Scroll 9 { Ladies And Gentlemen }

"I didn't expect you to come by this late, Miss Hope... shouldn't you be getting some rest before tomorrow?"

"It's fine. I still have to prepare a few more things before tomorrow's trail anyway. By right, I should actually apologise for coming by this late, but this is important. It's part of my policy to update my client on whatever is going on." I took a sip of the chrysanthemum tea that had been offered to me.

A petite-looking female sat in front of me. Minori Kato. Also known as Mari's second sister and my client. Her mousy brown hair was neatly cut into a short style. I could feel her hazel orbs glancing briefly at me before dropping down to look at her fingers.

"So... how is it going so far?" Minori asked, worry in her eyes.

"I've visited all of the listed suspect, including Mari in the pass few hours and have concluded... that Mari is definitely not guilty."

"T-thank goodness!" she sighs in relief, putting a hand to her chest.

"But... it hasn't ended yet." I eyed her firmly, twirling a strand of my hair with my index finger. I placed my drink onto the round glass coffee table in front of me. "So far, I am only half certain about the murderer. I have yet to find that big, gaping loophole in this case."

But when I do, this little game is as good as over.

"You mean... you've already drawn a conclusion?" she asked, startled. Her eyes snapped back up to look at me once more.

"Yes and no." I said, covering my right eye with my hand. "Like I said before... the murderer's identity is still slightly unclear to me. However, I do have a faint idea of how guilty each suspect is. Right now, I just have to find a way to fish out solid evidence and tie up a few more loose ends. I cannot say how difficult that'll be, though."

Minori started to fiddle with the frills of her skirt, looking quite stressed out.

"Ano... Let's not talk about this anymore." she squeaked. "I'm really worried about Onee-chan...."

Her lack of confidence in me was disturbing. I eyed her coldly, not bothering to comment.

"Hope-san... I've been meaning to ask you this..."

"...Yes?"

"I... actually didn't expect Hope-san to take on such a 'normal' case... the cases that you took on were normally all high-rank mysteries... so when you accepted my offer, I was surprised...."

she stopped fiddling with her skirt and looked up.


"Very surprised."


A huge smile cracked out from her stressed-out expression and she giggled.

"Is there any particular reason why you decided to do this?"

I leaned onto the arm chair I was sitting on and sighed.

"You could say that..." I said boredly. "Frankly...It wasn't really my decision. In reality, I was actually pressed into doing it."

"Oh. May I ask, by whom?" she asked, interested.

I took another sip of tea, the sweet liquid washing down my throat. I thought about how I should reply. Common sense told me that I couldn't possibly tell her I was instructed to take on this case by L. He most likely wouldn't like it if I were to expose his identity to whoever I wanted to.

".... I was pressed by...."

I paused for a few seconds.

'Mmm... how should I put this...' I mused to myself.

"A very annoying boy."

I nodded, satisfied with my answer.

Minori started to giggle loudly and I stared at her blankly.

"Is something wrong?" I asked in a dry tone, watching her cover her mouth with her hand.

Is she crazy?

"No, no." she quickly shook her head, biting her lower lip to drown away her laughter. I continued to look at her questionably as she calmed herself down.

"So, in other words, you're actually just taking on this case to impress a boy, aren't you?" She smiled at me, exposing some of her white teeth.

I furrowed my eyebrows together at her weird conclusion.

Looks like she is crazy. Or perhaps a bit stupid.

"I don't know what you're trying to say, Minori-san." I said, trying to hide away my 'are-you-a-moron' face.

She giggled again. "I'm sorry." she apologized. "But you know, it's normal to want to try to catch a boy's attention, Hope-san. Especially when you're so young."

Great. Another useless Feather-like quote.

I sighed. Why was everyone so sucked up in this whole lovey-dovey nonsense? I don't get it.

At that very moment, an old grandfather clock that was placed behind me struck twice and we both turned our heads to look at the time. 2:00 am already.

"Hmm, it is getting quite late." I muttered, turning back to face Minori. "I think that's enough for today. I apologize for taking up so much of your time, Minori-san."

