March 13

Courtroom No. 1

11:30 AM

Cotoli Morix

My accusations against Mr. Tambin had seemingly grown to be too much for him, and he let out an angry scream before slamming one hand against the witness stand before him. After the fact, he curled his fingers around the bottom edges of his shirt sleeves, and in one swift motion, he was able to rip the fabric apart, leaving small chunks of the pale blue uniform between his fingertips. He was snarling all the way, and he threw the fabric down with such anger that the small chunks of pale blue hit the ground with enough force to make a light sound on impact.

"She knew too much!" Mr. Tambin shouted. "She wasn't supposed to know who I was in the first place! As soon as she started talking about it, I... I knew that she was the one I had spent the past year looking for! She had to die before she could do anything to reveal the truth! Venus was supposed to take the fall for it!"

"In other words... The reason that the victim died was because she was talking with the other members of the cast about the hit and run incident," Chrysalis murmured under her breath. "If the witness hadn't overheard her talking about the fact that she had seen the hit and run, then she would still be alive."

"She wasn't supposed to recognize me, but backstage that day... She figured it out! I don't know how, but she remembered who I was, and that was when I realized that she had to die!" Mr. Tambin continued to say. "She should have just stayed out of things that aren't her business in the first place!"

"The victim was going to die under your influence no matter what happened," Prosecutor Bespoke muttered. "That was your plan, wasn't it? You were intending to kill her regardless of what took place backstage, but when she recognized you, that started an argument. In the heat of the moment, you grabbed the ice skate nearby and hit her with it."

"The murder was going to happen, and it was halfway premeditated... But it wasn't going to happen at the time that it did. You were going to kill her, just at a later point," I realized, narrowing my eyes in Mr. Tambin's direction. I still couldn't believe how he could be so casual about the idea of killing somebody else in the first place. "She recognized you unexpectedly, and that caused you to kick your plan into gear sooner than you would have been hoping for otherwise."

"So it seems," Judge Diaphan murmured with a shake of her head. "Bailiff, arrest the witness at once. I believe that we can consider what he just said as a confession, and I see no reason for the trial to continue any longer than it already has."

A bailiff moved toward Mr. Tambin, and despite the man's attempts to fight back, he was ultimately escorted out of the courtroom. I watched him go with a light frown on my face. I didn't like anything about what I had heard at the tail end of his confession, but I knew that there was nothing I could do to change it. He had already made up his mind about killing the victim long before any of us entered the equation, and there wasn't anything we could do to change such a fact. By the time the truth had been revealed, it was too late for the victim, and it was too late for Mr. Tambin as well.

The courtroom fell into an eerie brand of silence as we waited for Mr. Tambin to fully vanish from the space. It wasn't until after the doors tapped shut behind Mr. Tambin and the bailiff that Judge Diaphan reached for her gavel and hit it down once again. She released a light sigh from between pursed lips as she shook her head. "It seems as if this trial has drawn to a close, though I doubt that this is at all the ending that anybody was anticipating," she announced.

"Not in the slightest," Prosecutor Bespoke agreed with a light nod. "But the truth was found, and that's what matters the most. I suppose that we have the defense to thank for that though. I doubt that Mr. Tambin would have been exposed as the one who had killed the victim if not for their efforts."

"I think he's flirting with you," Chrysalis told me, nudging me gently with her elbow. I just rolled my eyes, earning me a smirk and a snicker from her direction. Even if he was flirting, I wasn't going to respond to it in the middle of a courtroom. That just didn't seem wise.

"In the aftermath of this case, I believe that there is one thing we can all agree on conclusively," Judge Diaphan declared. "With the truth found and a confession exposed, then we have no other reasons to prolong this trial. Assuming that there are no other objections from the defense or prosecution, then the time has come for me to pass my verdict on the defendant."

I looked over to Chrysalis and saw that she was smiling up at me. I knew exactly what she was trying to say, and I responded to Judge Diaphan accordingly. "The defense has no objections, Your Honor," I declared.

"The prosecution has no objections either," Prosecutor Bespoke said. He and I made eye contact briefly, and his smile seemed to cut to the deepest part of my chest. I felt another nudge from Chrysalis make contact with my ribs, and I returned the favor as subtly as possible.

