"Oh. My. Gosh. THAT IS FREAKING AMAZING!" Ema was bouncing up and down in her seat when Phoenix told her about spin the bottle. "Ssshh. Keep it down. I only told you because I thought you wouldn't tell anybody else." "I'm sorry, it's just too kawaii!" "I don't think grown men kissing is kawaii, whatever the hell that means..." "So did you do anything besides that, like cuddle?" "Cuddle?" "Yeah." "Um, no. No cuddling." "Did you do anything?" Phoenix didn't want to mention the other half of that night, so he pushed the bandages to the back of his mind. "Well..." "Well, what?" "His hair was getting long, so I put it in a ponytail for him." Ema stared into space. "Woah...THAT"S SO CUTE!" Phoenix glared at her, not understanding what was cute about grown up gay guys fixing each other's hair. "Ema, quit." "No! I can't control it!" Phoenix sighed. They were already done with the project, so he couldn't tell her to focus on that. "Oh! Do you know what your mission will be? Or when your next mission even is?" Ema quit fan-girling and thought for a moment. "I think mine's Tuesday." "Oh, mine's Monday." "Is it the one that got cancelled?" "Yeah." "Did you keep the key card for the simulator?" "I think so..." Phoenix started digging in his vest pockets. "Oh, here it is." When he pulled the key card out, his hand nudged against the bandages, making a few strips fall onto the floor. "Why do you have bandages?" Ema asked. "Frick!" "Oh, um, I, uh..." "Your not good at lying are you?" Ema got down from her stool and grabbed the bandages. "Did Mr. Edgeworth...you know..." Phoenix was shocked at how upset Ema was and that she actually guessed what happened. Phoenix looked away and nodded. "Was it because of Larry?" Phoenix's eyes became huge, scared that Ema entered his mind or something. He nodded again. "Ugh...is he alright? Was it bad?" "Not too bad, but still enough for it to be somewhat serious." "How? Why?" Phoenix explained to her what Larry had said to Edgeworth and added the Psyche-Locks from this morning. "So, Psyche-Locks mean that you're hiding something and black ones pretty much mean that they're harder to break?" "Well, I don't know. The other night in the music room, I only broke one of Edgeworth's Psyche-Locks, but then this morning when Edgeworth promised Larry he would forgive him, they broke like glass." "Maybe they will only break for one thing and the more black ones, the more they want that thing." "Maybe." Ema began rubbing her lab coat. "I can't believe Mr. Edgeworth did that. Is he doing therapy again?" "I think so. I'm not sure what time though." Phoenix drew his attention to one of the test tubes. "I just feel like it's my fault." "Now how in the world is it your fault?" Ema asked, putting her hand on Phoenix's shoulder. "I don't know. If I would have ran after him...or grabbed him when he ran out...or controlled Larr-" "Phoenix, stop. It's not your fault." "But-" "No buts. It's not your fault. How should you know that Mr. Edgeworth was sensitive to name calling. How should you have known he was upset with other things when Larry was yelling at him?" "Well, I should have at least known he was upset about his dad when Larry brought it u-" "Larry brought up Mr. Edgeworth's dad?!" "Yeah." "He must have been super mad, because everybody knows how Mr. Edgeworth and his dad were." "What happened that made his dad die anyway? Like, I know that the von Karma shot him, but what made him shoot?" "I honestly don't know. I've never asked Mr. Edgeworth because I don't want him getting upset. Maybe you could ask Franziska." "His daughter?" "Yeah. She's in our simulator group today I think. I could ask her if you don't want to." "No, I'll ask her. Silvery blue hair, right?" "Yeah." Phoenix was allowed to leave early again with Ema. He did Gym again, everybody wanting to wrestle him. "Woah, Phoenix, your popular," Kay said in a handstand. "No, I think they want to make sure I just wasn't lucky against Shi-Long." Matt Engarde, the boy Phoenix met in the locker room, chose to go against him. "Watch out for this guy," Kay whispered. "He seems a little crazy." Almost as if Matt had heard Kay, he slicked his finger's through his long bangs, revealing scars that could have been from his fingernails or a cat. Phoenix couldn't tell. "Do they allow animals here?" he whispered to Kay. She giggled. "No, I'm serious." "Go like you did with Shi-Long, still throw him." "Alright." Phoenix fought a little lighter than yesterday, but somehow beat Matt faster than Shi-Long with the same armbar. Phoenix stuck out his hand to help Matt up. He smiled, but somewhat evil. "Looks like you weren't just lucky. Good game man." "Um, you too." Phoenix watched everybody else wrestle, including Kay beat up a boy at least 50 pounds heavier than her. "See you at dinner Kay." "See ya Phoenix. Oh!" Kay grabbed Phoenix's arm just as he was going to the changing room. "Can you...go to the music room with Edgeworth tonight? I know he'll go there. I just want you to make sure he's okay." Phoenix nodded. "I was planning on it anyway." Phoenix walked to the simulator room finding Ema was the only one there so far. "You're here early," Phoenix said, a small smile on his face. "You too. They told me when somebody in our group showed up, we could start. Do you want to start first?" Phoenix saw that only one other group had started. "Sure." Ema fixed the goggles around Phoenix's head and moved him