Letting out a breath, Alex put the headphones back on, then the gloves, and then finally, the headset.
He opened his eyes, and blinked a few times. Trucy was hugging Jinxie, who was shivering like a leaf. To his right, the police were rushing into the mansion.
Apollo emerged a few minutes later, looking pretty pale, with the charm still on his forehead.
"T-There's been a murder inside the fox chamber. There were two people, one stabbed, and the other one's out like a light. Thank goodness he was just unconscious, though."
"You think Jinxie will be okay after all of that?" Alex pointed at Jinxie, who was now crushing one of her red charms in her hands.
"I'm sure she'll be back to her old self in no time." Apollo said, confidently.
Jinxie finally seemed to notice them. Taking a deep breath, she held her plate in front of her face, Trucy still trying to calm her down. "…oh. Mr. Witch, …and Mr. Demon Lawyer."
'Mr. Witch?' Alex pulled a face.
"Heya, Feeling any better? I was wondering if you would want to fill us in on what happened there…"
"S-Sure…"
They stood for a few seconds, Trucy shushing and comforting her, while Alex tried to think of something to say. He turned to Apollo.
"So… what happened, exactly?"
"Well, when I ran inside…"
5 Minutes earlier
'shitshitshitshit…'
Apollo ran through the mansion's foyer, up the stairs, where Jinxie said she had come from.
He paused when he came into an open door at the end of a hallway. There were… feathers? What?
"Huh…? What…?" Looking around, Apollo saw bloodied paw-prints, blood, blood, there was blood on the tabletop, which was caused by… oh god.
Stepping back, he saw the Alderman laying on the table, eyes rolled back, with a giant spear inside of his chest. 'Holy SHIT, this is not good…'
Apollo took in the scene in front of him, and let out a small scream of anguish. And that seemed to wake up something- or rather, someone, at the other side of the room.
In the seat across of the table, a man in a green suit and a very bloodied head sat down, their face starting to show signs of waking and pain.
Apollo rushed over to him. "A-Are you alright, sir?"
"Ugh… W-Who are you?" Was all the man could say before he passed out again, and Apollo watched him for a few beats, before he gained his composure.
"HELP! SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE!" Apollo shouted back into the hallway.
"Hmm… Quite a shocker…" Alex mused, scratching his head.
Jinxie was shuddering again, but now at least she looked better, and out of Trucy's hold.
"Who was the man on the seat?" Alex asked Apollo, but Jinxie answered.
"D-Damian Tenma. He's the mayor of the neighboring city, Tenma Town."
Apollo nodded.
"…They arrested him." Jinxie said between sobs.
"Woah! Wait? What!?" Alex and Apollo burst out.
"He's the killer?" Apollo asked.
"Nuh-uh! Papa didn't kill anyone!"
"P-Papa? As in… your father?" Apollo repeated, taken aback.
Trucy chimed in, still rubbing Jinxie's back. "That's right. Jinxie's dad is mayor of Tenma Town."
"No way…" Apollo breathed.
"Wait, hold on. Apollo, you said he was unconscious, right?" Alex frowned.
Apollo rubbed the top of his hair, "Yup. Well, until after I had entered the room."
"And he had a blunt wound on his head?" Alex blinked.
"Also true, where are you going with this?" Apollo asked back.
Alex squinted. "Did you see any weapons or anything nearby?"
"Wha-!? Uh, no, not really, the police dragged me away from the crime scene as soon as they rushed in."
Alex thought for a few more moments. "…Sorry, I just thought of a weird theory"
They stared at him, expecting him to continue, and Alex sighed. "Okay, here goes…"
"So.. Maybe, yes, he stabbed him, and hit himself with a rock or something to make it seem convincing?"
"No."
Jinxie had said that immediately, her eyes seemingly on fire. "Papa does not kill people, he's the best papa anyone can ever have! He only tries to keep peace! He hates blood!"
Alex held up his hands in surrender. "Okay okay, sorry, I just wanted to clear out all the possibilities here."
"Hmph." Jinxie still looked angry, but now held her plate in front of herself again.
Apollo used the awkward silence by asking another question.
"Jinxie, would you mind telling us a little more about the victi- Alderman?"
