Turnabout Guest

The doorbell rang. Lea, the maid, travelled towards the door in a fast pace and opened it. There stood a tall, older man nicely dressed, with some luggage in his right hand. 'Good afternoon there, I came to meet my old friend Manfred,' the man said, looking into the house.

'Ah, yes, so I have heard. Please, come in, mister,' she replied and opened the door further. Little Miles and Franziska looked curiously behind the corner of the hallway. They never got visitors.

Mr. Von Karma was sitting in his armchair in his study. The whole room was filled with old wooden bookshelves. Thousands of books related to law were put there. Miles always had the dream to go through them all, however, he was fully aware that it was just a dream. He was not allowed to come into Von Karma's study. Sometimes the man would lend him a book on a current matter he had to learn and that was something Miles was always excited about. however, he did not show this excitement to his teacher, since foolish excitement did not fit the Von Karmas.

Lea brought the man to the study. When seeing the man sitting in his armchair, the guest smirked. 'It has been a while, Manfred.'

The door had been closed. Miles and Franziska could not hear a thing anymore.

'Miles Edgeworth, do you know that man?! He is addressing papa with his first name, and he is speaking in English!' young Franziska asked him in German. She sounded threatening and demanded an answer to her question. Also, she hold her riding cop in one hand, ready to attack. The twenty-year-old Miles was not impressed though, he was used to her manner of talking to him.

'I have no idea, nor have I ever seen that man.' She watched him with a doubted look. 'I really have no idea why you are so keen on spying on Mr. Von Karma. I have enough to do for the lesson of tomorrow, so if you don't mind-,' he began. 'Ack!' He was whipped.

'You are going to help me, Miles Edgeworth.' He growled.

'What are you two doing here?' Both Franziska and Miles jumped in the air from shock and sighed in relief when they saw it was Lea. 'Miles, Mr. Von Karma asked for you to come to his study.'

'M-Me?' Miles asked her, quite surprised.

'Yes, it would be wise to go there directly,' she said to him.

'What about me?! Why is only Miles asked to go there?! I am a Von Karma!' Franziska almost shouted through the hallway.

'Please, calm down, Franziska,' Miles commented and glanced at her.

'I-I am sure he will call you too, Franziska. Why don't you go upstairs and wait there?' Lea replied and walked towards the kitchen to get the guest some tea.

'You heard her, go upstairs. I will be on my way.'

'I hate you, Miles Edgeworth.'

He did not reply, only focusing on adjusting his cravat. Franziska turned around and moved upstairs, he heard the door of her room slam behind her.

Miles knocked on the door twice, waiting for a reply.

'You may come in,' it sounded. In English, nonetheless. It surprised Miles, he had not spoken English with his mentor for a long time.

Miles came in, and directly saw Mr. Von Karma and his guest sitting in the old leather armchairs. He walked towards the guest. It was a muscular man, much bigger than Miles and even Mr. Von Karma.

'Edgeworth, this is Damon Gant, Deputy Chief of the Los Angeles district police department. He is the next Los Angeles District Chief of Police,' Mr. Von Karma explained in English.

'Ah, you are the Edgeworth boy. Manfred told many high commending things about you,' the broad-shouldered man said in English and stuck out a hand. Edgeworth thought that he had never met a man as intimidating as Mr. Von Karma, but this man came incredibly close.

'It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Gant,' Miles answered in English and shook the man's hand, receiving a handshake which made his hand feel sore.

Miles then sat down and listened to the two men talking. Miles figured out that his mentor and the guest had worked together in California for some time and had apparently become good affiliates. Eventually, his mentor asked Miles to explain the main topics they had studies the last months. And so, Miles did.

'Edgeworth is almost ready for his first case as a perfect prosecutor,' Manfred then added to his protégé's story. 'He has received his prosecutor's badge last month. Now we need a suitable first court case.'

'Well, well, isn't that exciting, Worthy?'

Miles kept a neutral face, trying to ignore the last bit of the sentence.

'There is no need for excitement, only the need for a guilty verdict,' the young man answered. Manfred smirked and watched Damon Gant giving a laugh.

'Yes, Worthy. We need to get rid of those criminals,' he then replied.

Then someone knocked on the door.

'Come in,' Manfred answered and watched Lea the maid entering.

'Sirs, dinner is ready to be served.'

'Yes, we are coming,' he answered and stood up with his crane in one hand.

The guest joined for dinner and the four sat at the enormous dinner table. Manfred introduced Franziska only after the long conversation of the three men in her father' study, which she was quite annoyed about. Miles got all her papa's attention. She gave her 'little brother' glances at they were eating.

'There is an interesting case that perhaps little Worthy can take up.'

Edgeworth looked up from his plate.

'What kind of case is this, Damon?' Manfred asked him, and continued cutting his expensive meat with a sharp cutlery.

'You know that prosecutor Byrne Faraday?' he asked. Manfred nodded but Miles gave his a confused look. 'He was taken off the case because the defendant in his case accused him of being the Great Thief Yatagarasu and committing murder. The judge has requested that Prosecutor Faraday needs to be replaced with a different prosecutor in three days.'

'In three days?' Miles asked him, not certain if he had heard that well.

'Yeah, three days. So if you want this case, you better call them today or tomorrow.'

'It does sound like a good idea. Edgeworth and I will speak about this after dinner,' Manfred continued and watched how Miles glanced at him.

And so, the new prosecutor and the two Von Karma's stood at the airport of Los Angeles, ready for Miles to start his career.

'Your first case, here in California. I expect nothing short of perfection, Edgeworth! Prepare yourself well,' Manfred said as they stepped into the taxi to the five stars hotel. Miles nodded his head and looked at his mentor, who sat in the passenger's seat.

'Yes, sir. A guilty verdict is what I will get.'

- END -