Ace Attorney: Beginning of the End

Chapter 3: Turnabout Romance - Investigation 1 ~ Part 3

February 15 1:30pm

Sora and Ghastly's House - Wood's Bedroom ~ Niamh Wood's POV

I opened my eyes slowly to find myself face first on the floor of my room. Stupid identity disorder. Stupid split personalities. I hated it, and I hated them.

I stood up and walked downstairs, hoping to get an explanation out of whoever was home. Of course, if nobody was home, then I'd be a little bit screwed.

Luckily, Da- Mr. Bespoke was downstairs, apparently waiting for me. "Morning." he said with a grin. "The floor was comfy, I take it?"

"Why was I on the floor, by the way?" I asked. "And... what happened? How long have I been out?"

According to Mr. Bespoke, I had passed out at seeing a stabbed body. He brought me home before Genocide Jack could wreck havoc, but Jack eventually sneezed and brought out Nicoletta. She ran off for a while before returning home and passing out on the floor, thus bringing us to the present time.

Wait.

The murder!!!

"They arrested James for the murder!" I yelled. "We need to help him!"

"Um, what's this 'we' business?" Mr. Bespoke asked, but I didn't reply to him. I charged back up the stairs and into my room to change, my shiny new prosecutor's badge sitting on my desk. Now would be the perfect time to finally wear it and show it off to the world! I changed into some formal clothes, to at least look presentable for my first case as a real, honest-to-goodness prosecutor.

I stood in front of the mirror to check everything was in order. I had unwrapped the bandage around my left arm and threw it away: the scar from QS-5 two years ago had healed, thank goodness. My hair, usually free, was now tied into two long braids. I wore a white shirt with a black collar under a black jacket. A dark blue tie was wrapped around my neck. I wore a blue knee-length pleated skirt over black tights. On my feet I wore white ankle boots. I picked up my prosecutor's badge and pinned it to my jacket. I felt more... confident like this.

I ran back downstairs and grabbed Mr. Bespoke's arm, dragging him out of the house despite his complaining that I never bothered to listen to. He always used to say that he'd stand with me in court whenever I wanted, so he can't say no now, right? Perfect!

February 15 1:55pm

Happy House Carnival - Tents

"Okay, the plan is as usual!" I cried as I hopped out of the car. "You go investigate the crime scene while I go look for witnesses!"

"You're really forcing me to go through with this, aren't you...?" Mr. Bespoke asked with a sigh. "And I thought I was the Chief Prosecutor around here..." Despite his whining, he headed towards the crime scene like I told him to. I felt kind of bad afterwards: I never was good at being bossy.

"Um, excuse me?"

I heard a voice obviously wanting to attract my attention, so I turned in the direction of it. Stood behind me was a girl around the same age as me. Her dark blue hair was tied into a ponytail on the right side of her head, while light blue bangs fell loose and framed her face. On the left side of her head was a small black bow. Her eyes were a sea green colour. She wore a white hoodie with black accents, black jeans and white trainers. She hit me as a bit of a sporty type. "Judging by the badge on your collar, you're a prosecutor, right?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah, I'm the prosecutor." I nodded. "But, um, can I ask for your name?"

"I'm Kimberly Yaeko!" she cried, extending a hand. "Niamh Wood, right?"

"Y-You know me-?" I asked, slightly alarmed. "B-But we've never met before..."

"Are you kidding?! The one they call the Super High School Level Prosecutor is a hot topic of conversation among high school kids!" Ms. Yaeko (Ms. Bloom is always telling me to stop calling people by their first names unless I had their permission) smiled. "The fact that you started out at fourteen is incredible! My parents call you a real prodigy!"

I looked away from Ms. Yaeko, hoping to hide my embarrassment. I had no idea people talked about me...! I've always dreamed of being called a prodigy...!

"Anyway, getting back on topic..." Ms. Yaeko's expression suddenly changed. She now looked quite upset. "Can I follow you around for a bit? Help with the investigation if I can? Petile, the victim... She was a really good friend of mine. I can't believe that she was murdered... and I want to know who killed her. But I also can't just sit by and watch. I need to have some part in it. So... please?"

I nodded, my own memories flashing inside my head. "I'm sorry you lost such an important friend... but don't worry. You can help. I don't think my dad will mind." I wanted to slap myself as soon as the words left my lips. Darn it, Wood! You can't just go around saying Mom and Dad! You have to maintain your professionalism!

"Thank you so much!" Ms. Yaeko cried. "I can even tell you what I know if you want. It's not much, and I don't think it'll help much, but..."

"It's okay. Anything will do." I said.

"Okay, well..." Ms. Yaeko started. "I was talking to Petile on the phone the night of the murder. She said that someone wanted to meet with her on the night of the Valentine's Day Carnival. I-I don't remember their name, though... Although I have a gut feeling it was a girl's name..."

(That person that Ms. Wolford met with... They could be the killer! And if Ms. Yaeko's testimony is true, then the killer could be female! That crosses James off the list of suspects!)

"Thank you so much, Ms. Yaeko!" I cried. "That really helped me out!"

"I'm glad I could help." Ms. Yaeko responded with a smile. "And please, just call me Kimberly."

I thought about running to Mr. Bespoke to tell him the good news, but that's when I remembered: he's at the crime scene. Where there is a body. That has been stabbed. So unless I wanted the inner serial killer running rampant during the investigation, I couldn't tell him a thing.

I guess it would have to wait until tomorrow...

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Yay Wood redesign I like this design

Also Wood is basically bossing Ghastly around should we be concerned-

(Yes we should)

AceAttorneyFan over and out!