May 3

Courtroom No. 3

11:35 AM

Cotoli Morix

"The crucial evidence that will change our perception of the case up to this point is something that was overlooked in the initial investigation for a variety of reasons," I began to explain. "You see, there was a simple object that could have changed this case in a thousand different ways, and yet, that did not come to pass for the simple reason that the item in question was destroyed before it could be used as true evidence. And yet... I believe that the destroyed state of this piece of evidence is proof enough that something happened at the time of the murder."

"Do explain, defense," Judge Diaphan instructed of me. "I'm afraid that I don't understand what it is that you're trying to get at."

"There was originally going to be another recording of the entire gymnastics competition. It was set to be done by a camera that was propped up in the area of the competition to overlook the performers as they were doing their routines. However, the camera was knocked over at the time of the crime scene's discovery, and the data card for the device had been completely destroyed by that point," I explained.

Prosecutor Bespoke's face shifted with recognition. "I see what you mean... You're implying that the destruction of the data card was something intentional that the culprit did as a way of getting rid of evidence that could have been used to incriminate them," he realized. "And the only people that would have known about the camera footage in the first place..."

"Would have had to be involved with the gymnastics competition," I finished for him. "Beyond that, the culprit must have taken out the card and destroyed it rather quickly so that they weren't caught. The culprit would have had to have advanced knowledge of how to get into the camera in that respect since it wouldn't have been easy to just suddenly see the camera, pull the data card out, and destroy it on the spot. The culprit knew what they were doing going into the situation, and that means that we once again have proof that incriminates somebody within the group of competitors."

"This doesn't change a damn thing about the case," Ms. Rowland proclaimed. "You can say all you want that this is evidence that the defendant didn't do it, but you have to be able to back it up. Your flimsy words have hardly been worth all that much up to this point, and I think it's time for you to start actually acting on your words."

"So be it," I said with a nod. "Let's think about what was happening at the time of the evacuation from the gymnasium, shall we? It's clear as can be that the defendant was making his way over to the source of the noise, and he found the gun in the darkness. That means that he has an alibi for what was happening at this point, and we're already aware of what he was up to."

"That doesn't make him innocent," Ms. Rowland interjected. "I don't think that you understand what you're doing at all. You would have come forward with something a bit more conclusive by this point if you really had an idea what the hell was going on."

"That alone doesn't make him innocent, but if you consider the context of the situation, everything falls into place with stunning clarity," I told her. "You see, the culprit would have had to be destroying the data card for the camera at this point. The culprit couldn't have been both going for the gun and destroying the data card at the same time. None of that makes any sense, so instead, one has to realize that the two incidents were completely separate. The culprit was destroying the data card for the camera, and that just so happened to be taking place at the same time as the defendant making his way over to the gun to investigate the source of the loud noise from the gymnasium."

"I understadd what you're trying to get at," Prosecutor Bespoke murmured. "You mean that the defendant had an alibi for the time of the camera's data card being destroyed, and that means that he can't have been the culprit. After all, we can already say rather conclusive that the culprit was acting on their own. That much we already figured out earlier in the trial, so if the culprit was doing something else at this point, then that means..."

"That the defendant is not the one behind the data card's destruction, and as such, he was not the one who killed the victim," I finished for him. "This is how the pieces seem to come together, and there's only one conclusion that I can reasonably come to from all of this."

"You're going to try and accuse me of the crime, aren't you?" Ms. Rowland asked with a sigh and a shake of her head. "You're getting ahead of yourself. Everything that you've said up to this point has been circumstantial at best, and you can't use that to show that someone is the culprit."

Prosecutor Bespoke shook his head. "I don't know if I would go so far as to say that, witness... In fact, I believe that there's quite a notable piece of evidence that could show the truth behind what happened at the time of the murder," he declared. "Well, it shows what happened when the camera card was destroyed. Did you know that the camera card was destroyed because it was stepped on?"

"That makes sense," Judge Diaphan said with a small nod. "After all, no person could simply snap a data card in half quite so easily, especially if they were under the pretense of all this pressure. There must have been another method for destroying it, and it seems that the best way to accomplish such a thing would have been for it to be stepped on in the haze of the crowd evacuating from the gymnasium."