She waved her hand at me and shook her head. "No, I should be thankful for everything you've done so far. Ano, it's hard to catch a taxi at this time... do you want me to give you a lift back?"

"That would be helpful." I agreed, getting up onto my feet.

"Okay. Could you wait outside for me while I look around for my car keys?" she instructed and slipped away into one of the rooms.

I headed outside into the dark night. The sky was coloured a pitch black, the moon was hidden behind the dark clouds and not even a single star could be seen shining anywhere.

The only source of light was a lonely street lamp lighting up the deserted street dimly. Under it was a small red car that most likely belonged to Minori.

I headed towards the car, my hands stuff in my pockets to hide from the chilly night air.

She took a fairly long time in finding those keys. I was getting bored quickly.

I looked around. Not a body was to be seen. Everyone had to be sleeping at this point of time, or at least at home. I pressed my side against her car, but immediately regretted it when I saw how dirty her car windows were. There had to be a good number of dead insects that had been squashed onto her car.

I crinkled my nose slightly in disgust and brushed the dirt off my sleeve, but just gave up and decided to just wash it at home later.

The sound of clopping heels filled the peaceful silence and I finally saw Minori making her way hurriedly towards me.

"Sorry I made you wait!" she apologized, bowing her head slightly. "My car keys slipped into the back of my sofa and I had trouble locating them."

I shook my head and told her that it was alright but my annoyance was clear.

It was roughly a half an hour drive from her house to my apartment. During the whole ride, I was busy resting my eyes, knowing that I would be up all night doing research.

I felt the car screech to a stop and lazily opened my eyelids to find that we had already reached.

"Thank you for the lift." I thanked Minori-san as I stood on the side of her car. She rolled down her car window and flashed me a smile.

"No problem, Hope-san." she looked at my dirty sleeve and blinked.

I glanced down too, and remembered that I should pop it into the washing machine sometime soon. I sighed.

"I don't mean to sound rude... but don't you think you should wash your car a little more often, Minori-san? A dirty car would look most unsightly."

"Ah, did you get your coat dirty because of my car? Gomen(sorry)!" she apologized, putting her hand over her mouth in embarrassment. "Ano... I did wash it... actually, the last time I washed it was before this whole situation... I guess I haven't realize how dirty it had gotten..."

"Another piece of evidence that you're still worried." I stated, looking at her emotionlessly.

"You should really calm down." I said before turning my back on her and started to walk away. "Ja ne(see you)."

I took the lift up to my apartment and walked in, flicking the light switch on. Then, I booted up my computer as I retreated to the kitchen to search for a late night snack. I returned momentarily with a strawberry-jelly filled donut in my mouth.

I bit into the sweet bread as I ran through the overall case again in my head.

I peered down outside the window next to my computer, into the thick, gloomy darkness.


xXx


"LADY HOPE!"

"Not so loud so early in the morning, Feather." I strained, rubbing the side of my head.

"Sorry, sorry." she said, a goofy smile was plastered to her face. "I thought you wouldn't come."

"I know I arrived late, but did you honestly think that?" I asked, my usual dead expression glued to my face. I glanced at the clock hanging on the wall nearby. The 'game' was about to begin any minute.

"Shall we go in first?" Feather asked and I shrugged.

"Why not."


xXx


Watari took a seat at a corner where no one would pay attention to him at the front row of the Jury. It was almost time for the lawsuit to begin. He retrieved a laptop out of his bag and flipped it open carefully, his fingers flying over the keyboard. A window popped up and the screen flashed white before the letter "L" appeared.

"Is it clear, L? Can you hear?" Watari spoke into the mic.

"Yes, it's fine, thank you." L's voice was computerized even though Watari was wearing headphones.

"The trail should start soon," Watari said, looking up at the clock hanging above the judge's head.

"Indeed." L's voice stopped for a moment.

"But they're not here yet, are they?"