"His name is- was Rex Kyubi. They say his family has ties to the legendary Nine-Tailed Fox. He was really kind, and he always looked out for me. He was a former pro wrestler, and I even heard he knew The Amazing Nine-Tails personally."
"The amazing Nine-Tails? Who's that?" Alex asked.
"Al, haven't you been paying attention?" Trucy said, "He's the most popular pro wrestler here in Nine-Tails Vale!"
"Wrestler?" Apollo asked.
Jinxie piped up, "Yes! Papa says he's one of the only reasons the two towns haven't merged yet!"
"Woah Woah Woah, merging? Wrestlers?" Alex asked, trying to keep up. "What do you mean about towns merging, Jinxie?"
At that, Jinxie seemed uncertain again. "You gotta ask papa for that, I don't know much myself…"
Apollo seemed to recall something. "Jinxie, when you first told us what happened, you said the killer was a demon, right?"
"Uh-huh. The warding charm on the Forbidden Chamber's door… It's been… removed."
"Huh? Warding charm? On what door?" Alex turned to Apollo.
Apollo nodded, "Yeah, right. When you walk into that room, in the back, there's a really heavy door, with a huge lock on it, but I didn't see any charm."
"That's how Tenma Taro escaped!" Jinxie shouted.
Alex sighed, just what has he gotten himself into now? Oh wait, into one of his first murder investigations, that is.
He blinked, wait a minute, he was playing a game, why is he starting to think like it's… real life, or something?
He was snapped out of his thoughts by Trucy, again.
"Apollo! Alex! Maybe this is your chance!"
"Huh?" "Chance for what?" Apollo and Alex countered respectively.
"To do the right thing and defend Jinxie's dad in court!"
Apollo seemed unsure, "Who, me? Wouldn't a man like Mayor Tenma have access to more experienced lawyers?"
Alex snorted, "What, are you scaaared to face an unknown prosecutor while Mr. Wright will be watching in the gallery?"
"You shut your mouth, Spiegel! Do I have to remind you last time we went into court, you almost hid under the bench for it's entirety, have I not threatened to take your phone in for a week?"
Alex stared open-mouthed at Apollo, he… he did that? Wait… of course, he didn't, but why… ugh, stupid Capcom.
Jinxie spoke up, injecting between the two lawyers. "Umm… You wanna know what the detectives said? They said they 'doubted there was a lawyer who could get a not-guilty verdict in this one'."
"Huh? Why?" Alex asked.
"They're probably expecting it to be an open-and-shut case." Jinxie looked down, a bit deflated.
"Don't worry, Jinxie! If anyone can prove your dad's innocence, it's these two dumb-dumbs!" Trucy said, giving Jinxie's hair a big ruffle.
"Wha-!?" "Hey!" Apollo and Alex exclaimed in defense.
"You two will accept the case, won't you?" Trucy glared at them sweetly.
Jinxie muttered under her breath, shivering, and almost on instinct, Alex placed a hand on his chest… over the symbol.
Alex was taken aback, all of the sudden, he could feel an intense sadness wash over him, he understood. If her dad would go to jail, she would not have any family after this, because she already lost her mother… wait, how did he know that?
Taking a huge breath, and waving his hand around like he was shaking off some dirt, he stared at Jinxie, and swallowed.
"I-I…I'll take the case… But only if Apollo will." Alex said, finally.
Apollo looked like he was about to object, but then he too saw Jinxie's teary-eyed face, and caved in. "…Alright, Jinxie, leave your father's defense to us!"
'…What the hell was that just then?'
Cautiously, he placed one finger on the edge of his… symbol, and looked at Jinxie, he still felt an inkling of that sadness just then, but also some relief, fear, and… joy?
Somehow, Alex knew the next words that were to come out of Jinxie's mouth.
"You're going to help Papa, Mr. Demon Lawyer…? Mr. Witch?"
'Well, …this is weird. Beyond weird, actually.' He pinched the bridge of his nose.
While it wasn't needed, he wiped his hands off his pants. "Sure, that's what us lawyers do!" Apollo said, confident.
"T-Thank you! I can tell you both are one of the good ones. Red Demons and Witches are usually very mean…"
Apollo nodded hesitantly. He grabbed a small pocket-book and wrote something in it.
"A notebook?" Alex asked.
"Yup, So we don't forget what to do next!"
Alex grinned. "It's so you don't forget it, you cheese-head!"
