows off her lack of tact.
“Did you wet yourself?”
“It’s a coffee stain. I’m trying to get it out!”
“Isn’t that kind of pointless?”
“…Actually that’s just what I was thinking…”
Suddenly, everyone screams outside. I instinctively turn toward the door, but freeze when I hear a loud bang. Was that a gunshot? The girl heads for the door, but I grab her by the shoulder.
“No, don’t go out there,” I urgently whisper to her. “If there’s someone with a gun out there, our best bet is to stay in here!”
I pat my pockets and fish out my cell phone.
“Hide in the stall while I call the police,” I tell the girl as I search my phonebook for the police department phone number. Shin told me that it’s usually faster to call the local police department directly instead of using 911 and made me enter the number into my phone. I’ll admit that I scoffed at the time, but I entered it in anyway and never bothered to erase it. I finally find it and push the “call” button and after a many nervous rings, someone finally picks up.
“LAPD, Corporal Dabble speaking.”
“Corporal Dabble, Shin—I mean Greg—and I are caught in the middle of a robbery!” I whisper urgently. There’s a bit of silence on the other side until…
“Alright, Sunny, where are you?”
“‘Hey, Look! Coffee Shop,’” I answer, rather surprised that he remembers me. It’s been seven years after all. “On the corner of Wilson and—”
I suddenly feel a pair of hands pressed against my back. I suddenly find myself falling forward through the door. I take a few steps to regain my balance, but it’s too late. Everyone’s on the floor, scared for their lives and two men wearing ski masks and holding guns are looking right at me.
“SUNNY!”
I hear a bang. I’m knocked to the floor. The impact causes the phone to jolt out of my hand and slide away, out of sight, out of reach… I lay on the floor, covered in warm blood. It’s odd though. I don’t feel any real pain. Only aches from where my body hit the floor and the weight of someone else’s body on top of me… Fear, panic, and disbelief snake through my body as my brain finally, finally, registers what’s going on.
“GREGORY!”
I sit up and gently turn him over. No, I wasn’t shot… This blood isn’t mine… He pushed me to the floor and ended up taking the shot instead… That idiot! I try my best to slow the bleeding, while unsuccessfully suppressing my tears. Even with the blood still pouring from his wound, he still manages to look at me, raise his arm to wipe away my tears, and ask…
“Are you all right?”
It’s just like you to do something so stupid… I have to stop the bleeding! I have to stop the bleeding! Why isn’t the blood stopping?! … Greg… you can’t die… Not like this… If I wasn’t pushed out of the bathroom, we could have gotten them arrested… We’d joke about how even as a thief I would steal with style and class… I’m even willing to let you talk me into thinking imaginary numbers are real! Just don’t die! Please don’t die… Please…
“SHUT UP!”
Sharp pain erupts in my side where one of the robbers kicks me away from Greg. One of the thieves then grabs me by the front of my sweater and jerks me to my feet. He grips me so roughly to him that I can't budge and presses the gun’s barrel to the side of my head. I shut my eyes, bracing myself for the shot. But everything freezes when we hear sirens wailing louder and louder. Warm relief courses through me. Maybe Greg will live after all… Maybe we’ll get out of this alive… But after a string of cursing, they drag me through the back, away from Gregory who watches helplessly as he bleeds on the floor, past all the scared customers, past another body that is bleeding from her forehead… They shove me out the back door and against a car that has a number of large empty black bags stuffed in the back seat.
“He isn’t here! Where’d he go?” rages the other thief as he holsters his gun, opens the front passenger seat and throws a smaller black bag full of cash into the front seat.
“Forget him! Let’s just go!” yells the one who grabbed me. He opens the back door and is about to stuff me inside when the police surround them. As the robbers keep their gaze fixed on the officers getting out of their cars, the one who has me hostage slams me against the car, grabs both my wrists, and pushes the gun against my temple.
“ANY CLOSER AND I’LL BLOW HER BRAINS OUT!”
I shut my eyes and wait to be shot or shoved into the car. The next thing I hear is a deafening bang. Warm blood splashes over me again, but my eyes spring open at the shock that I’m not feeling any pain. The grip of the robber loosens and I hear a thud next to me. I suddenly realize that once again I’m not the one who’s been shot. I… I feel sick… I feel dazed and weak… I look at the dead body lying next to me, the pool of blood, the gun… And I suddenly remember…
“GREGORY!”
While the police arrest the other robber, a couple of officers, startled by my outburst, almost try to stop me, but I shove my way past them and back inside. They try to follow me when they notice him lying on the floor.
“Call a paramedic! We have an injured civilian inside!”

The next few hours are a blur… I was taken in for questioning along with the rest of the people who were there. I recount how I had coffee spilled into my lap, went to the bathroom, was calling the police once I heard the screams and the bang, got pushed out by someone, nearly got shot… How Greg took the bullet when he shoved me out of the way… Corporal Dabble has been very understanding and patient with me.

“But what about Gregory and the other person they shot? Are they going to be alright?” I ask once I finish. Corporal Dabble puts down his writing pad and pencil and bows his head solemnly.
“Gregory Edgeworth the Second is undergoing surgery as we speak. He was extremely lucky. He was shot just below his right shoulder and it barely missed his lung. I imagine he should make a full recovery as long as there aren’t any complications… However…” he sighs, “the other victim was shot point-blank in the head… Died instantly…”
We sit in silence for a while. A robbery and a murder… It’s almost inconceivable that only a few hours ago, I was ranting about numbers that don’t exist…
“Well… I think that’s enough for today… You’ve been through more than the other people in the café and I think it’s best that you head home,” he continues. “No doubt once your parents find out what happened they’d be worried sick. You’re very lucky you came out of that in one piece.”
“Yeah, I know… Who fired that shot anyway?”
He rubs his temples and has a worried look on his face.
“Actually, I wondered the same thing… As it turns out, none of our officers fired the shot that killed that robber.”
He gets out of his seat.
“Come on,” he says. “Let’s go call your parents and have them pick you up…”

Mom and Dad sped over to pick me up and take me home. They didn’t care about the speeding or parking tickets; they were just glad I was okay. But that night, I couldn’t sleep… When I did manage to doze off, I had nightmares about what happened…

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Last edited by Android 21 3/7 on Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:02 am, edited 13 times in total.

Last chance to go read the first fanfic without spoiling yourself. Once you pass that line, you pretty much spoil yourself.

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We drive to the hospital first thing next morning to check on Greg.
“Err, yes, we’re here to see Gregory Edgeworth the Second?” Mom explains to an odd itchy doctor with a tuft of pinkish gray hair on the top of his otherwise bald head.
“Hmm… Edgeworth… Hmm yes… ah the name doesn’t ring any bells…” he drones, scratching himself non-stop. Then his eyes turn kinda creepy and he starts making creepy grabby finger motions at Mom. “But I am willing to give you a free physical, hmm yes…” Mom looks at him repulsed and Dad steps in front of her, protecting her from those twitchy fingers.
“Are you really a doctor?” he demands, rather pissed at the way he’s looking at Mom.
“Hmm… yes… I’m Director Stiles. Hoh hoh!” he replies and starts eyeing Dad in an equally creepy fashion. “Hmm… yes… you’re a fine specimen of a woman too… though lacking in certain departments…”
“I’M A MAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!” Dad screams, hair springing. The creepy director is quite taken aback at this fact and edges away from him… And towards me…
“But you are female, yes?” he asks me, still doing that creepy finger twitchy and looking me over. I suddenly wish I didn’t take off my jacket when I came in…
“Look, I’m here to visit Greg! Not to get a physical exam by creepy old man with restless fingers! Do you know which room he is in or not?!”
“Hmm… Such fiery temper… yes… Sure sign of some ailment… Hmm yes… Not sure which one. Hoh hoh, but I’d be… happy to examine…”
Before I have the chance to slap him, Dad grabs my wrist and pulls me behind him too. Fortunately for us, Mr. Edgeworth arrives with a nurse.
“There he is, Nurse Thompson,” Mr. Edgeworth says to her. “Exactly how long has he been here anyway?”
“I don’t know,” the nurse replies, grabbing Stiles by the back of his coat and dragging him away. “Longer than most of us have been working here, that’s for sure!”

“It’ll mean a lot to him that you showed up,” Mr. Edgeworth tells me as he leads us to Greg’s hospital room.
“Well of course I showed up!” I reply. “It’s my fault he’s here to begin with!” Mr. Edgeworth only gives an indulgent smile and opens the door. Greg’s lying a hospital bed by the window, watching the birds fly by. His mother sits by his side, reading the autopsy report while his father stays in the hallway with Mom and Dad. Most likely, he’s telling them about the investigation so far…
“Ah, Sunny!” Mrs. Edgeworth greets, closing the report. “How are you feeling?”
I don’t answer right away. For the past several hours, my mind’s been screaming, panicking, tormenting itself over what happened to him. But finally, it calms down and I take a seat at his other side. He turns from the window and faces me, same gentle smile he always had.
“Shin…”
Relief and happiness overwhelm me as I leap at him and crush him under a hug.
“ACK! SUNNY! THAT REALLY HURTS!”

Shin begins to explain what happened while I was in the bathroom. It turns out that there were actually three of them. One left to prep the getaway car. As he left, he noticed the clerk behind the register trip the silent alarm and shot her in retaliation. They actually arrested someone while I was being questioned yesterday, but I never found out because they sent me home.
“So who was arrested?” I ask when he finishes. He says nothing and goes back to looking out the window, so his mother is the one who answers.
“… Cory Wilder…”
“WHAT?!”
Cory Wilder. The one who caused that split between Shin and me seven years ago… We didn’t know it back then, but he had a grudge against the Mitsurugis. He appeared to be a shy and neurotic boy, but it was all a false image. He split us up and nearly trapped me when Shin came back to save me. Then we saw the real Cory. We agreed never speak of that fight—or of him—ever again… He’s making us break our promises again… I stand up and head for the door. Shin turns from the window again, a look of shock on his face.
“Sunny, where are you going?”
“Where do you think?” I shoot back, putting on my jacket. “I’m going to the detention center to talk to him! In spite of everything, I just can’t find it within myself to believe he’d kill someone!”

I practically drag Mom and Dad to the detention center, though they don’t seem too comfortable here. Apparently, Dad was falsely imprisoned at one point. I’m sure there’s a story somewhere in there, but I don’t have time to worry about that now. Anyway, Mom and Dad wait in the lobby while I wait for Cory in the visitor’s room. I don’t have to wait very long. I haven’t seen him in seven years, but I still remember his real self very vividly. As he enters the room and sits in his seat, he evokes the same impression he did back then. Distant, cold, apathetic, only now he has a tall, gaunt figure that reinforces this feeling. We sit, face to face, staring at each other for a few minutes before he finally ends the silence.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it, DeLite?” he greets, regarding me with his icy gaze.
“Hello, Cory…” I respond quietly.
“How’s Edgeworth doing?” he asks with a voice echoing indifference.
“He’ll recover.”
“Mm. That’s a shame.”
I know he is trying to provoke me. I know he’s pulling my strings like he always does, but I don’t care! I’m not good at self-restraint like Shin is. I bang on the security glass and begin yelling at him.
“You haven’t changed a bit! Don’t tell me you’re still holding on to that incident seven years ago!”
He gives me the same look he gave me years ago. His lips pull back into a sardonic sneer.
“That little incident? Hah! You’re kidding! If anything, you two are the ones still holding on to it! That was just child’s play. No, DeLite. His family broke up mine. That’s what this is about. You could not possibly comprehend what I have been through!” he retorts. He then sits back in his seat and continues. “Oh, and speaking of my parents, I actually met them here. It was quite the teary little reunion…”
I bang on the glass again. “Listen, Cory! I’m here because I want to ask you about yesterday. In spite of everything, I just can’t believe you would commit a murder!”
“You’re so foolish.”
“I want to help you, you moron!”
He gives me another steady look, one that freezes my soul. It’s a horrible, cold feeling. He leans so far forward that his forehead is almost touching the glass. His eyes drill into my soul and I feel like I’m unable to move.
“Sunny, you are still but a small and inconsequential part of this game… Very expendable… How deep are you willing to go?”

“YOU AGREED TO WHAT?!”
I told my parents everything. How I told Cory I’d be willing to help him. How he told me his side of the story. How he told me what I’m to do if I’m to get him out of there. How I agreed to it.
“Sunny, that’s… that’s…” Mom stutters, collapsing onto the seat of her motorcycle. “Sunny, he could be a murderer! Who knows what he’s really asking you to do!”
“Sunny, you shouldn’t get caught up in all this!” Dad lectures. “There’s a reason why he’s sitting there in jail! He could be guilty! LISTEN TO US, PLEEEEEEAAASE!”
“You were sent to jail before, Dad,” I reply. “But you didn’t really kill anyone, now did you?”
“No! Of course not!” he stammers back. “But that was different. Mr. Wright was helping me because it was his job and…”
“And so will Cory’s defense attorney!” Mom interrupts. “But you should stay out of it!”
As my parents try to talk me out of it, I find it difficult to look them in the eye, so I resort to staring at my feet. “Cory would call me a sentimental idiot, but even after everything he put Shin and I through, some part of me believes that there was something real behind his laugh back then. I know the Cory we knew then wasn’t the real one, but I believe that he still had fun in those little moments when he wasn’t pulling the strings…”

I manage to wheedle Mom and Dad into taking me back to the crime scene, but to my surprise, I find a group of police officers walled off by a man in black.
“Excuse me, what’s going on here?” I ask the most disgruntled looking one in the bunch. It’s Detective Houdzuki. She stops by to visit the Mitsurugis sometimes.
“The FBI are walling us out,” she grumbles, scrunching up her empty bag of Snakoos and viciously throws it into a trash can. “They’re taking over the investigation.”
“What? Why?” I ask.
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you. It’s confidential.”
“In other words, you don’t know?”
“Exactly. It’s so confidential, not even I’m allowed to know… But even if I did know, I couldn’t tell you. I’d lose my badge.”
“Well, what can you tell me?”
Detective Houdzuki pulls out a file and begins reading off it.
“Victim: Terri Terry. A sophomore in college with a communications major. She was here part time. Died from a 9 mm bullet shot point blank into the forehead. Unfortunately, the FBI took that too before we could get more details. There’s something strange though…”
“What?”
“Well, before the FBI kicked us out, I played off a hunch and got some fingerprints off the silent alarm and found the victim’s… The strange thing is that we didn’t find out about this robbery until you called us, Sunny.”
“Huh… Weird. This café was built only a few weeks ago… The wiring can’t have gone bad already, could it?”
“Well, I doubt we’ll get to find out… The FBI have taken over and I doubt we’ll be allowed in until they’ve finished… taking all the evidence relating to our crime with them… Still, their involvement definitely means that this is more than just the simple robbery we thought it was.”
“Any more hunches?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you…”
“I see… Well, does Cory have a defense attorney yet?”
“Actually, yes. Took his case just when he heard he was in prison.” She pulls out another file. “Frank Connors. He was his parents’ defense attorney back when they were arrested. He’s a decent lawyer, but well…” she just barely hides a smug smile. “It was a solid case… Especially with Mr. Edgeworth as the prosecutor. And I know that Mr. Wright’s done so many seemingly impossible cases before, but even he could never have gotten the Wilders an acquittal. And Mr. Connors doesn’t have Mr. Wright’s tenacity and ingenuity so he was doomed before he began.”
“Do you think Cory has any chance?” I ask, worried now. “Is Mr. Mitsurugi prosecuting this case too?”
Detective Houdzuki shakes her head. I hope that means “no” for the second question…
“This matter is way too personal for either of the Edgeworths,” she answers to my relief. “Prosecuting this case would lead to them getting too emotionally involved and that would be a breach of their ethics not to mention a hamper to their thought process. The prosecutor is Lyle Wiles, a political minded attorney. He’s well known in the Prosecutor’s office and at the precinct as a man who would do anything to get to the top. I imagine he’s taking this case to impress Mr. Edgeworth…”
Suddenly, Detective Houdzuki’s cell phone rings, bringing my attention back to the conversation we were having before.
“Uh-huh… Got it, Chief,” she says before hanging up. “Sorry, Sunny, but I have to go.”
“Huh?”
“I need to go back to the precinct for a conference. We’re going to try to find a way around the FBI and continue our investigation.”
She signals to the other police officers and they get into their cars and drive off. The man in black is still blocking the entrance. I can tell that he’s giving me a stern glare from behind those shades as if to say, “There’s nothing to see here. Keep moving”, so I head back to Mom’s motorcycle. Once I turn a corner toward the parking lot, however, I feel someone grab my shoulder.
“EEP!”
It’s Calando.
“That was a rough ride yesterday… How are you feeling?”
My best friend got shot because of me, I was made into a hostage, nearly died twice, and witnessed someone getting shot in the head. How do you think I feel?
“Uhh… I’m hanging in there.”
“What about Greg?”
“I went to see him this morning. He’s doing fine. Turns out he only got shot in the shoulder. The surgery went well and he should make a full recovery.”
“Oh that’s good…” he replies. But then he muses to himself, “Though it would have been far more interesting if he had died…”
“E-excuse me?!”
“Oh did I say that out loud? I apologize… I have a most unfortunate tendency of doing that…”
This conversation has just gotten way too awkward for my tastes…
“Weeelll, I think I’ll go home and rest up a bit… See ya when school starts…”
I turn to walk away and hope he doesn’t follow me, but I’m greeted with a hard sock in the stomach.
“Oh dear… Sunny, are you alright?” Calando asks in a voice that is as close to concerned as I have ever heard from him. As I keel over, clutching my stomach, I come face to face with the one who did it. It’s that girl I met in the bathroom yesterday!
“Dude, why did you punch me?!” I wheeze. She only shoves me aside in response and glares at Calando.
“CALANDO, ARE YOU HITTING ON GIRLS AGAIN?!”
Geez, little girl. If you’re going to blame him, then why take it out on me?! Moreover, who in their right mind would go out with him? If you try to break things off, he might lace your coffee with poison or something! …Wait a sec! He was hitting on me?!
“Now, Arietta… I was just having a conversation with an acquaintance from school… Her good friend was shot yesterday so I wanted to offer my condolences…”
“I just told you that he’ll be fine. The surgery went well and—”
“For there is still a possibility that he may die in spite of everyone’s best efforts…”
“Uh… What?”
“Calando, don’t forget that we have errands to run for Mama!” Arietta yells at him. Finally seeing a chance to escape, I try to sneak away to the parking lot, but Calando grabs my shoulder again.
“Alright, alright, Arietta… just let me finish up here…” he says.
“What is it, Calando?” I sigh, readying myself for whatever creepy thing he’s going to say next…
“Take good care of Cory for me.”
What the?! He knows Cory?!
“Cory and I have been friends since Jr. High, but I don’t think he’ll accept any help from me…” Calando continues. “But if you ever need it… I’ll provide it.”
“Why?” Considering how he was hitting on me a few minutes ago, I’m a little worried about what this may mean.
“Because we have the same enemy…”