Venus had taken her place at the defendant's bench while I was distracted, and when I looked to the center of the courtroom, I saw that she had pressed her palms against the podium. A bright smile was spread across her lips, and she looked over to me and Chrysalis with anxious but relieved eyes. For the first time since she had been arrested, Venus seemed to be feeling on top of the world, and I found myself grinning as well out of pure pride.

As Venus looked over at me with that bright smile of hers, the truth of the situation hit me. We had managed to win this case. Chrysalis and I had survived our first official trial as a duo in the courtroom. In fact, we hadn't just survived; we had found the truth and come out on top. Venus was going to be freed from the detention center thanks to our efforts, and she was going to be free to return to her everyday life once again. I didn't think that words would ever be able to describe how overwhelmingly glad I was that we were able to do so much, and I knew for sure that I was never going to forget this moment.

"In that case, allow me to draw this trial to a close," Judge Diaphan told us, and her words pulled me back down to earth after my brief revelation. "This court finds the defendant, Venus Rinko, not guilty. Court is adjourned!"

Her gavel touched down on the podium, and I looked over to Chrysalis with a smile still on my face. She threw her arms around me, and I returned the gesture. We had done it, and everything was going to be alright. The case was solved, the truth had been revealed, and everything was going to be alright.

March 13

Defendant Lobby No. 1

12:00 PM

Chrysalis Starr

"We did it!" Cotoli murmured, his expression still laced with hazy shock and relief. "We were able to find the truth, and Venus is going to be free again. Finally... The victim's spirit can be laid to rest after what happened to her too."

"I would say that we saw some incredible success for our first courtroom outing," I told him, a grin spreading across my face. "I think that we make for a pretty good team, Cotoli. May our future escapades see just as much triumph."

Cotoli was smiling back at me when another silhouette entered my field of vision. I glanced over to my right to see none other than Venus standing nearby. She was smiling brightly, looking happier than she had been since she first arrived int he detention center. The pure relief in her eyes still hadn't been calmed since the verdict was declared.

"V-Venus!" I yelped, praying that my expression didn't show how embarrassed I felt at being caught off guard by her. My cheeks were already starting to heat up, and I found myself counting on Venus' general obliviousness around these subjects to make sure that I didn't have to say anything I would regret. "Congratulations on the verdict! You'll be able to go home now since the real culprit of the murder was caught."

"'Congrats on the verdict?'" Venus echoed, her eyes going wide. She let out a breathless laugh before one of her hands came down to rest on my shoulder. "You have got to be kidding! You two are the real miracle workers! I don't think that I would ever be able to do what you two pulled off in there. I was sure that I was toast at least three times, but you never stopped believing in me. I should be the one thanking you for everything that you've done for me!"

"We were more than happy to help," Cotoli assured her. "We were searching for the truth, and that was what we found. I'm sorry that you wound up as a suspect in this case to begin with. I doubt that it's easy to be accused of something so awful when you know that you weren't the culprit."

"At least everything's been worked out now," Venus shrugged. "And once again, I have only the two of you to thank for the fact that I'm away from being a suspect. I'm glad that you were able to do so much for me, and I don't think that I'll ever be able to thank you enough for that."

"We're more than happy to help," I told her, realizing a bit too late that I had just repeated what Cotoli said a few moments prior. "We saw someone struggling, and we wanted to help. Everything has been taken care of now, so I guess that we can call it even."

"I don't know about that," Venus frowned. She still didn't seem to realize that she was holding onto my shoulder, but my eyes kept flickering back and forth between her fingertips and her eyes. "I mean, you did all of that for my sake, and I don't think that I really did all that much to make up for what you two did to get me out of that tough situation. I'll see if I can do anything to make it up to you two. How does that sound?"

"Truly, that isn't necessary," Cotoli said, but he and I could both tell based on the gleam in Venus' eyes that she wasn't going to be allowing us the chance to decline her offer. She had already made her decision, and we were going to have to deal with that for better or worse. I just hoped that this didn't lead us to something that we regretted."

Before Venus could do anything to declare her intentions, another voice reached my ears. "Venus! There you are!" It took me a moment to place the sounds of the new arrival to a face, and by the time I had figured it out, the owner of the voice had already appeared. Yuri was standing right next to Cassidy, and her smile was so bright that I had to wonder if it made her cheeks hurt. Cassidy appeared to be just as shy as ever though, and she just gave us a gentle wave rather than announcing her arrival.

