March 28

Prosecutor's Office

12:15 PM

Chrysalis Starr

I wasn't allowed to stop moving until after Nevada had successfully dragged me off to the office she shared with Niamh. I could tell that Nevada hadn't done much of any work in here because of how perfectly organized all of it was, and I had heard from Sora before that Nevada was hardly the type to keep her things organized. It wasn't entirely unexpected given Nevada's personality, but I was still glad to be walking in on Niamh's space rather than wandering into Nevada's potential chaos. All that would have done was stress me out more.

And that was the last thing I needed right now. I was still pretty bitter at Pieter and Victoria for what they had done even though I knew the reason for it. They needed a chance to look into that file without Nevada getting involved since Sora apparently wanted her to stay out of this case. I wasn't entirely sure as to why that was, but I was going to trust Sora's judgement since she must have had a reason for it. Unfortunately, that left me on the duty of distracting Nevada, and that was the last thing I wanted to do right now.

"I think we should talk," Nevada suddenly said before I had the chance to try and worm my way out of this conversation. She crossed her arms with a light frown on her face before speaking. "You've been avoiding talking to me since this case started... No, it's been a thing for even longer than that. I don't get it. Are you not happy to be around me or something? I know we haven't known each other all that long, but..."

"That's not it," I quickly interjected before she had the chance to finish the thought. I could already feel my heart rate starting to increase, and something in the back of my mind told me that I wouldn't be getting out of this without talking to her whether I wanted to or not. It was probably going to suck, but what choice did I have? "I... Well..."

"What is it?" Nevada asked, taking another step closer to me. I fumbled with my words for another moment before she looked off to the side, and I realized that she was staring at a picture of her, Sora, and Ghastly. Well, it wasn't exactly Nevada in the photo; it was Niamh, and I had heard from Sora that this photo had been taken the day that she and Ghastly officially decided to take in Niamh all that time ago. It felt like ages ago now, but I knew that it really hadn't been that long ago that all of this started.

"Mama's said a lot of nice things about you, and so has Papa," Nevada said as she continued to stare at the picture. "I think they care about you a lot, but I don't get to talk to you all that much. You seem kind of skittish around me." She glanced up to me again a moment later, her eyes so overwhelmed with muted sadness and rejection that I felt as if I had been hit by a bus. "What did I do wrong?"

"You didn't do anything," I said immediately, holding up my hands defensively to ensure that she didn't completely snap under the pressure. "That's not it. I just... I don't know. I guess I've just been thinking... I was afraid things were going to be awkward between us because of what happened last year."

"Last year?" Nevada echoed, her expression quirking with confusion. She thought about it for a moment before recognition finally clicked into her features. "Oh, I get it! You've been nervous because of the whole murder at the school, right?"

"Something like that," I murmured even though she had gotten it right on. "I just thought it would be weird for us to talk again after... You saved my life that day, and it kind of ended with somebody being murdered. I feel like that's kind of the basis for a strange relationship, so I didn't want to overstep any boundaries by reaching out to you."

Nevada stared at me for a long time before she let out a laugh, almost as if all of the nervous steam inside of her was being drawn out through a single air vent between her teeth. "That's what all of this is about?" she questioned, and I nodded carefully. "I thought we had already gotten past that! I mean, everyone else forgave me for what happened, and it's not like I really meant for it to end that way... I didn't plan on anybody dying that day, just... I wanted to stop that from getting any worse. I already told you that Mama cares a lot about you, and I know that other people do too. I did what I had to, but... I didn't think it was going to end that way. I haven't thought about it much though. I thought that was already in the past."

I released a small laugh of my own when I was finally able to force myself to respond once again. "Yeah... That's what it's been about," I admitted. "I guess... Something like that just sounds odd to me. Maybe that's just me overreacting though. You saved my life back then, and... I never really got the chance to do all that much about it. The situation was weird, and... That was the first time we ever got to see you for who you really are."

"And I think I'm pretty nice... Which is why I thought it was weird when you wouldn't talk to me about anything," Nevada told me. "How about we just make a deal about it all then? Let's leave all of that in the past and focus on other things instead. I don't want us to be all tense around each other if we can avoid it, so... Let's not do that. I think we deserve to have fun with each other, and I think you're great."

