🎃 Nerd With Fangs 🎃

Attention:

The trial of Machi Tobaye has now concluded. The rest of the trial went as follows: Before calling him in to testify, Gavin reiterated that he doesn't believe Crescend could ever do it. The two practically grew up together, being bandmates and practicing detective work and prosecutor work together for over seven years.

Crescend began by introducing himself, a member of criminal affairs, division 3; the international division to be exact; as well as the second lead guitarist for The Gavinners. He began his testimony by calling out Lamiroir as a liar, saying she never heard his voice, and the fact that she fumbled the words to the gunshots doesn't make sense if Skye heard the gunshots later while Crescend was on stage.

Justice asked if those were really gunshots or not, since all we know is it was a gunshot-like sound, and presented the court with another igniter, nearly identical to the first one, and some weird, broken fragments. Testing was done on those fragments, finding gunpowder, which concludes they were some kind of firecracker. Both were found hidden on the crime scene. Justice claimed they could've been what made the gunshot-like sounds that he and Skye heard, and Crescend asked how would the person with the remote know when to set them off, when he was on stage at the time. Gavin brought up a possibility regarding the headset found on the ground in front of the dressing room, suggesting that it was deliberately placed there so someone could hear people in the hall.

Gavin said that although this is a possibility, it's still just a theory that the gunshots were faked. So Justice would need more proof that the shooting took place during the second set. Justice remembered the fact that Lamiroir heard them while being hooked up to a microphone, and took some time to get back out the mixing board. They took a closer listen to the song, right before she forgot to sing, and the whole court heard a gunshot faintly in the recording.

Now Lamiroir's testimony of hearing gunshots during the second set was confirmed true, and Crescend didn't have an alibi for where he was at the time. Gavin remembered how later in the concert Crescend missed a cue on their song "Guilty Love", and since he knows how good of a musician Crescend was, he thought it was weird how he missed such an easy cue. But now, remembering that the weapon could hurt the shooter if unused to firing it, he theorized Crescend hurt his arm during the murder. Crescend reminded him that he is a trained police officer, and is used to handling firearms. He asked Justice what decisive evidence he has, and testified again. He asked what motive would he even have, since it was Lamiroir & Letouse's first time in the country, and how on earth would Crescend know the two of them beforehand? When asked about a potential motive, Justice presented the court with a strange piece of evidence, which he told the court is a replica of a cocoon.

But not specifically a replica of a "Borginian Cocoon." It's silk being a key ingredient in a powerful medicine, but illegal to take them out of the country at all, due to slightly changing the process can make it become a deadly poison. The ban used to not be so strict, but there was a black market incident which caused the reinforcement of the laws to be so strict that anyone caught sneaking one out of Borginia is to be put to death. The ban is strictly enforced by Interpol, among other groups. And since Letouse was an Interpol agent, he was likely trying to track down someone trying to smuggle a Borginian Cocoon. Crescend testified on why he would try to smuggle one, due to Interpol getting a memo to be on watch for them a while back, so trying to sell one on the black market would be way too risky. Justice asked why not sell it to someone he knew would buy it, and presented the court with today's newspaper, talking about the Chief Justice's son, who's been diagnosed with Incuritis, a terminal disease. But the medicine made from the cocoon isn't just any old medicine, it's specifically the only cure for Incuritis. Crescend would have known about the Chief Justice, and the two would have easy contact.

Crescend asked how he could even attempt to smuggle it, when customs checks every little nook and cranny of everything that gets in there, and presented him with Gavin's charred guitar. Prosecutors sometimes work on cases out of the country, so they have a special mailing system to move evidence to insure it won't be tampered with. Gavin was lovingly gifted Lamiroir's guitar when he first met her, and pulled some strings to have the service used to transfer the guitar back home in perfect condition.

Gavin added on that it was wrapped and sealed in several sheets, leaving it untouched from Borginia until the day of the concert, which Justice said that meant it would be perfect to hide a small cocoon in.

Justice reminded the court of the igniter hidden inside the guitar, which would've been perfect to burn the cocoon to a crisp if the plan went awry. First thing that happened to Gavin that morning is his keys went missing, which were likely stolen to gain access to his guitar. The smuggler didn't expect the guitar to be wrapped, and unwrapping it would've been too suspicious. And Letouse, who had been searching for the cocoon, likely would've checked a guitar sent over from Borginia. So the jig was up, and the smuggler had to eliminate the cocoon, the guitar, and Letouse. Crescend asked how the hell he could've done all this without an accomplice, and Justice pinned Tobaye, his own client, as Crescend's accomplice.

