Chapter Text
It was a rather a normal day, at least for Japanifornia standards
The sky was clear, the birds chirped, Larry Butz had been framed for murder. Occurrence of every month. Altho to be fair, this time around it wasn't for one of his lovers, so at least it was somehow a change of pace.
This time it was at a restaurant that Larry, or more so Laurence, was commissioned to make a mural for in the main hall, he innocently procrastinated a bit in the kitchen when the main cheff was presumed murdered. As Larry was the last that talked to her to discuss payment, he was dammed the main suspect, as it was believed that the cheff was underpaying him causing him to "snap at her", there was not further evidence to prove his guilty
It was a fairly easy case, if it wasn't because the cheff was a renowned cook who happened to know a few members of the elite, which decided to make a big scandal out of the whole affair, saying that this could be part of a bigger scheme and therefore it was an urgent matter
This is how the chief prosecutor, Miles Edgeworth, manage to get in such a rather simple case despite of his rank
He couldn't believe his luck when he was informed that he had to part take in the case, not so much for the certain waste of time such an easy case was, but more because the prosecutor thought that he would be free of this particular idiot when he got up in ranks
In the case of Phoenix, his involvement was much more common and straightforward. His childhood friend got into trouble, again, and he had to prove his innocence as obnoxious as it could be, again
As much as this somewhat typical occurrence was annoying for both of them, they had the comfort of the not so typical occurrence of both of them getting to see each other to work on a case.
The idea spending time with someone dear to you in work was something tiring for most people, but not for the two of them
They had the chance to see each other at Trucy's magic acts and they texted each other rather frequently, however it felt like forever since they've had the chance to solve a case together, so the idea of getting to discuss different possibilities, points of views, suspects a alabi exited them way to much more that any of them were willing to admit
Both the lawyer and the prosecutor arrived at the same time, one huffing for the effort of driving a bike, the other, in his sports car
"huff" effort Phoenix, when the chief got out of the car "and they say the government doesn't have privilege"
"Well, it isn't my fault that most of your clients fail to pay you" answered Edgeworth "altho, it may help you to try and not show to work covered in sweat"
"Well excuse me your highness" said Wright, while dramatically bowing "some of us don't have fancy cars, so we have to try and put some extra effort to not arrive late"
The friendly banter, that was much like a ritual for starting a case, went on for a bit, until a rather young man stormed out of the restaurant into Miles's direction, who seemed rather unhappy of seeing the boy's face
"Chief prosecutor!!!" yelled the guy, while being extremely close to the one he was referring to "There you are!! I looked everywhere for you!!!"
The man looked kind of...unusual to say the least
His hair looked like a yellow triangle sharpen by the edges, his cloths were of a purple similar to barney the dinosaur and were stylized in a way that made him look right out a children's book, his eyes were way bigger that someone would expected any human to have and he had green jewelry all over him
If it wasn't because he was there for work, Phoenix would have died of laughter
"...I just got here, Mr. Kweint" said the Prosecutor, in the most polite way that he possibly could given his levels of clear annoyance "you notify me about this matter less than an hour ago-"
"Time is money, Mr. Edgeworth" said Kweint in an overly obnoxious manner "and i can't afford losing money in this tragic times" he dramatized
"Mr. Kweint i understand that you must be going through some troubling times" Edgeworth tried to convey "it must be really hard to lose a close friend like that, but-"
"Oh no" interrupted, yet again, the abnormal man "i don't mean the cheff i mean the restaurant. They said they might have to close it given the crime around it, oh, the dismay" he stressed
Both the prosecutor and the attorney looked stunt for both the insensitivity and dramatization of the whole situation that the young man seemed to have
"...Right" said the chief prosecutor, almost shocked by the insensibility of of the kid, if it wasn't because he had to go through the suffering of talking with him previously, when he demanded that the chief prosecutor had to be present because it was oh such an important case "you'll have to excuse us, me and Wright have to talk to both the suspect and any potential witnesses" he sentenced, as he started going towards the restaurant, to be followed by Phoenix quickly after
As soon as they got into the building, the lawyer exploded in laughter, as the restaurant was empty given its current status of murder scene
"Shut it" said Miles, seemingly not amused for the scene his colleague was making
"I'm sorry, mi sorry" answered Wright, with the little air he had left from the laughter "I'm just surprised that you started taking orders from such little pricks"
"His name is Janste Kweint" he replied, almost annoyed out of his wits by just mentioning the young man's name "he is part of the law department in the government, there's, sadly, not much i can do about him" he sighed
"Ha, i didn't know that they let a 20 year old be part of the government" Phoenix laughed
"...well, he isn't in his 20's anyway" mumbled the gray haired man, incredibly close to a whisper.
"What?" asked back the spiky haired man, genuinely surprised by the notion of someone so extravagant being close to his age
"he is..." said Miles, already below whisper as his voice was covered in shame "in his 40's"
The lawyer officially lost it, mumbling things like "by the gods" and "i thought i was the immature one" between laughter
None of the men had the chance to make this kind of comments frequently, normally their snarky remarks ended up just as a mean thought that they had with a client or witness they were fed up with. But it seemed like they could say those kind of things out loud while with each other, maybe it was because they had know each other for so long, or maybe because they had very similar works and frustrations with the people they had to deal with. Whatever it was, they felt more...carefree around each other.
