ATAA season 1

Chapter 2: Meet the Turnabout [Part 6]

__________________________February 17th 1:00AM
                        District court
Defendant lobby no. 4            
__________________________

I was waiting at the door, anticipating Rei's arrival, however when the door swung open the figure wasn't Rei but instead Mai, smiling while methodically walking over to me.
"You look surprised, were you not expecting to have me join you?"
"No, I was expecting Rei."
"Please do not worry, he will be joining us momentarily" I don't know if I just hadn't noticed it beforehand but she was starting to talk really formally, was she nervous?
"I think this is a fine time to get to know one another a little better, do you not?"
"Really? Right before a trial? I'm pretty sure there'll be better opportunities..."
"Perhaps, however I want to talk *now*"  her tone was surprisingly straightforward and forceful and so I decided to speak to her a while.
"Ms Truths, I do not feel like you are confident in your work. Why is that?" I didn't expect her to ask me something so personal so soon but I felt obligated to answer.
"I originally became a defense attorney to try and solve a mystery that has been haunting me for 5, long years... I wanted to find out what happened to my sister, I needed to know where she was, and when I did... I could tell her that I finally became an attorney, just like her. However, after a while her fiancé, My boss started to tell me that I'd never see her again, he kept saying she had died in an accident or some crap like that. Eventually, I decided to leave him and work alone. My entire job is solely based on finding out what happened to my sister and why she left me without warning but I'm starting to lose sight of that goal.. I'm slowly losing faith and patience... I stay up at night, reading over witness testimonies about her disappearance and some about her death. I refuse to believe that my sister is dead, she'll return to me one day, that's what I tell myself constantly. I'm being lazy with my work, if I can't find my sister, am I really fit to do anything?" Mai looked dejected, guilty of asking the question.
"I am sorry that happened to you... But I am glad that I have someone that I can relate to. Like you I had a sister, I never met her though but I heard stories about her from my Mother and why she had to part with her. My father was never around, working in the city and never coming back to visit so my mother ended up having to raise me on her own. My childhood was difficult and different from the other children, I became isolated and the others talked, spreading rumours that my mother was a drunk who regularly beat me. They hated us because we were different and it has been that way since then." I never even considered how hard it could have been growing up with constant discrimination and hate for your beliefs... I pitied Mai, how could she still be so functional after enduring so many years of hate.
"Wow, I had no Idea Mai... I really admire your strength though, I wish I could still be standing up for myself like you are." She smiled and looked at the door as it opened and Rei came waltzing in.
"Heya! Ready for some lawyering?" Mai and I exchanged nods and I felt our bond deepen a little. The bailiffs escorted us into the court and we noticed that Rotuc was already at his stand.
"Does he look tired to you?" Mai asked Rei in concern, Rei shrugged as they both turned to me. I was starting at Rotuc and he was looking at me. I had so many questions to ask him, why did he mess up the investigation so badly? I couldn't help thinking that he also had a few questions to ask me...
"Does the defense have a problem?" Rotuc finally spoke, his condescension ringing in my mind.
"As a matter of fact I do. I want to know why the prosecution performed such an awful investigation!"
"I Have no clue what the hell you're talking about."
"Cut the crap Esorp, you know exactly what I'm talking about."
"It appears that the defense has made a mistake, I'm not the one who was in charge of the investigation."
"Bullshit! The detectives at the crime scene said that you ordered them to keep the body as it was found!" Rotuc looked confused
"I didn't say anything of the sort." Tiff, who I hadn't noticed was in the room, spoke up,
"Rotty, you don't think it was-"
"Impossible, She's out of the damn country." Tiff backed down and I placed my hand on the desk.
"Ahem Order! Order! Defense please state what you had against the previous investigation for the court."
"Right *sigh* yesterday we had Detective Tiff Detec investigate the body of the victim thoroughly and discovered some not so discreet marks around her neck, an obvious sign that she was strangled." Tiff smiled and took over,
"When we were searching the body, Mai over at the defense stand discovered the weapon was being hidden in one of the victims stab wounds." Mai looked embarrased, not making eye contact with Rotuc.
"Tsk. Anks.." I heard him mutter as he looked at Mai.
"Oh right, the murder weapon was a shard of glass, most likely taken from the broken lampost."
"Oh my, what a productive investigation." The Judge began to clap lightly.
"Prosecution, your witness?"
"Not quite your honour, I'd like to have Jinja Purotekutā take the stand" what the hell is he planning to do?
"Miss Purotekutā, where did you happen to be around 11pm on the night of the crime?" She had to think for a while and finally gave her answer.
"I was on the roof of Anthurium Tower."
"Did you see anything out of place?"
"Not at all, it was a little cleaner than usual, especially the cabinet door."
"How long did you stay?"
"I left at 11:35 so around 45 minutes."
"What were you doing? You weren't smashing the glass of a lamppost, correct?"
"Heavens no, I was offered tea from an acolyte." Something seemed strange so I decided to ask a few questions of my own
"Why did you end up going up to the roof in the first place?"
"I was asked to."
"Okay, who asked you?"
"Um. Well you see... uh... it was signed with a strange insignia." Mai rummaged through the pile of evidence and dug out the photo.
"Miss Purotekutā, is this the insignia?" Jinja examined it and place it down.
"Correct, I gather that the defense knows about its meaning..?"
"Defense, an explanation please?" The judge asked and everyone's eyes were on Mai.
"It's the symbol of the professional underground mafia that was formed 16 years ago, some people say they're still hiding in our village..." and that photo we found should be proof of that, right?
"Mrs Truths, where did you find this piece of evidence?"
"We found it in the Rairakku house."
"I gave them permission to search the house, I thought it would be relevant to the case" Tiff announced proudly.
"I'd like to send in my final witness."
"Final witness? Who are you to make that choice?!" Rotuc didn't look at me, he just watched the stand. From the doors emerged a tall man wearing a red suit with jet black eyes and pushed back hair.
"Witness, name and profession, please."
"Name: Gary Purotekutā, Profession: Classified"
"What the-"
"Does the defense have a problem with my answer?" Before I could answer, Mai cut me off
"Not at all, sir." He and Mai traded glances at one another.
"Could the witness please provide their testimony?"
"Yes, Mr Purotekutā please tell us what you were doing on the night of the murder."

