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Chapter Text

On this day in particular, there really wasn't anything else going on for Phoenix. No new cases to take on and so far no phone calls from Maya about potentially running into someone who would need to defend. In fact, she was away right now getting lunch from a nearby burger joint, with the lawyer opting out as he really didn't want to pay for lunch. Considering his friend's appetite, he wouldn't be surprised if the medium had tried to order more food. Right now, he just wanted to relax for the time being. Though this was soon interrupted as he heard his phone begin to ring. Taking it out of his pocket, and seeing that it was from Miles. ‘I wonder what he wants?’, he thought to himself before answering the call, not getting a chance to say hello.

“Wright, I hope you're not taking on any cases recently.”, Miles had said to him over the phone once he answered. Not even a Hello? Phoenix didn't question it as he was more confused as to why his friend had said this. “Well no not right now, why are you calling about whether or not I'm working on a case?”, the lawyer had questioned, sounding rather confused. “Good, because I need you to attend this event that is set on the S.S. Genevieve.”, Miles responded to him.

Though this answer only confused Phoenix more in the process, as he wasn't sure why the prosecutor was bringing up the name of a ship he had never heard of. “...I'm sorry but you want me to go on a ship? Why do you need me to go there anyway?”, the lawyer had questioned, only to receive a sigh from the other end. “Don't you read or watch the news, Wright? The S.S. Genevieve isn't just any ship, it's a state of the art, high class cruise line that specializes in a formal atmosphere. The Chief of Justice had given me two tickets as some sort of gift and I can't exactly attend by myself.”, Miles had explained to him, sounding a bit annoyed that the lawyer hadn't heard anything about this.

“So you want me to go with you since you have two tickets and you can't just sell the other one?”, Phoenix had questioned, and thought to himself as to why Miles didn't invite either Franziska or Gumshoe. “No Wright, you and someone else will be going together on the S.S. Genevieve.”, Miles responded to him. The lawyer was silent for a moment as he processed what had just been said before replying with a quick, “...Huh?” “You heard me, Wright, I don't need to repeat it. Besides, the tickets should be delivered to your office right about now.”, Miles said to him. “Wait so you already sent the tickets to my office before telling me this now?!”, Phoenix had asked, a bit annoyed by this before hearing knocking on his door.

The lawyer got up from his seat and made his way towards the door, opening it to see a letter addressed from Miles. “Can you tell me why the Chief of Justice had sent you two tickets instead of one, how am I able to afford to go on this trip anyway?”, Phoenix had asked him, wanting to know more about these tickets. “You'll know once you see what's on the tickets, besides everything is already paid for in advance so you don't need to worry about spending extra on meals or whatever else they might have there.”, Miles responded and hung up the phone before the lawyer could ask anymore questions. ‘Damn it, Edgeworth.’, he thought to himself before picking up the letter and taking it inside with him.

He carefully opened the letter with a letter opener once he sat back down by his office desk, taking out two tickets for the cruise ship as well as what he thought was probably a folded up poster detailing the S.S. Genevieve. Unfolding it, he took a moment to read what was on it, and his eyes widened as he realized why he needed to go on this trip with another person. ‘We would like to welcome all couples, married or newly engaged, to attend this year's special trip on the S.S. Genevieve from Los Angeles to Catalina Island! Here you get to experience a live orchestra performance, participate in murder mystery theater, and even get to attend a fun game show hosted by one of the staff to test your knowledge on how long you and your partner have known each other! There will be more activities and we hope to see you soon on March 1st!’, the poster had stated.

Why the hell did Miles not tell him about this sooner?! Immediately, Phoenix placed the poster down on the desk and picked his phone back up and dialed the prosecutor's number. Hearing it ring for a few seconds until it went to voicemail, placing his phone back down on his office desk, holding his face with his hands as he groaned to himself. “What am I going to do about this?”, he muttered to himself, not noticing the door opening and closing as Maya had returned from lunch. “Nick I'm back!”, she announced as she made her way into the office. “I just passed by Gumshoe and he seemed to be in a rush. Probably Edgeworth wanting him to get an autopsy report updated.”, she joked before noticing her friend holding his face. “Did I come in at a bad time?”, she questioned him, confused on what she might have missed while she was away.

“Just…look at the poster and tickets on the desk Maya. You'll see what I mean.”, Phoenix had said to her as he continued to hide his face, with his voice sounding slightly muffled. After hearing him say this, Maya then picked up the tickets, seeing that it was for the S.S. Genevieve and then picked up the poster. She read it to herself silently, and was still more confused as to why her friend seemed upset by this. “I mean I'm sure that someone sent you the wrong thing as this doesn't make any sense. Besides, you're not even seeing anyone, Nick. At least not that I know of.”, she said to him, and watched as the lawyer placed his hands down on his desk, seeing the rather annoyed expression on his face. “Edgeworth sent it to me before he told me about it, and said that I needed to go on this cruise trip with someone else. He even left out the part that this trip was for couples only!”, he explained to her.

“Wait, why would Edgeworth want you to go on cruise meant as a romantic getaway with another person?”, Maya had questioned, thinking about the possibilities around the motivation behind this. “Beats me, he just told me he got it as a gift from the Chief of Justice. He didn't really explain anything else about it.”, Phoenix had said to her, sulking a little. “I mean, this doesn't sound like a bad trip to go on. Plus it's not like you and anyone else have to be a couple, just pretend to be one and I'm sure they'll let you on board.”, Maya said cheerfully with a smile. “Like who? I don't know that many people anyway.”, the lawyer had said to her with a sigh.

Maya thought to herself, pondering as to who else Phoenix might go with on this cruise ship. But as soon as she thought of someone in particular, a cheshire smile began to form on her lips. Phoenix didn't know what the spirit medium had thought about just now, but he had a feeling it wasn't anything good. “What are you smiling about?”, he asked her. “I already have a person in mind who might go with you, a certain Professor.”, she responded, her grin showing no signs of disappearing any time soon. His eyes widened as he heard his friend mention that last part, already knowing who she was referring to. “Absolutely not! Besides, I don't think Hershel would be interested in ditching his teachings just to go on a cruise trip.”, he said, denying that idea.

“Oh c'mon Nick, it wouldn't hurt to at least ask him about it. Plus you can just explain it to him if he does say yes.”, Maya said to him, only to see him shake his head in response. “No Maya, I'm not going to ask him to come with me on this trip. I can just try and find someone else.”, Phoenix said to her, prompting her to puff her cheeks out in annoyance. Though this didn't last too long, as she took another look at the office desk to see that his phone was on the office desk. She took this chance to swipe it from there, prompting the lawyer to try and get it back from her as she began to go through his contacts before selecting the Professor's number. “Give my phone back, Maya!”, he demanded as he reached out for it, only for her to pull it away out of his reach while listening to the phone ring for a couple of seconds.

That's when she heard it being picked up, sticking her tongue out at Phoenix while she heard the familiar voice of Hershel on the other end. “Good afternoon Phoenix, is there something that you want to talk about right now?”, Hershel had asked. “This is actually Maya, Nick's in the bathroom right now but there was something he's been wanting to ask you about recently.”, Maya said to him, all the while avoiding the lawyer who keeps trying to get his phone back. “Don't you dare say it Maya.”, Phoenix said quietly to her so Hershel wouldn't overhear him, though the spirit medium just ignored him. “But if it was something he was wanting to ask me about then why are you the one calling, Miss Fey?”, the scholar had said, sounding rather puzzled as he wondered why the medium had Phoenix's phone.

“Well he told me to do it for him since he wasn't sure how long he'll be in there.”, Maya had said to him, moving her hand as Phoenix attempted to grab the phone from her. This time she decided to move to the other side of the room while waiting to hear Hershel's next response. “I…see then.”, the scholar said, still sounding a bit confused before continuing on to speak. “What is it that he wanted to ask me about?”, he questioned. “You see, he's got two tickets for this cruise ship that only allows couples and he wants to know if you want to go with him.”, Maya responded to him, and soon there was a brief moment of silence on the other end before hearing his voice. “...I'm sorry but did you say he wants me to go with him on a cruise ship meant only for couples?”, the scholar had said, sounding a bit surprised by this.

Phoenix was stunned by what he heard Maya say to Hershel, and quickly went over to get his phone back from him. “Here he is right now, I'll let him explain more about it to you.”, Maya said to Hershel before giving the phone back to the lawyer, laughing to herself a little as she recalled how surprised the Professor had sounded. Phoenix shot her a quick glare as he retrieved his phone from her before putting it to his ear. “Sorry about that, are you still there Hershel?”, he went on to ask him. “Yes I'm still here, but is it true what Miss Fey had just said regarding the cruise trip, Phoenix?”, Hershel had questioned him. The lawyer sighed to himself for a moment, wishing that the spirit medium could have worded that question better. “Let me explain real quick. You see, Edgeworth gave me those tickets and told me that he needed me to go on this cruise trip with someone else. What he failed to inform me about was that it was meant for couples only and I don't know what else to do with these tickets.”, the lawyer had explained to him.

“Oh I see now, so you weren't trying to invite me for a romantic getaway then.”, Hershel had said to him, sounding a bit relieved for a moment. “Of course not, and the other problem is that I don't know anyone else who I would want to go with.”, the lawyer had said to him. The scholar thought to himself, thinking that it was rather strange that Miles would need Phoenix to go on this cruise ship. “Is there a reason why he wants you to go?”, the Professor had questioned him. “He didn't really give me a reason, and I tried to call him again but he won't answer.”, Phoenix responded and was hesitant for a moment before continuing on to say, “So if it doesn't bother you at all, will you be willing to go with me on this trip? We can just pretend to be a couple, only if you agree to it that is.”

Phoenix grew nervous as seconds went by and he didn't hear a response from the Professor, but he figured that he was just thinking it over. He let out a sigh of relief once he heard the scholar's voice again. “I suppose it wouldn't hurt to pretend while attending this trip, when exactly will this take place?”, Hershel had said to him before asking him about the date of the trip. The lawyer looked back at the poster still on the desk before responding. “On March 1st so in about a week from now, did you have any plans?”, he had asked. “Not at all, in fact that actually works out quite well as Spring Break will happen during that time.”, the scholar said to him. “Perhaps we can discuss more about this at a later time then?”, he continued on to say.

“Yeah that works out for me, talk to you later.”, Phoenix had said, hearing a quick goodbye from his friend before hanging up the phone. It took him a moment to realize that Hershel had actually agreed to this idea, pinching himself a little to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He couldn't really fight out a reason as to why the scholar had accepted this in the first place, though he was relieved that now he had someone to go with on this trip. “Well that turned out better than expected.”, Maya had said with a grin, and soon the lawyer turned towards her with a slight surprised look on his face. He had forgotten she was still here, considering how silent she was throughout the call. “...How much have you heard?”, Phoenix had questioned her. “Pretty much all of it, I had turned the speaker on when I called him.”, the medium had responded to him, hearing the lawyer sigh before laying his head on the desk. He definitely planned on getting things ready once he went back to his apartment.

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After hearing the sound of the phone hanging up, Hershel had to take a process of all what had just been said. The first thing he thought of was how he agreed to pretending to be a couple with Phoenix. It was a rather…interesting idea if he were honest about it. Though he had thought there wouldn't be any harm to it. After all, it wasn't like they would have to kiss each other and instead would just give each other compliments. How hard would that be? But he felt as if there was a whole reason entirely as to why Miles had given those tickets to Phoenix in the first place. Thinking that maybe there would be something happening on this cruise ship.

“Professor, who was that you were talking to on the phone?”, Luke had asked as he peeked through the slightly open door. “That would be Phoenix Wright, he wanted me to go with him on this cruise ship on the first of March.”, Hershel had said to his apprentice, and could see the boy's eyes lighten up. Possibly wanting to go on another adventure with Maya and Phoenix again. “Can I come with you?”, Luke had asked him, a smile starting to form on his face. “I'm afraid not my boy, it's only going to be me and Phoenix who will be going on this trip.”, the scholar responded to him. Though the apprentice seemed confused and a little disappointed that he wouldn't be going with his mentor. “Why not? Why is it only going to be you and Mr. Wright that's going?”, he questioned him. “That is something that I will tell you once I return from the trip.”, Hershel had responded to him, not wanting to reveal the whole details behind it.

Luke did think it was a bit weird that it was just going to be his mentor and Phoenix, and wondered why it would only just be the two of them. But that was something he decided not to ask and soon left the room. The apprentice figured that maybe he could learn more about this trip later, at least once he knew what the ship's name was.

Chapter Text

The day to board the S.S. Genevieve had soon arrived, with Hershel deciding to arrive in Los Angeles a bit earlier so he wouldn't miss it. He had called Phoenix ahead of time to inform him of his arrival, with the lawyer waiting for him at the airport and offering him to stay at his apartment for a couple of days before they would need to leave for the cruise. As they arrived at the ship's docks, Phoenix had noticed that he and Hershel weren't the only ones who had arrived early. Granted it wasn't too surprising to see other couples attending this, but the lawyer couldn't help but feel slightly nervous about the whole thing. Considering how both he and Hershel weren't even dating, and had tried to think of ways on how they could convince anyone else that they were a couple.

“Is something on your mind Phoenix? You seemed to be stressed about something in particular.”, Hershel had asked him, and the lawyer couldn't help but feel envious of how calm and collected the scholar appeared to be. “Just…wanting to make sure I don't accidentally blow our covers while we're here.”, the lawyer said to him quietly, making sure that no one would overhear them talking. “I'm sure everything will be fine, I mean we already discussed what we'll say to anyone who would ask how long we have been together.”, the scholar said to him and offered the taller man a reassuring smile. “I mean that I already know. We rehearsed it yesterday and then this morning before we left.”, Phoenix responded to him, and began to look at the other couples who were already there.

“I believe you should try to play it natural, and perhaps try and come up with a reason in case someone does ask why you're nervous?”, Hershel had then suggested to him, seeing how his friend still seemed stressed about this whole situation. He honestly didn't blame the lawyer, as he too was nervous about this but tried not to seem unfazed. He figured that maybe once they get used to playing the act as a newly engaged couple, Phoenix won't be as stressed out as he is right now. Hearing this suggestion, the lawyer took a moment to think to himself as he thought of what sort of reason he could come up with. “Maybe the reason for why I'm nervous is that this is our first time going on a fancy cruise and I want to try and impress you because I had bought the tickets as a surprise?”, Phoenix had gone on to say, thinking that maybe it was a good reason in case someone would ask.

“That does sound like a good excuse to use, though there is something that I must ask you about. Will any members of the staff such as the person checking the tickets know who we are? Since you mentioned that Miles had gotten the tickets from the Chief of Justice.”, Hershel had questioned him. “That I already had taken care of, I managed to call Miles about it the other day and he just told me to call the person hosting this event. So I called the host, named Anna Nouncer, and told her about who we were and that I had gotten tickets for the cruise. So we don't have to worry about staff members thinking we're someone else.”, Phoenix had quietly explained to him, smiling a little as he recalled how the scholar mentioned that the excuse he came up with sounded like a good one.

“Since you mentioned calling Mr. Edgeworth, did you ask him about why he wanted us to attend this cruise and why he didn't mention about how the trip was meant for couples?”, Hershel had questioned after hearing the other man's explanation, a bit relieved that none of the employees or the announcer would suspect their identities. Phoenix then began to frown as he recalled the conversation he had with Miles over the phone. “I had, but he didn't say a damn thing about it and just kept on avoiding the question. Safe to say, he's probably not going to reveal the answer until the trip is over.”, he said to him. “That is rather disappointing to hear, though I suppose we may find the answer on our own.”, the scholar said to him, and wondered why the prosecutor would avoid the question.

It was then that the two men heard an announcement through a loudspeaker. “Attention all passengers, we have already made preparations for the five day trip. So if you would please, show your tickets to Miss Tina Hacket and board on to the ship with your luggage.”, the voice had announced, which had caught the other couples attention as they soon began to make their way to where Tina Hacket was standing at. “Looks like that's our cue.”, Phoenix had said, deciding to take both of their luggage in his hands. “Are you sure you want to carry all of it, Phoenix?”, Hershel had questioned, noticing how the other man appeared to be struggling a little.

“Don't worry, I'm completely fine. Plus it's to sell the bit anyway.”, the lawyer responded, saying that last part to the scholar a bit more quietly. Understanding what the other man had meant, Hershel played along. “Thank you dear.”, he said with a smile as he followed alongside Phoenix. Who was a bit surprised by what he said just now for a brief moment, thinking that he was going to get more used to that nickname soon. They were the last pair to arrive, as the scholar didn't want to leave the other man behind while carrying the luggage. “Good morning you two- uh, do you need any assistance with your luggage?”, Tina had asked, noticing that Phoenix appeared to be having trouble. “No thanks, I got it all covered.”, the lawyer replied before setting it down on the ground with a quick huff.

“I see then, I presume that you are Mr. Phoenix Wright and Mr. Hershel Layton right?”, Tina had gone on to ask them, watching as the lawyer had taken two tickets from his pocket, handing it over towards her. “That's correct, we're recently engaged and decided to come here for a lovely vacation. Isn't that right dear?”, Hershel had said before looking over at the other man with a fond expression. Phoenix couldn't help but feel impressed with how the Professor was able to play the part, despite how they had rehearsed this. Thinking that Hershel would possibly make a good actor if he ever decided to go into theater. “Yeah of c-course, honey.”, the lawyer responded to him with a loving smile.

“Don't worry, I already know the details from my boss.”, Tina said, giggling a little as she scanned the tickets before handing them back to the taller man. “Hope you two lovebirds have a pleasant stay.”, she said with a smile before opening the gate for the two of them. Phoenix then picked the luggage up from the ground, gesturing for Hershel to go ahead first before following after him. Just as they got on board the ship, the two of them soon heard a voice call out from a distance, seeing a police car stop with a screeching halt. The voice that had called out belonged to Detective Gumshoe, who the lawyer immediately recognized and watched as the detective quickly rushed out of the car and towards Tina. “Please don't leave yet, pal! I have to get on that ship!”, the detective had said to the woman, who appeared to be rather surprised by his sudden appearance.

“Would that be Detective Gumshoe?”, Hershel had asked the lawyer, who nodded his head in response after putting his luggage back down for a moment. “That's him alright, but what exactly is he doing here anyway?”, Phoenix had said, and wondered if Miles might have sent the detective here for some reason. “Do you have a ticket sir?”, Tina had asked Gumshoe, who appeared to be slightly dejected. “Unfortunately no, I don't. But it's very important that I get on that ship, pal!”, the detective had said to her, looking more determined. “Well I can't just let you get on the ship without a ticket.”, Tina said to him and was about to close the gate before the detective quickly stopped her.

“Wait! I can be part of the security if it means I get to be on the cruise.”, Gumshoe had said to her, and didn't seem as if he would be going away anytime soon. Tina sighed for a moment before bringing out her phone, presumably calling her boss. “What exactly is going on down there?”, a voice had said from nearby, prompting both Hershel and Phoenix to look over at her. There they could see a woman with shoulder length strawberry blonde hair wearing a pair of blue shades, along with an olive green jumpsuit and grey short heels. “I believe that someone must have been late to get here on time.”, Hershel had said to her, which prompted the woman to look over at them.

“Oh? Do you perhaps know the scruffy looking guy down there?”, she had asked them. “I do, my partner has only heard about him from me. The detective down there is named Dick Gumshoe.”, Phoenix had said to her, looking back down over at the detective before looking away quickly. “I take it that you work in law, perhaps?”, the woman had asked him. “That's right, I actually have my own law firm called Wright and Co.”, the lawyer had said to her. “That's rather fascinating.”, she said with a smile before looking over at the scholar. “What about you? Are you perhaps involved in a more formal profession?”, she asked him as she examined his outfit. “Not exactly, I'm actually a Professor of Archeology at Ivy League University.”, he responded to her.

She took her shades off for a moment as she looked at him more closely. “You have a British accent, are you sure you actually work at Ivy League University?”, she questioned him, a somewhat curious look on her face. “Well he just moved here more recently all the way from England. Which actually works out for us since we just got engaged, though we haven't picked any rings out just yet.”, Phoenix had said to her, placing an arm around Hershel's shoulder as he said this. The scholar had mouthed a quiet ‘thank you’ to him, making sure that the woman didn't notice this. “I suppose that makes sense, I don't really understand how transferring from one university to another works all that much.”, she said with a shrug. “By the way, my name is Starla Pacchiano. I would like to introduce my wife, Fotina but she's currently busy taking pictures of the scenery.”, she said as she held her hand out towards them, a smile forming as she mentioned her wife.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mrs. Starla. My name is Hershel Layton.”, the scholar had said as he shook her hand, with the lawyer shaking her hand once the other man was done. “My name is Phoenix Wright, nice to meet you.”, he said to her, and put his hand back to his side. “As much as I wish to continue this conversation, I have to find Fotina. I'll see you two later at another time.”, Starla had said before putting her shades back on and leaving with a wave of her hand. Hershel let out a small sigh for a moment once she was out of earshot. “I suppose I should have mentioned that originally I was from England before talking about my profession.”, he had said. “No worries, honestly I don't think she seemed too suspicious of us.”, Phoenix had said to the shorter male. “I suppose you're right about that, she did seem to be rather nice.”, the other had responded to him, a slight smile on his face.

“Finally, I made it on here…”, a familiar voice had said, and the two of them soon turned around to see that it was Gumshoe. Who appeared to be out of breath for some odd reason. “Were you able to convince Miss Hacket to get on the ship? Why does it look like you ran a marathon?”, Phoenix had questioned him. “Hello there Pal! Also yes I was able to thanks to the permission of the hostess. Though I would have to sleep in the cabin crew with other members of security, honestly I had to rush all the way here when Mr. Edgeworth told me I had to be here.”, Gumshoe had said with a smile as he heard the attorney, and now appeared to be energized despite his new current situation. ‘How is he able to perk up so easily?’, Phoenix thought to himself, though was more interested in what the detective had said regarding Miles.

Phoenix was about to question him about this when the detective had noticed Hershel who still had the lawyer's arm around his shoulder. “Uh, would you mind explaining to me why your arm is around that guy's shoulder there, Pal? Who is this guy anyway?”, Gumshoe had asked, and seemed confused by this. At the mention of having his arm around his friend's shoulder, both men soon turned their attention towards the scholar's shoulder and realized that Phoenix's arm was still there. The lawyer then brought his arm back to his side. “There's a reason for that, me and Hershel have to pretend that we're recently engaged in order to get on this ship. As for who Hershel is, he's a friend of mine that works at Gressenheller University.”, the lawyer had said to the detective. “My full name is Hershel Layton.”, the Professor had said with the tip of his hat.

“Oh right! I do remember delivering those tickets to you the other day. I'm still not sure why Mr. Edgeworth had me give you two tickets for the cruise. At least you and your friend were able to get on board!”, Gumshoe said with a smile. “Though it is nice to meet another friend of Mr. Wright, just call me Gumshoe for now, Pal!”, he continued on to say. “Speaking of Edgeworth, how do you not know about why he had you give me those tickets? Why did he send you here anyway?”, Phoenix had asked him, raising a slight eyebrow. “If I knew I would have told you, I even asked Mr. Edgeworth about it when he told me to give the tickets to you. But he said that I would run my mouth off if you tried to ask.”, Gumshoe had responded to him, a somewhat disappointed expression on his face. The lawyer sighed for a moment, having a feeling that would be the reason why Miles didn't explain his reasoning to the detective.

“I would assume that the reason why Mr. Edgeworth had told you to come here would involve something urgent, correct?”, Hershel had questioned him, and watched as the detective nodded his head. “You're right about that, how did you guess?”, Gumshoe had asked, looking rather amazed that the scholar was able to get it correct. “Well me and Phoenix had heard the sound of screeching tires when you arrived here.”, the Professor had said to him. “So is there something that might happen here on this cruise, anything that you might know of?”, Phoenix had asked. As soon as he was finished asking, everything turned black around them before three red psyche locks appeared around the detective, catching the lawyer by surprise. “I'm afraid that's classified information, Pal! You might be a lawyer but I'm not about to just tell you all about it that easily.”, Gumshoe had said, a confident smile appearing on his face, though it didn't seem he noticed the lawyer's surprised reaction.

Hershel, on the other hand, had noticed his friend's sudden change in expression. Making him wonder just what exactly he might have seen to warrant such a reaction like that. The scholar thought about asking his friend about it once they were done talking to the detective. Phoenix should have expected psyche locks to appear whenever talking to someone, especially with Detective Gumshoe. Given that he had brought the magatama with him. Though he was a little surprised that there were three locks, and figured that he didn't have enough information to break those locks. “I suppose you have a point there, but I will talk to you more about this later.”, the lawyer had said to him.

“Huh, normally you would try to question me right on the spot. Anyway, I better get going before Miss Hacket decides to kick me off the ship.”, Gumshoe had said before quickly going towards a door leading into the ship. Phoenix let out a sigh before noticing that Hershel was staring at him for a moment with an uncertain look on his face. “Is something wrong, Hershel?”, he questioned, a sound of confusion in his voice. “Forgive me for staring, but I couldn't help but notice that it appeared that you had seen something…unexpected. What was it that you might have seen because I didn't see anything that would considered to be unnatural?”, the scholar had questioned him. ‘Crap, forgot to tell him about the magatama!’, Phoenix had thought to himself.

“I'll tell you about it once we get to our room, it's best if we discuss it more privately. With no one else around.”, the lawyer had said to him. Hershel wasn't sure what exactly his friend might reveal to him later on, and became more curious as to what the other man might have seen a moment ago. “I see then, I suppose it must be very important then.”, the scholar had said, and soon noticed that a group of people were already heading off into the ship. “We should probably join up with the others.”, he went on to say before grabbing one of the luggage in his hand. “You know I could still take both of the luggage right?”, Phoenix had said to him as he picked up the other. “As much as I appreciate the gesture Phoenix, it's clear that you were struggling with carrying it all at once. Besides, I want to repay the favor for letting me stay with you when I arrived here.”, the scholar said with a smile.

The lawyer had figured that his friend would say that, knowing how much of a gentleman he was. “I mean it would be rude not to offer you to stay at my apartment before the trip.”, Phoenix had gone on to say, smiling back at his friend as they made their way to where the rest of the group were at. “Sometimes I often wonder if you might also be a true gentleman, dear.”, Hershel had said, soon getting back into the role as a pretend couple. Picking up on this, the lawyer was quick enough with his own response. “I mean I learned the best from you, honey.”, the lawyer replied back. Tina Hacket soon closed the gate for the ship, calling her boss to inform about how everyone was on board and accounted for. As everyone else went into the ship, the vessel soon proceeded to leave the docks for its five day voyage.

Chapter Text

As it would turn out, one of the staff members on the ship had offered to show the couples where exactly they'll be staying. Hershel and Phoenix were mostly silent as they wanted to hear the staff member explain more about potential other rooms. Though it was hard to listen to what exactly the man in uniform was saying as one couple in their late fifties, named Remington and Heather Parks, had kept interrupting the guy, and acting rather rude about it.

“Will these rooms have a nice view of the sunset? Me and my dear hubby wish to have a nice view all to ourselves.”, the older lady with greying purple hair had said, and was soon followed by her husband who's black hair was starting to thin out and grey. “We paid good money to be on this fine cruise ship of yours.”, the man had said, coughing for a moment. “I can assure you that all rooms have the best view, as each room has been made for each couple's taste ahead of time.”, the staff member had responded, trying to smile as he talked.

‘The poor bastard…’, Phoenix thought to himself as the same older couple went on to interrupt the other guy with an unrelated question. “Do you think that the other couples here might have spoken to Miss Nouncer when they had obtained the tickets at some point?”, Hershel had silently asked him, feeling a bit of sympathy for the staff member. “I believe so, she even asked who would be coming along with me and I mentioned your name. Though I wonder how exactly she knew each person's taste if what that guy said is true.”, Phoenix replied back to him silently. “That's perhaps something we might ask her ourselves once we meet her.”, the scholar said to him, and soon noticed that the same staff member had given a couple of keys to the older couple and quickly escorted them to their room. For a brief moment, he noticed a slight frown on the man's face. Even hearing the sighs of relief from the other couples.

“Now I must apologize but I must make this tour come to a stop, I would recommend that you get all of your personal items and luggage put away then head to the dining hall to meet with Miss Anna Nouncer.”, the staff member had explained, giving each of the remaining couples their own keys. “Now I would suggest that you don't share any of your keys with anyone that isn't your lover or spouse, and enjoy your stay.”, the man had said before leaving down the hallway. Both Hershel and Phoenix soon went to their own room, taking their luggage with them and setting it on the bed for a moment. “I don't exactly understand as to why Mr. and Mrs. Parks would give the employee such a hard time.”, Hershel had commented, only for the lawyer to respond with a shrug. “Me neither, I just hope they don't continue acting like that for the rest of the trip.”, the lawyer had said to him with a sigh.

“Maybe we should discuss what you were planning on telling me now that we're in our room? We can keep talking as we put things away.”, Hershel had then suggested, with the other man nodding in response. “That would work, I was already planning on telling you about it as soon as possible.”, Phoenix responded, and the both of them then opened their suitcases while the lawyer pulled out a glowing green gem. Which immediately caught the scholar's attention. “Where exactly did you obtain such a beautiful gem?”, the scholar had questioned, looking rather amazed by what he was seeing. “This is a magatama, Maya's cousin, Pearls, had given it to me while I was working on a case. Basically, it allows someone to see psyche locks if someone else is keeping a secret close to their heart. So if you were to ask me, while holding the magatama, what I had for dinner and I said something different, then no locks would appear.”, the taller man had explained.

Hershel patiently listened as his friend explained how the magatama works, and was rather fascinated by it. He never imagined that the gem was capable of detecting secrets from other people to the holder. “Fascinating…”, the scholar had said as he took a closer look at the green gem once he had put his extra clothes in the closet. “So I take it then that what you had seen earlier while talking to Mr. Gumshoe would be the psyche locks, correct?”, Hershel had questioned him. “Exactly, I had seen three psyche locks around him. Though another thing is that only the person holding the magatama can see it while no one else can't. Also the number of locks appearing depends on how much a person wants to hold on to a secret. The highest being five in total.”, Phoenix had responded to him while putting the magatama back in his pocket.

“I see, considering what I know now, Mr. Gumshoe is keeping a very important secret regarding what he would know might happen on the S.S. Genevieve.”, Hershel had mentioned, with the lawyer nodding his head in agreement. “Yep, now I'm not sure if he knows everything in regards to what may happen but he does know some crucial details.”, Phoenix had said while he too put his clothes in the closet. “I must ask, how exactly do you get someone to reveal what they're hiding when they do have a certain amount of locks?”, the scholar had asked as he pulled out a small statue he had found from Mosinnia from his suitcase. “Normally I just use evidence or information to prove that they're hiding something, just like in court. Though I don't exactly have any of that right now.”, the lawyer had said and soon took notice of the statue his friend was holding.

Phoenix wasn't sure how to describe it but he thought that it looked like a golden bird with red eyes. “What kind of statue is that?”, the lawyer had asked his friend. “It's a statue from Mosinnia, I call it the Burnt Out Phoenix due to how they have a large statue of one in the city. There was even a story about how the tears of the Phoenix would heal the people living there.”, Hershel had explained to him. “But what makes it burnt out anyway? Is it because there's no flames forming around it?”, the lawyer had questioned. “I believe so, after all if the statue did have flames around it then I wouldn't have taken it with me.”, the scholar said with a chuckle before putting it away back in his suitcase. After watching his friend put away the rest of his stuff, Phoenix soon had a thought pop up in his mind.

“So if I were to cry and my tears landed on someone, would my tears heal that person if they had some kind of injury?”, Phoenix had questioned, confusing the other man as he really wasn't expecting to hear his friend say that. “...Come again?”, Hershel had asked, appearing to be slightly puzzled by those words. “I said if I cried and my tears somehow landed on someone with an injury, would that heal them?”, the lawyer had said to him, trying not to laugh at his friend's confusion and remained unfazed. The scholar then took a moment to think to himself as he processed the question, before realizing what the other man was referencing, letting out a small laugh. Seeing this, the lawyer began to grin before laughing along with him.

“I'm not entirely sure if that would be possible for you to accomplish, though perhaps we might test that theory out later.”, Hershel had said to him, deciding to play along with the joke. “I don't know about that, I mean as much as I want to know the answer for myself, I don't want you to purposely hurt yourself just to test a theory, Hershel.”, Phoenix had responded with a slight chuckle. Though the conversation was soon interrupted by the sound of knocking on the door, followed by the sound of a familiar voice. “It's me Starla, are you two almost done getting ready in there? Me and Fotina came by to tell you two that everyone else has gone off to the dining hall.”, she had asked. “Oh sorry about that, we're already finished but got caught up with something.”, Phoenix had replied back to her.

“Alright, well we'll meet you later there.”, Starla had soon responded, before the sound of muffled footsteps could be heard walking away. Phoenix made sure that he had everything put away before turning his attention towards his friend. “We'll probably need to find some more information later before we can get Gumshoe to tell us what he's hiding first.”, he said to him. “I had the same thoughts as well, for now we better not keep our hostess waiting for us.”, Hershel had said to him, going over to the door and holding open for his friend. The lawyer said a quick thank you to the other man, waiting for him to leave the room before taking his hand in his, which caused the scholar to be surprised for a moment. “What is it?”, Phoenix had asked as he noticed his friend's expression.

