July 28

Defendant Lobby No. 5

9:35 AM

Pieter Fury

The following morning, it seemed like all any of us could feel at all was anxiety. Lily was tapping her foot on the spot from where she sat on the couch, Sky refused to quite look at anyone's face while he nervously rubbed at the base of his neck, and Buddy stared blankly at the ground like he thought it might swallow him whole and bring him salvation from this disaster. In other words, it was far from being the most encouraging environment to be in just before a trial, and all I could do was watch everything with a small frown on my face.

When the anxiety got to be a bit too much for me though, I cleared my throat, and all three of them looked up at me. "Are you ready for the trial?" I asked even though I knew the answer was going to be a resounding no. How could we be ready for a case that we had barely been able to investigate at all before the trial began?

"I-I'm sure we'll be fine," Sky said with a smile that told me loud and clear that he had exactly no faith in us at all. "We've figured out cases harder than this one before, and we've got a bunch of people who believe that we're in the right for finding Buddy to be innocent on top of that."

"Right now, all we really need is to hear back about what information and evidence were taken from the file room," Lily said. "I'm sure that'll help us to figure out why the criminal acted the way they did and what it is they want out of all this. I mean, people don't just kill for no reason, and I'm confident they wanted entry into that room to get their hands on something they were never supposed to have."

"It's not going to be easy to figure out what went missing in there. The file room is huge, and I doubt you were able to look around in the closet at all... Though I suppose that's probably for the best," Buddy sighed with a shake of his head. "I don't think the killer was able to search the closet either given the fact that I was in there."

"So, when you were attacked, what exactly was going on?" Lily asked. "We heard that you wound up being pushed into the closet at the tail end of the room, but any other details would be much appreciated."

"I was looking at the files tucked away in there. That's where we keep our most sensitive and important information, so only a select few people are able to get inside. For example, the victim had been working for us for years upon years, and he was never even able to get close to the back closet since only the main family and the others who work closely with them are able to enter the smaller storage area," Buddy explained. "It took a while before Neptune, Clarith, and I were trusted with much of anything back there. We had to spend a long time just building up trust so that they knew that they would be able to place their faith in us if something bad wound up happening."

"It's not going to be easy to figure out what's missing from a room that massive," Sky murmured. "I suppose our best option right now is to just leave this in the hands of the Gather Law company and hope that they can figure out what it is that we're supposed to be doing with all of this."

"I know it's not going to be simple, but I'm sure that we'll be able to figure it out one way or another," Lily told him. "We've got other witness testimony on our hands that should help us out with putting the pieces together too."

"Speaking of witnesses..." Buddy began as he pointed up to the door. We all followed the path of his finger and found ourselves looking at Neptune and Clarith from where they stood in the entryway of the room. Neptune offered a wave, and Buddy shyly returned it, though his gaze refused to leave Clarith.

"I'm glad to see you all managed to make it in time," Neptune announced as she walked closer. She pressed her hands on her hips with a small smile, though I could tell that she was trying to get the rest of us to be optimistic more than anything else. "We've got a long fight ahead of ourselves, so I hope you're all just as ready for this as I am."

"Not in the slightest," Sky muttered. He rubbed at the side of his head like he had a migraine, and I couldn't help wondering if perhaps he had been struggling with physical pain ever since he first got back from seeing Mr. Wood. It felt as if he had been rubbing at his head ever since then, unable to fully focus no matter what we discussed.

"You... You went off to speak with Mr. Wood yesterday, didn't you?" Clarith asked slowly. Sky nodded, but only after he looked up at her with endless alarm in his eyes. "I hope that went well. He can be a bit... Intense at times, but I know that he has the best interests of the rest of the world at heart."

"I... I'm glad to hear it," Sky forced himself to say in response even though I could tell it wasn't exactly as simple as everyone else was making it out to be. "But that doesn't matter now. We have other things to take care of at the moment, and I would rather not be the reason everybody else gets distracted on the cusp of such an important trial, you know?"

"Did something happen when the two of you were talking?" Lily questioned as she crossed her arms. "I haven't ever seen you looking this anxious, and I've had enough of it. If you want to talk about it, you know that you can come to all of us. There's no reason for you to work yourself up so much when all of us would be more than happy to talk it out with you. As long as you need someone to lean on, you know that we're here for you."