"All people in the gymnasium had one thing in common: they were all wearing shoes. Of course, that's natural given that they were out in a public setting, but the fact remains true as can be," Prosecutor Bespoke continued to say. "If the culprit stepped on the data card, then an important trace would have been left behind... More specifically, the imprint of the bottom of their shoe would have been left on the data card. They would have had to step rather hard on the data card in order to make sure that it was destroyed."

"Anybody could have run over it in the rush to escape, you know," Ms. Rowland pointed out. "I don't think that's really good evidence that the culprit is a specific person. For all you know, the culprit just dropped the data card on the ground and then had someone else step on it while they were running for the exit."

"Would the culprit really take a chance like that?" I asked of her. "It would have been too risky to rely on somebody else to step on the data card. If the crowd just kicked it around instead of outright crushing it, then the evidence would have been left behind in full. From there, it would have been taken to the trial, and all of the pieces would have come together quite simply from there, likely changing the outcome of the case."

"You mean to say that in order to find the culprit, we would be able to do some shoe analysis to show who was the one to step on the data card," Venus concluded. She offered me a gentle smile. "That's genius, Mr. Morix! If Ms. Rowland's shoes just so happen to match the imprint found on the data card, the that would be the perfect proof that we need."

"So, Ms. Rowland? What do you have to say to that?" Prosecutor Bespoke questioned of the witness with a devious smirk dancing on his lips. "Will you confess to the crime that we all know you committed now? Or will you draw out this affair even further by forcing us to conduct an unnecessary test to figure out whose shoe just so happened to trample on the data card at the crime scene?"

Ms. Rowland simply glared down at the defense bench. After a moment of silence, she simply lashed out with a kick that shook the podium to the point that I almost thought it was going to break. I stared at the stand anxiously, praying that spray from fractured wood wouldn't wind up flying in my direction. Venus and Yuri flinched at the noise as well with Venus throwing out one arm in front of her younger sister defensively.

"You should know that this isn't going to be the last time that we meet," Ms. Rowland declared. "You may think that you've won, but this isn't the end. There are still going to be other chances for us to see each other, and when we do... You'll truly taste what I'm capable of."

"Can we take that as a confession, witness?" Judge Diaphan asked even though the answer was already clear as could be.

Ms. Rowland didn't offer any outward response for a long moment before she finally shrugged. "Perhaps," she murmured. "But my promise remains true. This will not be the last time that we see each other, and when we do next cross paths... You will learn to regret everything that you have done to me here today."

The bailiffs in the courtroom were quick to close in around her, and Ms. Rowland surrendered to them almost too easily. Given her haunting final words, it struck something strange inside of me, and I wondered just what it was that I could potentially look forward to (or to be more accurate, dread) her doing in the future.

Ultimately though, the thought process was shoved out of my mind when Judge Diaphan hit her gavel against the bench, silencing the gallery that I hadn't even realized was chattering to begin with. "It seems as if the truth behind this case has been made perfectly apparent after all this time," she announced. "Unless there are objections from the defense or prosecution, I believe that now is the perfect time for me to render my verdict regarding the defendant."

I glanced over to Venus and Yuri, and when I earned only smiles from the both of them, I turned back to Judge Diaphan a moment later. "The defense has no objections," I replied to her.

Prosecutor Bespoke shared a similar glance with Cassidy, and when she nodded to him, he moved his focus back to the judge sitting at the peak of the courtroom as well. "The prosecution has no objections either," he told her.

Judge Diaphan nodded her understanding as she raised her gavel once again. "In that case, I see no reason to drag on this trial any longer than we already have. This court hereby finds the defendant, KJ Jett, not guilty. Court is adjourned!" She hit the gavel down once again, and all I could do was smile at the fact that at long last, this case was over. I didn't know what was going to be waiting for us from here on, but I could at least take solace in the fact that we had saved yet another innocent soul. KJ was free, and the true culprit was being taken into custody. What more could I ask for?

May 3

Defendant Lobby No. 3

11:55 AM

Cotoli Morix

The defendant lobby brought with it all sorts of new positivity with Venus practically launching herself at me in an enthusiastic hug. It didn't take long for her to be followed up by Yuri a few beats later, and I found myself on the verge of falling over under the weight of both of them and their endless excitement over the end of the case. I let out a small laugh as I finally managed to stabilize myself, offering them both a smile for their joy.