Justice said he's defending him for the murder of Letouse, but not for smuggling. The Judge asked why the accomplice couldn't be Larmoir, and Justice pointed out that the transmission wouldn't be able to go that far into Gavin's guitar, due to the stage being raised while Larimoir was in the vent. Crescend asked to view the concert footage one last time, where he laughed about how it couldn't be Tobaye, due to his piano playing still sounding perfect. But Gavin pointed out it still sounded somewhat strange, and he and Justice took one last listen to the mixing board. Justice pointed out that it sounded strangely simple in one section, which Gavin agreed that it sounds like it could've been played with one hand. Taking a very close listen, they were able to identify a section that could've been played with one hand on the keys and the other on the igniter switch.

Although it seemed like a culprit and accomplice were made, The Judge asked Justice for more decisive evidence, and that the evidence he has shown has not been decisive enough. Justice asked to call in Tobaye as a witness, who, if he cooperated, could prove that he was an accomplice to Crescend's crimes.

Crescend laughed, asking why would Tobaye admit his guilt, when smuggling a cocoon means death. But Justice said that if Tobaye doesn't admit to the smuggling here, then he'll be in trouble in the future, when he goes back home to Borginia. Due to smuggling being a much lesser crime in this country, he'll be tried by our laws, and the news of him being a smuggler will reach his home country sooner or later. Crescend screamed, begging Tobaye not to talk, before Tobaye came up to the stand.

Happy turnabout Serenade day/s 🎵🎶

HAPPY TURNABOUT SERENADE EVERYBODY!!!!

Court has now reconvened.

Court has now reconvened.

Since Tobaye refused to continue testifying, Justice asked to cross-examine Lamiroir. When asked why he'd want to cross-examine her a second time, he revealed that yesterday after the trial, Lamiroir was attacked by an unknown assailant and landed in the hospital. Justice asked why someone would attack her if not to keep her mouth shut about the case. Justice asked her to again recount her previous testimony, about hearing two gunshots through the window, and hearing Crescend threaten Letouse shortly beforehand. Gavin also recounted to the court that neither would've been possible, due to Crescend being on the stage at the time and the window being shut tight and soundproof.

Her testimony was quite similar to yesterday's, only now adding on that she was heading to the stage from the backstage exit, and smelt gunpowder after the shots, but she was in a hurry and kept moving. Gavin said the testimony wasn't that important, but Justice brought up that she was attacked due to what she said. Justice decided to try asking different questions this time, asking her if she remembered what any of the two men said. She said she only heard Crescend clearly, and what he said was "It's over. Press the switch! Now!". Justice presented the court with a new piece of evidence, a switch of some kind; and told the court it was found hidden on the stage. Gavin asked how would anyone Crescend be telling to press the switch hear him, due to the distance and volume of the stage. Justice then presented him with a headset, one that every member of the band was wearing during the concert. Taking a look at the cross-section map of the concert forum showed that even with a range of 30 feet, someone speaking in the dressing room could be heard from the stage.

Gavin asked how were they so sure that was the switch in question, when it could've been anywhere and stashed on the stage right before Justice found it. Justice spoke to Wright on the sidebar for a minute, before telling the court he has proof of what the switch does. He then presented the court with an igniter. He then pressed the switch, lighting the igniter (and nearly causing a fire at that). He asked Gavin to recall his performance of "The Guitar's Serenade", and how his guitar mysteriously caught on fire during the middle of the song; with remnants of the igniter being found in his guitar during later testing.

Gavin asked if he was trying to tie together what Lamiroir heard with the guitar being set on fire, and Justice told him that's precisely what he's doing. Gavin Objected; since Lamiroir heard them during the third set, and the guitar caught fire during the second set. Justice then said maybe the whole premise for the murder has been false, and perhaps Letouse was really killed during the second set. Justice brought up his own, Skye's, and Tobaye's testimonies, where they all heard gunshots, but never actually saw the shots happen. And if Lamiroir's testimony is correct, then the killer got an accomplice to set the guitar on fire when he killed Letouse during "The Guitar's Serenade." And the killer made it seem like the killing perfectly followed the song's lyrics, since it would've made more sense for them to do so. Gavin Objected, still asking how Lamiroir could've heard a voice at all. Justice thought for a bit, before responding that she likely heard the voice from a different point altogether. Justice asked if there was another thing on the scene that could've counted as a "small window", and pointed to the air vent; and due to her speaking mostly Borginian, she could've gotten the two words confused. Gavin asked why on earth Lamiroir would be in the air vent, and she begun to testify as to why.