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Last edited by Android 21 3/7 on Mon Aug 04, 2008 3:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

Part 3 out of 14 (technically 17. There's two TIPS and an epilogue)

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“… I was expecting this…”
I stop by the hospital to check up on Shin and explain what I’m doing. He reacted just as I knew he would. He lies back in his bed, looking as if he has a headache. Then he gives me this sad look. This heartbreaking look… He’s having a harder time setting aside the grudge than I am.
“Shin…”
“Don’t you remember how he used us back then?” he asks quietly. “How he was going to make you take the fall for his crime? How you almost became another victim to his revenge scheme…”
“I remember… I haven’t forgotten a thing… In fact, that’s why I’m helping him… I believe that back then… there were times we were able to make him forget… Times when he’d be truly happy…”
He turns away and looks outside the window so that he won’t have to look at me…
“I don’t want you to be manipulated by him… I don’t want you to be lured into one of his schemes…”
I reach out and grab his hand.
“That’s why I need your help, Greg.”
He looks up at me with surprise, his face a little pink. Aside from that time in the café, I’ve never called him by his real name before… I keep my eyes focused on him, but I can feel a mysterious warmth bloom on my face.
“I need you to pull me out if you find out that I’m wrong…”
Shin lays there, still and silent. His expression is soft, but sad.
“Fine,” he sighs. “Tell me what you have found out so far.”
I tell him what Detective Houdzuki told me about the victim, the prosecutor, and the defense attorney. Shin lies back in his bed with a pained look on his face when I mention the prosecutor.
“Of course. Mr. Wiles. I should have known.”
“I didn’t know you hate politicians,” I remark, surprised at his reaction.
“He’s a ‘family friend’ or so he says,” Shin explains. “Sycophant and parasite would be more accurate. He’s willing to do anything for his career. Anything. Tries to suck up to Father all the time, but fortunately Father can see right through him. I think this case is another attempt to get on Father’s good side.”
“Since you’re a victim?”
“Exactly.”
“Well what about Frank Connors?” I ask. “Does your mom or dad know him at all?”
With some difficulty, Shin pulls a folder out of the bag next to his bed.
“It’s the court record from that case against Cory’s parents,” he explains, flipping through it. “I was giving it a quick read before you came. Father says that Mr. Connors is an okay defense attorney, but lacks the same determination and ingenuity that Mr. Wright and Mr. Justice have. Plus, if his client is especially intimidating, he’ll break down and his performance will be weak.”
“Really?”
“If he thinks he’s going to lose, he’ll advise his client to take the plea bargain.”
“Then… he may give up on Cory too…”
Shin looks up from his folder.
“Sunny, he may give up on Wilder because he’s actually guilty,” he says, clearly exasperated.
“I’m not ready to believe that,” I tell him. “Not yet.”

As I walk out of Shin’s hospital room, I run into my parents. They were waiting nervously in the hallway the whole time.
“Ready to go home?” Dad asks.
I shake my head. “I need to go see Cory’s defense attorney. I need to be his co-council tomorrow. Shin gave me his phone number so I should probably call him before…”
My cell phone… That’s right… When Shin saved me, it was knocked out of my hands and slid across the floor and…
“Mom, can you take me back to the café?”

I was a little worried that the FBI guy would still be there, but I guess we got lucky. Either he went home or he went to get coffee in another café. But when we enter, my hopes of finding my phone drops to zero. They emptied the place. The chairs, the ceiling lights… They even used a blowtorch to remove the tables… Only the countertop is left, probably because its entire base is attached to the floor…
“Wow… All this just for a robbery?” Mom wonders out loud as I walk around. “They really did a number on the place…”
I walk behind the counter just to look at the silent alarm. I even get on my hands and knees to get a better look, but I can’t see anything about it that could help me. Eh, I should have known. I’m not a trained professional, so I shouldn’t have expected much… Then a metallic sheen catches my eye. My cell phone! It somehow slid under a crack between the counter and the floor. What are the odds! And this place is new! Even if my phone is the slimmest model out there, how’d the FBI miss a crack this big? With a little effort, I manage to wedge my finger into the crack and coax the phone out. The pros and cons of owning a super slim phone I guess… I finally get my phone out, but to my surprise, my strap also drags out a… dome-shaped piece of glass or plastic or something… Must be a contact lens… Huh. Really bad place to lose it. I guess this can be called a clue. It’s not like I have anything else to go off of right now. As I look it over, I can hear the ramblings of the manager and owner of the local Lunchland where we sometimes buy lunchboxes.
“Even a civilian can submit evidence into a court of law. Although I am no longer the ‘Cough-Up Queen’, my boyfriends in forensics are able to make the evidence I find official.”
She rambles a lot, especially to Shin, but I’m glad I paid attention when she mentioned “Cough-Up Queen.” Fortunately, my phone still has a decent amount of battery power left in it, so I give the police department a call.
“Hello? May I please speak to Detective Houdz—I mean Detective Skye?”

We stop by the police department to give the contact lens to Detective Houdzuki. Although she was horrified when I told her about what the FBI did to the crime scene, she was still grateful for any possible lead. Once I handed over the lens, she told me she‘d get right on it and tell me the results tomorrow. Mom and Dad are getting a little sick and tired of so many trips today, but they understand this is important to me and they want to be there for me after what happened yesterday. So, they are relieved when I tell them I’m finally ready to go home. Unfortunately, the contact lens had distracted me from the reason why I needed my phone to begin with and I don’t remember until it’s almost time for bed. When I call, all I get is the answering machine so I have no choice, but to wait until tomorrow.

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Last edited by Android 21 3/7 on Mon Aug 04, 2008 3:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

Just so you know (if anyone is reading), this next bit sorta a half chapter, a TIP (I'm a Higurashi/Umineko no Naku Koro ni fan). Which is why I'm posting it on Sunday rather than Wednesday/Thursday. The next part will come on Wednesday/Thursday. Just so you know, in both TIPS (there's only two), we leave Sunny's perspective. She is not privy to any of this. Y'know, in retrospect, these TIPS honestly don't really give you much information. They're mostly there to spice up the story a bit. Eh. Oh well. See you on Wednesday or Thursday...

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It’s December 29th, 3:35 PM. I wait in the visitor’s room and straighten my tie. Orders from above say that I have to get this kid found guilty no matter what. Well I am the best man for the job and everything is in my favor. The witnesses and the accomplice are ready. This should be easy. When I’m through with this job, I’ll only climb higher and higher in the ranks… He should know that there’s no hope for him should this go to court… But to my surprise, when the guard lets him in, he looks as calm and collected as if he was the one on the free side of the glass. The higher-ups were right about him… But maybe I can lull him into accepting my offer.
Without any sort of introduction, he asks, “So he accepted a plea bargain?”
“Those two were caught red-handed at the scene,” I explain, trying to be as friendly as possible. “There was no way to wriggle out of it. The one who survived got a generous one for giving up their third accomplice.”
“Heh. And so he pointed at me.”
“I heard about the careless decision you made. You know, Cory, this doesn’t have to go to court. You can still give this up.”
“Why should I?” he sneers. “I know what really happened.”
The blood stops in my veins. “What do you mean?”
“Come on. We’re both men who hide our true natures. It takes a wolf to recognize another wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
What? How can that be?! How can he know?!
“That’s right,” he continues. “Those two were only caught because of that pawn. Are you familiar with the rules of chess? Pawns that make it to the other side alive can transcend their limits and become the most versatile piece in the game if they want to.”
I grit my teeth. “Do you mean that…”
“I’m letting this go to court,” Cory answers coolly, sitting back in his seat. “I’m playing this game.”
I’m not going to let this punk get to me! “You do realize how big of a disadvantage you have then…” I scowl, hoping to intimidate him.
“I know how to play this game,” he replies almost lazily. “I wasn’t expecting to end up in here, but I have what I need to get myself out. And anyway, games with impossible odds are the most fun.”
Oh this is laughable! He’s not confident! He’s insane! “Impossible is right! You’re stuck in jail! There’s no one on your side! How do you possibly expect to fight your way out of this?”
“If all goes well, I should have Gregory Edgeworth and his impulsive best friend.”
“HAH! A pawn that can’t move and a pawn that crashes headlong into everything against—”
“Against you and all your advantages, all your resources, all your given handicaps…”
“Look, I’m offering you an easy way out, kid,” I explain. “You realize that if you don’t cooperate, you’ll end up with a death sentence!”
He locks eyes with me and we stare each other down for a minute. “It’s just between you and me, old man,” he announces, “and only one of us will win.”
I was hoping to get this over and done with as soon and as smoothly as possible! Well since he’s going to be rebellious like his dear parents, I must say that I’ll enjoy watching him break tomorrow in court!
“In that case, I’ll be there, watching them stick the needle in your arm, brat!”

---

please continue writing! <3 these characters

To sage of minerva: Actually the entire thing has been finished long before I started posting. The reason for the initial delay was that I was in Korea for a month. I only post in chapters per week because I like giving people time to speculate as the story develops. I did that with my last story too.

Due to the forum getting downtime, I'm posting two chapters this week.

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Mom and Dad drive with me to court house the next day before heading off to the studios. They’re still worried about me, but they know that this is something I need to do. I guess this is a way for me to discover if I need to hold onto the grudge or bury it.
“Remember, Sunny. When the trial is over, don’t forget to call us, alright?”
As I watch them drive off, I realize that I might be facing a demon alone. No Mom, no Dad, no Shin… Trying to swallow my nervousness, I lock my motorcycle, enter the courthouse, and walk up to the reception desk.
“Good morning! How may I help you?” the receptionist asks brightly.
“Um… I’m here for the... er… State vs. Wilder trial?”
“Ah! That’s courtroom no. 3. Down that hall, second door on your right. There are two galleries you can sit from. Each is a big door next to either the Prosecution or the Defense Lobbies depending on which one you want to root for. The gallery behind the Defense bench is on your right; the Prosecution’s on your left! Oh and the gigantic door in the middle is for people who want to burst into court and interrupt it dramatically.”

Well, I’m standing in front of the door to the defense lobby… My hands are still shaking… I wonder if I can really go through with this…
“Come on, Sunny… You have to do this…”
My icy cold hand grasps the doorknob and opens the door. Mr. Connors is pacing back and forth in the lobby, nervously looking over the court record. Cory’s sitting on the couch, as cool and collected as ever. I guess he’s being honest with his attorney then. When he sees me peeking in, he instantly walks up to greet me.
“Good morning, Sunny. I wasn’t expecting you to show up.”
It’s elementary school all over again… I feel sick…
“So I see you have decided to throw your lot with me after all.”
Mr. Connors stops pacing with such a start that his glasses nearly fall off his face.
“C-Cory, who’s this?”
“Sunny DeLite. A friend from grade school… sort of… Sunny, this is Mr. Frank Connors.”
“I’ve already heard about him from Shin and Detective Houdzuki.” I offer my hand and Mr. Connors gives a very weak handshake. That’s not a good sign… “Mr. Connors, I’d like to be your co-council for this case.”
“But aren’t you only a high schooler?” he asks, very surprised.
“Two very talented defense attorneys had female teenaged co-council in the past,” Cory counters. “Mr. Wright had Maya and even Ema Skye at one point. Mr. Justice had Trucy. Don’t worry. I doubt she will hamper the case.”
Before Mr. Connors has a chance to argue, Detective Houdzuki walks into the Defense Lobby, though she doesn’t exactly look like she’s in a good mood. Mr. Connors is again so surprised that his glasses actually do fall of his face this time. To my own surprise, Cory doesn’t bother with his innocent face when he turns to face her.
“Ah Detective. We were just talking about you.”
“That arrogant little… Can’t hear anything over the inflation of his own ego…” she mutters to herself as she storms in.
“Ah! Detective Houdzuki! Did you get the results for that contact lens?”
“Sorta,” she replies, handing it to me in a plastic bag. “We didn’t exactly have time for a more detailed analysis, but it seems to be the victim’s.”
“If that is so, why were you ranting about the prosecutor?” Cory asks her.
“Because he dismissed me even before I had the chance to bring it up!” she vents. “He even threatened to lower my pay just for entering the room because I interrupted his phone call. I’m the prosecution’s witness! I’m supposed to be in the prosecution lobby!”
“Then isn’t this a little unethical?” Mr. Connors asks, looking aghast as I take the bag.
“Oh relax, Mr. Connors. It happens all the time,” she reassures him.
At that moment, the bailiff enters the room. “The trial is about to begin. Will the defendant and his lawyer please proceed to the courtroom.”
“Ah! I should be getting back to the prosecution lobby,” Detective Houdzuki tells us before running out the door.
“I’ll be counting on you out there, Sunny,” Cory says, giving me his icy smirk. I still don’t believe he did it, but every time I see that side of him, I can feel my doubt growing…

