The next prosecutor to notice the young attorney's abilities is Miles Edgeworth. He's working in relative calm in Wright's office, occasionally trading ideas and comments back and forth with his old friend, when the door opens, and Mr. Justice enters alone.

"Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Wright."

"No problem, kid. What's your verdict?"

Phoenix smiles that lazy happy grin he always gives Trucy and Miles snaps to attention. As… nonexistent as his previous thoughts on Justice have been, anyone who can get that reaction from Phoenix Wright is not someone he can ignore.

Apollo smiles wearily.

"The optometrist records were the last straw, sir. With the victim having their hood up and our client's poor eyesight, we managed to convince Prosecutor Blackquill to lower the charge from first degree murder to vehicular manslaughter. He still won the case, of course, but at least we know the truth."

"Regardless, it's never fun to lose."

"No, sir. I think Athena is more upset than I am. Prosecutor Blackquill took her out to a restaurant they both like to cheer her up though, so I wouldn't be too concerned."

"She abandoned you to the post trial paperwork by yourself? What did you do, spit on her grandma's grave?"

"I offered, sir. I don't mind doing paperwork."

"Have at it then, kid. I'm certainly not going to stop you."

"Of course, sir."

Miles watches in fascination as this exchange plays out before him. Mr. Justice's professional demeanor is so clearly in stark defiance of Phoenix's laid-back casual attitude. Yet he doesn't come off as passive aggressive, merely overly polite.

Apollo Justice takes his seat at the only tidy desk at the Agency and begins quietly working on his post-trial paperwork. Miles knows from experience that there is nothing of any interest in those papers, but Mr. Justice meticulously and intensely works his way through them.

Miles and Phoenix have gotten back to their discussion, but the Chief Prosecutor has hit a hurdle. He sighs.

"I'm going to have to spend tomorrow morning in the court records room."

"Are you looking for a case to establish precedence?"

"Yes. I'm indicting a man on a murder charge, and they want me to lower to self-defense. The defense is arguing that because the victim had a toy gun and wore a ski mask he was mistaken for a burglar."

"That does sound pretty credible."

Miles sighs again.

"This happened on Halloween, Wright. The victim was wearing a costume."

"So, you need to prove that he knew what Halloween was?"

"Yes, and the easiest way to do that would be to establish the precedent that all grown adults know about common holidays. Which, of course, means spending my morning scouring old trial records."

"Not necessarily," Phoenix Wright smiles in that way that promises something ridiculous. "Apollo. Can I pick your brain?"

"Certainly, Mr. Wright, sir."

The young defense attorney places his pen down and gives them his full attention. Phoenix gives his old friend a familiar look. He might as well have said: 'Watch this. You won't be able to believe it.'

"Edgeworth needs a case to establish precedence for the fact that the defendant, as a grown man, should know what Halloween is. Got anything good for us?"

To Miles's complete astonishment, the answer comes after only a second of thought.

"State v. Imp Basile, 2023. UC-9. The presiding judge ruled that the defendant should have known the explosions he heard were from the fourth of July fireworks. It's not an exact match, but it's the closest thing I can think of, sir."

Miles has the presence of mind to quickly jot down the case name, date and file number even as he stumbles his way through a thank you. Mr. Justice has just saved him several hours of tedious and painstaking work without even seeming to put in any effort.

Apollo signs his name at the bottom of the page before standing and placing the file on his boss's desk.

"If you'll excuse me, sir. Trucy has informed me that I will be participating in her show tonight. I'd like to go home and change first. May I take the afternoon? I'll be here bright and early tomorrow morning, sir."

"Go right ahead kid. See you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow, Mr. Wright."

After Apollo Justice leaves the Agency, Phoenix smiles proudly at Miles. It's the same expression he gives whenever Trucy has done some impossible trick. Miles recognizes the fatherly pride towards his junior associate when he says:

"What did you think of him? Not half bad, eh?"

Miles sees no need to hide his thoughts on the matter.

"I can hardly believe it. How on earth did he do that?"

"He's got a good head for paperwork and rote memorization. I can't count the times he's pulled out some obscure case precedent to win a case or just an argument."

Miles is getting more and more curious about Mr. Justice.

"Just to win an argument? He didn't strike me as that petty."

Phoenix throws back his head and laughs.

"You don't understand. Apollo is exactly that petty. He just hides it really well. Remember when Daryan Crescend's trial came around?"

Miles remembers it all too well. The despicable man that framed Machi Tobai for murder, like all the surprise murderers uncovered by the Turnabout Terror and his crew, had gotten his own trial at a separate date. Those cases, at least, tended to go smoothly since all they really had to do was submit the findings of the previous trial as evidence and wrap it up.

"I handed that case to Debest. Still, there was an… unexpected name on the record."

Phoenix snorted.

"Apollo insisted on standing with the prosecution. He was absolutely pissed that the Tobai trial had even been allowed to happen and that Crescend had let a child fall under suspicion for his crimes. He wanted to help finish it. He didn't even say anything during the proceedings. He just wanted to be at the bench for the finale."

Miles frowned in confusion.

"Why didn't you stop him? It didn't reflect very well on the Agency."

"You say that like I could have stopped him. I certainly tried. Told him: You should really stick to your own side of the courtroom if you don't want your career to flop. Know what he answered with?"

"No."

"State v. Sister Iris, 2019. PK-7. Then Prosecutor Edgeworth stood as lead counsel for the defense. I certainly wouldn't describe the Chief Prosecutor as a flop, but to each his own, sir."

With that, Miles bursts out laughing. It is so like his friend to find an employee that will take no nonsense from him.

As Miles gets back to his work, Phoenix grabs the finished post trial paperwork from his desk and reads it over. He sighs, sounding so tired it makes Miles start.