Watari looked around the room. The rest of the Jury was in place, the prosecutor, a fairly-young looking man with silver hair and pale green eyes looked ready and was tapping his foot impatiently while he folded his arms. Even the victim, Mari Shiritaka, had arrived, sitting down at a corner with two policemen by her side.

"No..." Watari replied hesitantly.

"Where could they be?" L asked in a tone that Watari couldn't help but feel sounded suspiciously sarcastic.

"Do you suppose she's chickened out?" L asked again, but it seemed like he was talking more to himself. "That seems quite unlikely... but if she did, I would be quite... disappointed."

"Would you, now?" Watari interjected, smiling slightly to himself. "Sounds like you've taken a slight interest in Hope-san."

"... Perhaps."

He sounded like he was going to say something more when the doors suddenly pushed open. Everyone turned their head towards the entrance as two girls with ebony black hair and sunny blond hair waltzed in, ignorant of all the stares.

"They're here." Watari said, a smile in his voice. He stared at the girls as they made their way to their proper placed. Hope seemed to caught him looking at her at the corner of her eye but didn't turn to him fully.

'I see... she's making sure that she doesn't draw attention to me and make myself seem suspicious.'

"Watari..."

"Yes?"

"Look at Hope and Feather's positions."

Watari looked at the two girls and blinked. What did L mean by...

"..Hope-san's not sitting in the defense seat!" Watari almost said too loudly.

"Apparently not. However, Feather is."

"W-well.. what is she doing there?"

"No clue."

Back at the hotel where L was in, he pulled his knees closer to his chest as he watched the court through the laptop, blank dark eyes on Hope.

'How is she exactly going to prove herself this way, then?' he mused, biting his thumb.

'Hmmm...'


xXx

'Today's the day. Are you watching, L?'

I spotted Watari with his laptop at the corner right in front. He was sure to get a good view. Perfect.

I smirked to myself mentally.

'Watch carefully! Because this is where the real fun starts!'

"Are you ready, Feather?" I asked, my voice not louder than a whisper.

She nodded at me. She was sitting behind a tall desk that was meant for the defense, while I, on the other hand, was sitting beside her on a normal chair, my suitcase on my lap. I opened my suitcase and withdrew a small notepad and pen.

The room soon fell into a hushed silence as the trial finally begun.

"The court is now in session for the trial of Miss Mari Shiritaka." the judge announced loudly after using his hammer to hit against the table.

"The prosecution is ready, Your Honor." the prosecutor replied. I looked at him. He was young and confident looking. A normal looking man with neatly combed silver hair and light green eyes.



"The defense is ready, Your Honor." Feather followed up after him.

The judge, an old man wearing a black cloak, nodded. "May the prosecution tell us the basic details of the case?"

"Yes, Your Honor." The prosecutor replied. He cleared his throat before speaking. "The victim, Seiji Shiritaka was murdered one night ago. He died instantly when he was struck on the side of his head with a metal broom."

The judge nodded again.

"The prosecution may now call it's first witness to the stand."

"Alright. The prosecution calls Ms Mari Shiritaka to the stand."

I watched as Mari, accompanied by a policeman, dragged herself to the stand. She looked slightly better than before, but she still had that tired look on her face.

"Ms Shiritaka. Is it true that you and Seiji Shiritaka are the only ones, besides your teenage daughter, who lived in your apartment?"

Mari nodded, not looking the prosecutor straight in the eyes.

"And is it true that he comes back home from work at around 7:30pm every night?"

She nodded again.

The prosecutor coughed.

"The victim died at 7:50pm, 20 minutes from the time he comes home. At that time, he was alone and the only person who was in the apartment was you, Ms Shiritaka."

"...."

I saw the edges of the prosecutor's mouth tilt upwards as he started to grin slightly at Mari's silence.

"I believe that this case is pretty much clear-cut, then."

The Jury broke into whispers. I picked up my pen and started to scribble something down.

"Order!" the judge demanded, slamming his hammer against the table once. The Jury immediately settled down again.

I could feel Watari's stare on me as I passed the piece of paper to Feather wordlessly.

Good, they were watching.