I stared at her again for a long time before I allowed myself a small smile. "Yeah... I'd like that too," I murmured. "I kind of wanted to find a reason to get close to you anyways... For one, it was because I wanted to thank you for everything that you did for me, but... Sora talks a lot about you too. So does Ghastly. They say that you've really come into your own since the case last year, and... I guess I wanted to get to know you for myself."

"In that case, we can be friends for real now!" Nevada declared, placing her hands on her hips. She let out a gasp a beat later, reaching out and clamping her hands down onto my shoulders. "I need to give you a nickname now! I mean, Mama has one, and so do Papa, Uncle Piet, and Uncle Coat... What am I going to call you? How about... Starry? I know you're related to Mama, but it seems kind of weird to call you my aunt. You're just a few years older than I am."

"You can just call me Chrysalis," I assured her, not wanting to tell her how uncomfortable the idea of being referred to as somebody's aunt made me. "No need for nicknames. Just call me who I am."

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I shoved down a sensation of guilt that I refused to acknowledge until after this case was over.

"Chrysalis it is then!" Nevada announced, placing her hands on her hips. "I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do from here! Maybe we can hang out after this case is over. I mean, it's not like I'm going to be able to do all that much else to help out. Mama seemed really serious when she said that I shouldn't work on this case anymore, and I don't want to upset her, so I should probably listen. Maybe you can tell me all about it after everything is over. I know I'd have a lot of fun catching up."

"It's a deal," I found myself smiling before I could hold my words back. Then again, why would I try to hold back to begin with? This was nice, and... I liked the idea of it a lot more than I wanted to admit. I hadn't expected this conversation to go so well, but it was certainly a weight of stress lifted off my chest now that we had talked about everything.

"And maybe we can figure out why I started crying when that one kid's name came up too," Nevada said next, a frown on her face. "I've been thinking about it constantly, but I haven't been able to actually figure out what's going on... I mean, there has to be a reason for it, but Niamh won't tell me. I think she's afraid of it, but I don't know why. It's in times like these where I hate how disconnected our memories are..."

"We can take care of that later," I assured her even though something told me that Sora was going to intervene once more and make sure that we didn't even come close to talking it out when the chance came. "For now though... I should probably go back to see Pieter and Victoria again. We still have a lot of investigating to do for the trial tomorrow, and I don't want to let Prosecutor Cruz down."

"That's a good point," Nevada nodded. "I don't want him to be left to sit in jail forever either. He's a cool guy, and I think he's going to want to come back here after everything is done... Maybe I can get him to take me for a ride on his motorcycle then too..."

I chuckled at her schemes and gently shook my head. "Never change, Nevada," I muttered, but she didn't hear it, instead starring up quizzically at my soft murmuring. "I'm going to head back to the others, but I'm glad we were able to talk."

Nevada nodded her agreement. "I'll see you after the case is over!" she called after me with a wave. The smile on her face and in her voice was so infectious that I couldn't help mirroring it.

I returned the gesture of her waving before making my way to the door, letting out a small sigh once I was out in the hallway once again. I certainly hadn't expected everything to go that way, but I wasn't complaining about it in the slightest. I hadn't realized how much that was stressing me out until the pressure was gone, and I was glad that I could finally think about the case at hand exclusively. I was going to need all the attention on it I could get as we moved into the next few stages of the investigation.

When I arrived back in Prosecutor Cruz's office, I could see Pieter and Victoria chatting quietly to one another. "Hey," I greeted casually, not in the mood to try and eavesdrop on them.

The two looked up at me immediately, and Victoria smiled excitedly at the sight of my arrival. "You're back!" she cried out. "How did it go? Were you able to keep her from getting too suspicious of us?"

I nodded, admittedly having forgotten for a brief moment that I had been sent out on that mission to begin with. "Yeah," I replied simply. "We were able to talk everything out too, so... No more need to be afraid of her, I guess. As it turns out, she didn't hold anything against me even after everything that happened, so I suppose all is well now."

"Good... That's good," Pieter murmured, but I could tell exactly what was on his mind. He wanted to talk to me about everything that we still hadn't discussed, and I couldn't blame him. Of course he still wanted to understand what was going on. How could he not? There was still so much weighing on both of our minds, and after talking to Nevada... I wanted to work things out with him too, at least in part.

