May 3

Ashbrook Academy

5:00 PM

Lily Shield

After we managed to sneak past Ms. Venia without being caught, the hard part seemed to be mostly behind us. Yuri, Mr. Morix, and I didn't run into any other problems as we navigated through the dorm hall as carefully as we could. All it took was asking one of the students for directions to the rooms owned by our four witnesses, and just like that, we were well on our way. We arrived outside Jordan's door a matter of minutes later, all three of us staring up at it in silence.

"Well... I guess we had better get in there," Yuri told us. She glanced back to the door a moment later before taking in a careful breath and pushing it out between her teeth. "I just hope they're willing to talk to us about this at all. Jordan seemed awfully hesitant to even come close to this subject."

"I get the feeling that whatever they're hiding is rather intense... I don't want to push them too far if it can be avoided," Mr. Morix frowned, though there was an added dimension to his voice that I didn't quite understand. I could only imagine it had something to do with the unfortunate return of the Sparx Factory that had caused him so much grief in the past. I chose to not push the subject too much if it could be avoided, instead looking back to the door again a moment later.

I raised one hand before knocking, and I was distantly aware of shuffling feet in the seconds that followed. Soon afterwards, Angelica opened the door, standing in the entrance to the room. Her eyes went wide at the sight of us, but she blinked back her shock a few moments later. "Oh, it's you three again," she greeted. "Is there something you need?"

"We were hoping to talk to you, if you don't mind," Mr. Morix began. "We have a few questions about the victim, and we were hoping that you would be able to answer them."

Angelica hesitated before she nodded. "Alright," she agreed softly. "I'm just going to ask that you try not to push Jordan too hard. He's already kind of having a rotten day with all of this, and I don't want him to get too confrontational with you."

I nodded my understanding, though I still couldn't quite understand what we were going to be doing when we spoke to him. How bad could talking to Jordan really be? Also, why was she making an exception for him specifically when all of them had to deal with the trials of the day? It was enough to make me at least a bit suspicious, but as she had asked previously, I kept my mouth shut.

Inside the room, Jordan sat on his bed with Kyle and Nanako on either side of him. He glanced up when he realized we had arrived, and he immediately shifted to hide something. I couldn't quite catch a glimpse of what the object in his hands was, though I suspected he wasn't going to be willing to show it off no matter what. Just to prove that sentiment, he watched us with a thinly-veiled glare as we entered the room in full. "What are you doing here?" he questioned softly.

"We're here to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind," I began to explain. "Since we're going to be defending your friend in court tomorrow, we want to gather as much information about the case as possible, and we thought that you would be the perfect people to start with. Is that okay?"

Jordan frowned as he glared at the ground, but Nanako nodded. "Of course," she agreed. She paused for a long moment before going on. "Um... What exactly is it that you want to know about?"

"Do you have any ideas as to anyone who would have wanted to hurt the victim?" Yuri asked. "Even the slightest hints will be helpful. We want to learn as much as we can about what happened, and given that you were her students... You might know."

"I don't think anybody would have ever wished ill against her... She was a kind woman, and she's done a lot for all of us," Nanako replied. She hesitated once more before continuing. "A few years ago, she..."

"That's enough," Jordan cut in before Nanako had the chance to even come close to finishing her thought. "The point is that we don't know why anybody would have wanted her dead. She was just a teacher, and she did a lot for us. That's it."

I nodded to myself at that, though I knew better than to fall into the trap of believing his words at face value. There was something else going on here, and I knew it. I couldn't quite say why he wanted to hide the truth from us so desperately as long as his friend's life was on the line, but it must have been something serious. Either way, we didn't have the evidence necessary to push the matter too much, so I held back, Angelica's words once again ringing in my ears.

"She did a lot for the students who were in her classes," Kyle agreed. "Even after we got older, she did all she could to try and help us out as much as possible. She's always been a great person, and... I don't know why anyone would want her dead, but we wouldn't ever want her to get hurt."

"I guess the victim was well-loved by just about everyone here at the school then," Yuri concluded. "But if that's the case, then why would she have been killed to begin with? I don't understand any of it."

"I don't know. We have no idea who would have done this to her or why, but I can tell you that it wasn't Niamh. That's all you need to know. Now, are we done here?" Jordan questioned, his eyes hardening into daggers. He looked pointedly between us and the door, a poorly masked attempt to kick us out as soon as possible.