They founded the company of one another comforting, they were happy when they had one another, they felt like they could be careless when with the other, because even if they couldn't tell each other why, the company of the other was one of the most precious things in the world
However, the moment interrupted by a voice that both of them knew all too well...
"Nick! Edgy! there you are!!" said Larry Butz, way to cherry given the fact that both of the people he was referring to were there because he was being accused for murder
The two of the men were a bit annoyed by the sudden appearance of their childhood friend, altho there wasn't much they could do given the fact that the whole incident happened around him
"Hey, Larry" answered Phoenix, a bit upset of having to remember himself that he was there for work purposes "we were looking for you"
Both the lawyer and the chief prosecutor questioned what their friend as doing during the accident, which was rather standard
He had arrived to the facility around 8:45, nearly half an hour later that he arranged, presumably because of traffic, tho both the lawyer and the prosecutor doubted that was the case
when he arrived he was receive by Anne Sekretrie, who explain the details of the painting and what materials they would provide
"So you couldn't work with any materials that you wanted?" Edgeworth pointed out
"Nah, they are very tight with their conditions and the control of the staff" answered Larry "some of the staff in the kitchen told me they even had some of them to cut out all their hair 'cause it would get in the way"
"Jesus Christ" said Wright "didn't that...concern you or something" he sincerely asked, a bit scared for his friend's survival instinct
"Oh for sure" answered the painter "buuuut they had already payed me and i had already come soo" he shrunk
Yet again, the legal workers were stunt to the either stupidity or lack of self preservation that the man seemed to have
He continued to explain the events of the evening
After talking to the receptionist, Larry started talking with one of the waitress a bit before talking to the chef around 9:05, nothing remarkable, the only information of value was that he talked to the waitress (who then left) from that hour till 9:20, which means that he wasn't with the cheff by that time
Finally, he discussed the payment methods with the cheff from 9:20 to around 10:25, quite a long, but it was to be expected, as they didn't had a chance to set anything prior
"Ok, so after that you went into the kitchen to take a break, right?" the lawyer confidently asked, after all, it was one of the firsts things that they had discussed over the phone the phone when he decided to take on the case
"Weeeeell" answered, however, his client "i might exaggerated just a little bit on how fast i went to the kitchen" he continued while scratching the back of his head "and i also might been going about until, might say, 11:18" he shrugged
Phoenix seemed like he was about to lose it.
The body was found around 11:10 by one of the workers, which means that he had a time window where he could very much killed the woman and go back to the kitchen, as the body was found in a store room close enough to go back to the cooks room in that time, but not close enough to go back and forth, which in theory would have given him a perfect alibi, if only what he had said in the call was true
As much as the attorney wanted to just lash out at his friend, he knew that probably he had hide his whereabouts from him out of stupidity
However, he still complain a little bit, as this was incredibly damaging to the case
"Larry..." he said, still flabbergasted, but trying to be as calm as possible "why in the world would you keep that a secret for??"
"Oh come on Nick" teased the man, with a little grin in his face "you can't tell me anything about keeping important secrets from someone" he said looking to Edgeworth "especially since-"
"O-ok ok, shut it" the spiky haired man rushed, both flustered and nervous upon the comment of his childhood friend
This little teasing was giving since the poorly shaved man knew a little secret of his lawyer's
Around a week prior, both of the men had gone to get some drinks to catch up a little bit. As Phoenix is one of the most light-weighted people that he himself knows, he started spitting his thoughts all over the place after hardly 2 drinks. During this rant he had talked a tiny bit too much about Miles in particular...
About how he always got his back, even if he didn't agree with with all his ideas
Of how he was the single person that he trusted the most, even after all this time
Of how much he loved the way he talked and the way that he thinks
Of the way that he loved spending time with him, discuss about almost any subject
About how much how much he loved him
Of course, it wasn't like Larry didn't know this, but the fact that Nick had finally admitted it gave him a bunch of banter rights
However, someone that had not figure out this feelings (the ones of phoenix, anyway) yet was Miles himself, who was now standing besides both of his friend, completely confused of what they were talking about
"What is that-"
"Don't worry about it!" interrupted Wright, incredible nervous and with a speed that revealed his rush
Edgeworth a little suspicious, is not like he didn't trust the man, it was just the fact that that said man almost never hided something from him, and when he did, the thing that he was hiding wasn't particularly pleasant...
Whatever it was, it seemed to also concern Larry, which meant that it could very much be related to the case
"Whatever it is you two are talking about" noted the prosecutor with little conviction "i for one i think is ridiculous that someone would hide a secret that someone else deserve or needs to know, case related or otherwise" he declared
"Psh, like you could say anything Edgy, you can't say much either" Butz grinned, yet again
"Ngh-" the chief prosecutor groans, clearly flustered "I- I have no idea what you are talking about"
"Oh come on" continued to insist the painter "about tha-"
"Shut up" Miles warns, now so utterly embarrassed that his words stumbled with each other
The secret that Edgeworth was keeping was quite similar, if not considered the same, than Phoenix's. The only major difference was the fact that, instead of admitting his feelings while drunk, he spit it out of embarrassment at the mere question. Which allowed even more teasing on Larry's part
Yet again, the other party in the trio was left clueless of what was happening. Sure, Edgeworth tends to get quite...annoyed by his friends actions,but even this level was ridiculous. Why on earth would he be so eager to hide a secret between him and Larry? Was it something about the case? If so, why wouldn't he tell him?
