Ace Attorney: Quiet after the Hurricane

Turnabout Breakdown, Part 4

March 14

Defendant Lobby No. 2

9:40 AM

Deirdre Brigit

The next morning, I did my best to arrive as early as I could to the courthouse, though in the end, I was a bit later than I would have wanted, arriving only twenty minutes before the trial. Chrysalis ended up beating me there easily. I found her sitting on the couch, flipping through papers with details pertaining to the murder, when I got there. I decided to go on and approach her since I didn't see Yuri anywhere around. "So... How do you think this is going to go?" I asked, unsure of how else I was supposed to start up a conversation with her.

"I think it'll be fine," Chrysalis responded. She finished reading the final page of her notes and set the stack down on the couch beside her. "We're going to do our best to solve the case today, but I doubt the verdict will be handed down without crucial pieces of evidence such as the murder weapon and missing key. Those two objects could easily put Yuri in her coffin or turn everything around in our favor. We'll need to see if the police have found anything after the trial ends."

"I agree," I nodded. "Let's do our best in there." I paused for a moment before a question came to mind. Since I didn't know how a trial would work, I figured it would be best to go on and ask. "How will it start?"

"First up is the opening statement from the prosecution explaining the basic outline of the case and why they believe the defendant to be the killer of the victim. Detective Erikson will tell us about the details of the case. After that, I bet Pandora will tell us about what she saw. We'll need to cross-examine her testimony to find any inconsistencies with what she tells us and the evidence... That's the hardest part. However, adjourning court for a second day shouldn't be too hard if we bring up that we need to find the murder weapon and the missing key that the guard had," Chrysalis explained. "Is that enough of an explanation for you?"

"That gives me a general idea," I said with a small nod. "Yuri should be here soon, should she not?"

"What about me? I'm right here."

We turned upon hearing Yuri's voice to see her standing there. She was being stared at by a detective with brown hair, who was lightly holding her arm. "Here you are, love," the woman said to Yuri. She turned away and left the room not long after when she noticed Yuri was being watched by the pair of men guarding the entrance to the courtroom.

"Thanks, Detective Wattson," Yuri murmured before looking up at us with her tired eyes. "So... The trial's going to start soon. At this point, it can't really be stopped. Then again, it wasn't going to be stopped to begin with..."

"Yeah. Luckily, we have a lot of evidence at our disposal, so nobody is going to be going to jail today. I promise it," Chrysalis assured her, a determined gleam in her eyes shining. "There's no way thta you can get convicted when there's so much evidence that screams that you weren't the one who committed the crime."

"I hope you're right. Venus will come back from the dead just to kill me if I let that happen," Yuri joked. She and Chrysalis laughed, but it was obvious they were forcing it.

"I heard that they're having a new judge on this case," Chrysalis said once the false laughter had died down. "His twin sister, Eriko, has been on a lot of cases before this point, but it's one of his first. His name is Ervan Frost. Hopefully, he won't be too biased towards the prosecution. If he's got an open mind, we can use that to our advantage. It means the trial won't end right off the bat if he's a bit more open. However, if he ends up favoring the other side..."

"Don't think like that. We'll take care of this case and have Yuri home in no time," I cut in. I looked down at Yuri. She still looked as tired as she had yesterday. When she spoke, I could hear the overwhelming pain behind her voice. Having hearing that was better than most often meant that you could tell these things right off the bat. I felt bad for her, I have to admit.