Ace Attorney: Crashing Fates

The Comedic Turnabout, Part 2 (Thomas)

I pushed away the drinks Ms. Kuda was trying to serve us in a way that didn't seem too rude. "We're okay..." I told her, eyeing Sophie. She didn't know that it was alcoholic, so she was staring at the wine with wide eyes, though Kyo led her away from it.

"You sure are dressed strangely for coming around these parts," Ms. Kuda told us, clicking her glass against her long, manicured nails. "You must be investigating the poor boss' murder."

"We are," I told her. "If you're here, you must know something about the crime, so could you tell us anything you know that could be important?"

Ms. Kuda nodded. "I was doing what I usually do on busy nights like last night: serving drinks. It was a while before the live entertainment that usually goes on every night began. The manager got up to announce the act name for Sullivan Tyler, the comedian here," she explained. "Unless you wan terrible jokes, stay away from him."

"I heard about him," Lily told her. "He's the replacement for some guy about seven years ago. What was his name again? Susumu something?"

Ms. Kuda picked up a rag from the shelf behind her and used it to wipe down the counter before her. "Susumu Toshi. He left seven years ago to go a fancy school or something like that, though nobody's seen the guy since. Then again, that could just be counter top gossip I hear from time to time. Though his name was mentioned in some sort of fancy project..."

"Weird," Lily shrugged. "Anyways, what next?"

"The manager started sputtering and kind of... Like... Spit out a bunch of blood before collapsing. He was dead, apparently. The bar got pretty flooded after that from police and reporters, though I haven't really left my place from back here."

"Huh... That's kind of a strange crime..." Kyo commented.

"Spitting up blood sounds really gross," Sophie cringed, biting her lip and hiding behind Kyo in fear. The older girl consoled her by stroking her hair gently. Sophie seemed a little bit soothed by this action, which made me happy. She looked sad when she wasn't smiling...

"Anyways, if you want to talk to Sullivan, he's over by the stage," Ms. Kuda told us after throwing her rag into the sink. "He doesn't look like he's busy with anything, so you can go on and talk to him before the police find need for him again."

"Thank you for speaking with us," I told Ms. Kuda, who nodded in reply.

I led my investigation group over to a guy with brown hair that was cut into a mohawk type thing. The shaven sections of his head were black. He had a gray scarf on that faded to black at the middle and white at the ends. He wore a black suit on under it, which was slick and made him look professional.

The boy, who I assumed was a teenager or there about, smirked at me. His orange eyes glinted mischievously. "You know... There was this baseball once... It kept getting bigger and bigger... And then... It hit me," he grinned cheekily.

I held back a snicker with Lily, though Sophie burst out laughing almost immediately. Kyo rolled her eyes. "I assume you're the one they call a comedian," she told him with a tone dryer than the desert.

"Sure am!" the boy smiled, shooting us a thumbs up. "Name's Sullivan Tyler. Comedian around here. The real comedian. Not the old one who gave up when times got tough."

"Uh... Sure..." I said slowly, not really sure of how to talk about somebody who I hadn't ever met and probably wouldn't ever meet. "Thomas Lust, attorney at law. These are my partners, Lily Shield, Sophie Raine, and Kyo Raine."

"I heard about some group showing up to look into this spooky, scary situation," Mr. Tyler told us. "But I didn't think it would be filled with so many nice looking ladies~"

A quick blow to the shins from Kyo's foot shut him up.

"We heard you were here on the night of the crime," Kyo snarled at him. "Tell us what you saw. We're the defense team who has no time for any of your shenanigans."

Mr. Tyler took a step away from her with a pained expression. "Fine... Manager guy was calling me up on stage when he collapsed. How's that? There isn't much more I could have seen, you know..."

"This is a strange case, that's for sure," Kyo commented. "Nobody saw anything other than the victim collapsing. How convenient for us."

"Could you tell us about the defendant's relationships with everybody else here?" Lily asked. "It could be important."

"Ryoko's a sweet girl. She's pretty quiet but dances really well. Like some sort of goddess..." Mr. Tyler sighed dreamily, and I instantly knew what was up.

He has a crush on Ms. Chinami.

I decided not to call him out on it or ask further about the defendant. Instead, I heard a familiar voice and turned for the door.

"Hey! I know you!"

Detective Kuroda from a few months ago was running towards us, folder in hand. "I suppose you'll be wanting this," she said, handing us a folder.

I opened it and inside found a paper. The autopsy report.

I read it over silently, feeling Mr. Tyler, Lily, Kyo, and Sophie staring at it as well:

Name: Mann Ager
Age: 39
Cause of Death: Atroquinine poisoning at 6:47 PM
Other: Victim showed signs of having been tightly strangled after death, most likely in the commotion after the body's discovery

"Strangulation after death? Seems a little bit weird when he wasn't hung or anything," I frowned. "Mr. Tyler, Detective Kuroda, do you know where the poison could have potentially come from?"

Detective Kuroda shrugged. "The police and I haven't come across anything in our investigation yet, sadly," she frowned.

Mr. Tyler gasped. "Wait...! I do know one place within the pub you could find that sort of thing...!" he gasped.

"Where?!" Sophie asked. "Come on! Don't leave us hanging like that! It isn't nice!"

"Our own personal alchemist!" Mr. Tyler exclaimed dramatically. "So in other words, I'm talking about...!"

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I'M A BAD PERSON AREN'T I

AND I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU WAIT THROUGH THE E N T I R E U P D A T E R O T A T I O N

I'M TERRIBLE

-Digital