It’s only a few minutes until trial begins and we’re all in our seats, but I’m already so nervous I feel like I could explode… I can see Mr. Mitsurugi sitting in the gallery above us… It’s kinda nerve-wracking having him watching me like this… And in the back is Calando. Well, Calando did say that he and Cory were friends so I guess it’s only natural that he’d be concerned about how trial is going… Never mind… The girl sitting next to him just slapped him… My thoughts are brought back to the trial when the judge slams his gavel and everyone hushes.
“Court is now in session for the trial of Mr. Cory Wilder.”
“The prosecution is ready, Your Honor,” Mr. Wiles announces from the other side of the courtroom.
“The defense is… um… ready, Your Honor?”
WHAT THE HECK?! Instead of Mr. Connors answering the judge, it was Cory!
“Hmmm… Are you certain you want to do this, Mr. Wilder?” the judge asks him.
“Yes, I’m certain… I think?” Cory answers, looking so nervous that he looks like he could faint. I know this is an act, but I’m still so shocked, I think I just permanently straightened my pigtails! “I… I am within my rights to do this, right?”
“Um, well, yes,” the judge answers. “But you’re only a high school student. Surely, you’d rather leave your fate in the professional hands of your lawyer?”
“He’s here as my legal aide, but I still want to represent myself…”
The judge shakes his head. “If you say so, young man…”
Mr. Connors looks like he wants to dig a hole and bury himself in it. I don’t blame him. I have the sudden urge to do the exact same thing…
“Mr. Wiles, please give the court your opening statement.”
“Two days ago, at the new ‘Hey, Look! Coffee Shop,’ three armed men in ski masks burst into the café and robbed it of its cash,” Mr. Wiles announces smugly. “All the witnesses state that one of them shot the victim when he saw her tripping the silent alarm. Though the police managed to arrest two of the burglars, the third one, the murderer, had eluded them at that point. However, he was soon caught thanks to one of the accomplices and twelve witnesses who came to testify to this effect.”
“I see,” the judge replies. “Then let’s begin. Mr. Wiles, you may call your first witness to the stand.”
“The prosecution calls Detective Skye to the stand.”
The bailiff goes to the prosecution lobby and Detective Skye walks up to the witness stand.
“Detective, your name and occupation, please.”
“My name is Ema Skye,” she says, obviously very well rehearsed in court procedure. “I am the initial investigator and a detective of the Homicide Division.”
“Detective Skye, describe this case for the court,” Prosecutor Wiles orders. I don’t see what’s so bad about him to be honest. He seems similar to Mr. Mitsurugi so far…
“I have here the floor plans of the café,” she says, bringing it up on a projector. She pulls a laser pointer out of her pocket and uses that as she describes the scene. “The body of the victim was found behind the counter here. She died from a shot point blank in the forehead. Since her fingerprints were found on the silent alarm, we presume she was shot because of that. Anyway, seven of the twelve testifying witnesses were scattered all around the café and five of them standing in line here. At about 3:30 PM, the burglars held up the café. One of them left through the back to prep the getaway vehicle, shooting the victim when he was behind the counter. Meanwhile, one witness heard the gunshot and called the police. However, while the other two were emptying the cash register, she is shoved out of the bathroom and surprised the two burglars. She was saved briefly by yet another witness, but was quickly taken as a hostage when they hear police sirens and tried to escape out the back to their escape vehicle. By this point, the murderer had left. Before the other two have the chance to escape, the police surround them. One of the burglars tried to use the hostage to escape, but was shot. We have yet to find out who shot him. The remaining burglar was taken into custody.”
“Hmm… My goodness, this is a very long account of the crime,” the judge says, as the bailiff passes each of us a copy of the floor plan. He looks like he’s having trouble remembering all the details. I guess I don’t blame him. If I didn’t experience half of it myself, I don’t know if I could remember all that either.
“They were robbing a café. There were several witnesses to this murder, so everyone could account for the crime in detail.”
“I see… Well Mr. …er… Wilder, you may begin your cross-examination.”
“Ah! Yes, Your Honor,” Cory replies. Detective Houdzuki gives him a stern look regarding his change in personality, but he pays it no attention. “Ms. Skye, you said that they were wearing ski masks. How could they be sure it was me?”
“You were in a voice line up, remember?”
“Yeah, but still… How can you be sure? I mean even my lawyer sorta talks like me…”
“All twelve of the testifying witnesses definitively pointed to you.”
“Cory, that seems very odd…” I whisper to him. “You were using your innocent voice while in the line-up right?”
“Not really,” he answers. “Corporal Dabble was also there… And he knows the real me. When I tried that stunt, he told me cut it out.”
“Speaking of which, how is your aunt?”
“Sunny, now is not a good time for that,” he scowls before directing his attention back to Detective Houdzuki. “Um… There were more witnesses other than those twelve, weren’t there? Why haven’t they been called to testify?”
Before she has a chance to answer, Mr. Wiles yells “OBJECTION!!” so loud that I swear the courtroom rattled. The judge even dropped his gavel!
“The klutzy witness who stupidly left the restroom is your co-council… Just the fact that she’s acting as your co-council says a lot about her IQ really…
Okay. Now I understand why no one seems to like him.
“Hey! I was shoved out of the bathroom! I didn’t just waltz right out into—”
“And the other witness,” he continues, completely ignoring my interruption, “Gregory Edgeworth the Second, who happens to be the son of an esteemed colleague of mine, heroically shoved the stupid girl out of the path of the bullet, but ended up taking the shot himself. Fortunately, he was only shot in the shoulder and is recuperating in the hospital as we speak.”
“Dude, he totally went out of his way to mention Shin…” I whisper to Cory. “He really is a suck-up.” I sneak a look up to Mr. Mitsurugi’s face and notice it wrinkling in disgust.
Cory ignores me. “Yes… that’s true… but it’s winter break… Wouldn’t there be more people in the café?”
“None of them provided convincing accounts of the crime,” answers Mr. Wiles.
“You mean that none of them would point at me,” Cory retorts, letting a fragment of his actual confidence leak for a second.
“Meaning that I didn’t consider them reliable witnesses, so they don’t matter,” Mr. Wiles argues back. “In either case, twelve is more than enough to convict you so shut it and leave it alone!”
Cory still pretends to be a wide-eyed and guiltless teenager, but fully sheds his nervousness.
“Then I have another point to argue, Mr. Wiles.”
“What?”
“If I was the actual murderer and I wasn’t willing to wait for my accomplices, why would I walk away from the scene when I heard the police sirens? Why wouldn’t I take the car since I was prepping it? After all, I know how to drive.”
“Hmm! That is true!” the judge agrees. “That is a very valid point!”
“It is beyond the court to understand how your mind works, Mr. Wilder,” Mr. Wiles replies.
“You mean how the killer’s mind works,” Cory shoots back.
“Which, until you manage to prove otherwise with evidence, is you, Mr. Wilder.”
“Which is impossible because FBI cleaned out the place before the police could complete their investigation!” Cory yells, losing his temper and his act.
“What?!” the judge yells in shock but no one notices.
“Which is your problem, Mr. Wilder. Not mine,” Prosecutor Wiles sneers, effectively ending the argument. At a loss for words, Cory withdraws. He doesn’t even bother going back to playing harmless and neurotic. Instead, he just clenches his teeth and his nails dig into the defense bench… I guess this is how he gets when things go out of control for him. The way he’s glaring at the prosecutor… Seeing him like this, I’m starting to doubt his innocence myself…
“Um… Well… If we’re done with the detective…” stammers the judge in an attempt to break the suffocating tension, “shall we get to the next witness?”
“Of course, Your Honor,” Mr. Wiles answers. Cory gives a stiff nod. With Cory and Mr. Wiles arguing like that, I completely forgot about Detective Houdzuki. But she seems to be taking all this in stride. Of course, she would. Watching court battles is one of the perks of the job to her.
“Very well. The prosecution may call its next witness.”

---

Well things are finally getting interesting again. Although we won't be seeing any of these witnesses ever again... >> Well, enjoy the random laughs.

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A slender and well dressed woman steps up to the witness stand. She’s pretty, but the way she carries herself… She’s even more high class and snobby than the Mitsurugis.
“Witness, your name and profession?” Mr. Wiles asks her.
“Vivian Daroka. Vivian Lavi Daroka. I am CFO of Bleak Visionary Enterprises.”
“CFO? Doesn’t she mean CEO?” I whisper to Mr. Connors.
“And before you ask, I did mean CFO. CEO and CFO are two different positions,” she announces, as if she was able to hear my whisper from so far away. “The CFO manages the financial risks, record-keeping, and planning.”
“Hmm… I see…” says the judge. “Well, Ms. Daroka, you may—”
“And if you think the name of our company is stupid, don’t come crying to me! It was all our CVO’s idea! His name is Kevin Bleak, so he obviously didn’t mean our visionary is bleak, that’s just his last name! And for your information, CVO is a position that is higher than CEO, but there really isn’t any point to having one higher than CEO since he’s technically supposed to be the CEO! He just calls himself that to make himself feel needed! Even if Bleak is only his last name, his outlook itself is very bleak! You should see him mope in his office all day! You’d have to enter with an umbrella!”
The judge is so startled by the witness’ talk about random business positions and complaints about her boss that he’s too dumbfounded to interrupt her. Mr. Wiles tries several times, but she just ignores him and keeps plowing on and on and on! Dang it! We have eleven other witnesses to talk to!
“OBJECTION!”
Another one rattles the courtroom, even louder than the one from Mr. Wiles!
“P-Prosecutor Edgeworth?” the judge stammers.
“I know this is not my case, but I still object to this witness’ talkativeness!”
“Umm… Objection sustained…” the judge declares weakly.
“Why how dare you!” Ms. Daroka yells back.
“Uh sorry!” Boy, the judge is sure quick to apologize.
“For your information, I’ve worked my butt off to get where I am! Unlike you in your world run by men with your contacts and your unjustified ‘manly superiority’ and—”
“LADY, WILL YOU PLEEEEEAAASE SAVE IT FOR YOUR SHRINK?!” I howl, not able to take anymore. She’s shocked into silence, but seems willing to cooperate now at least.
“You needed my testimony, right? I’ll tell you what I saw because that young lady asked so nicely.”
And now I know how Mr. Mitsurugi feels in court… They can’t all be this annoying, can they?
“Well, I was second in line when the incident occurred. Three brigands burst into the bistro, firearms drawn. The youngest one, that pernicious little boy over there, demanded that everyone drop to the floor and not try anything funny! But as much as I wanted to give him five in the jaw, I didn’t wish to give up my position as CFO. They’d welcome any excuse to give that position to a man let me tell you… Anyway, he then went behind the counter and SLAUGHTERED the poor working class girl who was trying to earn money to get through college and rise up in the ranks of the business world and overthrow the men! And just like that, he leaves through the back door! Doesn’t regret murdering the poor girl at all!”
“Great… A rabid feminist,” Cory mutters.
“Um… The defense may now cross-examine the witness?” Why is the judge asking? Isn’t he in charge of how the court goes?
“Out of curiosity, did you notice anything odd while you were—”
“OBJECTION!!!” objects Mr. Wiles. Do they always have to object so loud? “That is hardly relevant!”
“You didn’t even let me finish!” Cory argues. “It goes to question the witness’ credibili—”
“CREDIBILITY?! OH IT’S JUST LIKE A MAN TO QUESTION A WOMAN’S CREDIBILITY!”
“Argh. You know what? Just… just forget it…” Cory groans. “I have no questions for this witness. Hopefully at least one of the other witnesses won’t be so headache inducing.”
But the witnesses all said the same thing. Except for where they were at the time. And the rest weren’t rabid feminist executive businesswomen…
“And did you notice anything odd while you were—”
“OBJECTION!”
Cory keeps trying to ask them same question, but Mr. Wiles keeps objecting to him.
“Whatever happened before the robbery is irrelevant! There is no point in questioning any of these witnesses’ credibility! They all say the same thing!”
“O-objection sustained?” I think the judge has lost his spine. He’s too easily swayed and Mr. Wiles’ influence is stronger than Cory’s right now… Again, Cory sends such a cold and hateful glare at Mr. Wiles before questioning them on various parts of their testimony. But it was all basically the same thing…
“And so there I was, enjoying a nice vanilla latte. Only it wasn’t nice. They didn’t put in the exact amount of cream I like! Honestly, what kind of back alley brew are they trying to foist upon us?”
“That’s when like… you and your minions like… came in and stuff?”
“And you yelled ‘ALRIGHT! HANDS IN THE AIR! AND NO ONE BETTER TRY TO ACT LIKE A HERO!’ Just like in the movies! But then you walked behind the counter and shot her… Just like in the movies… only… it wasn’t cool anymore…”
No matter what he asked, there was no way to shake any of their statements. If they all saw it with their own eyes, of course it’d be the same… Which can only mean… As the final witness finishes, Cory collapses against his desk, nails digging into the wood again. The expression on his face… It’s even worse than that time Shin confronted him seven years ago… A hundred times worse… Back then, Cory didn’t care whether or not he was caught… But now…
“I believe the prosecution has proven its case, Your Honor,” Mr. Wiles announces with a satisfied smirk.
“Indeed,” the judge nods. “Well, unless the defense has any last minute evidence to turn this around, then I suppose it is time for me to hand down my verdict.”
“No… This can’t be happening…” Cory mutters to himself, nails digging deeper into the table. He looks like he wants to scream… “It can’t end like this… Not like this… Not like this…”
“Then the court finds the defendant…”

“HOLD IT!”
The doors burst open as someone runs up to the witness stand. It’s Calando!
“And again… Every time I try to hand down a verdict, at the last minute someone bursts in to change everything,” the judge mutters to himself, putting down his gavel. “I’m surprised I ever manage to close any cases!”
“My most humble apologizes, Your Honor,” Calando says in a tone of mock respect. But I think the judge missed the mocking part. “But I can’t let it end like this…”
“And why not, young man?”
“Because I was there too. And while I had the good fortune of not being present at the time of the robbery, I still saw the man who left in the back to prep the car and I noticed something that none of the other witnesses mentioned.”
“Your Honor, I object to questioning this witness!” Mr. Wiles yells. “If he wasn’t there, then what he saw, or rather didn’t see, is irrelevant!”
“As a witness, I have a right to testify,” Calando replies, smiling that creepy smile of his. “And I noticed that you never let Cory question the witnesses regarding their credibility.”
“Because twelve witnesses can’t be wrong!”
“Then why don’t I give my testimony and see if it changes anything, hmm?”
“Your Honor, this boy is going to lead the court in circles with a ruse!”
“Then prove your worth as a prosecutor. Prove that my testimony is false.”
“Your Honor!”
The judge sits back in his seat and quietly thinks for a moment. “In my many years as a judge, I’ve seen many unlikely witnesses with unlikely testimonies that have proven people innocent and guilty. If this witness claims to have observed something that contradicts what the other witnesses have seen, then it is the duty of this court to hear him out,” the judge decides before pounding his gavel. “The court will take a five minute recess, after which we shall hear what this young man has to say. Court is adjourned!”

---

Ahahahaha! This is probably my favorite chapter just because Calando is testifying. I don't know why I like him so much, but I do. Anyway, things turn around, true to Ace Attorney style! Although, the way they turn around does not agree with Sunny.

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“Sooo… um… what’s next?”
After returning to the defense lobby and a full two minutes of awkward silence, this is the first thing out of Mr. Connors’ mouth since the trial began.
“You shut up! You haven’t done a thing for me since you’ve taken my case!” Cory snaps. Mr. Connors claps his mouth shut and cowers in a corner.
“What do you think Calando plans to say?” I ask Cory nervously. “Do you think he’s going to make things up since your friends or—”
“Friends?” Cory sneers. In spite of his predicament, he starts laughing. It’s… kinda scary… “Of course he would say that.”
“Huh?”
“Sunny, you and Greg are friends. Calando and I have nothing more than a business agreement.”
“B-business?”
“Well… Considering what his family does for a living, I suppose in his world it is a ‘friendship’…”
Before I have the chance to ask him more about this, the bailiff alerts us that court is about to reconvene.

The atmosphere is as tense as ever, but I’m sensing a certain degree of excitement from the prosecution in spite of his earlier protests. It’s as if everyone knows something about Calando that I don’t…
“Witness, your name and profession?” Mr. Wiles demands, a greedy look glowing through his glasses.
“Calando Cadaverini,” he replies coolly. “Senior year student in high school…”
“And?” Mr. Wiles asks, leaning as far over his desk as he can.
“… Well if you want my extracurricular activities, I can honestly say I have none,” Calando answers. “I used to be a photographer for our yearbook, but I was kicked out after I took pictures of the swim team…”
“When they were in the locker room…” I add. “…Changing out of their swimsuits…”
“AAAANNDD?!?” Mr. Wiles practically yells.
“And what? You want me to list my classes too?”
“Any less than legal activities? More serious than peeping?!”
“Well, I suppose those pictures I took count as pornography, but the whole incident was completely accidental. And there was no harm done. The school confiscated my camera and memory card…”
“I MEAN OTHER THAN THAT!”
“The law says that I don’t have to speak on matters that would incriminate me. Anyway, why are you so persistent about uncovering my vigilante masked superhero identity as Kinetic Man? Or are you my arch-nemesis, Destructo Bolt?”
And an awkward silence descends on the court room…
“Oh did I just say that out loud? I should really learn to stop doing that…”
He totally said that on purpose…
“Ahem!” the judge coughs in an attempt to break the quiet. “Your testimony please.”

“Well, I was there for a job interview,” Calando explains. “So I asked Ms. Terry to let me past the counter and she obliged. While I was introducing myself to the manager, we heard the screams. The manager was about to check it out when we heard the gunshot and deemed it best to stay in his office. We hid behind the manager’s desk, but there’s a small window in the manager’s door. I saw someone walk by, his hand covering his eye as if it was hurt or something.”

