Ace Attorney: Secrets beneath Secrets

The Explosive Turnabout, Part 9

April 25

Courtroom No. 5

11:15 AM

Lily Shield

"I have more than a few questions about this whole situation," Prosecutor Lin declared. Shock was clearly written on her face, and I'm not going to lie, I felt bad for her. She had been living with Prosecutor Wood for ages and never noticed that this was going on. It must have been a serious reality check for her, and it made me feel horrible that she had to find out this way. I know I wouldn't have been happy to find out such personal information about somebody in my family in the middle of a courtroom of all places.

"Then ask me, Linny," Nevada replied. She leaned forward on the witness stand and looked up at Prosecutor Lin with a relaxed expression. "I don't bite."

"I think I would be terrified if she did bite," Yuri murmured, nudging me with one elbow. "Then again, wouldn't everyone?"

"How did you manage to hide this for so long? How long has this whole thing been going on?" Prosecutor Lin asked. "I've been living with you for ages, and I had no clue this was happening. It's so strange to me that you were able to bury this for so long."

"Hm... I don't know how long. A few years? I don't know. I think I was about twelve at the time. Don't quote me on that. I don't remember exactly. I just know that I'm not as old as the body I inhabit," Nevada replied.

"For someone who's supposedly only three, she's very well-spoken," I commented. "If anyone else told me that she was that young, I would have called them crazy, but coming from her, I guess it make sense... She would know herself best since nobody else knew she existed."

"What caused you to exist?" Robbie asked with a heavy frown. "If you came to be three years ago, something must have happened three years ago to spark your existence. You wouldn't just suddenly come out of nowhere."

"Hm... I don't know exactly what happened, but I think it had something to do with the disappearance of my cousin. Something happened before then. Afterwards, my cousin went missing, and I was caused by whatever made him want to leave. I don't know what it was. I wasn't around yet to know what it was, so it's a mystery even to me," Nevada replied. "You'd have to ask Niamh, but I can't swap out easily. I need to pass out, and I'm not that type. She might fall asleep at the drop of a hat, but I'm not quite so easily to put to sleep. For now, we'll just have to go on without an explanation."

"Wow... Well, I guess the cause isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things. We really want you to tell us about what you saw at the time of the crime. We believe that Prosecutor Wood was in charge of your body before passing out at the sight of a knife, which is when you came in. You were the one who came in and took control of your shared body at this time, and you did something to get away from the scene of the crime," Prosecutor Lin said. I could tell she was still shaken, but I didn't comment on it at all.

"Maybe I did. It's not something you can prove. I didn't do anything," Nevada rambled, ignoring what we were saying immediately. "How about we move on? What did the victim do? The victim is a bad guy, right?"

"We never said that the victim was bad while you were around. How did you know that he had been doing bad things?" I asked with a small smirk.

Nevada stared at me for a moment before shrugging. "Dumb luck, I guess," she said. "If you look at him, it's pretty easy to guess that he's shady. You would think he was bad if you saw his face too. Don't come for me when I was just letting my instincts guide me."

"Nevada, you know that you can trust us, right?" Prosecutor Lin questioned. "You weren't around during yesterday's trial... At least, I don't think you were. I believe the defense can give us a set timeline about what you did at the time of the crime. Plus, they can say when you were in control and when you weren't based on what they learned in the investigation yesterday. Is it okay if they explain that now?"