End of Day 1 flavor
(contains spoilers for Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations Case 3)
May 19, 3:18 AM
District Court – Courtroom No. 8
As the day drew to a close, the courtroom was still unsure of who to accuse. At last, someone pointed at a man with spiky hair leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. “I think … I think I might have seen him near the stage just before the bomb went off,” she said.
“That doesn’t mean anything!” said the man. “Most of us were near the stage. That’s why we’re here.”
“Yeah, but I think I heard you say something about ‘exploding’ and ‘compromising our opposition,’” she said. “I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but I think that’s a little sketchy.”
The man drew himself up to his full height. “Do you know who I am?” he said. “Why, I’m Phoenix Wright himself! I was the one who exposed all the corruption the speakers were talking about!”
“Phoenix Wright?” said another person. “Like the defense attorney? Surely it should be no trouble to show us your attorney’s badge, right?”
“Of – of course not!” said the man, removing a shiny yellow badge from his pocket. “See?”
He started to shove his badge back into his pocket, but his interlocutor grabbed his wrist. “Let me see that,” he said, forcing the man’s hand open.
He looked at the badge for a few seconds, before turning to the rest of the room. “This is just a piece of painted cardboard!” he said. “I don’t know if this man is a murderer, but he’s definitely a fraud!”
Cries of assent came from the audience. The Judge banged his gavel on his desk. “Well, it sounds like you’ve all agreed that this man is the killer, is that right?” he said. “In that case, do you have anything to say for yourself, Mister, ah, Mister Bright, was it?”
The man looked away. “It’s Tigre – Furio Tigre,” he said. “I guess the jig is up…”
“So you admit you were the one behind this plot?” said the Judge, blinking. “Bailiff! Take this man–”
“One of them,” said Furio Tigre.
Someone in the courtroom gasped. “There are more?”
Furio gave her a withering look. “Of course there are more,” he said. “I don’t care what sort of justice system the police use to handle petty crimes. They’ve always been perfectly willing to back off with the right motivation. But what I do care about is getting the money to repay my debts. When our backers offered me a million dollars to help out with the crime, I couldn’t turn them down.”
“You can’t just murder someone for money!” said another person.
“Not really sure why you’re saying ‘can’t,’” said Furio. “I just did, so clearly I can. And – if I can’t pay that debt off, I’ll die. None of you would do any different, if it was your life on the line.”
The crowd broke out in shouting. Cries of “–he’s right–” and “–consider the circumstances–” met cries of “–no I wouldn’t, not even–” and “–three people dead.” Finally, the Judge put a stop to it, banging his gavel on the desk.
“Well, it doesn’t seem like that was a very clever decision,” said the Judge. “After all, before that, you might have died, and now you’re definitely going to die. Bailiff, take him away!”
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