The first and foremost impression one could make off of Liza Rodgers would be her ginormous hair. It was frizzy, curly, and could easily weigh around 20 pounds with some of that hairspray. It was the most impressionable thing about her, and it certainly caught everyone's eye. For people like Franziska and Adrian, it wasn't exactly a quirk well-received.

Franziska scoffed at the sight of Liza being brought out by the bailiffs, her hand rested against her cheek, "Hmph… Someone should tell her that her style is thirty years too late. It's not the 80s anymore."

Adrian arched an eyebrow, smiling to herself, "It's certainly not a justified fashion choice…"

Meanwhile, some people less qualified in the fashion department were more so confused than judgmental.

Phoenix looked at her oddly– head tilted, eyes narrowed, and his mouth slightly agape, "Uhh… How does that even work…?"

"It's defying gravity!" Maya chimed in, mouth wide.

The judge was stroking his beard, closing his eyes, "I remember, back in the day… I too had hair like that."

"Have you tried curling your beard, Your Honor?" Maya grinned widely.

The judge's eyes went wide in realization, "No, I have not… Hmm. I guess I should!"

"Don't give him any ideas, Maya…" Phoenix muttered. Maya just shrugged with a sheepish grin on her face.

The court's discussion on hair was cut off by a large popping noise; their attention going back to Liza, it became obvious to the court that she was chewing bubblegum, and she looked less than pleased.

"Uh…" Liza grumbled, narrowing her eyes while obnoxiously chewing that gum, "Can we get to the part where I send Chissy to jail? I don't wanna be here."

"Understood." Miles cut in, "Your Honor, we'd like to begin with Ms. Rodger's testimony."

"Yes, of course!" The judge looked down at Liza, "The floor is yours!"

"Right…" Liza propped her elbow up on the witness stand and inspected her nails, "So… I'm home for spring break. I don't got my own place, so I'm staying with my dad and Chissy. I was in the shower that day, minding my own business, and when I got out and went downstairs… I found Chissy over my dad's body. That woman killed my dad. A blind man could see it. Can ya' lock her up now?"

Phoenix furrowed his brow, confused. Liza seemed detached from her words. In fact, it looked as if her priorities lied more in jailing Erin than getting justice for her father. Shaking his head, he looked up to the judge for his permission to move on.

"Defense." The judge nodded, "You're up."

Phoenix pondered a few things over in his head first, and then he asked the first sensical question that came to his mind, "Could you hear a gunshot before you found Mrs. Chisholm over the body?"

"No." Liza cracked her gum, "I told ya'. I was in the shower. I heard nothing."

"So, you can't say for sure if Mrs. Chisholm was the one who shot your father?"

"I know it was her." Liza growled, "I know she must've stashed the gun or something before I got out. She had time to."

"You didn't see the act itself though, did you?" Phoenix pressed harder.

Liza narrowed her eyes, shaking her head.

"So you really can't say for sure that Mrs. Chisholm was the killer!"

Edgeworth cut in at that point, "Your Honor, the defense is badgering the witness."

Phoenix sighed, sending a strange look Miles' way, "Come on… That's not true…"

"It is true!" The judge said, "Mr. Wright, if you have nothing else to ask of the witness, then I must dismiss her and give my ruling."

For winging the entirety of the case, Phoenix's luck finally came up dry. For as much as he managed to disprove, it still wasn't anything definitive. Maybe he could just stall for more time to figure things out…

"Your Honor!" Phoenix suddenly shouted, a false grin on his face to try and fake confidence, "The defense requests additional testimony!"

"What?" The judge blinked, confused, "How come?"

"Reasons!" Phoenix said, still faking that confident voice, "Ms. Rodgers, would it be too much to ask if you could testify as to your actions that morning?"

"Kinda." Liza quirked a brow, and she looked over towards Miles, "Do I have to?"

"Humor him." Miles sighed, closing his eyes, "Trust me, he'll come up with nothing."

"I am standing right here!" Phoenix shot back, grimacing.

Miles looked his way, though his face was as blank as ever, "Exactly."

The judge looked around, a bit lost still, "Uhh… Okay. Ms. Rodgers, if you could please testify as to what you did that morning…?"

Letting out an agitated sigh, Liza rolled her eyes, "Fine. I woke up... I went to get a coffee... I got a perm… and then I went home and took a shower. That's it."

At that point, nearly everyone in the courtroom knew that Phoenix and subsequently Erin were screwed. Coffee? Perms? Showers? How is that going to give Phoenix the definitive evidence he needed?

