Chapter 1
There weren't any birds chirping yet. Well, maybe one or two, but they were pretty much inaudible. The fact of the matter was that the clock read 5:20 AM, it was around Winter, and like hell a bird would find a mate in the cold darkness of a probably-Winter dawn. That said, the sun may have just come up a few minutes ago, but the Wright Anything Agency was already abuzz with noise. A lot of it, in fact.
"Hey, Trucy," Athena exclaimed, "show me that trick with the quarter again!"
Trucy stared back at the lawyer indignantly, a hint of disbelief in her eyes alongside her trademark infectious smile, though this time it looked kinda cynical. "Aw, that one again?"
"Yes, yes, absolutely!" Athena slammed her hands down on the desk in front of her, as if she was about to raise an objection. But really it was because of excitement. Trucy failed to respond to this excitement, and energy pulsed within Athena's arms until she was this close to unleashing a ray of ki from her palms. But really she was just quivering her arms a bit, as she had been holding all her weight with them for a minute now.
Athena coughed totally surreptitiously, and just as slyly sat back down. It was such a smooth move. She was about to congratulate herself for it, but instead she found herself flabbergasted. The girl in front of her, the boss's daughter, the heir to all the once-lost Gramarye magic tricksăź
Trucy had Athena's attorney badge, still shining polished brass, in her delicate but extremely tight grasp!
"Hey, wait!" But her protests were not heeded. The girl cloaked in blue had already flourished her magic panties, drawing them from seemingly nowhere. Damn, she had even smoother moves. "Wait!"
Trucy grinned widely. "My Magic Panties are an extra-dimensional galaxy!"
As this trademark sentence came spilling from Trucy's lips, Athena felt defeat grasping at her heel. It was only a matter of time before it had her in its grasp.
"Now, watch as I make your..." Trucy trailed off for a bit. A clever bit of misdirection, to be sure, as the audience would be focusing more on her lips than any sleight of hand. Athena wasn't really susceptible to this, because she was a lot more focused on the empty space in front of her, jaw agape.
Trucy's voice echoed from that hollow space. "... badge disappear!" And, yeah, it was definitely gone. Though, ten seconds later, Trucy noticed her victim's complete lack of reaction, and waved her hand in a flourish next to her ear, before balling it into a fist. She opened it just as soon as she moved it away from her ear, and Athena's badge revealed itself between two of Trucy's fingers.
"That was half of the quarter trick! You got what you wanted. C'mon, Athena, give me a round of applause! Unless you want me to call you Miner-"
"No, please, I really don't like where you were going with that." The interrupting statement was coupled with a drooping face, courtesy of Athena Cykes.
"But you're usually so happy every time I do anything! I needed some kind of reaction, you know!" Trucy puffed out her chest and jabbed her fists into her waist questionably threateningly when she enunciated that some.
"Well, sorry I'm not Apollo." Athena knew that making that kind of snarky remark while the young man was gone rebuilding a country was rude, but she didn't really care. Not with her mind weighed down so much lately.
At first, Trucy seemed about to give a snarky remark of her own, but a glint of recognition flashed across her eyes, and she was silent. The girl had the decency not to ask when she had no business asking, but she let concern plaster itself all over her still-smiling face anyway. It was kind of cute, but it also painted the room in a more somber light. Athena struggled to find something to say, to change the topic, maybe she should just come clean that something was bothering her. Before she could open her mouth, however, Trucy interjected.
"Oh!" The magician's earnest smile returned. "Hey, you know how I got a new show going already?"
There was a pause, slightly too long, before Athena replied. "Yeah, at the Bogey Club, right? In that huge plaza they built recently."
"Yep! But get this! The show's doing so well, the producer came to thank me! Just a handshake, no bogus contracts this time. And I get a week off, he's seen how hard I've been working. Well, not just me, the other guy in the play-slash-magic-show. So, anyway, we both got a week off!" Trucy was beaming with anticipation. It had been almost month now since the show opened. Almost a month of nonstop performances. The poor girl really needed a break or some R&R or something.
Athena hummed a thoughtful "hm." She followed that up with a "huh," before finally concluding her thought process. "Let's go out on a shopping and eating bonanza, then! Especially eating. I'm sick of instant noodles and late nights at the office doing nothing but paperwork!"
"And reading my manga."
"And reading your manga. So, can we go? Like, right now? I mean, you don't have school anymore, and I've just got so many ants in my pants I need to move I need to go do something now."
Trucy put her finger to her jaw inquisitively, then set both her hands on the desk. "It's only forty-four Fahrenheit outside right now, and nothing's open yet. There's nothing to do."
As soon as she finished, she was met with Athena's courtroom battle grin, and a cry of "Objection!" The younger girl withdrew her hands from the desk in surprise.
