All That Counts

By: Aviantei

Prologue: Playing with Lightning


April 5, 2019, 3:49 PM

Big Tower, Deliberation Room


"Whoa, this is awesome."

Light green eyes looked through glasses at the sight in front of their owner. The girl stared intently for a moment, combing over every single detail she could gather. Seeming satisfied—or maybe unsatisfied as she was frowning—she reached out to touch the object of interest, possibly to move it around for the purpose of furthering the observation.

And that was when the shock wore off.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

A gloved hand clamped over the shoulder of the girl, and surprise halted her movements. The green eyes stared up at an opposing light brown pair, the eyebrows above furrowed in irritation. Whoever the outspoken boy was, he was angry, and it took an apparent amount of effort on the part of the girl to understand why. Having one of their number speak up was enough for the rest of the group to finally react properly to the intrusion, although no one actually spoke a word as the answer to the previously shouted question was one that no one wanted to miss.

"Sorry, sorry, I just got so worked up that I forgot it's not my place to investigate these things. Least not yet." The girl spoke with an accent, words tinted in a British tone. She stood up, dusting of her pants from the time spent kneeling on the ground. It was lucky that blood was lacking, considering the majority of her pants were white. The top half of the fabric covering her thighs was the only deviation, being colored a dark brown. A light jacket of the same color was open at the front, showing off an orange undershirt. The girl gave off a nervous laugh, making the short ponytail on the right side of her head bounce in stripes of blonde and a green that matched her eyes. "Since I didn't touch it, though, we should be fine, right? Eh heh. But, wow, a real dead body…"

Choosing to ignore the last comment, the boy continued to seethe in irritation. "That may be the case, but it doesn't explain what you're even doing here! This is a crime scene! It is not a place for children!" The comment was pushing it, considering the two appeared to be about the same age, but the girl seemed to be more concerned with the baton that had suddenly pointed into her face. From there, she moved on to observe its wielder.

His hair matched his eyes in color, but not in seriousness. It stuck out to the sides in small waves, complete with a small question mark-shaped ahoge at the top. His ensemble was blue and similar in style to a male Japanese school uniform, save for the red suit jacket draped over his shoulders like a cape.

There was a moment of silence between the two as they stared at each other.

"You bloody little git, I bet I'm older than you! Besides, I'm nineteen, so I haven't been able to be considered a child for years!"

"Putting age aside, that is irrelevant when you compare it to qualifications! I happen to be a first-rate prosecutor, which I doubt you are!"

"You can't be all that impressive considering you're being drawn into a childish argument by someone you don't even deem worthy to set foot on a crime scene!"

"If I didn't provide a handicap by lowering myself to your level, you wouldn't be able to comprehend your own loss!"

"Enough!" The teenagers started at the intrusion of the new voice before turning to its source. A woman wearing a black dress styled after judge's robes and trimmed with red stepped forward from the small group of onlookers, pointing a gavel with an extendable handle towards them. It was greatly reminiscent to how the boy had brandished his baton at the girl.

"Miss, while you certainly are in territory you are not permitted to be in, and your actions have been questionable, you do not deserve the rude greeting you have been given. I am Judge Mikagami Hakari, and I would greatly appreciate it if you would introduce yourself and explain your reasoning for coming here. But first…" The gavel was turned exclusively on the boy, and Mikagami's expression read a combination of anger and disappointment, "Honestly, you know better. Introduce yourself properly."

The boy seemed to be on the urge of crying while nearly bending his baton in half, but quickly abandoned the activity in favor of wiping away his tears. The smirk followed back into place moments after.

"I am Ichiyanagi Yumihiko, Ace Prosecutor!"

The girl seemed unimpressed by the declaration, almost looking like she focusing on something else. Moments later, she nodded to herself, the beginnings of a smile forming.

"Well, if that's the case, I'm Nora Heather-Blossom Southway, future medical examiner!" The smile came into full bloom as a thumb pointed to the corpse behind her. "And you don't have to take my word on it, but I think there's more to your victim's death here than that gaping wound in her chest."


June 17, 2021


"You need to stop that habit of intruding on crime scenes without authorization."

"We wouldn't have this problem if you were at your office like you were supposed to be."

"We wouldn't have that problem if you had contacted me beforehand."

"If I had done that, I wouldn't be here at all!"

"I hope you realize that makes absolutely no sense!"

"Oh, like your new outfit does!"

"Enough! You two can resolve these issues later!"

"The man's right! This is not the time to deal with your sexual tensions!"

"Um… I… I don't think that's what he meant…"

"You sure? Cause it sounded like it…"

"I said enough! This is a crisis situation; we don't have the time for helpless discussions of any kind, is that understood?"

And then the second window exploded into a shower of glass, the responsible bullet lodging itself into the opposite wall.


To Be Continued


And prologue complete! This is my first published Ace Attorney fanfiction (and my first fanfiction published in a long time), so I hope it's enjoyable among all the other great AA fics there are.

So, I guess certain notes are in order. There are Gyakuten Kenji 2 spoilers here, but they are very vague and only really refer to the fourth case. They are also very rare, as there is a plot that's two years past said game. However, references to characters are used, particularly since the male protagonist is, in fact, a GK2 character. That being said, all GK2 references are based off of what I've read off of the Ace Attorney wikia and what little Japanese I understand, so if I screw something up (even stupid little things) tell me so I can fix it!

All Japanese names have the family name first, while English, etc. names have the family name last.

Also, this is my first time writing a mystery/crime story of any kind, so if something doesn't make sense, I definitely wanna know so I can fix it. In short, all constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, particularly since I'm in a writing mood and would like to improve myself as an author while it lasts and I actually have time to write.

This story will also be updated weekly, so look out for an update every Monday!

I think that's enough babbling for now. See ya when the first chapter goes up next week!