June 6

District Courthouse

Courtroom No. 5

11:30 AM

Athena Cykes

~ Witness Testimony ~

~ About Reva ~

-"I don't know what you think is going on with me and Reva, but there's nothing for me to tell you about it."

-"She and I weren't all that close, but we started talking more lately... Just before the murder took place."

-"She wanted to meet me in the park that day, and I obliged. Last I knew, she was still alive."

-"I don't know what else you want me to say about her though. We had a falling out not long before the crime took place, and now, she's dead."

-"Nothing about it matters anymore. Reva is gone, and I don't know anything about what could have happened to her."

"I can still hear it," I murmured to myself as soon as Chrysalis' testimony was over. "She's upset because of the victim, but I can't for the life of me figure out why."

"In that case, I believe it's high time that we used the Mood Matrix to determine what's really at play here," Apollo suggested. "She's not going to just tell us herself. Her previous testimony has made that perfectly clear."

I nodded at his words. "You're right, and I'm already on it," I assured him as I pulled up the Mood Matrix's primary screen. Every marker had gone off during the testimony aside from one. The green mark had remained silent and still as could be, and even if I was only now showing the Mood Matrix, I could feel it. Chrysalis wasn't happy at all when it came to the victim, and it was up to us to figure out why.

"I'm not entirely certain where it is that you wish to go with this, but I'll trust that you have an idea in mind," Judge Courtney remarked next. "Please, defense... Go ahead with your examination of the testimony."

"Of course, Your Honor," I agreed as I glanced back to Chrysalis. She was still staring blankly at the ground, refusing to meet anybody's gaze, and it wasn't hard to figure out why. There was a lot on her mind, and all of it painted Detective Nyde in a terrible light. I was going to unravel the reason behind it soon enough though. Nothing would be able to stop me now.

~ Psychological Examination ~

~ About Reva ~

-"I don't know what you think is going on with me and Reva, but there's nothing for me to tell you about it."

-"She and I weren't all that close, but we started talking more lately... Just before the murder took place."

-"She wanted to meet me in the park that day, and I obliged. Last I knew, she was still alive."

-"I don't know what else you want me to say about her though. We had a falling out not long before the crime took place, and now, she's dead."

"Got it!"

"When you spoke of the victim before, I noticed how irritated you tended to get when she came up... But during this discussion, you seemed to hit your peak of anger and sadness when you referred to that last line," I told Chrysalis with a light frown. "You spoke of the falling out, and you got unspeakably angry and sad... With a small hint of shock. I'm willing to assume that this falling out happened much closer to the time of the murder than you've been wanting to admit."

"It doesn't matter when we split up. The point is that we weren't talking as of the time of the murder, and I wanted nothing to do with her," Chrysalis said with a shake of her head. "Reva made a few decisions that I simply couldn't agree with, and that's all there is to it."

"There's something else about your testimony that was bothering me though, and it's still on my mind," I went on. "Your voice is shaking ever so slightly when you talk about the crime itself... Almost as if behind all of that sadness, rage, and shock... You're afraid to think about Detective Nyde at all."

Chrysalis' eyes shot open at that, and she shook her head. "I have no reason to be afraid of her. We spoke on the day of the murder, and she was killed soon afterwards. Why would I fear something like that?" she questioned, though I could tell that she was more defensive now than ever before.

"I would have to disagree with the idea that you're not afraid," Apollo cut in. "I noticed this when you were testifying a moment ago, but you seem to fidget with your glove a lot when. you talk about Detective Nyde. You're nervous, but you're doing your best to hide it. Still, you can't completely mask the truth when it comes to something like that."

Chrysalis shook her head once more with a light flinch, turning her gaze towards the ground. "Sloppy," she muttered, though the word seemed directed to herself more than anybody else. I doubted any of the other occupants of the courtroom had even heard her say it to begin with. "It doesn't matter how I feel about Reva. She's dead now, and there's nothing we can do to fix it."

"I believe that there has to be a reason for the witness' anxiety regarding the victim, but I'm unsure as to what it could be," Judge Courtney frowned. "The witness claims that she spoke with the victim briefly before they went their separate ways. She didn't know about the murder until after she woke up once more, and that leads me to believe that something happened after the two split up."

"But Chrysalis didn't just walk away that day. She was attacked and wound up drifting down the river until we found her," Trucy remarked. "I have to wonder if Chrysalis' conversation with Detective Nyde went south when they were together. If they got into an argument of some kind, then that would explain why Chrysalis has been so nervous and bitter about talking about her. I mean, if they left things off on a bad note, then..."