“Hmm… This is an interesting detail,” the judge says. “The defense may cross-examine the witness.”
I must admit, I found that detail interesting too. But then, I’m not sure if he’s being completely truthful or not… I turn to Cory to ask what he thinks, but my voice dies in my throat. That look on his face… He’s grinning like a demon…
“Out of curiosity, which eye was he covering?” Cory asks.
“Hmm… I believe it was the left eye. Mind you, I could only see his profile, so that was the only side of his face I could see.”
“By the way,” interrupts Mr. Wiles. “What was this man wearing?”
“I could only see his head, but it was a black ski mask and a black leather glove.”
There’s nothing but doubt in my mind. Calando could easily be lying. He heard what he needed from everyone else’s testimony.
“But none of the other witnesses mentioned the murderer hurting his eye, Mr. Cadaverini,” Mr. Wiles points out.
“Exactly. I thought it was very odd not to mention it,” Calando shrugs. “I thought at least someone would have noticed. An identifying feature of the murderer might be a black eye.”
“Is it really true none of the other witnesses mentioned it, Mr. Wiles?” Cory cuts in, voice as slick as oil. “Not every witness was called to testify today, you know.”
“E-everyone else was too scared to look!” Mr. Wiles stutters, caught off guard.
“What about Gregory Edgeworth the Second?” Cory asks. “As the son of a prominent prosecutor, he knows the importance of witness testimony and would be sure to memorize as many details as possible about the criminals he saw.”
That is a good point actually… I never heard Shin talk about what he saw…
“He’s been shot! He’s still recovering in the hospital! Surely you don’t expect him to remember everything while he was lying on the floor in excruciating pain!”
“You’re forgetting the sequence of events, Mr. Wiles. Greg wasn’t shot until after the murderer left.”
“GAAH!” Mr. Wiles gasps, glasses going askew on his face. Then smoothing his hair, straightening himself up, and regaining his cool, he retorts, “Well, either way, I heard his account of the crime. He didn’t mention the murderer hurting his eye either.”
“Perhaps the murderer didn’t hurt his eye,” Cory muses. “Perhaps he was covering it for another reason.”
“What are you talking about?!” Mr. Wiles shrieks, becoming all frazzled and panicked again. “Why else would he cover his eye?!”
In a flash, Cory whips the contact lens out of my pocket. He’s a better thief than I am.
“The FBI cleared the place, but by chance, my friend here managed to find this while looking for her phone,” Cory explains. “My aunt wears contact lenses. Whenever she loses one, she covers the blurred eye while she looks for it. Now I doubt that the murderer had any time to look for a missing contact lens, so he left half blind.”
I don’t believe it! Cory is lying about the lens I found! Detective Houdzuki said it belonged to the victim! I try to protest, but Cory responds with a glare. It’s enough to kill my voice again…
“If that’s the case, why didn’t any of the other witnesses mention that either?!” Mr. Wiles has completely lost his composure. He doesn’t look so good.
“Who knows? More importantly, did Greg say anything about that?”
“G-Gregory Edgeworth is recuperating from his injury and shouldn’t be called in as a witness!”
“Why not? He’ll be testifying, not lifting weights. It’s not like talking would aggravate his wound.”
“What about this witness?!” Mr. Wiles demands, pointing at Calando. “We have no proof that he’s telling the truth!”
“You wound me, Prosecutor,” Calando sulks almost mockingly.
“There’s another thing that bothers me, Mr. Wiles,” Cory adds. “Why haven’t we heard the testimony of the surviving accomplice? Surely his testimony would have been the most decisive of all?”
“That is true!” the judge exclaims. “Indeed, why hasn’t he been called to the stand?”
“Actually, Your Honor,” Mr. Wiles frowns, “he has been murdered last night… by an inmate on death row…”
The gallery is instantly abuzz with gasps and whispers. I look at Cory for his reaction to this. He doesn’t look that surprised, but his face is grim. I guess he would have known, being in the same prison and all… Did he have a hand in this? Then I turn to look at Calando for his response, but he’s simply got a bored look on his face as he scratches his nose. Then the judge bangs his gavel and everyone quiets down.
“What of Gregory Edgeworth’s testimony?” he asks Mr. Wiles. “Did he mention anything about the murderer’s eye?”
“… Yes…” Mr. Wiles grimaces, as if that word is being torn out of him against his will. The judge strokes his beard in thought before finally banging his gavel again.
“While the twelve witnesses did provide convincing testimony, I must admit that this witness’ testimony brings up some new questions. And as long as there is a possibility that the defendant may be innocent, I can’t hand down my verdict. The prosecution will look into the matter of the contact lens and the status of the murderer’s eye. Interrogate all the witnesses again if you must.”
“… I understand, Your Honor…”
“Very well. Court is adjourned.”

---

Glad these forums are finally back up. I'm too lazy to make an account and repost everything on the old one.

---

We walk back into the defense lobby. Cory is tall and confident. I feel like I should be relieved that we have another day to figure this out… But I don’t… The contact lens… Calando’s testimony…
“Cory, why did you lie about the contact lens?”
He turns and smirks at me. “My life was on the line, Sunny. You’d do the same if you were in my position. And besides, who can really say whose contact this is?” He pulls the bag out of his pocket. “It could be the murderer’s, it could be the victim’s, or it could be another employee’s.”
“Cory, it matched her prescription!”
But Calando bursts through the doors before Cory can say anything else. Cory’s sneer fades. In spite of what Calando had done, Cory doesn’t look all that happy to see him.
“I was great in there, wasn’t I?” Calando announces arrogantly.
“Alright, Calando, exactly how much do I owe you for this?” Cory asks, tapping his foot impatiently.
“‘Owe’?” Calando asks innocently. “Really, Cory, I respect your decisions… I consider this a part of our business agreement, nothing more…”
“‘Business agreement’?!” I repeat, aghast. “Calando, you weren’t making things up in there, were you?!”
“No, of course not,” Calando answers, pretending to be hurt. “It was the truth. I swear it upon my great grandpapa’s grave! I told them everything I saw pertaining to the murderer… I simply left out the fact that I saw Ms. Terry lose her contact after she let me past the counter…”
“WHAT?!” I scream.
“CALANDO!!” Cory yells.
Calando only grins venomously. “Oh… did I just say that out loud?”
“If I may interrupt,” Mr. Connors squeaks, “may I be excused?” I forgot he was even there… Poor man…
Cory gives him a contemptuous look before jerking his head toward the door. Mr. Connors scrambles out as fast as he can, running past Detective Houdzuki who enters just as he’s leaving.
“Alright, Mr. Wilder, back to your cell,” she says, roughly grabbing him by the arm. Then she snatches the bag. “And I’m taking this back.”
This is all too much for me. Cory lied to the court about the contact lens… And I let him…
“Poor Sunny,” Calando simpers, putting an arm around my shoulders. “Why don’t we go for a walk?”
“KEEP AWAY FROM ME YOU SLIMY ROACH!”
I push Calando away as hard as I can and run as far away from the court house as I can until I run out of breath. I want to go to the hospital and cry in Shin’s arms, but at the same time, I don’t want to face him. I pay little attention to the road I take, but I soon find myself at Gourd Lake, staring out at the water… Cory hasn’t changed a bit… He used me again, just like he did seven years ago… And even though I should have known better, I fell right into his trap all over again… I’m so stupid… My thoughts are interrupted by my phone ringing. It’s Shin. I painfully flip my phone open and answer.
“Hey…”
“Father told me about the trial. I would never have expected Wilder to represent himself.”
“You’ll be called as a witness tomorrow…”
“Yeah I know… Hey, Sunny, you don’t sound well. Is something wrong?”
“… He used me again… so I’m not going to work on this anymore…”
He’s silent for a moment. “… I understand…”
“I’ll stop by and visit you later, okay?”
“Sure.”
“Bye…”
I hang up before he has the chance to say “good bye” back and put my phone away. This feeling of betrayal is even worse than seven years ago. Well at least I was expecting it to some degree… I’m jolted out of my thoughts when a pair of hands pushes against my back and almost knock me into the lake! Fortunately, I only spin around the chain fence and land on my butt under it. I spin around to face the culprit only to find that same girl from yesterday.
“Arietta, why did you push me?” I demand, getting up and rubbing my sore bum.
“You’re that girl my brother likes,” she replies apathetically.
“So you were the one who pushed me out of the bathroom two days ago, weren’t you?”
“Mama is always sending Calando out for errands since he’s the heir, but he always gets distracted by girls like you. It would be most efficient if such people disappear.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault your brother’s a skirt chasing scumbag!” I retort, really offended now. And in return, I get a sock in the stomach. She’s got a powerful punch…
“Where was Calando today?!” she shouts, face turning red with anger. “I tried to call him, but he turned his phone off!”
“He was in court…” I wheeze, now massaging the bruised part of my stomach. “Cory was arrested for murder and robbery in that café two days ago…”
The color drains from her face and I brace myself for whatever punishment she’ll dish out on me next.
“YOU HAVE TO TAKE ME TO SEE HIM!” she screams.
“Well, your brother might have left the courthouse by now, so I don’t know where he is.”
“NO, NOT HIM! CORY!”
Huh? Why’s she so worried about Cory of all people?

I drive Arietta to the detention center. I really don’t want to face him again, but I have to tell him that I’m backing out. After talking to a guard, we wait in the lobby. But after five minutes, Arietta suddenly stands up and runs out the door.
“What’s the matter, Arietta? Didn’t you want to see him? The guard should be back in a minute.”
She doesn’t answer. She doesn’t even turn around to look at me. Instead, she runs out the door as fast as she can. I don’t understand her. But then, her logic seems to be pretty screwed up to begin with. Not long after Arietta leaves, the guard comes back.
“Cory Wilder is being interrogated right now,” he explains. “But there is someone else who wants to speak to you.”
“Huh? Who?”
I don’t know anyone else in prison right now… Well at least, I don’t think I do… Unless there are less than legal secrets that my friends have been keeping from me… The guard opens the door to the visitor’s room and sitting on the other side of the glass is a tall man with a long and slender face. I must admit I’m relieved that it’s someone I never met before, but at the same time, it scares me that he claims to know me to begin with. Well, he’s already in prison… Talking to him can’t hurt, can it? But once I’m in my seat, I instantly regret it. Now that I’ve seen him up close, it’s very clear why he knows me even though we never met.
“So you’re Sunny DeLite. We finally meet.”
“Hello, Mr. Wilder…”
It’s definitely Cory’s dad… Cory looks just like him only younger, scruffier, and with darker hair. I’m a little too intimidated to say anything else…
“… I wish the world was filled with more suckers of your caliber,” he sneers. “Helping my son even after you found out he conned you before.”
“Don’t rub it in! I know I’m stupid, okay?” I snap. “Is that the only reason you wanted to see me?”
“No, I wanted to talk to you because I have a message from him,” he answers.
“WELL, I’M NOT GOING TO LISTEN!” I yell. “He used me again! He lied in court! He lied about the evidence I found to get the trial extended another day! Even Calando was in on it! And tomorrow, he’s—”
“Did you say Calando?” Mr. Wilder cuts in. He looks deadly serious… “As in Calando Cadaverini?”
“Calando says they’ve been friends since Jr. High…” I reply, quieting down a little. “Cory says they have a business agreement or something… Why does everyone know Calando anyway?”
Mr. Wilder turns pale and rests his head against his hands.
“That idiot… I told him time and time again…” he mutters as he shakes his head, sounding a little helpless now.
“W-what?”
“There are a set of rules that Auphen and I live by and we expected Cory to follow them as well,” he explains. “No violence, no murder, and stay far away from the mafia.”
“Mafia?” I repeat a little skeptically. That last one seems a little random…
“You… didn’t know that the Cadaverini’s are a famous mafia family?” he asks.
“… Would explain a lot actually…” I admit.
“… He and I are going to have a long talk when he comes back from questioning…” he fumes. “Anyway, here’s the message.” He fishes a slip of paper out of his pocket and passes it to me. “He wasn’t expecting you to help him, otherwise he would have told you yesterday. But judging from what you’ve said to me, I doubt you’re going to bother.”
With that, he gets up and leaves the room. Written on the slip of paper are an address and a set of numbers like a locker combination. I crumple it up in my hand and bitterly stuff it into my pocket.

---

Part 8. Got nothing more to say. Dead tired.

---

“What? You mean you didn’t know about the Cadaverinis?”
I finally visit Shin at the hospital and tell him about the chat I had with Cory’s dad.
“You mean you knew?!” I squeak, equally shocked.
“Of course I knew! He’s more than a Cadaverini! He’s the heir to their criminal empire! I hear about them all the time from Father! And there are rumors about Calando in school! Haven’t you heard them?”
“Hey, I stopped believing rumors since the one in 8th grade about Jeffery growing antlers, dying his skin purple and green, and running off to join a cult lead by door-to-door door salesmen.”
“Oh I remember that one.”
“Do you think Calando was lying about the murderer’s eye?”
“Actually I do remember seeing the murderer crawl around on the floor for a while before one of the robbers told him to prep the car,” he tells me. “He was covering his eye too.”
“So he really wasn’t making that up!” I gasp. I must admit, it’s a relief.
“But I do remember the victim did the same thing just before the robbery.”
“And then there’s the fact that Cory was lying about the contact lens…”
“Actually, Detective Skye told me that the lab is doing more extensive tests on it and even calling Ms. Terry’s optometrist,” he says as he opens up his laptop. “Her autopsy report says she’s missing a lens and the contact does match her prescription, but there’s more to contact lenses than just correcting vision.”
“Huh?”
“Her contact lens and the one you found were rigid gas-permeable. Each contact is made according to certain physical qualities of the person’s eyeball. The initial investigation led to the assumption that it was hers, but a more detailed analysis may prove otherwise. The optometrist said that the prescription does look familiar and that he’d look into it.”
“So then… Cory may not have been lying to the court after all?”
“Happens all the time actually,” Shin says, while browsing old court records on his computer. “It’s perfectly legitimate to question the evidence when there’s room for doubt.”
Wow… Now I feel really guilty for accusing him…
“Wait, so if you knew about the contact lens, why did you suspect Cory too?” I ask.
“Well, Wilder could have gotten bad eyesight during these last seven years for all we know,” he shrugs.
I still feel wounded… I still feel doubt… But this opens a new door. I can’t trust Calando, but I know I can always trust Shin. And looking back… Cory was out for revenge, yes, but it was because he loved his parents that much… He wouldn’t abandon the principles they lived by, right? … But then again, he does have that deal with Calando, whatever it is…
“I guess I shouldn’t give up on this just yet…” I sigh as I get out of my seat.
“Huh? What do you mean?” he asks, looking up from his computer.
“Well, Cory left me a message,” I tell him, pulling the crumpled slip out of my pocket. “I don’t know what this means, but it might be worth looking into.”
He looks a little crestfallen and worried. I don’t blame him…

The address on the slip of paper belongs to a one-story house not far from Vitamin Park. It’s a nice surprise really… I was expecting a dingy, smoky bar with complimentary pool table and huge, unwashed, beefy thugs… But this is a pleasant, average looking house, complete with a homey lawn in the front that’s being taken over by homely little weeds. Even the doorbell chime is cute.
“Coming!” a woman inside calls. Then the door opens.
“Ms. Sieve!”
“Sunny!”
It’s Cory’s aunt! … Okay, why didn’t I see it coming earlier?!
“So you heard about Cory’s arrest, then,” she sighs before letting me in.
“Actually, I was his co-council. Didn’t you know that?”
“… I didn’t go see the trial,” she admits guiltily. “I’m still having trouble facing my sister’s crime, you know. Going to Cory’s trial would be even more painful… And I thought we were finally getting through to him…”
“‘We?’”
Ms. Sieve blushes meekly. “It’s not Ms. Sieve anymore, Sunny. It’s Mrs. Dabble. It has been for about five years now.”
“Oh that’s great!” But I guess I can understand why Cory didn’t want to talk about it. We were in court at the time and if my dad ever died or got divorced, I wouldn’t want Mom to remarry… “Anyway, does Cory have a safe or something? He gave me the combination to a lock…”
“Umm, actually…” Mrs. Dabble glances upstairs at the door to what I assume is Cory’s room.

