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The murder of Bert-Dey Gerl on May 22 of 20XX was the talk of the town. A well-known public figure in the world of fanspaces, the digital art industry was fairly distraught. The case made big waves on social media, remarking the absurdity of the poor lady’s death. Her body was found sprawled in a chair, with stab wounds in her chest assumed to be from the bloody, sharp charcoal pencil that lay next to her body. Her eyes were wide open when the body was found – perhaps expressing a sense of terror. She was wearing pajamas decorated with characters from a familiar video game… one relating to squids in platoons and such. Her brightly dyed hair seemed to match the color of the bloodstains, leaving the scene with a sense of irony.
Miles Edgeworth couldn’t stand to see another girl just about Kay’s age murdered in such ruthless ways. The suspect – Hamm Mabum – was arrested when her car was found leaving Ms. Gerl’s driveway only a handful of moments after the murder, leading the police to believe she was foolish enough to reveal she supposedly did it so openly. When Miles heard about the grounds for arrest, he knew he had to take on the case. Ms. Mabum was Ms. Gerl’s age, and it’s not often that 19 year olds kill each other over arguments, or even… whatever it is that digital influencers find themselves doing. He’d called over Detective Gumshoe to hand over the autopsy report and other case files – but the knock on the door wasn’t from the burly man. Instead, the ‘in’famous Yatagarasu Thief herself burst through the door, holding up the case files that Miles demanded from Gumshoe.
“Mr. Edgeworth – here’s all the stuff about Bert-Day and Hamm! There’s so many portraits of us, look! Look!” hollered Kay. She waved the printed art around, prompting Miles to leave his leather-coated sofa and take a look for himself. He grabbed the files from Kay and rummaged through them, expressing what was a mix of confusion and worry when it came to the inclusion of Ms. Gerl’s art in the case files. Did the police really think she would be sending morbid messages through… these?
Kay peered over Miles’ shoulder and jumped up and down, snickering. “Between you and me… I think we have to honor Bert-Day. We need to solve her murder to honor her! Come on, come on! Let’s go investigate already!” nagged Kay, probably still overly flattered over the fact that she was some sort of digital figure by association. Miles looked into the light-filled eyes that Kay had, so eager and optimistic in a way he found himself behaving sometimes at her age. With a quick readjustment of his cravat, Miles nodded his head. “The truth can’t be brought to light without the right prosecutor and…” Miles began, unwilling to say he was so close with someone who labelled herself a thief. Kay rubbed the bottom of her nose and continued for him. “Aaaanndddd thief! We’re gonna steal all that evidence, Mr. Edgeworth!” declared Kay, beginning to break into the iconic Yatagarasu speech.
“Even in the depths of night when no other bird dares to take flight, one alone soars to shine the light of righteousness on the world’s blight! And that one… is me! For I am the Great Thief, Yatagarasu!” monologued Kay, breaking out into a pose when she was done. Miles rubbed the bridge of his nose and walked out of his office without saying a word, leaving Kay disappointed as she rushed to go off and catch up with him. “Heeeeyy, Mr. Edgeworth! You can’t just do that!” trailed Kay, grumbling to herself. “I’m no thief,” commented Miles. He buried his hands in his pockets and pulled out the keys to his sports car, opening the passenger seat door next to him for Kay. He was a gentleman, after all!
Kay smiled at the gesture and sat inside, buckling her seatbelt. She couldn’t keep still in her seat – asking a buttload of questions about the case. Unfortunately, Miles had no clue how to answer any of them. He hadn’t even spoken to the suspect or formally proposed himself to be her prosecutor yet. Revving up the engine, Miles let out a small breath. “Maybe I’ll have answers for you after we investigate the crime scene, Kay. Be a little patient – Ms. Gerl’s home is a little far from here,” replied Miles. Kay dramatically sighed and dejectedly agreed to Miles’ demands, saving her excitement for the actual investigation. The two often did this before deciding whether this was a case worth prosecuting, because Miles now had plenty more responsibilities as Chief Prosecutor. He couldn’t dilly-dally with trivial cases that had obvious endings, whether guilty or not.
***
“Trucy! Hurry up, or we’re gonna be late for the investigation! We’ve only so many strings to pull with Detective Gumshoe without Da – Mr. Wright around!” scolded Apollo. He’d been fumbling around with his words a lot more often than he’d like to admit lately, perhaps still a little perplexed by the reveal that he and Trucy really were related. There was also the fact that Thalassa was his mother… and a whole twisted, woven story about how father figures kept popping in and out of his life… But this was no time to dwell on all that! There was a defendant to prove innocent!
Apollo and Trucy had visited Hamm before Miles got the chance to. Without the official proclamation that he would be her defense lawyer, he couldn’t investigate a thing. The conversation consisted of a whole lot of crying and awkward coincidences almost impossible to disprove – but this was nothing that Apollo wasn’t used to. If he could reform the government and court system of Khura’in, he could solve a murder case for the umpteenth time! Rightfully so, Trucy shared his determination and insisted she help out with the investigation. She also wanted to see the Chief Prosecutor in action… and this happened to be a convenient excuse…
Apollo and Trucy speedwalked to the crime scene. Luckily for the two, Ms. Gerl’s home wasn’t far away from the Wright Anything Agency. Apollo slicked up his two strands of hair along the way, and Trucy polished up Mr. Hat with a microfiber cloth. She then tapped Apollo on the shoulder and showed him a magic trick – making the cloth disappear from sight! This surprisingly earned a little ‘Woaah…’ out of Apollo, even if he’d seen the trick a hundred times before. He crossed his arms and chuckled, but the calmness on his face didn’t match the fact that his legs were shaking more and more the closer he got to the scene. “Hey, Trucy, you think you could make my stress disappear next?..” pathetically wailed Apollo, making Trucy pull out a small polaroid photograph of her and Klavier over her face that she always kept around. She was still a huge, huge Gavinners fan!