“My apologies, I just wasn't expecting for you to hold my hand.”, Hershel said to him, and seemed to be slightly embarrassed. “Does it bother you? I can let go if you want and we'll just have to walk closely together.”, Phoenix had then suggested to him. So far the only thing that they had agreed on when pretending to be a couple was to not kiss each other, even coming up with an explanation in case someone would ask. “No it's fine as it is, I'm just not exactly used to holding hands with someone as a romantic gesture for some time now.”, the scholar had said to him, with the lawyer knowing what his friend was referring to. He had already known about his friend's previous relationship, having been brought up at one point during one of their conversations over the phone about a few months ago.

“Yeah the…feeling is mutual there.”, Phoenix had gone on to say before they both resumed their walk down the hall. There were different signs that they had passed by, with arrows pointing in different directions as well as the name of the rooms. Using the arrows as a guide, the two went through the doors leading into the dining hall. Where they saw the other couples seated together at a large round table. The dining room itself looked rather extravagant, even having a crystal chandelier hanging over the table. The lawyer couldn't help but feel a sense of relief over the fact that everything here was already bought and paid for by the hostess. Though speaking of the hostess, she wasn't anywhere in sight. Something that Hershel had taken notice of.

The two of them soon took their own seats, and noticed matching posters that Phoenix had received when Miles had delivered the tickets to his office. “It would seem that you two finally arrived, just what had been going on in your room anyway? It shouldn't take that long to get ready.”, a man's voice said to them, and both the lawyer and the scholar looked over to see a man with dark brown hair in a comb over, along with a noticeable scar across his left cheek. “Our apologies for the late arrival, we had simply got caught up in a conversation regarding our plans here.”, Hershel had responded to him, a polite tone in his voice. “I think you two were already demonstrating what sort of plans you had in mind with each other.”, the lady, with straight shoulder length light green hair, sitting next to the man with the scar muttered to herself. Prompting the scarred man to laugh a little as he overheard her.

“Sorry I didn't quite hear what you said Miss…?”, Hershel had responded, trailing off a little as he didn't quite know the woman's name. “That would be Mrs. Clover Locke, and this is my husband, Chance Locke. Plus it's nothing important as to what I had said anyway.”, Clover said with a slight giggle, while gesturing at the man as she said her husband's name. Though Phoenix had a feeling that she was most likely telling some kind of joke to her husband. As for what the joke was, he didn't really know. “I see then, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Hershel Layton.”, the scholar had said to her. “My name is Phoenix Wright.”, the lawyer had said to them. Though Chance seemed to have a look of recognition on his face after hearing the lawyer's name.

“Say, wouldn't you be the same guy that managed to get Furio Tigre arrested for murder two months ago?”, Chance had questioned him. “Uh yeah, but I would say that I got him convicted. Why do you ask?”, Phoenix responded, and never thought he would hear Furio Tigre's name again in a while. “Same difference, the point is that I wanna thank you for getting that bastard!”, Chance said with a grin. “I would take it then that you and Mr. Tigre must have some sort of rivalry then?”, Hershel had questioned the man, while the lawyer was a bit surprised that he was being thanked by someone he didn't really know. “Wait, why are you thanking me for?!”, Phoenix went on to say, though it would seem that the other people seated at the table had overheard the conversation and were now looking over at them.

“Rivalry is putting it lightly, Mr. Layton. I would best describe it as trying to rip each other's throats out if they made the slightest bit of eye contact.”, Clover had said to him. “Just as dumpling here described it, yes. I hated his guts! He was nothing but a nuisance whenever he visited the casino, scaring my employees and customers half to death and thinking he ran the damn place! Do you know how much revenue I lost from his stunts?!”, Chance had said before he started ranting. Clover simply patted his shoulder, causing the man to calm down a little. “Thanks dumpling.”, he said quietly to her with a smile before turning his attention back to Hershel and Phoenix. “That's pretty much why I was thanking you, Mr. Wright.”, Chance had said to him. “I mean I was just defending my client who got accused of murdering someone. Didn't really know too much about him until I learned who he was involved with.”, Phoenix said to him.

Hershel couldn't help but feel a bit curious about the conversation as he listened to the three of them talk to each other. Though he soon noticed Chance's and Clover's poster, seeing that it was written differently compared to his and Phoenix's. “Do you mind if I take a look at one of your posters?”, the scholar had asked. “I mean I don't mind but why do you want to see it?”, Clover had questioned as she handed him the poster, a bit confused by his sudden question. Phoenix decided to take a look as well, and that's when the two noticed the obvious difference. On Clover's poster, the only couple's activities mentioned were a game of poker, darts, and even a game show meant to test the knowledge between the couples. “You see, there are two activities mentioned that are different from ours.”, Hershel had said and handed their poster to the other couple.

Clover and Chance took a look at it for themselves, seeing that the scholar had been correct in what he had just said. “Hey, Clement and Pascal Pewter, and Dominic and Lyra Tipple. What do your posters say?”, Chance had asked them. Clement, a man with blonde short hair and round rimmed glasses, took a look at one of the posters. Alongside his husband, who had dark silver tousled hair with bags underneath his eyes, who looked over at the poster with a yawn. “Other than the one about a couples quiz game, it says here that there's a pocky game and clay crafting.”, Clement had responded. “How exactly did they know about my hobby in making clay art…?”, Pascal had commented tiredly.

“Same thing for us, only this time it mentions beer pong and flower arrangement.”, Dominic, a man with light brown Caesar cut hair, had said to him. Even holding the poster up for the others to see. “Honestly it doesn't even sound like something you would do on a cruise ship to begin with.”, Lyra had commented, fixing her somewhat long wine red hair into a short braid. Hearing this, Hershel had then assumed that perhaps the other couples might have some sort of personal hobby listed on their own poster. He couldn't help but feel how strange it was as he continued to listen to the other couples mention their own activities.

With Starla and Fotina mentioning how their poster had karaoke and a role-playing tabletop game listed. Along with Remington and Heather saying that for theirs it listed candle making and getting to watch the sea birds. Two other couples, one being Hudson Coves and Bell Numbs, and the other being Dennis Smiles and Amicie Oste mentioning their own activities. Listing them out as deep sea diving, meditation, scavenger hunt, and yoga. Pretty much causing everyone to talk amongst themselves over this. “Don't you think it's odd that so far these activities listed might be linked to their hobbies, honey?”, Phoenix had questioned his friend, as the lawyer didn't think that most of the ‘activities’ would be something that everyone could do. “Certainly, after all I think that Miss Nouncer would have listed them out all at once in these posters.”, Hershel had responded to him.

That's when everyone heard the sound of a door opening, turning their attention towards Tina Hacket who seemed surprised by their reactions. “Excusez-moi, but could you tell us why all of our posters are different?”, Amicie had said in a notable accent as she twisted her short platinum blonde hair a little. To which the ticket reader shook her head in response. “My apologies but I can't exactly give you an answer. I'm simply here to tell you all that Miss Anna Nouncer won't be arriving anytime soon.”, Tina had said to them. “What do you mean she won't be arriving here?!”, Bell had said, sounding irritated before calming herself a little. “She just told me to tell you all that the couples quiz game will be happening later this evening, and that you can do as you please as long as you follow the rules.”, Tina responded before taking out some folded cards from her pocket.

She went over to each couple, handing them the folded card one by one before quickly making her leave out of the dining hall. Pretty much everyone was confused as to why the black haired girl had made her way out without saying anything. “I believe that this meeting might be over?”, Phoenix had said, sounding confused as he looked at the folded up card. “I think you might be right about that, Mr. Wright.”, Starla had said, before both she and Fotina began to leave the room. After this, each couple made their way out of the dining hall, not saying a single word. So far the only two that remained were Hershel and Phoenix. “What does the card say, Phoenix?”, the scholar had questioned, prompting the lawyer to fold it open. Instead of a list of rules despite what Tina had claimed, there was only a single sentence written on it. ‘You may fool everyone with your acts of affections, but I know that you two are simply playing an act.’

Chapter Text

“Hey Edgeworth, do you have a minute?”, Phoenix had asked over the phone while Hershel was carefully looking over the card they had been given. They had returned to their room not too long after they opened the card. The prosecutor on the other end of the phone simply sighed as he heard his friend's voice. “Yes, though not for long so please make this quick Wright. Would this happen to be about the tickets again?”, Miles had questioned him, hoping that it wasn't the case. “Not this time, I actually called to ask to see if you might have told Anna Nouncer about anything regarding my hobbies.”, the lawyer had gone on to say. Miles was a bit confused, and wondered what exactly this might have to do with anything. “Of course I didn't, like I said I had gotten the tickets from the Chief of Justice after all.”, the prosecutor responded to him. “Why exactly are you asking about this?”, he questioned him.

“So you know that poster right? Well the other couples here had gotten one as well but it seems to be catered around their hobbies. I think the same might be the case for the poster that me and Hershel got.”, Phoenix had responded to him. Miles was silent as he processed this information, this was something he wasn't expecting to hear. “What does your poster say, in terms of the hobbies that you and Mr. Layton would have?”, the prosecutor had asked him. The lawyer turned his attention towards Hershel, quietly asking his friend to hand him one of the posters. The scholar obliged and handed one over to him. “It just says that they would be having a murder mystery theater and a live orchestra performance. Shouldn't you have known what the poster said since you're the one who delivered it to me along with the tickets?”, Phoenix had asked him over the phone.

“Well the thing is I never looked at the activities, if I would have known I wouldn't have asked you in the first place Wright.”, Miles had responded and recalled the list of hobbies that the lawyer had told him a moment ago. He never really saw Phoenix as someone who could enjoy live orchestra, but decided not to question him about it right now. “I'll see what I can do in terms of finding out more about how much Anna Nouncer knows about the guests in terms of personal tastes.”, Miles had said before hanging up the phone, not giving the lawyer a chance to respond. Phoenix was at least slightly satisfied to get some kind of answer from the prosecutor for once regarding this whole event. “May I ask what Mr. Edgeworth had said in regards to Miss Nouncer?”, Hershel had asked his friend once he had finished examining the card.

“He just told me that he would try to find out more about the hostess.”, Phoenix responded to him. “Honestly, I'm not even sure how Anna would know about us since I never ever mentioned any kind of hobbies that we might enjoy.”, the lawyer continued on to say with a sigh. “I believe what is also odd is that it only mentions two hobbies, I imagine she could have added in puzzle solving or anything related to archeology.”, Hershel had commented. “I mean solving puzzles on this ship isn't too unlikely, but I'm not sure how they'll deal with anything related to archeology. Unless the hostess doesn't know too much about you that is.”, his friend had gone on to say. “You may have a point there, because as far as I know, I might be the only one who isn't here locally. With the possible exception of that young woman with the French accent.”, the scholar had said to him.

“Yeah, though I think maybe we should wait until we know more about who Anna Nouncer is. I doubt she would answer if I tried to directly call her.”, Phoenix had said to him, a frown forming on his lips. He couldn't help but think back to what he and Hershel had read on the card from earlier, wondering how someone was able to figure out that they weren't actually a couple. It wasn't like they claimed to be the best at it but he didn't think it would have been too obvious for someone to figure out that they were faking the whole time. “I take it that you're thinking about the card that we had received earlier, correct?”, the scholar had asked him, noticing the frown on his friend's face. The lawyer didn't seem to be too surprised that Hershel was able to figure that out, as he considered him to be the smartest man in the world.

“Yeah, I mean I'm not even sure who might have figured it out. It could either be Anna or any of the staff members here who might have noticed something. Just…trying to find out who could have known about our plan.”, Phoenix had responded with a sigh. A look of concern soon appeared on Hershel's face, and tried to think of something that could ease his friend's worries about all of this. He didn't think that the hostess could kick them off the ship, especially since they've already set sail. It wasn't long until he came up with a suggestion, but was hesitant at first as he wasn't sure how the other man would think of the idea. “I…actually think I might have a plan.”, the scholar had said to him.

Phoenix was confused for a moment why his friend sounded hesitant, though was curious to know what sort of plan he had in mind. “Oh yeah? What's the plan Hershel?”, he went on to ask him, on to see a slight nervous expression appearing on his friend's face for a brief moment before hearing his response. “We could…possibly continue on with what we had already discussed about. In terms of playing as a newly engaged couple, only…with a few extra measures.”, Hershel had said to him. “I mean I figured we could just continue with what we're already doing in front of the other people here. What do you mean by a few extra measures?”, the lawyer had asked him.

“What I mean is that perhaps…we could do declarations of love and…get closer together in a physical sense.”, Hershel had responded, with the lawyer noticing that same nervous expression on his friend's face. “Hershel, are you sure you want to go along with that idea? You don't seem to like it even though you're the one suggesting it right now.”, Phoenix had gone on to say. The scholar sighed a little and remained silent for a moment before saying his next response. “No, I don't want to go along with what I had suggested. Though I admit I'm not exactly sure what we could do in order to convince them that we're a newly engaged couple. After all, I don't want you to get removed from the ship due to someone finding out about us.”, Hershel had said to his friend.

For a moment, the lawyer was confused by what his friend had meant, before a few things clicked in his head. “Wait, you think that you suggesting that we be more physically intimate with each other in front of people would help us not get kicked off of the ship?”, Phoenix had questioned, and watched as the other man nodded his head. “Of course, after all it would be detrimental for what Mr. Edgeworth had requested for you to do.”, Hershel had said to him. The lawyer took a moment to process those words, before realizing something and deciding to ask his friend. “Hershel, can you tell me why you agreed to go on this trip with me even though it was meant only for couples?”, Phoenix had asked them, and thought that it was long overdue now but wanted to know his friend's reasoning for agreeing to come here.

“To help you out of course, after all you did sound a bit panicked when you explained to me how you couldn't think of anyone else to go with on this trip.”, the scholar had responded to him. ‘Did I really sound panicked while talking to him?’, Phoenix had thought to himself as he tried to recall their conversation from the other day. Admittedly though, he was a bit touched by his friend's reasoning for wanting to come here in the first place. “I see, well remind me to repay you back for it.”, the lawyer had said with a smile. “How about this, for now we just continue with how we have been acting in front of the others. If someone points it out or asks, we just pretend we don't know they're talking about. That way you don't have to feel uncomfortable while we're here. How does that sound?”, he then went on to suggest to the other man.

“Yes, that would sound like a better idea than what I had in mind. Thank you for the suggestion, Phoenix.”, Hershel said to him, looking a bit relieved by the suggestion. Though he couldn't figure out why that wasn't his first thought about it. “I suppose we should probably walk around the ship and get used to our new surroundings here?”, the scholar had then asked him. After all, he didn't think that they would be staying in their room all day until evening, and he wouldn't mind at all in getting to know more about the other passengers on board the cruise ship. “That's what I had in mind as well.”, the lawyer said to him, and went over to open the door for the gentleman. Only to be surprised to see someone standing there once he had opened it, startling the woman in the process.

“Mio Dio, I didn't realize you were opening the door. I thought I was about to jump out of my skin!”, Fotina had said, looking rather startled. Hershel had then gone over to see who was there after he heard her voice, trying to look over Phoenix's shoulder. The lawyer, seeing his friend, then moved out of the way a little for him. “How long have you been standing there?”, Phoenix had asked her, and wondered why she was there in the first place. “For only a few seconds, I was contemplating whether or not I should knock on the door but I didn't want to disturb either of you. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything.”, she said, and seemed rather nervous by how either of them would react.

“You didn't interrupt anything, in fact we were already on our way out before Phoenix had opened the door.”, Hershel had said and offered a comforting smile as he noticed that she seemed nervous. Fotina let out a sigh of relief as she heard him say this before going on to say, “Grazie al cielo, normally I wouldn't try to interfere in other people's business so that's good to hear.” “Do you mind telling us why you were standing in front of our door?”, Phoenix had gone on to ask her. “Of course, you see both Chance and Caroline had offered me and Starla to play a few rounds of poker with them. Though Starla wanted to be alone after getting that card, she was rather freaked out by it. So it would be just me that's going. They had also told me to ask anyone else here, though you and your fiance are the only ones who answered.”, the journalist had explained to them.

Neither Phoenix or Hershel had expected to be invited for a game of poker, but they supposed it wouldn't hurt to at least spend some time with the Locke couple. Though the lawyer was a bit curious as to what Starla's and Fotina's card had said that would cause the voice actress to want to be alone. “I hope you don't mind me asking this but what did your and your wife's card say?”, Phoenix had gone on to ask, and that's when everything went dark as four psyche locks appeared around her. He wasn't surprised by this, and soon held Hershel's hand as a way of signaling that she had a secret to hide. It took the scholar a moment to understand this, and squeezed his friend's hand as a way to say that he knows. “I-I'm afraid it's not something I should say, I don't w-want to reveal anything unless Storno tells me otherwise.”, the journalist had responded, looking rather nervous.

“No, that's completely fine. I should apologize for trying to delve into something I'm not even allowed to know.”, Phoenix had said to her, and continued to hold on to his friend's hand. “Grazie Mr. Wright, the game room where Chance and Clover are at shouldn't be too far from here.”, Fotina had said to them before walking off towards where the game room was at. Both the lawyer and the scholar soon followed after her, with the former whispering into the other man's ear. “She had a total of four psyche locks around her when I asked her that question.”, Phoenix had said to him. “That would then imply that what sort of secret her wife might be keeping is something that shouldn't ever be revealed.”, Hershel had responded as he whispered back to him. “Exactly.”, the lawyer had said quietly while they continued to follow after the journalist.

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Maya had recalled the conversation that she had with Phoenix that morning in which both he and Hershel had gone over to board the ship at the docks. It was a simple phone call which consisted mostly about how the lawyer and the professor would be away for five days and to watch over the office until he returned. Which was something the medium didn't mind at all, though it would certainly get boring without her friend in the obvious. She figured that maybe she could just spend most of her time watching TV to see what might be playing right now. Using the remote, Maya then began to do a little channel surfing until she came across a show which mostly focused on interviews with different celebrities. It seemed as if this was a different episode from a few months ago.

“Let's see what this might be about.”, Maya said to herself, and watched as a woman with strawberry blonde hair and pink eyes began talking to a news reporter. “So I heard that your recent role in the cartoon show, ‘Sticks and Bricks’ is a huge success! Would you mind telling me what it's like voicing the main villain of the show, Mrs. Pacchiano?”, the reporter had asked as he pointed a microphone towards the voice actress. Maya wasn't sure but she felt as if she might have heard that name from somewhere, and continued watching mostly out of curiosity. “I suppose you could call it entertaining. But at the same time nerve wracking as I had never played a villain role before.”, the voice actress responded with a smile. “Incredible! With the way you performed, it was as if you played other villainous roles before in television!”, the reporter said, sounding rather amazed.

“Well I did practice my lines before rehearsing to voice as Acacia Roserton, so I suppose that might explain why I had gotten the role in the first place.”, the voice actress responded. Soon Maya was starting to grow bored and was about to turn the channel when she heard something interesting from the reporter on TV. “Honestly I'm not sure how you are this confident after you and your wife lost your infant son. How are you and your wife holding up?”, the reporter had questioned. The medium was a bit stunned by this sudden subject change, and wondered why the reporter thought that might have been a good idea to ask that question. She could see the woman's smile falter a little before turning into a frown, and it seemed that the voice actress may have had the same thoughts as the medium heard her response.

“I would rather not talk about it please, it's…too soon.”, the voice actress had said to the reporter. “But that still doesn't answer my question Mrs. Pacchiano.”, the reporter had gone on to say. Maya just watched as the woman's expression soon turned into anger. “I don't see why it's any of your damn business to know! If I don't want to talk about it then I have every right not too!”, the voice actress had said before rushing off backstage, leaving the reporter in an awkward position. It was then that Maya decided to turn off the TV for now. “That poor woman…”, the medium said to herself before looking up at the clock. Seeing that it was about five minutes after noon. She figured that now would be a good time to head out and grab some lunch from her favorite burger place, and it wasn't long until she heard a growl coming from her stomach.

As Maya was about to head out of the office, that's when she heard the office phone begin to ring. She wasn't expecting to get any calls, unless it was from Phoenix. Though she wasn't sure what she might do if it's from a potential client, making a mental note to herself to hang up a sign on a door to say that the office was closed later. The medium went over towards the phone, and answered it. “This is Maya Fey, if you need a case I'm afraid we're currently closed at the moment for the next five days.”, she then said, only to be surprised as she heard a familiar voice on the other end. “I don't need a case Miss Maya, it's me Luke Triton!”, the apprentice had said to her. The medium soon began to smile once she recognized Luke's voice.

“Hey Luke! It's been a while hasn't it! How have you been lately?”, Maya had asked, though she did wonder why her friend was calling her right now. “I'm doing fine, I hope I didn't call you at a bad time but I was wondering if you might know about a trip that the Professor had gone on with Mr. Wright lately.”, Luke had said to her. “Oh you mean the couples cruise trip? How much has the Professor told you about it?”, the medium had asked, only to notice that there was a brief moment of silence. She wondered if maybe he had gone away from the phone for a moment, unaware that the apprentice didn't know about the details behind the trip. “...When did the Professor and Mr. Wright started dating? Is that why he didn't want me to go with him?”, Luke had questioned, seeming to have come to a realization of sorts.

“No Luke, they're not dating. It's a long story but Edgeworth needed Nick to go on this cruise ship for some reason. And the only way to get on it is to go with another person. That's when Nick had asked the Professor to go with him and he said yes.”, Maya had explained to him. “Oh I see, I suppose it makes sense.”, the apprentice had said to her. “I hope you don't mind me asking but what was the Professor's reaction when Mr. Wright first asked him?”, Luke had continued on to ask. “I think he might have been silent for a moment before agreeing, why do you ask Luke?”, Maya had asked him, a bit curious by the question. “I'll explain it to you later Miss Maya, maybe we can try to find out why Mr. Edgeworth wanted Mr. Wright to go on the cruise ship in the first place. I might have an idea on how we can figure it out.”, the apprentice had said to her. “I'm listening.”, Maya had said, a bit intrigued by the idea that Luke had mentioned.

Chapter Text

By the time that Hershel and Phoenix had arrived in the game, they noticed that only people in there were Chance and Clover. Along with a staff member who was attending the nearby bar. In the room, the lawyer had noticed a dart board, a mahjong table, and two other tables meant for different card games. Which is where both Chance and Clover had been sitting when they noticed the three of them walk into the room. Fotina had already picked out a nearby seat at the table. “Thanks for inviting them over, Fotina. But are Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton the only ones coming here?”, Chance had asked the journalist. “Sì, I had knocked on the other doors but they declined the offer. And Storno wanted to be left alone for now.”, Fotina had explained to him.

“As much as I want more people to join, five people playing would have to do for now.”, Chance had said with a slight shrug as he began to set up a game of poker. Though he wasn't sure what the journalist had meant when she said ‘Storno’. Soon both Phoenix and Hershel grabbed two chairs, sitting down by the table as they watched the other man prepare the game. “Have you two ever played poker before?”, Clover had then asked them, mostly out of genuine curiosity. “While I have played various card games before, I'm not usually interested in playing poker.”, the scholar had responded to her after taking a look around the room. “I've played it a couple of times with a few classmates back in college, but I wouldn't say it's something I enjoy doing.”, the lawyer had said to her.

Hearing this, Chance looked up from the cards and over at the other two men. “Well how about this then, we won't need to make any bets if that's what you're worried about. Just a fun game of poker to help pass the time.”, the casino owner had said to them, hoping that they would accept the offer. While Phoenix didn't really mind the idea, he wasn't sure what Hershel would think of the game, and soon turned his attention towards his friend. “Would you like to play, honey?”, he went on to ask him. The scholar took a moment to think to himself before coming up with a response. “I suppose it wouldn't hurt to at least play one game, would you mind telling me the rules?”, Hershel had said, and noticed how both Chance and Clover began to grin slightly.

“For the basics, you need to have the best hand of five cards in poker. It needs to be a high ranking in order to win the game. Though the thing is that you may have to try and fool your opponent by bluffing, making them think that they don't have a chance at beating you. I'll explain a bit more as the game goes on but that's as much as you need to know so far in terms of the basics.”, Chance had explained before passing each card out face down to each player. “I would assume that's where the term poker face comes from right?”, Fotina had questioned as she watched the man pass out the cards until everyone had five cards in hand. “I remember hearing about it being first used in the 1870s in a book about card games. So it's likely that's where it had first come from.”, Hershel had said to her, and waited for when they would need to look at their own hand.

“Never realized that you know about this, are you sure you're not pretending that you don't know about how to play poker?”, Clover had said with a slight teasing tone in her voice. “I can tell you that Hershel isn't pretending. I know when he tries to pretend about something. He just happens to have an amazing brain is all and knows a lot about certain things. If you happen to be stuck on something, he's the man for the job.”, Phoenix had said with a smile, causing the scholar to become a bit flattered by the sudden compliment. “I wouldn't really say that I know a lot about certain things, dear. It just depends on the subject.”, Hershel had responded, a slight smile forming on his lips and soon he and the others were given the signal to look at their own cards.

“I mean yeah that's true, but don't you remember how you told me about how you learned about the language of flowers after getting me that bouquet with dark red carnations, purple peonies, and white lilies? You even included a puzzle with it as well.”, Phoenix had said to him in response. Hershel had soon recognized what his friend was talking about, as it was a conversation they had about a month ago. Only he never gave him a bouquet of flowers and it was the lawyer who had told him about various meanings behind them. He wasn't really sure why his friend changed that part on who told who about the language of flowers. “I do remember that of course, mostly so I could convey how I feel towards you in a subtle way.”, the scholar responded to him.

“Kind of like giving them a hint right?”, Fotina had questioned as she overheard the conversation. “Precisely, though Phoenix was able to figure it out on his own just fine.”, Hershel had said with a smile before pondering his next move. “I hope you don't mind me asking this but how long have you two been seeing each other?”, Clover had asked both Hershel and Phoenix. “We've been together for about three years now. Last month was when I proposed to him though we decided to wait before planning for the wedding.”, Phoenix had said before looking at his cards. “Honestly that's the same plan me and Clover had before we got married, though mostly because we couldn't afford to get a single engagement ring.”, Chance had commented.

The game had continued on, with Fotina being the first to be out, silently watching as the other four kept playing. It wasn't long until they all heard a door opening, and turned their attention to see that it was Lyra Tipple coming into the room. “I believe it's too late to join now Lyra, we're already in the middle of a game.”, Clover had said to the other woman. “I didn't come here to play poker, I only came here to see what kind of wine they sell here at the bar.”, Lyra had said to her as she went to sit at on one of bar stools. “Why did you come here just for the wine?”, Chance had asked her. “Because I'm a wine connoisseur of course! Whenever I go somewhere new and they happen to have a bar, I have to at least try the wine they're selling to see just how good it is.”, Lyra had explained before looking at the menu.

“Is your husband not joining with you, Mrs. Tipple?”, Hershel had asked her, mostly out of curiosity. “Not at the moment, Dominic said that he wanted to see what else the cruise ship might have to offer here. So he may arrive here sooner or later.”, the connoisseur had said to him before ordering a very rare wine known as the Romanée-Conti. “What kind of wine are they serving anyway?”, Fotina had then asked her.

“Real expensive stuff, most of it not usually found in regular bars or clubs. Whoever Anna Nouncer is must have known some of the best winemakers in the world if she was able to get this stuff for anyone interested.”, Lyra had said to her. “I imagine that it's probably very rare then?”, Phoenix had asked her, and looked over to see her nod her head in response. “Precisely, honestly I'm rather envious that the hostess might know someone who supplies her with the most rare wine.”, Lyra had commented before going on to ask, “Would anyone else be interested in getting something from the bar?”

“For me and Clover, we prefer Chardonnay please.”, Chance had said to her before turning his attention back to the game, grinning a little. “I usually prefer Italian wine if they might have anything up there, do they have Chianti Classico?”, Fotina had asked her, prompting the connoisseur to look back at the menu. “Yep, they have it here, I think they pretty much have the most famous Italian wine here.”, Lyra had said before looking over at Hershel and Phoenix. “What about you two, any requests?”, she asked them, only to see the scholar shake his head. “Thanks for the offer Mrs. Tipple, but normally I don't drink wine unless it's for a special occasion.”, Hershel had said to her. “Do they have any grape juice?”, Phoenix had asked her, surprising her as well as both Chance and Clover.

“Why would you want grape juice instead of wine, Mr. Wright?”, Clover had asked, sounding a bit confused. “I mean not to judge your tastes but wouldn't you at least try to get some kind of alcoholic beverage from the bar?”, Chance had questioned. “No not really, I usually prefer grape juice. It's just something I like to drink.”, Phoenix said with a slight shrug. “Have you…ever had any sort of wine or beer before Mr. Wright?”, Lyra had asked him, but wondered if maybe there was a reason for why he didn't want any type of alcoholic beverage at all. “I tried it before after I turned twenty one years old, but it's not really for me.”, the lawyer had said to her. The connoisseur couldn't help but feel slightly relieved that his refusal to order any wine didn't have anything to do with past trauma relating to alcohol, and soon ordered the other requested wines.

“Alright, I believe I might win this!”, Chance said confidently. “Really, what do you have dear?”, Clover had questioned him, wondering why her husband was announcing what he had. “A three of a kind, dumpling!”, the casino owner had answered with a grin and showed his hand to the others. Showing that he had three sevens. His wife frowned upon seeing what he had, placing her hand. “I fold, don't exactly have anything to beat that.”, she said to him, though both Hershel and Phoenix seemed unfazed as they looked at their own cards. “What about you two?”, Chance had asked them. “To be honest, I don't think you should have revealed your hand.”, Hershel had said to him. “It is a risk but is it really worth it?”, Phoenix had questioned, confusing the casino owner.

“What do you mean by that, what exactly do you two have anyway?”, Chance had asked them. Hershel was the first to reveal his hand of cards, showing that he had an ace, a king, a queen, a jack, and a ten card. Phoenix did the same, showing that he too had the same cards as the scholar, a royal flush. Chance, Clover, and Fotina were rather surprised to see that the two men both had a royal flush. “Are you sure you didn't cheat or something?! There's no way that the two of you could have had a royal flush!”, Chance had commented, soon getting up from his seat and going over to the two men to look at them closely. “I assure you that there was no cheating involved Mr. Locke. I had even made sure not to look at Phoenix's cards the whole time.”, Hershel had said to him and showed the cards to him.

“I mean the cruise ship might have surveillance cameras in this room, so if you want to see if we had cheated or not then you can ask them to pull up the cameras and show you.”, Phoenix had suggested to him as he showed the cards. After taking a closer look at both of the two men and the cards, Chance could see that there weren't any signs of cheating, leaving him rather stunned as he never heard of two people getting a royal flush at the same time. “Well I be damned…”, the casino owner had muttered before returning to his seat. “So, were they cheating?”, Clover had asked her husband, only to see him shake his head. “There wasn't any cheating involved, none of the cards seem to be duplicates. I think they're just pretty damn lucky at the game.”, Chance had said to her.

“I take it that a royal flush is something that anyone usually doesn't get then?”, Hershel had questioned him. “This isn't something uncommon, it's extremely rare for someone to actually win with a royal flush without cheating. The fact that the both of you were able to get it is downright unbelievable and pretty much impossible unless someone was cheating.”, Chance had explained to him. “Congratulations you two!”, Fotina cheerfully said as she overheard the casino owner's explanation. Both Hershel and Phoenix seemed surprised as they heard the explanation, and they wondered just how exactly they were able to get a royal flush anyway. For now they thought it was best not to think too much about it. “Thank you, Mrs. Fotina.”, Hershel had said to her and got up from his seat so he could look around the room a bit more before seeing a magazine rack and going over towards it.

Phoenix watched as his friend had got up, wondering if the scholar was perhaps trying to find something that might remind him of a puzzle. “I assume that your fiance is done playing then?”, Chance had asked him, and the lawyer soon turned his attention towards the other man. “I believe so, I mean he did say that he only wanted to play for one round.”, Phoenix had said to him before looking back at Hershel. “Did you find anything that interests you, honey?”, he asked his friend, prompting Hershel to look back over at him. “I was hoping they might have some kind of puzzle game but I don't see anything of the sorts.”, the scholar had said in response, looking a bit disappointed. “I don't think they have any puzzle games here though.”, Lyra had commented and watched as the bartender returned with the drinks she ordered.

“It would seem so, Mrs. Tipple.”, Hershel said with a sigh before returning to his seat and right next to Phoenix. “Is something wrong, Mr. Layton? You seem to be disappointed in something.”, Fotina had asked him, wondering why he seemed to be sulking right now. “It's due to the lack of puzzles here, sometimes he likes to do a puzzle whenever he gets bored or if there's nothing to do.”, Phoenix had said to her and patted his friend on the back, though he wondered if his friend might be just acting. “I mean I wouldn't blame him, I would be sulking too if they didn't have a game I wanted to play.”, Clover had commented. The lawyer tried to come up with something that could try to cheer the scholar up, only to notice his friend sneak a folded up poster into his pocket, seeing him silently mouth the words, ‘We better leave soon.’