"People walk their dogs in the morning! You can't say there's nothing to do! So! First event of the day: dogspotting expedition!"
"What?!" exclaimed Trucy, a gloved hand over her mouth in confusion.
"You heard me! We're gonna go look for fwuffy wuffy waggy tails, and then we're gonna spend the rest of the day shopping!" huffed Athena as she threw a coat on, just as yellow as her normal attire. This was starting to sound less like R&R and more like some sort of military training. "You're coming with, right?"
Trucy changed facial expressions a few times before settling on a grin. "Sure! Sounds like quite the date. Doggos."
"Yep, it's a date! Doggos!"
By some stroke of amazing luck, the pair was accosted by a hulking horde of hounds as soon as they left the office. Three toy-sized dogs, to be exact. After some cooing and petting the dogs and thanking the dog-walker, they managed to burn an hour exchanging pictures of cute animals on their phones before wandering into a cafe that had just opened for the day.
The smells of pastries, coffee, tea, and wood polish drifted out of the shop all at once when Trucy and Athena opened the door together. It was a bit of a tasty smell, but also a little bitter. Fitting for a cafe. Also, warmer than outside.
"Ohmigosh," Athena whispered, "there are so many sweets here!"
The boy at the register coughed. "So did you want cream and sugar in your coffee?"
A wave of inner turmoil overcame Athena's entire soul. She wanted to look like a responsible adult now that she'd finally graduated from being just a rookie lawyer, but it wasn't like she could erase her image of "really, really likes sugar and cream in her coffee." But also, it was cheaper to get the coffee black.
A breath tickled her ear. "Just get it with sugar."
A perfect compromise! Incredibly startling, too! She started and turned her head to see where the assailant was. To no one's surprise, it was just Trucy on her tiptoes. The girl had gotten a bit taller, but she'd stopped growing now, and would never match up to Athena's height. How sad.
Another cough came from the counter. "So, ma'am?"
"Yes! Just with sugar! And, oh, a matcha mousse cake for me!" Trucy then chimed in, ordering for herself green tea and a slice of tiramisu.
"I'm definitely not old enough to be a ma'am," Athena breathed when she sat down with her order.
"You're old enough that you could have paid for my stuff, though," pouted Trucy, playing with her nearly-empty pouch of coin change.
"And why did your order come out first?!" exclaimed the bright-haired lawyer.
Everyone already knew the answer, though, so nothing further was said on the subject. Instead, Trucy took a bite from her cake. She half murmured, half squealed in delight before downing it with a sip from her tea.
Trucy cleared her throat. "It's good! Here, try some."
A proffered fork later, Athena nodded in intense agreement. "Try mine for me, Trucy, O Great Food Critic!"
The Great Food Critic giggled. "Of course. I will honor your request, taste-testing peasant. Noblesse oblige and all that!" She paused to chew and swallow the bit of matcha mousse cake on her fork. "Wow, the texture of this mousse is incredible! It's so, so good with the matcha flavor."
"Whoa, this is great," Athena said between chews.
"Hey, you've got some on your cheek. Should I lick it off for you?" said Trucy, with an exaggerated wink.
"Wow. No, thanks."
Neither of them could stifle their laughter.
The two employees of Wright Anything Agency made it to a sizeable mall after a bus ride or three. Unfortunately, half the stores wouldn't even let them in. Seriously. One of the guards even said, "Do you kids even have jobs?" Sure, they were two girls who weren't even twenty yet, but one of them was a lawyer in Phoenix Wright's office and the other the heir to a world-famous magic troupe!
"Dulce and Bananas, just you watch. I'm gonna endorse your rival store so hard when I'm rich and famous!" an angry Athena said, stomping her way out of the mall with only two light bags of mostly yellow clothing. Trucy followed her, giggling and playing with her new set of limited edition, mint, collector's Steel Samurai-themed playing cards, all the way to the bus stop. All the way to the bus stop, twenty minutes early. Or, in other words, ten minutes late. Athena accepted her defeat gracefully, wordlessly, and sat on a nearby bench. Trucy took a seat next to her, holding out a cup of boba tea.
"Huh? Oh, no, I'm good," Athena said, tapping her feet listlessly. Her bench buddy made a sound in acknowledgement and sipped the rest of her tea before placing a hand on Athena's shoulder.
She pivoted to face Trucy. "Huh?"
"Are you feeling better?" asked the magician.
"What are you talking about?" responded Athena.
"You know, even without Widget, it's pretty easy to tell when what you're thinking is different from what you're saying. Look, you're tapping your finger slightly."
Athena froze. "Whoa, are you Apollo or something?"
"Um, it was pretty obvious. Wait, no, no misdirection here! That's my thing!" Trucy removed her hand from Athena's shoulder, choosing instead to grasp the older girl's hands. "You've been bothered for a while. Since even before Polly left. Do you want to talk?"