In the viewing gallery, Franziska hung her head, hand resting on her forehead as she let out a heavy groan. Adrian, despite the circumstances, looked more pensive and torn about something. Leaning over the railing, she tried and whispered to Maya.

"Psst! Maya!" She whispered, looking around to see if anyone was paying attention to her.

Maya perked up at that and spun around, seeing Adrian up top, "Oh, hey Adrian!"

"Get Phoenix to ask if Liza's ever had a perm before…" Adrian said, eyes focused on Liza.

Shrugging, Maya thought that they had nothing better to ask so she obliged without any question, "Got it!" She tapped Phoenix's shoulder and cupped her hand around her mouth as she whispered the question to him.

Phoenix thought similarly on the fact that he had nothing better to ask, so he just popped the question like no big deal, "Ms. Rodgers, have you ever had a perm before?"

Liza furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but she answered without much of a second thought, "Yeah. About twice every year since I was 13. You do the math."

Adrian prodded Franziska with her elbow at that, coming up with a plan, "I need cover! Can you get the courtroom to be as loud as possible?"

Franziska grinned slightly at that and laughed, "Oh, I think I have something in mind…" Taking on a higher-pitched, stereotypical valley-girl accent, Franziska cupped her hand and shouted, "Wow, isn't this foolish defense lawyer such an idiot?!"

"Yeah, you're right!"

"What is he even trying to prove?"

"My cat could do better than him!"

And then the courtroom all joined in on insulting Phoenix, giving Adrian the opportunity she needed to talk to Maya more, "Maya!"

Maya, who admittedly was giggling at all of the insults, turned towards Adrian again, "Heehee… Yeah?"

"She's lying!" Adrian was grinning widely at that point, "There's no way she was in the shower if she got a perm a week ago and her curls are still intact today!"

Maya was a lot less amused and a lot more lost at that, "...Huh?"

Franziska leaned in upon hearing the conversation, mirroring Maya's confusion, "...I'm with her on this one."

Adrian turned towards Franziska, almost surprised yet still not losing that excited air of hers, "Come on! You should know the number one rule of getting a perm!"

Tilting her head, Franziska wasn't any less lost after that, "…Don't get one?"

"While that is true…" Adrian laughed a bit, "You can't get your hair wet in the first 24 hours after getting it done! It messes up the chemicals and flattens your hair! You know the one… the thy-glate thing…?"

"Ammonium thioglycolate…?" Franziska offered hesitantly.

"That's it!" Adrian then turned to Maya, "Liza's lying!"

Maya still looked a little confused, but she nodded nonetheless, "…Could I get that in writing?"

Adrian nodded, taking her agenda she always carries around and ripping out an old page. She clicked a pen and stuck her tongue out in thought, but she didn't do anything. Slowly Adrian turned to Franziska, "…What was it again?"

Franziska narrowed her eyes and snatched the pen out of Adrian's hands, "Give me that…" Writing down the chemical name on the paper, she dropped it down for Maya, "There."

Maya squinted at the words on the paper, "…Is this German or something?"

"It's called cursive." Franziska leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms.

Knowing better than to fight back, Maya looked at the paper once more, slowly coming to being able to decipher it. At that point, the judge slammed on his gavel, bringing the noisy court back into silence.

"Now that that's taken care of…" The judge sighed, "Have you any more questions, Mr. Wright?"

Phoenix sighed, shaking his head, "No–"

"I do!" Maya suddenly jumped up, waving the paper in her hands, "I have questions to ask the witness!"

"Oh!" The judge blinked out of surprise, "Mr. Wright's assistant! You have a line of questioning for the witness?"

"Yup!" Maya nodded gleefully.

"Is…" The judge stroked his beard, "Is that allowed…?"

Miles shrugged, "The prosecution has no objections to Miss Fey cross-examining the witness."

"The witness has an objection to Miss Fey cross-examining the witness!" Liza suddenly shouted.

The judge shook his head, "I'm afraid you're going to have to endure just a few more questions, Ms. Rodgers. My, I've never seen Miss Fey here in action before! I'm excited!"

"Aww, thank you, Your Honor!" Maya gleamed. She saw the strange look that Phoenix was giving her, but she didn't pay it much attention as she walked from out behind the bench to a few feet away from the witness stand.

Clearing her throat, Maya placed her hands on her hips and let out an easy sigh, "So, Ms. Rodgers… You're holding to the story that you went and got a perm the morning of the murder?"

"Yeah…"

"And that you were taking a shower during the time of the murder…?"

