May 1

Blackgate Community Center

5:00 PM

Venus Rinko

"That's certainly a dead body alright."

We had walked away from the younger girls of our party to go and examine the body, and I found myself crossing my arms as I looked down at the outline of the victim. Prosecutor Lin was the one who had made the offhand remark, and it wasn't as if I could say that she was wrong or anything. As a matter of fact, she was most certainly correct. It was certainly a dead body, and that wasn't exactly a good thing given the circumstances.

The victim was lying down on the blue mat that had been laid out to line the floor of the performance area. There were many other pieces of equipment scattered about, and the rings that had been hung from the ceiling at the time of the crime were splattered in a small amount of blood. I glanced up to them one more time before I looked down the the body. Apparently, the victim had landed this way when she first fell to the ground, on her back on the ground beneath the pair of rings waiting overhead.

The victim had short blonde hair that fanned out around her, the ponytail that she had previously been wearing having fallen out seemingly around the time of the crime. I had to wonder if perhaps the murder itself had caused this. It was the only idea that I had for the time being, though I supposed that her hairstyle was hardly the primary thing that I should have been focusing on given the circumstances.

"Her name is Hanan Lee," Detective Wattson told us, her arms crossed over her chest. "She died due to the single gunshot wound to the chest. Her death was instant since she was hit in the heart by the bullet, and she collapsed from her place on the overhead rings as soon as the bullet hit her chest."

"And I take it that we don't have much in terms of a motive for the defendant... That was what we heard earlier, anyways," Prosecutor Bespoke frowned. "But there has to be someone out there who has a motive against her. I can't imagine that she would wind up dead for no reason. There has to be someone out there who would have had a reason to kill her."

"I'm sure that there is someone who falls into that category, but we don't have any ideas or leads right now," Mr. Morix pointed out. "For the time being, we can simply examine the body."

I nodded as I crouched down beside the body. I was immediately assaulted with the overwhelming sight and smell of blood. It was nauseating, and it took all of my effort to make sure that I stayed focused on the situation at hand despite the way that my body wanted to evacuate the premises as soon as possible. "Well... She lost a lot of blood after the bullet entered her body," I said simply, knowing that we were going to have to start somewhere in this investigation.

"She did," Prosecutor Lin confirmed with a light nod. "But I don't see any other clues on her body... Well, her palms are white, but I guess that's to be expected."

"Her palms are white?" Prosecutor Bespoke echoed, raising an eyebrow in her direction. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"It's for bar routines. I think that it helps the gymnasts to hold on tighter to the bars when that part of the competition comes around," Prosecutor Lin explained. "There's a powdery substance that they coat their hands with so that they can hold on without sweat getting in the way. That's what I think it's for, anyways."

"But she wasn't doing a bar routine at the time," I pointed out. "Wasn't she doing stuff with the rings overhead? That's why they're splattered with blood when you look at them."

Prosecutor Lin nodded. "Yes, but the bar routines already happened, and I guess that what we see right now is the residue from that time," she said. "Still, I guess that there's nothing else of note to find here... It's not like the victim would have had anything on her person given the circumstances. She was flipping high in the air, and having anything in her pockets would only serve to influence her performance negatively."

"In other words, what we're seeing now is all that we're going to be getting," Mr. Morix frowned. "In that case, we're simply going to have to compensate for the lack of information here by finding other truths from outside sources. Sora, do you know where we should be looking next in terms of information?"

Prosecutor Lin opened her mouth to respond, but she ultimately cut herself short and pressed her lips together again a moment later. "Hang on... I think that there's someone in here that we haven't spoken to yet," she told him. She rose to her full posture and glanced across the gymnasium to where there was a single man standing, and she gestured to him for the rest of us to turn our attention in his direction. "He doesn't seem to be a police officer or anything. If he was, then he would be wearing the uniform that we've seen on everybody else. In other words..."

"That would be a witness," Prosecutor Bespoke concluded. He gestured for the rest of the group to follow after him. "Come on then. Let's go and see what we can find out from him."

"Hold on a moment," Detective Wattson cut in. She reached into her bag and began to shuffle through it, trying to find something as far as I could tell. A moment later, she smiled with triumph and began to hand out small folders. "You're going to want these if you're intending to keep up the investigation. These are copies of the autopsy report. You never know when you're going to need something like this, so you might as well go on and have it on hand."