It’s not a safe, per say… It’s more of a file cabinet with a combination on the top drawer.
“Aspen tried to open it when Cory got arrested. Thought he might find something in there, whether it would prove him innocent or guilty…” Mrs. Dabble says quietly as I roll the numbers. “He just wanted answers…”
Unfortunately it takes me a while to get the combination right… Cory’s handwriting is better than mine, but not by much… And I made it worse when I crumpled up the paper… I wonder what he keeps in here that he thought could help me… Voo Doo dolls of the prosecutor? … Proof of some alibi or something? … Or does he just have porn in here? Does he want me to deliver it to him? … Well I guess that’s highly unlikely… The guards would bust him… Finally, the drawer slides open and we get to peek inside. …It’s the most anticlimactic thing ever…
“A binder?” Mrs. Dabble wonders as I lift it out and flip through it. “Well I must say it’s a relief… Truth be told, I was expecting a gun…”
As I skim through the pages, I realize why he kept it locked away.
“Mrs. Dabble, this is a scrapbook…” I gasp.
It’s full of copies of newspaper articles and court documents, and they all have very old dates. They’re all about Mr. Mitsurugi!
“‘Rumors of a Demon Prosecutor’… ‘Another Case Won through Questionable Means’…” I read out loud, growing increasingly shocked with every title I see. “I… I had no idea! Does Shin know about this?!”
The titles grow increasingly grim with every page. Court documents with certain testimonies and evidence circled in red pen with corresponding newspaper articles… Mrs. Dabble starts reading over my shoulder to get a look.
“‘The Demon Prosecutor’s First Loss! The Veteran Genius Falls at the Hands of a Rookie Defense Attorney’…” she reads. “‘Miles Edgeworth arrested for murder’… ‘The Truth is Out! Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth used Falsified Evidence in the Joe Darke trial!’”
“Mrs. Dabble, do you think he did the same thing in your sister’s trial?” I ask, a little scared at what the answer might be… I live across the street from them. Mr. Mitsurugi is always slightly grumpy, but he always seems honest… Even painfully blunt… And I always liked him in spite of his meanness.
Mrs. Dabble shakes her head. She doesn’t look at all surprised at these articles. “I can personally attest to his use of legitimate evidence,” she assures me in a sad and bitter voice. “Anyway, I’ve read these in the newspaper years ago,” she explains as she turns another page for me. She then points at the title at the top of the next page. “‘Corruption in the Justice System! Chief Prosecutor and Chief of Police have Forged Evidence!’ Basically, that article says he had no idea that the evidence was fake.”
We continue to read through the scrapbook. Mr. Mitsurugi’s section wasn’t as long as I thought it would be. After a sensational article talking about his possible suicide and a long one about his mysterious reappearance after a year in the Matt Engarde case, the ones afterward were either short or focused more on the case than on him. I guess he lost the media’s tabloid interest. But the scrapbook doesn’t end there. Cory had abruptly stopped following Mr. Mitsurugi’s articles and cases and instead, turned his attention to something that seemed completely unrelated.
“Hmm… The common theme in these ones seem to be mafia activity…” I note as I flip through them. “‘Popular Fast Food Chain Closed Down Under Suspicion of Money Laundering’… What’s money laundering?”
“Simply put, they use money gained illegally to fund other businesses and who pay them legitimate money in return after they’ve established themselves,” she explains as she reads through the articles herself. “‘The FBI wouldn’t release any further details, but word on the street is that the culprits are a new mafia organization.’”
There are a lot of articles like this… I don’t bother to read them all… But the mafia trend continues to the final page of clippings.
“… I think I finally understand…” I murmur as I close the scrapbook. “Cory no longer blames Mr. Mitsurugi…”
“Perhaps, but I find this just as worrying,” Mrs. Dabble sighs as she stares at the cover. “They were truly guilty. I know that. Cory knows that… But he was raised to believe that conning people was okay… He’s still trying to find someone to blame for why they’re in jail, rather than accepting that it was their own fault…”
“Well, better some vague mafia than a specific person,” I comfort… rather lamely… “But I wonder how he came to this conclusion…”
“Next time you see him, please ask him for me…”
“… But you should ask him yourself…”

---

What? It's Wednesday. It's after midnight. Anyway, we finally find another piece of evidence and find out more about the forces at work in the background.

---

“Shin, I found out something interesting!”
I’m sitting in Vitamin Park, leaning against my motorcycle. I can’t talk on the phone while I’m driving. It’s too hard to hear him over the engine.
“You sound excited,” he replies. “Must be good news.”
“Cory’s not blaming your dad for incarcerating his parents anymore!” I announce brightly. … Though I must admit, I must have sounded really stupid just now.
“… Er… that’s it?”
“Actually, he seems to think that some mysterious mafia group is responsible somehow… I was about to head to the Detention Center to ask him directly, but I was wondering if you get his logic at all.”
I then read to him some of the article titles, dates, and journalists as well as a few snippets of some of the articles.
“So any ideas?” I ask.
“Err not really… I don’t see any sort of connection to his parents’ case,” he replies sounding a little confused.
“The FBI are hiding a great deal in each of these. Think your dad could pull some strings? There’s gotta be something. I mean, Cory is hateful and bitter, but he always had some reason behind the things he does.”
“Doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good,” he replies bitterly. “He tried to break us apart because I was the closest thing he could get to revenge against Father, remember?”
I have to admit he’s right… The truth is so hard to swallow… I guess my enthusiasm was getting to me…
“But there has to be some connection,” I push. “The Wilders said they stay as far away from the mafia as possible…”
“That’s why I’m suspicious about this lead,” he sighs. Then I hear a beep. We’re both silent for a while until I hear him sigh again. “Alright, I’ll ask. But I honestly doubt Father can really get much from the FBI.”
“Wow. Why the change of heart?”
“Because results for the contact lens just came in. They’re not the victim’s.”
And with that, he hangs up. It doesn’t matter. There was nothing more to be said. Cory must be innocent. If Cory had lost a contact, he’d have been wearing glasses. And he didn’t seem to have any trouble seeing in court today.

Fortunately, when I got there, he was finished with questioning. When I saw him though, he looked much more subdued. Did his dad chew him out that bad?
“I honestly didn’t expect you to come…” he admits, looking down at the table. “Especially after what Calando said… And Dad told me all about your tantrum…”
“Cory, the contact lens didn’t belong to the victim,” I tell him, completely ignoring what he was saying. He perks up instantly. I then pull the scrapbook out of my bag and show it to him. “And I got this, but I have no idea how this is supposed to help. Was it just to convince me that you’re not blaming Mr. Mitsurugi anymore?”
He’s not subdued anymore, but he looks dead serious.
“You get the general connection between the articles after his, right?”
“Yeah. Mafia. Um… You’re not manipulating Calando, are you?” I ask nervously. “Because if he finds out, you’re a dead man.”
“It’s as I told you. We have a business agreement. Those articles aren’t talking about his family. Besides, in case you didn’t know, the Cadaverinis have been around for ages.”
“So then, who are these articles talking about?”
“There was this new group popping up around the time when we were born. The Cugine.”
“So why are you looking them up?” I ask, flipping through the pages again. “I mean, there’s no hint that they were even remotely involved in your parents’ case.”
“That’s between me and my parents,” he evades. “But I’m fairly sure they’re involved in this case too… I just don’t have proof…”
“What makes you think they’re involved in this?”
“I’m leaving that up to you to find out,” he answers. If he didn’t look so grim about all this, I’d be ticked off, thinking he’s pulling my chain again. “If I tell you, you’ll be preconditioned to look for something specific which may not even exist. And right now, you’re in the best position to find the proof we need.”

Unfortunately, I’m completely clueless as to what to do, so I end up driving to Gourd Lake, sit on a bench, and read the scrapbook. I wish Cory had at least given me a hint on where to start… What I wouldn’t give for one right now…
“Hello, Sunny…”
It’s Calando…
“I want to apologize about what happened in the lobby today,” he says. “Perhaps I did overstep my boundaries.”
He looks sincere this time, but I don’t know if I can really trust him… Still, if anyone knows about mafia politics, he would… Great. Now I’m thinking like Cory…
“Calando, you’re… um… in the mafia or something right?” I ask reluctantly. If it’s true and if I can take what I’ve seen in movies seriously, they’re going to kill me once this is all over. But then again, if it is true, Calando would speak in my defense, right? Right?
“Now where did you hear that?” he smiles deviously. “Surely you don’t take the rumors seriously. Especially since that one about Jeffery and the cult.”
“I heard it from Cory’s dad,” I admit. “And Shin. And he heard it from his dad. And Cory told me about how your family has been one of the top mafia families for ages.”
He stops smiling. “… Hm.”
“Don’t worry, Calando, I’m not asking for the sake of gossip,” I reassure him, showing him the scrapbook. “I’m asking because I need your help. Cory left me this, so I thought maybe you could fill me in on mafia politics.”
“… Sunny, do you care about the politics that govern our country at all?”
“No. They’re always arguing about the same things, but never really get anywhere.”
“Exactly.”
… Well this puts a damper on things… Now I’m right back to where I started…
“I don’t even have any intention on inheriting the family business,” he continues, flicking a bit of lint off his shoulder. “Arietta is far more responsible than I and far more interested too.”
“She was looking for you earlier.”
“She’s always looking for me. I try my best to avoid her.”
“Why? She’s your sister. And she’s only like 11 or something, so you should look after her.”
“In spite of everything she says and does, she knows that it’s not girls like you that she wants to get rid of. It’s boys like me.”
… This is the most honest I’ve ever seen him.
“… She hates you that much?”
“No, she doesn’t hate me. She loves me very much and hates herself for thinking that way, so she takes it out on the girls I hit on.”
“Well, no one likes a player, but not everyone as openly aggressive about it.”
“She has her reasons,” he says vaguely, getting off the park bench. “Now back to the matter at hand…”
“I understand if you can’t help.”
“Actually I was lying,” he says, smiling deviously again. “Cory has asked me a great deal about the Cugine as he was compiling that thing.”
“WHAT?! Wait!? So all that just now was a lie?!”
“I’m a compulsive liar,” he answers sweetly, leaning back against the fence. “I thought that if I told a tear jerking tale, I’d feel more human to you and girls like that kind of thing.”
And the next instant, he’s fallen into the lake. Because I pushed him. Jerk.
“Hmm… I suppose I shouldn’t have said that out loud…” he muses as he gets up and wades to shore.
“Alright, Calando, stop wasting my time and tell me what you know!”
“Well, what I’ve heard is that even though they’re relatively new, they’ve got agents everywhere. Most of these agents aren’t related by blood, of course, and are a variety of races and social positions, so it’s difficult to figure out who is a Cugine and who isn’t. That said they don’t know when to back down from a fight. There have been several clashes between them and the other, older families, so their numbers have been whittled down, either from the fights or for desertion. Recently, they’ve been forced to use their most valuable sleeper agents for jobs that would normally require professional criminals…”
“And once you join the mafia, the only way out is death, so there’s no way they could back out,” I deduce. I think I understand where this is going now… But my train of thought is interrupted by a sharp pain in my scalp.
“AAAHHH!” I shriek, grabbing the base of my pigtails. “HEY! QUIT PULLING MY HAIR!”
It’s Arietta!
“CALANDO, I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU EVERYWHERE!!” she screams at him. “WHY ARE YOU WET?! YOU’LL CATCH PNEMONIA!”
“Sunny was resisting my charms,” he replies coolly. “But such resistance only fans the flames of my passion.”
“And as for you, WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THIS?!” she yells at me, shoving Cory’s scrapbook in my face.
“Cory let me have it,” I explain, a little startled with her reaction to the book. “He said I was in the best position to help him right now.”
Arietta’s fury dissolves, but is replaced by this crushed look. Before I know it, I’m in the lake.
“W-what’d I do?” I stammer at her. She glares at me hatefully with tears in her eyes before she runs away, carrying the scrapbook with her. “H-hey! I still need that!”
Calando doesn’t bother chasing after her, but instead, chooses to help me up. Lucky for us both, it’s unseasonably warm for December.
“Okay, I understand that she doesn’t like me because you hit on me, but why’d she take the scrapbook?” I ask, wringing out my hat.
“Oh simple. She has a crush on Cory.”
“WHAT?!” Oh my gosh! Poor girl! She has such bad taste in boys!
“And since you basically said that you’re the most important person to him right now, you’ve incited her jealously.”
“Oh no… I’m going to go talk to her!” I tell him as I wade to the fence.
“Maybe I should come with you, just in case you need medical assistance…” he suggests, “…or mouth-to-mouth…”
“Oh ha ha!” I scoff before slipping and falling face first back into the lake’s muddy bottom. This is not a good day…
“Maybe a kiss for your bruised ego?” he weasels. I glare at him as I leap over the fence and run after Arietta.

I find her in the parking lot, clutching the scrapbook and crying next to Calando’s car.
“Arietta?”
She looks up and is about to run off again, but I grab her by the wrist.
“Look, Arietta, Calando told me about your crush and I just want to tell you that I don’t like Cory in that way!” I explain as quickly and gently as possible. I quickly explain our childhood, the reason why I’m helping him, and why he said I was important. She seems to relax a bit after hearing my explanation, but she still doesn’t look quite satisfied.
“I still don’t get it,” she says when I finish. “If you hate him so much, why are you helping him?”
“It’s not hate…” I try to explain, unsure how to word it exactly. “Maybe Shin hates him, but for me it’s more about pain than hate. I guess I’m helping him because I’m hoping that it will help all of us get over that incident.”
Arietta is silent for a moment, unable to decide whether to believe me or not. Finally she gives me back Cory’s scrapbook.
“I want to help him too…”
I smile at her, glad that she no longer sees me as an enemy. She sheepishly smiles back. Finally. This girl doesn’t smile enough.
“Now then, let’s get acquainted properly! I’m Sunny DeLite.”
“Arietta Cadaverini.”
“Can I call you Ari?”
“No. I hate it when people call me Ari.”
“Well how about Doki?”
“… That’s even worse than Ari. It’s Arietta. Anything else will warrant you a punch in the stomach.”
“Fair enough. Well, now that that’s settled, let’s go back and discuss this with Calando,” I declare, getting up. “I still need a lead.”
“You might have already stumbled onto one.”
“EEP!”
It’s Calando! How long has he been standing there? And what is he holding?
“And literally stumbled,” he repeats, now twirling it around his fingers. “You tripped on this in the lake.”
“In the lake? What was that doing in the lake?” I ask, still unable to tell what it is.
“Obviously, someone was ditching an incriminating gun barrel,” Arietta replies. How does she know so much about… Never mind. When the mafia is involved, the less I know, the better.
“I wonder if the gun that was previously attached to it was legally licensed to the criminal shooter,” Calando wonders. “After all, it’s only the barrel that leaves the ballistic markings. By changing barrels, you could essentially change the gun’s fingerprints.”
He then tosses it to me, and the first thing I notice is that the barrel has a gash on it. The scratch looks like it should continue to the handgrip. Or was that just when I tripped on it? I know that there’s litter at the lake bottom.
“Well, even if it has nothing to do with our case, we should still turn it in to the police,” I decide, looking it over.
“Need a lift?” Calando smiles deviously. “My car is pretty fast.”
“I prefer motorcycles,” I dismiss. No way am I getting in the same vehicle as this guy.

---

Part 10. Why has only one person commented? D: Come on people! It's almost over! I'd really like your input! Pleeeaaase?

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Arietta insists on staying outside with the motorcycle. Well we are at the police precinct and she is a Cadaverini.
“You found this in the lake?” Detective Houdzuki asks, inspecting the barrel. “Where’s the rest of the gun?”
“Calando said that the gun itself might be legally licensed, so the owner ditched the barrel after the crime,” I explain.
“It certainly looks like it shoots 9mm bullets. Of course, that’s hardly conclusive… Hmm… Interesting scratch.”
“Actually that might be from when I tripped on it. Maybe it scratched against a broken bottle or something.”
“I doubt that,” she says, removing the barrel from her own gun and replacing it with the one I found. “Well let’s test this right now.”
Whoa! Right now? She hands me a pair of headphones and signals for me to follow her… She’s… not going to shoot me, is she? Of course she wouldn’t. She’d hand me a blindfold if she was going to shoot me. Oh yeah and not to mention that that’d be murder. She talks to someone in a lab coat for a minute and he drags out a giant block of what looks like icky yellow Jell-O.
“This is ballistics gel,” she explains, putting her headphones on. “If we shoot at this, we should get the bullet in perfect condition for comparison.”
Follow her lead and put on the headphones. Well it’s certainly a relief. Dang it, Sunny, no more action movies for you! She takes a couple of steps back and fires at the gel.
“Okay, technically this needs a more in depth and official analysis from the forensics department,” Detective Houdzuki admits as she fishes out the bullet. “And of course we still don’t have the bullet that came from the victim…” she grumbles.
Oh right. I forgot. The FBI still have the other bullet. So much for that lead.
“Even so, I’ll pass these over to the guys at the lab,” the detective sighs. “It may still be related to some other case.”

I leave her office, but on my way out, I see Prosecutor Wiles dragging a kicking and screaming Arietta into the building. Uh-oh. Maybe bringing her here was a bad idea after all.
“Oh did she do something wrong?” I ask.
The next instant, an officer grabs me by the arm and leads me to the interrogation room.
“Hey! What’s going on here?!” I demand.
“Sorry, Miss, but the prosecutor wants to interrogate you too.”