But there was another part of me that was still afraid. My feelings towards Pieter had been complicated from the start, and even once we managed to fall into a steady routine and rhythm with each other, it didn't last long. Before I knew it, he had taken off for the safety of the Oracle project, and there wasn't an easy way for us to undo all of the damage that had caused both of us. We would have the chance to talk about it eventually, but until then... Well, we had a case to solve for better or worse.

"We should head back to the park and see what we can find there now that we've gotten the files that Prosecutor Cruz left for us," Victoria interjected, seeming to have sensed the sudden discomfort mounting between me and Pieter. "I bet there's going to be at least something there for us to find, and I can't wait to see what we uncover."

"I hope it'll help us out in the trial tomorrow," I agreed. "I don't know about the two of you, but I'm tired of going around in circles helplessly. There has to be a piece of evidence that will show us who the actual killer is... Or to be more accurate, which Emsthorpe we're supposed to be going after for this trial."

"That certainly seems like it's going to be the case," Pieter hummed with a shake of his head. He finally seemed to come back to reality again when he realized that I was moving on with the rest of the conversation's natural flow, but I could tell that he wanted to talk as soon as everything with this trial was said and done. It wasn't at all surprising, and part of me wished that I didn't have to wait for so long to finally work things out. After all, that was probably going to be the most important push I needed to finally feel... Normal again.

"In that case, let's get to it," Victoria smiled as she stared towards the door. I followed her, and Pieter took up the rear. He closed the door behind us, and with that, we started off down the hallway and back in the direction of the park.

March 28

Blackgate Park

1:15 PM

Chrysalis Starr

As was to be expected, the park was still swarming with officers by the time that we arrived, and it was almost impossible to see what was happening because of how many of them were there. For the most part, they were just standing around and talking, and once again, I was struck by the thought of how much easier everybody's lives would be if the police actually used their titles and jobs to do something other than make other people miserable. Then again, dwelling on how agonizing and frustrating they were wasn't going to help anyone right now, so I instead chose to focus on navigating us back to the area of the park where the body had been found.

The first thing I noticed upon arriving there was that the victim's corpse had been removed. In other words, the forensics team was finally taking care of it, and that made sense for the sake of preservation. I stared down at the white outline of the body for a long moment before taking in a grounding breath and starting to scan the rest of the area for any signs of familiar faces.

My gaze eventually struck gold when I noticed Detective Healy was engaged deeply in a conversation with Detective Umber. He seemed a bit more nervous about everything that was happening than she was, and I could only hope that the reasoning behind it was because they had found something of note. I pushed my potential nerves about the subject aside before deciding to approach them, a light frown on my face. Pieter and Victoria were left with no other ideas than to follow me, so with that, we walked over to the duo a few moments later.

"I don't know what we should think about her," Detective Healy was saying, his arms crossed close against his body to try and fend off his anxiety. "I mean, she just kind of showed up. I would have thought that she would have said something sooner if she was really there, but..."

"Maybe she was just too afraid of saying that she was at the scene of the crime," Detective Umber replied with a shrug. "You never know. I mean, witnesses tend to have their reasons for doing things like this, so I don't know if I would immediately jump to saying that something is wrong with everything that she's told us so far."

Detective Healy hesitated before shrugging. "I don't know," he murmured. "I mean, when witnesses hold back for so long, it could be because they don't want to be found. We've seen it before when culprits only show up later on because they're trying to ensure that they're not caught, but that doesn't wind up working out in their favor anyways, so..."

"Is something the matter?" Victoria asked of the two when she was finally close enough to make sure that they heard her. "It sounds like you two have found something new for the investigation."

Detective Healy just about jumped out of his skin at the sound of her voice, and he pressed one hand to his chest while breathing heavily. He eventually managed to coax himself into a heavy sigh, though I could tell that he was still struggling with keeping himself composed. "I... I guess you could say that," he finally managed to spit out. "Another witness came forward saying that she knows what happened at the time of the crime, and... We're still trying to figure out what we should be doing about her testimony while the prosecutors talk to her."

