Higashi no Kenji
"Yes. Of course… Plant some evidence to incriminate them… I don't care, whatever you feel would be good… Sure, you could do that; it can't be too obvious though… Yes I understand the consequences if I get caught, I've been doing this for a while now. You'd think I'd know my own sins… That's fine, thank you. That will be all for now… Yes, noblesse oblige indeed." Click.
CHAPTER 1
"Mr. Edgeworth sir, the ceremony will be starting in about thirty minutes." said Police Chief Gant peeking into Edgeworth's office.
"Thank you for the notice, I'll be there shortly, now, if you could leave me..."
"Certainly." He said while closing the door.
Edgeworth sat back in his chair behind his large desk and stared out the bay window behind him. The expression on his face was more disgruntled than would be expected for achieving the honor of being awarded with such a prestigious award as the "King of Prosecutors". Silently, he stared down at the mysterious, unusual phone sitting in his lap. The technology seemed to be much more advanced than any run of the mill cell phone. Sighing angrily, he picked it up off of his leg and opened it up to view a screen full of various Roman numerals, and hundreds of bars of information streaming past each of them. He pressed a button on the phone and held it up to his ear.
"Yes, this is Juiz."
"You know, I honestly think you went a little too far on this one. I had no interest in winning such a thing."
"My apologies sir, this was the only way that you would not seem as conspicuous in your perfect win record, making it seem like you were good enough to win an award for your achievements in your pursuits, without foul play involved."
"Unless I tell you specifically to do something, don't even think of doing it without running it by me first, I never wished to be acknowledged with such a thing."
"Should I make arrangements for things to be changed then?"
"No, it's far too late for that, we'll let this go on but don't do something like this without my permission again."
"I understand. Noblesse oblige."
Click.
Closing the phone, Edgeworth stared up at his old majestic outfit hanging up on the wall to the left of him. Though he had not worn it in years, its fabric seemed to have barely aged a day. The extravagant burgundy suit with its gold lapels and sapphire blue vest almost seemed to shimmer in the dull light of the office. Edgeworth smirked slightly as he stared at the suit encased in glass on the wall, shaking his head while thinking "I can't believe I still have that gaudy thing".
Standing up from his desk, Edgeworth slowly walked over to a small table close to the center of the room where his tea sat, deciding to have one quick cup before heading down to an award ceremony he'd rather not attend. Holding his cup up as he poured the tea inside, he continued to stare back at his old suit.
"I have surely come a long way." He laughed quietly, shaking his head slightly. He then took one sip out of his small cup and said, "At least as far as they know…" Abandoning the tea to the small table he lifted up the phone which rested in his other hand and smiled at it almost evily, "And it's all because of you."
The phone gleamed in the light of the room, a circular shape filled with the spinning words, "The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power", all surrounding the Lady Justice's Scale emblem with a dagger as the stand. The phone was unusual, that was for sure, but the powers of it were unimaginable. Whomever had this phone had powers only limited by the outstanding amount of money at the phone's owner's expense: a hefty sum of ten billion yen. Whoever was entitled to the ownership of this phone also was given the concierge "Juiz", whom catered to the owner's every whim as long as it fell legal in the rules of the game in which every owner was forced into playing. A game in which the mysterious Mr. Outside had come up with in order to make the country of Japan a better place, but at the same time, these phone owners were suffering in order to win such a corrupted game. There were twelve of them, and they were called the Seleção.
Edgeworth was VII. Three years ago, not long after his second case, he had already made a large debut of himself, but had been badly shaken by his first case, having not really won or lost. The idea of losing when he wanted to rid the world of all criminals was a deadly thought to him, but little did he know that all he could ever wish for would be in front of him shortly. One evening as Edgeworth was walking to his office with files brimming with information for his newest case, as he was opening the door to his small room in the Prosecutor's Office, he noticed a medium sized nearly flat package sitting outside the door. Picking it up, he noticed the package had no sender or return address attached. This of course was extremely suspicious to him, but he proceeded to carry it into his office regardless.
After placing the filled manila envelopes on top of his desk, he sat himself down in his small swivel chair and placed the package at the center of his desk. Turning on the small work lamp, he began to work his fingers at the clear tape over the box, being very skeptical of the contents of it. When the tape was removed and properly discarded in the waste basket beside him, cautiously he opened the flaps of the box to reveal a strange cell phone unlike any he had ever seen, along with a note at the bottom. Carefully he removed the phone from the package and stared at it curiously, confounded by the advanced look of it, while his cell phone was so modern. Almost shaking, he lifted the note from the bottom of the box, and held it under the light so he could read it.
All it said was, Be wise with your judgment.
Quickly, he threw down the phone and note in horror thinking it was a trap, a weapon of some sort to harm him in order to get revenge against his master, Manfred von Karma, he had been warned of these threats before. When the phone hit the ground though, it opened up to show a screen with twelve roman numerals, the numeral number VII flashing as the phone bleeped continuously. Slowly, Edgeworth retreated from his chair and picked the phone up off the ground. Its design was very futuristic, much unlike anything he had ever seen, and all he could think in his mind was, "What is this, and why is it in my hands?"