“Oh, dear sweet Herr Forehead… I’m sure that dinner and a drink will be more than enough to ease your big, big mind after such a long day at work… Call me, Meine Liebe…” teased Trucy, doing her best to imitate Klavier. Apollo’s face went awfully red, prompting him to snatch away the picture from Trucy’s hands. Apollo held it up above her where she couldn’t reach, leading Trucy to raise her arms up and practically fight Apollo just to get it back. This catfight went on for so long that the two didn’t even notice Mr. Edgeworth’s iconic sports car ever-so-sneakily slowed down at the sight of them two. Then they didn’t notice how Miles lowered down his window and stared at the two with the most disappointed look on his face. Then they also didn’t notice the fact he was calling their names… for a good few seconds.
Trucy was the first to stop arguing when she noticed the bright red in her peripheral vision. She turned her head and widened her mouth in shock, shaking Apollo’s shoulder to shut up and acknowledge the Chief Prosecutor and the Yatagarasu sitting in the same car. Apollo turned his head shakily, shoving away the polaroid in his pocket now that Trucy was distracted. He clasped his hands together and put them over his mouth, awkwardly chuckling to himself. “Haaahaaahhh… Chieeefff!... What, uh… what brings you on this road, huh?..” asked Apollo, sweat trickling down his face like a rainstorm. Trucy stepped on Apollo’s foot and put on her sweetest smile, kneeling forward. “Mr. Edgeworth! I didn’t know you were interested in Ms. Gerl’s murder, too. We were just gonna investigate the crime scene ourselves!” politely remarked Trucy. She turned up the cute factor to 100 and behaved as sweetly as she could… eyeing the backseats of Miles’ charming car.
“...Mr. Justice, are you Ms. Mabum’s defense attorney?” inquired Miles, curious as to why he was getting involved with what appeared to be such a cut-and-dry case. Kay peeked over Miles shoulder and put her hands on one, tilting her head. “Mr. Edgeworth – you know Trucy from the Gramarye Troupe? And you never thought to introduce me?!” complained Trucy, eyes sparkling as she looked Trucy up and down. Trucy humbly chuckled and waved her hand, somewhat undermining her popularity. “Oh, stooopp… You don’t have to act so surprised!” mumbled Trucy, internally giggling to herself.
Apollo nodded his head towards Miles’ question while the two girls drowned themselves with praise, nervously explaining what prompted him to take on Ms. Mabum’s defense. Miles rested one of his arms on the steering wheel and nodded his head towards the backseats of his car, inviting the two to join him for the ride. Trucy bolted towards the car door and immediately sat herself down on the luxurious leather seats, grinning. Apollo shyly accepted the offer and stiffly sat in the middle seat, making eye contact with Miles through the rearview mirror. Apollo quickly turned his head away and fidgeted with his bracelet, staying silent throughout. Unlike the attorney, Trucy and Kay were drowning themselves in conversation!
“So, Trucy… What do you know about the Great Thief Yatagarasu? Hm?” excitedly asked Kay. She imagined all sorts of costumes that Trucy could wear if she joined the team, swaying back and forth in the passenger seat. Trucy tapped her chin and looked up as she thought, unsure if she was as familiar with Kay in the way she was familiar with Trucy. “I’ve seen the name mentioned on the news a lot… but Dad doesn’t usually tell me about those big, drawn-out cases so casually. It’s not exactly the thing you can talk about when it’s dinner time, you know what I mean?” mentioned Trucy. Kay closed her eyes and nodded along – understanding where the girl came from. “Right, right… Fair enough… Well, let me tell you all about them!” offered Kay. Miles’ grip on the steering wheel silently tightened, suggesting just how much that whole ordeal bothered him sometimes. With a little extra Faraday Flair, Kay recited the Yatagarasu motto again for Trucy. The magician gasped in awe and clapped her gloved hands, pulling out a rose from nowhere and handing it to Kay. “In honor of your brave feats for the truth, Ms. Great Thief!” charmed Trucy, smiling big and wide. Kay took it and placed it in her satchel, probably planning on gloating about a rose from the Gramarye Star herself!
“So, Kaayyy… How long have you known Mr. Edgeworth and his friends? Have you ever met my dad before?” wondered Trucy, curious to see just how much her dad kept from her sometimes. “Well, I know about Gummy! I’ve also heard a lot-lot about your dad, but I’ve never really gotten to meet him. Mr. Edgeworth always says that there’s ‘no need’ or that Mr. Wright’s ‘too busy’,” instigated Kay. Miles cleared his throat and drove even faster – desperate for this conversation to end before it went into a whole other direction. Trucy and Kay tightly gripped onto their seats, but Apollo was still lost in his panic…
***
The two girls chattered away about all sorts of things. This carried over to the crime scene investigation, where Kay immediately took the opportunity to show the bold and brave work of Little Thief in action. It was almost as if they’d spent more time bonding and getting along instead of investigating, essentially leaving Miles and Apollo to pair up… It was hellish on their end. At least, Apollo thought so. He wanted nothing more than to go home and bury himself in piles of paperwork for the next five business weeks. Maybe he should’ve never taken this case at all…