Snyderverse Neptunia Snippets
by Derald Snyder
Snippet 12- Guest Lecture
Timeline- After 'The Robotic Turnabout'.
*Lecture Hall, Phoenix Law School*
To say that Rei Ryghts was nervous was an understatement. (Has it really been so long since I won that mock trial here...?) And now she was back here again, but this time as a guest lecturer. After facing top graduate Adam Prentiss in court, he had personally recommended to the teachers and staff that she come to his alma mater to give a lecture to new and upcoming talent here, apparently to try and disrupt the prevailing wisdom in Lowee that defense attorneys should angle for plea deals instead of fighting for their client with all they had... While Bartholomew had helped her put together a presentation, he was insistent that she stand by herself in the lecture hall, though he agreed to watch her from the seats. (At least his presence will set my heart at ease... hopefully.) Her thought were interrupted as the bell sounded. (Well, this is it... Let's go, me...)
Entering the hall proper, she saw the rows of law students rising like an insurmountable wall before her, most having their attention focused on her... swallowing hard, she briskly walked up to the microphone, pulling it down a bit due to her small height. "Testing, testing... C-can everyone hear me?" Several students answered in the affirmative. "G-good morning... O-or is it afternoon?" A small rumble of laughter from the students. "(ahem) Well, allow me t-to introduce myself... my name is Rei Ryghts, attorney-at-law. I-I'm sure many of you have heard of me..."
"Yeah, the former CPU that went insane and got beat down by Neptune and the other CPUs!" a student called out.
"Y-yes that's right," Rei ducked her head. "Well, let's not d-dwell on that... I-I'm sure many of you have also heard of my l-later exploits as an attorney, correct?" Several answers in the affirmative. "W-well, let me say th-that I never would have g-gotten as far as I d-did without the help o-of my boss and mentor, Bartholomew Samson," she gestured to Bartholomew sitting halfway up the seats. "I-I know y-you've heard this several t-times before, but... thank you, Mr. Samson!" There was a small smattering of applause, Bart Samson giving a halfhearted wave to the students.
"S-so, what I'm g-going t-to focus on today, is... um, how t-to spot contradictions," Rei continued. "When you're a defense attorney, a basic skill is to spot contradictions between a witness' testimony and the evidence presented at trial. As a p-popular author once quoted, 'Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.' A lot of times, a witness may be misunderstanding what they saw, or p-perhaps even outright lying... So a defense attorney needs to call out these contradictions, a-and do their b-best to resolve them... Y-yes?" she addressed a student who raised their hand.
"You say that witnesses can lie or get things wrong, but what about forged evidence?" the student inquired.
"W-well, yes, there have b-been one or t-two instances I've encountered where evidence was f-forged... B-but f-for the sake of simplicity, we're g-going to assume th-that all evidence I t-talk about in this presentation is g-genuine," Rei responded. "Of course, evidence could also be missing, o-or simply undiscovered, so I usually have t-to convince the judge th-that the testimony and evidence is insufficient t-to render a verdict one way o-or the other, so he will adjourn for the day and allow me to find the missing evidence..."
"Aren't detectives supposed to be the ones finding evidence?" another student spoke up.
"W-well, yes... but the detective I've interacted with most often isn't exactly competent at his job," Rei growled, briefly shifting to her 'final boss' persona. "But, um, we're g-getting a little off-topic here... so, contradictions! I'm g-going to p-present some photographic evidence on the p-projector, and we'll see how well you can spot contradictions..." Taking a remote in hand, she pressed a few buttons, activating the projector, which displayed a PowerPoint slide that read 'Photographic Evidence Contradictions'. "So, w-we'll start with an easy one t-to warm up..." She clicked a button, advancing to the next slide, which showed a photo labeled 'Apple and Orange'. "Can anybody p-point out the contradiction in this photo?" Quite a few hands were raised. "Um, you," she pointed to a female NPC.
"That's not an orange!" the student exclaimed. "It's a grapefruit!"
"Oh, really? And what makes you so certain of that, peon?" Rei challenged.
"Simple," the NPC girl answered confidently. "First of all, that so-called orange is way too big compared to the apple! Also, oranges are usually darker in color!" There were a few murmurs of agreement.
"Well done, wo- (ahem) student," Rei caught herself, clicking to the next slide, which showed the grapefruit sliced open, revealing its purple innards. "Yes, the orange is indeed actually a grapefruit. Congratulations on having 20/20 vision."
"Rei," Bartholomew called out in warning.