Mr. Morix hesitated for a long time before he went on. "I'm sorry for putting so much pressure on your shoulders. I understand that today has been difficult for all of you. The last thing I want is to put too much stress on you after losing someone you care for so dearly, but... We have a few more questions for you, if you don't mind," he said.

"Then ask them fast. I don't want to make this any longer than it has to be," Jordan sighed, crossing his arms along the way. I could feel the bitterness radiating from him even across the room, and it felt almost nauseating to me. Why was he so upset with us for talking to him about the victim? I could tell that this definitely ran much deeper than the current case, but without any backup evidence, my suspicions had to remain just that: ideas with no backing.

"What was her life like outside of her job here at the school?" I asked next. "Even the smallest details will be able to help us out a lot, so don't worry at all about them not seeming relevant to you."

"I don't know... She wasn't married, and she didn't have any children either," Kyle replied with a loose shrug. "She didn't talk about her family much, and as far as we could tell, she lived here on the campus to be as close to her work as possible. That was one reason we all got so close with her."

"Why do you ask?" Nanako questioned, a frown on her face. I could feel her anxiety as well, and I resisted the urge to swallow dryly at the sight. There was a lot more to this than met the eye, and Jordan was far from being the only one in on it.

"We found the victim's planner at the scene of the crime. It seems she was planning on traveling away from the school in the next few days," Mr. Morix replied as he reached for the planner. "It says here that she was intending to visit Sparx Factory. Do you know what her connection to the factory could have been?"

"No," Jordan cut in immediately, though something told me this wasn't the answer to his question at all. "We're done here. No more questions. Get out of here before I throw you out myself." He pointed towards the door, his glare somehow even more intense than before.

"Jordan-" Kyle attempted to say.

However, he never had the chance to finish before Jordan rose to his feet and rushed towards us with all the force of a hurricane. "I didn't even want you to come in here to begin with, and I'm not going to let you stick around. Get out of here now," he demanded, voice quiet and threatening as could be.

I heard something hit the floor behind him, and I glanced over his shoulder to see that the item he had scrambled to hide before had collapsed when he got up. On closer examination, I realized that said object was a picture frame. Angelica reached down to pick it up along the way, holding it carefully to her chest after she was able to ensure there were no cracks left behind on the glass.

"Alright," Mr. Morix said slowly in response to Jordan. "Thank you for speaking to us, even if it wasn't for long. I appreciate it. We'll see you tomorrow at the courthouse." He nodded before retreating towards the door, waiting for me and Yuri to follow him.

Both of us hesitated for a moment though, instead looking at Jordan for a long time as he turned around, leaving us to only stare at his back. I could tell this conversation was over and then some, so I frowned before biting my lip and leaving in Mr. Morix's footsteps. I had no idea what could have come over Jordan, but whatever it was, it must have been serious.

I went to shut the door behind myself, but I was cut off by a foot appearing in the way. Nanako squeezed her way out of the room before moving to stand in front of us, her expression crestfallen and shaded. "I... I'm sorry about Jordan," she murmured. "I didn't want you to have to see him this way, but... There's a lot going on with him right now, and..."

"It's alright," Yuri replied with a sigh. "I was hoping that he would be able to tell us something about what happened, but... I guess he just doesn't want to talk about it."

Nanako nodded. "That's one way of putting it," she whispered. "It's... Well... The factory you mentioned brings up a lot of bad memories for the people around here. It's best to not discuss it if you can avoid it."

"The factory... Brings up bad memories?" Yuri echoed, her eyes going wide. I could tell that she was thinking about much the same, albeit in a different way. I could say with certainty that the students here had nothing to do with the GC-9 Incident that had opened the path for the events of the last few years, and while I was sure that was what Yuri was concerned about, I had no idea what Nanako could have been referring to. What could have happened at the factory to cause such a primal reaction on Jordan's part?

"That's the easiest way of putting it," Nanako replied with a shake of her head. "A few years ago, there was... An accident, I suppose you could say. There's a lot more to it than that, but I don't know if I would be able to say much more. It's... It's a long story. I don't think you should get into it if you can avoid the subject, but that's why Jordan is so tense and upset. I'm sorry about the way that he's been acting. We'll try to talk to him before the trial tomorrow."

"Alright," Yuri agreed hesitantly, though I could tell there was a lot more to the situation at hand that she wasn't talking about. "Thanks for telling us, I suppose."