I wait for a couple of minutes while the police officer sits there, doing sudoku.
“Um, aren’t you supposed to be interrogating me?” I ask tentatively.
The officer only shrugs. “He said he wanted to interrogate you himself,” he answers, not looking up from his sudoku.
Finally, Mr. Wiles bursts in, looking a little roughed up. I guess Arietta put up a good fight. But he says nothing on the subject, and practically throws himself into his seat.
“So!” he fumes, smoothing his hair. “I assume you know why you’re here, Ms. DeLite?”
I don’t answer. He looks like my history teacher on a bad day. On those kinds of days, when he asks a question, no matter how you answer, he blows up in your face. Of course, he doesn’t react well to the silent treatment and neither does Mr. Wiles by the looks of it.
“WHY WERE YOU ACTING AS THE DEFENSE’S CO-COUNCIL?!”
“… Because I don’t think Cory is a murderer.”
“AND WHY WERE YOU CAUGHT ASSOCIATING WITH ARIETTA CADAVERINI?!”
“I’m kinda babysitting her for Calando, I guess…”
“AND HOW IS IT THAT YOU KNOW CALANDO CADAVERINI?!”
“Cory, Shin, Calando, and I all go to the same high school. I thought you knew that, working with Mr. Mitsurugi and all.”
This goes on for a while until finally he’s reduced to sputtering angrily at me while the police officer behind him continues onto the next page. Finally, he gives up and rips the sudoku book out from under the officer.
“Isn’t there anything we can hold her for? Truancy?”
“During winter break? Not likely,” the officer says, yawning.
“Being related to a criminal?”
“That’s not a crime. Anyway that was years ago and Mr. DeLite was cleared of all charges.”
Now I’m really curious. However, before I get the chance to ask, Mr. Wiles slams on the table with a crazed triumphant look on his face.
“I GOT IT! Associating with a suspected criminal!”
The officer and I stare at him blankly.
“If that’s a crime, you should arrest everyone in my high school,” I reply, “including Shin.”
“Prosecutor Wiles, I don’t understand why you want to lock her up so badly,” the officer adds, stealing back his sudoku book.
“BECAUSE WITH HER OUT OF THE WAY, WILDER WON’T HAVE A CHANCE IN COURT TOMORROW!”
The silence that comes afterward is deafening. None of us were expecting this. Even Mr. Wiles looks shocked at his outburst. He smoothes his hair, adjusts his glasses, and straightens his tie.
“I suppose we’ll get nothing more out of her,” he says, as if the last few seconds never happened. “I’m going to the detention center to see if I can get anything more out of our defendant.”
As the prosecutor leaves, the officer and I stare at each other in shocked silence at Mr. Wiles’ explosion.

“So they finally let you out,” Arietta greets, getting out of her seat.
“They kinda had to,” I answer, giving a half-hearted laugh. “But Prosecutor Wiles wanted to arrest me so bad. I suppose the entire police department heard him?”
Arietta shakes her head. “The interrogation rooms are sound proof,” she explains. “It’s to prevent people from hearing each other through the walls and corroborate stories.”
We leave the precinct and head for my bike.
“What did he say?” Arietta asks, putting on the spare helmet.
“He said he wanted me out of the way so I couldn’t help Cory,” I reply, pulling out my cell phone. “He looked so shocked that he actually said that out loud… Do you think he might be a Cugine?”
“It’s possible. We can never tell who is and who isn’t…” Arietta sounds sad as she says this. I guess her family was surprised by sleeper agents in the middle of a fight. “Where are we going now?”
“I don’t know… I’m not as smart as Shin and Cory,” I admit, typing up a text message. “I’m no detective. My only lead died because the FBI is withholding evidence, but I’m hoping Shin can revive it for me.”
To my surprise, he calls me just as I’m about to send my message.
“Sunny, I heard you were taken in for questioning,” he blurts out. “What happened?” He sounds a little worried.
“Wow… News travels fast.”
“Detective Skye told me. She saw you getting dragged off to the interrogation room.”
“Yeah. Prosecutor Wiles was trying to find an excuse to lock me up,” I sigh.
“What? Why?”
“Because I’m helping Cory, apparently. Calando and I found a gun barrel in the lake so I gave it to the detective. But we can’t tell if it’s linked to this murder unless we can get the bullet from the FBI. Speaking of which, your dad have any luck?”
“Only that they have suspicions that the mafia is indeed involved in this, but they didn’t give any names. But I think he should be able to get the bullet from them,” he answers. His voice has a hint of worry in it again. “Did you say you and Calando found it? How do you know he didn’t plant it there?”
“Why would he have the gun barrel that murdered the victim?” I ask, trying to hide my own doubts. “We both know he didn’t do it and even if one of his people did, there’s no way he’d open them to incrimination or pin it on Cory.”
“Well, we’ll know once Father manages to get the bullet, I guess.”
“Thanks, Shin.”
“What do you plan to do now?”
“I dunno…” I sigh again. I suddenly hear a beep on my cell phone. “That’s my call incoming. I guess I’ll talk to you later.”
“Alright, bye…” Just as always, he’s worried about me… I end his call and pick up the incoming one.
“Hello?”
“SUNNY DESIREE DELITE, WE TOLD YOU TO CALL ONCE THE TRIAL ENDED FOR THE DAY!!”
“GAHH! MOM?!” My ears are ringing and I think I nearly had a heart attack! “Sorry! I was preoccupied! I forgot!”
Arietta looks up, interested at the sound of Mom chewing me out.
“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED WE WERE?!”
“Well in my defense, trials have gone on until like, five before…” I answer meekly. “Mrs. Mitsurugi told me so.”
“WE GOT WORRIED SO WE CALLED HER JUST NOW!” Oh busted… It must be plain on my face. Arietta is giggling. “SHE SAID TRIAL HAS BEEN OVER FOR HOURS NOW! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS?!”
“Almost three PM?”
“THAT’S RIGHT!” she continues to yell. “I WANT YOU TO GO TO THAT LAWYER’S OFFICE AND TELL HIM THAT YOU WON’T BE COMING TO COURT TOMORROW! IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?!” I can also hear my dad howling in the background. “SUNNY, PLEEEEAAASE DO AS YOUR MOTHER SAYS!”
“Alright… I’ll stop for the day… I’ll go to Mr. Connors’ office and tell him what I’ve found and then I’ll come home…” I give in. “But I need to go to court tomorrow, Mom. I need to see this through.”

The ride to the office is silent mostly. Understandable since the motor makes conversation difficult. But suddenly, Arietta breaks the silence.
“You sound like a very happy family…”
“Wow. After hearing my mom chew me out like that, you really think so?” Her statement really caught me off guard.
“… Do your mom and dad love each other very much?”
Awkward question… “Well I like to think so. At least, I think they’re very happy together… Although they’re keeping something from me… I wonder what my dad’s stint in prison was for…”
After another moment of silence, I offer to drop her off at her house after the trip to the office and she gives a small nod. It seems family is a sad topic for her. I guess her parents’ marriage isn’t a happy one. When we get to the law office, she surprises me with another question.
“You said you don’t like Cory that way… Do you like my brother that way?”
“No,” I answer a little too flatly. I instantly feel bad for it. “Sorry, Arietta, but he creeps me out. Besides, I already have a guy I like.”
For some strange reason, she looks disappointed. “So is it Shin?”
I can feel myself turning red. “Well we aren’t formally going out, but we have been friends since we were little. And that was the second time he saved me…”
“If you end up getting married, do you think you’d be happy for the rest of your life?” More awkward questions.
“Well, no one can say for sure, but I like to think so. I mean, we’ve been at each other’s side for so long already… Why all these questions, Arietta?”
She looks down at her shoes. Her reply is so quiet that I almost couldn’t hear it. “I want a relationship like your parents, not mine…”

---

Yes! I'm here!

Lots of comments for you! This is an amazing fic, and I quite like Calando too, for some unexplained reason -

Oh yes, and:

PLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAASE KEEP WRITING!!!

8D INPUT! HOORAY!! *bear hug* I have the whole thing already finished though. I'm just posting slowly for the sake of suspense, cliffhangers, and time for people to think it over.

Anyway, Tip 2. The narrator is the same guy as Tip 1.

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TIP#2

The death of the accomplice certainly threw a kink into the works. Still, I never imagined that girl would cause the trial to go an extra day. She and that Cadaverini boy ripped open a hole in my plans! Furthermore, Gregory Edgeworth is going to be called into court tomorrow. He’s not a witness that I can coerce easily and of course, that pompous father of his will keep him well protected. And most sickening of all, that boy is sitting across from me with a satisfied smirk on his face.
“Surprisingly effective, isn’t she?” he sneers. “She isn’t much of a thief, but she has a knack for finding things. Of course, I would have preferred Gregory Edgeworth to do this job instead, but she was far more likely to help me. Not to mention that Greg can’t do much while he’s stuck in the hospital.”
“Alright, Wilder, what are you up to?” I snarl.
“I’m going to finish it tomorrow in court,” he says, laying back in his seat. “I’m going to rip off the sheepskin and reveal the wolf.”
“HAH! You think you can break me?”
“You really doomed yourself by taking this case. But of course, others like you have made the same mistake. Always motivated by personal reasons.”
I can’t stand this… Him sitting there, looking so smug. If there wasn’t this glass between us, I would punch that grin off his face.
“You think you’ve already won?! I’m still in the best position to sabotage your plans!”
“The stakes are indeed high. At this point, whoever loses is the one who will end up dying here.”
“And what about that girl? You put such confidence in her! She’s so dim that she’s wandering around in a fog!”
“She may not be smart, but she’s no airhead. When she wants a moment to herself to think, she likes to go to Gourd Lake, especially on the foggy days…” he casually muses.
My blood runs cold. “What’s that got to do with anything?” I ask. Surely he’s bluffing. But he smiles a wide cold smile and looks me in the eye with eyes that seem to freeze me from the inside out.
“I mentioned the chess metaphor yesterday. But you assumed that I was talking as if I were the king in this grand scheme. The truth is I wasn’t. They were expecting the heist. They were ready for it. And when your group set out to frame me, they contacted me accordingly. Your group is not only running out of members, but now you have to be cheap with your firearms as well, don’t you? Luckily for me, you chose to dump the incriminating barrel in Gourd Lake, the place that Sunny usually goes to to sort out her thoughts. If you didn’t, Calando would have had to nudge her in the right direction and that would lead to suspicious questions about how he knew and we’d have that issue of trust all over again.”
The situation is quickly spiraling out of control! I knew this boy had Cadaverini connections, but I didn’t realize that they were expecting the robbery! That means this entire case has been a trap from the beginning! I need to contact the boss immediately!

END OF TIP#2

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I know, but that sounds better than, say:

PLEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAASE KEEP REMEMBERING TO POST!

Y'see? And yes, I do like the Ron smileys.

TIP#2: D: Drama!

Yeah, Furtzurbus, you've got a point. Anyway, part 11

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“I’m sorry. Mr. Connors is not in at the moment,” Tracy Rees, Mr. Connors’ secretary, apologizes. I could have guessed. Judging from the sound on her computer, she’s playing World of Warcraft. “But he called in saying that he’ll be returning. Would you like a cup of coffee while you wait?”
“Yes, please.” I never turn down a free cup. Or anything that’s free for that matter.
Arietta and I sit quietly in Mr. Connors’ office, sipping on our coffee, but after a while, the caffeine gets the better of us and we get bored as we wait.
“I wonder what sort of evidence Mr. Connors was able to find for the case?” I wonder out loud as I flip through the documents on his desk.
“They don’t really look related…” Arietta notices.
“Eh I’m not too surprised. He’s probably keeping them with him,” I shrug.
“Excuse me, but could you girls help me find my contact?” Ms. Rees calls out from the hall. “I think I dropped it.” Arietta promptly goes out to help Ms. Rees, but at the same time, my phone rings.
“Sunny!” It’s Shin. And he sounds excited. Whether it’s the good kind or the bad kind, I can’t really tell. “We finally got the results for the contact lens from yesterday!”
“Oh really?” I ask, as I start searching the desk drawers. “Whose is it?”
“Oh dear. I hope I find it,” Ms. Rees says to Arietta as they look. “It’d be horrible if I lost my contact.”
“Sunny, the contact lens belongs to—
“You know, I don’t keep a spare set of glasses here like—
Mr. Connors.”
Shin and Ms. Rees say that name at the same time. At the same time, I open the bottom desk drawer and spot a gun. I can feel the blood drain from my face. The gun has a smooth barrel, but a gash on its handgrip matching that of the barrel we found.
“Sunny? Sunny? Hello? Are you there?”
My body feels cold, but I can feel a hand close my phone for me and a firm grip on my shoulder.
“It’s not nice to look through other people’s property, Ms. DeLite.”
A scream finally escapes from my lungs as I wrench myself out of his grip, grab the gun, and point it at the speaker’s forehead. Just as I thought, it’s Mr. Frank Connors. He looks nothing like the cowed little man in court today. He feels more like Cory did when I saw him in the detention center yesterday. Except even worse. I now know this man is actually capable of murder.
“Now now, Ms. DeLite,” he coaxes in an oily voice that makes me feel sick to my stomach. “That won’t do you any good. There are no bullets in that gun.”
To test his words, I fire a couple test shots at the wall behind him and find that it’s true. From the hall, I can see that Ms. Rees now has Arietta in a lock. So she’s in on it too… Mr. Connors reaches behind him and pulls out another gun. With his other hand, he pulls out a case of bullets and loads it.
“You see, I make it a point to never load a gun until I have to use it, just in case something like this happens,” he explains sleekly as he points it at my head and takes the scarred gun from me.
Gregory already took a shot for me once and he saved my life for nothing. I just wasted his sacrifice. He keeps his gun pointed at me as Ms. Rees pulls out a gun of her own and points it at Arietta’s head. Too scared to see which one of us will die first, I shut my eyes. I hear a deafening bang and the thump of a body falling over. But then I hear Mr. Connors scream and he falls against me. My eyes spring open and I see Arietta holding my bag and a taser.
“I think it lost most of its charge,” she says, looking it over. She’s unfazed as if she gets a gun pointed at her every day. “He’ll only be paralyzed for a couple of seconds.” I steal the scarred gun back, push him off me, and leave him crumpled on the floor. We bolt out of the office, but not long after that, shots are fired at us. We try to make a break for my bike, but he shoots at my tires. This time, I grab Arietta by the arm and drag her over to the trees instead. Even now, Mr. Connors chases after us, still firing shots. Arietta and I are both startled when my phone rings.
“… Judging from the gunshots, you’ve discovered Mr. Connors’ real identity,” Cory’s ice voice deduces on the other side of the line.
“Cory?! Aren’t you in jail?! How are you able to call me?! How’d you even get my number?!” I scream at him. “What am I saying?! Cory, this is a really bad time!”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure the Cadaverini keep a careful eye on their little heiress.”
Just as he says this, a black sedan pulls up in front of us. The door springs open and a pair of hands grabs Arietta and me by our fronts and pulls us into the car.

---

At this point, I'd like to say that I had the plot twist thought up long before any news about Apollo Justice reached us here on this side of the Pacific. Thought I was being so witty, but Capcom finished their game before I finished my story. Learn from me, people! If you've got a great plot twist, hurry and finish your piece before Capcom comes up with the next game and takes the wind out of your sails!

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... I was hoping for some kind of reaction after the last part. Aww... Well, if anyone has any questions after this part, I'll answer it if I can. All that's left now is proving the true culprit in court. Don't leave me until the story is done! It'll be done after two more weeks I promise!