"Yuri! Cass!" Venus cried out, turning to face her sisters. In one quick motion, Venus scooped both of them up into a hug, and for a breathless moment, Cassidy and Yuri's feet were off the ground. I was left quietly impressed by how strong Venus was only to remember belatedly that it was probably a byproduct of her work as an ice skater. Venus set her sisters down after a few seconds, though she kept her arms around them in a firm hug. "How are you two doing? I hope that you haven't gotten into too much trouble while I've been gone. If I find out that you've been causing problems for Mom while I've been in the detention center..."

"Of course not!" Yuri assured her with a wild shake of her head. "Everything has been fine since you left... Well, not really 'fine', but... We haven't been doing anything that you wouldn't approve of. We've missed you a lot though."

"Aw..." Venus cooed. She crouched down so that she was closer to being at eye level with her sister. "Well, there's no need to miss me anymore. You can catch me up on everything that you and Cass have been doing once we get back home. Thanks to these two, I'm free to come back with you two once we're finished up here."

"Mom says that we're going to have to go out for dinner after you get back," Cassidy said softly. "She was going to take us all out after your first show, but since that didn't end up happening, then... This feels like an important enough occasion for that anyways."

"I'm inclined to agree," Venus nodded. She glanced back to me and Cotoli, and she smiled to us gently. "I'm sorry to say this, but I don't know when we're going to be able to show off the final performance. We're going to have to change a lot of things because of what happened with Aes and Pyth, and... I don't know what's going to happen next. It's unfortunate that you're nog going to be able to see the show as it was intended... And it's awful that Aes isn't going to be around to perform with everybody else either."

"You don't need to worry about something like that," I assured her with a shake of my head. "I'm sure that we'll have the chance to see each other again in the future. You know, assuming that you even want to see us again. It's obviously your choice, and I'm not trying to pressure you into anything, but-"

"Are you kidding?" Venus questioned with a laugh. "Of course I want to see you two again! You did amazing, and I owe a lot to you both. Beyond that though, I just want to get to know the both of you. It's kind of hard to connect with somebody if you're never around them, and I think that we should try to see one another when the chance comes up. In fact, I could even give you my phone number so that we can organize things whenever you're both up for it. How does that sound?"

I didn't focus at all as I passed my phone over to Venus, and she typed out her number into the proper box that appeared on the screen. I stared at her fingers numbly, watching as Venus finished and then sent a quick message to her own phone so that she would know who it was. She grinned as she pressed my phone back into my fingers before doing the same thing to Cotoli's phone.

Once she was finished, Venus let out a small sigh. "Alright," Venus declared. "I don't think that I'm going to be able to stick around for much longer since I've got to get back with these two. I'll be looking forward to the day when we'll be able to see each other again. Until then, I'll trust that you can stay out of trouble. Until we meet again!" She smiled and waved towards Cotoli and I before she walked away with Cassidy and Yuri, vanishing through the door that led to the outside hallway.

Cotoli shoved his phone away into his pocket as he glanced over in my direction. "It seems that we've already found an ally after our first case, huh?" he commented. When I nodded, he let out a small chuckle. "I get the feeling that you two are going to become great friends. She seems like she could be the type to get you out of your shell."

"I don't have a shell," I muttered. When he raised his eyebrow at me, I sighed. "Okay, maybe I do, but that's not the point. The point of today is that we were able to free Venus from suspicion, and we'll be able to move on with our lives. Venus can move on too."

"Um... Can I talk to you two for a moment?"

I turned upon hearing the voice of Fiora from nearby. "Fiora... Is there something you need?" I questioned, doing my best to keep my voice as level as possible.

She nodded slowly. "I... I just wanted to thank you both for everything that you did," Fiora replied. "You helped out Venus, and you were able to solve the mystery behind what happened to Aes too. Thank you for everything that you've done. I won't forget what you've done."

"I'm glad that we were able to help," I told her with a faint trace of a smile. "We did what we had to in order to find the truth, and that's what matters most. I hope that you and everyone else gets the chance to keep practicing for the show. It didn't happen because of the murder, but... Maybe you'll have the chance to perform one of these days in the future."

