A/N: Hello! I'm here with a new case. After the wild ride that was "The Erased Turnabout", I think we all deserve a break with a mystery that's much more relaxed. Enjoy, my readers!

When I was younger, I often watched trials from the gallery. Every time that the legendary Phoenix Wright pulled off one of his legendary turnabouts, I wished that one day, I could stand in court, doing the same thing.

Now I'm the head of my own law agency, and I untangle cases that would leave most attorneys stumped. So perhaps, then, it's fitting that the one case that sticks out the most to me is one that was as simple as it comes.

Even a case as simple as this one ended up teaching me some of my most important lessons as an attorney.

Episode 4: Turnabout Shuffle

"Mr. O'Conner, I hope you are paying attention."

"Of course, Professor Means!" Hugh said, already poised to take notes.

"You've always been an attentive student." Professor Means grinned. "You deserve a gold star!"

Then the older man's expression grew more serious. "But even that attentiveness won't save you when you are standing in court. Not when every case is such an uphill battle."

"But surely, all you need is to be a genius attorney that can prove the client's innocence, right?" Hugh asked.

"Even that is not enough, my student. Not in a legal system that loathes defense attorneys like us." Professor Means said. "You have to be ready to do anything to battle against this."

May 5th, 2029

O'Conner and Co. Law Offices

10:00 a.m.

Hugh lifted his head from his desk, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He'd come into the office bright and early, to see if clients were here. There were none, so he put his head on his desk to take a brief nap.

Why did I dream about Professor Means now, of all times? It's been a long time since he was sent to prison.

Even so, he had still been Hugh's teacher for most of the three years Hugh had attended Themis Legal Academy. Hugh could still remember some of his teachings.

"I don't need his teachings anymore," Hugh muttered to himself. "I strive to be a different kind of attorney."

It's been one week since Juniper's stunning defense of Andres Artisan. There have been no new cases, which I half-expected. However, there has been a very unwelcome result of that trial.

Hugh checked the firm's mailbox, to see that it was stuffed with letters. Checking through them, most were hate letters towards Juniper.

The culprit that Juniper and Robin put away did have a lot of fans. And they are very unhappy with Juniper. Not that she needs to know that. In fact, it's for the best that she never learns about these letters.

Hugh fed the hate letters into a paper shredder, then took out the trash. Likewise, Ema promised Hugh to have police keep a careful eye on Juniper, in case anyone tried to attack her.

As the head of the office, anything that threatened Juniper was to be dealt with by Hugh personally. Just as Hugh sat at his desk again, Juniper herself walked through the door.

"Good morning, Hugh!" Juniper greeted cheerfully.

"Good morning, Juniper," Hugh said, smiling. "I see you brought some fruits with you."

"I thought they would make a good snack." Juniper gave Hugh a plum. "I grew them myself, so I hope you like it!"

Hugh took a bite out of the plum, and found that it was pleasantly sour. "If I had to guess, the orange is for Athena and the apple for Robin. Didn't you grow anything for yourself?"

"You're right, but I did eat a salad before I came here," Juniper said. "So, do you think it's okay for us to leave the law office?"

"It certainly seems like there won't be any clients today." Now Hugh felt that he truly understood Athena's comment about dry periods. "Where do you want to go?"

"Hm, I heard that a new carnival is in town," Juniper said. "It's called the 'Starry Skies' carnival. If we can contact Robin, Athena, and Myriam, we can all go together!"

"As always, your reasoning is compelling. Very well, let's go to this carnival," Hugh said. It would honestly be a good way to unwind, after how stressful the last case had been.

First, Hugh called Robin, but got her voicemail. Then he called Athena, and got the same result. By the time he called Myriam, Hugh wasn't surprised that she couldn't be reached either.

"It looks like it will just be us. However, I think we've worked hard enough to deserve a small break," Hugh said. "So let's call this an office vacation."

"If you say so, Hugh," Juniper said.

May 5th, 2029

Starry Skies Carnival

12:00 p.m.

Just as the name implied, the carnival had a very strong space theme. Some of the food stands were selling moon pies. The ever popular tea-cup ride were shaped like stars. And Hugh could see that a face painter was painting the sun on a child's face.

The obvious centerpiece of the carnival was a giant Kamikaze ride, with the seats shaped like comets.

"I love this place already…" Juniper said in an awed whisper. "It's like being back in the Space Center."

"Then this was the perfect place to go. Where should we go first?" Hugh asked.

"I was thinking the star-shaped tea-cup ride, but it looks like it's out of order," Juniper said, looking around. "I think maybe we can- wait, is that Robin?"

In the direction Juniper was looking, Robin was talking to a person that ran a "test-your-strength" game.