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“That was a close call,” jeers a familiar drawling voice. Arietta’s already settled in her seat, strapped in with a seat belt, while I’m still catching my breath, lying across Calando’s lap. The instant I realize who it is, I sit up and strap myself in. In the front are a chauffer and a middle aged woman, both in black. Everyone in this car is dressed for a funeral… The middle aged woman in the front turns to shake my hand. It feels so cold and she looks dead already…
“Sunny DeLite… It’s a pleasure… I’m Viola Cadaverini… Calando has told me so much about you…”
“Uhhh… Has he really?”
“No need to be nervous… You’re currently very valuable to us… And assuming you cooperate, you will stay valuable… Hee… hee… hee…”
Ugh… Creepy laugh… “… You’re not going to ‘off’ me once this is over with, are you?”
“Not as long as you don’t inadvertently discover something that the FBI doesn’t already know,” Calando answers.
Getting caught in the middle of a robbery, watching my best friend get shot before my eyes, nearly dying at least three times, the constant feeling of doubt and betrayal, and the overall emotional roller coaster this whole ordeal has been… “… I want my mommy!” I sob, no longer able to stay in control. “Where are you taking me?!”
“We feel that after everything you’ve been through, it’s about time you got answers…” says Mrs. Cadaverini. “We Cadaverini are a very old mafia family… and very powerful…”
“And of course, we hold ourselves with a great deal of class and poise,” Calando adds. I can’t help but laugh at this in spite of myself. For all his fancy funeral suits, I would never call Calando classy.
“Naturally we also have a large number of rivals… You can’t avoid clashes in this business… but we have mutual respect for each other… generally…” Mrs. Cadaverini continues. “We get along well enough with Big Wins and the Kitaki even after he retired…”
“Mr. Kitaki? The baker?”
“Well, technically they aren’t mafia… They are yakuza…” she corrects. “However, the Cugine were brash and tempermental… No sense of honor, no respect for any of the other families… No sense of shame or restraint either…”
Her voice gets so much colder when she mentions the Cugine. Arietta looks sad again and even Calando looks depressed as his mother starts talking about them.
“They got their members into the other families… Even had some members of the older families convert to Cugine… It’s especially personal for the Cadaverini… My own husband ran off with a Cugine woman… He was never exactly faithful… I dealt with him myself… But the damage was done… By removing the head’s own spouse, the Cugine cut open a wound for the world to see… The Cadaverini won’t be satisfied until the Cugine no longer exist in this world… And we aren’t the only ones…”
Even though Mrs. Cadaverini is facing the front, I can see her face contort in her own bitterness. Arietta is quietly crying next to me.
“Papa liked to pamper Arietta before he fell in with the Cugine and ran off,” Calando whispers to me. I now understand why she reacts so violently to the girls Calando hits on. She doesn’t want Calando to end up like him…
“But what does any of this have to do with this case and Cory?” I ask, trying to change the subject for Calando and Arietta’s sake. Mrs. Cadaverini’s face relaxes.
“That particular ‘Hey Look! Coffee Shop!’ was Cadaverini property… We were using it as bait… We spread the rumor that we were using it as storage for a large stock of drugs… Cugine numbers were already growing desperately low… They never know when to back out of a fight… And they have foolishly made enemies of the older families… Hungry and desperate for a shift in power, they attempted to steal the drugs that were never there…”
“The silent alarm the victim pushed signaled the Cadaverini agents to ambush them,” Calando adds. “Arietta and I were there that day to inspect the defenses.”
“We weren’t expecting it so early… So we weren’t expecting police intervention either… It still worked out though… We got our agents out once we heard the sirens…”
“But that still doesn’t explain what Cory has to do with all of this,” I press. Suddenly the car stops. I look out the window and realize we’re at the detention center.
“Visiting hours are almost up… I think you should hear it from him…”

“Come on, Sunny. It’s not that hard to figure out.”
Even now, after everything he put me through, he still won’t give me a straight answer. If I weren’t so spent, I’d be ticked…
“Cory, I’ve just had a gun pointed at me for the third time in three days, okay? I can’t think…”
“Sunny, you know why I put you and Greg through all that when we were kids. You have my scrapbook. And you know Mr. Connors’ real identity.”
“And Mr. Connors was your parents’ defense attorney back then…”
“Exactly,” Cory states, grimly sitting back in his seat. “That trial never sat well with me. For years, I thought it was Prosecutor Edgeworth who was to blame, but I found nothing. At the height of my frustration, my parents accidentally let slip that they suspected foul play from the defense.”
“Mr. Connors was a Cugine back then too?” It’s all starting to come together now. “Oh right, your dad told me the rules he and your mom live by.”
“Turns out they’d sooner go to jail than owe anything to a mafia family,” Cory confirms. “The Cugine offered to help with their trial if they agreed to work for them once it was over. They rejected the offer, so Mr. Connors basically abandoned them to their fate. They didn’t know he was planted there by the Cugine, but once they were in jail, they started to suspect Mr. Connors.”
“But from what I’ve seen in the movies, they should have been ‘iced’.”
“The Cugine were cautious. They made sure that my parents knew as little about them as possible so that they couldn’t offer up info to the FBI in exchange for a walk. Same way the Cadaverini are being careful while using us, really.”
“I understand why the Cugine left your parents to rot in jail, but why did they try to frame you in this case?”
“After my parents accidentally told me that, I started to research the Cugine instead. I heard the rumors at school, so I sought out Calando for help. Lucky for me, it was something quite personal for him too, but even so I had to be careful about what kind of help I accepted from him.”
“You mean like that incident in the Defense Lobby earlier today?”
“Direct intervention by him always costs something… Still, with his help, I was able to dredge up a great deal, but by this time the Cugine were on to me.”
“And so they framed you for this?”
“I wasn’t a serious enough of a threat to be murdered outright, but I was annoying enough for them to want out of the way. This incident just provided them a means to get me out of the way without much hassle. Of course, once this happened, I tried to use the situation to turn around and work for me, especially when you insisted on helping me.”
I finally understand. Everything makes sense to me now. I can finally forgive him for that time… Heck, I can even forgive him for putting me through all this now.
“Well now that you’re up to speed, were you able to find anything to help my case tomorrow?”
I pull everything out of my bag for him to see, but considering that it’s only his scrapbook, it’s not looking good.
He looks like someone punched him in the face. “… That’s it?”
“Well the contact I found yesterday turned out to be Mr. Connors’,” I list, “and I found a gun barrel in the lake with a gash on it and I gave it to Detective Houdzuki, but we haven’t been able to get the bullet from the FBI yet.”
“The contact won’t be conclusive enough,” Cory says, shaking his head. “He could easily say that he lost it there before the incident.”
“Well, Shin said Mr. Mitsurugi should be able to get the bullet for us once the FBI are done with it… Oh yeah!” I suddenly remember the gun I stole from Mr. Connors and lay that on the table too.
Cory’s facial expression seems frozen out of sheer shock. “How the heck did you get that into the detention center without any trouble from the police?”
“Iiiiii have no idea…” I confess. That is a good question. “But look! This gun has a gash too! If the gun barrel I found in the lake came from the murder weapon, it’d be conclusive, wouldn’t it?”
He seems to brighten up. In fact, I think I caught a glimpse of an evil glint in his eye for a second, but it was only for a second and it could be the lighting in here. Still, it reminds me.
“Cory, how were you able to call me from jail?” I ask. “And how did you get my number?”
“Cell phones are allowed in jail, oddly enough…” he answers, lying back in his chair and propping his feet up on the table. “As for your number, Calando gave it to me. And you know how he is.”
I can’t help but shudder. I don’t think I want to know how he got my number. Best not to think about it and think about the case instead.
“I wonder if Mr. Mitsurugi got the bullet yet,” I wonder out loud as I dial Shin’s number. Noticing that Cory tries his best to eavesdrop, I put the phone on speaker instead.
“What happened earlier, Sunny?” he asks. “Bad connection?”
“Well—”
“You’ll hear about it tomorrow,” Cory cuts in. I’m shocked, but Cory gives me a stern look. “He’s testifying tomorrow. It’s important that he’s kept in the dark about certain details.”
“Wilder is right,” Shin concedes a little stiffly. “But just the fact that you can’t tell me means that something big must have happened. And I think I can guess what…”
“Well, like I said, you’ll hear about it tomorrow,” Cory shrugs. “But was your dad able to get the bullet?”
“The FBI said they were willing to let him have it, but… only after they finished their own investigation on it… Father says he probably won’t be able to get it until tomorrow…”
Oh great… “I’m sure tomorrow is better than never, but what if the trial ends before it comes?” I sigh.
“It still works in our advantage, Sunny,” Cory says. “If trial does end before the forensics is complete, we can use that to get an extra day. And by that time, we’ll have thrown some suspicion on the real killer, so they’ll be watching him.”
“I dunno… I have a feeling that he’ll squeeze out of it somehow…” I admit. “Not to mention after what happened today, I’m worried about my own safety…”
“Ah, yes, that’s true… Well I still say that there’s a good likelihood it’ll end tomorrow,” Cory replies.
“Well let’s hope so…” Shin murmurs from the phone. “I don’t know if I can take another day of this. I’ve been worrying myself sick about you, Sunny.”
“Yeah, me too…” I sigh.

---

The last part and the epilogue will be posted next week. I really would like to hear what you people think, especially if you guys have constructive critique. You can wait until the story is over, but I really would like to hear it. Please. I've worked on this for a long time and I've put a lot of thought and consideration behind everything and input from others is very important to me.

---

“And I don’t want you handling anymore weapons!”
“Yes, Mom…”
“And no provoking the witnesses!”
“Yes, Mom…”
“And no provoking the prosecutor either!”
“But Mom! We need to!”
Mom and Dad insisted on coming with me to court, but now Mom’s lecturing me in the defense lobby. She’s not really the scolding type either, considering how much she likes excitement… Man, this is embarrassing. Cory’s in the corner, trying his best not to laugh his head off.
“And remember, we’re taking you straight home after the trial!”
“Yes, Mom…” I sigh as they leave for the gallery and I try my best to ignore Cory laughing at me. “We’d better end this today. Apparently, I can’t help you prepare for tomorrow.”
“Desiree never struck me as the overly protective type,” he sniggers. Well technically, this isn’t overprotective considering how I nearly died two or three times in a span of a few days, but we’re interrupted before I can retort.
“Knock knock!” greets Calando from the doorway. “Well I wish the two of you luck today,” he says with a wide yawn. “I stayed up all night in front of your house to make sure that the Cugine didn’t try to rub you out of the picture before trial.”
“WHAT?!” Protection, my foot! That peeping tom! That pervert!
“Oh relax, Sunny. He’s lying,” Cory says offhandedly. “Mrs. Cadaverini would never allow it. More likely, he stayed up late looking at internet porn. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Mrs. Cadaverini had ordered a couple of her underlings to protect you after she took you home.”
Well I feel a mix of relief and nausea… The feeling of nausea only increases as Mr. Connors enters the room. Cory is visibly on guard too.
“Heh… Well I must admit, Ms. DeLite, I’m impressed,” he sneers. “Your luck is incredible… But you’ll never be able to pin this crime on me.”
“Time will tell, Mr. Connors,” Cory says, getting up to separate me from the defense attorney. At that moment, the bailiff comes in to tell us that trial is starting. “We already have our board set up,” Cory says, never breaking the stare down. “Check.”

“Court is now in session for the trial of Cory Wilder,” the judge announces after banging his gavel.
“The prosecution is ready, Your Honor,” Mr. Wiles replies.
“The defense is ready, Your Honor,” Cory states. I look at Mr. Wiles across the courtroom. I can’t help but wonder if he knows the truth too at this point.
“Hmmm… Your opening statement, Mr. Wiles?”
“Tests on the contact reveal that it did not, in fact, belong to the victim. The prosecution’s position is that it has absolutely no bearing on this case.”
“WHAT?!” I shriek. Everyone in the gallery is shocked too and they’re all whispering among themselves. Cory, however, is not shaken at all. Well I do remember he mentioned something like this would pop up, although at the time, he said it’d come from Mr. Connors…
The judge pounds his gavel for silence. “In that case, Mr. Wiles, who did the contact belong to?” the judge asks.
“The identity of the person does not matter,” Mr. Wiles replies. “Unless the defense is able to prove the contact is connected to the crime, I see no reason to divulge the owner’s identity.”
Again, the courtroom erupts in whispers. Mr. Connors looks as meek and cowed as he did yesterday, but I’m trying to figure out what this can mean for us.
“Cory, do you think he’s one of them too?” I whisper.
“Maybe, but I can’t be sure,” he shrugs. “Don’t forget, his job is to find me guilty, not my legal counsel.”
Again, the judge bangs his gavel.
“What is your opinion on this, Mr. Wilder?” the judge asks, stroking his beard in contemplation.
“The defense has no protests at this point, Your Honor,” Cory replies. I gape at him in shock. He whispers, “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.” Then to the court, he announces, “It is the defense’s belief that relevance will be established during the court proceedings.”
“Hmm… Very well,” the judge responds. “Mr. Wiles, you may call the witness to the stand.”

Shin stands tall behind the witness stand, though his right arm is in a sling. I guess it’s to prevent his arm from moving and hurting his shoulder.
“Witness, your name and grade in school,” Mr. Wiles demands, a little unsure how he should go about treating him.
“Gregory Edgeworth the Second. I am an 11th grader, a junior in high school,” he states formally.
“Oh it’s been a while since I saw you last!” the judge greets indulgently. “My my. Time sure flies. You’ve really grown!”
“Err, thank you, Your Honor?”
“Greg, your testimony, if you please?” Mr. Wiles asks.
“Well, Sunny and I were studying in the café, but at one point she had coffee spilled into her lap and left to wash it out,” Shin explains. “Not long after that, the three robbers burst in. The largest one ordered everyone to the floor and the murderer must have noticed Ms. Terry pushing the alarm because he took out his gun and shot her. Suddenly, he was covering his eye and crawled around on the floor. But then the third robber told him to prep the vehicle, so he left still covering his eye.”
“This sounds different from the twelve witnesses from yesterday…” I tell Cory. “They were planted, weren’t they?”
“Obviously,” Cory says, rolling his eyes. Then he begins his cross-examination. “So the murderer never actually spoke?”
“No. I don’t know why the other witnesses said he did,” Shin answers. It’s obvious he still doesn’t like Cory, but he’s doing a good job of keeping his emotions in check so far.
“Well, the fact is, the other twelve witnesses said that the murderer had spoken. You must have misheard,” Mr. Wiles replies. I look around trying to see Mr. Mitsurugi’s reaction to this, but I only see Mrs. Mitsurugi, who glares at Mr. Wiles. I wonder if Mr. Mitsurugi is waiting for the FBI…
“But I’m absolutely certain,” Shin persists. “He didn’t say a word the entire time.”
“But it strikes me strange that this witness is so sure when his testimony directly contradicts the witnesses from yesterday,” the judge says.
“I believe it ties into why the police were unable to find much evidence, Your Honor,” Cory explains. “Don’t forget. The FBI had investigated the scene before they allowed the police in.”
“Oh yes, that’s right,” says the judge with an embarrassed shifty look on his face. Apparently, he forgot. “So you mean those witnesses were planted by the FBI?”
“No, Your Honor,” replies Cory who is exasperated. “I’m saying that the witnesses were planted by whatever group the FBI was investigating. The twelve witnesses’ testimonies were false to incriminate me.”
“Objection!” Mr. Wiles shouts. “You shouldn’t make such claims unless you can support it with evidence!”
“Need I remind you that yesterday, you were the one who prevented me from questioning each witness’s credibility? If you truly trusted your witnesses, you would have allowed me to question it. Don’t forget that you’re responsible for providing reliable witnesses, Mr. Wiles, not convenient ones!”
Mr. Wiles gives Cory such an awful glare as he starts to lose his composure. He looks just like he did in the interrogation room yesterday. Cory smirks as he turns his attention back to Shin.
“One last question. Are you certain that the murderer never found his contact lens?”
“Well he was still covering his eye as he left,” Shin affirms.
“That’s not enough to establish relevancy of the contact lens that girl found!” Mr. Wiles protests.
“But the FBI did find the victim’s contact lens during their investigation,” Shin corrects gently. He doesn’t seem to want to aggravate him further and I don’t blame him.
“WHAT?!”
“They found Ms. Terry’s lens, but they didn’t find any others. The one Sunny found could only belong to the murderer,” Shin continues. “Didn’t Detective Skye give you their report? Father received it just this morning.”
Mr. Wiles turns slightly green as his gaze slowly shifts to the large envelope on his desk. Apparently, he shooed her away when she ran in to give it to him before the trial. I can’t help but smile and Cory’s smirk widens. Mr. Connors turns white and sinks in his seat.
“The defense has no more questions for this witness,” Cory states triumphantly. “However, at this point, we would like the prosecution to divulge the identity of the contact’s owner. Relevancy has been proven.”
“Hmm… Agreed,” the judge nods. “Mr. Wiles?”
“… The contact belongs to Mr. Connors,” he reveals in a voice so quiet that it was a little hard to hear. Still, everyone heard him and a renewed surge of whispering sweeps the courtroom.
“Order! Order!” the judge yells, banging his gavel. “Mr. Connors?”
“I routinely stop at that café before work. I did indeed lose a contact there once,” Mr. Connors admits, wiping his glasses. “But isn’t it possible that one of the robbers inadvertently stepped on the murderer’s contact during the crime?”
“I did find it a little strange that you were wearing your glasses in this trial,” the judge admits. “I just thought it impolite to say anything.” Liar.
“At this point, I would like to waive my right to a legal counsel,” Cory tells the judge. “In fact, I would like him to be put on the witness stand.”
“But this is unprecedented!”
“Not really. State v. Wright, 2025,” Cory points out.
“I thought the year was 2026,” the judge replies.
“I don’t think anyone really knows anymore,” Shin mutters.
“Either way, Mr. Wright still had a defense attorney in that case!” the judge argues. “It was only the defense attorney’s co-council who was put on the witness stand and ultimately arrested.”
“Well, I don’t see why you’re protesting,” Cory replies offhandedly. “After all, if this doesn’t work out, the one who loses is me and I have no one but myself to blame.”
“Oh very well…” the judge sighs. “The court grants the defendant’s request.” He pounds his gavel again. “The court will take a twenty minute recess. I would like to see the prosecution and the defense attorney in my chambers.”
Mr. Connors shoots Cory a venomous look as he leaves. Cory only counters it with a mocking glance.

