September 1

Courtroom No. 6

12:30 PM

Deirdre Brigit

"O and Y had been good friends and business partners up until a few weeks ago. At about the time Y figured out who Oracle was, she stopped talking to O. Even if they were supposed to be working together, Y refused to say a word to her. O has mentioned a few times she has no idea why she would suddenly be ignored by her close friend, and in all truth, I can't think of a reason for it either," I admitted. "I don't know how we can come up with a theory regarding what happened when one of the parties involved doesn't even know."

"If you ask me, Y must have figured something out in her own research that resulted in her blocking out O. I don't know what that could be exactly, but it was something large enough to ruin their relationship near immediately," frowned Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. "With her files gone, it will be hard to determine what this is, but I have faith we'll be able to get through it somehow."

"I don't know how we'll do that," Yuri admitted with a shake of her head. "I mean, without any crucial information, this is going to be awful. O doesn't even know anything. With Y dead, we can't exactly ask her what caused this. The dead keep their secrets."

"I could try and channel her, I guess," Lily murmured. "I can't say how well that would turn out since it's been a while... I haven't channeled anybody in a few months, so..."

"It might be worth looking into in the future, but we can't even confirm she'd tell us the truth. Besides, isn't there a hole in that idea?" asked Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. "In order to channel someone, you need their true name, and that isn't exactly working out for us since Interpol is involved with this case. I mean, all names are hidden for the sake of the agents working there and their families. Only letters are given out. While the autopsy report may have her name on it, for the safety of her living relatives, her name must not be revealed through channeling or otherwise."

As he spoke, I frowned to myself. I was beginning to pick up on something with his words. He was hiding something. I didn't know what it was, but he was firmly against channeling Y because of it. I looked to Yuri. She was staring at him with a scrutinizing glare, so I got the feeling she had noticed it as well. I stared at the wood of the bench with a small sigh. I didn't know if his secret was going to be important, so I figured it would be best not to press on it for now.

Besides, loathe as I was to admit it, he had a point. Y may have been dead, but her family was still alive, and since she knew who Oracle was, they could become targets if her name was revealed to the world. It was too big a risk. We would have to avoid channeling if possible. Chief Prosecutor Bespoke's desperation to avoid channeling seemed to stem from something else, but I couldn't dig into it now. He would only grow suspicious if I tried to ask him about it so suddenly. I could always call him on it when the investigation continued. After all, it was basically certain at this point we were going to break for another investigation period, so I would have time for my quiet thoughts then.

"In other words, it's theorize, which we have very little evidence for, or call in O, which could prove to be problematic since she doesn't know much of anything regarding Y's sudden change in personality," Judge Diaphan remarked with a shake of her head. "I don't know how we're going to get out of this one, but there isn't much we can do on the matter now..."

"O doesn't know what happened with Y, so I bet Y figured something out on her own. O didn't realize Y had figured something out," I murmured.

"Wouldn't that mean O has something to hide? She intentionally tried to keep it secret by feigning innocence, but she couldn't keep it from coming out that she knew something," frowned Lily. "I don't know what it could be, but if O knows and has just been keeping it hidden..."

"Y has been looking into Oracle recently, so what if O had something to do with the project?" Yuri asked. "It would make sense. How else would Y randomly find something out about her friend? If it had to do with Oracle, of course she would know. She's the leader of Interpol's investigation of Oracle."

"You mean to say that O knows something relating to Oracle, and after Y figured it out, she began to avoid her out of fear or something similar," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke muttered. "I see... I don't know much on what exactly Y figured out, but O might know since they were investigation partners."

"In other words, it wouldn't be a bad idea to adjourn court so you can prepare her, yes?" asked Lily.

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke nodded hesitantly. "I can't think of any other ideas for what we should do now..." he whispered with a shake of his head.

"O and Y were looking into Oracle, but all of a sudden, Y stopped talking to her. O has said she doesn't know why, but that's probably a lie. She knew fully well why Y wasn't talking to her anymore. Y was looking into Oracle all this time, so chances are it has something to do with them," Prosecutor Wood murmured, writing down on a small notepad as she spoke. "Let's ask her what's going on. I don't know how she's going to worm her way out of this."

"If there are no further objections, would we be able to adjourn court?" asked Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, looking up to Judge Diaphan.

She glanced over at Yuri, Lily, and me. We all shared a conclusive nod saying we were alright with it. Judge Diaphan nodded herself before lifting her gavel. "Court is now adjourned for a twenty-minute recess," she declared, slamming the gavel down.

