Morix Origins: Journeys

The Adventure Across the Sea, Part 9

March 26

Supreme Court of Judicature

Courtroom

10:00 AM

My shoulders remained knotted with tension long after I stepped over the threshold into the courtroom. Evander wasn't in a much better state of mind beside me, and I could tell he was fighting to ensure his anxiety wasn't clear as could be. We both hated having to lie to Sumire about what we know was going to happen in this trial, but there wasn't much we could do at the moment. We had to prove who the true culprit was, and if that meant burning a few bridges, then... That was what it meant to be a lawyer. We learned it with Matilda, and we couldn't afford to forget such an important lesson so soon after we first learned it.

The judge hit his gavel against the desk, and the court's chatter died down to silence. "Court is back in session for the trial of Sumire Valcourte," he announced. "I take it both the defense and prosecution have done all of the necessary investigating into this case."

"We have," I confirmed with a nod, and I felt my stomach begin to tie itself into a knot. I hated this, but I needed to push through it. I knew what to do now even if it wasn't going to be easy. That was all I could do at this point.

"I have as well," Prosecutor Shimada confirmed across the courtroom. "I believe now is the time for us to call upon our first set of witnesses... And I would like to request a member of the victim's office come to the stand to speak with us."

My eyes went wide. Who was Prosecutor Shimada talking about? It seemed like he was trying to work around having to be open with what he was planning, but... Could he have figured out the same thing we had? Did he know that Ms. Noguchi was probably the culprit? Detective Watanabe had seemingly led us in the right direction, so it wasn't a stretch to say that we thought he could have done the same for Prosecutor Shimada...

The judge's eyes widened when he realized just how firmly Prosecutor Shimada was speaking. "You have a plan for the trial today, I see," he concluded. "i see no reason to hold back then. If you believe you know what must be done, then I would be more than happy to pass control over to you for the time being. We trust your judgement."

"Thank you, Your Excellency," Prosecutor Shimada smiled, but I could tell easily that he was straining to try and seem more confident than he felt. "I would like to summon Marika Noguchi to the witness stand at this time."

"He knows," Evander concluded under his breath. "He must have seen the note on the victim's calendar the same way we did. There's no way he would call her to the stand if he didn't know what we had seen."

"Then Detective Watanabe was working with him too," I murmured. That didn't really surprise me. After all, both Detective Watanabe and Prosecutor Shimada had worked together many years ago on the case revolving around the fire at Soratobu Tenshi. It stood to reason that they would have stayed in contact even after the trial ended. They were two of the only people who managed to survive the aftermath of the case, so it would have surprised me if they completely pushed one another out of their lives.

Ms. Noguchi had approached the stand while Evander and I were distracted. She smiled pleasantly at the court as she pulled herself up to stand as tall and straight as she could. I was impressed by just how easily she was taking control of the situation at hand... Though I couldn't say I entirely understood it. Ms. Noguchi had to know that whatever was going to come next wasn't going to be pretty... But there she was anyway.

Maybe we were wrong about this. I knew there was no real point in pinning all of my hopes on this being a mistake, but it was all I could do now. Whether it was true or not... We would see with time, and Prosecutor Shimada was going to do all he could to lead us in the right direction.