Chapter 2

"The court recognizes Sunny Suzuki."

The New Mexico district court judge's voice rang out athoritivley through the courtroom as the boy sat in the witness stand.

"Mr. Goodman, you may begin questioning."

The lawer, clad in his trademark colorful suit, stood up and made his way to Sunny. "thank you, your honor. now -Ahem mr. Suzuki, let me ask you this: how is it possible that after pushing your sister down the stairs, your boyfriend cilantro managed to lift up her body all by himself to tie to that tree?"

the jury let out some hushed murmurs.

"uhh, acatully, his name's Basil. And he's not my-"

"whatever, kid." He looked down to gather his thoughts, and then adressed the judge again.

"Look, even if you buy the whole 'killing his sister' story, your honor, can you really call that manslaughter, or was it just a reference to the hit RPG-maker surreal horror video game Omori (2020)?"

all at once the courtroom erupted with shocked gasps.

"Mr. Goodman!" the judge yelled. "what did I tell you about breaking the fourth wall?!?!?"

"alright, alright, I'm sorry..."

He brought down his gavel in frustration. "we're taking a short recess."

Sunny and Basil sat next to each other in the break room, slouching in their seats.

"sigh... look guys, we're gonna need to try something new if we wanna turn this court case around." Saul said to them.

Sunny knew it too. He was a smart kid, smart enough to know that they we losing. You had to be pretty intelligent to be able to create vast, complicated worlds in your own mind, and back when Sunny was in school he always did well in his math and science classes, especially in chemistry...

He caught himself daydreaming and snapped back to reality. "so uhh... what do we do?"

The lawyer gave him a devish grin. "well kid, since Mr. sensitive over here can't even talk to the courtroom without breaking down crying," he pointed to Basil. "we're gonna need another star witness."

"...like who?"

Just then, the door opened to reveal a mop of long, bright pink hair storming into the room.

"sup."

Sunny and Basil went wide eyed as they spoke in unison: "AUBREY?!?!?!?!?!?"

The court was back in session, and Aubrey took to the stand for questioning.

"ahem- Mrs. Aubergine, can you tell the court a bit about yourself?"

The punk girl slammed her fists down onto the podium. "I HAVE A DEEP SENSE OF SELF LOATHING THAT I TAKE OUT ON OTHER PEOPLE!"

"...and?"

"I HAVE NO FATHER FIGURE!"

"uhh huh, thank you, Mrs. Aubergine. And can you tell the jury what you will do to them if they convict Sunny?" Saul asked.

"I'LL BEAT THEM WITH MY NAIL BAT!!!!"

The judge rose up. "Hey! She can't do that!"

Saul ignored him. "And what will you do if they find him not guilty?"

"THEN... I'LL LEAK MY ONLYFANS!!!!"

The jury stood up and began clapping their hands and cheering.

"That's not how a court works!!" the judge's voice was drowned out by the jurors chanting "NOT GUILTY! NOT GUILTY!"

After Sunny was freed, he and Aubrey decided to go on a walk together across the desert.

"uhh, thanks for coming all the way here to help me Aubrey..."

"no problem." she said. "but uhh, you still look kinda sad. Is there something else wrong?"

Sunny gulped. "well, yeah... my mom spent a lot of money hiring that lawyer guy, so now we don't have enough to pay for my therapy..."

He looked down at the ground. "I don't know how I could possibly get that much now..."

Aubrey's face lit up. "you know... there's a friend of mine that lives here."

Sunny perked up. "yeah?"

"yup. And not to long ago, he started workin' with one of his old teachers... well long story short, I think you could help them, Sunny. And you could make enough money to pay for your therapy."

"wow, really?!?"

"you bet. ever here of a guy named heisenburg?"

To be continued...