Keep It Cool | Ace Attorney (Kristoph x reader)

[24] High Court

The man with the thin-framed glasses is now in his car, driving home. Not a single sound is made, leaving only the low-volume radio filling as white noise.

Kristoph is unsure if he thinks the visit is any fruitful if at all. Noddac confirms Edgeworth is involved but it seems like the killer himself isn't a part of this. It doesn't look like he has any reason to hide as well considering how miserable that wreck is.

His right-hand releases the grip on the steering wheel to press a button on the radio system, triggering an A.I. voiceover, "hello, how may I help you today?" The robotic woman's voice beams on a touch-screen at the center of the panel.

"Call Professor Aristotle Means," he orders, his eyes keen on the road. With a quick 'understood' by the voice, a ringing beep sounds as the panel shows the lecturer's contact.

Not long after, the man picks up, "Hello, Gavin. Is there something you need?" The deep voice from the other side doesn't signal any worry. "Yes, it's concerning my latest request. I'm afraid their intake has to be put on hold for now." Kristoph knows Aristotle understands what he means when the man sighs.

"Of course, I'll arrange their documents. I assume this is about Prosecutor Edgeworth?"

Kristoph brakes and pulls on the gear and handbrake, "precisely. I discovered he's plotted something prior to leaving the country. I'm hoping to find where his current location is."

The professor pauses to think, "I can help you with that, the prosecution department has been nosy about him after they found out he's continuing to be promoted to Chief Prosecutor."

The blonde man sighs in relief. It's going to save him a lot of time. "That would be very helpful, professor. I owe you once again."

"Don't mention it, I'm merely helping a friend."

The sound of keyboard tapping can be heard from the opposite side, it looks like the professor is on his computer. Kristoph assumes he's looking up sources from both the students and other lecturers in said department.

Aristotle speaks soon after, "it's confirmed for the man to be in Khura'in as of now. Someone leaked an image of him from the High Court of Khura'in."

'Khura'in?'

"Isn't that the country with conservative views on the legal system? They use their royal priestess to perform a rite if I'm not mistaken," The man pushes his glasses. The country itself seems odd.

"Exactly, it's weird on its own that he would be in Khura'in considering how strict he is with the law. I'm sure there's more than meets the eyes." He pauses.

"I'll update you once I get intel, I have a lecture in a few minutes," the lecturer excuses himself. Kristoph bids him farewell and the call ends with a beep. The FM radio fades back into the previously set volume as the panel screen shows the radio station frequency.

Once the vehicle in front of him moves from the green light, the man follows suit. At least he doesn't have to waste more time down the Criminal Affairs Department to see Detective Gumshoe and despite how oblivious he is, there's still a risk of him telling Edgeworth about the visit.

'Khura'in, huh? What are you doing there, Edgeworth?'

Through sheer gut feeling, he has a sense that Phoenix might be involved since the country is known to be a place for spirit mediums to practice and his previous assistant is nowhere to be found.

Maya Fey, the infamous spirit medium who successfully channeled her deceased sister in the middle of court sessions. The sister, Mia, helped Phoenix overcome several cases in his early years. Although recently, the younger one has gone out of the country to continue her training according to Pheonix so he's left alone with his adopted daughter.

'Ugh, but what would make Edgeworth even meet her in the first place? Is it really just a coincidence he's continuing his study there?'

Kristoph, clenching his jaw, spins the steering wheel.

"We might need to take a little detour."

----

[ 12:40 PM - The Gavin's Residence - Kristoph's Bedroom ]

[Y/N] lays in the bed with the white blanket covering them, Klavier has tucked them in when he notices the person sound asleep.

The situation has calmed down but it doesn't hide the fact that they're not receiving the news well. It's a normal reaction, to be frank. The sender of the letter is officially pronounced dead and they've found the body. This is an impossible scenario to occur.

Initially, he too thought it was a prank but as expected, the handwriting matches when he took a quick review from his brother's briefcase. He can't wrap his head around it, how did someone write this? When did they give it to [Y/N]? Did the victim even write it in the first place?

Countless questions flow into his mind, but none of them are answered. 'I guess I should let bruder return with any information.'

Klavier is sitting in the living room, his elbows rest on his knees and his hands are clasped under his chin. The whole situation seems bizarre to him. Like a sudden hole is dug without a reason. He feels Kristoph is hiding something from him but quickly dismisses the thought.

He shouldn't doubt his own brother.

Closing his eyes, the man inhales and sighs. He finds it weird the older male is willing to go to such lengths for [Y/N]. Sure, they have the potential to work for him but that doesn't mean they get special treatment.

And the way his face lights up when he looks at them, the way his eyes soften at their sight. He has yet to see his brother look so honest with himself. He has always kept a smile on his face but for the purpose of keeping an image to the public, to keep up with his name.

.... No, he's overthinking it.

Of course, anyone would react the same way. [Y/N] is in a tight predicament and surely any sane person would try and help. The same goes for his brother. Perhaps Kristoph just finds them charming in a way and nothing more, just as how he does too.

All that aside, if this crisis is proven to cause problems for all three of them he has no choice but to interfere fully - not that he hasn't. Thinking rationally, he should prioritize guarding over [Y/N] while Kristoph is out. They both can't leave them unsupervised for now, who knows what they'll do. Perhaps their assumption of the gravity of the situation is valid.

Klavier doesn't have the letter with him right now so he can't exactly examine it closely, completely unaware of how damaged it is in his brother's hands. The man is keen to find at least some credible source to help him get information. In his current predicament, the only thing he can do is to issue an investigation.

The slight problem in this is he needs to give the department a reason and surely he can't tell them he needs to launch an investigation on a closed case. Maybe he can consult a detective in the Criminal Affairs Department, someone he can trust so they can cover it from legal sources. Yeah, that's a good start.

With that, Klavier pulls out his phone and rings a number.

"Hello? Hey Daryan. Got a favor to ask. You free anytime?"

----

[A/E/N] - (revised)

Good news and bad news.

Good news is we have more time, bad news is we're running out of time.

We're working from April to June and after that we're blasting off to uni. Working wise, the time gap is very lax so we might be able to squeeze in a few chapters? Speaking of which, we're actually kind of stuck!!! Like damn now what... We don't want to conclude the story but we're running out of ideas... Our solution for this is to ask opinions from actual author friends of ours (they're really good at stories!) and hope we'll bs out something logical? So uhm don't get your hopes up too much!!

And as always, thank you for reading and the support!! We're so grateful this book has 1k readers now!! This sounds like a silly achievement...