"Hey! If there's anyone a cheese-head around here, it's you!" Apollo countered.
"Pffff, true, But more in the literal sense, I guess." Alex said, before grinning again, "You, however, need to get charms to cover all those holes before something falls out of it."
Apollo pouted, and Alex laughed.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Trucy interjected. "So, about Jinxie's father… No matter how scary he seems, promise me, resist the urge to run away!"
"Wait, what?" They both said at the same time.
"His angry glare can paralyze you with fear." Jinxie said.
"And some claim he can even shoot laser beams from his eyes." Trucy added.
"Well, maybe Papa isn't really THAT scary…" Jinxie said, blushing a bit.
Alex snorted. "You're almost making him sound like a Yokai himself." Jinxie let out a small, tentative smile, which caused Alex to grin wider.
"Hm, I think it's about time I see Jinxie off. I'll head back to the office after I'm done!" Trucy said, looking at her phone.
"Alright, thanks!" Apollo said as they watched Trucy and Jinxie (both carrying the souvenir bags) take off.
"So, you, me, coffee?" Apollo suggested. Alex nodded.
After a (very cheap) coffee break on some bus-stop cafe, they went to the detention center.
Walking in, they visited an officer, who bowed, and led them to one of the visiting rooms. Alex raised one of his eyebrows at the bow as they walked past. 'Odd.'
"Ah, visiting hours. Perfect timing." Apollo said as he walked through the doorway.
Sitting behind the glass, looking at his hands in front of him, was a man who's head was bandaged with… charms?
'Yup, this is Jinxie's dad, alright'
He looked up as the two sat down, examining each of them before speaking.
"…Who are you two?"
Apollo met a gaze with him, and he broke a sweat. "Y-You're Damian Tenma, right?! I'm, uhh… I'm Apollo Justice, attorney-at-law! And this is my partner, Alex Spiegel! We're here to, uhh… Here to help!"
Mr. Tenma sat silent for a few moments, and then raised an arm.
"Huh?" …and slammed it down on the desk. "AAAAH! S-Sorry! I get a little loud sometimes!"
If it wasn't for the fact Alex was scared too, he might've cracked a joke, but the intense stare Tenma was giving them to made him sink into his seat as low as he could.
"How… incredibly… RUDE!" '…Huh?'
"Umm, sorry. Did I do something to offend you?" Apollo seemed more confused than scared now.
"A visitor when all others shun me like a common criminal! And here I am with nothing to offer! I am the epitome of rude!" Tenma shouted.
Perplexed, he looked at Apollo, and had to place a hand on his mouth. 'Apollo's face, oh my god…' Alex snorted.
"Unworthy as I am, I, Damian Tenma, shall breach these walls… so that I may treat my benefactor to some tea, …and maybe some cookies, too." Mr. Tenma added after placing one hand on his chin.
"No, wait! We can do tea and cookies after we prove your innocence!" Apollo said, shaken out of his stupidor.
"Hmmm… I see. So tea and cookies can wait, can they?" Tenma mused, now closing his eyes as he rubbed his chin.
Alex pulled his hand from his grin and chuckled, "Yes, Mr. Tenma, and we aren't offended at all by the absence of refreshment."
"Hmmmm…" Tenma looked thoughtful, and hummed quietly.
Alex put one elbow on the table, and a hand under his head, confident. Apollo was staring at him with wide eyes.
"So, Mayor Tenma… you're a mayor, right?" Alex asked.
Tenma nodded. "Yes, I am the major of Tenma Town. A sweet little town our ancestors founded many decades ago.", he paused, before slamming the table, which earned another little scream from Apollo. "I will not sit here while my Citizens need me! I must get out of this cage at once!"
"M-Mayor Tenma! I'm sure your citizens will understand if you are away for a couple of days. Just, p-please don't break out…?" Apollo hoped he could convince the man to not break out, hopefully.
"Hmmm… in any case, my town is one of my pride and joy's in this world, next to Jinxie…"
Mr. Tenma looked pensive for a moment.
"Mr… Justice, was it?" He asked, turning to look at Apollo.
"Yes?" Apollo asked, straightening his tie.
"Forgive me, but… could you please do me a favor?" Tenma looked… pensive, now, and was looking down at the desk, so they couldn't see his face.
