.

March 31, 2027 3:14 PM

District Court

Courtroom No. 3

(...Mr. Wright and Trucy were nowhere to be found during that recess. I thought Mr. Wright especially would want to hear about how my case is going. And getting a little encouragement from him wouldn't've hurt, either...)

Apollo drummed his fingers upon the one piece of unexplained evidence that comprised the bulk of his court record.

(What is it about this case that's making him so secretive? It's like he's testing me about something. I just wish I knew what it was.)

The attorney lifted his head just in time to see his opponent resume his post at the prosecutor's desk and set down his case files.

"Your Honor," Edgeworth announced, "Miss Skye is still away at the scene. However, I feel that if this trial has any chance of concluding today, we should continue with other testimonies until she returns."

"Hmm..." The Judge listened carefully through his earpiece. "The jury appears to approve of that plan, as one of them just expressed his enthusiasm to 'see another cute chick testify.'"

"...!?"

Apollo, stifling his own expression of disgust, noticed the prosecutor rub his temple in frustration and murmur to himself, "Don't tell me... Something smells around here..."

" ...What?" the Judge countered in response to the audible squabble of protest at the other end of the communication. "You said it out loud, so it's my job to report it!"

(What sort of sick skirt-chaser is going to be deciding this verdict? ...On second thought, maybe it's good for me if he won't have the heart to convict a young woman...)

"Ahem. At any rate," the Judge instructed, searching for the volume setting on his hearing device, "the prosecution may proceed to call its next witness."

Edgeworth motioned toward an adolescent girl in purple robes, who rose from her seat and cautiously approached the witness stand.

"Name and occupation, please," the prosecutor routinely recited.

"My name is Pearl Fey," she uttered nervously. "My occupation... I guess, umm, I'm a spirit medium. ...Although, in a few months, I'll be a student of pre-law at Ivy University."

(Kind of a quiet voice for a future lawyer. Maybe I'll lend her a few of my vocal training tapes sometime.)

"All right," said Apollo. "Tell us what you saw."

"Well, I attended the Steel Samurai stage show with two friends...one of them being the defendant, Kay." Pearl's eyes briefly darted around the room in search of the defendant, but she was not present, which appeared to be a source of mild relief for the witness. "Even though the others didn't seem too excited about it at first, we all ended up enjoying the show a lot. But then, right as the Steel Samurai was rushing in for the finishing strike against the World Samurai...the lights blacked out and they had to stop the performance."

"I see," Apollo commented. "So you can't testify from sight after that point, but can you tell us what you observed with your other senses?"

Pearl nodded shyly. She had been present in this very courtroom countless times before, but had never been the center of its attention. "Well, I heard the theater manager step onto the stage to say something over the meck-oh-fone. She announced that there had been a power outage, and that, for safety's sake, we should all keep still where we were."

"Hold it!"

Curiously, this shout came from the prosecution's end of the courtroom rather than from the defense's.

"Miss Fey," said Edgeworth slowly, pushing his glasses up by the bridge. "I have a minor question concerning your testimony just now."

"Did I...say something strange just now?" asked the girl worriedly.

"Did you say that the manager was using a microphone?"

"No..." Pearl gave the prosecutor an innocent, puzzled look. "Not a mike-row-fone..."

"I didn't think so," Edgeworth said. "I was under the impression that the theater was not equipped with any cordless microphones, only wired ones, and thus it would not have been possible for one to have been used during an electrical outage."

"That's right... That's why I assumed that the thing was a meck-oh-fone. I know she had one because I saw it backstage before the show." Pearl made gestures in the air outlining the shape of the object: one wide end, and one narrow end. "You know... Like this...?"

"Miss Fey, are you meaning to say 'megaphone'?"

"O-oh! Yes, of course, that's what I mean, Mr. Edgeworth."

"I see." The prosecutor appeared satisfied. "The record will reflect this correction."

"I'm sorry about that! You see, I've never been very good with words..."

"I would advise you to be careful, Miss Fey," Edgeworth warned. "Especially if you're aspiring to a job in the courtroom. Words are very powerful things in a court of law. Use them carefully."

Apollo experienced a strange involuntary reaction to that statement, as indicated by an eerie sound effect, but he quickly brushed it off.

"I...I understand..." Pearl said, chewing her thumbnail in embarrassment. "Please don't worry. I'll try my best."