“Anyway, we better get going for now. Maybe I might find some kind of puzzle for you in a different room, honey.”, Phoenix had as he got up from his seat. “Leaving already? Are you sure that you and Mr. Layton don't want to stay for a different game?”, Chance had asked them as he put away the cards. “As much as we appreciate the offer, there are still some places we haven't visited yet.”, Hershel had said to him, smiling slightly as he didn't want to seem rude. “I see, well see you two later then.”, Chance had said to them, and soon the two men left the game room. “So I take it that you sulking was just an act then?”, the lawyer had asked once they had left the room and made sure that no one else was around to hear them.

“Indeed it was, although while the game room seems to have games mostly from casinos, there didn't seem to be any form of games that require puzzle solving skills to test one's mind.”, Hershel had responded to him. “I mean it was pretty convincing, I wouldn't be too surprised if you would be disappointed by any lack of a puzzle in there.”, Phoenix had said to him before pulling out the folded up poster that his friend had placed in his pocket, opening it up to see what it was. “Well I'm pleased to hear that it has worked in our favor.”, the scholar said with a smile. “But perhaps later on, we could try to repay them in some way.”, he continued on to say before looking over to see the poster as well. “We have plenty of time here, maybe we can offer some kind of puzzle for them?”, the lawyer had suggested, and watched as his friend smiled more at the idea. “That does sound like a good idea.”, Hershel had said to him.

Looking back at the poster, the two of them could see that it was something different compared to what they and the others had been given. Not in the sense of the subject as it also mentioned a couple of activities, but more so that it had come from someone else. With the activities being axe throwing and stand up comedy. “Where was this poster located at when you found it anyway, Hershel?”, Phoenix had asked him. “Oddly enough, it was hidden behind a calendar on a wall, near where the rack of magazines were at. I just happened to notice it shortly after the game of poker had ended.”, Hershel had explained to him. They both couldn't help but feel how odd it seemed, as they wondered if perhaps there was another couple on board they hadn't met yet.

“Hershel, are you thinking what I'm thinking right now?”, Phoenix had asked him, seeing the other man turn his attention towards him. “If you're referring to trying to find this mysterious couple then yes. Considering how we didn't see any signs of them being with the others when the staff member was showing us our rooms.”, Hershel responded to him. The lawyer nodded his head as he heard his friend say this. “Exactly, though maybe there might be more rooms that we could look around before this evening.”, the lawyer had said and folded the poster and put it back in his pocket. With this in the mind, the two men soon went off in a different direction to potentially find more cabin rooms on the ship.

Chapter Text

The plan that Luke had explained to Maya earlier over the phone was that she was going to have to meet with Miles and find out more about the tickets and why he had given them to Phoenix in the first place. Of course, Luke had also mentioned that he couldn't really go to Los Angeles due to the possibility of not making it in time. Something that Maya wasn't surprised to hear, so they would need to talk to each other over the phone to discuss more on how to help both Phoenix and Hershel while they were on the ship. Which is why she had gone to the prosecutor's office in the first place, wanting to see if Miles could be there.

Oddly enough, there didn't seem to be anyone at the prosecutor's building. Not even a person behind the receptionist desk to let people in or if there was someone they needed to speak with. Maya wasn't going to wait all day, and had already headed up the flight of stairs and to Mile's office once she found his room number on the front desk. Was she going to get in trouble for this? Absolutely, but she didn't really care at the moment and continued up the flight of stairs. It would have been easier to use an elevator but she didn't want to run into someone who might get her kicked out. As she made it on the right floor, Maya opened the door before going down the hallway. Stopping in front of Edgeworth's office once she had found it. She examined her surroundings before she started to knock on the door.

“Hello, it's me Maya. Are you in there right now Edgeworth?”, Maya had said after knocking on the door, only to not get a response. She figured that maybe he didn't hear her or was just ignoring her, and soon decided to keep on knocking on the door. “Can you hear me in there?”, she then asked, but once again didn't hear anything. That's when she decided to try and open the door, and much to her surprise was actually unlocked as the door opened just slightly. Slowly she opened it more before sneaking into Mile's office, looking around the room to see that he wasn't in there. ‘That explains why I didn't get a response, but where did he go?’, the medium thought to herself as she began to search the room. Hoping to at least find something in here that could be useful to know regarding the cruise ship itself.

Maya looked through the shelves, only to see that it was just past cases that Miles most likely had worked on in the past. She then went over to his desk and that's when she noticed a letter. She grinned to herself, thinking that this might be a clue and soon picked up the letter to see what was written on it. ‘Thank you Mr. Edgeworth for buying the tickets! Though I'm not sure why you had bought them for two different people, especially for someone who doesn't live in Los Angeles. After all, I could have just made accommodations for just one person and say that you would be my new assistant for the trip. Whatever your reasoning, I will let you know when your friend and the person he's going with will arrive here.’, signed Anna Nouncer.

Maya was confused by this, after all Phoenix had told her that Miles had received the tickets from the Chief of Justice. So why exactly did this letter say that he was the one who had bought the tickets? Just as she was thinking about this, she soon heard the noise of the door knob moving, dropping the letter back on the office desk before trying to hide underneath it. She didn't think this would be a good hiding spot but she thought it would be worth a shot. As Miles stepped into his office, it wasn't long until he spotted the medium failing to attempt to hide underneath his office desk. The prosecutor was a bit surprised to see her here in his office all of a sudden, though he soon became rather annoyed as to why she was in here. He didn't recall ever hearing her wanting to come over to his office.

“Just what exactly are you doing here, Maya? I don't think I had given you permission to come into my office.”, Miles had said to her, a scowl on his face as he watched as the medium got out from underneath the office desk. “Well there wasn't anyone at the receptionist desk so I decided to come up here anyway. In fact I didn't see anyone else here besides you.”, Maya had explained to him, trying to remain calm as she noticed how annoyed the prosecutor was with her. “That's because everyone else went out on their lunch break. Though as for why no one had bothered to lock the main entrance, that I have no clue about.”, Miles said to her. ‘Oh, well that definitely explains why no one else was here then.’, the medium thought to herself.

“So that's where you were at as well then? Your office door was unlocked when I came in here.”, Maya had questioned him. “I was, though the place I went wasn't too far away from here.”, Miles had answered before sighing to himself as he heard her point out his unlocked door. “I know, I wasn't planning to be away from my office for too long. Now if you don't mind, would you please leave my office?”, the prosecutor said to her as he gestured towards the door. “Actually I'm not going anywhere just yet, I came here to ask you about something.”, Maya had said to him, looking rather determined. She wasn't about to leave no matter how much the prosecutor would try to bribe her to get out of his office. “Would this have anything to do with the tickets that I had delivered to Wright?”, Miles had questioned her.

“Wait, how did you know that's what I'm here to ask you about anyway?”, Maya responded, looking rather surprised as he correctly assumed that's why she had come here for. Miles sighed as he heard her say this before coming up with an answer. “Just a lucky guess, besides you're not the only one who's being a nuisance regarding the tickets to the cruise vessel.”, he said as he began to rub his forehead in circles. He feels as if he might have a migraine soon. “Well you didn't really give Nick a reason why he needed to go on that cruise ship in the first place. So until you give a reason, I'm not going to stop asking you about it.”, Maya had said with a look of mischief. “Plus, I know you're lying about having received the tickets from the Chief of Justice. So why don't you spill the beans already!”, she continued on to say with a grin.

“Did you now?”, Miles had said before looking over at the desk, seeing that the letter had been unfolded. Granted he didn't exactly have enough time to put away the letter as he had just received it today shortly before he went out for lunch, but that wasn't something he wasn't going to reveal to her. “It's true that I had bought the tickets and not the Chief of Justice, however there is a very good reason for it. There is something that I need for Wright and Mr. Layton to do there while on that vessel. Something that's very crucial.”, the prosecutor had gone on to say, which had piqued Maya's curiosity as she wondered what the reason was going to be. “I mean wouldn't it make sense for you to go there instead?”, Maya had questioned as she recalled that part of the letter.

“No, it wouldn't. Besides, I have other matters to attend to here. I already trust that Wright and Mr. Layton can solve it on their own. All I will say is that it involves one of the couples invited on the trip who might be tied in with the mafia. I want to ensure that whoever it is, is brought back here without raising suspicion.”, Miles had explained to her. Maya did think that it would make sense, but she wasn't sure how Phoenix would be able to figure it out without raising suspicion. “So, that's it then? That's the reason why?”, Maya had asked him, and watched as he nodded his head in response. “Yes it is. Now please leave my office, Maya.”, the prosecutor said to her. The medium did as she was told, and left his office. Only to realize something as soon as she stepped out. ‘Wait, did he plan for the Professor to go with Nick?’, she thought to herself and attempted to go back into the office, only to her disappointment that it was now locked.

On the other side of the door, Miles patiently waited for Maya to walk away, hearing her footsteps until they faded out. He sighed in relief before going over to his phone, and began to call someone. After a few rings, the person on the other end was able to pick up. “This is Detective Gumshoe!”, the detective had announced, taking the other man a moment to realize who was calling him. “Oh, Mr. Edgeworth! Is there something that you need sir?”, Gumshoe had asked him. “Yes detective, have either Wright or Mr. Layton asked you about why I needed them to attend this trip?”, Miles had questioned him. “Well Mr. Wright had asked, but I made sure to keep my lips sealed sir! When should I tell him anyway?”, the detective replied back to him. “Not until the time is right, besides I need you to follow the two of them at all times.”, Miles had said to him.

“B-But sir! They'll notice me if I try to follow after them! Plus Mr. Wright and his friend will probably try to interrogate me about it! He always finds a way to get secrets from me sir!”, Gumshoe had said and sounded rather panicked, thinking that this idea that the prosecutor had suggested wouldn't go so well for him. “No matter what detective, I need you to keep your lips sealed and try to deflect or change the subject. You're good at that aren't you?”, Miles had said to him, looking out of his window to admire the view outside. “I-I mean I can try sir but they're bound to find out sooner or later.”, Gumshoe said with a sigh of defeat, having a feeling that there was no use trying to disagree with Mile's idea. “Good, now be sure to follow them at all times and try not to get caught. I need you to remember that.”, the prosecutor said before hanging up the phone, not letting the detective get a chance to respond. He hopes that everything goes well, though he had a feeling that Phoenix or Maya would try to keep calling him.

----------------

While finding the other cabin rooms, both Phoenix and Hershel had passed two rooms labeled the garden and gym, with the lawyer being more confused as to why a cruise ship would need a garden area on board. “I don't think I've ever heard of a garden area being on a ship like this before.”, Phoenix had commented as he and his friend continued down the deck before rounding a corner. “It is a bit strange I must admit, though I'm sure it mostly functions as some kind of greenhouse or just a place to relax.”, Hershel had said to him, before noticing someone walking rather sluggishly towards them and seemed to be on the verge of collapsing. “Sir, are you alright?”, the scholar had gone on to ask him, recognizing him to be Pascal. Taking the other man a moment to recognize who exactly was talking to him, and seemed confused as to where he was at currently.

“...Oh you mean me…?”, Pascal questioned before yawning, pointing at himself and rubbing his eye with his other hand. “Yeah of course, other than us you're the only person here.”, Phoenix had said to him, sounding a bit confused as he wasn't quite sure why the other man seemed so tired all of a sudden. Though thinking on it now, the lawyer had recalled seeing him laying his head on another man's shoulder when they were being shown to their rooms. Most likely his husband Clement. “...I see now, I suppose that makes sense. I guess I was sleep walking again…”, Pascal had said in response. “Do you have a habit of sleeping walking Mr. Pascal?”, Hershel had went on to ask him after hearing what he just said.

“...I suppose you could say it's a habit, though I didn't start sleep walking until I got that promotion as lead developer. Clement usually tells me that I should look for a different job in my field that has less hours…”, the programmer had said to him, followed by a yawn. “Just how long do you work as a lead developer?”, Phoenix had asked him, thinking that it was possibly a lot of hours judging with how exhausted the other man appeared to be. “...Hmm, I'd say about 18 hours. It's a big project to work on…”, Pascal said to him, with the lawyer's expression soon turning into a look of concern upon hearing his response. “I believe that doesn't sound like a normal requirement to deal with, even as one involving programming.”, Hershel had commented, a slight frown forming on his lips.

“...That's about the same response as Clement's when I first told him that. But I have to get it done so I can get a high pay, it's very important…”, Pascal had said to them. “How so? Is there something you're trying to afford?”, Hershel had asked him, seeing the other man nod his head. “...Yes, but I don't want to tell you about it. I don't want the risk of Clement hearing any of the details from either of you…”, the programmer had responded. “So this would involve your husband then, right?”, Phoenix had asked him, and a quick second afterwards everything around them turned black as two red psyche locks appeared around the programmer. Phoenix had a feeling that he would be seeing these psyche locks more frequently than usual, and let out a quiet sigh at the thought of having to deal with potentially getting rid of all of them.

“...Like I said before, I don't want to tell either of you about it. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to head back to my room…”, Pascal said to them before turning the other way and headed towards a door leading into the cruise. “Please do be careful on your way back Mr. Pascal.”, Hershel had said to the man, before making sure that the programmer had left and turned his attention back to his friend. “I take it then that your magatama must have reacted to what he had just said, correct?”, the scholar had asked him, with Phoenix responding with a nod of his head. “Yeah, though this time it's two psyche locks. I'm thinking that maybe what he's trying to afford is a gift for his husband.”, the lawyer said to him.

“That is a good guess, perhaps something that's not usually something anyone could easily afford on their own. Though I must admit, I'm a bit curious as to what he's planning on giving to his husband. If they were simply dating then he would have needed to afford an engagement ring.”, Hershel had commented, placing his hand underneath his chin as he thought to himself for a moment. “I did say that it's possibly a gift of some kind, but this is our first time meeting them so we don't know too much about what they might be interested in. It could probably be a rare collection item or something else entirely.”, Phoenix had said to him, before going up to one of the cabin rooms, and wondered if there actually might be someone in there.

“I suppose that could be a possibility then, I had remembered hearing one of my students mention about saving up to buy a signed copy of a vinyl record.”, Hershel had said as he watched his friend knock on the door, neither of them hearing a response. Phoenix took this as a sign that no one could be in there, and decided to try and open the door. He expected it to be locked, but with a twist of the doorknob, the door was able to open. “How strange that this door isn't locked.”, the scholar had commented before following after the lawyer who went inside the cabin room. “I mean it could be another couple's room and they're just not in here.”, Phoenix had said to him, though he too couldn't help but feel how strange it was that the potential couple wouldn't keep their door locked while away.

As they stepped into the room, they could see that there didn't appear to be any signs that someone had claimed this room as their own. Though Hershel had noticed something shiny glitter underneath the bed, and went to search underneath it to see what it could be. While Phoenix decided to check out the closet, mostly just to see if there could be anything that might be interesting. But there didn't seem to be anything in there when he opened the closet door, other than empty clothes hangers. “Did you find anything in there, Phoenix?”, Hershel had asked as he went over towards him after looking underneath the bed. “Just these clothes hangers, what about you Hershel?”, Phoenix responded before turning around to see that the scholar was holding a silver ring with a crystal flower consisting of rose and blue quartz. The lawyer seemed a bit surprised when he noticed the ring.

“Was that underneath the bed over there?”, Phoenix had asked him, taking a closer look at the ring. Hershel nodded his head before going on to say, “Indeed, there was even a note underneath the ring when I looked underneath the bed. This is possibly someone's engagement ring.” After saying this, Hershel then pulled out a note that he had mentioned before handing it over to his friend so he could read it for himself. ‘I sure hope that you are able to find this Tina, I promise to meet up with you later tonight in this room once I'm done working. There's something I wish to tell you. After all, I know how much you like surprises.’, signed D.C. Phoenix was a bit confused by the signature, since he didn't recall meeting someone with the initials D.C. “I have a feeling that whoever D.C. is could be working on the ship.”, Phoenix had said to his friend. “I would have to agree with you there, though I'm not sure if we should keep the ring and note with us.”, Hershel had said to him.

“We can just leave it here where you find it, I don't have any objections to not take it with us.”, Phoenix had said to him. While it wasn't outright stated, he knew that the note posed as a hint of this D.C. person wanting to propose to Tina. Hershel smiled as he heard his friend's response before returning the note and ring back underneath the bed, making sure that it didn't appear as if someone had found it. “That's certainly a relief, I would hate to potentially ruin a proposal. Especially with the lengths they're willing to go for.”, the scholar had said to him. “I doubt anyone would, though I'll keep a note of what we found once we return to our room.”, Phoenix had said to him, and began to head out of the room while Hershel followed right behind him.

Chapter Text

Hershel wasn't entirely sure what he and Phoenix should do before evening, before realizing that it was already past noon and they didn't get a chance to eat lunch yet at all. It would seem that Phoenix had the same idea as well, as he soon went on to suggest going to the dining hall. “Do you think we might see the others there as well, there could be a chance that some of them might decide to stay in their rooms and get lunch later.”, the scholar had decided to bring up as they both made their way to the dining hall. Phoenix shrugged after hearing what his friend had just said. “I don't really know, there could also be a chance that they already went in there earlier after we left the game room to explore more of the ship. Were you planning on asking any of them about something?”, the lawyer had asked him.

“I guess for the most part, just wanting to get to know most of the other passengers while we're on this cruise ship.”, Hershel responded to him. “We are going to be on this trip for about five days, and I don't really see the harm in potentially making new friends here.”, he continued on to say with a small smile. “I see what you mean, though I'm not entirely sure if we'll be able to get along with all of them. Mr. and Mrs. Parks don't seem to be the type of people who would want to share their own personal life or ask us about ourselves that much.”, Phoenix had said to him. Hershel seemed to be in deep thought for a moment before responding to what his friend had just said to him. “While I share the same thoughts as you regarding Mr. and Mrs. Parks, we should at least try to be polite to them as much as possible.”, the scholar had said to him.

“I can try but I can't make any promises.”, Phoenix said in response, a slight frown forming on his lips as he recalled to how the older couple had treated that staff member from earlier. As they both kept walking, they soon came across the same doors leading into the dining hall. Hershel went over to hold the door for his friend, hearing a quick ‘thank you’ from him before following right behind him into the room. Though the only person they did see in there was Tina Hacket, who seemed to be texting someone on her cellphone. “Is it just you that's in here?”, Phoenix had asked her, a bit confused as to why there didn't seem to be any sign of the other passengers in here. Hearing his voice caught her completely by surprise, as Tina pretty much slammed her phone down on the table and she had a slightly surprised look on her face as she looked at the two men.

“You startled me for a moment there.”, Tina she said before letting out a sigh of relief. “Also it's just me for now, I think the others might be coming soon as I had went to their rooms to make sure whether or not they wanted to eat in the dining hall.”, she continued on to say. “I take it then that your on break right now?”, Hershel had went on to ask her, seeing her nod in her head in response. “Yep, pretty much most of the people working on the ship have the same break time. All except for the chefs, they don't usually go on break until after they prepared the meals everyone else.”, Tina explained to him. “So other than scanning the tickets, what else do you do on the ship?”, the scholar had asked her, as both he and Phoenix went to pick out their own seats and sat right next to each other.

“Pretty much just check in on the guests and see how they're doing, as well as pass any messages that Miss Nouncer might need me to pass out. Like those cards from earlier.”, Tina said, looking down at her phone to make sure she didn't accidentally crack it after slamming it on the table a moment ago. “Just out of curiosity, did you read any of those cards that Miss Nouncer had you give to us earlier?”, Phoenix had questioned her, hoping that she wouldn't find out that he and Hershel were posing as a couple. Hearing this question, Tina seemed a bit confused. “Why would I look through the cards anyway? I don't really go through any personal belongings of the passengers who board on the S.S. Genevieve.”, she said to him in response.

“Well it's mostly just a precaution for the both of us, as during one trip that we had gone on, one of the employees had decided to go through our luggage and had found a surprise gift that was meant for Phoenix at the time.”, Hershel had explained to her, briefly glancing over at his friend for a moment to see a somewhat relieved expression on his face. Tina seemed to be rather curious about what the scholar had just said. “Did this happen on an airport?”, she went on to ask him, though Phoenix had decided to respond to it. “Pretty much, I think it had something to do with how they supposedly received a report that someone was smuggling contraband and they had to check every passenger's luggage. They did manage to find the suspect but it was rather embarrassing for pretty much everyone involved.”, the lawyer had explained to her.

“I would probably feel embarrassed too if I had someone go through my luggage and then reveal a surprise, but that's good to hear they managed to get the person responsible for smuggling.”, Tina had commented, and soon the three of them heard the sound of a door opening. Causing them to turn towards where the sound had come from to see that it was Starla and Fotina. With the voice actress still wearing her sunglasses for some odd reason. Though both Hershel and Phoenix thought that it was probably best not to question her about it. “What were you three talking about in here? We could vaguely hear you through the door.”, Fotina had asked them, and seemed to be a bit curious as to what kind of conversation they were having.

“Well Mr. Layton and Mr. Wright were telling me about how one time during a trip, an employee of an airport had gone through their luggage to make sure they weren't smuggling in any contraband.”, Tina had said to the journalist. “Smuggling contraband?”, Starla questioned, sounding a bit confused as to what exactly she was talking about. “Basically the airport received a report about someone smuggling in some contraband, and they had to go through every passenger's luggage. I had asked her if she read any of those cards she handed out earlier which had lead to that conversation.”, Phoenix had clarified to her. “I suppose that is an interesting conversation to have.”, Starla said as both she and Fotina went to sit down at the table. Though Fotina seemed as if she was deep in thought about something in particular.

“Is something on your mind Mrs. Fotina?”, Hershel had asked her once he noticed her expression. “Sì, something about what Mr. Wright had said regarding the incident with the airport sounded familiar to what me and Storno had experienced about six months ago.”, Fotina had responded, and it seemed that her wife might have come to some kind of realization. “Out of curiosity Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton, when exactly did that happen anyway?”, Starla had asked them. Both Phoenix and Hershel weren't entirely sure where this might be leading to, since the incident they came up with was just made up. “In October, we had been planning on going to visit Monte D'or after Hershel had been staying with me here in Los Angeles for the weekend. Why do you ask?”, Phoenix had questioned, and seemed confused by what she was asking about.

“That's exactly when that happened! I remember how me and Storno were going to London when we were told to let the staff go through our luggage.”, Fotina had proclaimed as her eyes widened. “It did cause a delay but we had managed to arrive on time, I believe the person they caught with the contraband might have been a part of the Velenocosto family.”, Starla had said to them. “I don't think either me or Phoenix might have heard about the Velenocosto family, I would assume that they're possibly tied with the mafia.”, Hershel had commented. The lawyer didn't really have a good feeling as to where this conversation was heading, recalling how he had encountered another mob boss's granddaughter at one point. “Well I can't really confirm it, it's just something I remember overhearing about from the news. How the Velenocostos’ were supposedly tied with smuggling weapons and deadly poison through different aircrafts.”, Starla responded to him.

Tina seemed a bit frightened by this, quietly listening to the conversation before checking her phone for a moment. “We didn't really hear too much about it once we had left for our trip after getting our luggage searched through, I might look into it later once we get back from this trip.”, Phoenix had said to her, trying not to appear to be too surprised by this. After all, he never quite expected his made up story would somehow turn out to be real. Even looking over at Hershel to see his reaction, though his friend seemed unfazed. It wasn't long until Chance and Clover entered the room, followed shortly after by the Parks, Hudson, and Bell. “How long will lunch be served?”, Heather had questioned as she and her husband took their seats, catching Tina by surprise as she looked up at the older couple from her phone.

“I-It should be ready soon, I'm sure it'll be here in about five minutes.”, Tina had said to her before looking back at her phone. The older couple didn't seem to care how frightened she was, though Hudson and Bell had noticed her expression. “Is something wrong, you seem to be nervous about something.”, Bell had decided to ask her, though Tina quickly shook her head. “It's nothing really, don't worry about me. I'm going to go ahead and check in on the chefs to see how they're doing.”, Tina had said before getting up from her seat, and seemed to make a mad dash towards the kitchen. Hershel wondered why she seemed to be in a rush when she went into the next room but decided not to ask anyone else about it. “Did any of you talk about something before we came in here?”, Bell had decided to ask, still confused by Tina's behavior.

“Mostly about what happened at the Los Angeles Airport where they caught someone smuggling in something illegal from about six months ago. Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton had told Miss Hacket about it before me and Storno came in here.”, Fotina had responded to her. “Also how it might involve the Velenocosto family.”, Starla had added in. Hearing that name being mentioned, both Heather and Remington seemed annoyed. “I hope you're not referring to that group of criminals.”, Heather had said, an annoyed tone to her voice. “I think it's just something that she thought they might be involved with, it's not one hundred percent certain yet.”, Phoenix had said to her.

“No matter, we don't really want to hear that name again.”, Remington had said to him, causing both the lawyer and the scholar to wonder if the older couple might have known something about the Velenocosto family given their responses. “Have you heard about the Velenocosto family before?”, Hershel had gone on to ask the older couple. “I'm not going into detail but they have been nothing but a thorn to our company for a while now, and that's all I have to say.”, Remington had said to him. As tempting as it was to question the couple more on the subject, Phoenix had a feeling that more psyche locks would just appear and he would rather not deal with it again. A few minutes later, more of the passengers all arrived, and it seemed that everyone was here except for Pascal.

“Clement, where is your husband at anyway?”, Amicie had asked, noticing the programmer's absence. “He said that he was going to rest for a while, I was planning on bringing some lunch back to him once I'm done eating.”, Clement had said to her, looking over his shoulder and towards the door leading into the kitchen. “I mean I noticed he looked tired earlier but why would he need to rest anyway?”, Dennis had said, and seemed a bit confused. “Actually, me and Hershel were exploring more parts of the ship and ran into him at one point. He was sleep walking but was able to wake up.”, Phoenix had responded, which immediately got Clement's attention.

“Did he run into anything when you and your fiance ran into him, Mr. Wright?”, Clement had asked, with the lawyer noticing a look of concern on his face. “He didn't, in fact he didn't seem to be hurt at all when we ran into him earlier. We talked a little before he mentioned about going back to your cabin.”, Phoenix said to him, and noticed the other man let out a sigh of relief. He wondered if maybe Pascal might have potentially gotten hurt while sleep walking before. “That's good then.”, Clement muttered under his breath, as a small smile appeared on his face. It was then that all of them heard the sound of another door opening, turning to see that Tina had returned from the kitchen and seemed out of breath for some reason. As well as her face appearing to be slightly flushed.

“Did something happen in there, Miss Hacket?”, Hershel had asked her, a bit confused when he noticed the pink hue on her cheeks. “You were in there for some time after all.”, Starla had added in, while Clover giggled as she noticed Tina's face. “S-Sorry for the wait everyone, lunch is just about ready. They needed another minute in there.”, she said to them before going back to her seat. “I don't think Mr. Layton was referring to lunch Miss Hacket.”, Chance had said to her while pointing at his own cheeks, confusing the young woman. “Your cheeks are pink, that's what Mr. Layton was referring to.”, Lyra had pointed out, and soon caused the young woman to appear slightly embarrassed. “I-It's nothing really, let's just wait for lunch to get here.”, Tina said with an embarrassed smile on her face.

“I mean it doesn't seem like nothing, considering how the color of your cheeks would rival that of a pink rose.”, Phoenix had said to her, though that's when one psyche lock appeared around the young woman as soon as those words left his mouth. Already he had an idea as to why she seemed flustered but now wasn't the right time to bring it up when there were others around them. He looked over towards Hershel to see that his friend seemed to have come to the same conclusion, as the scholar was deep in thought for a moment before noticing the lawyer looking over at him. “Do I have something on my face, dear?”, Hershel had said, sounding a bit confused. Or maybe not? “Uh no, you don't. You just seemed to be deep in thought about something.”, Phoenix had said to him.

“My apologies, I was just thinking about what they might be serving.”, Hershel said with a smile. “It could be something exquisite, like how Mrs. Tipple mentioned about the drinks they were serving at the bar in the game room.”, Fotina had said as she overheard Phoenix's and Hershel's conversation. “Oh, what kind of drinks did they serve?”, Starla had questioned as she turned her attention towards Lyra. “Pretty much the most expensive kinds you can think of, I even mentioned to them earlier about how Miss Nouncer probably knows the right people in order to get those brands.”, Lyra responded to her. “We can visit the bar in the game room later Storno.”, Fotina had said to her wife with a smile. “I'll think about it, dear.”, Starla said, smiling a little back at her before thinking to herself for a moment.

“It doesn't sound too surprising that Miss Nouncer would know the best wine to have here.”, Amicie commented quietly to herself before all of them heard a few people come out of the kitchen. Seeing the trays of food they brought out before placing them on the table and putting each silverware in its proper place. Hershel seemed fascinated by how the people serving them knew where to put the silverware, while Phoenix appeared to be impressed. He had expected that the meals would be something like those served at a fancy restaurant but in this case, it seemed something straight out of a dream. He lightly pinched his arm to make sure of that. “Why do you seem so surprised Mr. Wright?”, Clover had questioned him. “Never had fancy food before?”, Chance had asked with a slightly amused grin on his face.

“Well I tried it once at Trés Bien, but the quality of the food there didn't really match the prices.”, Phoenix replied with a frown, remembering how awful the food had tasted. “I know what restaurant you're referring to Mr. Wright, a terrible place to go to for a taste of French cuisine.”, Amicie said with a grimace, which was also shared with Dennis. “I feel like that owner there is nothing more than a con artist.”, Clover had commented as she began to take some portions of food onto her plate just like the others were doing right now. “I believe this is the first time I've heard of Trés Bien before.”, Hershel had said as he noticed that everyone else who had heard the name of the restaurant showed a mix between uncomfortable expressions to frowns. “Trust me honey, I would not recommend going to that place.”, Phoenix had warned as he began to eat his own meal, thankful that it was far superior compared to the food served at Trés Bien.

Hershel figured that he would listen to that advice from his friend, and didn't try to imagine what the food might have tasted there. Though he decided to look up from his plate for a moment, noticing that Tina was no longer there, and neither was her plate. He had thought that she would have stayed and eaten with the rest of the passengers, and was a bit confused by her sudden disappearance. “Has anyone seen where Miss Hacket might have gone off to?”, the scholar had questioned. Hearing this, Phoenix looked over to where Tina was last sitting and noticed that she wasn't in her seat. “I think she might have followed after one of the servers from earlier, because I recall seeing her get up from her seat.”, Clement had responded.

“I don't see any reason to even bring it up, for all we know, the ticket lady decided to no longer eat in here.”, Remington had said before continuing to eat his meal. It was a good point, though Hershel couldn't help but feel as if there might be another reason for why Tina had decided to leave the room. Also if it was true that she ended up following one of the servers, then could it be possible that she might have known one of them?

Chapter Text

For the time he had been on this ship, Gumshoe mostly stayed in the confines of the security room. Not including himself, he noticed that there were about a dozen of them who stayed in here as well. Though they didn't seem to be too keen with him, as the detective was just a stranger and someone they weren't expecting to stay with them during the S.S. Genevieve's five day trip. But he had to remind himself to do what Miles had asked him to do, which was to follow Phoenix and the Professor. The only explanation for this was because it had to do with the prosecutor's ‘plan’, but Miles never really explained to him what that plan was. Not even over the phone from earlier when he had called him. “What are you sulking for anyway? Scared of getting seasick or something?”, one of the security guards, a man named Bucky Nedraw, had asked him. A look of confusion on his face.

“No, I don't get seasick. But I can't really give you any of the details there, Pal. It's highly confidential and I don't want to reveal any of it.”, Gumshoe had said with a slight frown on his face, sighing to himself a little. He wouldn't mind at all in getting some help, but he was afraid that if he said a single word as to what Miles had told him over the phone, it would eventually be heard by either Phoenix or Hershel. “Never said you had to give a full explanation about it.”, Bucky had said, sounding a bit confused. Though he had a feeling it might have to do with whoever was talking to the detective on the phone, remembering seeing Gumshoe talk to someone over the phone. “Nah, I'm sure it's due to Miss Hacket getting onto him for not having a ticket.”, one of the other security guards, a man named Garry Sons, said with a laugh.

“Wait, you overheard that earlier?”, Gumshoe had asked him, and wondered how he could have heard what happened. “We mostly watched from the windows before we left, she didn't seem to be too happy about it though.”, Garry had responded to him. “Well how much do you know about Miss Hacket anyway?”, Gumshoe had gone on to question him. “She actually works part time as a ticket reader, and will usually go on trips on the cruise ship. For a part timer, I would say that's one hell of a steal to get free trips whenever you want.”, Garry said to him. “You say as if that's a good thing but I remember hearing her complain about how one time she needed to pay for her dinner.”, Bucky had said to him.

That's when the other members of security begin to tell their own versions of what they had heard regarding Tina Hacket, and Gumshoe saw this as an opportunity to sneak out of the security room to look more around the ship. He didn't really get why none of them were allowed to exit the room until nighttime, finding it strange that they couldn't patrol around the ship. He didn't really think too much about it as the detective was more focused on trying to figure out where Phoenix and Hershel might have gone off to, as he hadn't seen them since he first boarded the ship. Gumshoe tried to think about where they might be at currently, before deciding that the two men would simply be in their room right now. Making sure that none of the other security guards would come out of the room, he began to head off in a random direction and hoped to find at least some other rooms the passengers would be staying in.

