The Yandere Turnabout

5: Second Trial

The morning of the second trial, Phoenix woke with an uncomfortable ache in his neck and shoulders. He gets ready then meets Maya and Pearl at the courthouse. 

"Pearl is gonna channel Mia for the trial today, so she can help." Maya informed Phoenix.

"Okay...thanks." Phoenix said rubbing his neck.

Meanwhile, Gumshoe is practically dragging Edgeworth towards the courtroom that Osana's trial is taking place.

"I've told you I don't want to watch the trial! Today is my day off, I'm tired, and I have a headache; so let me go so I can go home!" Edgeworth growled at the detective.

"Sorry, no can do, sir. Maya and Pearl have been running themselves ragged trying to help you and Phoenix make up, and frankly, I've lost all my patience for it. After the trial, the two of you are going to talk it out; whether you want to or not." Gumshoe replied.

"I mean...aren't you sick of all this nonsense? Do you even want to make things right? Do you...do you still even love him?" he asked.

"Of course I love him!" Edgeworth replied.

He pushes past Gumshoe and goes into the courtroom. Amongst the crowd, Edgeworth sits in the very back so that Phoenix doesn't notice he's there. As the trial begins, it is proven that the only crime Mr. Ronshaku is guilty of is extortion, he had nothing to do with Kokona's murder.

"The next witness I call is a girl who witnessed the murder herself. I call to the stand...Ayano Aishi!" Franziska said.

A girl with a dark ponytail walks up to the stand. Her face was expressionless and her eyes seemed cold and dark, like it was void of any and all emotions. 

"Witness, please state your name and occupation to the court." the judge said.

"My name is Ayano Aishi, I am a student of Akademi High." Ayano replied, her voice bland and emotionless.

"Now, tell the court what you saw that day." Franziska told her.

"Yes ma'am. I was walking outside the school and as I was passing by the window to the cooking clubroom, I saw Osana stab Kokona. Then I followed her to the girl's locker room where she clearly attempted to wash the blood from her body and dispose of the evidence. Luckily the police were able to arrive before she could toss her bloody clothes and knife into the furnace." Ayano explained.

"And here is the evidence in question. Right here is the uniform that belongs to the defendant covered in the blood of the victim. And this is the knife with the victim's blood on it that has the defendant's fingerprints all over it." Franziska said presenting the evidence.

"There was also a note from the defendant to the victim requesting to meet in that clubroom, and it's in the defendant's handwriting." she added.

Phoenix didn't know what to do, the evidence seemed so solid and convincing.

"Phoenix, look at the note. Doesn't it seem a little off to you?" Mia, in Pearl's body, said.

After a very close examination, Phoenix found just what Mia was trying to point out.

"OBJECTION!" Phoenix said.

"This note is an obvious forgery!" he stated.

"Ha! Bold claim, Mr. Wright. Please explain how this note is a forgery." Franziska scoffed.

"Look closely at the lettering of the note. Some parts of it are darker than the rest. Like as if whoever was writing it had to think carefully about how to write the next letter. If this was indeed, the defendants handwriting, she wouldn't have needed to think about how to write it, it would have come to her naturally." Phoenix explained.

"If so, then how do you explain the defendant's fingerprints all over the murder weapon?" Franziska asked.

"Miss Najimi, what were you doing earlier that day?" Phoenix quickly asked his client.

"I was helping the cooking club make some snacks. That was the knife I used. But I swear I didn't use it to kill Kokona." Osana replied.

"Also on that day, a pair of gloves had went missing from the drama department. So, the true murderer put on a pair of gloves and used the knife the defendant had used to kill the victim and forged the note all to frame my client for murder." Phoenix said pulling out a missing item report from the drama department.

"And as for the blood on the clothes, the murderer smeared the blood onto the defendant's clothes while she was in the shower and planted the bloody knife next to it. Then they disposed of their own bloody clothes as well as the gloves." he added.

"What a fantastic story you spun, Mr. Wright. But, tell me, why did Miss Aishi say she saw Miss Najimi if someone else committed the murder?" Franziska asked him.

"To frame her, of course. If you take a look at some of the other school records, you'll see that Miss Aishi joined the drama club the day before the murder. And the gloves were kept in an area that only the drama club had access to." Phoenix answered.

"What motive would I have to kill Kokona, hmm?" Ayano asked.

"Perhaps the victim was just a pawn. Your real goal was to frame the defendant for murder and have her put away in prison forever." Phoenix replied.

"But why? I don't know Osana all that well. I have no reason to hate her enough to frame her for murder." Ayano said, her tone growing darker and more...spiteful.

"Besides, everything you have said is nothing but circumstantial evidence. There is no concrete proof I have done what you've claimed I've done." she added, smiling for the first time since she had walked up to the stand.

For some reason, her smile had put Phoenix completely on edge. This girl didn't seem like the type to show any emotion at all, let alone smile...which just made it feel so wrong to see her with that expression. Phoenix was at a loss for words, Ayano was right, she had no reason to do these things, at least none that he knows of. And if there is some reason why she did all this, how will Phoenix figure out what it was? He looks over to Maya only to see that she was just as confused as he was. Though, Mia on the other hand, seemed to be deep in thought; like she's putting the pieces together in her head. Hopefully, she'll be able to come up with something to give the defense team a chance to gain the upper hand and maybe win this trial right here and now.