Ace Attorney Investigations: Haunting Memories

Chapter Twenty Five

April 3 2:35pm

Interpol Headquarters ~ Sebastian Walker's POV

"No way...!" N gasped. "You really think he's the one behind all this...?! That he would even kill his own parents...?!"

"Kotoko was locked inside her house by her brother to 'protect' her from the outside world," I reminded him. "That makes him sound awfully suspicious, don't you think?"

"Kotoko will be devastated...!" N argued. "She told me that she has no other relatives now other than her brother...!"

"Don't worry. I have a plan when the time comes." Julia said. "But for now, we need to find some way to drag him out of hiding."

"What kind of plan do you have in mind?" I asked. Julia looked away, which sent the 'I'm not telling you yet' message pretty well.

"We just need to confront Kitoka face-to-face. But how are we going to do that?" N inquired. "He's been missing ever since this case started, and even before that."

"I have an idea how," Julia claimed. "To do it, we need to head back to Kotoko's house. There, we can finally close this long-winded case once and for all."

April 3 3:00pm

Minami Household

The three of us found Kotoko in her house, watching TV. She turned the television off as soon as she saw us, leaping from her space on the couch and meeting us at the door. "Hi!" She waved. "What's wrong? You guys look a bit down."

"Kotoko, do you have any way of contacting your brother?" Julia asked. "We need to ask him some questions."

Kotoko nodded and ran from the room, completely oblivious to Julia's lie. Julia was pretty good at keeping a straight face in most situations, so I wasn't surprised that Kotoko bought her lie. Just one of Julia's many talents, I suppose.

Kotoko returned several minutes later, her pink ponytails bouncing. "Kitoka says that he's on his way now!" She exclaimed. "I can't wait to see him again!"

N smiled with her while Julia frowned. "What's wrong?" I whispered to the latter.

"... It feels too easy." She replied. "Kotoko makes it sound like he's putting up no resistance whatsoever in coming home."

"Maybe he doesn't know we're here," I suggested. "Kotoko could have left that detail out."

"Perhaps..." Julia sighed. The front door opened seconds later and a boy with short baby blue hair stepped into the house. His yellow eyes widened slightly when he saw us.

"Y-You're those Interpol agents, right?" He asked. I noticed that he was trembling ever so slightly. "The ones that are looking into that hooded guy that kills people?"

"Indeed we are." Julia nodded. "We'll just need you to answer a few questions for us. It won't take long."

"Don't worry, Kitoka, they're really nice and really cool!" Kotoko cried. "There's nothing to be afraid of!"

The boy was about to respond to his sister when Julia cut him off, the determination clear in her voice. "Where have you been all this time?"

"Wh-Where have I been...?" Mr. Minami repeated. "Why does it matter to you...?"

"Your parents are d-" I began, but I received a harsh jab in the ribs from Julia. She glanced towards Kotoko. I paused, trying to rearrange my sentence before starting again. "Your house is the scene of a crime and we need to know what you've been doing." I said, stumbling on a letter or two thanks to Julia's glaring out of the corner of my eye.

"I've just been out, okay?" Mr. Minami replied. "It doesn't matter. Just find that killer dude."

"Lose the attitude and answer us properly." Julia commanded. "We won't allow you to leave until you've answered our inquiries truthfully and clearly."

Mr. Minami muttered something about wasting time and turned for the door, only to see that N was blocking it off. Julia was stood guard near the back of the house, meaning that there really was no way out for the boy. His yellow eyes narrowed as he glared at N.

"You heard her. You're not leaving until you tell us everything." N monotoned, unusually serious compared to his normal behaviour. He must care way too much about getting Griffin off the hook. Either that or he's acting to make himself seem more intimidating to the possible culprit.

"... Fine," Mr. Minami shrugged. "I've been with some friends all day."

"So if we ask these 'friends' of yours to verify that, they'll be able to give you an alibi?" Julia asked.

"Alibi?" Kotoko repeated. "Why would Kitoka need an alibi in the first place?"

"We just want to know where he was at the time." Julia replied.

"Don't lie to her!" Mr. Minami cried, making me jump (I wasn't expecting it, okay?). "You're trying to make me sound like the bad guy here! Trying to make me look suspicious, are you?"

"W-We can explain-" I tried to say, but it was useless. He was clearly ignoring me.

"I knew he'd be in denial," Julia sighed. "In that case, there's only one thing we can do. We can't beat around the bush; we have to be direct."

"B-But Kotoko's here...!" I replied. "She'll be on his side...!"

"Maybe. But we have reason to believe that he would be the culprit and, more imporantly, evidence." Julia paused before smiling. Not a confident smirk; a genuine smile. "Don't worry. We won't let him get away with what he's done."

"If you two are done flirting, we need to solve this case." N reminded us. I mentally slapped myself for letting myself get distracted.

Julia turned towards the agitated Mr. Minami, crossing her arms over her chest. "Behaving in this way isn't going to clear our suspicions about you." She told him.

"Go on, tell me! What suspicions?!" Mr. Minami demanded, his eye twitching slightly. We hadn't even formally accused him yet and he was nervous.

Julia seemed to hesitate, the smallest doubt flickering onto her expression before responding with clenched fists. "... That you are the Nightfall Killer we've been searching for all this time."

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it's about time i typed this

AceAttorneyFan over and out!