"…Sure, what is it?" Apollo inquired, having calmed down a little.
"My daughter… Jinxie, she already lost her mother, and now with me being held in here, I fear she would feel incredibly lonely…"
Alex stared at the man with an open mouth, so he was correct! What… What happened back there, then?
"…I beg of you, please be a friend to her, while I cannot, in this time of difficulty." Tenma asked, raising his head to look at them in pleading eyes.
Alex was quicker than Apollo. "Don't worry, Mr. Tenma. She already has Trucy, and I'm sure we will, er, help her feel better in no time!"
"…Yeah! Leave it to us! We and Trucy will look out for your daughter!" Apollo added.
"Then, I shall rest a little easier tonight. Even though I have had a glimpse of my new bed when I came in, it's sturdiness will be no match against the comfort of knowing my daughter has made a few new friends." Tenma nodded, statisfied.
Apollo nodded, Alex gave him a thumbs up. Tenma flashed a slight smile.
"Now, if you would excuse me, it appears my time is up." A guard had approached, and was tapping the Mayor's shoulder.
They watched him being walked out of the other side of the room, and shared a silence.
"…I have a feeling we forgot something." Apollo said, staring at the glass.
"What, Motive? Arrest?" Alex counted on his fingers.
Apollo smacked his forehead, and groaned. "Right…"
"Don't look so down, we can all gather it from the case file, right?" Alex grabbed said case file from his backpack, "And I'm sure the prosecutor tomorrow will be more than happy to explain us the juicy details of his arrest, and remind us of the motive every 6 minutes or so."
Alex looked up, only to see his colleague looking up at him in a pained expression. "…yeah."
Their stare was broken by a ringtone from Apollo's pocket. "Hm? Oh! That must be Mr. Wright!"
"Put it on speaker." Alex said as Apollo fished his phone from his pocket.
"Apollo, is that you?"
"Hi, Mr. Wright! Yes, it's us. What can we do for you?" Apollo said, lively again the first time after discovering the murder.
"'Us'? Wait, is Alexander with you?"
"Yup!" Apollo said. "Right here."
"Sup?" Alex casually asked over the phone.
"Alright, that makes this easier, then. Trucy told me you've taken a new case, correct?"
"Oh, yeah. It was kind-of spur of the moment." Apollo said, rubbing his neck.
"And a lot of begging from Trucy's end." Alex chimed in, Apollo gave him a look.
"That's fine, gotta keep the office busy. But I have a favor to ask."
"Sure, what is it?"
"I'm at the airport right now. There was someone I had to meet. A new addition to the agency, actually. Her name's Athena Cykes, and she just passed the bar."
Alex froze.
Athena Cykes.
Oh.
Scratching his head (and ignoring Apollo's stare), he thought about her. While he still suffered from a memory loss, and couldn't think of anything what would happen during this game, he did remember bits and pieces.
'…Shit' He remembered nothing about her past, and that was reason enough to suspect he was about to fall into some deep end of tragedy.
"Y'know, she took off as soon as I told her you needed help with a case. It was like there was no stopping her." Phoenix said over the phone, unaware to Alex's reaction.
Alex snorted, of course she would. …right?
"Wait, What? Where is she now?" Apollo turned his attention back to the phone.
"Let's see, she took off an hour or so ago, so… she should be somewhere in Nine-Tails Vale by now."
Apollo groaned.
"And that is where that favor I mentioned comes in, I need you two to go find her."
"But I've never even met her before. What does she look like?" Apollo asked.
"…she wears stuff with red, blue and yellow, Especially yellow." Alex said without thinking, still lost in thought.
There was a silence.
'Oops'
"U-Uh…" He turned around, Apollo was staring at him, Phoenix wasn't saying anything.
"I didn't know you knew Athena, Alex."
"I-I don't, actually, but I have seen her somewhere on television before, I think." Alex lied through his teeth.
Another silence. Apollo rubbed his wrist.
Phoenix cleared his throat. "Right, Anyway, she does indeed have a yellow suit last time I saw her, and her new attorney's badge."
"Alright, We'll find her!" Apollo ended the call.
All the way back to Nine-tails vale, Apollo was staring at Alex all the way, and he became a bit uncomfortable with it.
Nearing their stop, Alex snapped.
"What?"