into their group's simulator room. She stuck the electronic card into the small slot in the back of the goggles. "Alright, you're all set." Ema closed the door and sat at the control panel. "You ready?" "I can't do worse than yesterday, so sure." Ema flipped a switch and everything went dark under Phoenix's goggles. The scene changed to where the mission would be held tomorrow night. It was somewhat set in a city, but not a busy one. The building he had appeared infront of was the tallest one, but only by one story. Phoenix grabbed the lock pic from his bag and ran around the side of the building to the janitor entrance. He unlocked the door and slowly walked in, making sure he didn't make any noise. He started jogging, turning a few corners. He then ran up the stairs to the top floor, which made him run out of breathe. He picked the lock to the room at the end of the hallway, then slowly walking in. Someone, a guard probably, grabbed him from behind and choked him. Thinking quick, Phoenix bit his arm while grabbing the knife from his pocket. Phoenix didn't want to do it, but in the life or death situation, he had to kill the guard, or else he would be the one killed. Phoenix stabbed him in the stomach and the grip loosened as the guard feel to the floor. Phoenix ran over to the computer monitors in the room. "Which one was it? Green? Yeah, the one with green tape." Phoenix grabbed the flash drive from his bag and stuck it in the computer. He looked through all the files until he found the one he was looking for. He then dragged it to the flash drive, saving on it. Phoenix then deleted the file from the computer after he took the flash drive out, along with other ones. He ran out of the room and down the stairs the way he came. The goggles faded out of the scenery and went back to the simulator room. He saw Ema behind the glass with Franziska sitting next to her. Ema opened the door for Phoenix. "You did great!" "Better than last time, that's for sure." He put the goggles on Ema an put her key card in the slot, moving her into the middle of the room. He walked out, closed the door, and sat next to Franziska, who was manning the controls. "Hi, I'm Ph-" "Don't interrupt me while I'm working you foolish fool! One small mistake at this panel could mean life or death!" "Nice to meet you too. Might as well get straight to the point." "Why did your dad shoot Edgeworth's?" Phoenix whispered. Franziska stared at him for a long moment. "You know how to get my attention, Mr. Phoenix Wright." "How do you know my n-" "You're Miles new boyfriend, are you not?" "Uh, yeah." "Figures. You wouldn't want to know if you weren't close with him." "Um, oka-" "So I will tell you." "Well, if I have to go through this hell to find out, I don't know." "Papa and Gregory Edgeworth were always rivals, but they would never hurt each other. Well, one time they were on a mission and Gregory made a mistake, causing Papa to mess up. Papa was furious, because Gregory ruined his perfect record. He threatened Gregory with a gun, and Gregory started struggling, making Papa accidentally pull the trigger. Papa didn't know that the gun was loaded, or else he would have never done it." Phoenix was speechless, surprised at what Franziska had just told him. "So your dad was just joking around?" "Well yes. He would have never threatened anybody if the gun was loaded." "I see." Ema finished her simulation and Franziska finished hers. Phoenix ate dinner with Larry and Edgeworth, finally getting to the room with them after a long day. He took a shower, sweaty from gym, and came out, not seeing Larry or Edgeworth. "Wonder where Larry is," he whispered, nobody else in the room. He walked to the music room and opened the door slowly. Edgeworth was strumming the guitar with a sad expression on his face, daydreaming. He looked up when Phoenix closed the door. "Hey Wright." "Hi. Mind if I here you play?" "I don't mind, but I don't like singing in front of others." "But I love your singing." "Still, it feel weird." "How about you pick a song, and I'll play it on the piano while you play the guitar and sing." "You play piano?" "Yeah. Will you do it?" "Sure. What song do you want?" "Do you know...hhhmmm...oh! I Don't Care by Fall Out Boy?" "Sure." Edgeworth let out a nervous sigh as Phoenix sat at the piano. "Okay, one two three, go!" Phoenix played while Edgeworth strummed a few notes. Phoenix had to repeat a few times before Edgeworthhad the strength to sing. "Say my name and his in the same breath, I dare you to say they taste the same. Let the leaves fall off in the summer, and let December glow in flames..." Edgeworth continued to sing, growing more confident with each note sang. "Said-a I don't care just what-a you think, as long as it's about me, you said-a..." Edgeworth jammed out on the guitar at the end. Phoenix turned around smiling. "That was awesome!" "You weren't too bad either." Phoenix and Edgeworth continued to play songs throughout the night. "Hey Edgeworth?" "Yeah?" "Do they ever let people out of here for like, a vacation?" "Yeah, why?" "I was wondering, if you weren't planning anything else, if you wanted to hang out with me on Saturday." "Sure! What were you planning?" "I'm not sure." "Well, you can think about it in the morning. I'm going to bed." "Okay. I'll come with you." The two boys walked back to their room, Phoenix's arm around Edgeworth's shoulder. "Good night." "Night."