#...ish?

I think, lawlight and narumitsu being like opposites (in a certain sense) is kind of remarkable for its implications for narumitsu honestly. because being the opposite of lawlight in this case also means it is similar to lawlight in a way, and isn't that kind of interesting

like. lawlight was founded on L's persistent disbelief in Light's innocence even when everyone else (including Light himself) believed in it, while narumitsu was founded on Phoenix's persistent belief in Edgeworth's innocence even when everyone else (including Edgeworth himself) didn't believe in it.

now L's distrust of Light's innocence is narratively justified, because we as the audience know that Light is Kira. and Phoenix's trust in Edgeworth's innocence is also narratively justified, because we find out that it turns out Edgeworth was innocent of the murders he was suspected for. so they're both right!

the thing is, however, what if that wasn't the case? like, even though he turned out to be right, Phoenix had no real, substantiated reason whatsoever at first to believe that Edgeworth was innocent (it would've been an accidental killing, like even if one trusted fully that Edgeworth would never murder anyone on purpose due to their knowledge of his character, it still doesn't exempt him from possibly having committed unintentional manslaughter), yet he did, out of his sentimental trust of him based on his childhood experience, and -- very notably -- his desire to always see Edgeworth as that definitely-innocent man he has believed him to be. because that's the way he wants to view Edgeworth, and that's what validates his past experience and his choice to choose this path to follow Edgeworth into law to "save" him, because after all, to Phoenix, he is "the only one who knows the real Edgeworth", and "the only one who can save him". Phoenix's goal to "save him", in the specifically sense that Phoenix conceives of it, is currently specifically a goal that is only applicable and valid if his image of Edgeworth is true to real life, therefore it HAS to be true or this doesn't make sense. there is a certain... is "possessive" the right word? I'm not sure but yeah there's a certain implication there that Phoenix essentially "insists" that Edgeworth be the version of him that fits Phoenix's idealized image of him etc., even when Edgeworth genuinely disagrees. however, well, on the matter of his innocence, Phoenix does turn out to be correct, therefore the narrative essentially validates him on count of this.

on that note,

.... yeah.

prompts from crisis-arts on DeviantArt

this is why you ask before eating questionable-looking leftovers in the fridge.