Athena weakly smirked. "It's been that long?" She sighed. "I guess I'll talk.
"Do you remember the first case I did?"
The magician looked confused. After a bit of thought, she gasped. "The one with your friend and the bomb, where Polly got hurt, you mean?"
"Yeah, you remember that friend? Junie," Athena broke off mid-sentence, then continued, "I-I mean, Juniper, that's her name. She's always been so sickly, but strong, and cute, and she really believed in me. That I could defend her. Before that, I didn't know, but, I, uh, I think-I think I fell for her after that case."
Trucy didn't seem the least bit alarmed by this new information. Maybe a bit dismayed. "That's totally cool. She is cute, isn't she?"
A blush crept up Athena's neck, and she had to break eye contact to continue talking. "Then, later, the Themis Academy case came up, and she had some friends I'd barely seen before. I mean, I was happy for her, but some part of me was jealous for some reason. And I guess that part turned out right. Back in May, I went to visit her in her new justice program, and she was living with one of them. And I saw them kissing. And it's my fault; I was too scared to tell her, and-"
Her words came out faster with each sentence, until Trucy squeezed her hands and smiled and said, "It's alright."
Athena allowed herself to shed a few tears before the bus arrived, while the stop was empty. Before too long, they were just two girls in a small crowd boarding the bus home. Thankfully, prior to that, the gigalith of a vehicle was empty, and they found a spot they could talk (or sob) unheard, nestled away near the back right corner.
Once they'd settled, Athena slumped against the back of the chair, staring into some space above her. She inhaled slowly, grinned faintly, and said, "Geez, I feel tired now."
Trucy giggled. "You've always been the best at getting back up after a fall. Say," she said, brandishing a pamphlet, "have you heard about this new circus in town?"
Athena lowered her gaze to the tiny leaflet. The pamphlet read, "Tinne Circus! Renowned for their teamwork with animals, now at the Bogey Theater. One month only!"
"Oh," she said, "that's right next to where you perform."
"Yep! And get this! Betty and Bonny got work there! They're only stagehands, though. Oh, but Bonny said she'd drop by to give us tickets for this Saturday's showing!" Trucy beamed, happy that her friends finally got a gig.
"That's only four days from now," Athena remarked.
"Yep, and guess what? Before you came in this morning, when Daddy left, he said he'd be too busy to go!"
The yellow-clad lawyer had difficulty understanding why this was a good thing.
"Athena, go with me! It'll be fun!" said Trucy, shedding light on the situation immensely.
"Wait, Apollo's gone, too, plus all of the boss's friends who were over are with him. Hey, am I your last resort?!"
Trucy only gave a cryptic smile and leaned over to rest her head on Athena's shoulder. Athena would normally have questioned this in her head, but she was too tired from the day's events to process anything, really.
"Is it a date?"
Athena hummed, idly looking through the window. They were passing through that part of Los Angeles where the landscape actually had some semblance of greenery. "I guess. Yeah."
The rest of the way back to the office passed by in relative silence.
It was getting late when they returned to the Wright Anything Agency. No daylight, and certainly no chirping or tweeting. It would have been perfectly normal and acceptable for Athena to go to sleep at this time, but she doubted she could sleep with the worries sometimes striking at her mind.
Trucy stifled a yawn with her hand. She was already in her pyjamas, just as blue as her normal outfit. "Daddy called. He won't be back tonight. Apparently he got into another pickle with that Harry Butz guy out of state," she said.
Athena, in the midst of sitting down at her desk, blinked. "Aren't you worried?"
"Hey, I'm a magician. Gotta keep that smile on, right?"
The toughest of times are when a lawyer has to force their biggest smile.
Athena felt a warmth spread through her chest. She grinned broadly.
"Yeah," she replied, "yeah." She paused. "Hey, I'm gonna go finish my paperwork for today. Go ahead and sleep whenever, don't worry about me."
"Alright," said Trucy. "I'm here if you need me, though, okay? Don't forget that." Her figure faded as she retreated into her room, stumbling a bit from sleepy stupor.
After Trucy had left, and at the sight of her rather large pile of work, Athena thrust her fist into her palm. "Time to finish this off!"
Unfortunately, she found her face planted firmly in the cherry wood of the desk only a couple hours later.
Athena woke with a start to the sound of an extremely loud bird call. "Dammit! It's not even mating season!" she screeched, her voice hoarse from a night of sleep and no water. She tapped her phone awake for the time. It was way later than the time she'd arrived the previous day.
Athena was about to stand from her chair to make herself some coffee when a cloth started to slip and fall from her shoulders. She managed to catch it before it made it to the floor. Good thing, too, seeing as it was Trucy's favorite cloak.
Athena smiled, the best her sleep-addled facial muscles would let her. Trucy really was considerate. About as much, she surmised, as Junie was.