"She wouldn't have much of a reason to want to talk about her to begin with," Mr. Wright finished. "If you ask me, there's a lot more to the situation of the assault than we've been led to believe previously, and we need to be careful about where we want it to lead us."

"Chrysalis is nervous when it comes to Detective Nyde, but she's angry too. There must be some reason for that, and she's very stubborn about not wanting to discuss it," Trucy went on as she tapped one finger against her chin. "Maybe unraveling the truth behind what their argument was about will finally point us in the right direction about what happened at the time of the crime."

"You know, her wording has been bothering her since we first started talking to her," Mr. Wright commented. "We didn't ask Chrysalis about the attack until after we had told her about the murder, and there's one line that she keeps repeating when it comes to the assault. She says that it doesn't matter, 'not anymore.' That makes it sound like the truth could have been important at one point, but she doesn't think that it matters at present. What could have caused a shift like that?"

"Beyond that, I don't believe that Chrysalis was attacked by the murderer. If she knew who the killer was, then she would have spoken up already for the sake of proving her sister not guilty," Apollo commented. "But who could have attacked her then? We've been operating under the assumption before now that the culprit of the assault and the murder are the same person, but... Given our conversation with her yesterday where she said that she didn't know who the killer was-and the fact that we all know she was telling the truth-I have to think that there's more to it."

I looked down at the defense bench for a long moment, a frown on my face. "I don't know of anybody else who could have been there. Junie didn't arrive at the scene of the crime until later, and she didn't even know that an assault had taken place until later. Chrysalis already said that Prosecutor Lin didn't do it, and if the killer was the one responsible, then she would have spoken up already for the sake of saving her sister." I fell silent for a beat before my eyes went wide as I turned to the other members of the defense team. "You... You don't think that..."

Apollo's eyes went wide as well, and I could tell that he had come to the same conclusion that I had. "I don't want to have to admit it, but... I feel like that's just about the only theory we've got at this point," he muttered. "It would explain why Chrysalis is so shaken up about talking about the victim."

I turned my attention back to the rest of the courtroom, knowing that we were going to have to say it sooner or later. Even if we were wrong, we had to at least propose the idea. I swallowed back my nerves before continuing. "The defense has a proposal as to who the culprit behind the assault was," I announced. "The witness' testimony has revealed a crucial fact that I believe will finally answer our greatest question behind today's segment of the trial." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chrysalis frown to herself, but she said nothing. She already knew where this was going; she just didn't want to admit it.

"Then don't wait any longer," Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth declared. He slammed one hand against the prosecution bench before continuing. "Just who do you believe was responsible for the attack on the witness?"

"The victim of this case herself, Detective Reva Nyde," I replied.

The gallery immediately burst into chatter, and Judge Courtney reached for her gavel before slamming it down three times to silence the onlookers in the courtroom. "Order!" she roared. I could tell that she was shaken about the sudden accusation, but she did her best to hide it in the name of pressing on with the trial. "Defense, what makes you believe that the victim was the one behind the assault?!"

"The witness has been oddly cagey and defensive when it comes to the victim, and even if she said that there was a falling out between them, it seems to be more than that," I explained. "Why would the two meet up if they recently had an argument that drove them apart? However, all of that makes sense if you consider the idea that the argument happened on the day of the crime. They were driven apart because of an encounter that ended with the violent attack of the witness."

"It makes a lot of sense," Mr. Wright agreed with a light nod. "Up until now, we thought that the witness was attacked by the same person as the victim, but if that was the case, then she would have told us who was behind it by now. But instead, we've been met over and over again with the idea that nothing she says will matter. The witness has been saying time and time again that what happened that day isn't important 'anymore...' Almost as if it mattered at one point but no longer does."

"If the victim was the one behind the assault, then the testimony the witness provides us won't help much to find out the murderer. The truth doesn't matter anymore in her mind because the one who was responsible for the attack is already dead," Apollo said. "As far as I can tell, the timeline makes a lot of sense if you assume that the victim was the one behind the attack. She met with the witness that day, and the two got into an argument. The witness wound up in the river and drifted downstream until she was found and recovered, and at the same time, the victim was being murdered by the primary culprit behind this case."

"What do you have to say to that, witness?" Judge Courtney questioned as she looked down to Chrysalis. "This theory needs your input. Is that what happened on the day of the crime?"

Chrysalis was refusing to look anybody in the eye again, instead simply glaring daggers into the floor. She eventually looked up with a bitter shake of her head. "I already told you that what happened to me doesn't matter," she said, clearly fighting herself to keep from completely yelling at the courtroom. I could hear the tension in her voice, and I was sure that everybody else could as well. "The person who attacked me isn't important. It would be for the best if you just left it alone."

