On a chilly fall day near Kurain Village, a lawyer and a spirit medium chatted eagerly while they walked along the path of the forest, admiring the red and orange leaves of the trees. Behind them by just a few yards, walked another pair: a lawyer… and a spirit medium. (Huh.) This pair, which was slightly older than the one in front, talked to each in slightly hushed voices under the loud chattering of their other companions.

"It sure is nice to visit again," stated ace attorney Phoenix Wright, shivering a little despite the warmth of his dark blue coat.

"Uh-huh! It's so pretty out!" agreed his companion, bouncing around him with unbridled childish enthusiasm. "And the townsfolk have missed seeing you!"

"Heh… yea," he laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "I was talking about Apollo and Pearls, but it's great to see the town, too. I know it's growing, but it somehow still seems smaller every time I visit."

"Oh, you get used to that," laughed Maya. "Trust me, being the leader of the village and all, I know every nook and cranny of this place like the back of my hand."

"Uh-huh," Phoenix replied, seeming somewhat distracted. The spirit medium frowned.

"You've got your thinking face on, Nick. Is something wrong? You'd better not be thinking about work while you're visiting on vacation," she pouted.

"Nothing's wrong," he laughed, trying to ease his companion's nerves. She was very difficult when she got pouty. "I was just… thinking. That's all."

"Thinking about what?" asked Maya cheerfully. Her eyes lit up. "Ooh, is it mischief? Can I join? You'd better not be planning a prank without me."

"No, no, nothing like that— I'm just wondering something." He glanced ahead at Apollo and Pearl, who were deep in conversation, and slowed his pace to fall behind them even further. Maya caught onto the tone of secrecy and raised her eyebrows in excitement.

"Oooh, what are you wondering?" she whispered. "And why are we slowing down?"

"I just—" He paused. "Those two have been spending an awful lot of time together, haven't they?"

Maya's grin slowly faded as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Yea… why?"

"And they laugh a lot when they're around each other."

"Uh-huh."

"And they seem awfully suspicious whenever we walk in on them. Like, if it's just the two of them, and then one of us comes into the room, they immediately stop talking and start blushing and stammering like witnesses who've just been caught lying."

Maya stopped walking completely and turned to face the man beside her. "Nick, where are you going with this?" she asked, her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed in expectancy.

"W-well…" He put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "You don't think there could be something going on we don't know about, do you? Like… maybe they're dating?"

"WHAT?!" Maya yelped, attracting the attention of the possible-couple in question.

"Is something wrong, Ms. Fey?" Apollo called behind him, worriedly.

"We can slow down, if you want us to!" Pearl added anxiously.

"No, no, you're good!" she covered quickly. "Nick here just thinks that the second season of The Steel Samurai is better than the first, that's all!" Then, turning back to her walking partner, she asked in a hushed whisper, "How can you possibly think Apollo and Pearls are dating?"

"Well, think about it!" he responded. "We went away to Texas and you asked Apollo to watch over Pearl while she trained, even though they barely knew each other. We came back, and suddenly they were acting like they were best friends! Remember how they kept whispering to each other over dinner and making jokes we didn't get?"

"That doesn't prove anything," huffed Maya.

"Okay, but you have to admit, the blushing is pretty suspicious," he pointed out.

"Apollo doesn't blush, and Pearl just looks that way 'cuz she's pretty," Maya insisted.

"He does too blush. Here, watch this," the lawyer said. He sped up his pace as quietly as he could so the others couldn't hear him coming. They seemed deep in a debate of some sort.

"…I'm telling you, if I offered you a million dollars, right now…" Pearl was saying, but her voice suddenly faded as she seemed to notice Phoenix's presence.

"Nope, I'd be way too nervous. I'd never—" Apollo started, but his compatriot elbowed his shoulder. "Ow! Why—" He turned around and yelped in surprise upon accidentally bumping into Phoenix. A deep crimson blush rose to his cheeks.

"M-Mr. Wright! S-sorry, I didn't notice— um, do you need anything?" he asked. Pearl shot him a small, smug smile and he glared back, his blushing only getting worse.

"Ah, no," Phoenix said as casually as he could, realizing he should've come up with an excuse for interrupting the two before he'd done so. "I just wanted to make sure we have the dinner time right. Maya said we're dining at six, but I thought we weren't going out until seven."

Pearl shook her head. "It takes about an hour to get there, so we're leaving at six. We should get to the city at seven."

"Ah, got it. Thanks," he said, and quickly dropped his pace. He could still hear Pearl giggling as Maya caught up with him.

"Did you see that?" he asked confidently. "Try and tell me that wasn't extremely suspicious."

"You can't just go with your first assumption, Nick!" Maya argued. "You know that. There could be a totally different explanation to what seems like a cut-and-dried case!"

"Yea, but name one other possible reason for why they'd be behaving like they are!" Phoenix exclaimed.

"W-well… I can't think of anything yet," admitted the spirit medium, "but I will! Apollo and Pearls just don't make sense together."

"I think you're just protective of your little cousin," Phoenix argued, folding his arms and smirking.

"No I'm not! I think you're just too eager for your son to get married so you can have grandkids, Mr. Old-guy Grandpa," Maya retorted, sticking her tongue out.

"What? That doesn't— Wait, Apollo isn't my son!" the lawyer exclaimed.

"I mean, he basically is," replied the black-haired girl, rolling her eyes. There was a lull in the conversation as Phoenix suddenly became very interested in fixing the broken zipper on his coat. Suddenly, there was a cry of alarm from up ahead.

"What's wrong?!" both older members of the party asked simultaneously.

"I forgot my watch is off! It's already 6:10!" Apollo called back, and he and Pearl made a hasty retreat to rejoin the other two.

"We'll continue this discussion later," Maya hissed to Phoenix, and turned around to lead the group back in the direction of the car. "I call shotgun!"

"Hey, no fair!" Apollo argued. "I called it earlier with Pearl, but you didn't hear me."

"I'll race you for it, then!" she offered, and immediately took off sprinting down the path.

"H-hey, wait! I'm not athletic!" he cried, but ran after her anyway, already panting trying to catch up.

Pearl and Phoenix laughed at their competitive counterparts, then turned to each other semi-awkwardly. Pearl bowed politely, then giggled at the motion.

"So… hi!"

Phoenix smiled.

"Hi."

—

(A/N: YAY IT'S FINISHED AND STUFF *cue end-of-trial confetti* XP I thought it would be cute to end on the only dynamics that aren't touched upon in the fic [Maya and Apollo + Phoenix and Pearl], since I'm all for cute family stuff ^_^ Also shipping. Because writing characters shipping each other is really fun. XD Hope everyone enjoyed this fic, although I'm not gonna make a big deal out of it since its followers are still pretty few in numbers. If anyone did enjoy the fic, reviews are appreciated!)

(Response A/N: YAAAY I'm so happy you liked it! XD Hope you enjoyed this little bonus chapter ;D And yea, SoJ was my first *game,* although my first exposure to the series [and thing that brought me over here] was… *ahem*… an 8-hour-long fanmade crossover of PW and My Little Pony called Turnabout Storm. I've watched it all the way through twice and will probably watch it a third time soon X'D I haven't played the original trilogy; I'm probably just going to watch playthroughs of it. I've seen the anime so I'm pretty sure I know most of the big spoilers, but it should still be fun XP I MIGHT get the games, we'll see, but I also need to play the other Professor Layton games… hnggg… XD) (Also, wow, that's 6 years! That's a long time! - I will certainly come to you if I have any questions XD) (Oh, and hey Red, when you get back to the USA and remake your account, shoot me a PM, will you? I'd like to chat more :3)