"We did it!" Venus proclaimed when she finally pulled away, her hands on her hips. "KJ has officially been found to not be guilty of the crime, and we were able to figure out who really did it too! Ms. Rowland is going to pay for her crime of murdering the victim at long last."

"And that's not the only thing that she's going to have to own up to," Yuri pointed out. "I mean, if you think about it, she's going to have to contend with the fact that she was also responsible for a back alley deal. I mean, that was the reason that this entire case happened. She got caught while she was in the middle of doing something illegal, and the victim died because she saw what happened."

"That's true," I nodded. "She's going to be tried for that as well in her inevitable trial, and I can only imagine that it's going to be a complicated affair. After all, if what Prosecutor Bespoke said is to be believed, the only copies of the video footage that the crime was committed over have been destroyed some way or another."

"Don't you find that a little bit odd?"

A familiar voice reached my ears, and I turned to see Chrysalis walking closer to the three of us. "It's strange to me that the video footage would conveniently disappear when the crime was on the verge of being committed. It's almost like... Like this was an intentional clean sweep to make sure that nobody figured out the truth behind what was going on," she continued to say.

"I would be lying if I said that there was nothing odd about it, but I know that we shouldn't think about it too much right now," Venus told her. "I mean, we just won the case! KJ is finally free from suspicion, and I think that we deserve the chance to celebrate everything that we've already done. I mean, we're going to have to consider this at a later point, yes, but for now, we're taking steps in the right direction, aren't we?"

"I would certainly say so."

KJ was the next person to approach us, and there was a grand smile on his face as he moved closer to our small group of four. "Thank you again for everything. I don't think that I could ever truly express how grateful I am to all of you for managing to clear my name of the charges that were leveled in my direction. It means a lot that you were able to help me to such a degree, and I... I have to admit that I've been inspired in a way."

"Inspired?" Venus questioned with a light tilt of her head. She had taken to throwing one casual arm around Chrysalis' shoulders, a gesture that didn't mean much to her but was clearly prompting my sister to panic silently. Yuri simply smirked in Chrysalis' direction as my youngest sister pretended to not care about what was happening in relation to her and the two Rinko sisters.

KJ nodded. "I don't know what I'm going to do specifically, but I think that I want to try and follow a legal path the way that you all have. I think that the courtroom proceedings would have been more interesting to me if I wasn't... Well, you know." He let out a small laugh and shook his head. "But I'll just have to see what comes next. I'm sure that it'll turn out fine no matter what. After all, I don't need to be all nervous about being falsely arrested for murder now."

"You know, we never would have been able to find the truth behind that case without a friend of ours," Venus commented. As usual, she was oblivious to the way that Chrysalis was freaking out under her grasp, and she didn't seem to see the way that Yuri was looking at Chrysalis in the silence.

"Yeah," I agreed with a nod. It was true. Prosecutor Bespoke was the only reason that we were able to do anything to come close to finding the truth behind this case. If not for him, I knew that we wouldn't have been able to find the true culprit.

"It's good to see that you all appreciate my work."

As if on cue, the man himself appeared, a smile on his face. Cassidy and Sora were following in his footsteps, grinning just as brightly as he was. The three were able to slot in perfectly with the rest of our group in our miniature cluster.

"How could we not appreciate it?" Yuri questioned as she finally pulled herself out of her temporary daze of watching my sister. "You did a lot to help us out back there. If we didn't have your help, we would never have figured out the truth."

"And now, we're all taken care of with the defendant declared innocent and the culprit being dragged off to court in the near future," Sora smiled. "Everything really did come together. I have to admit that I was a bit worried there for a second, but at least you were able to come through by working together."

"Our dynamic team has done it again," Venus beamed. "Who would have thought that a group of misfits like this would have been able to pull off so much when it came to finding the truth in the courtroom? It's incredible."

I smiled at her words. She was right; we had already been able to pull off quite a bit across my three different cases, and we were going to make more progress in the future, I was sure. Even if everything was a bit uncertain for a while there, we had found the truth, and I was sure that we were going to be able to pull it off again in the future too. It truly was amazing how much we were capable of doing as a team, and all I could do was smile to myself at the thought.