As he kept going down decks or halls, Gumshoe had noticed that things seemed to feel rather empty. As if it was just an abandoned cruise ship. He didn't see any signs of any other person who might be employed on the ship. “Can I help you with something sir?”, a voice had said to him, startling him for a moment as he immediately turned around to see who it was that had just asked him. Only to see a young woman, possibly early twenties, wearing a long sleeved white button up shirt along with long black pants. Even having long black hair tied in a ponytail. The detective didn't know who she was, but he couldn't help but think at how familiar she appeared to be. “You nearly half to death there.”, Gumshoe said in response, letting out a sigh of relief.

“I was wondering if you could show me where the passengers are staying at, I've been told to watch over their rooms.”, the detective went on to say, lying in hopes that the woman would at least point him in the right direction. He just had to hope that she wouldn't realize that he was lying. “Who exactly gave you those orders anyway? I don't recall anything about any members of security needing to patrol where the passengers are currently staying in.”, she said to him in response, and seemed a bit suspicious of his story. Gumshoe tried not to appear to be nervous, looking over towards one end of the hallway, in hopes it would make it seem as if he had just noticed something over there.

“Miss Nouncer told me to of course, she said it was a last minute change as she wants to make sure that nothing would happen to any of the passengers.”, the detective said to her response. “I highly doubt she ever said that to you, after all it's practically impossible that any of the passengers would be in harm's way. However, if she had changed her mind last minute, I'll definitely have to call and ask her about it later.”, the woman said to him, not seeming to be too trusting of him after hearing his response. Gumshoe didn't really know what she meant on how it was possible for any of the passengers to be in danger. Since there were plenty of ways they could get hurt or killed, such as going overboard. But that was something he didn't say out loud to her.

“I promise that's what she told me, I wouldn't lie about that, I swear!”, Gumshoe said to her, before looking at her a bit more closely. “Also you seem to be familiar, have we met somewhere before?”, he continued on to ask, appearing to be slightly confused as he could have sworn that he had seen her somewhere before. She shook her head in response after hearing his question. “No I don't believe so, I think you might have mistaken me for someone else.”, she said to him before her expression turned serious. “The passenger's cabins are down the hall and on the next right turn. But if I learn from Miss Nouncer that she hadn't given you those instructions, I won't hesitate to inform her of what you're doing outside of the security room. Do you understand, sir?”, she said to him, which frightened him a little and he felt as if he was going to be scolded by her at any moment. He wasn't entirely sure if he would rather take another whip lashing from Franziska or be told off by this young woman.

“O-Of course I understand! I promise there won't be any funny business!”, Gumshoe had said before saluting to her. “Very well then, I hope that you're telling the truth.”, she said to him and was about to walk away before Gumshoe stopped her, as there was one last thing he wanted to ask her. “I hope you don't mind me asking but what is your name anyway?”, the detective had gone on to ask her, as he didn't recall hearing her name or even introducing herself. Her look of seriousness soon vanished as soon as she heard his question, though really couldn't get a good read on her as she seemed to be unfazed for some strange reason. “That isn't any of your business to know, besides I don't plan on personally knowing who you are.”, she said to him and quickly walked towards the direction where she had come from before the detective could get a word in.

“W-Wait, I'm not finished talking to you yet!”, Gumshoe called out to her and tried to follow after her, only when he ran off to where she had gone off to and rounded a corner, she was nowhere to be seen at all. Though thinking it now, the detective thought that she was a secretly fast runner and had managed to outrun him, causing him to sigh disappointedly. “I guess I'll just have to try and find her later…”, he said to himself before following the directions she had given him when asking her where the passenger's cabins were located at. The detective then dejectedly walked back where he was heading, making the next right turn as instructed. As he made the turn, he soon noticed the other couples seem to have been returning from somewhere. His guess being that they had returned from lunch, as he noticed one man was carrying a plate of food as he entered his own room.

Gumshoe was a bit relieved, before taking a moment to realize that neither Phoenix nor Hershel weren't around. He then quickly decided to ask one of the couples about their whereabouts before entering their room, spotting the nearest couple and quickly going up towards them. Surprising them in the process. “Excuse me, but have you seen either Mr. Wright or Mr. Layton around lately?”, he asked the couple, seeing the slightest bit of annoyance from the light blue haired man. Though the woman with dark coral pink hair had decided to respond to his question. “They were still in the dining hall by the time we had all left, though I'm not sure if they're still there right now.”, the woman had said to him. “Why are you looking for them anyway?”, the man had asked him, an annoyed look still on his face as he waited for his fiance to join him in their room.

“That I can't tell you, pal. It's classified information.”, Gumshoe had said to him in response. Hearing this, the woman seemed to be concerned about why exactly the detective wanted to know Phoenix's and Hershel's location. “I mean you don't have to reveal too much information. Did they do something wrong?”, the woman had asked him. “Don't worry, they're not in trouble. You see, there's this case that Mr. Wright is working on and I need to inform him about the details on the case.”, Gumshoe said, once again telling another lie. He wasn't entirely sure how long he had to keep lying, and figured that as long as no one figures out why he needed to see them. Though the couple seemed to be a bit confused by this information. “You mean Mr. Wright is working on a case even though he's with his fiance on this trip right now?”, the man had questioned him.

“Pretty much, though the case isn't all too serious if that's what you're thinking, pal. Though it isn't like Mr. Layton doesn't know, he actually knows about the case his boyfriend is working on.”, Gumshoe had said to him, making sure he didn't accidentally give it away that the other two men weren't a couple. This seemed to have worked, seeing as how both the couple seemed satisfied by that answer. “That's rather interesting, well if you do see them, tell them that me and Hudson wish to meet up with them later.”, she said to him, wishing him a quick goodbye before going into the cabin room. Though the man, who the detective now knows as Hudson, decided to stay a little bit longer. “Before you leave, do you mind if I have a quick word with you for a moment?”, Hudson had asked him.

“Sure, pal! What do you want to talk to me about?”, Gumshoe had questioned him, wondering what it was that the other man wanted to say to him. “Just who exactly are you anyway? I know you're the detective I had seen talking to Miss Hacket before the ship left today. Heck, I'm sure anyone else would know considering how loud you were while you were talking to her.”, Hudson had said to him. “Well you're right that I'm a detective, pal. My name is Dick Gumshoe, though you can just call me Gumshoe for now.”, the detective said with a smile. “I see then. Let me tell you this, I want you to stay far away from Bell, do you understand me, Mr. Gumshoe?”, Hudson said to him, a frown forming on his lips. The detective wasn't really sure what the other man was talking about in regards to Bell, who he now figured was the woman that had entered the cabin room a moment ago.

“I don't know what you mean, pal. This is my first time meeting the two of you here, as well as any of the other passengers besides Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton.”, Gumshoe had said to him, a look of confusion on his face. He didn't really know why Hudson was telling him to not talk to Bell in the first place. Though his response seemed to have caused the other man to frown more. “Don't play dumb with me, I know exactly what you're thinking right now. All of you detectives are the same, so just stay away from Bell from now on!”, Hudson said to him, an angry expression on his face before he went right into his cabin room, slamming the door in the detective's face. Gumshoe was still confused by what the man had meant with that, and thought the only thing all detectives had in common was that they helped solve crimes. “Alright then, pal?”, he said to the door, not entirely sure what to make of what had just happened.

As he stepped away from the door, he noticed that another couple had stepped out of their room, seeing that it was a man with a scar along with a woman who had light green hair. It seemed as if they heard the sound of the door being slammed just a moment ago. “Did something happen just now? Who's slamming doors?”, the woman had asked the detective. “To be honest, I don't really know. A man named Hudson told me to stay away from Bell and slammed the door in my face.”, Gumshoe replied with a slight frown. “Oh you mean Mr. Coves and Miss Numbs, right? It's possible that he has some sort of jealousy issue or something if that's why he told you that. What were talking about with them anyway?”, the man had said to him. “Well I just came by to ask if they knew where Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton were at, and once they told me where they were, Mr. Coves asked to speak with me about something after Miss Numbs went into their room. And that's when he told me to stay away from her.”, the detective explained to them.

After explaining this to the couple, Gumshoe soon noticed how unsure they appeared to be, as if they were trying to make sense of what had just been explained to them. “Is that it, nothing else? How did Miss Numbs and Mr. Coves behave while you were asking them?”, the woman had asked him, a bit confused by the situation. “Miss Numbs was the one who had told me where Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton were at, though Mr. Coves seemed rather annoyed while I was talking to her.”, Gumshoe responded to her. “Yeah, that definitely sounds as if Mr. Coves has some kind of jealousy issue.”, the man had said, confusing the detective as he wasn't entirely sure why Hudson would be jealous. “That doesn't make any sense though, why would he be jealous anyway?”, the detective had asked them.

The two of them just looked at the detective, wondering if he was actually serious for asking a question like that as they already figured why Hudson would be jealous. “Just a quick question for you, have you ever known either Mr. Coves or Miss Numbs before?”, the woman had asked him. “Not at all, other than Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton, I haven't met any of the other passengers before so I don't really know them. This is my first time meeting them here and why I was asking why Mr. Coves would be jealous.”, Gumshoe responded to her. “I suppose we could ask him ourselves sometime later, but would you mind telling us who you are?”, the man had asked him. “My name is Dick Gumshoe, I'm actually a detective but for now I'm a temporary security guard for the time this trip lasts.”, Gumshoe said with a smile.

“Well it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Gumshoe, I hope you manage to find Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton. I think they might still be in the dining hall.”, the woman had to him with a smile. “Oh I already know that, Miss Numbs already told me they were in the dining hall.”, the detective said to her, giving the couple a quick goodbye before making his way down the hallway. As soon as he left, the man soon turned to his wife. “You don't think he recognized me, don't you dumpling? I mean he didn't seem to get that Mr. Coves is jealous of him for simply talking to Miss Numbs.”, he questioned her, wanting to know what she thought about it. “I don't think so dear, after all I'm sure he would have probably mentioned something about seeing you before. Besides, I doubt he would mean any kind of harm at all.”, she responded to him with a slight shrug.

“How so? Are you going to say that you know people like him?”, he went on to ask her, and seemed rather curious. “You know me all too well dear, I have met men like him before. They may seem not all that bright but deep down, they're the kind of person you want to keep as friends or possibly more than that. Basically someone you want to keep around for a long time. The dumb but loyal kind of people.”, she said to him with a smile, prompting her husband to smile back at her. Soon the two of them returned to their room for the afternoon. Unaware that another person had been secretly eavesdropping on their conversation with the detective. “There's an actual detective on this ship? I need to do something about this.”, the person said quietly before closing the door, hoping that none of them had noticed the slightly opened door.

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As soon as Maya returned back to the office, her first instinct was to call Luke. Looking at the number that had been last recorded on the office phone, she dialed the number and waited for Luke to pick the phone back up. After all, this was something that he had to know about, and not just Phoenix and the Professor. She waited for the apprentice to pick up the phone, hearing it ring for a couple of seconds until she heard the phone pick up and a familiar voice on the other end of the call. “Hello again Miss Maya, I wasn't expecting to get another call so soon.”, Luke had said to her, and wondered why she wanted to call him. “Hello Luke, well it's because I just got some information regarding the tickets Nick had gotten. Turns out, Edgeworth was the one who had bought the tickets and not the Chief of Justice.”, Maya had replied back to him.

This was certainly something Luke wasn't expecting to hear, and it made him start to wonder if the prosecutor might secretly have some kind plan involved. But first he wanted to hear more on what else Maya might have to say before sharing his own thoughts, since he wanted to know how the medium had obtained this new information. “How were you able to find out about it? Did Mr. Edgeworth tell you about it?”, Luke had asked her. “Well I had did what you asked me to and went to pay a visit to the Prosecutor's building to see if Edgeworth might be there. I didn't see him but his office door was unlocked and I decided to go into his office where I found a note from a woman named Anna Nouncer. It mentioned how he bought two tickets and she seemed confused about it. I actually think that Edgeworth might have planned on getting the other ticket for the Professor since the note also mentioned the ticket would be someone not living in Los Angeles.”, Maya had responded to him.

Hearing this, Luke now had a better idea as to what kind of plan Miles had, though it was only just a thought and he couldn't exactly prove it himself. “This might be a change of subject but do you remember when me and the Professor went to visit you during the holidays? Right around Christmas Eve?”, Luke had asked her. Maya was a bit confused by the sudden change of subject, and wondered why the apprentice was asking about their holiday visit. “Well yeah of course I remember, I still have that snow globe of London City you had given me and the purple scarf from the Professor. Why are you bringing it up all of a sudden?”, Maya had asked, sounding a bit confused at first before a sudden realization had hit her just now. She tried to recall what else happened during Luke's and the Professor's visit to Los Angeles before recalling a certain memory.

“Wait, would this have anything to do with when Edgeworth had also come over to the office for Christmas? Because if I recall, that's when it had happened right?”, Maya had gone on to ask him. “Yeah, though I'm not sure if Mr. Edgeworth might have seen it or not.”, Luke had responded to her. “I can try and call him, though I can't guarantee he would answer any calls. I'll be sure to inform Nick and the Professor about how it was Edgeworth that bought the tickets for them.”, the medium had said to him. “Alright then Miss Maya, but be sure not to bring up what happened during Christmas.”, the apprentice said to her before saying a quick goodbye and hung up the phone.

Chapter Text

It had been Phoenix's idea that he and Hershel should at least stay in the dining hall while the other people had left, as he wanted to examine more of the room. For some odd reason, he had felt something strange while he and the others were eating lunch and he couldn't really figure out why. Though he also made sure that none of the chefs or other servers would be in the room as he began to look underneath the table while the scholar looked on in curiosity. “I hope you don't mind me asking but is there a reason why you're searching for something underneath the table?”, Hershel had asked him, as he had only been told that they should stay in here for a little bit. “If I know what it is I would tell you, Hershel. Right now I just don't know what it could be.”, the lawyer responded to his friend before he stopped looking.

Hershel soon noticed a frown on his friend's face, and figured he didn't quite find what he was trying to look for. “Is that why you had suggested we stay in here for the time being?”, the scholar then went on to ask him, seeing Phoenix nod his head in response. “Exactly, because during lunch I had a strange feeling that something unusual is in here. As for what it is, I don't really know until I look around through anything that might be suspicious.”, the lawyer had said to him before he walked over to one of the portraits hanging on the wall. It appeared to be old Victorian Era art of a man and woman dancing together in a forest. Phoenix had studied different artworks back when he used to major in art in Ivy League, and felt as if the artstyle of this painting looked familiar.

“Do you think it could be behind that painting then?”, Hershel went on to suggest as he joined up with his friend. “I mean it could be possible.”, Phoenix replied to him once he was finished looking over the painting, before carefully moving a corner of it. Though he didn't see anything at all that could have been behind the painting, and soon moved it back in its original position. “Damn it, I know I might be onto something.”, the lawyer had said mostly to himself, growing a bit frustrated that he couldn't exactly find what he wanted. The scholar wanted to try and help his friend with what he was trying to look for, though he wasn't exactly sure where to start.

“Would you mind telling me a bit more as to how you believe there is something suspicious hiding in this room? Maybe talking about it will help with finding out what it is.”, Hershel had suggested to him, offering a small smile. Phoenix looked over at the other man, seeing his smile before thinking to himself for a moment as he tried to think of a good way to explain it. “Well…the first thing that alerted me about something odd in this room was when the servers had left after serving lunch to us. It wasn't a strong feeling until much later when Mrs. Parks decided to ask us about how long we had been together.”, the lawyer had begun to say, while Hershel listened carefully in hopes that something would be revealed from his friend's words. “It was a bit sudden that Mrs. Parks had asked us that, though I'm certain she believed what she had said as well as the others.”, he said to him in response before motioning for his friend to continue with his explanation.

“I mean it's not like the first feeling I had felt, the last time I ever felt anything like that was when me and Edgeworth were investigating Matt Engarde's house.”, Phoenix had said to him, before realizing what could be the next area to search in this room. Hershel had noticed his friend's look of realization and soon went on to ask, “So do you have an idea on what it is, Phoenix?” The lawyer then nodded his head before looking down at the floor beneath them, noticing how it was lacquered wood. He then decided to test something out as he continued to look at the floor, tapping his foot on it to see if it could make any different sounds. But so far, nothing that sounded strange or unusual.

Phoenix continued doing this, moving around the room while Hershel continued to watch on in anticipation before joining in on tapping his foot against the ground. It wasn't until the lawyer was near the corner of the room where a potted plant was at did he hear something strange. “I think I might have just found what I had been looking for.”, he said to the scholar, who had now stopped what he had been doing and went to join back up with his friend. “Perhaps a potential hidden room beneath the dining hall?”, Hershel had said to him, looking at where the potted plant was at and soon noticed a slight indent carved into the lacquered wood. “I mean it could be possible, but why would there be something like that in the dining hall anyway?”, the lawyer had said to him before moving the potted plant out of the way.

Just as Phoenix was about to try and see if he could move part of the floor, both he and Hershel soon heard the sound of a door opening. With the two of them quickly turning around to see who might have entered the room. The lawyer then decided to stand right on top of the floor he was about to lift up, not wanting to make it seem that he and his friend were doing anything suspicious. Only to see that it was Detective Gumshoe, who seemed rather relieved to find them here. “There you two are, I've been trying to find you and Mr.Layton, Pal!”, the detective had said to them. “Well we had mostly been in here having lunch with the other couples, all except for Mr. Pascal.”, Hershel had said to him.

“I already know you and the others had lunch in here, Miss Numbs already told me where you were.”, Gumshoe had said to him before hearing Pascal's name. “Who's Pascal, why wasn't he here having lunch?”, he had went on to ask. “Mostly just to rest, he seemed exhausted the last time we met him. But why were you looking for me and Hershel anyway?”, Phoenix had asked the detective, wondering if there might have been something important he wanted to tell them. “Just to know where you and Mr. Layton are is all, Pal. This ship is big so it's kind of easy getting lost, I don't think there's even a map on this ship.”, Gumshoe responded to him. “I'm certain they gave a map to the other passengers, as me and Phoenix have one in our room. Did they not give you any maps?”, Hershel had questioned him.

“Uh no, they haven't. In fact I had to sneak my way out of the security room in order to find you guys. For some reason Miss Nouncer doesn't want us to leave the room, like at all.”, the detective said to them. “Is that what she directly told you or did the other security guards tell you that?”, Phoenix had questioned him, a confused expression on his face as he thought it was weird that none of the security guards were apparently not allowed to leave the room as Gumshoe had told them. “It was actually Miss Hacket, the young woman who wouldn't let me on the ship at first that told us about it. She said it was what Miss Nouncer had ordered her to tell us.”, the detective responded to him.

Hershel couldn't help but wonder by the odd word choice, as the word ‘ordered’ sounded a bit strong in regards to having the security guards to be in the room. “Did Miss Hacket specifically say that she was ordered to tell you this, Detective Gumshoe?”, the scholar had gone on to ask him. Gumshoe nodded his head after hearing the other man's question. “That's right, sometimes I get certain details wrong but I know what she said. And frankly I'm afraid that I might get kicked off the ship for leaving the room.”, the detective had said with a worried expression. “How about we contact Edgeworth and tell him about this, while you try to find somewhere to hide. There's some empty rooms that we found earlier that you could use as a hiding place.”, Phoenix had advised him, not wanting the detective to get into trouble.

“Fully noted Pal!”, Gumshoe replied before saying a quick goodbye and leaving the dining hall. After watching the detective leave, the lawyer soon turned his attention towards Hershel. “I feel like something else might be going on here, more specifically with Miss Nouncer and who she might be.”, Phoenix had said to him. “I would have to agree with you there, Phoenix. Since you mentioned about calling Mr. Edgeworth, maybe he might know more about the hostess in question.”, Hershel had said to him before the two of them heard the sound of a ringtone. The lawyer was the one who realized it was own phone that was ringing, while the scholar didn't know what kind of phone ring tone it was. “What kind of ring tone is it?”, Hershel had asked his friend.

“It's the Steel Samurai theme song.”, Phoenix had said to him before answering his phone. “Who is it?”, he asked before hearing the familiar voice from Maya. “Hi Nick! I actually called to tell you about something that I just learned about recently.”, the medium had said to him, which soon cause the lawyer to be more curious about it. “What is it Maya?”, Phoenix had asked her, while Hershel wondered what exactly he was talking about with Maya on the phone after overhearing her name. “Long story short, I learned that it was actually Edgeworth that bought the two tickets and not the Chief of Justice.”, Maya had started to say to him, who was now rather surprised and a bit annoyed as he heard her say this. Right now, he tries to remain calm before telling Maya to continue.

“Well I found this out after I visited the prosecutor's building and found a note on his office desk from Anna Nouncer, apparently Edgeworth was also planning for the Professor to go on the trip as well.”, Maya had continued on to say to the lawyer, who by now was starting to get more annoyed at this revelation. Why the hell didn't Miles ever tell him about this upfront rather than lie that the tickets were from the Chief of Justice?! Knowing the prosecutor, Phoenix figured he had some kind of weird plan involved. “Did he ever mention why he didn't tell me this?”, the lawyer had asked her, hoping for some kind of answer from the medium. “That he didn't really say, all he said was that he trusted you and the Professor to find out who could be tied with the mafia. He said that one of the couples on board is involved with them.”, Maya had responded to him.

While Phoenix continued having the conversation with Maya over the phone, Hershel couldn't help but feel a bit worried when he noticed the annoyed look on his friend's face. He had a feeling that it might have involved Miles in some way, but given how he couldn't pick up the entire conversation, he decided to wait until Phoenix was finished before asking him about it. Not wanting to interrupt the phone call. “Thanks for telling me about this, just try and find out more on what Edgeworth is planning.”, Phoenix had said to Maya before saying quick goodbye and hung up the phone, sighing to himself in slight frustration. “I believe Mr. Edgeworth didn't include any important details?”, Hershel had gone on to ask, immediately catching the lawyer's attention as he turned towards his friend. A slight frown appearing on his lips.

“Yeah, but not only that, he was the one who had bought the tickets. Maya even mentioned how he was planning on getting you involved as well.”, Phoenix responded to him. Hearing this, the scholar was a bit confused as to how exactly Miles was going to involve him on the trip. Since he had never received a call or a letter from the prosecutor in regards to the trip. “I'm not entirely sure if that might have been a part of Mr. Edgeworth's idea, since he gave you two tickets to the S.S. Genevieve and I didn't receive any prior knowledge about it until you called and asked if I wanted to go with you.”, Hershel had pointed out to him. Hearing this being mentioned, Phoenix started to wonder if maybe some parts that Maya had found out might not be all that truthful. “I say we try and find Gumshoe, and while I'm not sure if we might break his psyche locks, I'm certain we can at least try to get some information from him.”, Phoenix had suggested to him.

However, as much as Hershel wanted to continue to figure out more as to what could potentially be going on, he did want to at least try and have Phoenix take a moment to try and relax a bit more. As he soon noticed how very focused his friend seemed to be, even more than him. “I don't want to break your concentration on the case at hand, but maybe we should at least take a moment to try and enjoy our current surroundings. After all, it is the first day of the trip, and there's still plenty of time to do before this evening where the quiz show will be hosted.”, the scholar had said to him. Hearing this, Phoenix knew that the other man had a point, though couldn't help but feel as if they did decide to pause their investigation then they might miss some things along the way.

“I know, but usually I try to get things finished before I get a chance to relax. We're all the way out in the water far away from land, and there's the fact that Edgeworth didn't fully tell us why we needed to be here in the first place when he could have just boarded the ship by himself. Hell, I'm sure that he could have potentially asked Miss Nouncer ahead of time about how he would be the only passenger on board without a significant other.”, Phoenix had started to explain, growing more frustrated each second. Before he was about to continue on speaking, he soon felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking over to see it was Hershel's hand, and all thoughts he had about why they were here in the first place soon halted as he then looked over at his friend.

“Breath Phoenix, I do get your frustration. Believe me I do, though I think it is best to try to keep calm and put a hold on the investigation. At least until tomorrow. How about we try to find the pool area as I'm certain there might be one here on this cruise ship.”, Hershel had gone on to say, giving his friend a soft smile before removing his hand from the other man's shoulder. Phoenix did as suggested, taking a deep breath before letting out once his friend was finished talking. “Alright, I'll try to relax a bit more. Plus going to the pool doesn't sound too bad, is there a reason why you want to go there?”, the lawyer had gone on to ask, mostly out of curiosity as he didn't recall the scholar ever mentioning about going to a pool before. Or maybe he did at one point? “I just figured that it could be a potential place to relax at. Though I'm not too certain that the other couples might be there at this time.”, Hershel responded to him.

Phoenix had recalled how most of the couples and Clement had mentioned about staying in their room, while the Parks were the only two who had decided to try and find the game room. They never really mentioned why. For the lawyer, he figured that the older couple probably just wanted to be alone and away from the others. “Maybe one of them might be there later or before we get there. But first we need to get the map back from our room. Just so we know where the pool is at.”, Phoenix had said to him. “I was about to suggest that as well, after all we would need to be dressed in an appropriate attire.”, Hershel had responded to him. Hearing him mention this, Phoenix started to imagine what his friend would look like in a pair of swimming trunks before shaking away that thought. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about that right now, and soon both he and the scholar left the dining hall to go back to their room for the time being.

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Not long after the call with Phoenix, Maya had looked over at the clock to see that it was now a little past 2:30 in the afternoon. Knowing the time difference between Los Angeles and London, she doubted that Luke would be able to answer her calls. So she had tried to think of some other way to gather more information on whoever the couple might be that could be tied in with the mafia. Miles didn't really say who this mafia was, and was tempted to try and call the prosecutor to find out more about it. But considering how she had been locked out of his office as soon as she left, she doubted he would be interested in taking any of her calls. Going over her choices, the medium had soon decided to try and ask other people around the city. It was worth a shot after all.

Maya soon left the office, and as soon as she headed outside she immediately bumped into someone, knocking them both down to the ground. “Sorry about that.”, she said to the person as she began to stand up and dust herself off from the fall. Looking over at the person, she could see that it was a man dressed in a black trench coat with a matching black trillbilly hat. She didn't get a good look at his hair or eyes, with the hair being obscured by the hat and he had a pair of sunglasses to hide his eyes. The man didn't really give a response to her apology, and seemed to have ignored it entirely as if he never heard her say it. “Excuse me but would this be Wright and Co. Law firm?”, the man had asked her. “Yes it is, but we're closed at the moment and not accepting any cases right now. Who might you be?”, Maya then asked him.

“I would rather not share any details as to who I am, as that is not my main concern. I'm only here to see a Mr. Phoenix Wright.”, the man said to her in response. Maya let out a slight pout that he refused to give his identity, though she soon became a bit confused and rather curious as to why this guy wanted to see Phoenix. “He's not here right now, it's why the office isn't open and will be closed for the next five days.”, the medium said to him. The man appeared to be rather unfazed by this answer, and soon took a card from his trench coat pocket and handed it over to her. “If you do see him, give him this card and tell him to call the number on it.”, he said to her with a tip of his hat before leaving down the street. Maya looked down at the card that she had been given, seeing the phone number along with the initials of D.C. Though she couldn't help but still wonder who exactly that guy was.

Chapter Text

As they both made it to their shared room, Phoenix had decided to put away his phone on the nightstand and with some reluctance, put his magatama away in a hidden pocket of his suitcase. He really didn't want it to get stolen while he and Hershel would be away. “Were you thinking of trying to keep the magatama on you while we visit the pool?”, Hershel had asked him as he got a pair of brown swim trunks with fossil shaped patterns imprinted on the fabric out of his own suitcase. The lawyer shook his head in response. “No, I just don't want it to get stolen is all. Because if somehow we do run into any of the other passengers and I ask them a question, I don't want to deal with more and more psyche locks when I haven't even dealt with the ones Gumshoe has around him.”, he explained to him.

“I can understand the feeling, I imagine you wouldn't want to lose something as beautiful as the magatama.”, Hershel said with an understanding smile on his face. “I mean without the spiritual glow, the gem just looks rather dull. Though I can see why you would think it would be pretty.”, Phoenix had said as he too got his blue and black swim trunks out of the closet. “So the glow that the magatama emits isn't all that natural?”, the scholar had asked, who seemed a bit surprised by this. “Kind of, I mean Pearls was able to put spiritual energy into it which allows me to see psyche locks. Without the energy, I won't be able to see any of it.”, the lawyer explained to his friend before deciding to go inside the closet to change into his swimsuit.

Hershel wasn't at all a believer in anything that could be considered supernatural, so while it was certainly fascinating to hear what the magatama was capable of he wasn't really too sure if the glow it emits is due to spiritual energy. Maybe he could visit Maya's cousin or Maya herself sometime in the near future to know more about the beautiful green gem. He then quickly got changed, placing his clothes in his suitcase as well as his top hat on a nearby dresser. He didn't want the risk of his hat getting wet and already started to feel a little bit comfortable not wearing it around his friend. Not like he hadn't taken it off before, he just hasn't done it as much. Not even around Luke. The scholar soon started to look around the room for the map, finding it in the night stand drawer all folded up.

“Are you almost done changing in there, Phoenix? I found the cruise ship map.”, Hershel had asked him while taking a look at the map to see where the pool would be located at. “I'm just about done.”, Phoenix responded to him, and a couple of seconds later stepped out of the closet in his swimsuit. “Thanks for finding the map.”, the lawyer had said to him as he looked over at his friend, quickly averting his gaze from him and to the map the other man was currently looking at. “It's no trouble at all, though I'm able to see that the pool is at the other end-”, Hershel had started to say as he looked over at his friend, his sentence cutting off as he looked at the man standing there.

Admittedly he was a bit speechless as his eyes looked the other up and down for a moment. Admittedly, he did find the lawyer to be rather good looking though it wasn't he would want to say out loud. Keeping those thoughts to himself. “Uh Hershel, do I have anything on my face or something? Why did you go quiet?”, Phoenix had asked, a look of confusion on his face as he wondered why his friend was quiet all of a sudden. It took the scholar a moment to hear those words before realizing that he had been staring at the lawyer, feeling embarrassed for doing something like that. “My apologies, for a moment there I had forgotten what I was going to say. You don't have anything on you.”, Hershel responded to him. “I think you were going to say where the pool was located at on the map.”, the lawyer had reminded him.

“Right, of course, I was about to tell you the location. The pool is on the other end of the ship, and the quickest path to get there is to go down the hallway and make a left where the theater room is before making another left turn and continuing straight forward.”, Hershel had explained to him before looking back at the map to make sure he had it all correct. Though Phoenix still wasn't sure why Hershel would suddenly forget what he was going to say, as it wasn't really like him to suddenly forget about certain things during a conversation. He looked down at himself, wanting to make sure if there actually had been something on him but didn't really see anything that would make his friend speechless. Maybe he might bring it up in a later conversation in the future, at least until he had some sort of idea.

“I suppose that sounds like the quickest path to take in order to get to the pool, not like I would know how else to get there.”, Phoenix had said with a slight shrug, thankful that they had been given a map on the S.S Genevieve. “Also I know you said that I should try to relax for just today and keep my mind off of what Eddie told us to do, but is it actually possible that the map might show some kind of hidden room beneath the dining hall? I just want to make sure of that before we head to the pool.”, the lawyer had decided to ask his friend. Hershel looked back over at the other man after hearing his question. “I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check, at least see if your guess might be correct in regards to a hidden room.”, the scholar said to him before checking the map again.

This time, Phoenix had decided to stand right beside the scholar, wanting to get a good look of the map as well and see if there might actually be a hidden room. Completely unaware that Hershel was slightly surprised that he was now right next to him, and not seeing the slight pink tint in his cheeks. However he had noticed something rather odd about the map as he looked more closely at it. “Just a quick question, has Gumshoe ever mentioned where exactly the security room is at?”, the lawyer had asked him. “I don't believe he ever mentioned where the room is at.”, Hershel responded to him before he too noticed the odd detail on the map. “Though it would certainly be a challenge to find it as the map doesn't show any information as to where the security room might be at.”, he continued on to say.

“If we do decide to try and find the security room, we could just ask any of the employees working on this ship or Miss Hacket where it might be at. I think that would probably be more easier to do compared to trying to find the security room without any leads to the room's location.”, Phoenix had said to him before looking at where the pool area was depicted on the map. “You do make a good point there, I believe we should keep that in mind for tomorrow.”, the scholar replied back to him and turned his attention towards him. “Are you finished looking at it, Phoenix?”, he had gone on to ask before seeing the other man nod his head in response. “Yeah, I just want to get the image memorized first.”, the lawyer responded to him, and watched as his friend began to fold the map up and put it away on the nightstand.

As they both left the room, Phoenix took a moment to use his key to lock the door before they began walking down the hallway. Not seeing anyone else as they made their way to the pool. Hershel had figured it was probably just the two of them who weren't in their room, and he couldn't help but feel how eerily quiet things seemed to be. With the exception of the staff members, he felt as if there weren't that many passengers on board. He tried to put those thoughts at the back of his mind for now as he and Phoenix continued down their path. “Was there anything else that might be worth checking out from the map? Just asking out of curiosity is all.”, Phoenix had said to him, who had noticed that things seemed to be rather quiet between the two of them. He wasn't really sure if he could have stood it any longer.

