Nighttime is that moment after every span of sunshine that always has people out and about, having fun with their friends and family. It's actually my favorite part of the day. There are so many people enjoying their time when the sun sets going to festivals, having a late-night dinner, or what I had planned to do, go see a movie with my assistant Maya.

My name is Phoenix Wright. I've been a defense attorney for quite a while, and it always has made me feel a sense of pride. It's a passion I've enjoyed doing ever since my first case, where I not only got my childhood friend safe from being convicted of a crime he was falsely accused of, but found out who had accused him and found the truth in the situation. It's a rush of emotions every time I get into a case, being by the side of everyone, from complete strangers to my best friends.

Sometimes, I end up hearing about cases and become interested in defending for someone. Other times, like what's to happen soon (more on that later), I happen to stumble onto a crime scene myself. You never know what could happen when you're the first one to witness of a devastating situation…

My young assistant, Maya Fey, was interested in seeing a new movie at her favorite theater, Waterfall Theater. Despite it being so far away and how late at night it was 8:45 PM if I recall correctly, I drove her there anyway. I knew how much she wanted to see it, so I honestly couldn't say no. I remember her saying that she wanted to go to that specific place because the popcorn was a lot more tasty there than the other movie theaters. I couldn't blame her, I loved the popcorn there too, especially the kind with extra butter.

"Aaand, we've arrived," I said after the long drive, feeling slightly tired. "What was that movie you wanted to see called again?"

"I've told you a bajillion gazillion times, Nick!" Maya told me with a small laugh. "It's called Equestrian!" I was never really into horse racing, no wonder I never remembered after all these times she's told me the name of it. She told me that the movie is about this man named Jamie Noble who has been a fan of Equestrian, or horse racing, since he was a child and wanted to try the sport himself.

The two of us then walked into the movie theater, Maya skipping around a bit. I could tell that she was excited to see the movie, she only skipped around the movie theater every so often. This was one of those days. We went to the front desk and asked for two tickets to see the movie, and they were at a surprisingly expensive price.

"Twelve dollars a ticket?" I said to myself out loud. "I normally find tickets for seven or eight here!" I guess Maya heard me say that, since she immediately looked at me with puppy-dog eyes after I said it and then started clamoring about how good the movie was and why I should buy the tickets anyway, even while I became somewhat convinced and was paying for the tickets ten seconds into her ranting. I ended up giving her a ticket in the middle of her talking about how it's made a lot of money in the box office in its opening weekend.

Every time we went to Waterfall Theater, Maya and I would always head straight to the snack stand to get some popcorn with extra butter and a big cup of soda to drink. A surprise came to me when I saw that the person behind the desk of the snack stand was actually one of my childhood friends and my first client I ever defended alongside my late mentor, Mia Fey.

"Heyyy!" Larry, behind the desk told me, "I didn't know that you came here often! How's it been?" He then gave me a thumbs-up, like he usually does when he sees me. Larry has been a friend of mine ever since my days in elementary school. He's a tall, lanky man with light brown hair and a personality that you can't pass up. He's always been really expressive, you could easily tell when he's excited, scared, joyed, everything. His emotions changed pretty easily too. One second, he'd be really happy to see you, the next, he'd be frightened because he forgot to turn the lights off at his house.

"It's been awhile since my last case," I said, "so I decided to go with Maya here and see a movie with her. We've been having a lot of free time lately! When did you get a job here?"

"It's my first day," he said joyfully to me. "And boy, have I been doing a great job! We were actually about to close for the night after Equestrian gets done playing, so I think you may be my last customer for the day!" I thought that was pretty neat, Maya and I got here at the nick of time. I guess rushing to a place in a hurry can pay off sometimes. "Anyway, whatcha want to order? I really recommend the nachos with jalapeño cheese sauce. It really gives your tongue a kick, I've tried them myself!"

"I'll have-"

"The buttered popcorn! In the big bag! And a large orange soda!" Maya had burst out beside me, interrupting, yet finishing the order. Maya's really ecstatic, sometimes getting into situations too quickly to understand them. She's pretty young for an assistant in law, so I kind of expected her to act like that. She's really enjoyable nonetheless. I couldn't blame her for wanting to get the order in as quick as possible, the movie was going to start in around ten minutes.

"So uh," Larry started after a few seconds of awkward silence, "I'm assuming that's what you're getting, Nick?" I just simply nodded my head, still a bit surprised from Maya quickly telling the order in the middle of my sentence. Larry ended up scooping the buttery popcorn into a large bag, spilling a few pieces in the process, and filling a large cup with orange soda before putting a lid on the cup and a straw into it. He then gave the soda to me and the popcorn to Maya. Maya looked like her face was almost covered from how big the popcorn bag was.

"So," I started to say as I was handed the soda, "what's it like working at a movie theater? Do you get to meet some new folks here?"

"Oh, it's a fun job, Nick!" Larry happily stated to me. "I did get to meet a handful of new people when I started working, I like all of 'em! My managing mentor over there," he pointed to a tall, brown haired woman wearing the same shirt as Larry was wearing, but with a little crown pin on the shirt pocket, "her name is Niagara, and she's the one teaching me the ropes around working here! I can have her come over here and talk to you if you want!"

