Isshin Matoi picked up his daughter from the police station and drove home. "Dad, I-"

"I've heard that the former chief was arrested for bribery. I have no doubt that he would also throw little girls in jail." The incident Isshin was talking about revolved around two students using their parent's position to make other students jump off the roofs just for their entertainment. That issue had been quickly resolved by a transfer student. "However, you did throw punches. Haven't you been taught not to solve everything with violence?"

"Like I had anyone to teach me." Ryuko's statement struck Isshin, and the two remained silent on the way home. Ryuko broke that silence when they got home. "Still, why am I being suspended even though those two are wrong?"

"Because the truth is hated." Isshin told her. "Power is unlimited and plots are flowing. To them, the truth is a pit that they cannot cross, so they seek to bury it. Without the laws to uphold the truth, the law of the strong has no limits. Such is why the school wishes to keep their reputation by trimming off the parts they do not want to have heard."

"The truth, huh?" Ryuko plucked an interesting book from the shelf on the way to her room. Law 101. "Then as long as there is an innocent to be saved, the truth will be my strongest weapon."

((So yeah, a Phoenix Wright crossover. I'll try to include a case from Layton Brothers in this idea.))

A girl with black hair with a stripe of red looked at her newly-found friend. "Wait, so the guy serving as a door decoration is left to die there, but there's a trial for this murder, Mako?"

Mako nodded. "That's right, Ryuko! Gamagoori is very big...and very big on discipline. He just wants to make sure he punishes the right person."

"Strange school." Ryuko and Matoi were currently on the balcony of a One-Star apartment. There was an outline of a body that traced the table and chair, though the place was mostly empty. There was also the lingering scent of something heavy. "Ugh, I can't bear this smell. Mako, can you tell me about the victims and suspects?"

"Oh, the girl who died was Yakuna Shinoya. She was dating Sam Phelp from the Football Club. I think there was also a maid and a butler."

"Hm..." Ryuko picked up a piece of paper from the floor. "Alright, where's Sam then?"

"All rise for the Two-Star Judge!" The students greeted the judge as he made his way to the podium. Ryuko blinked.

"Isn't he a bit too old for a student court?" Ryuko asked Mako. "I mean, he's bald and has a beard."

"That's part of his uniform." Mako explained. "Ah, that's right, because this is a simple trial, the Law Club provides both the judge and the prosecutors. If it gets more confusing, I've heard that one of the Elite Fours will be up there instead. Maybe Lady Satsuki could be up there; she looks good from a high angle."

"Satsuki Kiryuin, huh?" Ryuko watched as a One-Star Lawyer took the stand. "My statement is simple. A Yakuna Shinoya was found dead on her balcony. In her dying message, she indicated that Sam Phelp was the one who killed her."

"OBJECTION!" Ryuko yelled.

The Judge blinked in surprise. "Um, shouldn't you deliver your statement first, Miss..."

"Ryuko Matoi, Junior Attorney. And I'm here to prove that Sam Phelp didn't do it. As long as he believes he is innocent, then I will uncover the truth!" Ryuko boldly stated. "Anyway, I want to know what her dying statement is, Blanky."

The newly named Blanky the lawyer sputtered. "Bl-bl...What kind of an attorney are you if you don't even know what the case is."

Ryuko sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Well, I only found out today..."

The Judge pondered curiously. "Very well, Miss Matoi will be given a copy of the case. Blanky, please call your first witness."

"But my name's not..." Blanky sighed. "Alright, I shall call the first witness, Zuko Takada."

Zuko Takada's testimony:
"I work as a bellboy at Yakuna's apartment, delivering food for the residents there. I delivered a sandwich to Yakuna on her balcony, and then I left her room. On the way down, I met a man who wanted to see Yakuna, but he did not want to tell me his name."

Mako stared intently at Zuko. "He's wearing a scarf, but it's not winter."

"HOLD IT!" Ryuko shouted. "Zuko, you said you delivered food? How did you get it to the residents?"

"I'm entrusted with a keycard." Zuko explained. "You should find that the guests and the maids are also provided with a keycards to enter their rooms."

Ryuko nodded. "And what kind of sandwich did Yakuna order?"

"It's a Deluxe Fish Sandwich." Zuko explained. "It's a sandwich with a complex mix of flavors, with the fish fried to perfection."

"As tasty as it is, can we get back to the trial?" The Judge reminded them.

"Sorry." Ryuko muttered. "Okay, could you identify the man you met on the way down?"

"I do not need to. He is the one you are defending." The spectators whispered to each other as the Judge banged his gavel. "Order! Now, do you have any other questions, Miss Matoi?"