Hershel took a moment to recall what else he might have seen on the map, though couldn't recall anything that might be considered to be an unmentioned room or anything that might be worth visiting. “I can't recall unfortunately, maybe we should take another look at it once we're done swimming.”, the scholar responded to him. “What do you plan on doing once this trip is over?”, the lawyer had then went on to ask, surprising the other man for a moment as he wasn't expecting that kind of question. In a way, it would make sense as the reason why he was here in the first place was to help his friend be able to get on the ship, as well as a completely different reason he tried not to think too much about right now. “To be honest, I haven't really thought that far ahead. Though I imagine that I would be returning to London after the trip is over.”, Hershel had said to him.

After saying those words, he couldn't help but notice how his friend seemed slightly disappointed for a quick second there. The scholar was tempted to ask but soon heard his friend's next response. “I mean it makes sense, you still have to teach the students there when you do go back. We can talk more about this when we're on the last day of our trip.”, Phoenix said to him and proceeded to continue walking, all the while Hershel still wondered what could have made the other man appear to be disappointed. He might get his answer on that once the final day of this trip arrives.

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Not long after everyone had been staying in their rooms, Pascal was the first to slowly emerge from his own room after eating the meal his husband had brought to him after waking up. Granted he was still tired but compared to the long nights working at home, this was probably the first time he had ever felt truly awake in a long while. All he hoped was that the next couple months of work will all be worth it, knowing this was for Clement's sake. “Are you going somewhere, Cal?”, he had heard his husband say as soon as he opened the door, turning his attention to him. “I'm just going out for a bit, I promise I'll be back as soon as possible.”, the programmer responded, and began to smile at him. “Alright then Cal, just be careful okay.”, Clement said to him and watched as his husband soon left the room.

As soon as Pascal stepped out, he could hear the sounds of muffled yelling coming from one of the other rooms, startling him a little in the process. He did his best to ignore as he made his way down the corridor, before being startled again by the sound of a rather loud thud and hearing a couple of voices. “I'm telling you Huddy, I don't even know the detective!”, a woman's voice had proclaimed, and he soon realized it was from Bell as he recognized her voice from earlier before the ship had departed from the docks. “Listen Bell, I know that you and that detective are hiding something from me! There's no way you would be that nice to him!”, Hudson had angrily said to her. Pascal did his best to hide around the corner as he overheard them, not wanting to be spotted.

Out of the corner of his eye, the programmer soon noticed a door slightly open and could see both Fotina and Starla poking their heads out. Possibly after hearing the rather loud thud from earlier. The two women then looked over at him all the while the other couple continued to argue. “Do you know what exactly they're talking about?”, Starla had quietly asked him, hoping that he would somehow hear her question. Pascal was able to at least pick up on what she had said, but simply shrugged in response. “There's nothing wrong with being nice to anyone, Huddy. He just asked about where Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton were at and I just answered his question.”, Bell had said to him. “How do you know it wasn't just a ruse then?! I'm going to find that detective immediately!”, Hudson had said, closing the cabin door behind him rather roughly.

Pascal took this as a cue to immediately try to get away as fast as possible while Fotina and Starla quickly closed their cabin door. He didn't really know why Hudson was talking about a detective or why he seemed angry all of a sudden. Right now he just wanted to get away and continue on with his peaceful stroll around the ship. Maybe he might find something on here that he could give to Clement when he goes back to his room.

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By the time they had arrived at the pool, Hershel had noticed that there didn't seem to be any sign of anyone else around. Not even a lifeguard. “I wonder why there isn't a lifeguard here, shouldn't there be one so no one doesn't drown in the pool?”, Phoenix had questioned once he noticed the lack of any lifeguards in the area. “That certainly is rather risky, I wouldn't think that Miss Nouncer would potentially want any of the passengers to drown or be put into any risky situation.”, Hershel had said to him. Not wanting to take any risks, the scholar had decided to just lay down on a nearby lounge chair. Though he soon noticed his go over to the side of the pool and stick his legs in the water.

Phoenix had looked over at the other man, wondering if he just wanted to relax for the time being. “Are you not going to see what the water is like? Surprisingly it doesn't feel too cold.”, the lawyer had questioned him, only to see the scholar shake his head. “Even if it is just to test the water, I'm fine for the time being. I'm not going into the water, at least not until a lifeguard might show up.”, Hershel responded to him. After hearing this, the lawyer turned his attention to the surrounding area, mostly to see if someone might potentially show up. Only he didn't see any sign of another person entering the pool area. “That's fair I guess, it's why I'm just letting my legs dangle in the water.”, Phoenix had said as he turned his attention back to his friend.

Though that's when a thought occurred to him, taking a moment to ponder himself as he wanted to be sure it would be the right idea to suggest it. “Is there something on your mind, Phoenix?”, Hershel had questioned as he noticed how deep in thought the other man appeared to be. “Just one thing actually.”, the lawyer had said to him before getting up from his spot and turned to face him. “Since there isn't a lifeguard here, I was thinking that maybe I could be a temporary one just so you could get a chance to swim around in the pool. At least until an actual lifeguard shows up.”, he continued on to explain. Hershel had to admit he wasn't expecting to hear this suggestion from his friend, and was a bit curious and slightly flattered around the idea.

“I wouldn't mind your suggestion, though I'm certain that you at least know how to perform CPR should something ever happen, correct?”, the scholar had asked him. “Yeah of course, I mean I can't guarantee that I'm a very fast swimmer but I would at least get to you as fast as possible if anything does go wrong.”, the lawyer replied to him while rubbing the back of his neck a little. “While I do think it is important to be able to swim fast, I would personally prefer someone who knows how to swim regardless of their speed and be able to know how to save someone from drowning.”, Hershel had said with a smile. Phoenix blinked as he heard him say this, before smiling back at him. Feeling a bit relieved that his friend didn't seem to mind at all in how fast he could swim.

“I'll be over there at the lifeguard outpost.”, he said to him before making his way over and climbing up the ladder and sitting down on the seat. Though it only took him a moment to realize just how high up he was right now. Granted it wasn't too high to where he felt dizzy and nauseous but it certainly didn't help calm his nerves as he looked from where he was now sitting. Reminding himself to focus only on Hershel for the time being, and watched as his friend tested the waters before getting into the pool. He could see that the scholar mostly stayed in the shallower parts of the pool, and wouldn't blame the man for not going into more of the deeper parts. He figured that it could help lower the chances of drowning, which he hoped wouldn't happen.

“Mr. Wright, what exactly are you doing up there anyway? Passengers aren't allowed to sit at the lifeguard station.”, a somewhat familiar voice had said, surprising him a little as he looked away from Hershel and towards the source of the voice. Only to see that it was Tina who had just entered the area but still kept on her work uniform, and wondered why she had shown up just now. “There weren't any lifeguards when me and Hershel came in here, I told him that I would watch over him until an actual lifeguard showed up.”, the lawyer explained to her before looking back over at Hershel, and seeing that the other man was still swimming around in the same spot. Though he too had turned his attention towards Tina once he heard her voice. “I hope you don't mind me asking Miss Hacket, but is there a reason why any of the passengers aren't allowed to sit up at the lifeguard station?”, Hershel had asked her.

“It's just a rule that's been put in place, I'm not really the person who makes the rules.”, Tina said to him before looking over at Phoenix. “While it is rather sweet that you want to make sure Mr. Layton doesn't get hurt, you still need to get off the lifeguard station. Besides, you can still watch over him without needing to be up there.”, she had gone on to say. Now that she mentioned, it definitely would have made more sense instead of having to silently suffer from his fear of heights while sitting at the lifeguard station. Slowly, he made his way back down the ladder, letting out a sigh of relief before going over to sit at the edge of the pool that was closer to where Hershel was at. “Thank you Mr. Wright.”, Tina had said and was about to leave before the scholar called out to her.

“There's actually a couple of more questions I wish to ask you, Miss Hacket.”, Hershel had said to her, and she soon turned towards him with a look of confusion on her face. Mostly wondering what he wanted to ask her about. “What sort of questions would you like me to answer, Mr. Layton? They would have to be quick ones as there's somewhere important I need to be at right now.”, Tina had said to him. “Is there a reason why there aren't any lifeguards stationed here? Imagine if only one person wanted to go swimming but would suffer a form of a cramp that would cause them to struggle in the water. Wouldn't that be rather risky?”, he questioned her, causing her to widen her eyes in fear as she imagined what might happen to anyone else.

“W-Well the thing is, there aren't any lifeguards. Like at all. I wish I could explain more about it but I don't really know why that is the case.”, Tina answered, and seemed to be somewhat nervous while looking around anywhere else besides Hershel and Phoenix. With the latter looking rather suspicious as that definitely sounded like something that any of the passengers could potentially sue for should something happen. “What exactly are the passengers supposed to do, not swim at all?”, the lawyer had asked her, wanting to know her own thoughts. “I honestly don't know, Miss Nouncer had told me she would handle most of the troubles. I can see if I can get any of the staff to be a temporary lifeguard for the remainder of the trip.”, she said, and now seemed to be on the verge of tears. “I'm really sorry for the inconvenience.”, she continued on to say.

“There's no need to apologize, Miss Hacket. I don't think you should be responsible for the blame.”, Phoenix had said to her, though he was now more annoyed towards Anna Nouncer for this. Hoping that she would make her appearance sooner than later so he could tell her how much of a liability it is to put other passengers' lives at great risk. He figured that it would probably be best to wait until the hostess of this trip actually does make an appearance. Hearing his words, Tina quickly rubbed her eyes a little in an attempt to try and get rid of the tears that had been welling up. “I appreciate your words, but still I should at least try to make up for it.”, she said to him. “I'll be going now, and I'll let a staff member know about this so any of the passengers won't be put in a risky situation.”, she continued on to say before taking her leave.

There was another question that Hershel had yet to ask her but figured he would get the chance to bring it up once he would see her again. He couldn't help but wonder if perhaps the ticket reader might be under a lot of stress, and his expression soon showed concern over this matter. “You seemed to be worried about something, Hershel.”, Phoenix had mentioned once he noticed his friend's look of concern. “You're correct for pointing that out, though it mostly concerns with Miss Hacket and potentially any of the other staff members employed by Miss Nouncer.”, the scholar responded to him. The lawyer recalled how the young woman had wiped her eyes, understanding a bit more on the situation.

“You mean like how there's a possibility they might be overworked to some degree right? I can see that being the case actually, as we really didn't see too much of the staff members here. Other than the one who led us to our rooms and the servers who brought our lunch. Though I believe that we would need to see for ourselves what their work life is like, and maybe have Gumshoe help us learn more about it.”, Phoenix had said to him, but soon heard the sound of a nearby thud and footsteps hurriedly running away. He wasn't the only one to notice as Hershel had also heard this. “What on earth was that?”, the scholar had questioned as he turned his attention towards where the source of the noise had come from. “Maybe it might have been Miss Hacket tripping or something?”, the lawyer had suggested, thinking that might have been what happened.

“That is a possibility, though I do hope she doesn't push herself too hard.”, Hershel had said to him, and seemed to be thinking over something in his mind. He wasn't entirely sure if now would be the right time to ask but he wondered if maybe he could try to at least bring it to his friend's attention. “There's actually been something on my mind recently.”, the scholar had began to say, catching the lawyer's attention as he wondered what his friend wanted to say right now. “Really? What would that be?”, Phoenix had questioned him, a curious look on his face. “I know this may be sudden but do you recall when me and Luke had come over to visit during the holidays?”, Hershel had asked him, a small part of him hoping that his friend might remember.

“Of course I remember, honestly one of the best Christmases I had.”, Phoenix said with a smile, though he did wonder why his friend was asking about this right now. Maybe to just talk about a certain memory? However, he soon noticed the scholar seemed a bit hesitant at first before hearing his next response. “Perhaps when this trip is over, I shall tell you what has been on my mind regarding what we talked about on Christmas.”, Hershel had said to him. The lawyer had recalled bits and pieces of that conversation, more so how something had been troubling his friend. Though the other man never got a chance to tell him back then. “Oh? Why not right now?”, Phoenix had questioned him. “I…don't think now is the best time to tell you. Especially given the current circumstances.”, Hershel responded to him with a slight smile before looking away somewhere else. The lawyer didn't mind waiting, and nodded his head in response to his friend's words, and continued to watch over him from the edge of the pool.

Chapter Text

Ever since getting that card from that mysterious man from earlier, Maya had been flipping it over to see if maybe there might be some kind of hidden message on it. Just like how any detective shows or movies might have where someone would use invisible ink. But there didn't seem to be any sign of invisible ink on the card, and she ended up heading back into the office. The first thing she did as soon as she entered the office was to immediately call Phoenix and ask him if he might know someone with the initials, D.C. Though she didn't hear anything back from him, as each call she made went straight to voicemail. Maybe he might be busy with something or he doesn't have his phone on him at the moment? Whatever the case, she hoped that her friend would try to get back to her as soon as possible.

This only led to one other option she could think of, which was to contact the number on the card and see who this D.C. person is and how they might be affiliated with Phoenix. Maya hoped that at least she could get a response, and soon put in the number on the office phone, waiting patiently as she heard it begin to dial. A couple of seconds later, she could hear the sound of a phone being picked up as well as a weird distorted sounding voice on the other end. “I presume that this is Mr. Wright who I'm speaking to?”, the voice had questioned. “Uh no, this is Maya Fey, his assistant, he's currently out at the moment. But please don't hang up yet!”, the medium responded back to them, quickly saying that last part of her sentence.

“If this isn't Mr. Wright then how exactly did you get my number? I thought I told Mauler to specifically give my number to Mr. Wright.”, the voice had said, unclear whether or not they were annoyed by this. ‘That guy in the trench coat is named Mauler?’, Maya thought to herself, wondering why that was his name in the first place. Though she decided to not ask about it right now. “You see, I accidentally ran into him and he gave me that card with your phone number on it once I told him that Nick would be away for a few days.”, she said to the person. “Since you mentioned that you are Mr. Wright's assistant, I suppose you would have made a better candidate in obtaining my number. Would you mind telling me where Mr. Wright is right now?”, the person had asked over the phone.

“Before I answer that, would you mind telling me who you are and how you know Nick? I never heard of you or this Mauler person before.”, Maya said to them. For a brief moment, there was only silence before she heard their next response. “I'm afraid I can't disclose any details as to my and Mauler's identities. However, I had known about Mr. Wright through a case I had read about the other day that mentioned him. Tell me, does the name Furio Tigre sound familiar?”, the voice had asked her. Maya wasn't sure where this might lead to, and couldn't help but shiver a little as she remembered Tigre's loud and booming voice. She still remembered how he had unintentionally caused a blackout at the courthouse after Phoenix proved that he had killed the victim.

“Yeah it does, wait do you personally know Mr. Tigre?”, Maya had asked and her face soon grew pale. Hoping that this person wasn't somehow connected to a crime group. Though it would make sense why that guy in the trench coat from earlier would be called Mauler. “Not personally, no. Through my work? Absolutely. You see, Furio Tigre isn't the only person I have my eye set on. Have you by chance heard of a duo that goes by Covalence?”, the voice had questioned her. Maya was a bit skeptical, but was confused by that weird name. “No? How are they related to Furio Tigre?”, she asked, sounding a bit puzzled. “They aren't, but they supposedly work under a mafia family known as the Velenocosto family.”, the voice replied back to her.

‘I wonder if that could be the same mafia that Edgeworth had briefly mentioned.’, Maya thought to herself as she recalled that the prosecutor didn't really say what kind of mafia group it was. She was about to question the person on the other end if they might know Miles but never really got a chance to as she heard the sound of the phone abruptly hanging up on the end. “Wait I wasn't finished talking with you!”, she said, sounding a bit stunned, though this was mostly said to herself as no one responded to what she had said. As it was now complete silence. Dejectedly, she placed the phone back on the receiver, thinking to herself as to why the person on the other end had hanged up all of a sudden.

“No use waiting for that person to call back anytime soon.”, the medium said to herself. Though at least with the mentioned name of the mafia family, it was some kind of lead. Thinking it over for her a moment, Maya soon turned her attention to the case files on the nearby shelf. Though those were mostly from the cases Phoenix had worked on as well as her sister's. With a sudden realization, she mentally facepalmed as she never really thought of channeling her sister in order to get some kind of advice. She wasn't sure how much it was going to help but she thought it was better than doing nothing at all. Taking out a piece of blank paper from one of the cabinet drawers, she began to write down a brief summary as to what has been happening lately. Even mentioning how she found it odd that Miles would lie about the tickets.

“Alright sis, try to give me the best advice you have for this!”, Maya said confidently before beginning the channeling process. In a matter of a couple of seconds, she soon felt herself start to lose consciousness as Mia soon began to enter her body and take the front seat. The former lawyer took a moment to look around her surroundings, recognizing it to be her old office before noticing the note that her younger sister had written as to what had been happening lately. ‘I see then, while I'm not entirely sure what Mr. Edgeworth's plans are, I'm certain I might have an idea. I just hope this might help Maya and Phoenix.’, Mia thought to herself once she was done reading the note. She soon took a certain amount of the files from the shelf, looking over them quickly before she began to write her own response out for Maya to read once she had regained consciousness.

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It had been about two hours since Hershel and Phoenix were at the pool, with the two of them taking turns swimming in the water until they both felt their fingers start to prune. With the scholar mentioning how they should probably head back to their room and get changed. While they had been swimming, they mostly talked about their plans. With Phoenix being careful not to mention anything more about what might be going on on this ship, which was easier said than done. Though they had continued their current conversation as they made their way back to their room, and so far hadn't seen anyone else on the way there. “I'm not entirely sure what sort of questions they might ask us for this evening's quiz event, though I imagine it would most likely involve how someone would know their current partner.”, Hershel had said to him.

“Definitely.”, Phoenix said and stopped talking for a moment before looking around his surroundings. While he didn't see anyone else, he really didn't want to accidentally slip up and reveal how he and his friend weren't actually a couple. Taking a moment to try and say his next words carefully. “Do you think they might give some sort of prize to the couple who might win?”, he continued on to say, asking his friend about this. “That is most likely a possibility, I wouldn't imagine that they would intend on not handing out a prize to the couple who might win. As for what kind of prize it would be, I believe it would involve something that a couple would most likely enjoy.”, the scholar responded to him, before taking a moment to think to himself as to what this possible prize might be.

Hershel didn't think it could be another couple's trip like this one, maybe a special reservation at a high class restaurant? That was a potential possibility. However he soon turned his attention towards his friend who seemed to be rather flustered for some reason, and wondered what might be on his mind. “What are you thinking about right now, Phoenix?”, he asked the other man, and it seemed that his question startled the lawyer for a moment. “Just…potential prizes for this quiz game.”, Phoenix responded to him and rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh? What kind of possibilities have you thought of?”, the scholar had asked, his expression filled with genuine curiosity. The lawyer wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that just yet, as one of the possibilities he thought of was a bit embarrassing.

“Well…one of them might be a trip to the Infinite Rose Hotel.”, Phoenix said to him, looking at his friend's expression to see if he might know what he was referring to. Though he didn't really see any sign of it at all. “I don't think I've heard of the Infinite Rose Hotel before, the only one I know in Los Angeles is the Gatewater Hotel.”, Hershel responded to him. Phoenix didn't seem to be too surprised as whenever his friend came to visit, he would usually stay with him at his apartment. So it made sense that the scholar didn't know about any other hotels in Los Angeles. “It's about as high class as the Gatewater Hotel, meaning they're both expensive to get a room for. But the Infinite Rose Hotel has something that Gatewater doesn't.”, the lawyer said to him, hoping that this might clue his friend in what kind of hotel it actually was.

Hershel thought to himself for a moment after hearing those words, trying to think as to what would be the difference between the Infinite Rose Hotel and Gatewater Hotel. Though he couldn't really come up with an answer as he thought that besides the different prices and heights between other hotels, they all required rooms for guests to sleep in. “I really don't see what Infinite Rose Hotel might have that the Gatewater Hotel doesn't, would it be that the Infinite Rose Hotel hasn't had any cases related to murder?”, the scholar had asked him. Phoenix looked a bit surprised for a moment, and wondered if Hershel might have actually heard about the type of hotel that Infinite Rose falls under or not. “That's not it, since I'm pretty there might at least be some kind of murder scene involved with it.”, he said to him in response.

“But I do have a quick question for you, and it's still about the current subject. Have you ever heard of a love hotel before?”, Phoenix had gone on to ask, deciding to just ask him outright instead of beating around the bush. Hershel seemed a bit confused as he heard the lawyer ask him about this. “I had never heard of a love hotel until you brought it up just now, is that what the Infinite Rose Hotel is?”, the scholar had questioned. “You're correct about that, wait so you never actually been to one before? Like at all?”, Phoenix asked him, looking a bit surprised by this. He never really asked too much regarding Claire as he didn't think it was any of his business to know what else they did together, and he wasn't going to ask about it anytime soon as he thought it would be a bit weird. The scholar nodded his head in response to his question.

“Normally the hotels I usually go to are ones that I encounter during different adventures, such as the Reunion Inn in Monte D'or. But I had never come across any hotel that would claim to be a love hotel. Considering the name, I would imagine that only couples are allowed in, correct?”, Hershel had asked. Phoenix felt a bit relieved that he didn't have to explain too much as to what a love hotel actually is and what it might have in it. “Exactly, it is a place for only couples. Which is why I think the prize for this quiz game is a trip to the Infinite Rose Hotel.”, the lawyer said to him before noticing the row of cabin room doors up ahead. “You seem to know about the Infinite Rose Hotel, I would assume that you had taken on a case that involved the hotel.”, Hershel had said to him.

“You're correct in that assumption, besides I don't think I would ever go to a place like that in my entire life that wouldn't involve any potential cases.”, Phoenix had said to him, and appeared to be slightly solemn about it. Mostly due to how expensive it was to get into a place like, not really interested in ever going there again, and the fact he wasn't seeing anyone at the moment. Though he did take a quick glance at his friend who had noticed his change in expression, as well as how he worded his sentence. “I would take it then that you had previously worked on a case that might have involved a murder taking place at the Infinite Rose Hotel?”, Hershel had questioned, though he also wondered why his friend did seem to be a bit serious, deciding to ask him about it later.

“It wasn't really a murder case, it actually involved a married couple. Though I would probably say a former couple as the husband suspected his wife of cheating on him as he told me that he found a receipt for a reservation for two people at the Infinite Rose Hotel. Another thing is that he and his former wife didn't really earn that much so that's why he had suspected her of cheating.”, Phoenix responded to him. Hershel had to admit that he wasn't expecting to hear that it was a case of infidelity rather than a homicide, but thinking about it a bit more, wouldn't hiring a private detective make sense in this scenario? “Shouldn't he had hired a detective to help figure out whether or not his wife was cheating on him?”, the scholar had questioned. “That's pretty much what I asked as well, but he told me he couldn't afford one and hoped that I would help so I took the case.”, the lawyer responded to him before unlocking their cabin room door once they arrived in front of it.

“I had to actually ask Edgeworth for help to get into the hotel due to how expensive it was. This happened shortly after we came back from London after dealing with the events in Labyrinthia.”, he continued on to say, sighing a little as he recalled how exhausting the experience was just to get into the hotel in the first place. Before Hershel was about to ask him something, the two of them soon heard the sound of a door opening a little. Turning their heads towards the direction where the sound had come from. It was then that they soon noticed that it was Dennis, who seemed to be rather surprised than they were after hearing the door opening. “I hope you two don't mind me asking but what's Labyrinthia? I had overheard you two talking when I was about to leave my room.”, the dentist had asked them.

“Labyrinthia is a small place in London where people go there to re-enact the medieval Era. Think of it as a Renaissance fair.”, Hershel had said to him, knowing that it would rather be hard to believe that he and Phoenix had dealt with actual witch trials but would later turn out to be all make believe. Thinking it would just lead to some confusion. “That does sound like an interesting place to visit, though I don't think either me or Amicie would be interested.”, Dennis responded before noticing how the other two were in their swimwear as well as having towels wrapped around them. “I take it then that you and Mr. Wright returned from the pool?”, the man had questioned.

“You're correct, though I would like to warn you in taking Miss Oste or anyone else with you in case you're interested. The pool doesn't have an assigned lifeguard yet.”, Hershel had said, confusing the dentist as he didn't think that made any sense. After all, a pool is supposed to have a lifeguard stationed there. “Don't worry as Miss Hacket actually went to get one of the staff to be a temporary lifeguard, even though we don't know the full details as to why there wasn't one to begin with.”, Phoenix had added in after seeing the other man's confused expression. “I…see, well thanks for the warning in advance. Though have you seem Mr. Coves while you were coming back here?”, Dennis had asked them.

“Not really, in fact we didn't see anyone else while we were making our way back to our room. Why do you ask?”, Hershel had questioned him, wondering why the dentist was asking him about Hudson's whereabouts. “A bit of advice to give, I would recommend trying to stay far from him for the time being. It's not anything against you two but it seems he might be on the warpath.”, Dennis responded. “Warpath? What exactly happened while we were away?”, Phoenix had asked, a bit confused as to what the other man was talking about. “Well you see, me and Amicie, as well as anyone else in their rooms had overheard Mr. Coves arguing with his fiance, Miss Numbs. It was certainly quite loud and even involved a door slamming. Apparently he's mad about a detective talking to her for some reason.”, the dentist explained a bit more.

Hearing this, both Phoenix and Hershel already knew who the detective was that Dennis was referring to. Though they wondered what might have happened while Gumshoe was asking Bell about their location. Granted it probably didn't involve a fight as the lawyer remembered that there didn't appear to be any injuries on the detective. He just hoped that the man in question was able to find somewhere to hide before Hudson could find him. Maybe he should try to find him and make sure that nothing had happened. “Thanks for the warning, we'll be sure to try and avoid him. Though I'm sure that he might take some time to cool off.”, Phoenix had said to him. “I hope so too, I'll see you all later.”, Dennis had said before walking down the hallway and turning a corner.

“I think we should try to find Gumshoe and make sure that he's doing alright, at least after we change out of our swimwear.”, the lawyer said to the scholar, after seeing the dentist walk off in a different direction. “You're concerned that Mr. Coves might find him?”, Hershel had asked him, to which Phoenix nodded his head in response. “Yeah, I mean I don't want him to potentially get into more trouble after having to sneak out of the security room.”, he said to him. “I agree, though I think I'll stay behind and potentially learn more about what might have happened while we were away. Considering how Mr. Smiles just told us about how Mr. Coves and Miss Numbs were in some kind of argument.”, the scholar said to him. Phoenix wasn't too surprised that his friend wanted to know more, after all he too would want to ask around to see why Hudson was angry.

Though he had hoped that Hershel would still go with him to find Gumshoe, wherever he is on this ship. But figured that maybe they could try to learn more if they were to temporarily split up for the time being. “That does sound like a good idea.”, the lawyer said in response and soon held the door open for his friend, watching him go in and hearing him say a quick thank you before following him inside. “Though there is another thing I must tell you before you find Detective Gumshoe.”, Hershel had said to him once they were both inside their room. “What is it, Hershel?”, the lawyer had asked him, and soon felt the man's hand on his shoulder. “Just…be careful out there. I don't know how Mr. Coves will react when he sees you but I don't want you to potentially get hurt.”, Hershel had said with a worried expression.

There was something about the way he said that Phoenix thought was a bit different, but he could tell that his friend was genuine with his words. “Don't worry, I'll make sure to be careful when I'm out there.”, he replied with a smile, hoping that his words might ease his friend's worries. Hershel sighed a little in relief before smiling back at him. “I trust you at your word, Phoenix.”, he said to him.

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Miles looked out through his office window, watching to see if Maya might decide to come back and try to visit him again. Though he didn't see any sign of medium, sighing to himself before returning to his office desk. He soon turned his attention to his phone, somehow expecting another phone call from either Phoenix or Detective Gumshoe. The prosecutor wondered what might be going on in the S.S. Genevieve, did they perhaps get into some trouble? His thoughts were soon interrupted as he heard the phone start to ring and immediately answered the phone. “Wright, if you are going to ask me the same question, I would advise you that my answer remains the same.”, Miles had responded, only to hear the detective's voice reply back to him.

“It's just me sir.”, Gumshoe had said to him, wondering why Miles had thought that he was Phoenix when he didn't say a single word until now. “I see, please ignore that part. I would presume then that you had found at least something of note lately?”, the prosecutor responded to him, wondering what the detective might tell him about next. “Well that's not the first thing I was about to tell you, I'm not sure if Mr. Wright told you but I'm afraid I might get kicked off the ship.”, Gumshoe had said, sounding rather worried. This wasn't something he was expecting to hear, but given how bad luck seems to follow the detective, he wasn't too surprised by this. He quietly sighed to himself before replying back to him.

“What sort of trouble did you get into this time? Please note that your next paycheck will be evaluated.”, Miles had warned, and he could hear a gulp coming from the detective. “I promise I didn't get into any trouble, at least what I'm aware of before getting on the ship. Apparently the hostess, Miss Nouncer doesn't want any of the security guards to leave the room and I had to make my way out of there just so I can find Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton. I'm not sure if Mr. Wright already told you about this but that's why I'm worried about getting kicked off as one of the staff members noticed that I was out and about.”, Gumshoe had explained to him, secretly hoping that his next paycheck would be spared from the prosecutor's wrath.

This…was news to him. Miles had never figured that the hostess of this trip would put any of the security guards in a separate room and tell them not to leave. If indeed this was true, then it would definitely be a setback for what he had been planning. “Wright had never informed me about this yet, are you absolutely certain this is true?”, he went on to ask the detective. “I promise I'm not making this up sir!”, Gumshoe responded, who now sounded rather panicked and he could hear the detective move around restlessly. “I'll deal with this issue with Miss Nouncer and hope to come with a compromise. For now, just stay hidden and not get caught.”, Miles had advised him.

“Of course sir! Though I did as you told me to when it comes to following Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton. Surprisingly, they didn't see me at all!”, Gumshoe had said, who now sounded rather confident. Besides the hiccup that was the issue with the detective almost getting in trouble, this was the news he wanted to hear the most. “Well, what have you seen so far?”, Miles had asked him. “They had went to the pool and I had overheard Mr. Wright say that he would watch over Mr. Layton while he swims. For some reason there wasn't a lifeguard so that's probably why he said that. I think he even mentioned about potentially doing CPR on him should something happen.”, the detective said to him. “What else? Did you get a chance to see anything?”, Miles had asked him.

“I was planning on trying to get a good look but Miss Hacket had entered the area so I had to listen to them talk to each other about getting someone to stand in as a temporary lifeguard. Even mentioning how Miss Nouncer was the one in charge of handling those kinds of things. I would have continued to hang around a bit more but Miss Hacket was leaving towards where I was at and I had to quickly run away. I think I might have bruised my knee after tripping over myself sir.”, the detective had said to him. Hearing this, Miles soon began to write all of this down on a blank sheet of paper. “Was that all you had overheard?”, the prosecutor had asked him. “Pretty much, though I had lost sight of them after spending about an hour hiding so I'm currently looking for them again. You didn't really tell me why you wanted me to follow Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton, sir.”, Gumshoe had said to him.

“Just do what you can to follow after them, I'll explain a bit more as to why I'm having you do all of this later. At least until you see something that is worth noting.”, Miles said to him in response. “But what exactly am I supposed to be looking for anyway?”, the detective had asked, having no idea what exactly the prosecutor might be referring to. “You recall how you overheard Wright offer to watch over Mr. Layton and potentially perform CPR?”, he asked the other man. “Yeah? What about it?”, Gumshoe had asked him, sounding a bit confused. “It's instances like that that you should be paying close attention to. One example could be how one of them would voluntarily help the other with something in particular.”, he explained to him. “But isn't that what any nice person would do though?”, Gumshoe had asked.

Miles put a hand to his head and sighed to himself quietly. ‘Just how hard is it to understand what I'm trying to say?’, he thought to himself. “When you think of Maggey Byrd, how do you feel about her?”, he had decided to ask, using this as another example as to what he was trying to say to him. “H-Hey now, what does she have to do with t-this?!”, Gumshoe said, sounding a bit surprised. “Just answer the question detective.”, the prosecutor said in response, as he really just wanted to get this over with quickly. “W-Well I just want to remind her that she does really good at what she's doing and to not let things get her down so easily.”, the detective said in response.

“So there's my point, whatever thoughts you have of her, those are the types of things you must be looking for while following Wright and Mr. Layton. Now don't call back until you have any updates on the matter.”, Miles responded before quickly hanging up the phone. He wasn't even sure if the detective might have said anything, but if he had then he most likely ignored it in the process of hanging up. With that out of the way, he then proceeded to dial Anna's number so he could set some sort of compromise. A couple seconds of waiting, he soon heard the sound of her voice greet him, and he proceeded to explain about letting Gumshoe move around the cruise ship freely.