He decide to try and gloss it over, at least for now
"Yeesh, you two can't get a joke" his client joked, clearly messing with both of the men. "Anyway, the only person that was in the kitchen when I got there was the second waitress, I don't really know her name. She seem pretty chill, tho, she had duty to close of the place, so she is probably still around"
"Hmm" the lawyer mumbled to himself, scratching his chin "anything suspicious about the girl? Was she carrying something like a blunt object? did she have stains in her clothes?"
"Nop" answered Larry "she just told me about the long shift she had"
"Alright then, thanks Larry!" Wright concluded as he started walking along with the prosecutor "I'll see you in the police station"
"HEY"
"-If we don't manage to clear you up before then, i mean" the black haired men specified
The attorneys walked away from their, now distraught, friend
"Ugh" the chief prosecutor complained "i genuinely thought i was finally free from him when i became the chief"
"Pfff" the attorney laughed "well, if you are so fed up already, then you wouldn't survive the last three cases"
"Three cases!!??" Miles blurts, in pure disbelief "I pity you soul. No one should be cursed by having to endure that man attitudes more than two times every blue moon" he very seriously states
"Well in that case, my soul is obliterated” continued the blue suited man “I had to deal with that in 4 months” he complained
“4 mon-??! How did you survive???!!” The gray haired man snapped
"Well being able to break off the "secrets on the heart of people" helps a lot to dealing with Larry's bullshit" the lawyer noted
"Oh i almost forgot about those things" Edgeworth admitted "where they… psycho-locks? psique-locks?" he tried
"Ha, even after all this time you still cant pronounce it to this day, can you?" Phoenix teased
"Well they, weren't of much use for me last time anyway" Miles complained "i genuinely do not understand how you manage to get people to talk so easily" he sighed
"Well for starters" Wright said "differently to you, i have feelings and this wild concept called empathy" he mocked
The prosecutor giggled a little bit from that statement. The other attorney smiled while looking at him
"Wow so you do have a sense of humor" he mocked "you have to be careful, or ill be able to tell what secret you told Larry" he went on, without thinking it much through.
The chief prosecutor stopped on his tracks at the mention of the "secret" that Larry knew, he had hoped that that Wright wouldn't think much of it after the fact and moved on.
The prosecutor may be really good regarding cases and has become…decent at bluffing during the past few years, but if there was something that he was not skilled at was hiding things and emotions to loved ones. Which in this case, was a problem
"I most certainly don't know what you are talking about" he tried to dismiss, really poorly
"Uhm" Phoenix mumbled, also having to stop in his tracks, just a few feet away from Edgeworth "you know, just whatever you two were talking about when we talked with him" he said, a bit confused by the reaction of his friend towards the mention of that moment
Sure, he had thought it was a bit strange that he had flustered so much during the conversation with their childhood friend, but he tried his best to brush it of and dismiss it and play it as just Miles getting mad at Larry for saying something stupid. But the fact that he was so defensive about whatever it was just made his concern grow stronger
"Well" Miles tried to answer, grounding back the attorney "i assure you that none of what I've talked with Butz should be of your concern"
And just like that, the chief prosecutor lost any level of credibility, as the notion of him trusting Larry with a secret at all let alone to tell him something that he didn't told the person that he trusted the most was utterly ridiculous
"Ok…" the lawyer replied "Could you do something for me for a sec" he asked, while holding his magatama in the pocket
He couldn't even remember if he had tested his best friends with the magatama before, but he needed to make sure that he wasn't possibly lying about something about the case
Or at least that was his excuse
"Are you sure that you aren't hiding anything that might be of my interest?" He asked, clenching to the magatama even harder
"Why would you-?" The prosecutor started, but then answered, reluctantly "Yes, I'm not hiding nothing of your concern from you"
As he said that, five red locks started showing up along with their respective chains, though the only one that was able to see them was Phoenix
His suspicions had been confirmed, not only Edgeworth was hiding something, but whatever it was, it concerned him.
There was a good chance that it had something to do with the case, surely
That the reason he was so upset, not because the fact that someone he trusted so much was lying to him made him sick to the stomach, not at all
Miles didn't quite know what Wright was searching for when asking about his "secret" but it made him suspect even more of Wright's.
Of course he wanted to know what the defense attorney was hiding, after all, the fact that he started to ask first about the whole thing gave him the perfect excuse- i mean reason to start investigating about whatever it was the black haired man was talking with Larry earlier
And so, he decided to use his abilities to get him to talk, after all, ha had been able to uncover murders, and as good as his friend might be to hide information, so chess should at least help him to get to the true