"You're deflecting," Apollo cut in, slamming his forearm against the defense bench along the way. "You know that we've figured out what happened, and you're trying to keep us from getting any closer to the truth... But it's not going to be that easy. Was the victim the one who attacked you?"

"I..." Chrysalis began, though she trailed off again before she could continue. When I looked closer, I could see that her fingers were intertwining in a way that I could only assume was her way of distracting herself from the stress. She began to grit her teeth in irritation as she looked off to the ground beside her again.

"Reva Nyde went after you that day, didn't she?" I questioned. "She called you there with the intentions of talking, but something went wrong while you were at the park. Somehow, the argument blew up, and she attacked you. After the relentless assault, you wound up in the river. You're afraid of telling us what really happened even though you know that we've figured it out. The victim was the culprit behind the attack."

"Reva... Nothing about her matters anymore. She's dead, and there's nothing that we can do to change that," Chrysalis spat out, and while I could tell that she was trying to be as aggressive as possible, there was still a lot of discord in her voice. She was terrified, enraged, and shocked no matter how much she tried to mask it behind pure anger, but I could hear it. She was struggling, and I knew it.

"You're afraid of her even now," I remarked with a shake of my head. "You know that she's gone and that she won't be able to hurt you anymore, but you're still terrified of her somehow finding a way to come after you again. You're scared. You can try to hide it all you want, but we all know that you're afraid."

"We need to know why it happened," Mr. Wright said, a frown quickly spreading across his features. "For the sake of figuring out what took place on the day of the crime, we need you to tell us as much as you can about the assault and the victim's motive. She was the one who attacked you. It's clear as day."

"It doesn't matter! I already told you that!" Chrysalis cried out. She had taken to pulling on a few strands of her hair, her stress and agitation only growing more prominent all the way. "D-Don't ask me about something that I haven't even confirmed yet! You've been saying all of this under the assumption that Reva did it, but if she didn't, then what are you going to do?!"

"Then why don't you confirm it for us?" Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth questioned. "You know the truth of what happened on the day of the crime, and I think it's high time you shared it with the court. Did the victim attack you or not?"

Chrysalis was silent for a moment, and the only sound that dared to pierce the silence was her ragged breathing. Her hands had shifted so that she was clawing at her upper arms, and she let out a small strangled cry before she fell quiet once more. The court watched her in silent anticipation, knowing what was coming but still desperate to hear the confirmation of the truth that we already knew.

Chrysalis sniffled, and I realized that tears had welled up in her eyes and started to fall down her cheeks. She was staring sadly and darkly down at the ground below, and she let out a careful, shaky sigh as soon as she had the strength to move once more. "Yes," she admitted softly. "Reva... Reva was the one who attacked me."

"Why did you try so hard to hide something like that from us though?" I questioned with a sad frown on my face. "We weren't going to judge you or anything for admitting to that. Detective Nyde is dead now; she couldn't hurt you even if she wanted to."

Chrysalis shook her head. "You wouldn't understand," she muttered. "I can't talk about it. You'll just have to trust me." I saw Mr. Wright frown out of the corner of my eye, and I could tell that Psyche-Locks had appeared around her to corroborate her story. Whatever the reason for the secrecy was, Chrysalis still didn't want to discuss it even if we had unraveled the truth behind who had attacked her.

"And all of this means that you were telling the truth," Apollo commented. "You said that you didn't know anything about the crime that took place that day, and you were telling the truth. If you were attacked by the victim before she was killed, then you couldn't have known what was going on after you left her behind."

"Exactly. I told you already that I wouldn't be able to help you at all in terms of figuring out what happened that day, and I meant it," Chrysalis replied, her voice overcome with bitterness. "I don't know who killed her or why they did it, but I was long gone by the time that the attack took place. I had already been pulled away from the scene of the crime by that point, so how could I know who killed her?"

"You probably didn't even hear the gunshot then," Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth said with a heavy frown. "You said before that you didn't know anything about the crime that had taken place to begin with, and I doubt that you would have been quite so clueless if you had heard the gunshot."

"If I did hear the gunshot, then I forgot about it soon afterwards," Chrysalis sighed. "Reva was the one who attacked me, and... The only way I was going to be getting away from her was via the river. I could tell that easily with how she wasn't letting up. I jumped in as soon as I could, and I let it wash me away. If I did hear the gunshot, it was probably shortly before I blacked out. I don't remember much about being in the river though, and that's probably for the best."

"I'm inclined to agree," Judge Courtney murmured. "Was there anybody else there at the time of the crime who could have killed the victim?"