Chapter Text

Shortly after he and Hershel had gotten dressed into their usual outfits, Phoenix had then left their room while taking the magatama with him in his pocket. He hadn't really gotten the chance to look at his phone just yet, and decided he would look at it later once he was done looking for Detective Gumshoe and making sure that he was alright. Though that was easier said than done as he really wasn't sure where the detective might have gone off to since he and Hershel had last spoken to him. With the only possible location he could think of where Gumshoe might be would be in one of the unoccupied cabin rooms on the opposite side of the cruise ship.

The lawyer proceeded to make his way to the other side of the ship, not encountering anyone else along the way until he heard the sound of a voice from nearby. “Mr. Wright, please try to find somewhere to hide real quick. He might notice you if you're standing out.”, a voice had said to him, surprising Phoenix a little as he wasn't really expecting for someone to call out to him. He took a moment to look around the hallway before noticing someone peeking their head out from behind a large ceramic vase, and soon recognized that it was Pascal. “You nearly surprised me there.”, he said with a sigh of relief. Though he had also noticed that the programmer didn't seem to be as exhausted as he was earlier. “Why are you hiding behind that vase and who are you talking about?”, he went on to ask.

“From Mr. Coves, I saw him heading down this way and decided to hide from him.”, Pascal responded to him before continuing on to say, “You do know what happened earlier, right?” That definitely explained it a little, though Phoenix wasn't entirely sure how hiding from Hudson would help. Was he seriously that angry to the point of scaring others? “Yeah, Mr. Smiles already told me and Hershel about it when we came back from the pool. He mentioned how we should try to avoid him if we do see him at all.”, the lawyer responded to him. “Smart man for telling you about it, but where is Mr. Layton anyway? Shouldn't he be with you?”, the programmer had asked him.

“He said that he was going to stay back and ask around about what else had happened while we were away. So far we only know that Mr. Coves got into an argument with his fiance, Miss Numbs.”, Phoenix had responded to him. “Do you have any other information as to what might have happened?”, he asked the other man, only to see him shake his head. “I know as much about it as you and Mr. Layton do about the situation, I think the others might say the same but I don't really know if they might have heard something else or not.”, Pascal said to him. “Excuse me, but what exactly are you two talking about anyway?”, a voice had asked, sounding a bit confused. Both Phoenix and Pascal turned their attention to see Hudson coming up towards them.

The lawyer wasn't expecting to see the other man this soon and appeared to be slightly surprised while the programmer looked utterly terrified to see him. Even gulping a little as he was afraid about what might happen next. Phoenix figured that the best course of action was to try and not agitate Hudson, as so far he didn't appear to be that angry like Dennis had described earlier. “Apparently something had happened while me and Hershel were away at the pool and Mr. Pascal was telling me about it.”, he responded to him, while Pascal quickly nodded his head in acknowledgement. Afraid to say anything at the moment or even move. “I see then, would you mind telling me what happened earlier and where this might have happened?”, Hudson had asked them.

Phoenix was…confused by this, finding it odd as Hudson had been involved with what had happened earlier. ‘Shouldn't he be able to remember this? Is he only pretending to not know what we're talking about?’, he thought to himself. For now he decided to see where this might lead to. “You mean you don't know? It happened in the hallway where the others were staying in their rooms. Mr. Pascal and Mr. Smiles had mentioned that you and your fiance had gotten into a bad argument about something.”, the lawyer had said while Pascal just looked at him as if he was crazy for saying that. Though this expression of his soon disappeared when the two of them heard Hudson's next response, as well as noticing a confused look on the other man's face.

“Why would I get into an argument with Bell anyway? The only arguments we get into is over what restaurant we want to eat at or what movie to watch, just harmless stuff.”, Hudson had said to them. “A-Are you c-completely sure? I remember overhearing h-how bad it s-sounded.”, Pascal had said, still a bit nervous as to what might happen next. The swim model nodded his head in response. “Of course I'm sure, I would remember something like that if it did happen.”, Hudson had said to him. Phoenix wasn't entirely sure why the other man seemed forgetful and soon decided to ask his next question. “So what you're saying is that neither you or Miss Numbs get into fights and what we just described never happened at all?”, he questioned him.

“Exactly, but are you sure you didn't mistake the argument from one of the other couples? Like the Parks for example.”, Hudson had asked them. The lawyer was now even more confused on what was happening, as so far he didn't see any sign of the psyche locks appearing around Hudson. Though that doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't anything worth hiding. But with the way the other man was acting, it was hard to determine what might be going on. “...Maybe we might have mistaken another couple arguing earlier. If there's something you might somehow remember then maybe you should tell us later about it.”, Phoenix had said to him. Pascal was about to say something before the lawyer quickly nudged him in the arm.

“I will, though I'm already heading back to my room so I'll probably ask around a bit more about who might have been in an argument.”, Hudson had said before continuing down the hallway and towards where the other rooms were at. Once he was out of view, Pascal then turned his attention to Phoenix. “Why the hell did you nudge me for anyway?”, he asked, looking rather annoyed as he rubbed his arm. “Sorry but I didn't want him to catch on that something might be off and could potentially lead to him getting angry at us.”, Phoenix had responded to him. “Well next time try to warn me about it.”, the programmer said to him. “But it is really weird that he doesn't know what we were talking about. I mean it's hard to forget his voice during the argument he had with Miss Numbs.”, he continued on to say.

“You mean you remember exactly what he said, word for word?”, the lawyer had asked him. “Not word for word but the way his voice sounds. When I was younger, I had developed a good memory towards certain noises and sounds that people make.”, Pascal said to him in response. “There's no way I would mistake Mr. Coves voice with anyone else, unless they have a parrot with perfect mimicry or some kind of recording of his voice.”, he continued on to say. The lawyer thought that this might be important information to know for the time being. “I would take it then that your husband most likely knows about it?”, he went on to ask the programmer, mostly out of curiosity.

“Yeah of course he knows about it, I wouldn't hide that from him. Besides you and Clem, no one else knows that I'm able to easily recognize someone's voice when I hear it.”, Pascal said to him in response. “Fully noted.”, Phoenix had said, feeling a bit stupid that it was obvious that Clement would know about his husband's hearing ability. “Though there is something I would like to ask you about, if you don't mind.”, Pascal had said to him. “Sure, what exactly do you want to ask?”, the lawyer had questioned him. “This is mostly out of curiosity but what sort of gifts do you usually give to Mr. Layton?”, the programmer went on to ask him. Phoenix really wasn't expecting to be asked about that, but he didn't think it would be too hard to answer considering how much he knew about Hershel's likes and dislikes.

“Usually bouquets of flowers or puzzles mostly. One time I even bought him a few packets of different tea brands that he hasn't tried before.”, Phoenix had gone on to answer, smiling a little in order to sell off the act. Though he decided to keep on talking as he didn't think that was enough of an answer just yet. “Just recently at last Christmas, I had managed to get him this pendant that is able to hold a picture in it. I even told him that he could put a picture of anyone he held dear to him.”, he continued on to say. For this, it wasn't a complete lie as he had actually gotten him a pendant similar to what he had described. Though he wasn't exactly going to mention how he had actually managed to place a picture of someone in it already. That was something he didn't want to reveal, mostly for Hershel's sake.

“That does sound like a sentimental gift, what was his response when you told him that?”, Pascal had asked, and now seemed very interested to know more of what he had just said. “He was speechless at first but he said that he would have to think about who he might put a photo of in the pendant.”, Phoenix responded to him. “What did he give to you in return? Was it anything similar to the pendant or something else?”, the programmer had asked, his curiosity unwaning. “It wasn't really a pendant, instead it was a potted plant of a pink tulip and a geode with blue agate. He told me that he had found the geode on one of his excavations and even mentioned that the tulip would be a friend for Charlie.”, the lawyer responded to him.

Though Pascal soon appeared to be confused by the mention of the name Charlie. Having no idea who Phoenix might be referring to. “Who's Charlie?”, he had gone on to ask him. “That's the name of my plant in the office, I think I should have mentioned that first.”, the lawyer responded to him. The programmer was still a bit confused, but more so with why he named the plant Charlie. He decided it was best not to ask any further on it. “I imagine then that you must have named the Tulip as well?”, the programmer had questioned him. Phoenix nodded his head in response. “Yeah, it's-”, he was beginning to say before one of the staff members had approached the two of them. How exactly did he not see her at all?

“I'm looking for a Mr. Pascal Pewter. Would you two happen to know where he might be?”, she asked them. “That would be me.”, Pascal responded and raised his hand up a little, drawing her attention towards him. “We had received a call from one of the phones wanting to speak to say, they say it's an emergency.”, she said to him. Hearing this, the programmer soon appeared to be worried at the mention of an emergency. ‘Did something happen to any of his relatives?’, Phoenix had thought to himself when he noticed the other man's expression change. “I-I see, I'll be there shortly.”, Pascal had said before looking over at the lawyer. “It was nice talking to you but I'll be cutting this conversation short. I'll uh, see you and Mr. Layton later.”, he continued on to say before following after the staff member.

As much as Phoenix wanted to know what could have happened, he didn't think it was any of his business to know as it could be a personal matter to the other man. For now, he decided to continue searching for the detective just to make sure that nothing had happened to him. Continuing down the hallway and looking around his surroundings. Though a small part of him wondered how Hershel was currently doing with trying to find out more about the one-sided argument between Hudson and Bell.

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Hershel had been contemplating as to which room Hudson and Bell's might be at, as the only labels indicating whose room is which is based on the numbers on the doors. He didn't want to accidentally disturb anyone if he knocked on the wrong door, thinking that maybe this dilemma of his could be used for a potential puzzle in the future. “Exactly why are you standing there by your lonesome, Mr. Layton?”, a voice had asked him. Prompting him to turn around to see Heather looking at him with an expression filled with suspicion. He figured that she probably came out of her room not too long ago, and soon decided to ask her if she might have heard what happened earlier. Though he was a bit curious as to why she seemed suspicious of him for some reason.

“Good afternoon Mrs. Parks, I was simply pondering about which room belongs to Mr. Coves and Miss Numbs. Would you happen to know where it could be at?”, he asked her while offering a pleasant smile. Heather seemed unsure after hearing him say this before coming up with a response. “I don't really know which room they're in, nor do I care in the slightest. I simply wanted to take my time walking around the ship and potentially find something that would be considered to be interesting.”, she said to him and was about to walk away before he quickly stopped her by calling out to her. “Can you wait for just a moment, please? I promise this won't take too much of your time.”, Hershel said to her, and earning an annoyed look from the older woman.

“This better be good.”, she muttered to herself under her breath before turning around to face him. “Me and Phoenix had heard from Mr. Smiles that Mr. Coves and Miss Numbs were involved with an argument. Would you perhaps know any more about it, Mrs. Parks?”, the scholar had asked her. Hoping that at least she might know something about it instead of ignoring his question and potentially walking away. “The argument certainly was loud though it somehow involved a detective, my husband left shortly after it had stopped to find him. He hasn't returned yet.”, Heather said to him while recalling the incident.

“Did Mr. Parks say anything as to why he wanted to find Mr. Coves? I don't think going after someone who was recently in an argument would be a wise idea.”, Hershel had questioned. “He told me that he needed to ‘set that young man straight’ as he put it. I think it's due to how Mr. Coves reminded him of our eldest son in a way.”, she responded to him. Hershel wasn't entirely sure if he should delve into that new bit of information she just mentioned regarding her and Remington's eldest son. As he felt it was a bit too personal to ask, not to mention how she seemed slightly saddened for a brief moment while mentioning this.

“I see then, though I'm not sure how that will help in the future.”, the scholar said to her. “It just is what it is, now if you'll excuse me. I'll be taking my leave.”, Heather said to him and soon began walking away down the hall. Though he quickly noticed how she took a moment to avoid someone who was coming down the hall, recognizing this person as Hudson. Hershel noticed how the other man seemed to have calmed down, but no sign of Remington with him at all. Making him think that the older man probably didn't find Hudson yet or could have potentially missed him at some point. It definitely wouldn't hurt to ask Hudson if he might have seen Remington along the way.

“How are you feeling Mr. Coves?”, Hershel had asked as soon as the swimsuit model was now closer in proximity. “I suppose I'm feeling fine though I'm a bit confused about certain things.”, Hudson said with a look of uncertainty. “Oh? What exactly would you mean by that?”, he asked and so far didn't hear anything at all relating to the one sided argument that Hudson and Bell had earlier. “Earlier I came across Mr. Wright and Mr. Pewter, Pascal that is. They were talking about how me and Bell had an argument earlier around here. But I had told them that maybe they were mistaken.”, he responded to the scholar. The Professor seemed confused for a moment as the way he said it sounded as if he didn't remember at all, though it could be just an act.

“Why did you think they were mistaken? While neither me or Phoenix were around to hear it, Mr. Smiles had told us what happened when we were about to go into our room.”, Hershel had questioned him, and could see the man's expression look even more puzzled than before. “Why is it that you, Mr. Wright, and Mr. Pewter say that me and Bell had fought about something earlier? I really don't understand it at all.”, Hudson had said and became upset over this. Hershel was starting to wonder if maybe for some reason, the other man had somehow completely forgotten what had happened. For now he needed to try and calm him down.

“I am not insinuating that you and Miss Numbs had been in an argument, and I doubt that's what Mr. Pascal and Phoenix had in mind. It was just something that me and Phoenix had overheard and are wanting to understand more of the situation. Could you tell me what you had remembered so far before you encountered Phoenix and Mr. Pascal?”, Hershel had asked him. This seemed to have worked a little, though Hudson still seemed to be somewhat troubled. “I know I shouldn't be this upset but it's just something that's freaking me out, I would never want to fight with Bell over something so ridiculous.”, the swimsuit model had started to say before responding to Hershel's question.

“As far as I can remember, I had been roaming the halls and looking through some of the rooms. I had seen a theater, the one meant for plays and maybe even an orchestra. Just something that me and Bell could do to spend our time here on the cruise. But for some reason, I can't remember what I had been doing prior to looking around the ship. I think I might have been with Bell in our room after eating lunch with you and the others in the dining hall.”, Hudson had said to him. “Another question I must ask, have you seen Mr. Parks while you were exploring the area?”, Hershel had questioned him. All the while thinking as to why Hudson didn't seem to remember what happened prior to walking around the halls.

Hudson shook his head in response once he heard that question. “I haven't seen him at all, the only people I had seen in the hallway was Mr. Wright and Mr. Pewter.”, he said to him. “I see then, well I would like to warn you that he's currently looking for you. He might even seem to be angry with you.”, Hershel had said to him, not wanting the other man to potentially get hurt. He could see a rather frightened expression appear for a brief moment on the model's face after telling him this warning. “Probably because of supposedly hearing me and Bell arguing. I would really appreciate it if either you or Mr. Wright could try and figure out what's really going on. I don't want to cause any trouble here when it's just the first day of the trip.”, Hudson had said to him, a desperate look on his face.

“Of course, once me and Phoenix do find out what's going on, you will be the first to know.”, Hershel said with a smile. “Though if you don't mind me asking, would you mind showing me where you and Miss Numbs stay in? I believe that asking for her side of the events would be beneficial.”, he went on to ask. “It's the room right across from where Mr. and Mrs. Locke stay in.”, Hudson responded as he pointed towards the door. “Thank you again for your assistance, Mr. Layton.”, he said and went down the hallway. “It's no problem at all, Mr. Coves. But where exactly are heading off to?”, he asked him. “There's still some rooms that I have yet to visit, plus Mr. Parks might potentially come back to look for me in my room if I stay here. I just hope I don't accidentally run into him.”, the swimsuit model responded before continuing to walk down the hallway.

Hershel soon let out a sigh of relief, knowing that at least Phoenix didn't have a bad run in with Hudson given what he had heard so far. He then began heading towards the room that Hudson had pointed at earlier, and began knocking on the door. Only to hear no response. Thinking that maybe he should verbally express who he was. “It's me, Hershel Layton. Are you in there Miss Numbs?”, the scholar had asked and waited to see if she might respond to him. But so far, no word had been uttered at all, confusing him a little as he figured that maybe she could have been in her room. It was then that he heard the sound of a door opening nearby, looking over to see that it was both Starla and Fotina walking out of their room. He decided that maybe they might know whether or not Bell would be in her room.

“Excuse me, would either of you mind telling me if Miss Numbs might be in her room?”, Hershel had asked as he went over to them. “The last time me and Fotina have seen her was when she and Hudson were in a verbal argument. I can't say for certain if I might have seen her leave.”, Starla had said to him. “My answer is about the same, maybe she might be asleep in her room?”, Fotina had added in. “Why do you ask anyway, Mr. Layton?”, she continued on to question him. “You see, I had just got done talking to Mr. Coves and he seems to have not remembered anything about it. I'm hoping to try and figure out more on what was going on and I figure that Miss Numbs would know more about it.”, the scholar explained to them, earning confused looks from the couple.

“Are you sure that he's pretending to not remember what happened?”, Starla had asked. “That's what I thought as well, though the way he sounded and looked when I was talking about the event with him seemed rather genuine. I believe there might be something more behind him somehow forgetting that he and Miss Numbs were in an argument.”, Hershel had responded to her. Hearing this, both Stella and Fotina seemed rather interested by what he had just said. “Maybe he might have been hit hard on the head to forget about it. I have heard stories where something like that happens when a person forgets something.”, the journalist had said. “You mean like some sort of amnesia?”, her wife had asked, with the journalist nodding her head in response.

“That could be a possibility, since Mr. Coves had mentioned that he doesn't remember anything prior to when he was walking around the ship earlier.”, Hershel had said after listening to Fotina's own theory. “However, we would need more evidence to prove that theory correct.”, he continued on to say. “Are you sure that you're just an Ivy University Professor, Mr. Layton?”, Starla had asked, and seemed intrigued by his words. “Of course, I'm simply going off with how Phoenix might try and figure it out.”, he said to her with a smile. “I suppose that makes sense, where is he anyway?”, the voice actress had asked him. She figured that the two of them were usually together most of the time. Maybe his fiance might have been away for some reason?

“He told me that he was looking for any more rooms that the ship might have here. He hasn't been away for too long.”, Hershel had said to her, and wasn't sure if he should reveal that Phoenix was just looking for Detective Gumshoe to make sure he wasn't in any sort of trouble. “The ship is pretty big after all, I wouldn't be surprised if there might be more rooms than what might have been shown on the map given to us earlier.”, Fotina had said to him. “Maybe we can help you learn more about what could be going on with Hudson.”, she continued on to say, sounding rather enthusiastic. Starla gave her a look of uncertainty after hearing what she just said.

“Are you sure dear, I don't think we should get involved with this.”, Starla had said to her. “I wouldn't mind the assistance, even if Miss Numbs might not be in her room we could look around the ship in an attempt to find her.”, Hershel had said with a smile. “If he says he's fine with it then there's no harm. Besides, we'll only be talking to Bell once we do find her either in her room or somewhere else.”, Fotina had said and patted her wife's back. The actress let out a slight sigh before turning to face the scholar. “Very well then, we will help out the best we can. Though I think maybe we should check in on Bell first.”, she said to him. “I was thinking the same as well.”, Hershel had said before he and the other two went over towards Bell and Hudson's room. With Fotina immediately opening the door to see that it had been unlocked before they entered inside.

Chapter Text

In terms of searching around the hallway that he was in, Phoenix didn't really see anything of note that might point to where Detective Gumshoe might be at right now. It made him wonder if the detective actually found a good hiding spot to hide in just like how he and Hershel had advised him to. He even checked in some of the rooms that he passed by, only to see that they were just other rooms any of the other passengers could hang out in. Just as he was about to give up, the lawyer soon heard a familiar voice nearby and decided to follow after the source of where the voice was coming from. Soon recognizing it to be Gumshoe's voice. “Alright, would you mind repeating what you just said pal?”, the detective had questioned.

Phoenix thought that it sounded like he was talking to someone, and began to pick up the pace before seeing two shadows around the corner. He decided to hide a short distance away to see what this conversation could be about and who Gumshoe might be talking to. “It's about Hudson, Hudson Coves would be his full name. Would you happen to know where he might be at right now?”, the voice had asked, taking the lawyer a moment to realize that it was Remington's voice. “I haven't, I'm actually trying to avoid him right now.”, the detective responded to him. ‘Why does Mr. Parks want to know where Mr. Coves might be at?’, Phoenix thought to himself and continued to listen in on the conversation.

“I see, well if you do happen to see him, could you tell him that his father is looking for him right now. I wish to talk to him as soon as possible so I can find out why he doesn't remember me or his mother.”, Remington had said, with a worried tone to his voice. Phoenix's eyes widened as he overheard this, and wondered if he actually heard that right. ‘Wait, is that actually true?’, he thought to himself. “I mean I can try but I don't think I would want to be alone with him in the same room.”, Gumshoe had said, sounding rather nervous. “Just do what you can in order to relay this message, I doubt he would ever want to speak with me or Heather.”, the older man had said to him.

“Oh? What reason would he have to not talk to you or Mrs. Parks if you're his parents?”, the detective had questioned, now spending confused. ‘If this is true then maybe Mr. Coves might have a reason why? But what's this about him not remembering either of them?’, Phoenix thought to himself. He thought this was all a bit confusing. “I…would rather not get into the specific details. All I will say is that it is complicated to explain.”, Remington had said, and the lawyer could hear the sound of footsteps walking away. Possibly the older man leaving the area. Phoenix then decided to come out of his hiding space and walked towards the detective, who seemed surprised to see him again before a look of realization appeared on his face. “There you are, pal! I was trying to find both you and Mr. Layton!”, Gumshoe had said to him.

“Really? If that is the case then where were you anyway?”, Phoenix had asked, doubting that was actually the case. “Well I did say I was trying, but I didn't want to risk running into Mr. Coves from earlier.”, the detective responded, quickly looking around to make sure that the man in question wasn't around. “You just missed him, he doesn't seem to remember talking to you for some reason.”, the lawyer had said, giving the detective a quick once-over. “Huh? That's strange, though I'm still going to hide from him as a safety precaution. At least things won't be problematic now.”, Gumshoe had said with a look of relief. “Why do you say that? Wouldn't the hostess know you aren't in the security room?”, he asked the man, a bit confused by this.

“That's the thing, I talked to Mr. Edgeworth over the phone earlier and he said he would handle it.”, the detective had said and seemed to be rather confident. “Oh yeah that reminds me, where is Mr. Layton at anyway? Wouldn't he usually be with you right now?”, he went on to ask him. “He's actually back at the cabin hall where the other passengers are at. He's trying to learn more about the argument Miss Numbs and Mr. Coves were in.”, Phoenix had responded to him, though was a bit curious if Gumshoe and Miles might have talked about something else over the phone. Though he figured that the detective could potentially try and deny anything that might have been discussed. It was odd how the other man seemed more secretive than usual as he would unintentionally blurt out certain details in past cases.

“I suppose that makes sense, learning more about what had happened that is. Though I thought for sure that Mr. Layton would be with you at all times. Before you came here, Mr. Parks was here telling me about it and to look more into this Mr. Coves guy.”, Gumshoe had said to him. “Wait, why would you think me and Hershel would be inseparable during the duration of the trip? Sure it's a couples cruise but that doesn't mean we have to be constantly joined at the hip.”, Phoenix had questioned him. It was then that he noticed how the detective seemed rather nervous, with not a single word being uttered by him. Surely it wouldn't be too hard to answer a question like that right?

“W-Well it's just something I n-noticed during the time that I had seen you two together.”, Gumshoe responded, trying his best to not sound at all nervous and looked as if he was about to hightail it out at any moment. Phoenix thought that there was definitely something the detective might be hiding in regards to the subject of Hershel and himself. “Oh yeah? Like when exactly had you seen us together anyway? Besides when we were boarding the ship.”, the lawyer had asked him, thinking that this was also an easy question to answer. “The first time was when I spotted you and Mr. Layton in the dining hall after lunch was over and the second-”, Gumshoe quickly stopped himself, soon realizing that he had slipped up. Something that Phoenix was quick to notice.

“Gumshoe, when exactly was this second time that you saw us together? Because I don't remember seeing you at all between when we last talked with you in the dining hall till now.”, he asked the detective, a look of suspicion appearing on his face. The nervous expression on Gumshoe's face soon turned into a look of a defeat before letting out a sigh. “You caught me, it was when you and Mr. Layton were at the pool earlier. I was watching from another room connecting to the pool area.”, the detective responded to him, noticing the annoyed look on the lawyer's face. “Were you following me and Hershel this whole time?”, Phoenix had asked him, seeing the other man shake his head. “Not the whole time, I promise it was only when you and Mr. Layton were at the pool. I had to do it of course.”, he said, looking even more guilty.

Phoenix didn't think that Gumshoe would go out of his way just to follow after them, making him think that Miles might have been involved with this in some way. Though the question would have to be why Miles wanted the detective to follow after both him and Hershel? “Did Edgeworth have you follow us then? What reason would it have to be anyway?”, he went on to ask him, seeing an unsure look on the other man's face. “He wasn't really clear on the details, he just told me to follow you and report to him as to what you and Mr. Layton do together. Can you please not tell Mr. Edgeworth about how you caught me, he said my pay would be at stake if he learns about this.”, Gumshoe responded to him.

“That's only if you stop following us, I don't want either me or Hershel to feel as if someone is constantly watching us.”, Phoenix said to him. “It's a deal then, now if you'll excuse me I have somewhere else to be pal!”, the detective said with a smile before rushing off down a nearby hallway. The lawyer made a mental note to himself to ask Miles why exactly he had Gumshoe follow after them, though he would have to word his question so it would make it seem that the detective didn't accidentally spill the beans about it. He figured that for now he should start heading back to where he had last left Hershel at and ask him how things were going.

As Phoenix began making his way down the hallway, he was unaware of a person watching him from a safe distance. Watching his every move while writing down in a small notebook. “I have finally found you Mr. Wright, I better inform my assistant about this later on. Let's see if Mr. Wright is capable of figuring out what is going on this ship then.”, the person said to themselves quietly, putting away their notebook as they began to follow after the lawyer. Seeing where he might be heading to next and hopefully try to get him to help with their investigation.

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As Hershel, Starla, and Fotina entered Bell and Hudson's room, they soon noticed the woman sitting at a desk and typing on keyboard with headphones in her ears. The scholar thought that the computer must have been installed for either the therapist or the swimsuit model to use. Though that did help explain why she didn't answer him when he first knocked on the door. Starla was the first to go over to the other woman, and lightly tapped her shoulder to get her attention. Causing Bell to flinch a little as she turned towards her and the other two in the room before taking off her headphones.

“You scared me there for a moment, why are you in my room anyway?”, she asked them. “I tried knocking on your door earlier and I didn't get a response, I wasn't sure if you might have been in here or not.”, Hershel had said to her. “Was there something you had been listening to from the computer?”, he continued on to ask, wondering if she was possibly listening to some music. Though he wasn't too sure how that would be possible. “Oh my apologies, and yes I was. Though mostly just some voiced messages some of my patients left for me, I really can't go into the details as to what they're about.”, Bell had responded to him.

Stella took a look at the computer after both she and Fotina overheard the other woman's response, seeing a video of a twenty two year old guy on there. For some reason he seemed somewhat familiar but she really couldn't place it. “That is understandable, though is it alright if we ask you a couple of questions?”, Hershel had asked, taking a quick glance at the screen as well before looking back at Bell. “Of course, what would you three like to ask me about?”, the therapist had questioned, appearing to be slightly curious. “It's mostly about what happened between you and Hudson from earlier, it was hard to ignore how loud that was.”, Fotina had said to her.

“Oh…that.”, Bell had said with an embarrassed look on her face, realizing what the journalist was referring to. “Just how much have you three heard anyway?”, she questioned them. “I wasn't around when the argument between you and Mr. Coves had taken place, Mr. Smiles was the one who informed me and Phoenix as to what had occurred when we were away.”, Hershel had said to her. “Me and Fotina were in our room when we overheard it, it was pretty heated on Hudson's end.”, Starla had said in response. “I apologize for you to overhear that, I should have made sure that it stayed in our room when it had happened.”, Bell as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

“Does this happen pretty often, and why did he seem to react so strongly in regards to the detective?”, Hershel had asked her, a bit worried that this verbal fighting between the couple might be a common occurrence. Even noticing the worried expressions on both Starla's and Fotina's faces, possibly thinking the same as well. “It doesn't happen that often, though it isn't the first time. For some reason he seems to get mad whenever the person that I talk to happens to be a detective. I tried asking him about it once he had cooled off though he seemed to forget what we had argued about.”, the therapist responded to him. “Does he pretend to forget?”, Fotina had asked her, only to see her shake her head in response.

“He doesn't, besides he's not that good at pretending to hide things. He's pretty much an open book once you know him more. He sounds genuinely confused whenever I do try to ask him why he gets mad like that and that's something I'm trying to figure out.”, Bell explained to them. “Does he have any family members that might be aware of this?”, Hershel had asked her. “He has two younger brothers that know about how he forgets certain things though they don't know why either, and I haven't met his parents before. He doesn't really talk about them at all.”, she said to him in response. The scholar wondered if maybe Hudson's parents probably weren't anymore or if he just doesn't have any contact with them. He can't be too sure until he has more information about it.

“So what you're saying is that there are other times he had forgotten about something and doesn't remember about it all?”, Starla had questioned her. “Pretty much, like I remember back in university, he had been really stressed about having to do this test in one of his classes. Saying how he was going to fail if he didn't study hard enough. When I offered to help him, he just gave me this confused look and asked me what I was talking about.”, Bell had said to her. “That…does sound a bit strange.”, Fotina had commented, thinking that maybe her theory on Hudson developing amnesia after getting hit on the head hard enough was actually incorrect. Even she couldn't think of a possible explanation for this.

“I see then, I believe that would be all the questions that we have for now.”, Hershel had said and before he and both Stella and Fotina could leave the room, they soon heard Bell call out to them. “Please wait for one moment real quick, there's something I would like to ask you before you can leave.”, the therapist had said, prompting Hershel to turn around and face her. “Oh? What is it that you would like to ask us?”, he questioned her. “This is bit sudden to ask now way after lunch but have any of you heard what sounded like muffled screaming in the dining hall?”, Bell had questioned them, earning confused looks from the other three.

That was something Hershel wasn't expecting to hear her ask about. “What do you mean by muffled screaming? Because I don't recall hearing anything like that while we were having lunch.”, Starla had questioned, even trying to recall hearing anything strange earlier. “Like screaming that sounds muffled. I think it might have been a woman screaming but it was hard to tell. I think I first heard it when the staff was placing our meals on the table.”, Bell explained to her. “I don't remember hearing any screaming either, is there anything else you might remember in regards to the person who might have been the one screaming?”, Hershel had asked her.

“It's hard to explain but the muffled screaming sounded as if it was around all of us, though I'm not sure if there might have been anyone else who could have potentially heard it.”, she responded to him. “Honestly I'm not even sure how anyone would hear muffled screaming if it was coming from inside the room, there wasn't anyone at all that would have been screaming about something in the dining hall.”, Fotina had said to her. “It does sound rather odd, though I'll be sure to ask anyone else if they might have potentially heard any muffled screaming that you had described.”, Hershel had said to the therapist. “Thank you Mr. Layton, I just hope we do find out who could have been screaming.”, Bell responded to him and watched as he and the other couple left her room before going back to her computer.

“Do you think that maybe Bell could have potentially heard something else that sounded like screaming?”, Starla had asked Hershel once they left the room. “I'm not entirely sure as I don't recall hearing anything that Miss Numbs had described in the dining hall. I believe the only way to find out is if we head there ourselves.”, he responded to her. While it was his main goal for both him and Phoenix to try and relax at least for today before continuing looking into what Miles had requested them to do, he didn't want to let this mystery slide in case there might have been someone who could have potentially hurt themselves which would have resulted in muffled screams. “Me and Storno will probably ask the others around here to see if they could have heard a weird noise back in the dining hall. You are planning on heading there right?”, Fotina had asked him.

“Indeed I am, though there is something I must check up on first before I head to the dining hall.”, the scholar responded to her, wishing both her and Starla a quick farewell before heading down the hallway. The one he remembered seeing Phoenix walk down earlier. He did want to check in on his friend first, knowing that he didn't bring his phone with him when he went to go and find the detective. As well as inform what he had learned so far. The scholar did wonder if maybe something had happened on Phoenix's end, and hoped to find him sooner or later. As he continued walking, he then spotted his friend standing in front of one of the rooms. He did feel a sense of relief of seeing his friend again. Looking over at the sign to see that it would lead into the game room that he and Phoenix had been in earlier.

“What are you doing Phoenix?”, Hershel had decided to ask, a look of curiosity on his face before seeing the other turn around with a surprised expression on his face. “Just…noticed something is all.”, Phoenix responded before looking back at the door as if he was expecting for something to happen. “I fail to see what you're referring to, would you mind telling me what it is?”, the scholar had questioned him. The lawyer simply pointed at the door after hearing this question, prompting the Professor to go up to see what his friend was pointing at. Upon closer inspection, he could see weird marks etched on the door, mostly around the door knob. “That is rather strange, did you manage to find Mr. Gumshoe?”, Hershel had asked while continuing to look at the weird marks.