"So it is. Though, I do wonder why she didn't answer the phone," Hugh said. "Let's go over and ask her."

As the two of them approached Robin, she noticed them, and burst into a grin. "Hey there, Hugh! Hey there, Juniper! What brings you here?"

"I could ask you the same. I called your phone, but you didn't answer," Hugh said. "I wanted to invite you to this very carnival, as it happens."

"Huh, funny that! As for what I'm doing here, it's work related! Well, sort of," Robin said.

"'Sort of?' Are you investigating a murder?" Juniper asked curiously.

"No, not a murder. It's a pending investigation for a different kind of crime," Robin explained. "Although, I did wrap up my investigation for today. With permission, I'm on break n-o-w!"

"Oh! If you're on break now, then we can enjoy a ride together!" Juniper said, smiling.

"I like the sound of that! But first, I did want to win something from here," Robin said, looking at the strength test game. "Do you see a prize you like, Juniper?"

"Um, well, I do like that large teddy bear," Juniper said, the plush in question in a top prize tier.

"Got it! Just hold on a second." Robin gave the attendant a ticket, and then took the hammer.

"AAAAAHHHH!" With that battle cry, Robin brought down the hammer, and the small piece of metal shot up and hit the bell.

The attendant congratulated Robin, and gave her the teddy bear. Robin immediately handed the plush to Juniper. "Here you go!"

"Thank you so much, Robin!" Juniper said, holding the teddy bear close.

"So, which of these rides should we go on first?" Hugh asked.

"There's a tower ride where it simulates a meteor dropping down onto the earth," Juniper said. "I think all three of us can fit onto that."

"Then let's be the best meteors to ever crash into the earth," Hugh said, adjusting his glasses.

Juniper and Robin laughed at Hugh's joke, before the three of them headed to the ride. Once they were strapped in, the ride took off, sending them into the sky. When they stopped at the top, Hugh took in the view.

"They are really dedicated to their theme. This entire carnival is shaped like a star," Hugh noted. "I think there's a ride in every corner."

"Oh, I think I see a rollercoaster! Maybe it's not too intense for-" Before Juniper could finish her sentence, the ride dropped again, and all became a blur of motion.

Once the ride finished, Juniper got out of her seat with unsteady footsteps.

"Woah there, Juniper," Robin said, laying her hands on Juniper's shoulders to steady her. "Do you need to sit down?"

"Maybe for a few minutes," Juniper answered.

Hugh immediately went looking for some benches, and found some. However, the benches were already being occupied by Athena and Ema.

"Okay, now what are you two doing here?" Hugh asked, as the three of them went over to them. "I highly doubt this is a coincidence."

"Prosecutor Newman must have mentioned that she's here for a case. I'm here as the lead detective," Ema said. Then she started pouting. "But given the nature of this crime, there's not much forensics to do. It's been a very boring investigation."

"I heard about this carnival and decided to come here, because it reminds me of the Space Center," Athena added. "And I ran into Ema! Since she was so bored, I decided to fix that, rapido!"

"Um, if you don't mind my asking, what is this case that you and Robin are working on? Robin said that investigation is done for the day," Juniper said, nervously playing with her fingers.

"And that's all you're allowed to know. We haven't even arrested our lead suspect yet," Ema said. "That being said, we'll probably have something to share tomorrow. All we need is for some paperwork we submitted to be processed."

"I didn't expect for all of us to be here, but now that we are, let's keep going!" Robin exclaimed cheerfully. "I believe Juniper mentioned a rollercoaster?"

The party of five went towards the rollercoaster, which was designed after a shooting star. The seats only fit two people, so Hugh ended up seated next to a stranger.

"Hello there! Are you enjoying the ride?" The woman next to Hugh said.

"Well, the ride hasn't started yet," Hugh said. Then he looked closer at the woman- she looked familiar. She had short brown hair with a fringe parted to the left, and also wearing a small blue hat. The woman also had brown eyes, small, pink lips, and was wearing a simple white uniform with blue stripes. On her shirt, the woman wore a name tag labeled "Booth".

"Wait. Aren't you the woman who sold us our entrance tickets?" Hugh asked.

"I guess I am. Oh, but if you don't recognize me, my name is Nina Booth," Nina said. "How nice that we're riding together!"

"If you're an employee here, you should probably be working," Hugh said dryly.

"The owner of the carnival hasn't-" Before Miss Booth could finish what she was saying, the rollercoaster shot out. Juniper's desire for a calmer ride ended up being in vain: the ride was fast, and the loop made Hugh's head spin. The roller coaster went through two loops, and so by the time the cars arrived at a stop, Hugh's glasses were crooked on his face.

"That was a very poor life decision on my part," Hugh said, putting his glasses on correctly before getting out of his car. He noticed Nina Booth getting out as well, and decided to continue their earlier conversation.