"A-anyway, moving on," Rei reverted to her timid personality. "The next photo is something th-that might actually be seen in a c-court of law..." she clicked to the next slide, showing a photo of two men, one lying on the ground, the other holding a hammer in his right hand. "Here's the scenario: the man on the ground was found dead nearby where this photo was taken. The autopsy showed that he suffered blunt force trauma to the head. Um, d-does anyone know what b-blunt force trauma is?"
"It means someone had their head bashed in with a heavy blunt object," a student spoke up.
"C-close enough. Anyway, the prosecution's argument is that the other man was the one who killed the victim, and this photo shows him about to commit the crime. Now, c-can anyone spot anything th-that contradicts the p-prosecution's assertion?" Again, several hands were raised. "Yes?" she pointed to a male student.
"That man just seems to be carrying the hammer on his shoulder, not raising it up to bash the victim's head in," the NPC replied.
"Th-that's true, b-but the prosecution would counter that he simply swung it f-from his shoulder," Rei pointed out. "Yes?" she pointed to another student.
"The victim looks like he's holding out his hand for the other guy to pull him up, not trying to ward him off."
"G-good catch. B-but the prosecution will say that the victim wasn't expecting to get murdered... Yes?"
"I would ask if this is the only picture of the crime that the prosecution has," the student pointed out. "After all, if they have a 'before' picture, wouldn't there be an 'after' picture as well?"
"...HAAAA-hahahahaha!" Rei let loose with an evil laugh, causing half the students to rear back in their seats! "Well done, peon! You've stumbled upon one of my boss's greatest lessons: always think outside the box! Indeed, I would do the same thing, ask the prosecution if they had any more photos, and if so, why haven't they presented them yet? Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that the subsequent photos will sink the prosecution's case, but the more evidence and information you have, the better case you can argue!" (Actually, I didn't even think of that until now, but no need to let them know that...)
And so the lecture continued, until the final Q & A session... "Miss Ryghts, have you ever defended anyone who was really guilty of their crimes?" a student asked.
"Y-yes, I have defended a few g-guilty clients," Rei nodded. "B-but as my mentor says, I c-can at least say th-that they had p-proper representation in c-court, c-compared to most c-current defense lawyers in this nation... Yes?"
"So, why does your mentor, Mr. Samson, not act like all the other defense lawyers?"
"Mr. Samson, would you care to answer this one?" Rei deferred.
Standing up, Bartholomew said loudly, "Well, I actually moved here from Leanbox with my father, who was something of a crusading lawyer himself. He saw the current system in this nation as utterly corrupt, and took it upon himself to change the system. And now I follow in his footsteps after he passed on."
"But why would you take on Rei Ryghts of all people as your apprentice?" another student asked.
"Well, I happened to find her half-frozen on the streets and took her to my office to get her some food. And since she had nowhere else to go, I decided to hire her on to help with paperwork. Best decision I ever made, in hindsight. Any other questions for Miss Ryghts?"
"Is it true that you defeated a valedictorian student in a mock trial here?"
"Y-yes, that's right," Rei nodded. "Adam Prentiss, who recently passed the bar and became a new prosecutor. I actually faced him again in court proper a couple of weeks ago. He's certainly c-come a long way f-from the arrogant stuck-up I humiliated in this very lecture hall a few years back... I-I'm sure th-that many of you c-could learn f-from his example."
"Have you ever been arrested for being a final boss?" There was a rumble of laughter from the audience.
"U-umm..." Rei ducked her head, sweat-dropping. "W-well, yes, I have had t-to d-defend myself a couple of t-times in c-court... Once was a misunderstanding, a-and the other was a d-deliberate f-frame up job... But I made that maggot rue the day he tried to get ME convicted!" Just then, the bell sounded. "Oh, dear, we're out of time, it seems. Th-thank you for attending my lecture today, and I hope th-that you use wh-what you've learned in the c-courtroom someday!"
*Outside the lecture hall...*
"S-so, how did I d-do, Mr. Samson?" Rei asked her boss.
"You stuttered quite a bit, but that's par for the course for you," Bartholomew replied. "Other than that, though, I think you did fine."
"Th-thank goodness..." the bluenette heaved a sigh of relief, leaning against the wall slightly. "I hope I won't have t-to d-do that again anytime soon..."
"Well, who can say," Bartholomew shrugged. "In the meantime... it looks like you have some fans." He stepped aside to reveal a few students with pads of paper in hand.
"Can I have your autograph, Miss Ryghts?" "Yeah, me too!" "I can't believe we got to meet an ex-villain in person! My sister's gonna be so jelly!"
"Meep!" Rei flushed, unused to being treated like a celebrity. "U-um, one at a t-time, p-please..." She fumbled for a pen, but Bart quickly handed her one, the goddess then proceeding to signing autographs...
*Snippet 12- End*