“I had, and he didn't seem to be hurt in the slightest. Though he did tell me that Edgeworth would make sure that he doesn't get in trouble with the staff or with Miss Nouncer. There's also another thing he had admitted to.”, Phoenix responded to him, seeing his friend turn towards him after mentioning this. “Oh? What would that be?”, Hershel had asked him. “Turns out Edgeworth had him secretly follow after us, as for the reason why, Edgeworth didn't seem to share it with him.”, the lawyer had said, an annoyed expression appearing on his face as he wondered what would be the point in Miles having Gumshoe follow after them.

Hershel was surprised by this as he never figured that this had occurred. “I presume then that we would need to ask Mr. Edgeworth about this? I can't think of any reason as to why he would want Mr. Gumshoe to follow us.”, he said to him. “Knowing him, it's probably something he planned ahead of time. I just wish he wasn't so damn secretive about this whole thing. Like having us go on the trip to learn more about who could potentially be tied with the mafia.”, Phoenix had said with a sigh of annoyance. “It's all just so hard to ignore and relax when new information like this is sprung on you at the last minute with no warning whatsoever. I mean I thought I only had to deal with Edgeworth's sudden surprises in court but this seems to blow things out of the water compared to that.”, he continued on to say, looking more annoyed.

Hearing this, Hershel wondered if maybe this might have been stressing Phoenix out. Recalling how his friend mentioned about not wanting to be found out about them pretending to be a couple, his nervousness about it to now finding out from Maya and the detective as to what Miles had been planning this whole time. He didn't think that the prosecutor in question would be malicious with hiding this information, though it is certainly hard to gloss over what other sort of things he might be hiding from the both of them. “I understand your concerns, Phoenix. I imagine it would be rather…exhausting to learn about it later rather than sooner.”, the scholar said to him.

“You have no idea…”, Phoenix responded before sighing again, though seemingly more exhausted than annoyed. “Perhaps we can leave this trip entirely if it's causing you this much stress?”, Hershel had suggested, a look of concern on his face after hearing his friend's response. The other man looked at him a bit surprised by this suggestion. “But what about what's going on with whoever is involved with the mafia? As much as I want to head back home and not stress over this whole thing, I don't think I would be comfortable with leaving things unsolved. Why do you suggest this anyway?”, Phoenix had asked him. He couldn't help but feel how strange this suggestion was, especially when it came from Hershel.

Phoenix knew that the other man would go out of his way to help others in need, and even recalled how his friend had stopped a crime group at one point. So to him, this suggestion seemed like something that the scholar wouldn't say in the slightest and wondered why he suggested the idea. Hearing his friend's response, Hershel took a moment to think to himself, pondering more on the subject. He did bring up a good point after all, since whoever might be tied with the mafia could potentially pose a danger to anyone else on the cruise ship. He supposed that he was thinking more about Phoenix's comfort that he had forgotten as to why they were here in the first place. Much to his embarrassment for forgetting about it.

Though Hershel did want to give his friend the reason why he suggested the idea, trying to carefully say his next words so as to not reveal too much. He didn't think that right now was the best time to tell him, especially when he planned on talking to him more of what was currently on his mind after they got back home. “You do have a point, I admit I wasn't thinking things through enough. It was simply an idea that presented itself after hearing your frustration.”, the scholar had said with a slightly embarrassed expression. “I do appreciate your concern, Hershel. For now let's just stay on the ship until we find out who could be involved.”, Phoenix had said to him, a smile on his face before patting his friend on the shoulder.

The scholar felt his cheeks grow warm for a brief moment, and soon tried to think of another idea as to what they should do in regards to Miles. “Then how about this, we contact Mr. Edgeworth again and have him tell us why he instructed Mr. Gumshoe to follow us.”, he suggested to him, seeing his friend nod his head in response. “Agreed, only this time, I want him to tell me the whole truth. No hidden secrets. If he wants us to help with figuring out which couple is involved with the mafia then he has to tell us everything.”, Phoenix had said, now looking a bit more confident and began leading the way back towards their room, waiting for Hershel to follow after him.

Though as they were about to head into their room by the time they arrived at the door, the two of them soon heard an announcement start to play out. “Attention all guests, the quiz game that was supposed to take place at six in the evening will now be held earlier at four in the afternoon. Be sure to go to the theater immediately as it will start in thirty minutes.”, Anna had said before there was the sound of something hanging up. That was something neither of them were expecting to hear this soon, wondering why it was rescheduled. “I suppose Miss Nouncer might show up for this quiz game.”, Hershel had said. “I hope so, though I'm not sure if it's going to be the same situation when we first got here and she had Miss Hacket pass those cards to us.”, Phoenix responded to him.

“I believe the only way to find out is to head there as soon as possible, I hope you're alright with this, Phoenix.”, the scholar had said to him. “Honestly, Edgeworth can wait for now, we'll just call him after this game is done.”, the lawyer had said to him. It was then that they soon heard a few doors opening, prompting the two to turn around to see that people were already coming out of their rooms. Though noticeably, there were a few people missing as well. Causing Phoenix to realize that there was another bit of information he had forgotten to tell Hershel about before he talked to Gumshoe. He figured that he should tell him about it later.

Chance and Clover were the first to see the two of them after stepping out of their room, and was followed shortly after by Clement and Bell. “I assume that you two also heard the announcement then?”, Clover had asked them, with Hershel nodding his head in response. “Yeah, we were about to head back into our room when we first heard it.”, Phoenix had said to her, before looking over to see a somewhat worried look appear on Clement's face. “I do hope that Pas hasn't got lost somewhere.”, the chef had said quietly to himself. The group were soon joined by Fotina, Starla, and Amicie as they too left their rooms. Even overhearing the conversation.

“Has anyone seen either the Parks or Tipples?”, Amicie had questioned, noticing that two other couples weren't with them at the moment. “I had only see Mrs. Parks go off down the hallway to search for her husband.”, Hershel had responded to her, noticing how the woman didn't seem to be too concerned about the older couple in question. “I see, I suppose then that the Tipples are most likely off on their own adventure.”, she said with a light shrug. “Has Hudson ever returned yet, Bell?”, Starla had asked the light brown haired woman, only to see her shake her head. “He hasn't returned yet.”, she responded to the voice actress.

Chance had muttered something to himself quietly after overhearing this, catching both Hershel's and Phoenix's attention. “Did you say something, Mr. Locke?”, the scholar had asked him. “It's…nothing to worry about right now. I believe that we should just go ahead and head towards the theater. Do any of you know where it might be?”, the casino owner had questioned. “It showed the location on the map dear, did you not see it?”, Clover had asked him, giving her husband a confused look.

“Not really, no. I didn't think that this quiz game would be hosted in a theater.”, Chance had responded to her. “Me and Phoenix know where it is, we had gone right past it at some point.”, Hershel had chimed in. “Then by all means Monsieur Layton and Monsieur Wright, lead the way.”, Amicie had said after overhearing this. With this, both Hershel and Phoenix began to lead the way to where the theater room was at. With none of the current group of people aware as for what is it to come next.

Chapter Text

Gumshoe knew that he had messed up in admitting to how he had to follow Phoenix and Hershel, contemplating his next action as he wasn't entirely sure if Phoenix was going to tell Miles or not about this. Not that he wouldn't blame the man but he couldn't help but grow ever more worried that he would get a call from Miles and be chewed out. As well as potentially getting his salary cut more. He had quickly went to the empty room he had been hiding in, taking his phone out as soon as he entered the room to see if he could have had any missed calls. So far, there weren't any missed calls that he might have received, and soon felt slightly relieved. Thinking about it more, maybe he should tell Miles what happened as he thought that maybe it might soften the blow if it came from him rather than someone else.

Growing more confident over this idea, Gumshoe proceeded to call Miles, waiting patiently as he heard a couple of rings before the sound of Mile's voice. Who sounded rather annoyed. That didn't bode too well for him. “What is it detective, I hope you have acquired new information in regards to Wright and Mr. Layton.”, the prosecutor had begun to say. “Well…not quite sir but there is something I need to tell you.”, Gumshoe had said to him, sounding nervous as now he wasn't too sure what would happen if he did admit that Phoenix had caught him. “By the tone of your voice, would it happen to be bad news?”, Miles had questioned, sounding more annoyed by this possibility.

The detective was silent for a moment before gulping, mentally preparing himself for what was to come next. “T-The thing is sir, Mr. Wright had talked to me before I called you and I…slipped up.”, Gumshoe had said to him. “Please explain to me what you mean by ‘slipping up’, detective?”, Miles had asked, his tone still the same. “I-I…accidentally mentioned that I was f-following both him and Mr. Layton. I swear sir, I didn't mean to reveal it to him!”, the detective responded to him, bracing himself for a scolding. Even holding his phone away from his ear. Only…he didn't hear the prosecutor's angry voice, in fact there didn't seem to be any words at all. Hesitantly, he put the phone back to his ear, waiting for any response before deciding to say something.

“Uh sir, are you still there?”, Gumshoe had asked, a bit confused as to why Miles didn't say anything at all when he admitted to what had happened. “Yes, I am still here, detective. I'm simply thinking as to what to do next.”, the prosecutor had responded, though there was no sign of annoyance to his voice this time. “So…are you mad at me, sir?”, he then went on to ask him. “I am disappointed that you had revealed to Wright that you were following him and Mr. Layton, however I must commend you for telling me this now rather than at a later time.”, Miles had said to him. Hearing this, the detective soon breathed a sigh of relief. Though he did wonder why the other man had sounded annoyed when he called him.

“T-Thank you sir! But I was wondering, why did you sound annoyed when you picked up the phone?”, Gumshoe had asked, sounding a bit confused. “That's mostly due to Maya coming over here to my office again to ask more questions, she's still here right now.”, Miles responded, putting the phone on speaker so Gumshoe could hear Maya's voice. “Edgeworth, please open the door! I promise I'm not going to ask anymore about the tickets.”, Maya had said, to which the detective overheard her. “How long has she been there sir?”, the detective had asked. The prosecutor turned the speaker off before responding to him.

“Right before you called, it's honestly more of an annoyance right now than it was when she went into my office earlier today.”, Miles had said as he placed a hand to his forehead as he kept listening to what the medium kept saying. “Maybe you can just answer some of her questions and she'll leave you alone after that? I'm sure it won't take that long, sir.”, Gumshoe had suggested to him. “Of course, why didn't I think of that before now.”, Miles had responded in a sarcastic tone of voice, which was completely lost on the detective. “Just happy to help sir, it's no problem at all!”, Gumshoe said happily. “Though should I still continue following Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton, sir?”, he then went on to ask.

Even though Phoenix now knew what he was doing in regards to following him and Hershel, Gumshoe wanted to be sure if he should continue what Miles had requested him to do. Though he wouldn't be too surprised if the prosecutor decided to say no. “Even though you had been compromised, I still need you to keep an eye on them for the duration of the trip. Just do as I previously told you to do.”, Miles had responded before quickly hanging up the phone. Not giving the detective a chance to respond. Gumshoe couldn't help but wonder why Miles wanted him to continue following them, but figured that the prosecutor would tell him when the trip was over. A small part of him felt a bit suspicious but he ignored the feeling.

He soon put away his phone and decided to head on out, but soon bumped into the same black haired and grey eyed woman from earlier. “My bad pal, I didn't see you there.”, Gumshoe had said, sounding alarmed. As he wasn't expecting to see her again, and soon became nervous as he recalled the conversation he had with her. The woman dusted herself off, looking rather annoyed for a moment. “It's fine, though I was trying to look for you.”, she said to him in response. “Oh? What for pal?”, he asked, now looking rather confused. She let out an annoyed sigh after hearing him.

“I'm referring to when you told me that Miss Nouncer had given you permission to be out of the security room. I just got back with her and she confirmed what you told me.”, she explained to him. Gumshoe felt relieved by the news and tried not to show it too much. “See, I told you I wasn't lying pal!”, he said in response, sounding very confident. “However, she did tell me to tell you that you need to oversee what will be happening for the quiz game in the theater. So I suggest you hurry on over there.”, she said to him. “Sure, no problem at all. But would you mind telling me what your name is please?”, the detective had asked her, only to see her become even more annoyed at him.

“I don't think that would be any of your business, now if you'll excuse me, there's somewhere I need to be at right now.”, she said before walking past him and headed into a nearby room. Gumshoe didn't really get why she was annoyed by this question but decided not to think too much about it. Before heading off towards where he thought the theater might be at, thinking that both Phoenix and Hershel could be there. Not to mention how he really didn't want to get on that woman's bad side if he didn't head there right away.

Hearing the detective leave, the black haired woman soon stepped out of the room and made sure that the coast was clear. Before planting a small device in a nearby potted plant. She didn't want to get caught as a result and was glad that there wasn't anyone else roaming around, and figured she had all the information she needed. She just needed to inform her assistant about all of it and she should be good to meet up with someone in particular. As she took her phone out of her pocket, she thought she heard footsteps leading towards her way. Deciding to quickly hide in one of the rooms again.

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By the time Miles had hung up the phone, he still could hear Maya from the other side of his office door. “I know you're in there Edgeworth, you can't stay cooped up in there for too long.”, the medium had said before being shortly followed by loud and rapid knocking on the door. This pretty much was the final straw, as he didn't think he would handle the incessant knocking for too long. Quickly getting up from his seat and striding over towards the door, he immediately opened it. For a split second, he noticed that Maya almost fell over but didn't really care too much about it. “Would you mind explaining to me why you're here again?”, he asked her, all the while glaring at her.

Maya let out a quick yelp with a stunned expression on her face. “I-I just came by to ask you more questions.”, the medium responded to him. “This better be quick.”, the prosecutor had said, sounding not too enthusiastic about this. “Well I was wondering if you had planned on having the Professor go on this trip with Nick, because that note I found in your office was a dead giveaway.”, Maya had said to him before she continued speaking. “If so then why? What reason would you have for the Professor to go on this couples only trip with Nick anyway?”, she questioned him. His glare soon disappeared though his expression remained on the verge of anger, taking a moment to try and calm himself before replying.

“I simply can't reveal my reasoning, however I will say that it was planned even way before now. The event hosted on the S.S. Genevieve just happened to be a perfect opportunity to enact this plan.”, Miles had said to her, noticing how the medium appeared to be in deep thought after hearing his words. “Wait, just how long are we talking about here? When did you start planning this and what plan is it exactly?”, Maya had asked, now seemingly more confused by what he just said. “That would be shortly after Christmas, and I'm not revealing what kind of plan it is. That is something you need to figure out on your own.”, he said before closing the door, not giving her a chance to speak.

Miles expected some kind of complaint but only heard the sound of footsteps walking away. Sighing to himself before returning to his seat. He was just glad that she didn't stick around for that long in terms of asking him questions. In fact, he had figured that she should at least figure it out on her own considering how this both involves Phoenix and Hershel. After all, she does know the two other men and how they met. He had only gotten a brief history when he came to visit during Christmas. Which then reminded him of something, more specifically that pot that held a pink tulip in it that had been given to Phoenix from Hershel. Knowing the lawyer, that man only knew three kinds of flowers. With tulips being one of them.

Miles then took a notebook out from his desk drawer, opening it up and looking over the notes he had written down. He wasn't at all well versed in the meaning and symbolism behind plants. Though when he saw that pink tulip, he couldn't help but feel as if there was some sort of hidden message to it. He doubted that Phoenix would know either, and he soon read a passage he had written how it could be possible that Hershel fully intended to give his friend this type of flower. “Normally the pink hues of each flower have a somewhat similar meaning, though with the tulip there could be something else to it.”, he said quietly to himself. Then seeing a small note he had written.

‘It isn't like a red tulip which I recently learned convey a more deep and passionate type of love, though that's not to say that it doesn't mean that there isn't some kind of affectionate meaning behind it.’, is what he had written. Heck, he recalled how Phoenix had even named the plant Caleb and placed it on his office desk. Though it was that expression that he believed to be a dead giveaway from the Professor, his eyes seemingly brightened as well as a notable flush on the man's cheeks. There was no mistaking it of course, and he even caught Phoenix pretty much acting sheepish around the man. “Though the only question would be is why don't they admit it to each other when it's so painfully obvious?”, Miles had questioned to himself.

While pondering more on this subject, he soon heard the phone begin to ring again. He wasn't expecting another call, and wondered if maybe it was from the detective. Possibly to update him on what he might have found or overheard from both Hershel and Phoenix. As soon as he picked up the phone and put it up to his ear, he soon heard an unexpected but familiar voice from Phoenix. Only this time, he seemed more angry than before. In fact, this is the first time he had heard him this irate. “Edgeworth, what the hell is this all about?! You told us that this was just a trip we needed to go in order to find the couple involved with the mafia. So spill!”, the lawyer had demanded. He was expecting some kind of annoyance but this seemed…different in a way.

“Well it is, why do you sound so angry all of a sudden, Wright? Is it because I had sent the detective to follow you and Mr. Layton?”, Miles had asked him, thinking to himself for a moment as to why Phoenix hadn't called to tell him about finding out what Gumshoe had admitted to him. There was a scoff from the other man before hearing his next response. “That's not all there is, Edgeworth. There's a reason why you had Gumshoe follow us. Something you aren't willing to tell us. But that's not all I have to say. This time this whole thing has gone on long enough!”, the lawyer had said in an angry tone of voice. “Just what exactly are you referring to, had someone been hurt or possibly killed?”, the prosecutor had asked, sounding a bit confused. That definitely could explain his friend's sudden anger.

“No, no one has been hurt or killed. I'm talking about how I can't stand the fact that Hershel has to give up his own comfort just to help me get on this damn ship. I appreciate his help nonetheless, but I don't want him to feel so uncomfortable during the duration of this five day trip. But this time I've had enough, especially with what just happened. I want you to find a way to get us off this ship so Hershel won't have to continue feeling this way anymore.”, Phoenix had explained to him. This was a bit surprising to hear all of a sudden, making him wonder just what exactly had happened on that ship that would make his friend request that both he and Hershel would need a way to take them back to Los Angeles.

“...Would you be more specific as to what you're talking about, Wright? How does this have anything to do with Mr. Layton's own comfort? I have no idea what you're referring to.”, Miles had questioned him, and he thought that he heard the sound of the Professor's voice in the background. Though it was hard to hear what he was saying. “It's best to explain it all once we meet back up in person, especially since you're the one who didn't tell us the whole situation in the first place!”, the lawyer responded to him. “I admit that I should have told you sooner than later, that is my mistake. But there's no need to be so petty about it.”, he said to him in an annoyed tone. “Whatever, just find a way for us to get off this ship!”, his friend had said before hanging up the phone.

Well that could have been handled better in his opinion, though he still didn't get why and how it had anything to do with Hershel. Just what exactly happened on the S.S. Genevieve to cause Phoenix to react in such an irate manner? In all of the years that he had known him, that was probably the most pissed his friend had ever been in his life. Miles simply sighed to himself as he tried to think of a solution to get both the lawyer and the scholar off of the cruise ship and back to Los Angeles. Spending the next few minutes thinking to himself. Already he felt as if he was starting to develop a headache from this whole mess. Though he also had to think another way in order to learn more about which couple was affiliated with the mafia.

Miles knew that Gumshoe couldn't handle it on his own, and with how Phoenix wanted both him and Hershel to get off the cruise ship, there was no other way to convince him. He figured that he would just have to send a team of officers onto the ship as soon as possible. “This is already proving to be a disaster.”, he said to himself with a sigh. Just as he was about to pick up the phone to inform a few officers to get a boat ready for his friend and the Professor, that's when he heard the phone begin to ring again. “This better not be another phone call from Maya.”, he said, sounding a bit annoyed before picking up the phone. “What is it now, Maya?”, he questioned, only to hear Phoenix's voice on the other end.

“Listen, I know I just asked for you to find a way to get us off this ship but that needs to be put off for now.”, Phoenix had said, sounding serious compared to how he sounded earlier. “Why, what exactly happened, Wright? Does this have anything to do with Mr. Layton?”, Miles had asked mostly out of curiosity, though with how his friend sounded, it definitely wasn't related to Hershel. “No, it doesn't. It's an emergency Edgeworth, and I need you to send a team of forensics over here as soon as possible.”, the lawyer had responded to him. Only causing the prosecutor to become more suspicious as to what was going on his friend's end.

“I would if you would just tell me the circumstances Wright, is someone injured?”, Miles had questioned him. “It's worse, the lights went out for a brief moment and me and Hershel went out of our room to check around. But as soon as the lights came on, we discovered a dead body of a woman lying face down.”, Phoenix had gone on to explain, a sound of urgency filling his voice.

----------------

Earlier

As Hershel, Phoenix, and the other couples stepped into the theater room, they could see that there were a certain amount of seats placed on the stage. Noticing how Lyra and Dominic Tipple were in their own seats, along with a rather worried looking Pascal, an exhausted looking Dennis, Hudson, and Heather and Remington Parks. Though the latter of the older couple was currently looking over at Hudson, his expression filled with curiosity. Clement was relieved to see his husband again, though he did wonder why Pascal seemed worried. Bell was the first of the group to immediately head up on stage, though mostly to ask her fiance where he might have been. While the others who weren't fully aware of the situation looked on rather tensely.

“Where have you been this whole time, Hudson?”, Bell had asked him, her voice filled with a mix of worry and curiosity. “I had just been…exploring parts of the ship. Mostly just to see what other rooms there are when I heard the announcement play.”, the swimsuit model had responded. “Are you sure that Miss Numbs should be anywhere near you right now?”, Dennis had questioned him, shooting a quick smile at Amicie while the platinum blonde woman went up on stage to sit right next to him. “Again with this? I told you that I don't know what you're talking about at all, I would never get into a screaming match with Bell.”, Hudson had said, annoyed by this.

“I don't think now would be the best time to get into an argument.”, Hershel had said as both he and Phoenix went to take two of the empty chairs. “I would have to agree with Mr. Layton, we've already heard one argument earlier and we don't need another one now. So just put a sock into it.”, Chance had said as he and Clover went up on stage, sounding rather annoyed. Soon the rest of the others went up on stage and picked out their own seats, with Clement continuing to wonder why his husband seemed worried. “Is there something troubling you, Pas?”, the pastry chef had asked him. “N-Nothing at all, just…thinking over something.”, Pascal responded, though it didn't seem as if his husband fully believed him.

Overhearing this conversation between Clement and Pascal, Phoenix wondered if it might be related to that phone call that one of the staff told the programmer about. But decided that it wasn't any of his business to ask, before shifting his attention towards Lyra and Dominic. Looking at the other couple, the lawyer couldn't help but notice how…disheveled Dominic appeared to be. Even having a black eye. “What happened to him, did he get into a fight?”, Phoenix had asked Lyra while gesturing towards her husband. “Honestly I don't know, he didn't go into specifics as to what happened. It's just how I found him when we met back in the game room to get some drinks at the bar.”, she responded to him.

Hershel then looked over towards the couple as well, seeing the man's black eye. “I do believe you should put an ice pack on your eye in order to stop the swelling.”, the scholar had advised him. “I know that of course, but I couldn't find any staff member that would help show me where the infirmary is located.”, Dominic had said to him, though he didn't seem too bothered by his black eye. “Shouldn't it be shown on the map?”, Phoenix had asked him. “Unfortunately, our map doesn't have the infirmary labeled on it.”, Lyra had said with a frown. “As to how we were able to know that there is an infirmary, Pascal had told us about it shortly before we were supposed to be in here.”, she continued on to say.

“That is a bit odd, why isn't there an infirmary on your map?”, Fotina had questioned after overhearing what Lyra had just said. “We don't really know.”? Dominic had responded. “Wait, is there anyone whose map doesn't show any kind of room at all?”, Hershel had decided to ask, as both he and Phoenix began to look around at the others for their reactions. Only to see that the others, besides the Tipples, shake their heads in some way. “Our map seemed fine to us when we last checked.”, Clover had said, though there was an apparent look of confusion on her face. ‘Why is it only the Tipples’ map that doesn't show the infirmary?’, Phoenix pondered, finding it very strange.

Before anyone else could say anything, they soon heard the sound of doors opening. Looking around before spotting where the source of the noise had come from, only to see that it was Tina Hacket entering through the entrance doors with a rather strange expression on her face. Hershel thought that it looked like a mix of anger and distress, while Phoenix wondered if something might have happened to her to warrant such a reaction. However, what was strange was that there should be someone else who was supposed to be here. With Chance being the first to bring this up to the ticket holder.

“Where exactly is Miss Nouncer? Shouldn't she be here by now?”, the casino owner had questioned, appearing to be rather suspicious. “That's the thing I came here to tell you, esteemed guests.”, Tina had said through gritted teeth, trying not to freak out and soon upheld a strained smile. “It would seem that Miss Nouncer decided not to attend this game at the last minute, unfortunately she hadn't given me any reason why.”, she continued on to say. Hearing this, most of the others soon became a bit annoyed by the sudden news, Phoenix being included though he does try to hide it. Hershel looked over at him for a brief moment, casting a worried look over towards him.

“Are we sure that she's not trying to pull our leg here? What kind of hostess doesn't greet their guests?”, Remington had questioned, sounding annoyed and began to grumble to himself. “If she's not going to be here then who exactly is going to host this game anyway?”, Starla had asked, seeming unsure as to what was going to happen next. “I'll be hosting this event, though there was something else she wanted me to inform you about.”, Tina had responded. “Oh? What would that be, Miss Hacket?”, Hershel had questioned as he turned his attention from Phoenix to the ticket holder. “Instead of a quiz game, it would simply be a game of truth or dare.”, she said to him, trying not to sound annoyed.

After hearing this, some of the others were in disbelief while the rest of them were confused by what kind of game they would be partaking in instead. “A game of truth or dare?”, Fotina had questioned, sounding unsure about this. “Is this some kind of joke? We're not going to be playing a children's game!”, Heather had said, sounding rather annoyed as she couldn't believe what she was hearing. “I assure you that isn't a children's game, Mrs. Parks.”, Tina had said, though there was a brief moment where it looked as if even she didn't fully believe it either. “I mean, I'm certain it can't be all that terrible. It'll probably be just a quick game and then we will be free to go back to what we have been doing before now.”, Hershel had said, though he never really had done truth or dare before.

Phoenix couldn't but feel slightly envious over his friend's optimistic attitude, as he found playing this game to be rather ridiculous. Soon recalling a time how he and Larry had played the game in high school at a classmate's house, which soon ended with the fire department being called in order to get Larry's head unstuck from a large pickle jar. He just hoped that none of these ‘dares’ would lead to something like that, especially since they're miles away from land. “There's another thing she wanted me to mention in regards to the game. She said that this game will be played differently. As in you would need to answer truth questions. But if you're lying then you need to do dares.”, Tina had gone on to say after hearing what Hershel had just said.

“But how exactly would you tell that we would be lying anyway?”, Bell had asked, a bit confused by this new concept. Instead of saying anything, Tina soon went up on stage and went behind the curtain, rolling something out that was covered by a white sheets. Before anyone could ask what was underneath it, she then removed the cover. Revealing to all that it liked some kind of large graph machine, with strap bands attached to it. Seeing this, both Phoenix and Hershel immediately realized what this machine actually was. “Wait, is that a lie detector?”, the lawyer had pointed out, and wondered why they even have one on this ship in the first place.

Hearing what Phoenix had just said, the others soon grew suspicious. Especially with Chance and Clover. Though while Amicie seemed unfazed, Dennis started to grow…nervous. With Tina nodding her head in response. “Yes, it is. This is how I'll determine whether or not you have answered the question truthfully.”, she said to them. “Question, just what kind of questions will you be asking us? Would it have anything to do with ourselves and our partners?”, Clement had questioned, looking at the lie detector closely. Receiving a nod in response from the young woman. “Exactly, though to be honest I'm unsure of what sort of questions Miss Nouncer had written.”, she said to him before leaving the stage and getting an envelope that was on a small table near the entrance.

Both Phoenix and Hershel were a bit cautious of the idea of using a lie detector test, as it will most certainly determine that they would be lying and point out how they were a fake couple to begin with. But leaving now would draw the most suspicion towards them, which would then lead to more questions about who they were and why they were here if they weren't a couple at all. A silent agreement between the two men that they should stay put in their seats. “Here it is!”, Tina had proclaimed as she began to open it up, taking the cards with the written questions on it and began to read each one.

It was then that Hershel soon noticed how with each card Tina was reading from, her expression changed from confusion to astonishment and then to fear. As if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. He began whispering this to Phoenix as well as the other couples that were around the both of them. With Starla deciding to question the ticket holder as soon as she heard what the Professor had told her. “What exactly is written on those cards anyway?”, the voice actress had asked, a bit curious as she didn't know what could be on them.

“I-I…don't think I s-should reveal the questions o-out loud.”, Tina had responded, sounding nervous. “It's just some questions, I don't think it's going to be that bad.”, Dominic had said, finding the young woman's nervous expression to be a bit confusing. “T-That's not the problem here. Look j-just…don't worry about it f-for now.”, the ticket holder had said before clearing her throat. “Let's just get the game started, I'll go in order from top to bottom.”, she continued on to say and organized the cards in her hands before stopping at one of them. Soon turning her attention to Heather and Remington Parks, who were seated at the top row seats.

“Now before you answer, I need you all to put on the band straps. The machine is already turned on.”, Tina had said, and watched as the others began to put the bands around their arms. Some looked confused while the Parks seemed annoyed but complied anyway. “What question do you have for us anyway?”, Remington had questioned, growing rather impatient. “For you and your wife, the q-question I have for you is this. How did you lose contact with all three of your sons?”, Tina had asked. Upon hearing this, Heather and Remington's eyes widened, their faces turning pale. Even the others were in disbelief by this question.

“What the hell kind of question is that? Is that actually written on that card?”, Chance had asked. Phoenix and Hershel were more so paying more attention to the reactions from the Parks, with the lawyer starting to wonder if it might be related to what he had overheard between Gumshoe and the older man. Seeing the older couple remain silent. Just what kind of game of truth or dare is this anyway?

Chapter Text

It seemed as if minutes passed by as both Heather and Remington still remained silent. Hershel had noticed how they would occasionally look from Tina to Hudson, curious as to why they kept looking at him. Everyone else waited with baited breath, not sure what else to expect after hearing what had been asked to the older couple. Soon the silence was broken as Heather decided to speak up, trying to regain her composure as she responded. “A-Are you sure that is what has been written on the card? Because if it's some kind of joke then neither me or my husband find it anywhere funny.”, she said to Tina. Her tone being a mix of annoyance as well as nervousness.

The ticket holder simply shook her head after hearing this question. “I assure you that I'm not joking about this, e-even I didn't know what would be on the cards before now.”, she said to her. “Do you…need a moment, Mr. and Mrs. Parks?”, she continued on to ask, a bit worried that something might go wrong in terms of what the older couple's reaction would be. “No, I believe we h-heard you just fine.”, Remington had said with a sigh, looking over at Hudson for one last time before turning his attention towards his wife, giving her a nod. “How we lost contact with our sons is…complicated and a long story to explain. It…it involved a false report of abuse about ten years ago. When our oldest had just enrolled in high school.”, Heather had said and soon looked up at the ceiling.

Phoenix could vaguely see that the older woman seemed to be fighting back tears. While his first impression of the couple was that he thought they were rather snooty, he didn't imagine that they could be dealing with losing contact with their kids. If what they say is the truth at least. The others who heard this were either stunned or confused, with Hudson being of the former. Hearing this response from Heather, Tina soon went up stage to check the machine. Looking at the graph that had been printed out. The silence that followed afterwards was palpable, as everyone waited to hear what the results would be. “They're telling the truth here, as shown by the results.”, Tina had said before quickly heading off stage.

“I'm curious, are lie detectors like this fully genuine?”, Bell had questioned. “In the past they weren't fully functional, but this one I had seen used before and it is actually genuine.”, Phoenix had responded to the therapist, looking over at Hershel to see that he was still looking at the couple. Lightly tapping his hand in order to get his attention. “Are you worried about them, Hershel?”, he whispered to his friend as soon as the other man looked over at him, seeing him nod his head. “I am, I'm not entirely sure of what else to say about the matter.”, Hershel had whispered back, a look of worry on his face. Hearing this, the lawyer then placed his hand around his friend's hand, in an attempt to try and comfort while waiting for Tina to say the next question.

The ticket holder's face became pale as she looked at the question card again, and soon flipped over to the next card before looking over at Dennis and Amicie. “This question is for you Mr. Smiles and Miss Oste.”, she began to say, getting the couple's attention. “When was the first time that you had met each other?”, she continued on to ask. Hearing this question, Heather and Remington seemed rather annoyed that Dennis and Amicie had received a simple question. “That seems rather basic don't you think?”, Lyra had commented, finding it a bit strange. “Regardless it isn't too hard to answer.”, Dennis had said, sounding rather confident.

“Oui, it isn't a challenge at all.”, Amicie had said in agreement. “If you're so sure then answer the question.”, Starla had said to them, wanting them to answer it right away. “You see, me and my sweetheart here had first met while we were both at this bar in France. Honestly, it was like love at first sight for us and we danced along to the music that played there.”, the dentist had said, with her agreeing along. “Is that all?”, Tina had asked, seeing the two of them nod their heads in response. The young woman soon went back to the lie detector, closely looking at the results. “See, that isn't going to be too hard. Watch, the results are going to say that we have been truthful.”, Dennis had said with a grin.