"I know," Sky said all too quickly. "It's not a big deal though. I was able to take care of everything that needed to be taken care of, and I'm ready to get right on with the trial now that it's all done. Let's focus on that first, okay? I would rather not be the distraction that keeps us from being able to concentrate on the trial at hand, so let's just-"

"Hello, Morix lawyers."

A voice from behind me pulled me out of my thoughts, and I turned to see a purple-haired bailiff standing nearby. He had a smile on his face, and something in the back of my mind told me his name was KJ. That's right; Chrysalis had mentioned him a few times. He was a person that Venus and Cotoli defended back when the agency was still in its youth. Beyond that, he was also someone Venus had grown infatuated with after the trial ended. That was the main thing Chrysalis had brought him up for.

"Hey there, KJ," Lily smiled casually. "I take it that you're going to be taking us into the courtroom, now huh?"

KJ nodded. "It's been a while since I was last able to see one of your trials like this, and I'm glad that I was lucky enough to be assigned to take care of things. Now that I'm here though, I intend to make the most of it and..." He trailed off as he looked around the rest of the group, his gaze eventually falling on Neptune. For a long time, the two just stared at one another, but I couldn't quite read what either one of them was thinking. Neptune was just staring at him with a detachment that I couldn't quite put a finger on while KJ almost seemed to... Recognize her. It went on like that for a while, and Clarith shifted uneasily on the spot before moving a little bit closer to Buddy. The moment was quiet and tense unlike anything I could have expected, almost captivating with how strange it was from start to finish.

When KJ finally managed to snap himself out of it, he shook his head and pointed toward the courtroom, though I could tell that he was already out of rhythm compared to how he had been before. "Sorry about that. You should head on into the courtroom," he instructed. He scurried off to enter the courtroom soon afterward, leaving the rest of us to stand where he had been with confusion in our eyes.

"Well... That was..." I began, unsure of how I would have even described it. I just knew that there was something wrong and that it shouldn't have happened at all. Was there some other link between KJ and Neptune I didn't know about? That certainly would have explained at least part of it, but... It was something we would have to ask him about later.

"He's right about us needing to get into the courtroom," Neptune declared. She had started to fidget with her jacket ever so slightly, and she pointed back to the entrance of the courtroom again. "We have a long fight ahead of ourselves, and I think it would be for the best if we went in sooner rather than later so that we can be ready for it."

"Okay," Lily nodded slowly, though I could tell that she would have much preferred to give it a bit more time to think through everything that had just happened. She took in a careful breath before pushing the exhale out through her nose. "Let's get to it then."

From there, all of us began to file into the courtroom as KJ had instructed, though I could see Neptune exchanging worried glances with Clarith and Buddy out of the corner of her eye. All of her previous confidence had melted away, leaving behind next to nothing in terms of passion for the matter at hand. Instead, all she seemed to want to do was hide and run away, and while I couldn't blame her for it, I had to wonder just why she had been pushed so far by just looking at KJ. We would all have to ask her about it after the trial ended, I supposed, but until then, this was the best we could do. We had a trial to think about, and I wasn't going to just abandon Buddy when this was going to be his only chance at freedom.

Neptune could wait. We would figure everything out eventually whether it be about Neptune, Sky, or Buddy. We were collecting mysteries and problems like trading cards, but we would have it all worked out eventually.

Or so I was hoping.

July 28

Courtroom No. 5

10:00 AM

Pieter Fury

When we arrived in the courtroom, Judge Eriko Frost was poised at the peak of the space. She reached for her gavel before bringing it down, and everyone in the courtroom turned to face her, already brought to attention by the sound. "Court is now in session for the trial of Buddy Bradshaw," she declared. "Are the defense and prosecution ready?"

"The defense is ready," I said without missing a beat. I knew I was the only one who would be able to say it anyway. Sky was still too worked up from whatever it was that he had spoken to Mr. Wood about the day before, and Lily couldn't seem to pry her eyes away from him no matter how hard she tried. All of a sudden, I was starting to miss my conflict with Chrysalis since at least I knew what I had to do to help her. In this case, it felt like I was even more clueless than I could have ever imagined.