"Not to my knowledge. Reva and I were the only ones in that part of the park as far as I was aware, and if anybody else had been there, then they were out of my line of sight. They probably showed up after Reva had already attacked me," Chrysalis answered. She pushed a loose thread of hair behind her ear before continuing. "I don't know anything about the murder. I told you from the beginning that I wasn't going to be able to help you on that front, and I meant it. I don't know who killed her or why they did it. All I know is that she and I started talking, got into an argument, and that it ended with her attacking me. Whoever showed up after that is out of my knowledge."

"What about the reason that you were attacked to begin with?" Mr. Wright frowned as he leaned forward over the defense bench a bit more. "You were assaulted rather grievously, and I doubt that something like that would have resulted from a simple argument. What exactly did you two talk about that caused her to get so violent?"

Chrysalis faltered at that before shaking her head. "I can't tell you that," she told him. "If I knew why Reva snapped during an argument, then I would have told you already. She just... Lashed out, and before I knew it, I had blacked out in the river and woke up in the hospital."

"You still worked rather hard to keep all of this a secret, didn't you?" Judge Courtney asked. "There must have been some reason for that."

"I didn't want to talk about it," Chrysalis replied even though she knew it was a flimsy excuse just like everybody else in the courtroom knew it. "I maintain my statement that what happened when Reva attacked me isn't important. She got violent with me, and it doesn't matter why she did that. I don't know anything about the murder, and she wouldn't have told me even if she knew what was going on. She just wanted me dead, and I ran away because I knew that was my only option."

The courtroom fell silent for a long moment before Judge Courtney shook her head. "As much as I hate to admit it, I believe that we've hit yet another stalemate in this case. I had been hoping that the testimony of today's witness would illuminate the truth of what happened that day, but it seems as if that simply wasn't meant to be," she announced. "I believe it would be for the best if we returned to investigating the case one final time to see what we can find."

"I suppose that's our only option," Apollo frowned. "Something must have happened that day after Chrysalis left but before Prosecutor Lin arrived. I don't know who could have shown up to attack the victim, but we have to figure that out."

"Learning the motive for the attack to begin with would be a good idea too," Mr. Wright muttered crossly. "The defense has no objections to your proposal, Your Honor."

"The prosecution also has no objections," Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth agreed. "It seems we were wrong to place our faith in the witness' testimony today." On the witness stand, Chrysalis shot him a glare, but she said nothing to rise to the bait.

Instead, Judge Courtney raised her gavel. "Court is adjourned until tomorrow!" she declared, bringing the gavel down. The sound echoed throughout the courtroom, and I finally felt as if I could breathe.

We had caught ourselves another chance, but I had no idea what we were supposed to do with it or where we were going to take this next. I could only hope that we could unravel the truth with time though.

June 6

District Courthouse

Defendant Lobby No. 5

12:30 PM

Athena Cykes

When we arrived out in the defendant lobby, we were met with Prosecutor Lin as was expected. She had her arms crossed as she looked off to the side, a frown on her face. Trucy was ultimately the one to break the ice as we approached her, waving gently in her direction. "Hey, Prosecutor Lin," she started.

Prosecutor Lin snapped out of her trance, and she glanced up to all of us with wide eyes. "Oh, um... Hey," she greeted, lacking in all of her usual luster today.

I frowned at the sight, but I did my best to not make my worry too obvious. Instead, I simply chose to change the subject to the one thing on everybody's mind. "What do you think of the trial?"

"I'm... Shocked, honestly," Prosecutor Lin sighed. "I didn't think that Detective Nyde was the one who attacked Chrysalis. I knew vaguely that the two of them were spending more time together over the last few weeks, but I didn't think that it was going to manifest as something like that... I had no idea that Detective Nyde had violent intentinos towards Chrysalis at all, but if you ask me... I feel like that was planned."

"What makes you say that?" Apollo asked with a frown.

"Detective Nyde had been acting a bit differently as of the last few weeks. It was like she was... Giddy about something constantly. She and Chrysalis agreed to meet that day, but I didn't know anything beyond that. I don't know what could have caused the shift in demeanor, but it's worrying. I doubt that this was simply an argument gone wrong. She was planning this for a while, and that makes it all the more sinister," Prosecutor Lin replied, her expression dark as could be.

"Since we know that Detective Nyde was the one behind the attack, that sort of ruins our plans of thinking that the culprit behind the assault was also responsible for the murder," Trucy frowned. "And you don't seem to have any ideas as to who could have killed Detective Nyde."