"What can you tell us about this witness?" I asked, already suspicious given what Detective Healy had said a few moments prior. If she truly had only just shown up, then that was odd. I mean, we had seen it many times before where somebody only made themselves known when they thought it was their best bet to get somebody else convicted for a crime they committed. At this point, it was practically our routine, and by default, this witness already seemed fishy to me because of it.

"Her name is Raelynn Clayton, and she claims to have been on a walk in the park when she overheard the gunshots," Detective Umber explained. "After that, she began to wander around to try and find the source of the sound, but she wasn't able to find the victim's body... And she's only just now made herself known for some reason or another, but now, I guess we're just going to have to roll with it. She's here now, and that has to count for something, right?"

I hesitated as I glanced over to Pieter and Victoria to see if they were just as suspicious of all of this as I was. Pieter clearly seemed to be, and he glanced over to Detective Healy with a light frown on his face. "Is there anything else you can tell us about this witness?" he questioned. "You must have heard at least a little bit about her testimony, right?"

Detective Healy hesitated for a moment before shrugging. "You'll probably just want to talk to her about that when you get the chance. She's currently with the prosecutors, so it might be a little bit before you get that chance, but it wouldn't hurt to at least put in the effort to hear what she has to say... Assuming you can get her to open up about it, that is," he told us.

"Why wouldn't we be able to hear her testimony?" Victoria questioned, anxiety starting to seep in at the corners of her words.

"She hasn't really wanted to talk to us all that much about what she saw... I guess she's anxious about testifying," Detective Umber shrugged.

"Somebody like her? Anxious? She's more likely to make every other person in the room anxious if anything," Detective Healy countered before looking back to the rest of us. "To put it nicely, she has... An intimidating presence. You'll know what I mean when you get the chance to talk to her... And you're going to have to if you want to learn more about this case."

I glanced over to my fellow defense team members before sighing. "Well... I guess we know what we're going to be doing next," I muttered, though I had to admit that Detective Healy's rampant anxiety about this Raelynn Clayton wasn't sitting well with me. If there was really something wrong with her that had Detective Healy so worked up, then we were going to have to choose our words carefully around her. I mean, Detective Healy had always been a bit of the nervous sort, but something about this just felt different to me.

"There's not all that much else that you're going to be able to find from here, I don't think," Detective Umber told us. "I mean, we've been trying to look around as much as possible, but we still haven't figured out if there's any other hard evidence to show that somebody else is guilty of the crime."

"The testimony from the witnesses in today's segment of the trial already seems to be pretty critical, at the very least," Pieter pointed out. He glanced around a beat later, a small frown on his face. "Speaking of that... Do you know where they are? We might want to talk to them before we get on with the rest of our investigation."

"They're over there," Detective Umber announced, pointing off to her left. It was impossible to see the trio because of how many officers were crowded in the area, and she seemed to be able to tell. She let one hand come up to rub gently at the back of her head as she let out a small chuckle. "Just trust me. You can't see them, but they're there."

"In that case, we're going to try and talk to them," I told her. "Thanks for the update about the witness. We'll talk to you later."

Detective Umber simply nodded while Detective Healy shot us a wave, and with that, I started to push through the officers to arrive in the area of the other trio of witnesses. Deirdre was speaking with Moira while Hiroko looked off to the side, something dark in her eyes. Given everything that had happened the day before, it was pretty easy for me to guess what it was that she was thinking about.

Deirdre was the first one to notice that the three of us had arrived, and she sent us all a warm smile. "It's nice to see you three again," she said. "How has the investigation been going? Have you found anything of note yet?"

"We were able to grab Prosecutor Cruz's notes on the investigation into the Emsthorpe family, but we haven't done all that much else," Pieter explained. "We're planning on talking with the new witness that just showed up when we get the chance, but who can say when that's going to be happening?"

"I didn't even realize there was another witness," Moira admitted. "I overheard a few officers talking about it, but I honestly thought they couldn't be serious... We didn't see anyone else in the area of the crime scene. The only ones who arrived there after us were the police after we had called them to report the victim's body. For the most part, we were alone in the area."