(It was pretty good advice...but it probably made her even more nervous than before.) Suddenly, Apollo realized that there was another detail worth pressing in her testimony, and, at the risk of further aggravating the witness's nervousness, shouted out his own "Hold it!"

"Again!?" Pearl's hand jumped to her mouth to cover a gasp. "I didn't say anything else wrong, did I?"

"No, no, it's not that," Apollo assured her. "I just couldn't help but notice that...you said you saw the megaphone backstage before the show."

"Ah... I guess I forgot to explain that part. I did take a quick peek backstage before my friends and I took our seats."

"Was the defendant back there with you at that time?"

Pearl shook her head. "No, I went by myself."

"Oh. What for?"

"Well, you see... I was hoping I could maybe run into the lead actor...and get his autograph..."

(Man... I can't believe how many dedicated fans this weird show has...)

"...but not for myself," Pearl continued, smiling fondly. "It was for my cousin, who couldn't make it to the show. She's a huge fan, but she's so busy back at our village these days that I don't think she even heard about this premiere. I thought it would be nice to at least get a souvenir for her."

The girl looked so sweet and earnest that Apollo couldn't help wanting to know, "So, did you get the autograph?"

Pearl's smile flipped abruptly into a frown, and the attorney immediately regretted his question. "No... Actually, I failed. The same manager who made the announcement later... She caught me and told me I needed to go back to my seat before the show started... and so..."

Edgeworth cut her off as she reached the verge of tears. "Miss Fey, what you may have acquired backstage is something more important than an autograph: valuable knowledge about the crime scene as it appeared before the incident. The objects later onstage, one of them being the eventual 'murder weapon,' were presumably being stored backstage before the show. Could you describe the setup backstage for us?"

"...Yeah, I was going to ask about that, too," Apollo added feebly. (That's why I pressed her, you know. What's with this guy and sounding so much smarter than me while we're following the same lead?)

Pearl sniffed and nodded resolutely. "Sure, I'll try to remember what I can. Let's see... The first thing I noticed was the big rack of props, with a Samurai Spear, and a Samurai Sword. There were also some Samurai Pins. And a Samurai Staff. And a Samurai Fan..."

"Uh, I think I get it," Apollo cut in. "There was a lot of Samurai stuff. But since those things are only props, they're probably not dangerous enough to be murder weapons, correct?"

"That would be correct," the prosecutor confirmed. "The sorts of props used in Steel Samurai productions have been known to break fairly easily, although it isn't out of the question that the methods and materials used have changed over time."

"Right, but–"

"In any case, most of the props mentioned by the witness are designed for piercing, while the cause of death was blunt force rather than sharp force. The others would only pack a heavy blow if powered by the momentum of a fighter – and since the deadly object is presumed to have fallen by accident, we can probably rule these out as effective weapons in this incident."

(That's what I was saying! ...But it sounds better when he says it. How unfair.) Apollo sighed. "Well, then, Miss Fey, was there anything bigger and heavier there?"

"I do remember seeing a couple of really tall stands for wired mike-row-fones," Pearl clearly enunciated.

"That lines up with the detective's testimony. He said he saw various props and two mic stands toppled over at the crime scene," noted Apollo. "He also said..."

"Yes, like he said, there was... I saw it propped up against the wall... A..." Pearl appeared to be deep in thought before she ultimately announced, "...a ladder. Yes, that was it."

"It sounds like either of those things could have been the culprit," Apollo reasoned.

"Wrong, Mr. Justice," said Edgeworth with a sober expression. "'Things' are not culprits. People are."

"A very astute observation, Mr. Edgeworth," the Judge commented. "After all, if 'things' could kill people, I think this hear-piece would've done me in by now, because it doesn't seem to like me very much. I can hardly hear the jurors with all this signal interference! Now just who would be trying to interfere...?"

Setting aside His Honor's dilemma, the prosecutor continued, "Hopefully, Miss Skye will be able to identify the weapon when she returns. What we must focus on now is proving or disproving the identity of the person behind it."

"Well, I don't think Miss Fey knows about anything that happened after the lights went out," said Apollo. "Nobody really does..."

Edgeworth shrugged and shook his head. "There is one person who should."

(...Ah. He's right.)

The Judge had given up on his earpiece and turned his attention to the documents in front of him. "The prosecution has listed no further witnesses," he declared. "Does the defense have any witnesses to call?"

"Yes," Apollo replied. "The defense would like to allow the defendant, Kay Faraday, to give her own account of the night's events."