"I haven't the slightest clue as to who would have wanted to kill her, unfortunately, but she wound up dead either way," Prosecutor Lin replied with a loose shrug. "I'm sorry I can't offer a bit more information about that, but I'm afraid that's just how the cookie is crumbling this time."

For a long time, everybody was silent, and I took a careful, hesitant breath before continuing. "I'm sorry about what happened to Chrysalis," I finally choked out. "That shouldn't have ever happened to begin with, and... I'm sorry that you're having to worry about that while also being in the detention center."

Prosecutor Lin didn't respond to that, and Mr. Wright was more than happy to fill the silence in the meantime. "Do you know what we could do to get her to ope up to us a bit more?" he questioned. "We need her testimony as soon as possible, but she hasn't wanted to talk to us about what happened that day at all."

Prosecutor Lin once again remained silent before she looked up to meet his gaze, everything about her eyes deadly serious. "If you ask me, you should leave this alone before you find yourselves involved with something you never wanted," she said quietly and darkly. "Chrysalis isn't going to be talking to you about the attack beyond what you've already heard. It doesn't matter what you do. She's too stubborn to let anybody hear anything beyond what she shared when we were in the courtroom. I suggest that you drop it as soon as you can."

"We can't just do that," Mr. Wright countered. "We have a duty to find the truth behind this case, and what happened to Chrysalis could very well be the clue that we need to uncover why you were framed to begin with. We need as much information as you can share with us."

"I've told you all that I know, and right now, the only thing I can add is that your best bet at the moment is leaving all of this where you found it here and now," Prosecutor Lin told him, everything about her still tense and shadowed. "You have no idea what you're getting involved with, and this... This is one secret that is best left buried."

Before any of us could protest her words once more, Prosecutor Lin turned on her heel and walked away, leaving the four of us in silence. Trucy was the one who spoke up when the quiet finally shattered, a concerned frown on her face. "I wonder what secret could be so important," she muttered. "It's honestly worrying how willing everybody is to keep this hidden, and I just don't understand why."

"The fact remains that we need to find out as much as we can regarding the attack before court comes back into session. Chrysalis, Prosecutor Lin, and Mr. Morix wouldn't be keeping this secret if they didn't think it was important on some level. They all know why the attack took place, and somehow, keeping that hidden is more important than finding the culprit to them at this point," Mr. Wright said firmly. "The truth has to be out there somewhere though, and we're just going to have to force it out of them if they're not willing to talk on their own."

"Prosecutor Lin knew what the motive for the attack was long before she heard who was responsible for it, and if you ask me, that's a sign that the motive, whatever it is, transcends just Detective Nyde. The motive behind the crime is much deeper than any of us could have ever expected, and we're going to have to draw it out somehow before court goes back into session," I announced.

"We should head back to the agency and start to come up with a game plan. I don't think that we're going to be able to find a solid strategy quite yet," Apollo suggested. "Something tells me that we're going to have to do quite a bit of planning before we can reach the end of this case and figure out the truth behind all of this."

I nodded and started towards the door, though I paused halfway. Chrysalis was being escorted out now, and I could see just how weakened she had become because of the attack. She looked like a limp puppet, just barely managing to shuffle through to the exit of the defendant's lobby. She glanced over in my direction briefly, and while I couldn't quite tell what was gleaming in her eyes, I knew that it was some brand of raw emotion that she didn't want to articulate to begin with. That came with the territory of this trial, it seemed.

Either way, Chrysalis wasn't going to be able to hide it any longer than she already had. We were going to find out what had really happened that day, and it didn't matter how intent she was on keeping us away from the truth. No matter how dark this secret of hers was, we were going to expose it to the world.

Such was the way of finding the truth of this crime.

Surprise!

I'm sure that a few of you saw this coming, but I'm still beyond excited to finally have this part of the case out. Phew. Fun times, huh? Well, not really for Chrysalis, but I think the point stands. I've been looking forward to this trial being finished for a while now, and I love how it turned out.

Also, we finally had our first appearances of Mood Matrix and perceiving! Those two gameplay mechanics are much harder to integrate into prose than Psyche-Locks, if I'm being honest, primarily because they rely so much on visuals in a way that Psyche-Locks do not. Still, I'm glad I was able to give them a bit of a hoorah for the final trial, and I think they helped to add to the trial too.

The intrigue is really starting to ramp up this time around, and I would love to hear your thoughts on what will be coming next. We've still got one more segment of the trial and investigation before everything will be wrapped up, and it only gets better from here. This case is going to be the longest by quite a bit, and I hope you're all just as excited for its conclusion as I am.

Next time, we'll dive into the third investigation. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!

-Digital