Before I could even reply, Larry was already rushing over to Niagara and telling her to meet me. She laughed a bit from how frantic he was acting, then decided to walk over here and wave. "I assume you're the Mr. Wright that Larry was talking about?" she had asked me. She had a nice smile and looked very friendly.

"Call me Phoenix," I said to her. "So, I guess you're Larry's manager here? He was pointing to you earlier and then ran to you faster than a cheetah!"

"Yep, that's me!" she said back to me. "Larry's been great around here for the time he's been here. He seems to get along with visitors very well, despite how clumsy he can be sometimes. But he's really nice, funny, he could be friends with anyone! I remember when I was interviewing him a few days ago, he even cracked a few jokes that made me laugh!"

"That really sounds like him!" Maya spoke up. "Knowing him, he might've been trying to flirt a bit!" Maya and Niagara laughed a little bit after that comment.

"I honestly wouldn't be surprised," Niagara said between laughs, "he does seem like the guy that would do that!"

"Has Larry been able to get along with the rest of the employees?" I decided to ask Niagara. "I think that they would appreciate him around."

"Jeez, Nick!" Maya has said to me, laughing a little. "You're almost sounding like one of Larry's parents!" She sometimes likes to throw little jabs at me. I don't really get mad. In fact, I actually find it humorous.

"He's been able to get along fine with most of the people here," she happily spoke to me, almost like a parent bragging about their child's A on a final exam. "Though, he hasn't been able to get along with everybody yet. He hasn't really met Victoria yet. She just works on weekends, so he hasn't been able to get along with her now. I do remember her coming in about an hour ago to see Space Armada Seven though, so Larry might be able to see her once that's done showing."

Agh, that's the movie I wanted to see today!

"Oh, also!" Larry said, popping out behind Niagara with a red stamp pad, surprising just about all of us "before you end up paying for the pop and popcorn, we're offering this deal to where if you pay three dollars, you can get a refill on any size soda after the movie to take home! All you gotta do is pay three dollars, then I'll stamp your hand to show that you're going to get a refill after the movie! What do you say, Nick?"

"I'll pass," I said, "I've been trying to drink a bit less soda and Maya will probably be waterlogged from how much soda we ordered." I laughed a bit afterward, Larry laughed too.

"Well, in that case, the popcorn and soda will be seven dollars and twelve cents," Larry said. "I don't think they let attorneys defend themselves in court for not paying the snack bill!" I payed the bill for the popcorn and soda, then headed with Maya to the room where Equestrian was playing. We couldn't really talk much longer since the movie was just about to start, so I could only wave back to Larry and Niagara as Maya and I went. I had to guide Maya around a turn since she couldn't see in front of her with the popcorn in her face. I also had to hold the door to the screening room for her since she had to hold onto the bag with two hands.

The screening room was almost pitch black. The only illumination in the room was from the screen that the movie would be played on, which was at the time, playing a trailer for Space Armada Seven, which I still felt jealous about not seeing. I guided Maya to a seat in the back row (that's her favorite spot) and sat beside her, making sure that she didn't spill any popcorn on the way to her seat.

"Y'know," Maya had whispered to me, "I wonder if some of the customers here like Larry here. He's really funny, maybe the people that watch comedy movies like being served by Larry!" She did have a point, it's never a bad thing for someone to laugh once in awhile.

After a short time, the movie was about to start. I heard the sounds of horses running in a race, a crowd of people chanting for their favorite racers. The movie was just about to start, and Maya was very excited…

Then the screen went white. And the movie went silent.

The crowd of people in the theater started to murmur to each other about what was going on, probably as confused as Maya and I were. There were several conversations in the theater, some I could hear being if the screen had problems with it or if the theater was closing early. I couldn't think of anything different other than what other people in the showroom had theorized.

Out of the blue, from the entrance to the theater, there was a man in a uniform similar to Larry's, except it was red and blue and had a badge on it. I could only assume that he was part of the security, because the next words to leave his mouth were some of the most alarming that some people in the theater have heard.

"Please evacuate the theater immediately, there is a life-threatening situation inside the theater! I repeat, please evacuate!" Everyone inside the showroom was in a state of shock and fear and darted straight for the nearest exit in the showroom. I immediately grabbed Maya's hand and rushed off the same way that we came into the showroom, hoping that the situation wasn't as bad as I thought it was.

But once I hit the main lobby, the reason for the evacuation became completely clear. The first thing that my eyes saw when I ran into the lobby with Maya was a horrific scene of Niagara slumped over on the desk of the snack stand, completely numb. Unmoving. Blood coming out of the side of her chest, spilling onto the desk as well. She was dead, there was nothing that could be said that would make me think otherwise.

Beside the body, Larry stood with the widest, most frightened eyes I had ever seen in my life. His hands had covered his mouth in complete shock. He couldn't move or look away. But the weird thing about the whole situation was one thing that I still can't get out of my head: his right hand had a huge red spot on it.

From a normal person's view, you couldn't have any other thought but the suspicion that Larry had killed Niagara. But I knew better, Larry couldn't have killed Niagara. He's not that kind of person. He would never kill anyone. I know because I've known him since childhood. I immediately rushed Maya out of the building as soon as I saw what was going on.

"W-what's going on, Nick?" Maya had asked me, trying to keep up with me. She was just as frantic and worried as I was.

"I think we may be on another case, Maya..."