"Your Honor," Feather called out loudly. "I would have to disagree with the prosecution's conclusion. There are other suspects other than Ms Shiritaka. In fact, I would like to call one of them out to the stand this instant."

"I see. Well, who are you calling to the stand?" the judge asked, rubbing his chin.

"The defense would like to call Mr Haru Kinoshi to the stand!"

Mari was leaded away from the stand and was replaced with Haru instead. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at everyone through his glasses.

Feather begun her questioning. "Mr Kinoshi. Is it true that you and Seiji Shiritaka were strong rivals at work?"

"Yes, I admit. We were two of the most competitive people in the office." he replied, shifting his glasses.

"and is it true that you have a close relationship with his wife, Ms Shiritaka?"

"You could say that." He simply said. Then, he turned to where Mari was and smiled. "Mari-chan, how about we go get some coffee after all of this?" he asked casually with that stupid smile still on his face.

I rolled my eyes mentally.

"M-Mr Kinoshi!" Feather called out a bit angrily, narrowing her eyebrows. "Please be serious about this!"

"Huh? Oh, alright." Haru sighed.

"Okay... well, as I was saying... there are plenty of logical reasons on why you could be the murderer, Mr Kinoshi." she crossed her arms too. "For example, it's clear to us all that you like Mari-san in a more than 'friendly' way. Also, you said so yourself that you and Seiji were rivals. But other than that, you lost a promotion to him just before his murder. Coincidence? Maybe not so."

"The prosecution disagrees!"

"W-what?" Feather blinked, taken off guard.

"Allow me to ask the defense..."

I propped my chin up onto my palm as I observed the silver-haired man speak.

"Your conclusion is weak. Yes, it's logical that Mr Kinoshi might have been so consumed by his own defeat that it drove him to do something as rash as to murder his own college, but it is just as possible that he did not."

"W-what are you trying to imply?" Feather asked. She was getting a little nervous by the forwardness of this man.

"To put it simply.... your conclusion is totally useless." He huffed arrogantly, shaking his head.

"What!" Feather yelled, her eyebrow twitching.

I immediately shot her a hard look to calm her down.

The prosecutor chuckled to himself and shook his head again. "Does the defense have any evidence that hints that Mr Kinoshi might be the murderer?"

"I-I.... n-no..."

He chuckled again.

Feather looked over to me but I just stared back at her indifferently with dead eyes.

"It's fine." I mouthed before closing my eyes.

"Does this mean I can go now?" Haru suddenly said, scratching his head.

I scribbled another sentence on another piece of paper and handed it to Feather. Her eyes flew over the words and she looked at me with a doubtful look. I just stared back at her.

She bit her lip and turned back to the Judge.

"Your Honor, if I may... I would like to call another suspect to the stand."

"Another suspect?" the silver-haired man snorted. "You still plan to carry on this useless fight? Ah, well, that's fine with me."

I raised my eyebrow. Cocky, aren't we? Hmph, well, the higher you climb, the harder you fall.

"Please call out your next suspect, then." the judge said.

"The defense calls... Megumi Kato."

"What? Why do I have to be here! I have work, you know!" the fiery red-head growled in protest as she got pushed onto the stand. She glared straight down at Feather and then at me as if it was all our fault she was here.

"Miss Kato," Feather started.

"What?!" Megumi snapped abruptly and Feather jumped a bit.

"Ermm... If I may, I would like to begin my questioning now..."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just hurry up, okay?"

"..."

Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. She's sort of jumpy. Maybe she does have something to hide.

"You seem nervous, Miss Kato." I decided to speak up. "I would recommend it for you to calm down."

"Am not!" she protested, glaring at me. "Oh, and don't think I forgot who you are."

"I'm honored to be remembered by you." I replied sarcastically in a gray tone.

"W--"

"Order in the court please!" the judge interrupted our little conversation, slamming his hammer against the table again.

I shut my mouth and crossed my legs, leaning back against the back of my chair. I'm sorry that I have an inability to prevent myself from provoking unnaturally stupid people.

