Ace Attorney Investigations: Haunting Memories

Chapter Twenty Three

April 3 10:00am

Minami Household ~ Julia Kirigiri's POV

When Q and I arrived at the crime scene for further investigation, it looked like someone had already entered. The front door had been left wide open. I entered the house cautiously, glancing around to catch any sight of unusual activity. The rear door leading into the garden had also been left unlocked. A small figure lay crouched in the garden, too preoccupied with something to notice us.

"Kotoko?" I called out, recognising that bright pink hair. "What are you doing?"

Kotoko gasped and stood to face us, plastering a smile onto her lips. "Hi!" she waved. "Wh-What's up?"

"I'd like to ask you the same thing." I replied. "What are you doing?"

"Who, me?" Kotoko asked, pointing to herself. "I-I'm not doing anything."

I exchanged a glance with Q, hoping he would understand the mental message I was trying to send him. Luckily, he understood what I was telling him to do. "Kotoko, please don't lie to us." He said to the girl, trying not to sound too harsh while distracting her.

"B-But I'm not...!" Kotoko insisted. I shuffled over to the spot that Kotoko was guarding and lifted an evidence bag out of the ground. It was partially covered in soil, but it's contents were clearly visible; a key chain.

Kotoko gasped as soon as she realized that her plan had failed. She tried to reach for the bag to get it back, but my significant height advantage over her meant that she couldn't reach it. "Didn't N mention that he found something like that at the crime scene?" Q asked me, seemingly ignoring Kotoko's desperate attempts to recover the evidence.

"He did," I nodded. "But what I want to know is why you, Kotoko, were trying to hide it."

"U-Um..." Kotoko stammered, her eyes trailing to the ground. "I-It's not like I wanted to bury it... I felt like I had to..."

"Why?" I asked, my eyes narrowing. "Did someone tell you to?"

"Well... not exactly..." Kotoko replied. "I just... didn't want them to get hurt..."

"You realise that this piece of evidence possibly belongs to a serial killer, don't you?" I told her. "We need to locate them as soon as possible to bring them to justice."

Kotoko bit her lip as her yellow eyes began to fill with tears. "B-But I don't want that!!" She cried, pushing past Q and I and running back into the house. With a sigh, I chased after her. She moved fast; after searching her house for her whereabouts, she was nowhere to be found.

"Q, you head back to headquarters and get that evidence dusted for fingerprints." I ordered. "I'll continue searching for Kotoko. Let me know immediately when the fingerprinting is complete."

"Right." Q nodded. As soon as he had left my line of sight, I stood in thought for a few moments before deciding to pay the detention center a visit.

April 3 12:30pm

Detention Center

Visitor's Room

Much to my surprise, N was at the detention center, sitting on the opposite side to Griffin.

"H-Hey!!" Griffin cried, his blue eyes wider than dinner plates once he had noticed I was there. "You actually came to see me! Does that mean that you're finally starting to care about me?!"

"No." I replied, crossing my arms. "I just want to know if Kotoko came by here recently."

"Kotoko?" Griffin replied. "Um... nope. She hasn't been here since she went to get that key chain analysed for fingerprints."

"She did that?" I asked.

"Well, she was supposed to." N replied. "I said I was going to do it, but she insisted upon being the one instead, so I gave it to her and she ran off. We haven't seen her since."

"In other words, she lied to you." I said.

"Wait, huh?" Griffin gasped.

"Q and I found her in her backyard, burying something in the soil." I explained. "That something turned out to be the bagged key chain. We asked her why she tried to get rid of it, but she ran away before we could get an answer out of her."

"You know, you probably just scared her away." Griffin suggested. "Considering her circumstances, wouldn't it be pretty likely that she ran away out of fear?"

"I agree. But I think that she was hiding something." I said. "She said that she didn't want to see the criminal punished."

"You think she has some kind of connection with the killer and wants to protect them?" N asked. "Even after they murdered her parents?"

"Yes." I nodded. Our debate was interrupted when a voice reached my ear via my earpiece.

"Jul- um, D?" They began; it was Q.

"How is the fingerprinting process?" I asked immediately. "Have you located any fingerprints from the evidence yet?"

"Not yet, they're still in the process." Q replied. "But there's something else. I found Kotoko."

"At headquarters?" I questioned, frowning. "How is she? Is she okay?"

"As far as I can see, she's fine. But... she kind of refuses to come out of hiding behind the filing cabinets." Q explained. "I'm not exactly the best at talking to young people, in case you couldn't already tell."

"Really? You seem perfect for the part to me." I joked, which I admit is a rare occurance. "N and I will be there as soon as possible. Make sure she doesn't move from that spot until we get there."

"Huh? N's going too?" Griffin questioned, his voice full of disappointment. "But then who's going to keep my company...? I don't want to be alone...!"

"S-Sorry, Felix..." N apologised. "I promise I'll be back soon. Hang on until then, okay? You'll be out of imprisonment in no time."

Griffin sighed. "Okay, fine... see you later..."

I swiftly exited the detention center, N following after me. There was no time to waste; this case was arriving at it's conclusion.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I should probably decide how many chapters of this I want but right now I have no idea when this will end oops

It won't be too long though probably

AceAttorneyFan over and out!