Merely two seconds after he had picked up the phone, the beeping grew much louder, and a button on the phone was flashing. Ever so carefully, Edgeworth pressed the button and held it up to his ear, his hands shaking.
"H-hello?" he asked frightened.
"Juiz here, what is your request?" said a feminine yet robotic voice on the other end
"R-request..? Who the hell is this?"
"I am Juiz."
"Yes, I happen to realize that, but I want to know who you are, are you the one who sent me this tacky device?"
"No, it was not I who sent you the Seleção phone."
Edgeworth stared off star struck. "S- Seleção…? What's that?"
"It's what you and eleven others have been selected to be in this game, and I am what I guess you would call, the concierge and referee. You are to be the savior of our great nation, am I wrong?"
"Savior? I'm just a rookie prosecutor…"
"You and eleven others were chosen to serve our great nation of Japan, and to aid you in this, this phone has been enhanced with ten billion yen."
"Ten billion! That's an outrageously large amount."
"Perhaps, but it is to be used wisely, for as soon as it's gone, so are you."
"Wh-What is that supposed to mean? Are you threatening me!"
"I can give no more information, only tell you to play the game wisely, and do what is best for our nation, so I will ask you again, what is your request?"
Edgeworth paused for a moment, one hand running nervously through his grayed hair, having no idea what to say to such a question. All of this seemed so fake, almost like a practical joke being staged towards him, but no, he knew this was something much more, and thought to himself that he needed to say something fast in order to avoid being harmed by this, "Juiz".
So very quietly, he said into the phone, "I want to rid this world of every criminal I come across…"
"Please repeat." Juiz said.
Much louder and more confident, Edgeworth nearly yelled into the phone, "I want to rid the world of every criminal I come across."
"It is done, noblesse oblige, please continue to be wise with your judgment, great savior."
Click.
Ever since then, Edgeworth had won every single trial he had ever faced off in, somehow always having the perfect evidence at his side to incriminate his victims, evidence that no one else would ever be able to find. The only reason for that though is that such evidence never truly existed; every bit of it was being created by the mystery accomplice Juiz, always being placed just so perfectly that every trial would be won with no further arguments. Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth had become a legend.
So due to his success, the award which was usually presented to his mentor Manfred von Karma was being presented to Edgeworth himself, even though he had no desire to put his face out in the public's eye further than it already was. Edgeworth had already many times been accused of using fake evidence in his trials to win over each case. He had been called heartless, soulless, and overall a criminal, but he paid no heed to such "rumors", only believing that what he was doing was right. He would always hold his head high at every winning case and wave his hand off to the crying, accusing families of the "innocent" men and women, knowing he was always right in his judgment, and that they were always wrong.
Looking at his watch, Edgeworth sighed and decided it was about time to head down to the ceremony. It would take over fifteen minutes alone just for the elevator to get down to the ground floor, so it would be best to head down there then so not to be late, not that he was wishing to be punctual to it. Carefully he placed the phone in his jacket pocket, carefully tapping the outside to make sure it was securely inside, and straightened the ruffles that rested on his chest. He then proceeded to exit his office, being very sure to lock it so no one would intrude on his private quarters.
Walking down the hallway, he began trying to think of ways to worm out of having to give a big speech at this award ceremony, only to have his thoughts interrupted by a load of change falling to the floor.
"Aw man! I was like six yen short! Where'd it all go?" yelled a large man further down the hallway, rushing to the floor in order to save his money which was rolling everywhere, most of it going underneath the vending machine. Edgeworth sighed frustratingly as he walked faster over towards the large man whom he knew as his self-volunteered sidekick, Gumshoe.
"What in the world do you think you're doing! Get up, you look like a fool." He said standing over him, tapping his foot angrily.
Gumshoe peered up at him almost angrily, but his expression changed almost immediately when he saw who it was. "A-Ah! Mr. Edgeworth sir, I-I was just getting a little snack before the ceremony. I heard cinnamon buns went down about ten yen on this machine, which is like a huge score, but I just lost the last of my money."
Edgeworth sighed and shook his head at the pathetic lump that was the man before him, going to such eternal lengths just for sugary bread. Edgeworth walked up to the machine, seeming like he was going to complete the purchase, but instead pushed the coin return button. "Why bother, I'm quite sure there will be plenty of food after the award is presented, now get going before you're late." He said as he walked away.
"Ah, uh, yes sir, right behind you Mr. Edgeworth sir!" he yelled stumbling to his feet and chasing after him. Edgeworth glared back at him, having no wish for him to be the one he had to ride with down to the awards, but he knew at this point that he really had no choice. As the two of them reached the elevator, Gumshoe pushed forward to push the "down" button on the panel, but in turn almost knocked Edgeworth over onto the floor. Edgeworth gave him a look of pure disgust as he entered the elevator, Gumshoe still unwisely choosing to follow behind him.
Already, the day was becoming a nuisance to the High Prosecutor, only wishing that he and Juiz could continue to plan out his case together, but he would have no time for that now, other things had to be done first. Edgeworth stared agonizingly at the numbers on the digital screen above the elevator door, wishing they would only go down faster as Gumshoe rambled about how many cups of uncooked instant noodles he consumed in the previous week, wishing mostly that he could just get the day over with.