"Thank you," Mr. Morix smiled in her direction. "We really do appreciate it." He chose to not open the file for the time being, instead simply tucking it under his arm. "Now, if there are no objections, let's go on and see what that man has to tell us about the case."

Detective Wattson waved us farewell, crouching down beside the body to examine it for any other details that she may have missed the first time. I followed after Mr. Morix and the others in our party to go and speak with the man in question. As we got closer, I was able to see the clothing that he was wearing easier. He was wearing a striped suit jacket of beige and dark blue while his trousers were the navy blue color. His shoes were black, and his tie matched the beige of the jacket he was wearing. His brown hair was on the lighter side and was combed to perfection. Everything about him was so perfectly composed that it didn't even seem real, and I found myself frowning as I glanced over in the direction of the rest of my group just to make sure that this was the man we were supposed to be talking to. He seemed to be a bit more plastic than I would have expected a real person to be, and yet, here we are.

"Hey there, you guys!"

Yuri's voice reached my ears, and when I turned, I saw that she was dashing in our direction alongside Cassidy and Chrysalis. Yuri slid to a stop beside me, her hands pressed behind her back in an attempt to sweet talk me, I was sure. "We saw that you guys were going to be talking to that man, so we thought that we might as well join you," Yuri smiled. "What do you say to that?"

"It's an important part of investigating cases, so... I suppose that it wouldn't hurt," I concluded with a light smile in her direction. "Just... Do what you can to be careful around this investigation, would you? I want to make sure that you don't wind up on the wrong side of anything. It's part of my job as your sister regardless of how annoying you think it is."

Yuri scoffed and waved her hand dismissively. "We're just going to talk to someone. How bad can that be?" she questioned. She didn't wait for an answer as she continued to walk in the direction of the man in the suit. I found myself rolling my eyes with a playful smile before I followed her, the rest of the group in tow.

The man glanced up with his hazel eyes as soon as he realized that we were approaching him specifically. "Is there something that you need of me?" he asked. His voice was soft and oddly comforting, but there was still something about his smile that bothered me. Once again, I couldn't help but feel that everything about him was almost plastic even though at a first glance, there really wasn't anything offensive about him. He was just a man, so why was he bothering me so much for no reason?

"There is, as a matter of fact," Prosecutor Bespoke began. "I'm Prosecutor Ghastly Bespoke, and I'm going to be the one in charge of taking this case to court. That man over there is Cotoli Morix, and he's likely going to be the defense attorney for this trial as well. If you don't mind, we would like to ask you a few questions about what you know regarding the murder."

The man raised an eyebrow much to my surprise, and he shifted his attention in Mr. Morix's direction. "You're a defense attorney?" he began by asking. "I didn't anticipate to find you here so easily... I am a defense attorney as well, you see. I am unable to take on the case due to being one of the witnesses who will be summoned during the trial, but it's nice to be able to see you."

That certainly caught me by surprise, but at the same time, it made sense given his attire. I glanced him up and down and recognized that there was something else going on in his head. Perhaps it was my paranoia regarding the fact that he looked so plastic to me, but the thought remained even so, and I resisted the urge to frown in his direction.

"My name is Elton Middleton, and I work at a law firm near here. Perhaps you've heard of Middleton Law Offices?" the man questioned with a light laugh. "Either way, I have to say... I'm impressed with you, Mr. Morix. I was in the gallery for your most recent case involving the dance studio, and I thought that your performance there was most impressive."

"You were watching that?" Mr. Morix questioned, his eyes going wide. "I didn't realize that other lawyers were going to be in the audience of such a small case."

Mr. Middleton shook his head. "Oh, perhaps not, but I enjoy watching the cases of other lawyers when I get the chance to do so. I love to see the way that different attorneys operate in the courtroom, and you proved yourself to be the most impressive rookie that I have seen in a long time," he continued. "I looked into your past and learned that there was only one other case that your agency had taken on up to this point, and I must say, the fact that you've only taken on two cases is most impressive. You've done a great job of getting your clients freed for the crimes that they have been accused of in the past. You earn my full applause and congratulations on that front."