"Uh, okay... Miss Kato... it's known that you and Seiji had a pass relationship that went bitter... did you possibly... craved for revenge?"

"Revenge?" the woman repeated hotly. She glared down at the ground as she talked. "I'm not interested in that. After we broke up, I was happier than ever. I was over it, just like that!"

"You heard it yourself," the prosecutor said in the same tone one would use on a child. "The suspect has clearly said that she has gotten over it and was never interested in revenge. And from what I said before... you don't have evidence to prove otherwise. Evidence is everything, you see."

"Oh, but we do."

Everyone - including Feather - switched their attention onto me, surprised, as I started to shake my leg a little, keeping my impassive expression.

"What are you saying?"

"Wait a little while and see." I told him emotionlessly, I stood up, pulling my phone out from my pocket.

I held it up for everyone to see.

"Right here is real solid evidence that Miss Kato, did want revenge on her ex-boyfriend, Seiji Shiritaka."

"A phone? Is this some kind of joke?" the prosecutor scoffed.

"Didn't I tell you to wait?" I said boredly, running my fingers through my hair. "Your impatience is so boring."

Before I allowed him to say anything else, I handed my phone to Feather.

"Feather will now show you all what I mean."

Feather blinked in cluelessness as she looked down at my phone. She flipped it open hesitantly and clicked the button.

"but... maybe I would've have." a familiar voice filled the room.

The colour from Megumi's face drained away.

"That bastard deserved everything that he got! Yeah, I would love to just take something and bash it against that thick skull of his."

I stared in triumph at the shock on everyone's - mostly the snobby prosecutor's - faces.

"H-H-how D-did you...! Weren't you playing games when I was saying that?" Megumi blubbered.

"There you have it, Ladies and Gentlemen." I said, my expression remaining impassive. "You heard it from the suspect herself. That voice you all just heard was definitely her."

I sat down again and started to write another sentence again, passing the note to Feather.

"Erm, yes." Feather nodded, trying to hide away her surprise. "More over, the suspect has also told us that she was at work during the murdering period of Seiji Shiritaka, she was at work. However, the suspect is lying. The bar that she works at only opens on weekdays and is closed on weekends. The day that Seiji died was on a sunday."

"I-I...."

"The conclusion is solid, now, Your Honor."

"Yes, everything does seem to fall into place now..." the Judge said thoughtfully.

"Hold it!" the prosecutor suddenly shouts.
What now?

"Your Honor, I would like to say that everything does seem to be done right now, but I want to propose a bit of evidence that will overrule the defense's accusation."

Hmmmm..? Another bit of evidence?

"The suspect has actually asked to refrain from showing this bit of evidence but... seeing as how things got this tight..." he motioned to a policeman nearby. "I have no choice but to present it."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Megumi tense up immediately and a terrified look swept over her face.

Oh? I wonder what he's going to show us.

The policeman came back with a small TV and placed it on a desk. He switched it on and a video started to play.

Two figures, one male, one female, were on top of each other as they 'wrestled' on the couch. Pants and groans emitted from the video and realization drawn on me. The female who was on the couch with the male was Megumi.

Her face had turned the same colour as her hair.

"As you can see," the silver-haired man said a little too smugly, pointing the lower right corner of the screen. The date and time is stated right there. This video was taken from one of the security cameras placed in the VIP room of the Black & Gold. The woman in this video is clearly Megumi Kato, so she couldn't have possibly been the murderer, thus, overruling your previous evidence."


"Yeah, well, you didn't have to totally mortify me!!!" Megumi suddenly screamed at the prosecutor, who looked taken aback. "I told you that the video was off limits!! You know that I could get sacked if anyone ever found out that I had hooked up with a customer?! You stupid lawyer!!"

I watched in amusement as the woman proceeded to attempt to beat up the prosecutor and had to be held by a policeman. Then, out of her own accord, she stormed out of the room, her face still red with embarrassment and anger.

The Jury had started to make noise again and the Judge once again had to silence them.