"You're welcome," Nanako said. She didn't miss even a beat as she retreated back towards Jordan's room, closing the door behind herself. The three of us left out in the hallway could do nothing but stare at the door in silence, all unsure of what had just happened or what we were supposed to do about it.

I was the one who finally broke the silence by turning to face Mr. Morix and Yuri. "So... There was an accident a few years ago, and it has something to do with the factory," I concluded. "I wonder if that has anything to do with the weird rumors that have been flying around regarding the school."

"Whatever this accident is, it's the reason that Jordan isn't talking to us, and it's probably why his friends don't want to talk to us either," Mr. Morix concluded. "If it happened a few years ago though... Maybe we would be able to ask Prosecutor Wood about it. There's no guarantee that she's going to have the answers we need, but she's probably going to be the most open to talking to us about the subject."

"Should we head back to the detention center then?" Yuri asked. "I was really hoping that we would be able to find a little bit more here before we had to leave..."

"That just doesn't seem possible right now... There's not much at the scene of the crime, and we have no other leads to follow either. It would be best if we took advantage of this time to go and talk to Prosecutor Wood. If she's the only one who's going to be willing to answer our questions about this mysterious accident from a few years ago, we need to use this time that way," Mr. Morix replied. "I have no idea how this could be important to the case at hand, but we're going to have to address the matter as soon as possible in case it leads to a motive."

I nodded my understanding, though once again, I could see something dark and shaded in his eyes. It was impossible to quite put a finger on it, but I could only assume it had something to do with GC-9 from when Oracle first started. After all, what else could he have known about the factory? If he was aware of the truth behind this accident, then he would have said so already, so that meant GC-9 had to be behind his stress.

"Come on," Mr. Morix continued, gesturing for us to follow him towards the front of the school. We easily trailed behind him, silence falling over all of us along the way. I knew we were all thinking about just what could have been going on with Jordan, though musing on it wasn't going to make us any easy progress, as much as I hated to admit it.

Eventually, we arrived back at the entrance to the dorm hall, and Ms. Venia could be seen nearby. She hung up from a phone call just as we arrived, and she whirled to face us as soon as she realized we were there. "You three!" she cried out. "I thought I told you before that you weren't allowed in the dorm hall!"

"My apologies for the inconvenience," Mr. Morix told her with a small frown. "We had to speak with a few of the witnesses, but now that we're finished, we'll get out of your hair. Once again, I'm sorry."

Ms. Venia shook her head with a dismissive sigh. "You shouldn't have gone there to begin with," she muttered angrily. "The students are under a lot of pressure right now, and it wouldn't do for you or anyone else to do something that would stress them out. They need time to process all that has happened."

"There's nothing we can do to change it now," Yuri interjected with a shake of her head. "We're going to head on out, so... I'm sorry that we got in your way, but we're done. We'll talk to you again another time."

Ms. Venia opened her mouth to protest, but she was cut off once again by her phone ringing. She let out another tense sigh before pressing the device to her ear. Her entire demeanor changed the instant she picked up the call, and her voice softened from rage when she realized who she was speaking to. "Ah, sir... Yes, all is going as it should..."

We once again took advantage of the chance we had been given to retreat from the hallway and make for the front of the school. It was shockingly easy for us to get out of Ashbrook from there, and nobody else bothered to stop us. Before we knew it, we were off on our way, ready to see whatever else we could learn about the crime.

And if all went well, it would have led us to the truth behind this accident from a few years ago that still colored the crime today. One could only hope.

May 3

Detention Center

6:00 PM

Lily Shield

Prosecutor Wood arrived in the visitors' room soon after we got to the detention center, and she looked so beyond exhausted even after just a few hours of being there. She was tapping her foot against the ground below, a frown staining her features. She didn't even seem to realize we were there at first, but when she did, she perked up. "Hey," Yuri began, speaking carefully so as to not startle her so much.

Prosecutor Wood jumped anyways, her eyes going wide on the spot. She stared at us for a moment before she sighed and shook her head. "Oh, um... Hi," she greeted softly. "I didn't think you guys were going to be back here again. You've had a lot to investigate, so..."

"We ran into a bit of a roadblock and thought we would take this as a chance to come and ask you an important question," Mr. Morix explained. "Would it be alright for us to ask you about it?"

