Ace Attorney Investigations: Virtual Despair

Chapter 4: Malnourishment or Murder - Part 1 (Daily Life)

~ Ultimate Delinquent Jordan Tucker's POV ~

*DING DONG BANG BONG*

"Goooooood morning, everyone! It is now 7am. Let's get up and get ready for another beeeeeeeee-autiful day!"

I was already wide awake by the time the announcement was made. I was pacing back and forth in the lobby of the hotel, waiting for Akari. There was always the possibility that she had ignored my little invitation, but this was rather important. It was also something that nobody else could know about.

"Jordan...?"

Akari was stood in the doorway, arms hugging herself. Her eyes were red and she looked tired; she probably hadn't slept all night. "Is something wrong...?" She whispered. "Did you send me that letter...?"

"To answer that first question, nothing's wrong." I replied. "To answer the second, yes, I did. For good reason, too. So... I just... wanted to apologise."

"Apologise...?" Akari repeated.

I nodded. "Yeah. You know, I've been a jerk to you and everyone else since we got ourselves in this situation... even before that. So... I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for that..."

"O-Okay... But why did you have to invite just me...?" Akari questioned.

"There was actually a second thing. I... have something to give you." I told her. "So... I know you're really upset about what happened with Susumu... You miss him, I get that... so I thought that maybe you might want something to remember him by. So... here."

I held out a white scarf to her, making her gasp and her violet eyes widen. "I-It's not exactly the same one, since it was used to... it was used in the case," I continued. "But... a white scarf is the Ultimate Comedian's trademark, so it's almost the same thing, right...?"

Akari slowly took the scarf, hugging it close to her chest as tears formed in her eyes. I began panicking at this point, afraid that I'd just made the situation worse, but eventually Akari managed a small smile. "Thanks, Jordan..." she whispered. "I really appreciate this... You really do have a heart..."

"H-Huh?" I stammered. "O-Oh, um... sure. You're welcome, or something... C-Come on, let's get to the restuarant before everyone starts to question where we are..."

Akari nodded and we climbed the stairs to the floor above, where everyone else was waiting for us. Akari went off to sit alone, which I expected.

"Why were you two alone together, huh?" Kazashi asked, raising an eyebrow with a smirk. "Is there some kind of secret love affair we don't know about?!"

"Knock it off," I demanded with a glare. "More importantly, there should be the fourth island open to us now since we cleared a third class trial."

"That it is!" Monokuma cried, suddenly appearing as he always did. "The fourth island is now avaliable for you to explore! I hope you enjoy!"

"I'm starting to get bored of this process..." Zach sighed. "We visit an island, a murder occurs, the class trial is cleared and then another island opens up to allow the whole thing to repeat itself... I just want to leave."

"You can leave when I say you can leave!" Monokuma scolded, stamping his tiny feet angrily. "We haven't even reached halfway through this story yet!"