"On that note... I don't mean to interrupt the celebrations or anything, but I would like to speak with Mr. Morix alone for the time being," Prosecutor Bespoke said, immediately breaking through my thought process in the silence.

"You need to speak with me?" I echoed, caught too off guard to bother with a proper response at first. It wasn't until after I noticed that everybody's eyes were on me that I allowed myself to nod, swallowing back the majority of my nerves in the process. "If that's what you need, then... Alright."

Prosecutor Bespoke offered me an unreadable smile before he retreated from the room. I followed in his footsteps, my anxiety starting to build up once again. The rest of the group disappeared from view soon afterward, and I was left to boil alive in the nervousness that was very quickly asserting itself at the forefront of my mind.

When my anxiety hit a boiling point, I bit down on my lip. "Is there something wrong?" I asked. Truth be told, I felt like there just had to be something wrong. Why would he call me out here if everything was fine? I couldn't think of any other explanation, and unfortunately, that only let me with a sinking feeling of dread in my stomach like I was going to be eaten alive.

"There's something that I've been meaning to tell you for a while, and there's no time quite like the present for something like that, huh?" Prosecutor Bespoke questioned, his voice suddenly laced with endless anxiety.

I was about to ask what he was talking about, but he cut me off by continuing. "I've really enjoyed taking on these past few cases with you. I don't think that I've ever enjoyed my work quite as much as I do when I'm facing off against you in the courtroom. There are a lot of awful things in our legal system, but I think that the two of us meeting was most certainly a positive."

I didn't know what to say, but luckily, Prosecutor Bespoke wasn't done. "It's like I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. I can't get you out of my head even when we aren't on a case together. I'm so glad that we've been able to meet, but... I think that I want a bit more than that." He took in a deep breath before steeling himself. "I like you. A lot. I want to get to know to better, and to me, the best way to do that is to ask... Do you think that you would be open to the idea of starting a relationship with me?"

For a long time, I could only stare. What else was I supposed to do? I hadn't ever been faced with a declaration of something as bold as love like this. It had been foreign to me almost my whole life. I knew that I was interested in both men and women to some degree, but the details beyond that had always been fuzzy. I hadn't been forced to confront it since nothing appeared for me to need to work out the issue.

And then this happened. The more that I looked atProsecutor Bespoke's expression, emotional and vulnerable in a way I ever expected of him, the more I felt something in my chest swell. I hadn't ever considered romance as a long term goal. Other things had always wound up in the way of that, and I didn't know how to handle this coming as a wright on my shoulders so suddenly.

Even so, I would have been lying if I said that I didn't feel some kind of connection between myself and Prosecutor Bespoke. He had been great for me up to this point, and I was glad that we had been able to meet. Even in the middle of all sorts of wild cases, he was somebody that I could count on. He was stable, and I valued that a lot more than I could have ever expressed.

For a long time, my mind racing in a thousand different directions as I tried to come up with a way to respond to his words. Eventually, I wound up swallowing dryly, an unexpected smile moving to claim my face. It was a lot to take in at once, and yet, I didn't hate the idea in the slightest. How could I? Prosecutor Bespoke was an incredible person, and I was honored that he would even dream of looking at me in such a way.

The more that I thought about it, the more appealing that it sounded. My stomach had started to do flips, filling with butterflies that I hadn't ever been able to fully comprehend. His behavior towards me with how much he wanted to help and how eager he was to be around my suddenly made sense. Somehow, I had wound up capturing his affection, and while I didn't have the slightest idea how I had managed to do something like that unintentionally, I knew that I didn't at all dislike it.

Prosecutor Bespoke was staring at me anxiously, and I could tell that he had done this on a whim. It was a spur of the moment decision and something that he had been struggling with for ages. The issue had been plaguing him for a while, and he was just now talking about it because of his outside concerns. He hadn't even been waking up that day with the intention of doing this, and yet, here he was, staring at me with all the hope and fear in the world like I had every ability to make or break him. In some ways, that was true.