"Miss Fey–" The judge jumped in, "I'm sure you know what you're doing, but the witness has made it quite clear about her actions that day. No further questioning on that matter is needed."

"Oh, I know, Your Honor." Maya barely looked fazed, "I promise I got a point to all of this."

"Carry on, then. You're doing marvelously!" The judge smiled. He was so supportive.

Maya turned back to Liza, "You've stated before that you've gotten a perm numerous times already, so that wasn't your first… Surely you must know the most important rule of getting a perm then, right?"

Liza looked confused, so Maya just continued, "You know, the one where you can't wash your hair for 24 hours after the treatment or else you're at risk of affecting the…" Glancing down at the paper, Maya squinted her eyes, carrying on slowly, "…Animal…theological…"

"Ammonium thioglycolate." Adrian called from the stands.

"Of affecting the ammonium thioglycolate!" Maya carried on without skipping a beat, "I would think someone who's gotten a perm twice a year for, say… 15 years would know that, right?"

Liza's eyes were wide like she was a deer in the headlights. Maya still didn't let up yet; she tapped her chin and pursed her lips as she stood in front of the witness stand, "Your curls are still holding up well. I honestly doubt that you were in that shower after all, which meant you should've heard that gunshot! You would've seen Mrs. Chisholm try and stash the gun by that point! Isn't that right, Ms. Rodgers?"

"I-I…" Liza slammed her hands down on the stand in a panic, fear stricken all over her face, "I mean, how would you feel if your father married a girl your age?! She's only a few years older than I am! It's sickening!"

Maya's face dropped, mild shock written across her expression when she swallowed before speaking, "…Ms. Rodgers…did you kill your father?"

"I didn't mean to kill him! I thought it was you walking through the door!" Liza snarled, pointing to Erin in the defendant's chair.

Erin audibly gasped and recoiled at the threat, visibly unsettled.

The judge pounded his gavel as a result, "Bailiffs! Escort the witness into custody!"

Maya turned towards Phoenix, having trouble to contain her giddiness until she exploded in a squeal and jumped up and down, "I did it! I found the murderer! I found the murderer!" At the sudden, judgmental eyes on her, Maya eventually settled down and ducked her head out of view, "I mean… wow. So sad…"

The judge cleared his throat, eyes closed, "Hmm… Miss Fey's first cross-examination and she discovered the true culprit… Dare I say beginner's luck or true talent? Either way, I believe the verdict is clear. In the case of The People vs. Erin Chisholm… the court finds the defendant Not Guilty. Court is adjourned." With a slam of his gavel, the judge ended one of the most underprepared cases of Phoenix's career.

Back in the defendant lobby, Erin was ecstatic to have been acquitted, "Andrews wasn't kidding! You two are miracles! Wow!"

"I told you they were the best." Adrian smiled. Franziska let out a sort of a grunt from the couch at that, where she was laying down and checking her phone.

Erin grinned, but she quickly turned back to business and let out a bit of a sigh, placing her hands on her hips, "Well, since we won… I guess we have to work out that fee, huh? So, what's your base price?"

Maya looked at Phoenix, who was just frozen. "Uhh…" Phoenix winced, "I don't…"

"We don't ever actually get paid for this stuff…" Maya scratched her teeth.

"Yeah, everyone normally skips out on the bill… So we've never had the need to make a base price…" Phoenix rubbed the back of his head, "How much should we get?"

"You ask it, I'll give it." Erin crossed her arms.

Maya's eyes twinkled. Phoenix immediately covered Maya's mouth so she wouldn't try and list a ridiculous price, "...You know what, we'll get back to you on that one."

Shrugging, Erin just sighed, "Works for me."

At the dip in the conversation, Franziska stood up from the couch, making her way towards the doors of the lobby, "Well, the only thing worse than aiding the defense once is aiding it twice, so I've had enough of my fill for two lifetimes. I'm leaving before you somehow rope me into another mess." Once she opened the door, she sent one look back at the group before leaving, "It would be wise for you to thank Adrian for solving your case for you, Phoenix Wright. We both know that you couldn't have managed to save Mrs. Chisholm off of death's row yourself." With that, Franziska was gone.

Things were awkwardly silent at that point, Phoenix looking a bit guilty, and Adrian just sighed and shook her head, eyes still on the door, "I'm… I'll go talk to her." While Adrian walked to the door, she stopped by Phoenix's side and placed her hand on his arm, "Don't listen to her. You did great out there, and I appreciate everything you've done for me and Erin. Don't forget that."

"It's fine, but… Thank you, Adrian. I won't." Phoenix said, gaze focused on the floor for the most part.

