Ace Attorney: Mask of Deceit

Chapter 2: The Scholarly Turnabout - Investigation 1 ~ Part 2

January 24 12:30pm

Ashbrooke Boarding School - Lobby ~ Niamh Tenniswood's POV

"Whoa..." Yuri whispered as she looked around the massive hall. It did look very posh and expensive, especially with the stained-glass windows in the lobby.

"Hey, guys! So you're the lawyers for this investigation?"

Yuri and I turned in the direction of the peppy voice. A teenage girl was approaching us, a sweet grin on her face. She had bobbed black hair, a green jacket over a white shirt, black fingerless gloves on her fingers, a black skirt and black laced boots. I'd seen this girl before...!

"Mukuro!" I exclaimed.

Mukuro giggled. "So you do remember me! Of course you did: I'm not easily forgotten."

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm not just helping out with the investigation this time." Mukuro smiled as she flashed a peace sign at us. "I'm the detective in charge of the investigation! Well, my dad had to pull some strings to make it happen, but we got there in the end!"

"Would it be okay if you filled us in on some of the details?" Yuri asked. "We don't know much about the case yet..."

"Sure!" Mukuro took us through a few corridors while explaining the case. "The victim was Elaine Wyatt. She was only 16, the poor girl. Cause of death was head trauma; she had been hit with a mallet. Her body was found in the main hall."

Mukuro opened some large doors that lead into a large, circular room with a shiny wooden flooring. The body of a girl with curly brown hair in a uniform lay on the ground, her head covered in blood. A wooden mallet lay on the ground beside her, also stained.

"Why was the defendant arrested for the crime?" I asked. "Were he and the defendant acquainted?"

"Um... they were definitely classmates..." Mukuro said uncertainly. "And they were heard arguing at the time of the murder..."

"What?!" Yuri exclaimed. "They were arguing?! And somebody heard it?!"

Mukuro nodded. "Another student was walking by when he heard the argument. Something about someone working with a thief..."

"A thief?" I repeated.

"I don't know any all of the details. The student said that a name wasn't specified."

(So the victim was killed due to an argument over a kind of thief... I'll have to bear that in mind for later...)

"When we're finished investigating the crime scene, we should go and talk to this witness." I suggested to Yuri. "From what Mukuro has told us, he sounds like he holds valuable information."

I wandered over to the body of the victim. A somewhat pained expression was displayed on her lifeless face. I didn't find it all that surprising, given the way she died.

"I see she didn't leave a dying message..." I pointed out, scanning the area around the body.

"From what we have of the autopsy so far, she died instantly." Mukuro told us. "She didn't get the chance to leave behind any clues or hints."