September 1

Defendant Lobby No. 6

12:40 AM

Deirdre Brigit

"If we're being perfectly honest here, I was very worried in there," Yuri admitted as we entered the defendant lobby. "I mean, we went in with minimal evidence, but we still did pretty well. Right now, we have Chief Prosecutor Bespoke in agreement with us in saying M didn't do it. It takes a lot to earn his respect and get him to help you out fully, so I'm glad we were able to pull that off. Things are going to be much easier from here on out."

"I wonder about what happened with O though," Lily frowned. "I mean, we spoke to her for a while yesterday, and I didn't really get any overwhelming senses indicating she was lying. I guess she's just good at her job."

"I would agree on that," I nodded. "However, it isn't our issue at the moment. We need to figure out why they stopped talking. If we were right in assuming it was because of Oracle and O being involved somehow, we could be in trouble. O could easily try to get away and keep her secrets from being exposed."

"I don't know how we're going to deal with her. I get the feeling she's a girl who knows how to keep her secrets hidden. She's going to be a difficult foe to oppose," Yuri remarked.

"I have faith you can pull it off."

We turned upon hearing Mr. Morix's voice. He was walking towards us, his hands shoved in his pockets. His gaze was dark and serious. I got the feeling he was not to be trifled with in this state, which sent a bit of a shiver down my spine.

"You really think so?" Yuri asked with a wide smile. "I hope so. It's going to be rough, but we're pretty good at our jobs at this point."

"O is going to be difficult to deal with, just like Yuri said. However, you've come this far, so you can't give up yet. The more you can figure out now, the easier the investigation will be," Mr. Morix said. "Just because it won't be easy doesn't mean you should give up just like that."

"I'm thankful you believe in us. I mean, if you thought we were doomed, I would be seriously worried," Yuri admitted, rubbing at the back of her neck.

"Do you have any ideas for how we should approach her?" asked Lily.

"I think you shouldn't hold back. Interpol agents are unlikely to be caught lying. They're the best in the country at what they do. I mean, I wouldn't really say you even called out Q or N for lying. They were merely mistaken on the facts," Mr. Morix began to say. "O isn't going to be an exception. Be as ruthless as possible. Show no mercy in interrogating her. She'll eventually be forced to crack and tell her the truth."

"We'll do that then," I nodded. "Is there anything else you want us to keep in mind?"

"Hm... Try to stay out of trouble," Mr. Morix said next with a small shrug. "I know there's a chance I won't see you before the inevitable next phase of investigation, so I might as well wish you good luck now."

"I know we'll be able to corner her and take care of this," grinned Lily. "We have it all under control."

"I know you do," Mr. Morix told us. He smiled before starting to walk away, but I couldn't help but feel strange.

"He was lying to us there. He doubts us, doesn't he?" Yuri asked with a frown.

"I think it's deeper than that. Remember how he seemed to know about who Oracle was? Maybe this case potentially exposing O's involvement in the matter is stressing him out," Lily said. "I can't say for sure. Regardless, I get the feeling things are about to come to a head. When we get the chance back at the agency, we need to ask him what he knows about Oracle. If he does know who they are, we'll probably need to know to crack this case open."

"It's going to be risky, but I must agree. It isn't just a matter of simple curiosity at this point. Figuring out who Oracle was will help us determine who really committed the crime. It's vital that we find the truth," I agreed with a nod. "Pressing Mr. Morix is going to be our best way of reaching that end."

"In that case, I guess we should do our best for now. The more we learn in court, the more prepared we'll be to face off against him in a battle of logic. Mr. Morix is a sharp guy, in case you haven't already noticed. I mean, you guys haven't really seen him when he really turns a case around. The case when Anton was in jail, back when Lily helped him out, was pretty much child's play to him. He's really good at what he does. Going up against that is going to be very rough," Yuri told us.

"Then how do we deal with him?" I questioned. "You've seen him in action. What should we do?"

"In truth, while I do know what he's capable of, I don't know his weaknesses as well as some people. Chrysalis might be willing to tell us if she's available to talk," Yuri pointed out. She pulled her phone from her pocket and began tapping the screen. "I'm going to call her. If she's still at the airport, she should be free to talk for a little bit until she gets on the plane. Then again, if she's already boarded, it might be a while longer..."

Yuri poked a few more times at the screen before holding it up to her ear. "Hello?" she asked the receiver. She pulled it away from her face and pressed a button to put the call on speaker a few seconds later. "Hm... It's ringing..."

