Welcome back to Why-Does-It-Take-Me-So-Long-To-Write-Not-Even-2000-Words?-This-Is-Why-I-Failed-NaNoWriMo-All-Those-Years-Back-Isn't-It?-Ha-Ha-Nah-I-Had-Two-Rather-Busy-Weekends-And-That's-My-Excuse-This-Time
Rin looked rather uneasy. It was no wonder that she didn't want this picture to be revealed.
"Your Honour, there is a clear problem with the prosecution's argument!" I cried.
"Is that so?" the judge said. "Where is this problem, may I ask?"
"Please take a look at that second photo again."
He scrunched his eyes. "Yes? What I see is an incredibly blurry photo."
Err, that's not the point. "If you look carefully, you will be able to see that Shinji is holding a knife ..."
"That's right, because he is the murderer."
"...but if you look even closer, you will notice that the knife does not have any blood on it! May I remind you that this picture was taken after the murder took place!" I pointed my finger aggressively. "Therefore, there's no way it could have been the murder weapon! Shinji must have only happened to be holding the knife when he chanced upon the crime scene and dropped it in a moment of panic."
"Oh!" the judge exclaimed. "This certainly changes things!"
"Objection! Your argument is too flimsy!" Rin shouted, leaping up. "Whether there was blood on the knife or not in the photo doesn't matter! The defendant could have simply wiped it off!"
"Then why did Shinji bloody it again?" I raised my voice in protest. "And where did he wipe it on? It simply makes no sense!"
"He could have wiped it on something out of sight!" she refuted. "And then accidentally dropped it again! After all, he was probably panicking from realising that he had just committed a murder!"
I shook my head vehemently. "Besides, look at the amount of blood on the floor. Surely a small fruit knife couldn't cause that much bleeding. Tohsaka, are you sure you aren't actually mistaken about the identity of the murder weapon?"
She was taken aback. "What?"
"In fact, I have reason to believe that the victim, um, Nadia, wasn't just visiting to have a peaceful discussion." I reached to the bottom of my folder and took out a printout of a small red object. "I wish to present this to the court. Officer McRemitz should also be able to attest that this was found at the crime scene."
Eyes perked up around the room. I imagined most people here wouldn't have seen something like this before.
"And what is the significance of this item?" the judge asked.
"Well-"
"The picture here is a picture of a black key, a conceptual weapon used by members of the Church," Rin said, butting in. "Or more accurately, the handle of one. Magical energy is passed through it to manifest a blade. Typically the handles are carried around in large quantities for purposes of killing vampires and demons and the like."
"Wow, how knowledgeable!" the judge said. "A very thorough and concise answer!"
"Thank you." She bowed. "The Tohsaka family prides ourselves on having understanding on many different topics."
Ugh. I could have explained that just as well.
"It would be fair to assume that one who was in possession of such an item was Nadejda, would it not?" Rin said and twirled a strand of hair around with her finger. "Are you suggesting that she was in fact an Executor from the church and not a magus as was first thought?"
"Yes, I guess..." Alright, that thought hadn't actually occurred to me. "Since the blade disappears by itself, that could be the reason why it was not considered as a possible weapon."
"I see. After all, the Church is continually at odds with the Magus Association." The judge nodded. "Would the defence like to change their plea to self defence instead?"
Shinji was looking my way and mouthing something but I couldn't quite figure out what it was. I paused. If I could argue that it was a justified self defence, Shinji wouldn't be guilty of murder. But...something didn't feel right. Should I change our plea?
.
- Yes
- No
.
.
- Yes
- No
.
I shook my head. If what Shinji said was true, then it couldn't be possible that Nadejda did something like attack him. Rather, he entered the crime scene after the deed was done. There were still problems, like why he was holding the knife in the first place, but I absolutely refused to doubt his testimony.
"The defence will not be changing our plea," I said. "We will maintain our plea of not guilty."
There was a long wail of exasperation as Shinji gradually slunk to the floor.
"Oni-chan," Illya said and nudged me softly. "I hope you're not doing anything you're going to regret."
Rin was smiling rather smugly. "Well, it doesn't matter if you change your plea or not," she said. "The truth is, the investigation team noticed the black key as well, but we decided it had no effect on the case. In fact, there is absolutely no possibility that the black key was used as the murder weapon."
The judge looked confused. "And why is this so?" he inquired.
"The reason is simple," she answered. "This black key is not the real thing, but an imitation made of wood."
What? Then, that was red herring?
"It's crafted very well, really, that it's indistinguishable from a real one from the outside. But I can confirm that this 'black key' has no magical or mystical properties to it. In order to be completely sure, I also contacted the Church and the Magus Association. It turns out Nadejda is actually part of the Magus Association and not connected to the Church at all." She crossed her arms. "Now, we're back where we were before, are we not? You were desperately and unsuccessfully trying to prove that Shinji was not the one that killed her."
Darn. Was this all that would happen, for everything I brought up to be swiftly disproven?
Rin was egging the judge on again. "Your Honour, you can see that the defence was clearly just trying to stall for time. Their arguments are –"
"Wait," I said. "You have stated that you had key evidence of the murder. Do you have any other proof that the murderer was definitely him?"
"Well, these photographs are certainly compelling, but the second, or rather, first one is enough to convince me that the knife may not have actually been the murder weapon," the judge said. Looks like he's finally willing to come around to my side.
Rin was frowning. She was probably expecting the judge to let her have her way again.
"Actually, I do have evidence," Rin said and rubbed her forehead. "There is one more witness, who saw the moment of the murder. However, he is not prepared to come forward immediately."
I was shocked. How could she was hiding something like this?
"Why didn't the prosecution bring him in earlier?" I demanded. "Surely someone who saw the crime personally is far better that somebody who only saw the aftermath."
She sighed. "The prosecution has our reasons. To put it simply, he isn't especially suitable because he might not be able to give a reliable testimony."
"My client has the right to a fair trial." I thumped my fist on the bench. "Please have this witness give his testimony in court, or else I cannot accept the guilty charge."
The judge nodded. "Court will now take a recess for the prosecution to prepare their witness."
He lowered the gavel sharply. Chatter filled the room as the audience filed out.
Court Record
Attorney's badge: The badge that shows I can act as a defence lawyer.
Photo of Crime Scene (on phone) [ElNrdUh]
Photo of Black Key Handle (on phone) [Hu85d5k]
Passport: [yENGSXb] The victim's passport, used to identify her. According to this, her country of origin is Bulgaria and she arrived in Fuyuki at noon on 8th September.
Autospy report: Nadejda Bakhlov
Time of death: 8th September, 4:00pm-4:20pm
Cause of death: blood loss from a knife wound, the presence of magic was also found
Photo #1: [NC0YsDu] A photo of the crime scene. It was taken by Kenji using his phone at 4:21pm.
Photo #2: [U6Jubj1A] A photo of the crime scene. It was taken by Kenji using his phone at 4:19pm.