"Ahem," the prosecutor tried to act normal, straightening his crocked tie that Megumi had tried to strangle him with.

"Yes... well... that, once again, proves nothing. Don't you think that this has gone on far enough?"

"Um.... actually.... there's still once more suspect that was listed..." Feather said in a-matter-of-fact tone.

"Another one...? Ah, well, the defense never seems to learn when to give up." He shook his head, a smug smile on his lips. "Well... I'll amuse you this one last time."

"Very well. The defense may call it's next suspect."

Feather started to shake a bit with anger, but managed to stop herself from repeating Megumi's actions. "D-defense..." she started, taking a deep breath to cool down. "... calls Cho Shiritaka to the stand."

This was it. The last suspect. A teenage girl sitting down in a corner slowly stood up. She had short black hair and black eyes just like the picture I saw yesterday. She gave out this air that felt as if she was too good to be a suspect as she strolled to the stand with a calm composure.

Cho Shiritaka. The only listed suspect that I haven't talked to.

I rubbed my chin in thought. This might be a little interesting.

"Cho Shiritaka." Feather confirmed, observing the girl.

"... Why am I here as a suspect?" the girl quietly asked, her voice monotonous.

"Besides Mari Shiritaka, you are the only one who lives in the Shiritaka residence. But because you were not found at the crime scene around that time, you were not sent to the detention center. Can you tell us where you were at 7:50pm on the night of Seiji Shiritaka's murder?"

"I was at school. Studying." she stated almost instantly.

"In school?"

"That is correct. My examinations are coming up next month, so I made a habit to stay back after school to study everyday because there were resources there to aid in my studies."

"Can you prove that you were in school?"

"No."

Feather was stunned at her reply. No hesitation at all.

"It was late and it was also a weekend. All my classmates were not in school and most of my teachers had already gone home. Probably no one was there to witness my presence in school."

"This is ridiculous. Why would someone want to kill her own father?" the prosecutor butted in unwantingly.

"This is ridiculous. Why would someone want to kill her own husband?" I retorted mockingly in a emotionless tone.

He glared at me.

I ignored him and started to write down another note to pass to Feather along with another piece of paper.

"Your Honor, we have more than one reason to believe that Cho Shiritaka might be guilty." Feather said. "It seems that, along during in the midst of our investigation, we have stumbled among a most interesting hint that might pose as for evidence." She raised up the piece of paper I handed along with the note. "It so happens that Seiji Shiritaka was quite a wealthy man and had already written down his will. This is a copy of his will. As you can see..." she pointed to the top of the will. "His daughter, Cho Shiritaka, is right at the top to inherit his fortune."

"And another interesting fact that we have stumbled upon is the relationship between the Shiritaka family. When I first found out that Seiji had a daughter of 15 years, but only got married to Mari last year, it naturally occurred to me that Cho was either adopted, or that Cho was not Mari's real daughter. Apparently, it's the latter."

'Wow, Lady Hope. You really must've been up all night doing research.' Feather thought in amazement as she glanced down at the note filled with information.

"And so... it would be quite logical for Mari and Cho to not develop that mother-daughter bond yet. But the real question that I would like to ask Cho is," she looked at Cho with her sky-blue eyes.

"How close to your mother are you?"

"I..." Cho stared down with blank eyes. "She... is not my mother and never will be." A thin layer of bitterness coated her voice.

I caught Mari fidgeting in her seat as she looked down, looking somewhat disappointed.

"Your Honor, that might bring us to the possibility of Mari being framed."

"Your Honor, once again, to support this ridiculous theory, I would like to request from the defense some e-vi-dence." he strained every syllable of the last word.

I sighed. This man was slowly getting on my nerves with him using his same boring point over and over again in order to counter our every move.

"Right, I really didn't plan to go this far... but since the prosecution needs evidence so, so desperately, I will comply and submit into his request." I spoke up myself this time, not bothering to write another note.

"What evidence can the defense possibly give now?" He sneered, looking at me.

I looked at him coldly with my icy gaze and said,

"Your Honor, the defense would like to call a witness to the stand."