"No questions." Ryuko concluded. "Unless the prosecution has more witnesses, I wish to call Sam Phelp to the stand."

Blanky agreed. "Very well."

-

Sam Phelp's testimony:
"I transferred here to be a football player, and I was dating Yakuna at the time. I did see the bellboy on my way up to Yakuna's room, but I ignored him. I entered her room and waited, but she didn't appear. Eventually, it got too stuffy in the room, so I left the room and hung a sign."

"HOLD IT!" Ryuko shouted.

Mako looked at her. "You like shouting, do you? I do too."

Ryuko pressed on. "Sam, why were you dating Yakuna?"

"That's none of your business!" Sam shouted. "I...I mean..."

"The witness is right. Their dating is not important." The Judge told them.

Ryuko knew that cost some points for her. "Uh, why did you ignore the bellboy?"

"Because he wasn't important."

"But-"

"Yakuna and I know each other's names, isn't that enough?"

"I suppose..." Ryuko suspected that the matter wouldn't have changed even if Phelp spelled his name. "How did you enter her room?"

"She gave me a copy of her keycard."

Ryuko figured Sam was truthful on that part. "So you just waited in her room?"

"Of course I did! I didn't go anywhere else."

"Of course he would say that." Blanky added.

"Shut up!" Ryuko turned back to Sam. "So, why did you leave?"

"Ugh, there was so much aftershave. Heavy stuff too. I flipped the sign for cleaning. Ugh, I can even smell it here."

Ryuko noticed it too. "So you're saying the aftershave you smell here and at the apartment is..."

"It was me." Zuko interrupted. "Of course, it would make sense, seeing that I did deliver the sandwich before this brute came."

"What did you call me!" Sam would have leapt out of his stand. He was not making a good impression.

"After all, Yakuna did leave the dying message stating you did it!" The crowd muttered speculations about Zuko's statement.

"Settle down you two." Ryuko stared intently at Zuko. "You mentioned something about a dying message earlier."

Blanky jumped in. "Ah, yes. We were close to cleaning up the crime scene, but Zuko came after he heard the commotion. He claims to like mystery novels, and pointed out the dying message."

The Judge banged his gavel. "Well, I believe Miss Matoi and Blanky should review the evidence in this case before we continue on. Now, can someone get me a fish sandwich?"

Ryuko read through the case. "So the first evidence is a tie found in a plant on the balcony. They say that Yakuna was strangled to death, so this could easily be the murder weapon. According to this, the wounds indicate she was strangled from behind."

"Hey, that looks like what Sam wears." Mako pointed out. Come to think of it, Sam was not wearing a football uniform now. Probably casual wear.

"Alright, this is the second evidence." Ryuko looked at the picture of the woman's hands. What was so strange was that it was embedded inside a sandwich, with the fish patty removed from the sandwich. "So, this must be the dying message."

"Hm, Pickles, Hand, Eggs, Lettuce and Pineapple. That sound delicious." As Mako dreamed of the sandwich, Ryuko thought there was something fishy about the message.

"Court is now back in session." The Judge announced as he wiped his mouth. "Now, does anyone want to say anything?"

Ryuko stood up. "Yeah, I would like to ask Zuko about the dying message."

Zuko: Dying Message-
"Ah, I heard from the maid what happened and went to look for myself. The investigators were curious about the sandwich, so I tried to help. When I saw how the sandwich was arranged, I knew who the killer was!"

"HOLD IT!" Ryuko shouted. "How would the maid know?"

Blanky shook his head. "The maid was the one to discover Yakuna's body. Currently, there is not enough evidence to convict her."

Ryuko nodded. "How did you help?"

Zuko smiled. "Well, I do like mystery novels. Victims usually leave a dying message in a way that the killer wouldn't find out. This just happens to be one of those cases."

"And how did the sandwich tell you who the murderer was?"

Zuko began tracing letters in the air. "It is simple, really; The first letters of each item in the sandwich made a word. That spelled P-H-E-L-P, and I did hear about such a player, though I didn't recognize him at first."

Ryuko figured that Zuko's new statement needed more review. "So, there were a lot of items she could spell with the sandwich?"

"Ah, she had specific order." Zuko admitted. "I guess Yakuna knew she would die and needed only those ingredients."

Ryuko thought hard about the last statement. "How did you hear about Phelp?"

"Are you kidding?" Blanky spat out. "Sam's the only foreign football player in school!"

Ryuko cursed herself. That part was obvious, but why did it sound so wrong.

"Now, if there is nothing more-"

"OBJECTION!" Ryuko interrupted Blanky. "Zuko, how do you spell Sam's last name?"

"It's P as in pickles, H as in hand, E as in eggs, L as in lettuce, and P as in pineapple. There's no mistake what it spells out."