"In other words, we're going to have quite a few questions for this Ms. Clayton character," I frowned with a shake of my head. We hadn't even met her yet, and I was already suspicious of everything that she was going to tell us. Something deep in the pit of my stomach told me that we weren't going to be able to trust her no matter what she tried to explain to us next, and I didn't even care who judged me for thinking it. After all, I was probably going to be right.

"I'm glad that you were able to get the investigation notes, at the very least. I can imagine that they're going to be rather helpful for you," Deirdre said next. "It seems to me that the Emsthorpe family's history runs deep, and we're going to need to be ready to face it if they truly are so involved with this case."

"I feel like we already both know the answer to that," I muttered with a light snort. The Emsthorpe family must have been behind this, and we were going to prove it loud and clear with time. The one who had done this wouldn't be able to run from it forever, and I would make sure of it.

The air fell silent for a long moment, and Moira glanced over to Hiroko with a frown on her face. "Is something the matter?" she asked of her companion. "You've been rather quiet and distant all day."

Hiroko came out of her trance slowly, but her anxiety was still clear as could be. "I... My apologies. I suppose I've just had a lot on my mind," she admitted. She paused before looking back down to me. "I hope that the other young girl is doing alright... I haven't been able to stop worrying about her ever since I saw her run off like that."

"Nevada is doing better," I told her, choosing to not mention the fact that she had been taken off the case because of Sora's interference. "She's probably not going to be around here because she has other things to take care of, but she is feeling a bit better."

"Good... That's good," Hiroko murmured with a light nod, though I could tell that she still wasn't entirely convinced that she should let go of her guilt. I didn't think that anything I could say was going to help her at this point, and I looked away so I didn't have to fully embrace the fact that my stomach was twisting in an all too familiar and sickening way.

"Do... Do you think you know anything about what could have caused Nevada to get so upset?" Victoria asked carefully, treading on eggshells and making it clear with her gentle tone that Hiroko didn't have to answer if she didn't feel comfortable.

For a long time, Hiroko didn't respond, but she finally brought herself to speak just before Victoria could backpedal. "I... I can't say for sure if she was involved with it, but... There was an incident years ago with my son, Susumu," she began carefully. "He fell into a coma because of everything that happened, and... I still don't know all that much about what happened. He attended classes at a private school, and his entire class suffered from an unspeakable tragedy. Only a few of them were left awake and able to continue their lives while the rest were put into comas. I can't say for sure what took place since the details have always been hidden under lock and key, but... It was bad."

"And you saw the name Niamh Wood in one of your son's old yearbooks... That's why you started to ask questions," Pieter finished for her.

Hiroko nodded. "The other children are the only ones who could possibly answer all of my questions, but I don't know where I would even begin in terms of getting them to open up. What am I supposed to say? For the most part, they were too traumatized to even think of talking about it again after the incident, and I don't want to push them beyond their limits. I know how much trauma can destroy a child's mind, so the last thing I wanted to do was make it worse."

"I'm sure there are answers for you out there somewhere," I told her before I could even say for sure what was coming out of my mouth. "I'm confident that there will be a way for you to find the peace you're searching for one day. It may not be easy, but... You'll be alright one day. I'm sure that your son will be too along with all of the others who fell into comas along the way."

For a long time, Hiroko seemed too shocked to speak, instead just staring down at me with wide eyes. When she was finally able to get a grip on herself, she smiled and nodded. "Thank you for the kind words," she murmured. "I appreciate it."

Mercifully, the conversation didn't have to continue, as Deirdre seemed to pick up on the tension and glanced around the area with a light frown. Her eyes eventually settled on a single woman who didn't look anything like the others that we had seen in the area the day before, and she poked Victoria's shoulder before pointing towards the woman. "I believe you'll be able to talk to the witness now," she told us, noting how Prosecutor Shield was walking away from the other woman with Prosecutor Umber at his side.

"Well, I guess that settles that," Victoria smiled. "Come on, you two." With that, she started to walk off in the direction of the woman, and Pieter and I were quick to trail after her, offering quick waves over our shoulders along the way.

I met eyes with Hiroko one more time before I turned my attention ahead once again, a frown persistent on my features even if it was small in size. I could tell that she was trying to analyze me and figure out where the words from before had come from, but I didn't give her the chance.

After all, we still had a case to solve.

I'm chugging along

-Digital