_______________________________________________
What I was doing
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"Let's see. Last night I was spending time with my wife."
"She heard a strange noise coming from outside"
"She went to go check upstairs"
"Whereas I went to check outside"
"I saw a woman strangling another woman, I couldn't differentiate the two because it was dark."

"I do have a major problem with that testimony, other testimonies have stated that the two were different in height so how could you not see the difference."
"Isn't it obvious? It was dark, the lamp was shattered."
"Huh, how could you- HOLD IT!"
"Hm?"
"How could you know that the lamp was shattered, for all you know it could've just not worked."
"I saw the smashed glass"
"Impossible, from the entrance to your house you wouldn't see the section that was smashed."
"Not the lamp itself, the shards on the floor."
"Objection! How could you see the shards if it was dark?" I trapped him, there's no way that he can worm his way around this one.
"I had seen the shards earlier that day."
"How strange, the village is swept everyday around 5pm and witness testimony says that the lamp was smashed at approximately 4:30." Mai crossed her arms
"Mrs Tinh Than, please leave this to the adults"
Wait. Didn't we find the shards in the victim's wounds? Wait...
"Objection! You may have seen the shards that day, but not from walking passed them, from cleaning them! You then safeguarded the shards and attacked the victim during the night!"
"How childish, you're seriously accusing me?"
"Welcome to truth's court Mr Purotekutā" Rotuc smirked slightly
"That's a funny theory but what if you considered the obvious, more plausible option, The shards being cleaned up by the cleaners and simply disregarded."
"I have, but what I can't ignore is that the shards were found inside of the victim's open wounds" the court fell silent
"Ah... My bad, but did you know that the lamp was shattered by a stone shot from a rifle?"
"How did you!?"
"I did it, I placed that gun there and loaded it with stones."
"Why the hell did you do that?"
"You tell me lawyer." Was he trying to get in my head and intimidate me? Okay... I have to think, why would he naturally confess to doing something so ridiculous...? Unless it was just a diversion, yeah! A diversion to make us think that Jinja shot because she went up there...
"I have a concern... If this stone *was* shot from the gun.. Wouldn't the force shatter the whole lamp?" Rei asked
"It wouldn't, the angle was-"
"The angle? Don't make me laugh! This rifle was a a newer model, no question about it, that glass would've shattered into a million pieces" Tiff argued.
"That gun was just a diversion, huh. You just smashed it through other means. Anyway, we searched your house and-"
"What? I'm positive that's illeg-"
"Not illegal if you got authorisation" Tiff jumped in and Rotuc nodded.
"We found this frayed rope, next to this photo."
"More specifically the rope that strangled Chīsai and a photo of a mafia from 16 years ago"
"You're a member right? You killed her because you were ordered to."
"Ordered? ORDERED!? HAHAHAHAHA! Please!"
"Don't try to deny it. All this evidence leads to-"
"I wasn't ordered! I did it on my own damn volition! That's right, I killed her and I don't regret it!"
"Huh?"
"I'd do it all again if I had to!" He started laughing insanely clutching his hand
"She was weak and didn't want to join her father's own group of professional killers, the man who I aspired to be, I killed her out of spite, I mimicked the last life he stole, I stole his greatest treasure. I transcended him, I am finally above him... Losing never felt so good and I could have never done it if you hadn't caught me!" He was crazy, delusional even. but through that clouded judgement and cynical laugh, I could see myself. I've always wanted to be the best... I aspire to be like my sister.. But I'm different to him... I don't intend to lose, I refuse to lose.
"Ehem, now that the witness has.... Erm... Calmed down, I will rule my verdict as NOT GUILTY." Rei gave me a thumbs up and wide smile along with Tiff who was beaming while cuffing Gary Purotekutā, Rotuc looked bothered but I chose to ignore that and celebrate my victory.
"I'm so proud of you!" Tiff gave me a big hug, almost suffocating me and Rei laughed in unison with Tiff. Mai gave a warm smile and bowed politel. We made it out of the courtroom and I was confronted by Rotuc.
"Congratulations on your win."
"Prosecutor." I didn't know how to feel towards him yet, he seemed like he wanted to say something but instead he started walking away
"Esorp, wait!" Mai cried out, he turned around to face her
"Thank you for your help during the trial." He looked bothered
"Don't expect that to happen again, Truths, I'm simply on the side of complete justice and if you keep making mistakes then you'll hinder the both of us." He then walked away.. Prosecutors, I always imagined them to be the enemy of the defense, that's what they are... right? Rotuc is my enemy, right? Then why is he different? Why is he acting like we're on the same side as me..?

[END]