Ace Attorney Investigations: Haunting Memories

Chapter Twenty Six

April 3 3:30pm

Minami Household ~ Kotoko Minami's POV

The room fell totally silent. The three agents were stood in a line, glaring at Kitoka. My big brother was returning the evil look, his skin slowly turning pale. "Wh... What?" I whispered. "What... do you mean?"

"Don't listen to them, Kotoko." Kitoka whispered to me. "They have it all wrong."

"We're not the ones who have it wrong." Ms. Kirigiri monotoned. "We aren't the ones who decided to go on a murderous rampage and kill a selection of adults, leaving multiple children without one or both parents."

"Shut up!" Kitoka yelled. "You're just so out of ideas for this case that you're pinning the blame on anyone that comes to mind! I don't have any reason to kill anyone!"

"Your motivation is simple." Ms. Kirigiri continued. "Your distaste of adults has been obvious from the start, which is why you've made the decision to-"

"Wh-What kind of stupid reason is that...?!" Kitoka interrupted. "If that's the case, then anyone could have done it! Do you have any specific proof that I did it...?!"

Ms. Kirigiri remained silent, although the seriousness from her facial expression never wavered. Her fists were clenched, as if taking out her frustration on herself.

"Hah! See?! You have no proof!" Kitoka scoffed. "There's no way you can prove I'm the killer!"

"But you did prove one thing," Mr. N began with a scowl. "You never denied that you disliked adults. That could be your motive, and a very strong one at that."

"Tch. Don't all kids hate adults?" Kitoka sneered. "That doesn't prove anything! Nothing at all! It's not any kind of motive, much less one for murder!"

The three Interpol agents stood in frustrated silence. I did the same, although I was more heartbroken than anything. Kitoka, my big brother, is the one who was responsible for all of those crime scenes I investigated? He was the one responsible for killing Mommy and Daddy? He was the one responsible for getting Fee-Fee accused of it all?

"So, if this is over and you guys are finished, I'll be leaving now. I'll be taking Kotoko with me, too, so you can stop poisoning her mind with stupid ideas." Kitoka held his hand out to me as he said this, a gentle smile on his face. "Come on, sis."

I hesitated, backing away from him and watching his expression change from gentle warmth to shock. "N-No..." I whispered. "I won't go with you... I can't..."

"Why not?" Kitoka asked. "Don't tell me you actually believe what those idiots are trying to tell you? Don't tell me you won't believe my words?"

"W-Well..." I stammered. "There is... evidence..."

"E-Evidence...?!" Kitoka repeated. "What evidence...?!"

"You guys know what I'm talking about, right?" I questioned, turning to the three from Interpol. "That evidence we found earlier..."

"Oh, that." Ms. Kirigiri nodded. "Mr. Minami, I suppose you're a large fan of a certain television show, are you?"

"Television show...? What're you talking about...?" Kitoka muttered.

"We found a keychain in the attic, where the... unfortunate victims were found." Ms. Kirigiri explained. "This keychain was tested for fingerprints. What we found were a set of unidentified fingerprints."

"So? What does that have to do with me?" Kitoka shrugged. "Obviously, that bumbling idiot researcher dropped it there. Knowing him, he didn't bother to wear gloves and got his fingerprints all over the thing."

"But if they were Felix's fingerprints, then we would know!" Mr. N exclaimed. "What we're saying is that no prints on our database for this case matched! Not Felix's, not Kotoko's and not your parents' prints! Unknown prints!"

"So... still, what does that have to do with me...?" Kitoka asked again, although the fear in his voice made it evident that he already knew where this was going.

"The only prints that we have yet to test for are yours." Mr. Q explained.

"So, should it be your fingerprints on that keychain, don't you think that would be a very incriminating piece of evidence towards you?" Ms. Kirigiri asked, a victorious smirk on her face.

"I-I've had enough with you people...!" Kitoka growled. "So... you think it's okay to accuse a kid of killing his own parents...?! Then answer this: if I hated Mom and Dad so much, then why would they be my most recent victims?! Wouldn't they be the first to go?!"

"In other situations, yes, they would have been the first victims, if not among the first," Ms. Kirigiri sighed. "You wanted to keep them alive so that Kotoko would have people besides yourself to care for her. However, with your father being a police officer, I wager that he had caught on to your suspicious vanishing acts. With that, you panicked."

"Th-Then why would I kill Mom, too...?!" Kitoka screeched, making me flinch at the word 'kill'.

"Perhaps to get rid of any witnesses," Ms. Kirigiri suggested. "Or simply because your hatred of adults - even your own parents - was so strong, that your father was not enough. Your mother, too, had to fall victim to your burning emotions."

Kitoka was staring at the floor, his eyes wide and his face a light blue hue, almost matching his hair. He was trembling all over and he was biting his lip furiously. Eventually, he gave way and he fell to his knees, the tears spilling from his blue eyes.

"F... Fine!" He choked out. "I killed them! All of them! Are you happy now...?!"

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