Jester || Karina AESPA

043

After the whole talk at the arcade, Giselle and Karina met up with Mafuyu and gained some more information about Morita and why he took sides with the AD-9 project. They ended up dropping the files off at Yagami's place to let him and Kaito read up on it while they had another pit stop to make. They were going to see Izumida.

Once they got to the café, they went inside and Izumida didn't realize they were there until he lifted his head from his phone.

"Karina? Giselle? What are you two doing here?!"

"Did you come alone?"

Karina asked as her and Giselle sat across from Izumida. He scowled.

"Yeah"

"Good. We went Mafuyu home. We could go for a chat a coffee, though"

"Sorry, not interested"

"What did you have to tell Mafuyu?"

"It has nothing to do with you"

"Then how about I guess?"

Izumida furrowed his brows together in confusion.

"Huh?"

"The reason you wanted to talk to her was you were gonna tell her to join forces with Morita"

"What?"

"Am I wrong?"

"I see what you're getting it. What happened with the chief prosecutor and that Ministry of Health bureaucrat... It wasn't normal"

"Not normal? That's a bit of an understatement. They want to protect AD-9 so bad, they ignored evidence of a murder under their noses"

Izumida stared at Karina in silence.

"You're working with them too, aren't you?"

"What are you implying?"

"Chief Prosecutor Morita is part of a conspiracy to push AD-9 through, no matter the cost"

"Do you have proof of that?"

Luckily for Karina, Giselle made another copy of what Mafuyu gave them. She pulled it out and set it on the table.

"This. I got it from Mafuyu. It's a case file detailing a domestic murder within Morita's family. Sound familiar?"

"This is the first I'm hearing of it"

"I'll give it to you... if you have the strength to fight"

"Excuse me?"

"What happens if you find out I'm telling the truth? How far will you go, Izumida? Would you be willing to bring your own boss to justice?"

Izumida stayed silent for another minute before letting out a chuckle.

"Of course. Ask a hundred prosecutors, and they'd answer the same way"

"Huh. Maybe you're not as bad as I thought"

Izumida looked at the file before picking it up from the table and opening it.

"This incident is what gave Morita motivation to support AD-9. That's how I see it, at least"

Karina watched Izumida read over the case file. His expression changing within each sentence that was read.

"This is tragic..."

"Yeah. His sick mom, strangled to death by his own brother..."

Izumida let out a breath and shook his head.

"Morita's doing what he thinks is right in all this. That's why he suppressed evidence earlier. Back at Shono's lab, I mean"

Izumida let out another breath, looking at Karina.

"The Mole killed countless people there. It's only natural there'd be traces left behind. Our case would be practically bulletproof if we found them"

"It's just... I can't believe he would do this..."

Izumida said as he set the case file back onto the table and looked at Karina.

"The way be acted at the lab, we have to believe he's wrapped up in this. Wouldn't you agree?"

Izumida just stared at Karina, unable to answer.

"Izumida!"

"I... I guess I can't deny that"

"Right"

"But if he really is trying to protect AD-9... How do we stop him? What can we even do?"

"Well, Yagami was planning to use Ayabe's trial to bring all the dark truths about AD-9 out into the light. That's why we chased Hamura down. Why we needed to find Shono's lab. But Ichinose and Morita crushed those leads before they really even took off"

"And you don't have the ammo to stop them"

Karina let out a sigh. He was right.

"It hurts to hear the truth laid out like that. But... it is a relief knowing you're not on their side. Believe it or not"

Izumida chuckled a bit.

"Heh, not sure this is the time to be relieved"

Karina sighed and sat back in her seat.

"Yeah, I know. Hey"

"Hm?"

"I was wondering... you think we could get Ichinose to testify? Get him called to the stand?"

"Under what pretense?"

"I dunno. Maybe to explain AD-9? It could be anything, really. He can't say no if the prosecution requests him, right?"

"Then? What do we do once we have him there?"

"We corner him, eloquently. Shower him with questions until he gives up. Yagami and you both"

"Wait, that's your big plan?"

"Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. We don't have a chance of winning if we're not willing to take some risks"

Izumida slowly stood up, looking down at Karina.

"Okay, I'm in. I'll let Yagami know once I've made the arrangements"

Izumida left after that, leaving Karina and Giselle alone to figure out their next step.