When there was a clicking sound from the other side of the phone, we were instantly greeted with the sound of something being thrown. A sharp scream could be heard as well, though I couldn't tell whose it was. I let out a small gasp of shock. "What's going on?!" I asked hurriedly.

Yuri opened her mouth to speak, but she didn't get the chance to say anything. The person on the other end spoke first. "If you know what's good for you, act as if this call didn't happen," came the harsh voice of a man from the other side. Immediately afterwards, he hung up.

Yuri ignored this caution and called the number once again. "Please answer," she whispered, tapping her foot impatiently. "Come on, Chrysalis... Please say you're okay..."

Another clicking noise came from the other side. There was no man's voice this time, just another thumping noise, as if something had been thrown again. I heard a small groan of pain before the line went dead. I couldn't tell what had happened, but some part of my brain told me the phone had been stepped on or something.

I looked to Yuri and Lily silently. Yuri was pale and clinging to her phone as if it was the one thing keeping her alive. I could see her shaking slightly. "We have to tell Mr. Morix. We must put aside our questions and tell him what just happened. He needs to know about this," she said quickly.

"What even happened? I don't understand. That phone call was certainly strange. Something bad was happening. Who was that man? Where's Chrysalis? Is she okay?" Lily asked. With each word, her speech was speeding up. She began to pace back and forth not long after. "I don't get any of this, but I have a really bad feeling about it."

"I get the feeling we just heard something very important," I whispered, shaking my head. "I can't say it's a good thing... In fact, it undoubtedly isn't... I still feel we should tell Mr. Morix as Yuri said. He needs to hear about it if something happened to Chrysalis."

"I didn't hear her voice in that call... Maybe somebody took her phone while she was at the airport," Yuri suggested, though I could easily hear her voice trembling. "I don't know... I just have a bad feeling about it... I feel sick..."

"I'm sure she's fine," Lily chirped, though she wasn't really fooling anyone, not that Yuri was ready to call her on it. I didn't say anything on the matter either, instead choosing to stare down at my toes intensely, hoping it would keep me from going into a further panic.

"Is it just me, or has this recess been the longest twenty minutes of my life?" Yuri asked, trying to change the subject. She turned on her phone for a moment and checked the time. "Yeah, it certainly has been... It's been more than twenty minutes. In fact, it's been closer to twenty-five. I can't say for sure why that would be, but we haven't been called back into the courtroom yet, so I suppose we might as well take advantage of it."

"We need to find Mr. Morix," I said firmly. "He's bound to be around here somewhere. The sooner we can talk to him, the better. He might have an idea as to what's going on with Chrysalis. If he does, we hopefully won't need to worry quite so much."

"I don't know where he is. After we finished talking to him earlier, he ran off. Maybe he wanted to talk to Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. They've been friends for a long time now, so that wouldn't be completely out of the question," Yuri pointed out. "I don't know where he would be aside from with Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, so we should check there first."

"I guess it's off to the prosecution lobby with us then," Lily nodded. I was glad to have the distraction, I must admit. I didn't say anything as we headed to the other lobby, praying the dark thoughts that had appeared in my head would decide to go away after we found Mr. Morix, even if I knew that was not going to be the case.

When we got to the prosecution lobby, we were surprised to find it empty. There was nobody there aside from Prosecutor Wood. Chief Prosecutor Bespoke and Mr. Morix were nowhere to be found. There weren't even any gallery watchers milling about, which was a bit concerning, but I didn't say anything about it.

Instead, I approached Prosecutor Wood and tapped her lightly on the shoulder. "Excuse me," I began to say. "Prosecutor Wood?"

She jumped upon realizing I was there. It took a moment for her eyes to go back into focus, so I suspected she had been spaced out. It would explain why she hadn't noticed us walking in. "H-Hello," she stammered, beginning to pull on her braids rather violently. "Wh-What is it? Do you need something?"

"Have you seen Mr. Morix? We want to talk to him," I explained. "We figured he would be with Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, but he isn't here either."

Prosecutor Wood began tapping one foot against the ground as she spoke. "He came in a few minutes ago to talk to Da—erm, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke about something. They decided to take it out into the hallway. We were looking for O up until that point. For some reason, we can't find her anywhere, which isn't good. We need her testify sooner rather than later, but we can't do that if we can't find her," she explained.

"You can't find her?" I asked in shock. "Wasn't she here earlier? If she was supposed to testify, it would only make sense if she was here. You can't make an absent person talk about the crime..."