Mr. Morix let out a small laugh, but I could feel something strained about the sound at the edge of his words. "Thank you for the kind words, truly, but I'm simply doing what I can to look after my clients. They deserve to be taken care of both in and out of the courtroom, and the least that I can do is prove that they didn't commit these crimes when I know that they didn't do it. Every person deserves to have at least someone by their side, and I am more than happy to be the ally in the desperate hour of need for those who need it," he told Mr. Middleton.

"If you ever find yourself in search of a larger place of employment, you can find me at my law agency," Mr. Middleton said. "I believe that you would be able to accomplish many great things if you were given the chance to work for me. We're always looking for new talent, and you most certainly fall into that category. All you have to do is come and find me, and I would be more than happy to hire you."

That seemed to break through Mr. Morix's casual facade in the blink of an eye, and he stopped with the smiling almost immediately. He and Chrysalis shared a knowing glance, and I could have sworn that I saw Chrysalis almost glaring at Mr. Morix even though I knew that it wasn't a direct affront to him. Clearly, this was just a way for Chrysalis to get out her frustration at something else, and it was most certainly a topic that Mr. Morix was all too familiar with.

"I'm afraid that isn't going to be necessary," Mr. Morix told Mr. Middleton. He had previously been seeming open and personable, but he seemed to almost retreat into himself at the idea that he should go to work at Mr. Middleton's agency. He shook his head lightly. "We already know what we're going to be doing in terms of our work, and our agency more than functions well enough. We have no reason to join a larger agency when we've already been perfectly functional up to this point."

Mr. Middleton's smile slipped away slightly. "That's unfortunate to her... I was hoping that I would be able to get you to join my agency some way or another," he told Mr. Morix with a shake of his head. "Though I suppose that I can't just make you feel a way aside from how you already do. If that's the case though, I guess that we should move on and get right down to business, yes?"

Mr. Morix nodded, but his features remained knotted tightly into something that was barely suppressing a frown even as the conversation shifted subjects. Prosecutor Bespoke ultimately took the focus away from Mr. Morix from there, and he shoved his hands into his pockets casually. "So, Mr. Middleton... I have to know... What is it that you saw at the time of the crime? You must have seen something out of the ordinary given the fact that you're in here to speak to the police rather than having been shooed out with the rest of the crowd of witnesses, right?"

"I was standing off to the side of the gymnasium at the time. I was getting up from my seat in the audience at the time, and that was when the gunshot rang out. I looked up at the performer that was currently showing off her skills, and the gunshot reached my ears a moment later. From there, everything began to devolve into chaos," Mr. Middleton explained. "I was able to see the general vicinity from where the bullet came, and that's the reason that I was called to be a witness by the police. Of course, I suppose that whether or not my testimony will be used is a matter of deciding from the prosecution at this point, isn't it?"

"Just where did the bullet come from then?" Prosecutor Lin asked. "If you saw the general vicinity, then you could tell us about where it was, couldn't you?"

Mr. Middleton smiled at those words before he shoved his hand into his pocket, pulling his phone free a moment later. He passed his phone over to Prosecutor Lin. "If you would like to see what it is that I saw at the time of the crime, you can check this recording here. I just so happened to be recording this performance in particular because I got a request to do so from the performer herself. She ran into me before the show started, and she said that she wanted me to record the show because the person who was going to be recording for her was unable to make it at the last minute," he explained.

As soon as he saw that, I realized that this phone probably did belong to the victim after all. It was pink and covered in small splotches of brighter color, and the longer that I stared at it, the more confident I was that it didn't belong to the man that was standing before me. I was all for men having bright pink phone cases and all that, but the image that we were presented with of this man in his beige and navy suit certainly contrasted with the image that I would have had in my head of this man's phone. Then again, I supposed that it didn't make all that much of a difference as long as we were able to solve this case when push came to shove.

Prosecutor Lin began to navigate her way to the photo segment of the phone, and I realized that the password on the phone had likely been removed by the police when their investigation began as a way of making sure that they were able to look at the video easily. As soon as Prosecutor Lin had figured out what was going on, she glanced over to Cassidy and Yuri. "You two shouldn't look at this," she told them with a nervous wince. "I know that you two want to be included in the investigation, but... Trust me when I say that this is grotesque." Cassidy and Yuri both nodded before taking a step back, and I couldn't help but think that Yuri had put up surprisingly little of a fight given what I would have expected out of her in this sort of situation.

