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"And here, you need to fix this sentence right here."
"Y-yes sir, okay."
"And this one, you need to fact-check your claim. You can't keep making assumptions like that."
"O-of course," he was anxiously bending his baton.
"Alright, any more questions?"
Sebastian squeaked out a "no sir."
"Then that will be all for now. Please close the door on your way out."
"Thank you, sir."
As he was twisting the doorknob, he heard his superior warn him, but he did not dare turn around. "You need to pick up the pace, Mr. Debeste. You're falling behind."
His best friend Kay was waiting outside the office. She approached the young prosecutor with an unwavering smile. "How did it go, Sebby?"
Sebastian faced her, tears welling up in his eyes. Her smile had vanished at the sight of him in dejection. She knew he'd tell her later, like he always would.
They began their walk through the wide empty corridor. The air was quiet, but neither found it awkward. Sebastian found solace in the silence and comfort in Kay's presence beside him.
Upon reaching the elevator (Miles wasn't with them) Kay stole a glance at him. His half-lidded eyes were looking down on the ground away from her. He seemed lost in thought, no doubt still thinking about his third attempt in revising his written work. His colleagues had probably finished writing theirs with little to no issue.
Sebastian's train of thought was put on hold when the elevator doors opened with a ding. They stepped inside and stood in the middle of the lift. Kay watched the doors closed while Sebastian continued to stare at the floor. Small drops of tears began to join the mosaic tiling.
"Why am I so.. Bad at this? I used to be.. No, I was never good at this. To say that I used to be the best would be lying."
He tightened his grip on his term paper. Its contents were heavily marked with red crosses, circles, notes, and underlines.
"My achievements were all lies. Everything I've ever been fed with were lies," he finally faces her with his glossy brown eyes.
"My whole life is a lie."
There was a brief moment of silence, save for the subtle mechanical hum of the descending elevator.
"Sebby, that's not entirely true," she slowly began. "That's all in the past now. And the fact that you chose to try again, in your own terms and efforts this time, is so admirable! It shows that you're willing to learn and change for the better."
Kay firmly placed a hand on his shoulder and grins encouragingly. "Yeah, your life WAS a lie, Seb. But Mr. Edgeworth and I are here to help you turn that lie into truth!"
Sniffling, Sebastian weakly returns her smile.
"Thanks, Kay. But I don't see what's so condemnable about making the same mistakes over and over again…"
She thought against correcting him, but he needed a firm figurative slap on the face.
"... It's commendable, Sebby." She was answered by a frustrated groan. "And it's okay to make mistakes often!"
She grabbed both his shoulders and looked at him straight in the eyes.
"What's not okay is that you easily get discouraged by constructive criticism."
He turns his head away from her in embarrassment. He felt like a teenage boy being calmly chastised by his maternal figure. He was pouting and she found it kind of adorable. Kay pulled him in closer for a hug. Sebastian leaned into her embrace, too weary to return the comforting gesture.
She took his silence as her cue to continue.
"I understand that you grew up only hearing praises but that's not really gonna help you be… the best you."
She pulled away, breaking the contact. "You need honest criticism to learn, Sebby. They're not insults, they're.. Pointers!" She procured and extended a retractable baton. His baton.
His signature cowlick stood up in surprise.
"H-hey! Give that back!" He lunged at her as his papers went flying all over the small elevator space.
Kay giggled playfully, pushing him away by his chest while she outstretched her arms to keep his baton from his reach. For the remaining floors, they spent the ride with lighthearted struggling and occasional tickling (mostly by Kay). Eventually, Sebastian managed to grab a hold on his beloved baton, unfortunately(?) still wrapped inside her fingers.
He also had that same gloved hand pinned over her head against the stainless steel wall. His other hand was planted firmly on the same surface beside her shoulder, supporting his balance. Kay's covered palm was still pressed against his upper body. They were both red in the face, panting from the excessive laughter.
It took them a few moments to realize the position they found themselves in.
When they did, neither one of them dared to move. They were too helplessly trapped in each other's gaze. It was as if time froze. They couldn't even feel the elevator coming down anymore. Or sensed its doors sliding open.
"Uh.. I'll take the stairs instead actually," spoke a man who was patiently waiting in front of the lift.
Without making contact with him, the two hurriedly picked up the fallen papers from the floor and left the elevator in shame.
Once outside of earshot, Kay bursted out in a fit of laughter. Sebastian was still mortified from the misunderstanding (and a little ticked off that they were caught). He snatched his baton back while her guard was down.
"W-what was that all about?!"
She waited for her laughter to die down before she answered.
"Sorry, Sebby. I was trying to teach you a lesson."
He tilted his head to the side, his annoyed expression never leaving his features.
"Which is..?"
Kay playfully leaned her head in the same direction.
"To learn how to enjoy the struggles in life."
"Huh? I don't follow," he admitted sheepishly.
Holding her hand out before him, she politely asked him to lend his baton to her. "May I?"
His mind was too preoccupied from trying to figure out her point. He misunderstood her gesture and gave her his free hand instead.
Kay was taken aback for a second and later giggled at him. "No, silly. Your baton!"
"Oh..!" He pulled his hand away before gently placing the staff on her palm, curious about its involvement in the lesson she attempted to teach.
She held it up between them as she explained her point.
"Think of this as your goal in life. It can be anything! Improving yourself, Getting good test scores… Earning your badge back."
Sebastian's eyes grew wide in realization. Instinctively, as if he was fully convinced that it was the same pin that used to adorn his red coat, he reached for his baton. She swiped it away before he could.
"Getting it back from me earlier wasn't easy for you, was it? You had to struggle and everything," she remarked.
He couldn't help but notice that she purposely left out the part where he had resorted to pinning her to retrieve his retractable rod. His face flushed at the fresh memory.
"Did you enjoy it?"
"H-huh??" His ahoge stood up in shock. He feared that she might have somehow caught him relieving "the struggle" that had transpired inside the elevator.
Kay expectantly waited for his reply.
"W-well.. Uh..."
"You were laughing the whole time!"
"That's because you were tickling me!" he retorted.
She let out an unbridled laugh. "Okay, true! But yes or no?"
Sebastian darted his eyes away from her. His irritated tone quickly turned timid. "Well.. Uh.. I-I guess I did.."
She beamed at him, and he couldn't resist her contagious smile.
"If you enjoyed THAT struggle, then maybe you could learn how to enjoy the struggles in life," she points at his mess of a term paper using his retractable rod. "Like rewriting that paper of yours while considering the feedback given to you by your superior."
Sebastian stared down at the crumpled sheets with a newfound determination in his spirit, all thanks to Kay's little lesson in life.
"It's part of learning, Sebby. Just trust the process, 'kay?" She returns his baton, her gloved fingers lightly touching the palm of his hands.
"And don't forget to enjoy it while you're at it."