"She was here. We even spoke to her before the trial started," Prosecutor Wood assured us. "She was ready to tell us everything she knew about the case, but now, we can't find a trace of her. It's almost like she just disappeared. We know that isn't possible, but what else could have happened? I don't understand any of it, I'm afraid..."

"It's okay. Let's just keep looking around for her together. Maybe we'll get lucky and find Chief Prosecutor Bespoke and Mr. Morix too," Lily said with a smile. She seemed to be much more relaxed now than she had been mere moments ago.

"What should we do about Chrysalis?" Yuri asked, getting up on tiptoe to whisper into my ear. "Should we tell her? I mean, if we can't find Mr. Morix or Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, I don't know who else we would tell. She's a prosecutor, so she would be able to get the news around pretty quickly about something going wrong."

"We can tell her a bit later. I don't know who else we would tell, but I would rather wait until after we could potentially tell Mr. Morix," I answered. "I feel like he should know first. He can decide who should know about the situation after hearing about it since he's her legal guardian."

"Got it," Yuri nodded. She turned back to Prosecutor Wood, who was staring at her with a perplexed expression. Yuri shrugged to the other girl and gestured to the door. "Shall we go? Those two little rascals aren't going to find themselves, are they?"

"I guess not. Let's get to it then," I agreed. I followed Yuri and Prosecutor Wood out of the lobby and out to the hallway. It was empty like the lobby was. Nobody could be seen in either direction. Most trials in the courthouse were either still going on or had ended an hour ago, which meant only people from our trial were going to be wandering about. That certainly made it easier on us.

"Maybe KJ will know where he got off to," suggested Yuri. "He's been our friend for a while, so it would make sense if he knew. He's pretty observant and would notice where Mr. Morix went."

"You mean the bailiff, don't you?" Lily asked. "The purple-haired one who's been on a few of our trials?"

Yuri nodded. "That's the one. He's a good kid. I'm sure he'll be happy to help us out," she said. "He's as good a place to start as any."

As if on cue, the bailiff came walking into view. He had a frown on his face as he searched for something. Yuri didn't waste a second in running up to him, waving her arms about. "KJ!" she called out. "KJ, pay attention to me!"

The boy looked up, his face breaking into a smile. "Hey there, Yuri! What's going on with you?" he asked.

"We're looking for Mr. Morix. Have you seen him anywhere?" she asked. "Any information you can give us will be helpful. We have something important to tell him."

"I was looking for someone too, so I suppose I could help," KJ shrugged. "I wasn't searching for Mr. Morix though. I was hoping somebody could help me lift something."

"We can help you," Lily offered. "What is it you need help with?"

KJ gestured for us to follow him. We ended up in a small lobby near the courtroom we were in for our trial. It was nearly empty. One object could be seen. It was an old TV perched on the couch, leaving a large dent in the cushions. I hadn't seen something that large and elderly in years. It had to be at least twenty years old, and even that might have been pushing the youth scale a little bit.

"I found this thing just sitting here," he frowned. "The previous case in this lobby was a robbery trial with a quick conviction. The defendant even confessed to stealing the jewelry brought up. I was supposed to come through and clean it out, make sure nobody was left and stuff. When I came in, everybody was gone, but this TV was still here. I found it suspicious, so I was going to take it to somebody who would know what to do with it. Of course, I forgot that I have the muscle composition of a noodle and can't lift many heavy things, so I wasn't exactly successful."

"I find it hard to believe anyone would leave a TV just sitting around like this. It seems peculiar to me..." Lily whispered. "You don't know who left it or why it would be here either... Hm..."

I got a bit closer to the TV only to be hit by a sudden and rotten stench. I shook my head and fanned at my nose. "That does not smell good," I muttered. However, it didn't really smell like dust. There was something else there... I didn't know what it was, but I had a bad feeling about it...

"What is it?" Yuri asked. She leaned in closer to the TV and sniffed as well. "You're right! That's not just any bad smell though! That's definitely blood!"

"Blood?!" KJ exclaimed. He heaved the side of the TV screen, making it turn onto its side. Sure enough, under the TV, there was a small bloodstain on the cushions of the couch. A tuft of white hair could be seen as well, stained with a bit of blood at the edges.

KJ reached down and poked at the blood for a moment. I noticed it was also on the bottom of the TV in limited quantities. His finger came up wet. "It's fresh," he murmured. "What could it be from?"