"Something wrong, Wright?"

Phoenix bites his lip right where the small scar left by shattered glass still sits on his face. It's a nervous habit Miles knows well, but he gives his friend a moment to consider his answer.

"Sometimes I worry about Apollo… I mean, look at this."

The post-trial paperwork is shoved at him. Miles opens it to find a perfect report. The handwriting, while printed, is so neat it could have been typed. Every section is filled out meticulously with proper attention paid to every single detail. Even when he flips to the case notes at the back, Justice's are the same perfect print and detailed summary. He's even attached a copy of Ms. Cykes's messy case notes, which Justice has rewritten and added context to.

"I don't see the problem, Wright. These are perfect."

"Yeah." Phoenix sighs bitterly. "They're all like that. Everything he submits, case notes, forms, post trial paperwork. It's all perfect, in every way."

And now Miles understands. He remembers the cold voice of his mentor. A Von Karma is perfect in all things. That mentality has caused him and his sister so much suffering. If Justice is anything like Miles and Franziska were, it isn't a good sign for his mental state.

"It's not just his work."

Phoenix sounds worried. He gathers the paperwork up and files it away.

"Apollo's the first one at the office every day. He's often the last one to leave. A few times, I'm not sure he did leave."

Miles frowns.

"I didn't think the agency was that busy."

"We aren't. But, well, sometimes I find paperwork in the recycling bin. Multiple copies of the same forms that he filled out then binned because of a minor problem. And when mistakes do slip through…"

Miles knows what it means, when his friend trails off. He lets him say it anyway.

"I try not to point them out to him. There's genuine fear in his eyes when I do, and he falls over himself with apologies. Usually I ignore them, but if it does need to be fixed, I ask Trucy to point it out. That seems to help."

"Do you know what he's afraid of?"

"Being fired, I'm pretty sure. He hasn't said it in so many words, but I know he saves most of his salary and he hasn't settled into the office properly. Sometimes I swear he's terrified of me as well."

Miles hears the hurt in his voice. The idea that one of his employees might be genuinely afraid of him for any reason isn't something Phoenix knows how to handle.

"Wright. You know it's not your fault, right? All these signs point to…"

"Some kind of past toxic relationship and I'm pretty sure I know the culprit."

Phoenix's voice drips with bitterness as he speaks the name of the man that cause so much suffering in his life.

"Kristoph Gavin."

Now that surprises Miles, though perhaps it shouldn't. He knows well enough that emotional manipulation isn't strictly a familial or conjugal issue. He also knows that Mr. Justice is a former employee of Gavin Law Offices. Most of all, he knows what Kristoph Gavin is capable of.

"What led you to that conclusion?"

Phoenix sits beside him on the couch, just a little closer than usual. Miles recognizes his friend is trying to comfort himself with proximity and places a hand, more than a little awkwardly, on his shoulder. Sighing again, Phoenix explains.

"It was clear after only a few days of work with the agency that the kid had been in some sort of toxic relationship. He is nervous about everything, all the time. And… when I thank him or compliment him, he starts, like he isn't expecting it. He apologizes constantly for nothing, and he doesn't seem to understand what I mean when I tell him it's not necessary.

Then there's the name thing."

"The name thing?"

"The name thing. Did you notice, earlier, how he called me Mr. Wright and sir?"

"Yes… even when you called him kid or Apollo, he never stopped."

"That's because he got a guilty verdict today."

Miles thinks about it for a moment, then shakes his head.

"You've lost me."

Phoenix smiles teasingly.

"Can't follow my moon logic, Edgeworth? But you've had so much practice!"

His face turns grim again.

"Apollo used honorifics ceaselessly when he first started working for us. I've given up asking to be called Phoenix or Nick, because he just looks so lost and uneasy when I do. But he's dropped some of it; doesn't call me sir in every other sentence, at least, not unless he thinks he messed up. Losing the case today for example."

Miles fills in the conclusion.

"He reverts to formalities when he's worried about your reaction. When he thinks you'll punish him."

Phoenix is staring sadly at the tidy desk his employee normally occupies. He looks like he might start crying and Miles hopes desperately that he won't. He's terrible at comforting others.

"God, Miles. You didn't see his face, the first time he lost a case. I walked into the defendant's lobby, and he was shaking hands with Prosecutor Gavin, smiling and talking. Then he saw me, and he looked so scared. I could barely get anything out of him other than: Yes Mr. Wright, sir. And No Mr. Wright, sir."

Miles doesn't truly understand how to handle what he just learned. He does understand that if he doesn't want Wright to burst into tears, he'll have to move the conversation along.

"How did this lead you to Kristoph?"

Phoenix smiles tightly and counts the clues on his fingers as he says them.

"He's worried about being fired. He only ever turns in perfect work, even if he has to stay up all night to do it. He uses honorifics for everyone, but mostly with me and does it more when he's scared. And he's scared of me, his boss. Kristoph is his only previous employer. I know that because the kid rewrote his CV, by hand since his printer broke, to give to me when he started working here. After I gave him an open invitation."

The sit in silence for a long while, as Miles unpacks what he's just learned. He thinks about Manfred von Karma, about his sister, about himself and his struggles with perfection. He wonders briefly whether he would have been anything like Mr. Justice, had he been rescued sooner. He thinks perhaps that Justice might have turned out quite like him had Phoenix not intervened.

Then he realizes he is wrong. Apollo Justice wouldn't have turned out anything like him. Because, during his first trial, he indicted his own mentor. He found the truth with only a little prompting whereas Miles had spent years in denial.

Once, he might have felt guilty for how long it had taken him. Now Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth simply lets his esteem for Apollo Justice rise from nonexistent to healthy. And when the case precedent proves to be the deciding factor in his win, he might even admit to a fondness for the young attorney.