I slump in the couch in the defense lobby and Cory sits down next to me.
“That was intense!” I blurt out. Cory just gives me an annoyed look.
“Why are you nervous? You didn’t have to do anything.”
“Maybe not,” I admit with a nervous laugh. “But the contact lens is pretty conclusive, isn’t it?”
“It throws suspicion on him, but nothing more,” answers a voice from the doorway. It’s Shin.
“It’s strong evidence, but it’s still circumstantial,” he continues. “While it seems very likely he did it, the situation he proposed is still a possibility.”
“You should be in the prosecution lobby,” Cory taunts, getting off the couch. “So I take it you finally believe I didn’t do it?”
“Yes, but it still disturbs me how in control you were the whole time,” Shin answers stiffly.
“Still unwilling to bury the hatchet?” Cory sneers.
“I’m trying to.”
“Well anyway, it’s only fair that everything is going my way today, especially after that disastrous trial yesterday.”
“I do trust that you’ll do your best to keep my family out of the proceedings, will you, Cory?” a silky voice cuts in. It’s Calando, leaning against the doorway. I didn’t even hear him come in!
Cory’s sneer vanishes. “I’ll do my best, Calando, but if it comes to that, I will have to.”
“I understand,” Calando shrugs, his silky smile not fading. “In that case, I’ll just put it on Sunny’s tab.”
“WHAT?!” Shin and I shriek at the same time.
“By the way, Sunny, you currently owe me 10 dates,” he says to me, pulling out an appointment book. “I’m not talking about the fruit, so don’t be cheeky. And I’m expecting more than just trips to the arcade.”
“WHAT?!” I don’t recall making any sort of agreement!
“Assuming he doesn’t demand anything lewd, you’re getting off easy,” Cory whispers to me, sympathetically. Then he turns back to Shin and asks, “Was your old man finally able to get the bullet?”
At this, Shin snaps out of his stunned expression. “Ah… er… Yes. He just got it. Forensics is working on it right now.”
Cory frowns a little. “Well, hopefully cross-examining Mr. Connors will buy us some time, but he’s slick.”
“I bet he’ll bring in his secretary to support his alibi,” I assure him. “I’m sure we’ll get the results for the bullet in time.”
“Well court is about to reconvene,” Shin says, looking at the clock. “Good luck.”
“…Thanks,” Cory murmurs.

---

I'm still reading! It's really good!
My Wii Remote ran out of batteries so I couldn't post. :(

But (ba da ba ba BA) I'm loving it!

Furtzurbus, you're the only one who comments here. I appreciate you! *gives hug*

Anyway, so we're pretty much done. I'll be posting part 14 and the epilogue now. I meant to include a bit of aftermath in the defense lobby by Cory's aunt and uncle surprising him in the defense lobby. Would have been a nice bit of character development for her, but I decided I didn't need two epilogues and I really did want that months later thing. Well anyway.

---

I must admit. It feels weird to have the defense attorney on the stand, but if we are to corner him, it has to be here and now. I try my best to hide my fear. He did try to kill me yesterday, but it’s important that we keep our heads high and show him we have him right where we want him.
“Your name and occupation?” Mr. Wiles asks, a little disoriented now by the whole thing.
“Uh… Frank Connors, Defense attorney?” he answers, shaking so much he drops his glasses. As expected, he’s still playing the meek and spineless man. “What in the world should I testify about?”
“Why don’t we start with your alibi?” Cory suggests. “What were you doing on December 28th at approximately 3:30 PM?”
“I was at the office,” he answers. “I only left the office once at 12 to get lunch. I went home at about 5.”
“Is there anyone who can support this claim?”
“My secretary, Tracy Rees. She was in the office the whole time too, working.”
“And what about the contact?” I interrupt.
“I lost it the morning of the murder, coincidentally.”
A disgusted frown is on Cory’s face. I find it particularly frustrating too, really. We know he’s the killer! We know this testimony is a lie! But the problem is, without the bullet, we can’t prove it!
“Looks like we’re not going to get as much time as we’d like after all…” I whisper to Cory. “It’s all so vague and normal sounding that it’s believable.”
“During the recess, the prosecution had summoned Ms. Rees and she’s ready to testify at any time, Your Honor,” Mr. Wiles informs the judge, though it looks like he lost his momentum. He’s not nearly as forceful as he used to be. “We call her to the stand.”
I can’t help but shiver as the secretary takes the stand. Unfortunately, her testimony doesn’t bring up anything we could really pick at either, although we did try.
“And you’re sure he didn’t leave the office and any time except 12?”
“Yes, and he was back by 12:30.”
“And you’re sure he lost his contact that morning?”
“Yes. Fortunately, he keeps a spare set of glasses at work.”
It’s not long before we run out of questions… If we press too hard, we’d be accused of badgering the witness… Besides, there isn’t much to poke at… I stare at the door, hoping that someone will burst in with our evidence, but my ears hear the judge’s words and cold reality sinks in.
“Well, although Mr. Connors’ contact found at the scene of the crime is highly suspicious, the fact is that his alibi holds.”
“WHAT?!” I yell before I realize it, my eyes torn from the door to face the judge. Cory gives me a sharp look, even though he looks just as nervous as I am.
“I believe further investigation is required. The defense and prosecution have another day to look into the matter, even though Mr. Wilder severely handicapped himself by waiving his right to legal counsel.”
“Not like he ever meant to do anything to help me, anyway,” I hear Cory mutter under his breath, his nails digging into the wood in the desk again. The tension has me chewing on my lower lip and I shut my eyes as tightly as I can, praying, praying with all heart that it’ll come in time…
“Court is adjourned for the—”
“HOLD IT!!!”

My eyes spring open and look at the one who burst through the door. Our savior arrives… Right in the nick of time, our savior arrives.
“Ahhh, I always wanted to say that,” Detective Houdzuki says happily as she strides up to the judge’s bench. “You can’t end the trial day yet, Your Honor! The police has further evidence to submit to the court!”
The tension dissolves like Alka-Seltzer in water. Even Cory can’t hide his relief.
“Detective, did it match?!” I ask urgently.
She has such a smug smile on her face as she pulls the barrel out of her bag and shows it to the court. “You bet, kiddo! The gun that was attached to this barrel was the one that killed the victim!”
I’m sure I’m grinning like a madman right now. Everyone in the gallery is getting excited too and Mr. Connors turns pale and looks like he’s trying to hide behind the witness stand.
“Hmm… This barrel seems to have a scratch on it,” the judge notes, inspecting it.
“Well that’s nice,” Prosecutor Wiles leers, trying to regain control over the trial. “But the barrel doesn’t really prove anything unless you have the rest of the gun that was attached to it!”
The smile on Detective Houdzuki’s face melts away, but not ours.
“I found the rest of the gun, Detective Houdzuki!” I tell her, waving it in the air. Suddenly everyone hits the floor. “…What? It’s not like it’s loaded or anything.”
“I think the more pressing question is how in the world were you allowed in the courtroom with it on your person!” the judge meeps from under his desk.
The detective quickly takes the barrel off and replaces it with the scratched one. Her smile reappears on her face. “It’s a match. The scratch runs evenly from the barrel to the handgrip.”
Again, the gallery explodes in whispers.
“OBJECTION!” Mr. Wiles yells in order to be heard. He looks a little frazzled. I think he’s still disoriented, trying to find his place. “Well relevance has certainly been proven. However, we don’t know whose gun that is.”
“Well, we’ll soon find out!” Detective Houdzuki says as she pulls out a small laptop and starts clicking and typing furiously. “Just gimme a minute…” Mr. Connors turns paler with each passing second as the detective types in the license number. “Checking the database… Ah-hah!” she cries triumphantly and holds up the laptop for everyone to see. “Turns out the gun belongs to Mr. Connors.”
“I have no idea how it ended up under my name, but I don’t own a gun!” Mr. Connors yells desperately. “The credit card I ordered never came in the mail! Maybe someone intercepted it and bought the gun with that! After all, who was the one who found the gun and the barrel?” he asks. Now I’m a little nervous. He’s trying to shift the blame to me. Can he really do that?
“Well, I don’t know about identity theft,” the detective shrugs. “But I’m sure if we dust the thing for fingerprints…” Once again, she reaches into her bag and pulls out a fingerprinting kit. She covers the entire gun in dust and uses a device to analyze the fingerprints. Mr. Connors turns a pale green. “Let’s see… That one is Sunny’s… That one is Sunny’s too… That one is mine…” she mutters, pursing her lips as she inspects the prints. Then her lips pull back in a jeering smile. “Mr. Connors, if you claim you don’t own a gun, how did your fingerprints end up on this one?”
“But… but…” Mr. Connors stutters, quickly losing his fake personality. “Sunny could have planted it in my office desk!”
“Ah, but how do you know she found it in your office desk, Mr. Connors?” Cory asks him, truly confident now that Mr. Connors is at his mercy. “More importantly, the barrel was proven to have shot the victim and the gun previously attached to it is registered under your name and has your fingerprints on it.”
“Y-you must have done it! You must have stolen my credit card and bought it as me!” he screams, desperate to find a way out for himself.
“You’re losing your common sense in your fit of desperation,” Cory sneers as he starts counting the contradictions on his fingers. “First of all, in order to buy a gun in your name, not only would I need your card, but I’d also have to have a false ID. Secondly, I’m only sixteen. There’s no legal provider who would sell one to someone my age and the illegal providers wouldn’t register the license number. And thirdly, how in the world would I possibly get your fingerprints on the gun?”
Mr. Connors sputters and gasps and looks like he’s starting to unravel at the edges. The whole courtroom is silent, waiting for whatever he will do next. And once again, Mr. Wiles has a look of frozen shock on his face, as if wondering why the trial seems to be proceeding without him. Finally, Mr. Connors collapses on top of the witness stand and confesses.
“Alright… I admit it… The other two roped me in their little scheme… Their entire organization dragged me in… And when I saw the clerk calling for help… I… I panicked…”
As everyone in the room starts whispering again, I notice Cory muttering, “Check and mate…”
“He’s still lying, isn’t he?” I whisper to Cory. “I bet he murdered her in cold blood. He had no problems taking shots at me yesterday…”
“Most likely, but it doesn’t matter anymore,” he answers. “If he doesn’t get the death sentence, he’s still going to jail for the rest of his life.”

“Well that was certainly unexpected,” the judge states after the bailiff drags Mr. Connors away. “The defendant acting as his own defense, and then rejecting his defense counsel only to put him on the stand and reveal him as the real killer. And you’re only sixteen! This something that people will be talking about for a while now.”
“Uhh, thanks, Your Honor?” Cory says, looking a little flattered. A giggle escapes me, but he just shoots me another look.
“A very impressive performance,” the judge continues. “I think—”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!” Mr. Wiles cries out suddenly. “HOW COULD THE TRIAL HAVE GONE ON WITHOUT ME?! HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN BEATEN BY A MERE HIGH SCHOOLER?! WHAT WAS THE POINT OF MY FANCY LAW DEGREE?!” Then he breaks down into sobs on his bench while everyone watches him feeling very awkward.
The judge clears his throat and turns his attention back to Cory. “Have you ever considered a career as an attorney?”
“Meh. It’s not for me,” he replies flatly.
“Well either way, the court finds the defendant…

---

Epilogue. If you've been reading and keeping up with this, I'd really REEEEAAALLY like your thoughts on this. What worked? What didn't? D: Come on, people!

---

It’s been months since the trial, but everything has gone back to normal.
“… The Chief of Police did it.”
“ARRGH! CORY!”
Well, I guess there are a couple of changes. I run up as Shin throws down the court record he was reading and chases Heki who is keeping away at arm’s distance and laughing his head off. Yeah, I call him Heki again…
“Oh great! You’re here!” I yell, waving at them.
“You’re usually the one here first, but I take it that you went to buy that on the way,” Shin says, giving up his chase and pointing at the fishing pole in my hand.
“Yeah! Look at this!”
I shove an old newspaper article in his face. Judging from his expression, he doesn’t believe.
“Sunny, Gourdy is an urban myth…”
“We can’t know that for sure!” I proclaim, waving the fishing pole around.
“It’s a proven fact that Gourdy doesn’t really exist.”
“Alright then. Show me the proof!”
“Well, Father said it was proven, but he wouldn’t tell me the details,” Shin admits.
“Aw come on, Greg,” Heki smirks. “If he wouldn’t provide you the proof, how can you possibly know it exists? Just because he says so?”
At this, Shin shoots him a suspicious glance, which Heki returns with a mocking one. Well, I guess it’s up to me to break the tension.
“Come on, Shin!” I coax, shoving the pole into his arms. “If you want to disprove it, do it yourself!”
Shin gives me an annoyed look, but I know how to counter this!
“Pleeeeeeaaase?” I wheedle, batting my eyes and wearing that face that he just can’t resist. He tries his best, but in the end, he gives a resigned sigh and half-heartedly casts the line.
“I’m telling you though,” he says, maintaining his disbelief, “Even if Gourdy does exist, a fishing pole isn’t what you should use to catch hiiIIIM!”
At this point, something catches on the line and almost pulls him into the lake! It’s Gourdy! It must be!
“Hang on tight, Shin!” I cheer him on and hold on to him, trying to help him reel it in.
“Well whatever I snagged, it’s putting up quite a fight!” Shin says, straining with the reel. “How big a fish did I catch?”
“Careful about your bum shoulder!” I warn. Then I turn to Heki, who’s leaning against a tree and watching us. “Give us a hand!”
“Fine, whatever,” he shrugs, trying to hide a smile. With his help, we finally reel Gourdy in and drag him to shore! Although, I pictured Gourdy to be really freaking huge…
“Oh geez! Arietta, are you alright?!” Shin asks the thing he reeled in, trying to get the fishhook out. She roughly shoves him away and gets it out herself.
“Yeah I’m fine,” she replies sourly. “It only caught on my swimsuit.”
“Hey, I don’t suppose you saw Gourdy, did you, Arietta?” I ask eagerly.
“Yeah, did you, Ari?” Heki sneers. At this, Arietta starts blushing. Shin notices this and looks at Heki with suspicion again. Once again, Heki returns it with a mocking sneer. “What?”
“I have a feeling that you planted this idea in Sunny’s head.”
“Now now,” says a voice behind us. “It’s not nice to accuse someone without proof.”
Shin and I instantly yelp and jump away from the source of the voice. It’s Calando. Again. How does he keep popping up without any of us hearing him?
“Arietta, I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Calando lectures, though he’s obviously not serious. “You know you shouldn’t swim too far from me, especially in a lake like this.”
“Oh what difference does it make?” she retorts. “You were hitting on girls again!”
“Speaking of which, Sunny, I was thinking we have our last date tonight,” he says, grabbing my hand and giving me a stereotypical gentleman kiss. His creepiness makes me shiver… in the bad way. Shin looks as disturbed as I feel right now.
“Ah, a-anyway,” he stutters, trying to change the subject, “it’s not like Arietta to leave when Calando is hitting girls. Cory, you put her up to this, didn’t you? I bet you also know the truth about Gourdy!”
Heki just smiles jeeringly. “Same way I know that the decisive piece of evidence in that court record was the fact that there was no blood on the piece of cloth Phoenix Wright found.”
“ARRGH!” Shin yells and he starts chasing Heki again for spoiling it for him.
“Wait! Heki! Why can’t Gourdy exist?!” I demand, but he’s too busy pestering Shin. This is how it usually is these days, but it’s kinda nice. I know Shin likes it too, even though Heki’s always spoiling court records for him now. The past no longer haunts us. Seems like things are finally moving forward.
“Now, Sunny…” Calando whispers into my ear and sliding his hand across my shoulders, “about our date…” I think I felt my body temperature drop several degrees…
“Oh! Hey! Look!” I yell, pointing in a random direction. “Isn’t that Jeffery?!”
“‘Antler-Cult’ Jeffery?”
He looks in that direction distracted long enough for me to make a break for it.
“SUNNY!” I hear him call out. Sorry, Calando. Just put it on my tab…

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Aw, 'ts finished now. Well, I thought the last chapter was just a teensy bit rushed, there could have been more tension still after the last evidence was revealed, like in 2-4...

But overall, it's really good!

The epilogue was a nice touch, but WHY AREN'T SUNNY AND GREG TOGETHER YEEET!?

They make such a cute couple. :3

Rushed, eh? >3< Thanks for your opinion. Hm. I thought it felt tense enough. But then I'm the writer. I was feeling tense as I was writing it! XD

As for GregII and Sunny, they are. Kinda... It's more like a tacit agreement than anything. O.o

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