I couldn't just leave him hanging though, so I did the one thing that I knew I could have faith in: trusting my heart. Once I managed to break out of my silent daze, I smiled to him. "That would be lovely," I told him. Immediately, the butterflies in my stomach increased tenfold, and I wondered if this was what romantic love truly felt like. I had heard it a thousand times before in fiction, but no words could ever compare to how amazing it truly felt to experience firsthand.

Prosecutor Bespoke's body immediately sagged with relief. "Thank the gods for that," he murmured. "I didn't wake up thinking that I was going to wind up doing this today. I guess that something in my head just switched during the trial, and after that... Well, I guess I realized that if I didn't get it over with, I wasn't going to have to do it. Who thought that somebody like me, so confident and sure in court, would get so worked up over something as basic as telling a guy that I like him?"

"It's alright," I assured him with a shake of my head and a smile. The more time that I was given after my agreement, the more I was sure that I had made the right decision. "I must admit that I don't know exactly what I'm going to be doing here. I've never been in a relationship like this before, so I'm going to have to learn how to handle this over time."

Prosecutor Bespoke just threw his head back in a laugh. "It's okay. I haven't ever been in a relationship before either, so I'm just going to have to stumble through this along with you," he remarked. "We can see what happens when the time comes, I suppose."

"This is certainly going to be an interesting thing to tell the others about," I commented. "We barely even know what we're doing, but we're still going to do what we can to figure out a relationship anyway. I hope that we're able to find a way through this."

"We'll be fine," Prosecutor Bespoke said. His laugh was nervous, so I could tell that he wasn't fully convinced, but he still relieved. He hadn't anticipated telling me today to begin with, much less being met with a positive response and confirmation of my affection. I hadn't seen this coming either, and yet, I wasn't objecting in the slightest. This was the best outcome that I could have asked for as far as today was concerned. We had managed to secure a not guilty verdict while finding the truth at the same time. All things considered, I didn't think I had experienced a day this amazing in quite some time. In some ways, I didn't even know how to come down from the high that I had reached in the few moments since hearing how Prosecutor Bespoke truly felt about me.

"We should head back for the time being," I told him. "We still have a victory to celebrate, after all. The last thing that I want is to leave everybody waiting for us when we should be off being happy with all that we've managed to accomplish."

"You make a good point," Prosecutor Bespoke smiled. "I'm not sure how we're going to be telling them, but I guess that's a bridge that we can cross when we come to it... When we come to it in just a few minutes, that is."

I let out a small chuckle at the comment. "With all of this taken care of, shall we be off, Prosecutor Bespoke?" I asked of him, my smile so bright that I couldn't even begin to restrict it.

Prosecutor Bespoke hesitated at those words, a fond smile still on his face. "You don't need to worry about all that," he said simply. "If we're going to be together in a relationship, then you shouldn't have to use any title for me. Please... Just call me Ghastly."

I nodded, my smile somehow growing even wider. "Ghastly..." I murmured, testing the word out on my tongue. It felt much nicer than I expected, and I did my best to commit this sensation to memory. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind from now on. If you want to, you can call me by my first name too."

"Cotoli it is then," Prosecutor Bespoke—no, Ghastly—said to himself. He was clearly satisfied with being able to say the word without any hesitation.

Such as happiness manifested itself in him reaching one hand out in my direction. Our fingers connected soon afterwards, and all I could do was smile to him, the rest of the world forgotten. Nothing seemed to matter aside from the fact that we were there together. We were alright after the trial, and beyond that, we were going to be facing much of the future from then on at one another's sides. That meant much more to me than I could have ever expected, and yet, I didn't mind it in the slightest. I was glad that Ghastly of all people was the one who I was sharing the experience with. It wasn't how I expected this to go, but I was more than fine with it. In fact, I felt absolutely great.

Walking for the door was a process that seemed to take much longer than it actually did. I couldn't stop thinking about how amazing it felt to be there with Ghastly. For a short while, I didn't care in the slightest about the threat that Ms. Rowland had left behind before she was taken away. Nothing seemed to matter aside from the fact that we were there together. We were going to be alright no matter what came our way, and nothing was going to be able to change that.

That was what I thought at least, but life seems to have ways of proving you wrong when you least expect it.

TURNABOUT TUMBLE

END

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