I slid over next to Prosecutor Lin, and I watched as she pressed down on the play button to show the video. The rest of the performance was seemingly entirely normal before the end played out and the victim got onto the rings. She was facing the audience as she carried out the latter half of her routine, and she started to swing her legs up a moment later. She was on the verge of finishing her final move when the gunshot rang out, and a beat afterwards, her body left the rings behind before falling limply to the ground below. The rings were left to jangle endlessly overhead before finally falling still as the audience began to crowd out of the area. From there, the video grew somewhat jagged and hard to follow, and I recognized that this was undoubtedly because of the fact that Mr. Middleton was nearly run over by the others in the crowd as they all tried to get away from the scene of the crime.

"I see..." Mr. Morix murmured under his breath. He looked up to Prosecutor Lin with a light frown on his face. "I think that we should give that Prosecutor Bespoke. I can trust him to look after the evidence to make sure that nothing happens to it before the trial happens. Since it isn't Mr. Middleton's phone, we might as well keep it in our possession, right?"

Prosecutor Bespoke accepted it from Prosecutor Lin with small nod. "I can do that," he confirmed. He glanced up to Mr. Middleton with a raised eyebrow. "As long as that's not an issue for you, of course."

Mr. Middleton shook his head. "It's alright. After all, you are the one who's going to be taking this case to court," he pointed out. "I suppose that I should leave you to the rest of your investigation first though. You still have quite a bit to attend to, and I'm not going to keep you any longer than I have to. I'll look forward to crossing paths with you all again soon." He bowed his head with a pleasant smile, and the plastic sensation returned to my chest a moment later. "I'll be waiting for you at the trial tomorrow."

He walked away from there, leaving the rest of the group in the area. I shook my head in a desperate attempt to stop thinking about the way that the victim's body had fallen down to the ground. In the video, there had been a single light shining on where she was at the center of the stage while the audience was coated in shadow. In other words, I could see why the culprit chose that time to commit this murder; it wasn't as if anybody would be able to easily see what was going on given the circumstances.

"Let's go on and try to head to the detention center," Mr. Morix began to say as a way of shifting conversations topics. "We still haven't even spoken with the suspect on this case, and it would be for the best if we went off to see how he was doing. After all, we aren't going to be able to take on this case if he doesn't want us to defend him."

"That sounds like a plan to me," Prosecutor Bespoke agreed with a nod. "Let's go off and see what we can get from talking to him about the time of the crime. Any new information that we're able to find is going to help us out when push comes to shove, I think."

"Then off we go!" Prosecutor Lin declared, clapping her hands together as she started to walk to the door. The rest of us watched her for a moment before we trailed after her to leave the gymnasium, and from there, the building as a whole behind.

May 1

Detention Center

6:00 PM

Venus Rinko

We wound up getting to the detention center well after visiting hours had ended, but because of the situation we were in with the investigation starting off at a somewhat inconvenient time, we were able to slide in despite the building as a whole having been cut off from the public for the night. I could feel my stomach start to rumble, and I realized that I hadn't eaten enough that day. I didn't know how I was going to resolve this when I was still reeling from the video, but I would figure it out one way or another, I supposed.

When we arrived, we waited for a few moments suspended in silence before the sound of a door opening reached our ears. I glanced up and saw that there was a young man on the other side of the glass, having entered with a security guard. He had purple hair that was so bright it didn't even feel real, and a portion of it fell over one eye. His clothing could best be described as casual, meant for someone who was doing a lot of running around. I figured that this had to be the person that we were supposed to be talking to, so I started off by sliding into the seat on our side of the glass. Mr. Morix pulled up a chair beside me, and the two of us were given the chance to sit as the primary features of the defensive team while the others gathered in around us.

"Um... If you don't mind my asking, who exactly are all of you?" the young man questioned. As he spoke, I noticed just how bright his eyes were, and they seemed to pierce my soul with how perfectly they fit together with the rest of his ensemble. There was something about him that just caught my attention perfectly in a way that I couldn't really define. He was intriguing, I suppose. I couldn't think of any other word to describe him.