"True," Ryuko admitted as she pulled out a piece of paper. "But what if it doesn't spell his name! Your Honor, I present evidence otherwise!"

Mako's eyes widened. "Didn't you pick that up from Yakuna's balcony?"

"Yes, it's a receipt for the sandwich she ordered." Ryuko allowed Blanky and the Judge to examine the reciept. "You will notice that it has Sam Felp's name on it."

Blanky scoffed. "So? Just because there is a typo-"

"Sam and Yakuna dated each other, so I doubt Yakuna would mispell his name." Ryuko countered. "Besides, if she was creating the dying message, she could just remove the pickles and leave the F as in Fish patty in there!"

Mako blinked as she connected the dots. "Ryuko's right! If I put my hand in my sandwich and remove a part of the sandwich, the murderer would think I'm crazy! So Yakuna couldn't make the message!"

Everyone was coming to the same conclusion, even Blanky as he tried to regain his victory. "Just because Yakuna couldn't make the message didn't mean that Sam Felp or what-his-name is still ruled out! He could have crafted the message to direct attention away from him."

Blanky was right. Just because Ryuko got rid of the blame didn't mean that Sam was off the hook yet. She rubbed the back of her neck as she wondered how to save Sam, and then she looked at her hand.

"Your Honor, has anyone examined Yakuna's hand?"

The Judge blinked. "Miss Matoi, the case shows that Yakuna's hand was bare."

Blanky simply scoffed at her. "And what's so important about her hand? We just established that the dying message was fake."

"That's because the dying message wasn't made to point at Sam Felp, but to direct it away from Yakuna." Everyone tried to ponder what Ryuko was thinking but came up with a blank. "If we agree that the message was not made by Yakuna, we can assume that Yakuna spent her time fighting against her assailant. Her hand managed to gain an important piece of evidence before she died, isn't that right, Zuko Takada?"

Zuko stammered. "W-what? Don't be obsurd. There wasn't anything else in the sandwich!"

Blanky wondered that as well. "If you bothered to read the files, you'll see that there was nothing in the sandwich except those ingredients."

"In truth, there was only one ingredient used to hide the evidence: the pickles. If you smelled a pickle, it's hard to pick up any other scent. However, it would be suspicious if the hand was just drenched in pickle juice, which is why you created the message to distract us." Ryuko explained. "It's easy to explain all the aftershave in the apartment since you work as delivery, but it'll be hard to say why your aftershave was on the hand of a dead person, and I bet she also gave you a wound."

"That's...that's preposterous!" Zuko shouted as he rolled his sleeves up. "See, my arms are clean!"

"And where does aftershave usually go?" The Judge and Blanky scratched their chins at Ryuko's question. "I'm guessing it's applied on the face or on the neck, and you just happen to be wearing a fancy scarf. Why don't you take it off, Zuko? One must wonder how large and hideous a scar Yakuna inflicted. I bet her nails were long and sharp, and she cut in very deep."

"Hey, Yakuna did not scar me!" Zuko clamped his mouth. "I-I mean, that is..."

"Your Honor, Zuko has admitted to possessing a scar on his neck. If we match that scar with Yakuna's hand, we will know that he was the killer."

Zuko shook on the stand. "Alright, I did it. You wanted to hear that? You want to hear that I also dated Yakuna before. I showered her with gifts until I was dirt poor, but what did she do? She went to another guy!"

"Oh my, so the butler did it." The Judge looked at Sam Felp and then Ryuko. "Well then, it seems that Sam Felp is NOT GUILTY."

At the bang of the gavel, Sam gave a quick hug to Ryuko and muttered his thanks.

Blanky scowled at Ryuko. "You got lucky, you know that? Next time, I will beat you!"

"There is no next time!" The light shone through the doors of the court as a girl with straight hair and huge eyebrows stood. "Blanky, was it? Not only have you failed to see the truth of the murder, but you also fail to see the reality of your world. You are no longer a One-Star Lawyer Student, you are a No-Star!"

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Blanky screamed, his hair falling from the brilliance of Satsuki Kiryuin. Her work done, Satsuki turned around, only to find Ryuko Matoi in her path.

"So, you're Satsuki Kiryuin, are you?" Ryuko pulled out a small red object that expanded into an odd red blade. "This blade was embedded in my dad. Tell me, do you know about the other half of the Scissors Blade?"

Satsuki looked down at her. "So what if I have?"

Ryuko glared at her smirk. "You don't know how much I want to run this blade through you, but I'm not going to fight you. I am going to drag you into the courtroom and expose your crimes, and I won't let even one shred of evidence be ignored."