MadFox here, with (another) new story! I was going to just do a one-shot, but instead Lumos314 convinced me to do (another) short story collection. As if I didn't have 3 stories already that I'm not updating fast enough XD

But after I do the first 4 chapters, I'll be going off of requests. So I'd ask that you please limit your requests to a minimum... That'd be nice. :D

Also, fact of life: I won't update this all that quickly. Just so you know. My priority is Symphony, then Just a Note, then this. (And then Guilty Love. Sorry XD)

Well, I hope you enjoy! :D

(O)

"I'm soooo bored," Kay groaned, hanging upside-down on Edgeworth's couch. "When is Mr. Edgeworth coming back?"

"If I knew, I'd tell you, pal." Gumshoe looked at a nearby clock… It had been an hour since he'd left, but it felt like at least four.

"How come you can only do dumb things when everything's super serious?" Kay laughed.

"Hey! I… I object!"

"Overruled." Kay smirked at the dismayed detective. There was a long pause as Kay stared at the floor. "Heh, I wonder what you were like when you were my age."

Gumshoe frowned. "17… That's about when I decided to become a detective, pal."

"You seem sad about that. What, did you want to be the Blue Badger instead?"

"It's a long story, pal."

"Perfect! I'm bored out of my mind!"

"I guess I could tell you, pal. See, when I was a kid, I really wanted to be a wizard. But then I realized that you had to be born one, so I couldn't really be one. Well, I decided that I wanted to be an inventor after that. See, my mom was a detective, and she was always complaining that she didn't have any good tools for investigating, so I wanted to make inventionigation… Err, investion… In-vest-ig-a-tion in-ven-tions."

"That's a tongue twister," Kay remarked.

"You try saying it, pal!"

"Investigation inventions?" she laughed.

"Show off," Gumshoe growled. "Well, I built a few things that I learned how to make on the internet… Like a bug detector. There's a funny story with that one, but I can tell you later, pal. Anyways, I didn't have any really great friends until about freshman year."

"Aww, that's so sad!"

"Hey, I had friends, pal… Just none worth mentioning."

"Riiiiiight." Kay smirked.

"Well, I met this girl in my physical science class… Her name was Kelsey."

"Was she cute?"

"Heh… A little. But we never were anything more than friends, pal."

"Aww…"

"Anyways, her assigned seat was right next to mine, and we talked a lot. She really wanted to become a forensic biologist."

"What's a forensic biologist?"

"Well, different kinds of bugs appear in bodies, depending on how long they were dead for. And some plants will start growing on a body after a while, too-"

"Eww, that's gross!"

"Hey pal, you see some gross stuff when you're a detective. Well, she wanted to do that, which was pretty cool. Well, she wanted to take a whole bunch of honors and AP and IB and IQ classes, and I wasn't all that smart."

"Aww, I think you're pretty smart… Sometimes."

"That's not a huge help, pal." Gumshoe frowned. "Anyways, I wanted to take those classes with her, so I could see her more. She wasn't really in any sports or anything, so I wanted to take as many classes with her as I could."

"Aww, that's so sweet!"

"I had to study really hard, though. She could get an A on all her science tests without studying, and I'd study for hours and hours and get a B, if I was lucky. I took Honors Chemistry and Honors biology when I was a sophomore, and AP chemistry and AP biology when I was a junior. I also started taking Latin my sophomore year, because Kelsey said it would help when we had to learn the scientific names of plants and animals and stuff. Our AP biology teacher was a little out there, and had us memorize long lists of scientific names, so that was pretty helpful then. I still remember a lot of that stuff."

"What, like scientific names?"

"Yeah."

"So you know the names of the flowers in Mr. Edgeworth's bouquet?"

"Uh, sorry pal. Those are fake… Mr. Edgeworth's got a pollen allergy. But I'm guessing those are supposed to be Delphiniums, some Bellis Perennis, and the scientific name for a rose is just 'rosa'."

"Are you sure you aren't just making this stuff up?"

"I studied way too long for me to be making this stuff up, pal!"

"All right, all right. So you were willing to do literally anything for the girl of your dreams… Now, continue."

"Heh… Well, I was sixteen my junior year. There was this girl in our class named Angel Starr… You know her. She's the one that has the macaroni and cheese lunches that you like so much."

"Oh, her! She was in your class?!"

"Yeah. She got me in trouble a lot… Like that day."

"What happened?"

"No way, pal. I'm not telling you that."

"Aww, why?"

"If you really want to know, you can ask her."

"Aww. Well, continue your story, then."

"Err… Well… It was in February."

"What was in February? Valentine's day? That day?" Kay grinned.

"Not quite. Kelsey… We were going to study at the park. We walked there from school, and we were talking…"

"About Valentine's day?"

"No. This is… A little emotional for me. It would be great if you didn't interrupt any more."

"Huh?! What… What happened?"

"Kelsey… Her last name… You might recognize it."

"What?"

"Kitaki."

"Like, the gangster Kitakis?!"

"Yeah, pal. Her dad, Winfred Kitaki's younger brother, got tired of it, and wanted his daughter to grow up outside of jail, so he left the rest of the family."

"Oh…"

"Well, the Rivales still acknowledged her as a Kitaki, since her last name hadn't changed. I dunno why she didn't get it changed… Kelsey did like her uncle a lot. For a crime boss, he was a pretty nice guy. I guess denying part of the family meant denying all of it, and that wasn't an option her dad wanted to take. Well… We bumped into a Rivale… And he shot Kelsey."

"Wha… Whaaaaaat?! What happened?!"

"Kelsey died." There was a pause as Gumshoe closed his eyes, trying to stop his tears. It didn't work, and Kay leaned over to give him a hug. They sat like that for a while, until Gumshoe pulled himself back together. "I testified in court… And I said I saw the murder… But they said my testimony wasn't trustworthy. I… I'm not too great at testifying. As Mr. Edgeworth sometimes put it, swiss cheese has less holes than my testimonies. They didn't think I did it, but the murder was left unsolved."

"Oh, wow…"

"I was angry after that, pal. I wanted to be able to protect her, and I couldn't even put her killer in jail. I knew that I wanted to join the police force after that… I wasn't sure what, but I knew that I couldn't let another case go by where a killer got off the hook. I would've become a prosecutor, but I didn't think I was smart enough. So I worked really hard, and became a detective… And then, I really was able to save someone that meant a lot to me… You know Maggey."

"Yeah, she used to be a security guard here? And then she got fired?"

"That's the one. Meeting Maggey was like getting to see Kelsey again. Always smiling, cheerful no matter what… Of course, I don't just like Maggey because she's just like Kelsey… Maggey's really great." Gumshoe smiled briefly. "But it felt good to save her, and find the real killer. I was able to do what I couldn't do back then… Which was what I'd always wanted."

"Wow… That's…" Kay's green eyes looked a bit shinier than usual, and neither Gumshoe or Kay spoke. "I'm glad you're a detective, Gummy," Kay finally said.

"I am, too… Sometimes I feel like I don't belong here, but I know that this is where I want to be… I've helped so many people that mean a lot to me… Maggey, Mr. Edgeworth, Mr. Wright…"

"You've helped me, too." Kay smiled, and a tear slipped down her face.

Gumshoe smiled back, equally moved. "Thanks, Kay." They hugged once again, for a bit longer.

"...I feel as if I missed something important." The crying pair looked over to find Edgeworth watching them with an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, hi Mr. Edgeworth! Gummy was just telling me about his life story."

"...Is it really that sad?"