The prosecution, on the other hand, had no such problems. Prosecutor Kalles stood between Sora and Prosecutor Wood, a hand gently pressed on the latter's shoulder. Prosecutor Wood had been let in on the Oracle secret after I returned at the end of the previous year, but it seemed that there were still a few pieces of information that were out of her grasp. Prosecutor Kalles was first and foremost among them, and I was left to wonder just how Prosecutor Wood would react if she knew the truth at hand.

"The prosecution is also ready," Sora declared with a bright smile on her face. Even when the rest of the world felt like it was falling apart, at least I could count on her to be able to take control of the situation and help to mend the wounds of the world.

Judge Frost nodded before glancing up to the gallery. "I would ask everyone in this courtroom at this time to maintain the oath they took before entering this morning," she said. When the gallery offered general nods of approval, she nodded herself and set her gavel off to the side. "Good. I'm glad we all understand each other."

"What was that about?" Lily questioned. "Were there special circumstances put in place for this trial that we were not made aware of?"

"For a variety of reasons, this trial is to remain limited to the rest of the world. I believe it would be for the best considering the fact that Gather Law holds tightly to many important pieces of information, and on top of that, the defendant has other connections that could make a public trial dangerous at best and catastrophic at worst," Judge Frost explained. "The people sitting in this courtroom now have been approved to be here, and the truth is to stay as secret as possible."

When I glanced up to the gallery, I realized just how limited the onlookers really were. I could see the entirety of the Wood family for one, but most other areas of the courtroom were mostly emptied. I could see two men sitting in another corner of the space, and my eyes went wide when I realized just who they were: the leaders of Interpol. M and N were watching the courtroom dutifully, and all of a sudden, it felt like the pressure had bene laid on a lot thicker.

Of course they would be here. Buddy was really a part of Interpol, wasn't he? That was what he did when he wasn't spending his time at Gather Law. The trial was going to have to stay a secret from most of the agents of Interpol to make sure they didn't figure out what Buddy's name really was, but the leaders already knew all there was to know about him, so it was safe enough that they got involved. It made sense, but that still didn't help to calm my rampant nerves.

"Prosecution, would you offer your opening statement of the case at this time?" Judge Frost asked, moving on with the trial while I was left staggered and terrified because of the changing circumstances. I knew that we would be fine, that we had been summoned to the courtroom to begin with because we were trusted to handle it, but my anxiety was starting to spiral out of control now. Great. The defense team was full of nervous wrecks, and we weren't going to be able to fix it until the trial ended. Here was to hoping that didn't make this entire case melt between our fingers in the end.

Prosecutor Kalles nodded before she started to read from a page Prosecutor Wood handed her. "The crime took place at the headquarters of a company known as Gather Law, an information company that specializes in cataloguing information about investigations and trials found within the legal system," she began. "The victim of the case, Artorious Bagge, was found on the ground in the file room with multiple stab wounds to the chest. The defendant, on the other hand, was found with the body, though he claims that he was unconscious at the time of the killing."

"Is there a motive in mind for him?" Judge Frost questioned.

"As of now, that's a bit of a complicated question to answer," Sora admitted with a light wince. "The primary draw of Gather Law is the fact that they're practically swimming in all sorts of information about cases that have taken place over the course of the last thirty years. The best motive that anyone could have for committing a crime there would be that they were trying to get their hands on the files and information found in the main building. However... That doesn't really say much for the defendant specifically."

"He's had access to just about everything anyone could want from the company for years. He's incredibly close with the family that runs the corporation, and he would have easily been able to look up anything he was curious about without anyone getting in the way," Prosecutor Kalles frowned. "He's even lived with them for quite some time. I don't think there would be much of a reason for him to kill anyone in the name of getting his hands on the information when he has access to it in multiple forms, both physical and digital, without needing to resort to unsavory means."

"However, the information found in the file room still seems to be important," Sora said. "If I had to guess, I would say that someone was trying to get their hands on it around the time of the crime. Only a select few people are allowed in the file room, and those people have all worked for the company for quite some time. You need to work there for at least six months in order to gain access to the file room. The number of people who can access the back part of the file room-a small closet with their most prestigious information-is even smaller. The defendant has access to both of those places. I don't think the idea of him committing the crime to get his hands on the information found there makes much sense when he could just as easily take it without anyone asking questions. He wouldn't have needed to commit murder when that's just part of his job."