She was in the air vents when she heard the voice, passing by the dressing room vent. It was during the middle of her performance, but she is bound to secrecy to elaborate more. To try to coax her to talk about the secret, all she said is the secret is bound to "Valant Gramarye", a magician. Justice & Wright came up for the answer themselves, and presented the court with a recording of "The Guitar's Serenade." They pointed out that she was clearly not on stage for the entirety of the performance, and disappears halfway through.

To add onto that, they took a look at the ventilation map, which shows she would have to pass over the dressing rooms to get to the second stage. The Judge asked how she disappeared and reappeared that fast, about 20 seconds, especially if she stopped for a moment to listen to the killer. Lamiroir explained the route was meant to take her two minutes, and Wright and Justice looked over the footage together. Justice pointed out how her brooch is worn at the beginning, and then disappears at the end of the song, shocking the court with the reveal of the first Lamiroir being a body double. Gavin apologized for not telling the court this, as he knew the body double, Valant Gramarye was beside him for all of the beginning of the song. But he didn't sing, Lamiroir was hooked up to a microphone the entire time, and sang while she went through the air vents. And the killer and victim didn't hear her, due to the loud speaker in the room blaring the concert audio.

Lamiroir admitted she did stop singing at one point, when she heard the gunshots at the beginning of the second verse. Due to every instrument and audio being recorded on a mixing board, Justice and Gavin brought it out, and found that she did falter on singing the lyrics "Pleasure, Pleasure..." at the beginning of the second verse. Justice pointed a finger at Crescend, now that he know longer has his alibi. Gavin asked for court to be adjourned and when it resumes, Crescend can testify for himself.

The court has been adjourned for a recess, after which Daryan Crescend will testify.

Now that they have a translator in tow, the duo attempts to speak to Machi again, to try and learn about whatever secret he has that alerted Apollo's bracelet. They present Machi with the Borginian Cocoon replica, and he cowers. He asks them if they know everything, and they know a bit, and want him to tell them more.

He tells them the silk is used to make a cure for Incuritis, a terminal disease. They question if Machi is a smuggler, and in response he goes quiet, before saying that he can't go home, and doesn't want to go home.

The Court is taking a 5 minute break for Apollo Justice to speak to Machi Tobaye. Here's what has happened so far.

The Trial began with the Judge apologizing for the delay, as he was at the hospital to see the Chief Justice and his son, who's case of Incuritis has gotten worse.

Although Larimoir's accusation was shocking, Dayan Crescend's alibi is sturdy enough that there was no need to seriously suspect him; as he was on stage with the rest of The Gavinners when the gunshots were overheard and the body was found. Due to Crescend's alibi, The Judge was ready to cast down a verdict, to which Justice Objected, asking that Tobaye come to the stand. But since he cannot speak or understand English, additionally requested that Lamiroir join him to interpret for him. Klavier Gavin agreed with the request, claiming that although his understanding of Borginian is limited, he should know enough to tell if Larimoir is lying to cover for Tobaye.

Tobaye said the killing was a shock to him, and how could he have made the murder follow the lyrics of the song if the song's lyrics were in English. Larimoir also said that although she told him the general theme of the song, she never told him the full detail of the lyrics. Justice began his cross-examination, asking Larimoir to clarify while staring intently at Tobaye, eventually calling out when he noticed that Tobaye glanced over at Larimoir when she said "in English". He said he knows the word English, but just the name of the language. Justice then asked how he even knew the crime followed the lyrics of the song, and he answered that he read it in "The Borginian Daily Bugle", which you can even buy copies of in this country. Justice Objected, pulling out the edition of the newspaper that talked about the crime, and there's no mention of the lyrics in it.

Lamiroir gasped, saying he must've learnt the lyrics from the police questioning, which Gavin refuted that the police report never mentioned the lyrics either. Justice said he must've heard that the crime followed the lyrics in this courtroom, and Tobaye claimed that Lamiroir really did tell him the lyrics. Justice asked to continue the cross-examination, and stared intently at the two as he re-listened to the testimony, and Objected to Lamiroir saying she told him the lyrics, pointing out that she swallowed nervously when saying "It was I who explained" Justice asked if she was lying to protect Tobaye, and the musical duo went quiet. Justice begged Tobaye to admit the truth, that he understands english, and he screamed.