"What were you saying about an owner, Miss Booth?" Hugh asked.

"The owner of the carnival, Adalie Illusa," Nina said. "No one's seen her since yesterday. Best we can guess is that's she's locked herself up in her office and doesn't want to be disturbed. But she didn't even give me my schedule for the day. At least, I'm pretty sure she didn't."

"As a boss myself, I feel like this Ms. Illusa needs to be more mindful of her employees," Hugh said.

"It should be fine! I've never gotten a chance to get on most of these rides before," Nina said cheerfully. "In fact, I think I'll go find another fun ride!"

"She seemed nice," Juniper commented as she walked up to Hugh. "What were you talking about?"

"Apparently her boss is not doing their job," Hugh answered. "But that has nothing to do with us. Now what?"

"Robin has offered to pay for lunch for all of us! I am starting to get pretty hungry," Juniper said. "So let's catch up with her!"

An experience at a carnival wasn't complete without eating ridiculously unhealthy food. While Juniper found a healthy, albeit expensive vegetarian burrito, everyone else grabbed plates of fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy.

"It's going to take a lot of exercise to burn off all these calories," Athena said. "But you know what? I'll worry about that tomorrow!"

"If we're eating junk food anyways, I could save us some money. Instead of getting a churro, we can eat some Snackoos," Ema said, passing one to Athena. "I guarantee you that Snackoos are better."

"Since you don't usually share those, don't mind if I do!" Athena said, taking one and popping it into her mouth.

"If you want a churro, Juniper, we can share one! I'm in the mood for something sweet," Robin said cheerfully.

"I don't see why not. There's nothing wrong with indulging every now and then," Juniper said, smiling.

"That's for sure. When we're in court, we all have our roles to play, and they are all stressful in a different way," Hugh said. "Attorneys like myself, Juniper, or Athena always have to fight for every inch."

"You've got that right, Hugh. Every case we do is like running a marathon, only without actually running," Athena said, sighing.

"Hey, it's not like things are easy for us on the other side," Ema cut in. "I try my best to find all the evidence with forensic investigation. It's not my fault that killers usually have like, two different twenty-step plans ready."

"You're telling me, Detective Skye! It's not like I enjoy prosecuting people that didn't do it," Robin said, glowering at nothing. "It's just that we can't figure out what's really going on until we draw out everything through a trial!"

"Maybe we should drop this conversation, then. We came here to relax," Juniper said. "Talking about work isn't really conducive to relaxing."

"Right, sorry Junie!" Athena said sheepishly. "So, where are we going next?"

Before anyone could answer Athena, several uniformed police officers came up to Robin and Athena.

"Prosecutor Newman. Detective Skye. We need you to come with us at once," One of the police officers said. "Something has happened that… is related to the case at hand."

"Looks like our job just canceled the rest of our break." Robin turned towards Juniper, Hugh, and Athena. "Don't let that stop you from enjoying this carnival!"

Robin and Ema left with the police officers. Then one of the officers turned their head towards Hugh, revealing themselves to be Bailey.

Bailey briefly nodded her head towards Hugh, then followed after Robin.

"Depending on how serious this new discovery is, it's possible that the carnival will be closed," Hugh said immediately after. "So let's get a headstart on the inevitable investigation."

"I didn't expect that from you, Hugh!" Athena exclaimed, grinning. "But I agree. We're going to take a quick peek, so there's nothing wrong with that!"

"Maybe it won't take that long, whatever they're doing," Juniper said in an uncertain tone.

"I think it's best if we check for ourselves! You need to confirm it with your own eyes!" Athena said.

"Okay, Thena. I'll trust you…" With some reluctance, Juniper followed Hugh and Athena as they headed off to where Robin had gone.

It turned out to be the teacup ride that they earlier noted was broken. There was a police line set up at the perimeter of the ride, with Robin and Ema at the other side. They were glaring down on the inside of one of the star-shaped teacups.

"This does look pretty serious. But if we get a little closer, we might be able to see what they're looking at," Hugh muttered.

"I'm starting to get nervous. But we've come this far!" Athena added.

The three of them crept closer, to get a view inside of the teacup ride. And as what was inside came into view…

Juniper let out a gasp, while Athena shrieked in surprise. The cops looked their way, but it was too late at this point.

Inside the teacup ride was the body of a woman. A woman that was very cleared dead.

Then Hugh heard the voice of Nina Booth, who had also wandered onto the scene of the crime.

"Ms. Illusa! What happened to you?!"

To be continued.

A/N: Unfortunately, being an Ace Attorney protagonist means you can't go anywhere without dead bodies turning up. So next time, get ready to dive into the investigation of the many questions that have been raised. See you next time! Please review.