Prosecutor Wood hesitated before nodding. "Yeah, sure," she agreed. "What happened that made you come back here?"

"We stumbled into a piece of information that others at the scene of the crime refused to explain to us," I began. "The victim in this case was supposed to head to a factory near here, but when we asked her about it, nobody wanted to explain it to us. Do you know what connection she could have had to Sparx Factory?"

Prosecutor Wood froze, and everything about her posture seemed to shift. She bit down on her lip before nodding. "I do know," she admitted softly. "But... It's a complicated story, and I don't know if it's a good idea for me to explain it... The short version is that there was an accident a few years ago, and it has to do with that factory."

"How much would you be willing to tell us about that accident?" I questioned, already not liking how much she was holding back on this. It seemed that whatever had happened, she was all too aware of it, and she was terrified of the truth.

"I don't know how much I should say," Prosecutor Wood eventually said after a long, heavy silence collapsed on all of us. "I don't think it's going to have much to do with the current case to begin with. It was an accident a few years ago, and I don't think it could have manifested as a motive for anyone to want her dead."

Mr. Morix hesitated before continuing. "We spoke with a few of your friends," he went on softly. "Angelica, Kyle, Jordan, and Nanako... Jordan seemed awfully upset about us going to the school and asking questions about the current crime. He didn't seem to trust us at all. I'm willing to assume that this has to do with the accident from a few years ago, yes?"

Prosecutor Wood nodded. "Something like that... He's never really trusted people from the legal system, honestly. Police, lawyer, detective... It doesn't matter. He wants nothing to do with them, and he's convinced that they're going to do something to cause him harm," she told us. "It doesn't surprise me that he doesn't want much to do with you even if you're doing all you can to help me. He doesn't trust anyone who has anything to do with the justice system."

"It's certainly made our jobs a lot harder," Yuri sighed. "He hasn't told us anything, and he doesn't want anyone else to talk to us about it either. He actively gets in the way of other people trying to talk to us about what's going on either. I don't understand any of it."

"I'm sorry... I don't know if I would be able to help you get him to open up," Prosecutor Wood confessed. "The short version is that something bad happened a few years ago, and now, he doesn't want to place his faith in anyone if he can avoid it. The legal system didn't intervene when we needed it most, and he's scared even if he doesn't want to admit it."

"What about the others?" Mr. Morix asked. "Do you think they would be open to talking to us about this mysterious accent?"

"I don't know," Prosecutor Wood murmured. "All you need to know as far as I can tell is that something bad happened, and now, everybody at the school... They've been dealing with a lot since then. We still have a lot of questions about it."

Mr. Morix nodded to himself, though something about his expression had shifted since Prosecutor Wood had started talking. "I understand. Thank you for talking to us," he told her. "We're going to be on our way if you have nothing else to add. We don't want to keep you as long as the trial is still set for tomorrow."

"Alright," Prosecutor Wood agreed with a light nod, though I could tell she wasn't entirely sure about letting us go quite yet. She didn't bother to object though as she gave us a small, weakened smile. "Thank you for coming back to talk to me again. I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow."

"We'll see you then," I agreed with a nod. We took this as our chance to retreat into the hallway, closing the door behind us.

Yuri sighed as soon as we were out of Prosecutor Wood's range of hearing. "So... She still didn't want to talk to us about that accident," she frowned. "I don't get it. She doesn't know for sure that this isn't going to be important, but she still wanted to keep us from finding out the truth. I don't understand any of it."

"I suppose we're just not going to have any new leads going into the trial," I sighed. "We're in a bad spot here, especially given that they're still pushing for the trial to happen tomorrow... I just hope we're able to take advantage of Prosecutor Lin and Chief Prosecutor Bespoke holding back on us. They're not going to just let their daughter be sent to jail for a crime she didn't commit, but... I have a really bad feeling about this."

"We should all split up for the night and try to get some rest," Mr. Morix suggested. "Tomorrow is going to be a hard-won fight, and we need to be ready to give it everything we've got. We can meet up before the trial begins to see if we can find anything else. Until then... Rest well."

I nodded before starting towards the door, a frown on my face all the while. I had an awful feeling about this. With each passing second, I wanted to know more about this mystery accident that was causing so many problems for the students of Ashbrook. There were a thousand questions piling up about this case, and none of them had anything to do with the murder at hand.

In other words, we were in a really bad spot, and I could only hope we got out of it alive.