Apollo said nothing, and stopped staring.
"…Nothing, it's nothing." He said, Alex wasn't convinced.
They both exited the bus, and walked into the busy street, when they were about to enter the street leading to the Manor, Alex grabbed Apollo's sleeve.
"What? What is it?" Apollo asked, Alex pointed into the alleyway they had stopped in front of.
"I. Already. Told. You! I'm a lawyer assigned to the case!" They heard in the distance.
"Wait, is that-" "Yes" Apollo was about to ask, but Alex cut him off.
Apollo stared at the girl in the distance, she was currently arguing with a policeman, and had both her hands balled up into fists.
"I need to study the crime scene, so if you would please tell me where Kyubi Manor is…!"
The policemen grabbed the front of his hat, and stared down at Athena, obviously irritated.
"You can't fool me! You're just some delinquent high school student playing hooky! Scram! This isn't a classroom!" He said, waving one hand away dismissively.
"You stupid, pig-headed…! This attorney's badge isn't just for show, you know!" She grabbed the side of her shirt, where a golden badge was pinned.
Alex grinned. "Well, sometimes it is…" he whispered to Apollo, who chuckled, despite the circumstances.
"Should we move over to her before things get bad?" Apollo asked, curious, Alex nodded.
"So, I'll ask, do you know Ms. Cykes from somewhere?" He continued.
Alex almost froze, "…No, but I can say I've probably seen her on a screen before." 'At least that is not a lie, exactly…'
Apollo opened his mouth to retort, but he was interrupted by the policeman, who had become very agitated at Ms. Cykes.
"That's it! Enough of your lies! You're coming with me!" He leaned forward to grab Athena by the shoulders.
"Aaah! Get your hands off of me!"
Before they knew what was happening, the policeman was flying through the air… into their direction.
Alex, having won more than enough dodge-ball games in school, instinctively dodged to the right. But that didn't stop a stray boot from the officer's long leg to smash into his face, breaking one of his glasses' frames.
Apollo, however, was worse off.
He got the entire man on his back, slamming him into the ground, knocking the wind out of him.
He let out a groan from underneath the 150 pounds of champion donut-eater, while Alex moved away from the boot, and pulled his glasses from his face.
'…That's going into the memoir as "most unique encounter" for sure' He grabbed his bag, and placed the glasses inside the case, grabbing his older backup glasses from the bottom of the bag.
"Whoops! Are you two alright?" Athena ran over, hands in front of her face.
"Well, while got temporal impaired eyesight, he has temporal locomotive immobility." Athena stared at him, and blinked.
Alex flashed her a grin. "We'll be fine"
He was pulling (a very disgruntled) Apollo underneath the unconscious officer, when Athena apologized behind him.
"I am SO sorry! I do that when people suddenly grab me. It's like a reflex or something."
Apollo looked up, trying to form his hair back into proper shape, "You're Athena Cykes, I take it?"
"Huh? Oh! Yes! That would be me, and you are…?" She pointed one finger in his direction, and squinted.
"Apollo Justice, nice to meet you. Ah!" He said, arching his back and letting out a whimper when something snapped.
Alex waited to make sure hadn't broken, and then looked towards Athena, holding out one hand, "Alexander Spiegel, call me Alex. Also nice to meet you. We both work at the Wright Anything Agency." She nodded, and shook the hand.
"The Writing Anything Agency? Sounds fishy."
"No no no, not"Writing","Wright", with a 'G-H-T'" Apollo cleared up, still having one hand on his back.
"Oh, THAT Wright! So then you must be- Where have you been?! I've been looking all over you!" Her demanor made a turn, and now she was looking at them in irritation.
"…you must be talking about Apollo, nice to know Phoenix remembers me sometimes…" Alex muttered.
Wait, where did THAT come from?
Athena huffed, and her irritation cleared away, "So you are… Apollo? Are you Alexander's colleague?"
"…Yes, I'm actually his senior."
"Nice! Pleased to meet you!" Athena held out a hand, and Apollo shook it.
Apollo then cleared his throat. "So, As Mr. Wright hasn't said much about you… or anything at all… could you maybe tell a little bit about yourself, Ms. Cykes?"
"…Of course, feel free to ask away!" Athena said, gesturing around with her arms.
'She sure is lively, alright.'