"When the performance does happen, then I'll be sure to have Venus tell you," Fiora said. "You can come and see what we've put together. I hope that you like it when you're able to see it, but... For now, I know that you have a lot to do. I know that there's other stuff for me to take care of too."

"If you ever find yourself in need of help, all you have to do is reach out. You know where to find us," Cotoli assured her with a smile of his own. "We would be more than happy to help if you ever found that you needed us."

"I'll be sure to keep it in mind... Though I hope that it doesn't wind up being necessary," Fiora responded with a small laugh. She let out a gasp before taking a step back. "If you'll excuse me... I think that there's someone else here who wants to talk to you now."

I frowned at her words, wondering what it was that she was referring to, before I turned to see none other than Prosecutor Bespoke standing nearby. Fiora retreated as Cotoli and I shifted our focus to the new arrival. "Prosecutor Bespoke... I didn't realize that you were there," Cotoli commented even though that much was blatantly obvious.

Prosecutor Bespoke shrugged and shook his head. "It's nothing to worry about. I hope I'm not being presumptuous to say this, but... I believe that we have at least a little bit to talk about," he said.

"I guess so," Cotoli replied with a shrug, though he didn't seem to have a perfect idea of what it was that Prosecutor Bespoke wanted to discuss in the first place. "First of all, I want to thank you for everything that you did to help us catch the culprit. Without your help in discovering the case from last year, we never would have figured out that Mr. Tambin was behind the crime."

"I wanted to find the truth, and I was going to make sure that it was exposed," Prosecutor Bespoke shrugged. "That's all that there is to it. In order for the truth to be revealed, people have to work together. No single person can be the guardian of everything honest and good; for the truth to reach the light, there has to be cooperation. I haven't found anybody who's quite so willing to search for that truth in a long time. Color me impressed."

"I see that we have similar ambitions then," Cotoli remarked. "That's what we're in search of too. We're trying to figure out what it is that's going on behind cases like this. There are too many instances out there where people are left unable to defend themselves, and we have to do what we can to remedy that. The truth is something that has to see the light of day one way or another, and w'ell do what we can to reveal it."

"In that case, I have no doubt that we'll be seeing one another again in the future," Prosecutor Bespoke said with a grin. "After all, people who are looking for the same thing are bound to wind up together sooner or later. I feel like this case was just the beginning... A beautiful beginning, but a beginning nonetheless. I'll be looking forward to the next time that we cross wits in court. May the truth find its way into the light through our hands."

With that said, Prosecutor Bespoke gave a brief salute, and he turned to walk out of the lobby. I glanced up to my brother with a gentle smile. "Well... I guess that we've got at least two allies in this craziness at the very worst," I remarked. "Three if you want to count Fiora. Who would have guessed that we would pull off so much in such a short span of time?"

"All's well that ends well, I suppose," Cotoli remarked with a shake of his head. "I wish that we had been able to do something about what happened to the victim, but... We were too late from the very beginning. Nobody had a way of knowing what was going to happen until after it was too late. We did what we could to prevent everything from going wrong in the aftermath, and unfortunately, that was all that we could do."

"We did what we could, and that's something that I'm going to count as a positive," I told him. "For now, I think that we should go and treat ourselves. I don't know about you, but I could use some food after all of that, and we should both take a break after all that we've done over the past few days."

Cotoli nodded. "That sounds like a plan to me. Here's to the end of our first case together," he declared.

"No objections here," I replied. He laughed in response, and I joined in a beat later as we walked towards the door.

March 15

Morix Law Offices

3:45 PM

Chrysalis Starr

A few days had passed since the end of the trial, and life had fallen into a nice routine where we were able to relax. I was more than happy to take advantage of the peace and quiet for a few brief moments, and it was nice to be able to take a deep breath after the chaos that had persisted throughout the course of the case. I didn't realize how much I needed it all until everything had been said and done, it seemed.

I had been able to reach out to Venus the day before when she sent a message asking for more details about where Cotoli and I were working. I wound up sending her the address, prompting afterwards why she wanted to know. She didn't wind up responding, and it had been a day already. I didn't know what it was that she was up to, but I figured that it was something I would figure out soon enough. For the time being, I was going to enjoy the peace as much as possible before our inevitable second case arrived.