In the main hall of the courthouse, Adrian managed to catch up with Franziska before she left, and she hurried down the stairs so she wouldn't miss her, "Franziska! Franziska, wait!"

Franziska stopped in her tracks, lowering her head with a sigh. She turned to face Adrian though, and her expression looked a tad inconvenienced, "…Yes, Adri?"

Once she was close enough, Adrian came to a standstill within arm's length of Franziska. She had to take a steadying breath, worked up over something, but she wasn't the type to explode at people, "What has gotten into you, Franziska? Why are you treating Phoenix like that?"

Narrowing her eyes but catching herself quickly enough, Franziska just tore her gaze away and clenched her jaw. She didn't want to be angry at her friend, "…It's not something you'd understand."

"What, because I'm not as smart or as gifted as you…?" Adrian let out a sigh, "You have to learn that sometimes, people are on your level. You need to believe that I can hold my own with you. I'm not stupid."

Franziska rubbed her forehead for a moment, looking back at Adrian apologetically, "Adrian– please… That's not what I meant. I'd never try and mock you like that… Maybe 'understand' was the wrong word… It's more like… you wouldn't believe me…"

"I'll never trust you if you don't trust me with these things." Adrian's expression turned solemn, "Just tell me what's wrong."

"I saw it, Adrian…" Franziska pointed toward the defendant lobby, "I saw him lying to me, locking the truth away. He can't be trusted… and an attorney that can't be trusted is one that doesn't deserve my respect. You have to believe me when I say he's harboring a dark secret."

Adrian looked doubtful, "How do you know you're right?"

Franziska bit her lip, "…An enchanted magatama from Kurain…but if nothing else, his body language and aversion of the topic help to make my point."

Adrian still appeared to have her concerns, but she at least looked a lot more understanding. She nodded, though she stayed silent otherwise.

Franziska sighed, focusing on the ground, "…I'm sorry, Adri."

Holding her arms open, Adrian relaxed slightly, "I get it. Just…either ignore him, or don't talk to him at all. This is getting vicious, even beyond your standards."

Franziska went in for the hug, though she ended up pursing her lips in disappointment, "…I'm going soft."

"Stop saying that like it's a bad thing." Adrian warned, but she couldn't help but smile.

"…Fine." Franziska pulled away, huffing. She knew that continuing to pout would result in more admonishment from Adrian, so she did her best to change the subject, "I should probably get around to rescheduling with Amelia in exchange for ditching her at lunch…"

"Oh!" Adrian scratched her cheek, "I'm…sorry about that. I didn't know what else to do."

"Oh, no. It was a godsend, really." Franziska grimaced, "…It was so horribly awkward. I needed saving."

Adrian raised an eyebrow, "…Really? Huh. Well, maybe I can meet her next time. I could probably make things next awkward."

"You know what?" Franziska grinned a bit, "Sounds like a good idea. But…before I forget… Find a different song for a ringtone. I can't have '13 Years Hard Time for Love' playing in front of people anymore."

Adrian laughed, "…Amelia knows, doesn't she?"

"She does." Franziska sighed, "I'm never going to hear the end of it, either."

Back in the defendant lobby, Erin was trying to change the mood following Franziska's little stint, and an idea popped into her mind.

"Hey, I know something we can do…" She grinned to herself, tapping her chin, "Come tomorrow night to my studio. Bring your friends. I'll have a free class, just for you guys."

"Class…?" Phoenix tilted his head, raising an eyebrow.

"An Exer class, of course." Erin placed her hands on her hips, "Pretty ingenious, huh? Just come on over at 7. It'll be fun."

Phoenix nodded, not wanting to say no, "Alright. I'll bring Maya along."

"What?!" Maya clenched her fists, "I don't exercise! Who do you think I am?!"

"I'm definitely bringing Maya along." Phoenix grinned, "I'll find some others to bring along too."

"Good." Erin smirked, "I'll have you know, I'm the best for a reason. You're never gonna wanna stop after I'm through with you."

Phoenix's forehead became drenched with sweat, and he hunched over and spared a glance at Maya, "...Is that a threat? It feels like a threat."

Maya just shook her head, "I told you, Nick. This is what happens when you exercise. War happens."

"You better show up. I normally don't do these things for free." Erin pointed out.

Phoenix croaked, "I'll be there…!"

Erin nodded, "Good. Now, I'm off to enjoy my time as a free woman. I'll see you tomorrow, Phoenix." Winking, she walked out of the defendant lobby with ease.

Phoenix and Maya just let out a collective sigh at the hell they dragged themselves into somehow...