"My name is Cotoli Morix," Mr. Morix began to explain. "This is Venus, Cassidy, and Yuri Rinko along with Sora Lin, Ghastly Bespoke, and Chrysalis Starr. We're all investigating your case, and if you would want us to... Venus, Yuri, and I would be more than willing to defend you in the trial."

The young man on the other side gasped, his eyes going wide. "You would really do that...?" he questioned softly. When Mr. Morix responded with a nod, the young man simply smiled as he looked down at his hands where they were folded in his lap. "Thank you... I've been really worried about what I'm going to be doing in the trial since nobody has wanted to take on my case... I don't think that I'll ever be able to say how grateful I am."

"You don't have to do that," Chrysalis interjected. "All you have to do is tell us what it is that you know about the case, and that will help them to do what they have to in order to find the truth behind the murder."

The young man nodded. "Alright... Well, I guess I can start off by introducing myself. My name is KJ Jett, and I'm... Well, right now, I'm the defendant of this case," he explained. "As for the day of the crime... Well, I was volunteering at the community center when the murder took place. I stop by there every once in a while to help with the events that they host there. I like to help people out where I can, and that meant that I was able to pitch in for this gymnastics competition as well. I didn't exactly anticipate for that to happen at the community center, but here we are."

"You were running around to help the competition run then?" Prosecutor Lin asked. "Where were you at the moment of the murder?"

"I was backstage, actually. Well, the closest thing that we have to a backstage for this competition. It would perhaps be a bit more accurate to say that I was in the locker room trying to clean up any miscellaneous trash. I was getting kind of antsy because of all the pressure that there was to make sure that this competition ran smoothly. Everybody was trying to make sure that we were able to handle this, but it was a bit overwhelming. I was alone in the locker room when I heard the gunshot ring out, so I ran out of the locker room to check out what had happened. The lights were still off, and I glanced around to see what I could find in terms of clues. That was when I found the gun sitting on the ground, and I... I guess that I wasn't really thinking when I leaned down to pick it up, huh?" KJ questioned with a hollow laugh.

"And that's when you were seen handling the gun, and from there, you were arrested for the crime," Yuri concluded. KJ nodded along, and Yuri crossed her arms over her chest. "You don't have any evidence that you were in the locker room at the time of the crime, do you?"

KJ shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Nobody saw me while I was in there, and when I came out of the locker room, the lights were still off in the main gymnasium. I started to look around frantically, and then I picked up the gun, and the rest is history since the lights came on right as I was examining it," he replied.

Mr. Morix nodded along as KJ finished his recount before he smiled to himself. "Alright... KJ, if it's alright with you, we would be more than happy to take this case to court. The trial starts tomorrow, and we've already started off our investigation. I think that we would be able to prove that you didn't do it, and we'll do everything that we can to ensure that you're found not guilty," he told the purple-haired boy.

KJ smiled, clapping his hands together in front of his chest. "That would be great! Thank you so much! I don't think that I can say enough how happy I am that you would be willing to do this for me," he said quickly. "I wish that I could do something to pay you back for all of this, but... I'm afraid not."

Mr. Morix shook his head. "Don't worry about that for now. Just try to get a decent night of sleep in the detention center for the night, and we'll do what we can to prove you innocent tomorrow in court," he told KJ. He got to his feet before he looked to the rest of the group. "I believe that's about all that we need to do in terms of the investigation, so let's leave things off here."

"I'll go and take care of the paperwork for this case," Prosecutor Bespoke declared. "The worst part about my job is having to take care of all the paperwork, but I'll do what I can to have it rounded off by the time that we're going to the courthouse tomorrow."

I nodded. From there, we all split up for the night, off to take care of our lingering pieces of business for the trial ahead. I was starting to get used to the lack of time that the defense was given in terms of the investigation, but that didn't mean that I had to like it. In fact, I would say that I absolutely detested it, not that I was going to be able to do much of anything about it. but that could wait for just a little bit longer; we had a trial to take care of, and we couldn't hold it off no matter what. KJ was counting on us, and I refused to let him down.

Update time

-Digital