"I see... So he was arrested solely for the fact that he was there at the crime scene when the body was discovered," Judge Frost hummed to herself. "It seems like a rather flimsy argument, but I suppose there have been weaker cases brought before the court in the past."

"The detectives could tell us more about the information found in the file room," Prosecutor Wood offered. "Maybe we should hear a little bit from them about what they know about the case."

Judge Frost nodded. "Of course. You may call your first witness to the stand at this time," she instructed.

"We didn't see the detectives at all during our investigation yesterday, did we?" Sky asked me softly. "I don't seem to recall running into them since Neptune helped us out with the bulk of the investigation... She was the one who showed us around alongside Harvey."

"You're right," Lily confirmed with a nod. "I didn't even realize it until just now... I guess that comes with the territory of getting a case so big at the last minute, but... Oh, well. All we can do now is roll with it and see where it takes us."

Soon afterward, Detective Abilene Umber arrived at the witness stand. She pressed her shoulders back tall, though I could tell that she was much more exhausted than she had any right to be. Her eyes were drooping at the corners, and I winced at the sight. She shouldn't have been here. She belonged back at her home getting as much rest as she possibly could.

"Please state your name and occupation for the court," Prosecutor Wood instructed with a stiff nod.

"My name is Abilene Umber, and I'm a homicide detective," Detective Umber replied as she brushed one hand across the rim of her comically massive hat. "I'm also one of the two detectives in charge of this case."

"We didn't see you at the scene of the crime yesterday," I commented. "Where were you if not at the crime scene?"

"That's... That's a bit of a complicated question to answer," Detective Umber admitted with a wince. "We were trying to figure out what files had gone missing from the file room. The fact that somebody died there makes it perfectly clear that somebody took at least some information out of the file room, so me and Detective Erikson were trying to figure out what had gone missing. Somebody else who wasn't supposed to be there must have entered the room at some point, and that means we need to dig and search for any clues as to who could have taken the evidence."

"And the defendant taking files makes absolutely no sense, so I assume that you're looking for somebody else who wasn't there at the time of the body's discovery," I concluded with a frown. "There must have been somebody else in the area. Why would the defendant take evidence under the cover of murder when he would have been able to get his hands on anything he wanted without needing to go that far? It makes no sense."

"You would be right about that. Still, the fact remains that something probably went missing, and we need to try and track it down," Detective Umber declared. "Though I suppose you're not here to listen to me ramble on about the extensive search for the potentially missing files that an intruder could have taken. We don't even have evidence that somebody did take something, so we have to proceed carefully. For all we know, this could all be a fruitless search since the criminal didn't take anything. If that's the case, we'll have to rethink everything we know about the case, but... Oh, whatever. You're here to listen to me talk about what we know happened around the murder, not just our theories about it."

I nodded my agreement, and Judge Frost did the same from her place at the peak of the courtroom. "Please offer your testimony at this time, witness," she instructed. Detective Umber flashed her a tired smile of confirmation before jumping right into it.

~ Witness Testimony ~

~ About the Murder ~

-"The victim of this case, Artorious Bagge, started to work at Gather Law about two years ago."

-"Nobody has had any problems with him throughout all his time working there, and he's come to be known as an incredibly reliable employee."

-"He's one of the people meant to help manage the file room where physical copies of the company's important information are kept."

-"The file room involves a keycard in order to enter, and our records show that he entered around ten minutes before his death."

-"The defendant entered about half an hour before that, and he hadn't used his keycard to leave either."

-"In other words, the only person who would have been in the file room at that point was the defendant... And he was waiting for the defendant to come in and see him."

"There was a keycard scanner?" I asked, my eyes going wide. I hadn't heard about all of this. I would have thought that we would be made aware of this the day before, and yet, nobody. had bothered to say a word about it. What in the world was that about?

Detective Umber nodded. "It was deactivated at the time of the investigation so the police could enter and leave as they so chose, but there is a scanner on the inside and outside of the file room so people can scan in and out when they need to leave," she said. "The scanner on the inside was broken when the police found the crime scene though, and if I had to guess, I would say the killer destroyed it for some reason. The scanner was ripped out of the wall, and nobody had used it since then."