Lily reached down and picked up the hair. "Wait... This hair... It looks familiar... Doesn't O have white hair?" she asked with a frown.

The realization made me go cold. "She does... This couldn't be her blood... Right?" I murmured.

"It would make sense as to why I couldn't find her..." whispered Prosecutor Wood. "But why would somebody want to hurt her? And if something did happen, why is her hair here? She definitely isn't anywhere to be seen..."

"I don't know," Yuri said bluntly. "I just have a bad feeling about this... We need to find Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. He must have some ideas as to what to do now... He should be able to help us, right? We need him and Mr. Morix."

"I think I saw them go into the nearby lobby, come to think of it," KJ said to himself. "The courtroom linked to that lobby isn't being used anymore, so they would be completely alone. It's a good place to go if you need some peace and quiet, I suppose..."

"Then let's go get them," I declared.

"I'm going to stay here and look over the TV. I can't have anyone tampering with the evidence," KJ said firmly.

"I'll stay with you. There's safety in numbers, you know?" Yuri remarked. Lily gave her the white hair, which she accepted with a nod. "Go on and bring them back. We need to tell them about this as soon as possible. I have a bad feeling about all this."

Prosecutor Wood, Lily, and I all dashed off to the lobby KJ mentioned. I wasn't sure about the other two, but I could hear my heart pounding loudly in my chest. It nearly drowned out all other sounds. I couldn't really help my panic given what had happened this recess. I wish I knew what to do about it, but I didn't really have any ideas...

When we got to the lobby, I was sad to find it empty. There wasn't even a trace of Mr. Morix or Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, as if they had never been there to begin with. I couldn't help but frown. Where in the world had those two gotten off to?

"I don't get it," frowned Lily. "They were supposed to be here. They should be able to talk to us, but they're gone... This is weird. I don't like it. Somehow, I get the feeling something has gone horribly wrong... Well, even more horribly wrong than it's already gone, which is saying a lot given how bad our current situation is."

"I wonder how they've managed to evade us through all our searching," I sighed with a shake of my head. "There has to be someplace we haven't checked... I don't really know where that would be, but it must exist. The courthouse is large, but most of it is being used or was used earlier today for other trials. I guess we'll just have to search the whole building and ask around."

"Hey! Guys!"

KJ's voice coming from the doorway made me turn. He was standing there with Yuri, who was frowning deeply. "They're starting up the trial now. I guess Chief Prosecutor Bespoke ended up heading into the courtroom," he remarked with a shake of his head. "I guess this whole search thing was for nothing."

"I don't care. Let's get in there. I want to talk to him as soon as possible," Lily said firmly. "I guess we're going to have to hold off talking to Mr. Morix until after the trial ends. It isn't exactly ideal, but we don't really have a choice in the matter. In a word, this recess has been very inconvenient, hasn't it?"

"There isn't a thing we can do about it now though, so let's go get this trial over with. If something really did happen to O, if that's really her blood, there isn't much of anything we can do today. We'll likely have to break for investigation. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later, but I was hoping it wouldn't happen like this," I murmured.

"Speaking of O, they've decided to set up the TV in the courtroom. Another bailiff came by and asked about it, so we explained the whole situation. He figured Judge Diaphan would want to see it in the courtroom. I don't know how it's going to fit into this whole puzzle, but I suspect we'll find out soon enough. Whether that's a good or bad thing remains to be seen," Yuri commented. "All our papers from before the recess should still be in there. Let's get to it. I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready for all of this to be over. I want to curl up in my room for a few hours to erase the trauma of that phone call."

"Phone call?" Prosecutor Wood echoed with wide eyes. "What happened?"

"We can explain it later. For now, let's get going," I said. My hands clenched into tight fists. "I'm sure Mr. Morix will already be in the gallery. Whatever happened is bound to come out sooner or later, whether we tell him ourselves or he hears about it through the trial. I'm not excited about it, but I guess that's just the way things worked out."

Prosecutor Wood still seemed a bit suspicious, but she didn't say anything else about the phone call. Instead, she left the room alongside KJ.

I looked to Lily and Yuri with a shake of my head. "I don't like this," I whispered. "Here's to hoping it doesn't go completely horrible when we get in there..."

"We won't know until we face it head on," Lily told me with a faint smile. I could see the weary concern in her blue eyes, but I said nothing.

Yuri took my hand into her right one, taking Lily's grasp with her left. "We're going to get out of this, alright?" she assured us.

We nodded, but we both knew that probably wasn't true.

Double update today baby.

-Digital