May 4

Defendant's Lobby No. 3

9:40 AM

Yuri Rinko

The next day, I arrived at the courthouse nice and early to get ready for the trial. I was still riled up from everything that had happened the day before, and the lack of information we had about the accident that seemingly painted so much of this case was still driving me up a wall. I didn't know if it was going to be important for this case, but I wanted to find out the truth either way.

I knew I wasn't the only desperate one either. Lily's eyes were still shrouded in dark concern when I saw her, and Mr. Morix refused to meet anyone's gaze directly. I couldn't stand the silence though, so I shuffled in Lily's direction before deciding to strike up a conversation. "How are you feeling?" I asked.

Lily thought about it for a moment before shrugging. "I guess I'm feeling about as good as I can," she replied simply. "I don't know what's going on with this case, and I really want to figure it out as soon as possible."

"Um... Do you think you'll be able to prove me innocent?"

Prosecutor Wood appeared in my peripheral vision, her hands pressed behind her back. I could tell that she was exhausted, somehow even more so than she had been the day before. She hadn't been looking forward to this trial at all, and the dread was written all over her face.

"Of course," Lily replied, immediately rushing to soothe her. "We're going to be able to handle this. Your parents aren't going to let you get hurt in this trial, and we're going to be there to back you up too. Everything is going to be fine."

"Okay... If you say so," Prosecutor Wood sighed. She paused for a long moment, letting the words sink in. I could tell she wasn't entirely certain we were telling the truth even though she wanted to believe us. She was worried for a myriad of reasons, and I couldn't blame her in the slightest.

Mr. Morix seemed to snap out of his silent trance with a shake of his head. "You don't need to worry about it. We're going to do everything we can to show that you're not the culprit," he assured her carefully. He thought for a long moment before continuing. "Do you think we should know anything else about this case before we go into the courtroom?"

Prosecutor Wood hesitated before shaking her head. "No," she replied. She hissed for a moment, letting one hand come up to rub circles along her temple. "Sorry. Nevada hasn't... She hasn't been too happy with how all of this played out, and... She's very upset right now. I've been trying to make sure she doesn't come around and start yelling at people, but it's much easier said than done."

"She's scared of the current situation, huh?" I questioned, and Prosecutor Wood nodded. "I can't say I blame her. Being in the detention center is awful, and being arrested for a crime you didn't commit is even worse. I'm sorry all of this ended the way it did."

Prosecutor Wood shook her head. "There's nothing we can do about it now... I just want all of this to be over with already," she confessed. She looked back to the doors to the courtroom, shifting awkwardly and nervously along the way. "I guess we should get ready to head into the courtroom... Thank you again for all that you're doing for me. It really does mean a lot."

Before we could say anything, Prosecutor Wood had dashed off into the courtroom. I sighed after her before shaking my head. "I guess she's afraid of talking to us about the accident from a few years ago... That's probably why she ran off so soon. She doesn't want us to talk to her about it, so she's avoiding us."

"She's going to have to talk to us eventually... I don't want to push her, but right now, it seems like this incident is causing a lot of problems for all of us, so we need to uncover the truth," Lily frowned. "I hope we can get her to open up sooner rather than later. That would definitely make things easier for us."

"For now though, we have no time to try and protest her secrecy. We need to get into the courtroom and do what we can to find the truth behind this case," Mr. Morix cut in, and I resisted the urge to sigh. I knew that he was right, but I wasn't looking forward to the trial at all. There was too much working against us already for me to want to be involved with this.

Still, we didn't have much of a choice in the matter, so Lily simply nodded before looking off in the direction of the courtroom's doors. "You're right... Let's get to it," she declared. With that, she pivoted on her heel and started towards the entrance, leaving me and Mr. Morix to trail after her.

No matter what though, I couldn't help but feel as if there was something else on Mr. Morix's mind that he wasn't talking about yet. Maybe it was just me, but I was sure there was a lot more he didn't want to discuss, a suspicion that was only encouraged by how long I had known him. It could have been about the factory, but I couldn't say for certain yet. For all I knew, I was just imagining it and nothing was going on to begin with.

But I could think about all of that later. For the time being, we had a trial to take care of, and it wasn't going to stop for any of us. I hated that we were being pushed into this so soon, but we just had to roll with the punches.

No matter how much of a pain it was already proving to be.

Woah posting time

-Digital