"I see... That's how they keep people out of the evidence room when they're not supposed to be there. If people need to scan in order to get in or out, that means that nobody unauthorized would be able to do much of anything," Sky murmured. "The keycard scanner was probably destroyed on the inside of the room since it would have left behind some degree of evidence as to who the killer was."

"I would argue that there's a bit more to it than that. Perhaps the scanner on the inside of the room was destroyed so the criminal could get out of the room without anyone realizing what was happening," I said. "Perhaps destroying the scanner would allow the killer to get out without needing a keycard. I mean, if the killer had managed to sneak in somehow, they wouldn't have been able to get out unless they had a keycard as well, and using any keycard would have shown that something was wrong. If they used the defendant's keycard, then it would become clear that he was being framed. If they had used the victim's keycard, then everyone would know someone else was at the scene of the crime."

"It's certainly a lot to think about," Detective Umber remarked as she looked off to the side. "I have to wonder how any outside figures would have been able to sneak into the room as long as the keycard scanner was there to make sure everything stayed in line. It's not as if the killer would have been able to pull any funny business as long as that was around."

"I think we should perhaps address our concerns with the scanner during the cross-examination," Sora suggested. "Defense, you know what to do."

"Of course," I returned. I didn't know what we were going to do with this new information, but it was certainly something for us to consider. The killer must have snuck into the evidence room at some point... If only we had any ideas as to how such a thing was possible.

~ Cross-Examination ~

~ About the Murder ~

-"The victim of this case, Artorious Bagge, started to work at Gather Law about two years ago."

-"Nobody has had any problems with him throughout all his time working there, and he's come to be known as an incredibly reliable employee."

-"He's one of the people meant to help manage the file room where physical copies of the company's important information are kept."

-"The file room involves a keycard in order to enter, and our records show that he entered around ten minutes before his death."

-"The defendant entered about half an hour before that, and he hadn't used his keycard to leave either."

-"In other words, the only person who would have been in the file room at that point was the defendant... And he was waiting for the defendant to come in and see him."

"Hold it!"

"The defendant didn't leave the evidence room after entering... I believe this only proves the point that of defense that he no doubt mentioned during his interrogation," I said. "He said that he was locked in the smaller file closet at the back side of the room at the time of the crime. If he didn't leave the crime scene, then this only adds credence to his claims."

"Wouldn't he have wanted to get out of the room after committing the crime so nobody would realize what he had done?" Lily asked. "Also, the defendant is a technological genius. I've known of him for quite some time and have heard before of just how talented he is with a computer. If he wanted to sneak out without being caught, he could have just hacked into the keycard records and forged a time where he left. Then, he wouldn't have needed to destroy the scanner, assuming he was the culprit."

"Plus, he didn't have any blood on his clothes when he was found. One would expect him to be covered in blood splatter after stabbing the victim so many times," I chimed in. "If he really was the criminal, then the destroyed keycard scanner and the fact that he remained at the crime scene following the victim's death don't make any sense at all. The fact that he didn't just find a way to leave or hack into the keycard reader to escape suspicion only establishes that he wasn't the one behind all of this."

"What do you think, witness?" Judge Frost asked.

Detective Umber sighed heavily. "If I'm being honest, I agree with you. I feel like this entire case is a bit flimsy... But the fact remains that we don't know anything about who the killer really was if he wasn't responsible for it," she pointed out. "All of the other people who we know were in the building at the time had an alibi."

"Somebody must have found a way to sneak in and out of the room then," I announced. "That seems to be the only explanation for what happened. I can't say for sure how they were able to slip in and out without being noticed or what they wanted specifically, but it's something we'll need to investigate as soon as we get the opportunity to do so."

"I think we should perhaps hear from our next witness to see if that points us in the direction we seek," Prosecutor Kalles suggested. "We have quite a few other witnesses on our hands who would be happy to help us uncover more about the case. If there are no objections, I believe it's time for us to move on and listen to those who uncovered the body and the defendant's presence with the victim."

When nobody spoke out against her words, Judge Frost nodded, hitting her gavel against the podium along the way. "Summon your next witness at this time, prosecution."


yaaaaaay content

-Digital