I heard a small buzzing sound echo throughout the agency, and I frowned before glancing over to Cotoli. It was our doorbell of sorts, and it would tell us when new clients arrived since we were working by ourselves. The building that we were operating out of was on the larger side, but there were only two of us there, and we couldn't exactly cover all of that space at once. We had been lucky enough to get a good deal on it thanks to claims that the place was haunted (which I could confirm were most certainly true), but that still didn't solve the problem as to us not having anybody to help out at the front desk yet given that I was still in school a lot of the time.

I pushed myself to my feet after prying my body away from the couch. "I've got it," I declared, though Cotoli wound up rising to follow after me anyways. We descended to the bottom floor using the elevator before making our way to the front entrance of the building, and on the other side of the door, a familiar figure was waiting for us.

I opened the door and gasped in surprise. "Venus!" I exclaimed. Sure enough, Venus was standing there and waiting with a bright smile on her face and her phone in one hand. "What are you doing here?"

Venus stepped inside when I gave her the chance to walk in. "I said that I wanted to see you both again after the trial, and I meant it," she said simply as if that one sentence was meant to answer every question that I had. "Well... Let's just say that I've been thinking, and I know what I want to do until practices start up for the show again. In fact, I might have to continue doing it even after I finish practices and start performances."

"What are you talking about?" I questioned, closing the door behind her. I found myself split between wanting to meet her gaze and yearning for nothing more than to avoid her piercing brown eyes.

"I want to help you two out when it comes to solving cases!" Venus proclaimed. "If you would have me, that is. I don't want to come in here and push myself into the middle of the dynamic that you've already got going here, but... I really was impressed by everything that you showed that you could do during the trial, and I want to see more of that."

"Are you sure about this?" Cotoli questioned. "This isn't exactly the sort of work that I would have expected you to be intrigued by, but... If you really do want to learn more, then I suppose that I can't stop you..."

"I'm positive," Venus assured him with a nod. "I've been doing a lot of thinking, and... I really do think that this is something that I would like to do, assuming that it was alright with you two. Like I said, I don't mean to push myself into the middle of everything that you already do here, so I want to be careful and let you decide on it first and foremost."

Cotoli glanced down to me, his eyes seeking an answer to her question. "What do you say, Chrys?" he asked gently. I could tell by the way that he was looking at me that he had already come up with his own response, and he was just waiting on me to confirm what it was that he was thinking about.

"I... I would love to have you here," I confessed, and I knew that it wasn't even just a matter of my childish flights of romance. Beneath my flustered behavior, I really did want to get to know Venus better. She was a sweet girl as far as I could tell, and I was intrigued about everything that we didn't yet know about her. Maybe Cotoli had been right when he said that she would be able to drag me out of my shell. I was an introvert whether I wanted to admit it or not, but something about Venus was so magnetic and captivating that it made me want to try and trust others. I had never been the best at that, so paranoid over what awful things could have happened that I never gave myself the chance, but Venus almost made me want to believe again. It was a strange thing to say, but it was true.

"In that case, I suppose it's been settled," Cotoli announced, a smile on his face. "It seems that Morix Law Offices has grown to be three strong. We're proud to have you here at the agency, Venus. Welcome to the team."

"Thank you both so much!" Venus grinned, throwing her arms around both myself and Cotoli with excessive grandeur. Her height was just perfect to allow her to sling her arms around Cotoli's neck while still pulling me in close despite the height difference of more than a foot between myself and my brother. I'm not ashamed to admit that I enjoyed the embrace a lot more than I probably should have.

"We're happy to have you," Cotoli replied, still smiling to himself. "I'm glad that you took such an interest that you wanted to join us. We haven't gotten any other cases to take on yet, but... When it does happen, we would be more than happy to have you as part of our investigative team."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Venus shrugged with a shake of her head. "I wouldn't worry about it. After all, this is what matters right here. This is the start of something great! I'm sure of it!"

I smiled to myself and nodded. I knew that she was right about that. This was going to be the starting point of something that was bound to be incredible. Our little family was starting to grow, and much to my own surprise, I found myself excited for it. Maybe trusting wasn't such an awful thing after all.

TURNABOUT ON ICE

END

And so case one ends!

-Digital