“Well there's no need to be so smug about it.”, Pascal had muttered under his breath after hearing what the dentist had just said. A couple of seconds had soon passed before Tina began to say something in regards to the results. “You're wrong there Mr. Smiles, it showed that you and Miss Oste were lying.”, she had said, with the couple in question appearing to be a bit surprised by this. “There's no way it's wrong, I'm sure there must be some kind of glitch in it.”, Dennis had said, only to see the ticket holder shake her head in response. “Why would the results be wrong anyway after Mr. Wright just told us that this kind of lie detector is legitimate?”, Chance had said to the other man.

“Well he's a lawyer and he could have just lied about it.”, the dentist had said, earning an annoyed look from Phoenix. “Just because I'm a lawyer doesn't mean I'm going to lie about this, I have seen this type of lie detector before and I can guarantee you that it won't give any false results.”, Phoenix had explained to him. Dennis was about to stand up from his seat before Amicie quickly pulled his arm back down, not wanting an argument to happen and potentially escalate further between the two of them. She then looked over at Tina once her fiance had sat down. “It's clear we have failed the test, what sort of dare would you have us do?”, she had went on to ask her.

Hearing this question, Tina then went back towards the small table where she had placed the cards at. Selecting the one in which she had asked Amicie and Dennis the question, looking at the bottom right of the card and appearing to be slightly confused for a brief moment. “For this dare, Mr. Smiles must call a person by the name of Rebecca on his phone and put her on speaker phone so the others can hear.”, she explained to them. Dennis's slightly annoyed expression soon vanished, replaced by a look of astonishment as his face then grew pale. Even Amicie seemed to be rather nervous as at the mention of the name, ‘Rebecca’.

Phoenix and Hershel were confused by this change in expression, though the scholar soon began to realize what that might mean. But decided to wait and see if his thoughts were correct, subconsciously holding on to his friend's hand a bit tighter. “I-Is…that the dare you want us to do?”, Dennis had asked, seeing Tina nod her head silently. “What, are you scared of what your mother might say over the phone? Like embarrassing stories?”, Clover had teased after seeing his expression. Earning a chuckle from both Starla and Fotina as they overheard this. 

“R-Rebecca's not…”, the dentist had trailed off before sighing. Reluctantly taking his phone out of his pocket and holding it close to him as he soon went to his contacts. Selecting the one for ‘Rebecca’, though unknown to the others except for Amicie, it went by a different contact name. One he wasn't open to share so easily. He selected the call option, the others a bit curious as to who Rebecca might be as the phone was trying to pick her up. A couple of seconds passed before a woman's voice could vaguely be heard, with Dennis putting her on speaker phone. “H-Hello honey, do you m-mind if we talk for a-a moment?”, the dentist had asked, trying to keep himself calm as he felt the other's eyes bore into him.

Amicie kept her lips sealed, ensuring that she didn't utter a single word so the woman on the other line wouldn't hear her. “Hello dear! Why do you sound so nervous? Are you having some trouble on your business trip?”, Rebecca had asked. Phoenix felt the urge to take the man's phone away and tell, what he soon realized was Dennis's wife, what was happening. Though Hershel squeezed his hand in an attempt to stop him, not that he would blame his friend for wanting to tell the unfortunate wife of her husband's infidelity. Mouthing the words, ‘Wait a moment.’, to him. Phoenix quietly sighed before nodding his head, though his expression of anger remained unchanged.

“Well, you know the boss, always wanting me to work hard and not screw around. He managed to let me get a chance to call you, that's why I didn't call you when I arrived at my destination.”, Dennis had said, looking around the room to see that the other couples looked disgusted, angry, and showing looks of disapproval. With Chance muttering the words, ‘Scumbag…’, under his breath. Looking as if he was about to punch him. “That's understandable dear, actually our daughter wants to give you a quick greeting before you go. Do you still have time?”, Rebecca had asked, with Heather and Remington having their eyes wide open after overhearing this. Both Amicie and Dennis both wished for the earth to swallow them whole at this point.

“S-Sure, that would be great right now!”, Dennis said, pretending to sound enthusiastic while feeling the incoming dread for what might happen next once this call was over. A little girl's voice was soon heard over the phone in the background before taking the phone from her mom. “Daddy! How's your trip, did you get me anything yet like you promised?”, his daughter had asked, sounding rather excited to hear from her father. “Hi sweetie, I haven't found one yet but I promise to get you a gift. Can you please bring back mommy so I can say goodbye?”, Dennis had said, his smile soon twitching as he tried not to look at anyone else.

“Okay, goodbye daddy!”, his daughter had said happily before bringing the phone back to Rebecca. “Your boss wanting you to hang up already, dear?”, she asked him. He took a deep breath before answering. “T-That's right, I have to go but I promise to call back when I get the chance. Goodbye.”, the dentist had said, hearing a goodbye from his wife before hanging up the phone. He didn't even risk to see what everyone else's expressions were, and instead looked down at the ground to avoid making eye contact. Both he and Amicie could hear their whispered voices, judging them for this. Clearing her throat, Tina decided it was best to move on, seeing the clear tension in the room as she flipped to the next card.

“L-Let's just…move on for now. Please don't f-fight.”, Tina had said, saying that last sentence quietly before looking over at the next couple, which were the Tipples. Though she could see that they were still glaring towards Amicie and Dennis. “Uh, Mr. and Mrs. Tipple, you're next.”, she called out, immediately getting their attention. “What's the question you have for us?”, Lyra had asked, occasionally looking over at her husband to check his expression. “The question I have for you two is this, why did you two decide to get married so soon?”, the ticket holder had asked, even seemingly confused for a brief moment as she read the question to herself silently.

Phoenix and Hershel had noticed how the Tipples seemed to have tensed up, with Dominic being a bit more obvious in his nervousness than his wife. “...Do we…have to give the full answer or just…partial?”, Dominic had questioned, seemingly unsure about it as he glanced over at the lie detector. Lyra was about to say something in response before Tina had quickly responded to him. “Not a full answer, either is fine. Just as long as you're truthful in what you say.”, she said to him. Hearing this, Lyra instinctively held her husband's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as a way of silently comforting him.

“The reason why is…I had to get away from my family. Otherwise, I would have been…forced to marry a monster.”, Dominic had said, his voice sounding strained as his eyes started to well up. “I can confirm this, this…monster…isn't someone you would ever want to meet.”, Lyra had said, her expression filled with concern as she looked over at her husband. Quickly taking out a handkerchief that she had hidden away and handing it to him. Watching as he took the piece of cloth and began to wipe his eyes with it. Tina, as well as the others seemed to be a bit stunned, before making her way up the stage to check the results.

If this turns out to be true, Phoenix would make a mental note to himself to not ask anything about it. While Hershel felt sympathy towards the man, understanding the implications as to what Dominic had said just now. It had only taken a short moment before Tina was done reading the test results, her face growing pale before she could say her response. “T-The test results show that i-it's the truth.”, she said before quickly leaving the stage, immediately flipping to the next card. To Phoenix, he thought that she looked as if she was about to puke. With some of the other couples looking over at Lyra and Dominic, with surprised and sympathetic expressions.

Seeing as how they were the next ones to be questioned, Phoenix began to wonder just what kind of question Tina would ask him and Hershel. Since it could be anything at this point, and trying to go with their story won't help as the lie detector would easily pick up on this. So he pretty much expected that they would have to do a dare of some kind. The scholar looked over at him for a brief moment, wondering what exactly his friend was thinking right now at this moment before hearing the sound of Tina's voice. Which also took the lawyer out of his own thoughts. Though he noticed that she didn't seem to be nauseous or even nervous, so maybe this question wouldn't be too hard to answer.

“Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton, here is your question. Do any of you know of a person by the name of Miles Edgeworth?”, Tina had asked them. Phoenix didn't really get why that was a question but he was confident in answering it, the same with Hershel as he too seemed somewhat relaxed. “Yeah of course we do, he's a friend of mine and a colleague.”, the lawyer had responded. “While I haven't known Mr. Edgeworth for as long as Phoenix had known him, I do recall meeting him a couple of times.”, Hershel had gone on to say. There was no possible way that either of them could fail this question, and watched as Tina went to check the results shown from the lie detector.

However, they weren't expecting to hear what would come out of her mouth as she announced the results. “It shows that you're lying.”, Tina had said before heading off the stage. That…can't be right. Phoenix looked at Hershel, who also seemed confused by this. He was certain they didn't tell a lie just now, so why exactly did it say that they were lying? None of it made any sense at all. But neither he nor his friend made any complaints as to whether the test could be wrong, since he himself had pretty much stated that this version of the lie detector gave genuine results. Phoenix made a mental note to himself to inspect this machine once no one else was around.

While the others didn't seem to suspect anything, Chance, Clover, and Fotina seemed rather confused. With the journalist quietly whispering to Starla, who now had that same confused look just like her wife. Though neither of them verbally questioned it either. “Would you mind telling us what we would need to do?”, Hershel had questioned, a bit curious as to what sort of dare the ticket holder wanted him and Phoenix to do. “You and Mr. Wright must kiss each other, but cheek kisses don't count.”, Tina had said, seemingly weirded out by this. Both the lawyer and his friend immediately widened their eyes as they heard this, their cheeks turning a slight shade of red.

“Quick question, is it really alright to make them do this dare in the first place?”, Clement had questioned, noticing how embarrassed and flustered Phoenix and Hershel appeared to be. “Yeah, I feel like it's kind of like…forcing them to kiss.”, Pascal had said in agreement. “I do understand your concerns from you two, though I'm afraid there's nothing I can do on the matter. I wasn't the one-”, Tina started to say before cutting herself off, afraid of getting into trouble for revealing too much information. “Why can't you just change the dare then? I mean, like calling their parents or doing some silly dance. Something else entirely.”, Starla had voiced, with Fotina nodding along in agreement.

Tina could see the others voice their agreements with what Starla had just suggested, with the exception of Dominic who remained quiet as he tried to calm himself down. Of course she wouldn't mind at all changing the dare for Phoenix and Hershel, finding it to be a weird dare to give. Even more so than what Dennis and Amicie had to do. That's when an idea came to mind. “...Give me one moment please.”, she said reluctantly before rushing out of the room with a walkie talkie in hand. Not really knowing if this might work out or not, but it was certainly worth a try.

Phoenix and Hershel remained silent as they heard the others voice their own disapproval over this. After all, they could have remembered how they had pretty much mentioned that they didn't really share public affection all that much as part of their elaborate story as a pretend couple. Though the lawyer was worried about what might happen should they do this dare. He…definitely held some feelings towards his friend but he really didn't want to do something like this. Especially with the risk of making the Professor feel very uncomfortable, and soon looked over to see Hershel was pretty much looking up at the ceiling.

“...Hershel?”, the lawyer had quietly said to the man, catching his friend's attention as he turned his head to look at him. “What is it, Phoenix?”, Hershel had asked, the blush on his face no longer there. “Let's go ahead and leave this room, while Miss Hacket isn't here.”, he suggested quietly to him, wanting to get both him and himself out of this room as soon as possible and hide away back in their cabin room. The scholar nodded his head in agreement, and they were about to stand up from their seats before seeing Tina return. ‘So much for that idea…’, Phoenix had thought, a little annoyed that she didn't stay out of the room for too long.

When Tina had returned, she had a look of disappointment etched on her face, as well as a hint of annoyance as she took one last look at the walkie talkie before placing it on the table. But it was more like slamming it down, surprising the others as a result by the loud noise that followed. “...I have a bit of bad news, unfortunately there's nothing I can do in regards to changing the dare.”, she had said, a look of guilt on her before noticing how almost everyone seemed rather disappointed. “Wait, uh would it be alright if we just do it behind the curtain? The dare didn't say anything about whether or not you would need to see us kiss.”, Phoenix had brought up, not failing to notice the blush that soon returned to Hershel's cheeks as he suggested this.

Tina seemed to be a bit surprised, as she never really thought of it like that. At the very least it would give some privacy and make things feel less awkward. “I suppose that could work, there wasn't anything specifying that I or anyone else has to see it.”, she said to him. Despite his flustered look, Hershel was a bit appreciative towards this suggestion in privacy, smiling at his friend and noticing the look of confidence. However, that soon quickly faded as the sound of Anna's voice could be heard over the announcement speaker, catching everyone else's attention.

“I apologize but unfortunately Miss Tina Hacket must oversee each dare that is to be performed, there are no exceptions to this rule in any way. I hope you all enjoy yourselves.”, Anna had said before the sound of announcement was soon cut off. Hearing this, Phoenix was rather angered by this while Hershel seemed a bit disappointed and tried to hide his saddened expression. The others soon voiced their own objections to this. “She can't just do that right on the spot!”, Chance had said, sounding annoyed. “I mean it's not like she can just force us to keep doing this, she hasn't even showed up once.”, Heather had retorted.

Which had quickly devolved into small chaos, each person cursing at Anna or mentioning how she wasn't a good hostess. With Tina empathizing with them, all the while trying to calm them down so things won't get too out of hand. It was then that Phoenix had noticed how quiet his friend was, looking over at him with a worried expression. “Are you alright Hershel?”, he asked him, hoping that he had heard what he said over the sound of the others talking amongst themselves. “...I have…dealt with worse.”, was Hershel's response, as he tried to think of a way they could get out of this situation right now.

The lawyer frowned a little before coming up with an idea, as he wasn't sure what would happen if they tried to sneak out. “This is going to sound crazy but…”, he started to say before trailing off. “What is it, Phoenix?”, the scholar had asked, a bit curious as to what kind of idea the other man might have thought of. “W-Well how do I say this…we could do the dare so that way we won't somehow get p-punished for it later on. O-Only if you're alright with it, Hershel?”, Phoenix had suggested, sounding a bit nervous. He would not blame his friend at all if he were to decline, considering how this whole game had turned out to be a complete shit show.

The lawyer looked at the other man's face, trying to see what sort of reaction Hershel would have. Only to see a look of surprise and nervousness on his face, patiently waited for his response. Though when he heard his next words, he couldn't help but be rather surprised by it. “...I-I suppose we could get this over with, only let's make it a quick one.”, Hershel had said to him, looking away out of embarrassment. “A-Alright then…”, Phoenix had said, taking a quick look over towards Tina. Who was still trying to quell the chaos but could see that she was occasionally glancing over at them.

Taking a quick deep breath, the lawyer soon leaned in towards his friend, placing a chaste kiss on his lips and making sure that it only lasted for a quick second. Pulling away, he could see that Hershel appeared to be flustered, eyes darting around the room as he wasn't entirely sure how to react or what to say next. That's when it began to register just how completely silent it was right now, as the other couples who were sharing their grievances towards the hostess of this event had now looked over at the two of them. Prompting the scholar to stand up from his seat. “P-Please excuse me for one moment.”, Hershel had said before quickly darting out of the room.

Phoenix was a bit surprised, and paying the others no mind he immediately dashed out of the room as well. Following after his friend to make sure to see how was doing. Which by his estimates, was most likely not good. Though he already figured where Hershel would be heading, and it wouldn't be long until he would find him in their cabin room.

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Hershel held his head in his hands as what had happened before he quickly left the room replayed in his mind, sitting on the edge of his bed when he made it to the shared cabin room. The soft and warm feeling of Phoenix's lips against his, and while it didn't last long, he thought it felt…nice. But that was selfish of him to think that way, considering how they didn't really have a choice in the matter. It didn't feel like a real one, and he began to internally blame himself for panicking and leaving in a hurry. Leaving his friend behind like that. It wasn't long until he felt a few tears begin to well up as he began to think of how disappointed the lawyer appeared to be. Especially when it would be towards him…

That's when he heard the sound of the door opening and closing, and it didn't take him long to realize that it was Phoenix as he soon heard his voice. Filled with worry and concern, though he didn't dare look up right now as he tried to get rid of the tears that continued to well up. “Hershel…can you hear me right now?”, the lawyer had asked, in which the scholar's only response was a nod of his head. He could hear his friend let out a sigh before feeling one side of the bed dip, prompting him to look over to see that Phoenix was now sitting right next to him.

Hershel could see that he was occasionally glancing over at him, and was thankful that he had stopped the tears. Though he wasn't quite sure when they would start to build up again. “...Are you…mad at me Phoenix?”, the scholar had decided to ask as he looked over at his friend, who now seemed to be rather confused after hearing this question. “Why would I be mad at you, Hershel? I came by to see how you were holding up.”, the lawyer responded as he took a quick look at his eyes for a second. As if he was looking for something in particular. “I take it then that would be a no, right?”, he continued on to say to him.

“...You would be correct. I admit that I…panicked when that happened.”, Hershel said with a shaky sigh before feeling his friend's hand on his shoulder. “Honestly I don't blame you there, now back to my earlier question. Why do you think that I would be mad at you for running out of the room?”, the lawyer had questioned, a look of worry on his face. “I…suppose it's mostly due to how I could have potentially messed things up for you.”, the scholar had said, though this would confuse the American for a brief moment until he started to realize what he was actually implying towards.

“You mean that dumb plan Edgeworth came up with? Look, that isn't any of your fault at all Hershel. If anything…I want to apologize for getting you into this mess.”, Phoenix had said with a look of guilt. Hershel was a bit taken aback by this as he never really saw this as any of his fault either, he just wanted to help him get on the cruise ship so he could learn who could be involved with the mafia. “Don't blame yourself Phoenix, I wouldn't mind at all in helping you out with a situation that could be rather difficult, even if more than one person is assisting you. After all, it is why I agreed to go with you on this trip in the first place.”, Hershel had gone on to admit, seeing his friend appeared to be surprised.

“So regardless whether or not this trip was a couple's cruise, you still would have come along with me?”, Phoenix had questioned him, and he simply nodded his head in response. “Of course, after all a friend usually helps another friend in need.”, Hershel had said, as a slight smile appeared on his lips. The lawyer was speechless for a moment before he smiled back at him, and the scholar had to try not to blush. Though it wasn't long until his friend's smile soon disappeared, soon turning into a look of annoyance and anger as he looked over his shoulder.

Hershel turned to look and see where Phoenix was looking at, only to see that it was the lawyer's own phone. It didn't take him long to realize why he was looking at the phone, as he had a feeling it might involve Miles. His friend soon got up from the bed and went over to pick up the phone, a look of astonishment appeared for a brief moment before he began contacting Mile's number. “What exactly are you going to tell Mr. Edgeworth?”, the scholar had asked, getting his friend's attention. “You know how you suggested that we get off this ship earlier? Well, I decided to change my mind.”, Phoenix had said to him, surprising the Professor.

Hershel hadn't intended that would be the case, considering the good points that Phoenix had brought up. He didn't think that leaving right now would be a good idea as they didn't even have a way to get back to the city. He had a bad feeling about this and decided to go over towards his friend. A couple of seconds later, Miles then picked up the phone, though the prosecutor on the other end didn't get a chance to respond. “Edgeworth, what the hell is this all about?! You told us that this was just a trip we needed to go in order to find the couple involved with the mafia. So spill!”, the lawyer had begun to say. “Shouldn't you explain more about the situation, Phoenix?”, the scholar had whispered to him, though he wasn't sure if his friend had heard him.

The scholar couldn't hear what was being said on the other end, though he imagined that Miles might have been confused as to what had just been said by Phoenix. He soon heard his friend scoff in response before he began speaking again. “That's not all there is, Edgeworth. There's a reason why you had Gumshoe follow us. Something you aren't willing to tell us. But that's not all I have to say. This time this whole thing has gone on long enough!”, the lawyer had said, his anger not showing any signs of decreasing. “Phoenix, please try to calm yourself. I don't think anger is going to help solve this.”, he advised him quietly. Only to see the other man hold up his finger, indicating to hold on for a moment before he responded to the prosecutor.

“No, no one has been hurt or killed. I'm talking about how I can't stand the fact that Hershel has to give up his own comfort just to help me get on this damn ship. I appreciate his help nonetheless, but I don't want him to feel so uncomfortable during the duration of this five day trip. But this time I've had enough, especially with what just happened. I want you to find a way to get us off this ship so Hershel won't have to continue feeling this way anymore.”, Phoenix had explained, surprising the scholar as he overheard this. This was something he wasn't expecting to hear, and was rather speechless by his friend's words. ‘Could this be…?’, Hershel thought to himself, too busy being in thought that he didn't really process what else Phoenix was saying over the phone.

Of course by the time Hershel had stopped thinking to himself and said something, his friend had already hung up the phone. A slightly frustrated look on his face as he sighed to himself before looking over towards him. “I'm…sorry Hershel. It's just…the stress and frustration getting to me.”, the lawyer had said to him, looking away at the ground. “I suppose that could have gone better, maybe we can take this moment to walk around the deck. Assuming that the game in the theater might be on pause.”, the scholar had said to him, earning a slight frown from his friend.

“With the chaos happening there earlier, I doubt it will continue. Besides, I don't want to step foot in there unless it involves inspecting that lie detector.”, Phoenix had said to him, earning a nod from the Professor. “Fair enough, not that I wouldn't blame you. Though we would have to tell the others that we will be taking our leave, considering what you had just requested for Mr. Edgeworth to do.”, Hershel had said to him. “I…fair, I mean they would definitely wonder where we would be at. Maybe somehow we can still find out more about this mafia group when we get back to Los Angeles.”, the American had said before taking his friend's hand in his.

“Plus I have to call back Maya, she left a few voice-mails before I called Edgeworth.”, he continued on to say before leading him out of the room, with the scholar following alongside him. “Perhaps there might have been something Miss Fey had discovered while we were away.”, Hershel had said to him, seeing his friend nod his in agreement. Just as they stepped out of their cabin room, all the lights in the hallway as well as any other room, had gone out completely. Plunging the area they were in in total darkness, surprising both of them in the process.

“Huh?! Who turned out the lights?!”, Phoenix said, sounding a bit startled. Though Hershel did his best to steel his nerves over the sudden black out. “Let's just lean against the wall for now, Phoenix. At least until the lights come back on.”, he went on to suggest, though he made sure to stay close to his friend's side and held his hand tight. “Y-Yeah, let's do that then.”, the lawyer said as he took a deep breath. Before both the two of them leaned towards the wall and began walking through the dark hallway.

A few minutes had passed as they kept walking alongside the wall and rounding a corner, but soon enough the lights started to flicker before coming back on. It was a bit of relief that they no longer had to keep walking in the dark, but it was short lived as they soon noticed a disturbing scene a couple of feet away from them. Down the hallway, they could see a black haired woman laying face down on the ground, lying in a pool of blood with a bloody dagger laying right beside her. Not to mention they don't even recognize her at all. Needless to say, they were both stunned by this as they weren't expecting for someone to get killed.

“I think…we should contact Mr. Edgeworth about this and have him change that plan. This is more urgent now.”, Hershel had said to him, watching as his friend turned towards him with a nod of his head. “No need to tell me twice, we should head back as quickly as possible.”, Phoenix had said and soon they began to head back to their cabin, unaware of a figure looking around the corner of the hallway. Leaving the scene in order to not get caught for the crime they had committed.

Chapter Text

It had been some time since Maya had last left a call for Phoenix, and already she's starting to grow worried as she stared at her phone. Holding on to it in case he did call her back. She didn't think that he might have called Miles either as he would have to notice the voicemails she left for him. The medium didn't think that her friend would deliberately ignore them. “C'mon Nick, pick up…”, she said to herself quietly, going to her messages to see if maybe he was about to send a message. So far, no sign of him typing. She started to wonder if either he or the Professor might have run into some trouble on the ship.

Maya thought back to the message that her sister had left for her after she had channeled her spirit. In which Mia had mentioned in the note she had written down that Covalence consisted of two people working under the Velenocosto family. A known mafia group. Something that the medium was at least a little bit aware of thanks to Miles and that person known as D.C. Though that wasn't all her sister had left, as this Mafia family was known for selling rare medicine, weapons, poisons, and remedies on the black market, and using different restaurants as fronts. Even being involved with stealing goods from a known pharmaceutical company called Parks and Remedy Inc.

The medium had remembered hearing about this company, mostly for the medicine that they made. One of them being used for stomach viruses called Potruseline, or Pots as she amusingly called it. Though she did wonder why a mafia group would want to steal different types of medicine from a pharmaceutical company, as Mia didn't really mention any potential reason for this either in her note. Which is why during one of her voicemails to Phoenix, she had mentioned this along with asking him if he knew anyone by the name of D.C.

Maya contemplated sending him at least a text message, asking him where he might be at right now when the phone in her hand began to ring. Seeing that it was coming from Phoenix. She didn't hesitate at all when she immediately answered the phone and started talking to him. “Where have you been Nick?! I've been trying to get a hold of you for a while!”, she said, sounding a little annoyed but also relieved that her friend finally called her back. “Sorry Maya, I didn't have my phone on me. I did listen to your voice mails though.”, the lawyer had said, sounding a bit guilty as he heard her voice. “We can talk about what you mentioned later, right now isn't a good time.”, he continued on to say.

Maya was a bit confused as she heard him say this, wondering if something might have happened at the ship. “Did something happen over there?”, the medium had decided to ask, not sure what could have possibly happened on the cruise he and the Professor were on. “Well a few things happened but the most urgent one is that there's a dead body. I think Edgeworth might have told Gumshoe about this after I called him as he came by rather quickly to help preserve the scene of the crime.”, Phoenix explained to her, surprising the medium as she never expected for a murder to happen on the ship.

“Really?! Was it any of the passengers that might be on board? How was this person killed?”, she began to ask, wanting to know more about the details. “Thankfully it isn't any of the passengers, but the thing is, is that neither me or Hershel know who the victim is. We had never seen her before on the ship until now.”, Phoenix responded to her. Listening to this, Maya began to get her things ready. Wanting to find some way to get on the ship so she could help him out. “Okay, I'm going to head there right now!”, she said before hearing her friend's voice again.

“Don't tell me you're actually going to get on this ship, Maya. How the hell are you going to get there, swim your way through the ocean?”, the lawyer questioned, sounding rather confused as to why she wanted to go to the S.S. Genevieve. “I'll find a way, besides I'm sure there might be a few boats I could borrow to get there.”, Maya responded, sounding very serious. Plus she had thought about swimming at first but quickly shot that idea down. Maybe she should start practicing in case another opportunity like this pops up again sometime in the future. She heard a sigh from the other end, a sigh she recognized as defeat and began to smile.

“...Look I won't stop you from coming but you better not get yourself in trouble. Just go with Edgeworth when he does send in reinforcements.”, Phoenix had said to her. “So Edgeworth already knows about this then, since you mentioned Gumshoe protecting the crime scene and get reinforcements then, right?”, the medium had asked, and she could visualize her friend nodding his head as she heard his next response. “Yeah I already got that taken care of. I'll call you again later, alright.”, he said to her before she quickly started talking again. “Just one quick question before you hang up, would Edgeworth still be at the Prosecutor's office?”, she asked him.

“He should be still there, if not then just make your way to the port. Remember, don't cause or get into any trouble with the officers or Edgeworth.”, Phoenix had said to her before hanging up the phone. Maya soon put away her phone, before realizing that she had forgotten to ask about the Professor. Though she imagined that Hershel must have been helping with Gumshoe or trying to calm any of the passengers that might be on board. But she figured she would ask her friend more about the situation once she actually gets on the ship. Putting her phone away in her small purse, she began heading on out of the office. Making sure to lock the door behind her as she left.

Just as she began to head down the road, she noticed a familiar figure coming towards her. More specifically wearing a dark trench coat and a black trillbilly hat, recognizing him as Mauler. ‘What is he doing here right now?’, Maya had thought to herself. “The office is still closed Mr…?”, she started to say before trailing off, as she didn't really get any kind of last name from the guy. “...Just Mauler would suffice, Miss Fey.”, he said to her in response as he approached her, his voice sounding a bit monotonous. “Besides, I'm not here to enter your office. I came by to ask you a few questions.”, he continued on to say. Her first thought was how he had known her name before realizing that this D.C. person must have told him.

“Well can it be quick questions? I need to get somewhere in a hurry.”, Maya had said to him. This seemed to make the man curious, as his expression slightly changed. Though not by much. “Oh? Where exactly are heading off to?”, Mauler had asked her. “It's a long story but I need to get on the S.S. Genevieve, Nick told me that there's been a murder and I need to help him out.”, she said in response. It was then she noticed that he seemed…worried? Kind of hard to describe but it was clear he seemed uncomfortable for some reason. “...A…murder? Did Mr. Wright mention who the victim is?”, he asked her.

“Uh no, he only told me that it was someone neither he or the Professor knew.”, she said in response. Though she then realized that her friend didn't give a description of what the victim looked like. Something she would then have to find out later once she does board the ship. Mauler did seem to be a bit slightly confused at the mention of the Professor, but he didn't really ask about him. Instead, he had gone on to say something else. “...I see then, so as you said before, you're planning on boarding the S.S. Genevieve?”, he asked, wanting further clarification. Maya nodded her head in response. “That's right, though I'll probably have to take a boat to get there.”, she said to him.

Mauler seemed to be silent after hearing her confirm this, and she wasn't even sure if he might be looking at something else considering he still had those sunglasses covering his eyes. Making her wonder just what exactly he might be thinking about right now. “...Normally I wouldn't suggest this but how about you come with me?”, he then went on to ask after a few seconds of silence. Maya was rather confused, wondering why he suggested this idea. “Wait, why do you want me to come along with you?”, she questioned, feeling a little bit skeptical about this. “For a simple summary, D.C. had gone on the ship before it sailed off. They planned on informing me more as to what could be happening on the cruise ship around four in the afternoon but I haven't heard from them since.”, he explained to her.

Listening to what had just been said, Maya quickly took her cellphone out to check the time, seeing that it was close to 5:30. “Maybe D.C. could be busy with something?”, she had gone on to ask, only to see the man shake his head. “That's not the case, when D.C. says they will tell or meet with me about something at a certain time, they always follow through. They have never been late, it's why I came to see you to see if they could have potentially contacted you at some point other than when you had made contact with them earlier.”, Mauler had explained to her.

Maya chalked this up to D.C. telling the other man about the call, but as far as she can remember, that was the only time she had spoken to this mysterious person. “Well the only time I had talked to them was when I called their number, where they told me some information about the Velenocosto family before abruptly hanging up with no warning. I haven't called or received a call from them since.”, the medium had gone on to confirm. That's when Mauler appeared to be slightly troubled by this information. “Then we have no time to waste, come along with me and I will go with you to board the ship.”, he had gone on to say before he started to head off quickly.

Maya had to quickly follow after him, making sure not to lose him. “Wait for me, but what about Edgeworth? I think he might be expecting me to show up and go with him instead.”, she had then brought up to him. “Then you will just have to call him later about your change of plans, preferably on the ride to the S.S. Genevieve.”, the man had replied, showing no signs of slowing down. “Wait, so just how are we going to get on the ship anyway?”, the medium had went on to ask, not entirely sure what kind of mode of transportation he planned on using.

“You'll find out once we reach the port, right now, don't slow down or catch a break until we get there. It's going to take us a little while to reach the port.”, Mauler had responded to her, though he didn't face her as he continued running. Her eyes widened as she heard him say this, and could feel the burning sensation on the back of her legs. “I don't think I can run that long though.”, she complained but continued running anyway. Silently hoping they would find the shortest route to take in order to get to the port.

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“So have you told the captain to weigh anchor so the ship would stop moving?”, Miles had asked Anna over the phone. He and a good amount of police and forensics had already arrived at the port. As soon as he informed that a murder had taken place on the S.S. Genevieve to some of the detectives, they immediately took to action. He was slightly impressed with how quickly they acted, something that he respected. Right now, he was busy calling Anna Nouncer, too busy to notice that he had received a text message from Phoenix about Maya coming over to his location.

“Yes, though this was before a body had been reported. You see, the power had gone out in the cabin room area. Where our passengers are staying in. We don't know the cause of the blackout but the ship's captain had immediately dropped anchor as soon as this was detected. So we're currently still not moving.”, Anna had went on to explain to him, even sounding a bit worried over the events that had transpired. “What about surveillance in the area, any cameras overlooking to see what could have happened?”, Miles had questioned. “Yes, but as I said before, the power was cut out. Meaning it wouldn't have shown what could have happened during this. Only before and after the black out.”, she responded.

He was afraid that would be the answer, though had wanted to ask and see if there was perhaps some kind of backup generator for the surveillance cameras. Maybe once they see the footage, it could help narrow down the time frame in which the murder had been carried out. “Any information on the victim, were they a passenger?”, Miles had gone on to ask, only to hear complete silence on the other end for a couple of seconds. Why did it take her a moment to respond after a short period of silence anyway?

“That's…uh, difficult to explain at the moment. To be honest, neither I nor the staff onboard know about her at all. I don't even recall meeting her, but with how she's dressed, it makes it seem like she was one of the waitresses hired to serve food to the passengers.”, Anna had said to him, sounding completely uncertain. At least it made sense she didn't respond right away, thinking that the victim could have been a stowaway and disguised herself as a waitress for the cruise. Though he would definitely need to learn more about her identity as soon as possible. “I see then, at the least try and figure out more on who she is before we get there.”, Miles had advised, before thinking back to the conversation he had with Phoenix before he informed him of the dead body.

“We will certainly try our best with what we have.”, she said and was about to hang up the phone before the prosecutor quickly interrupted. “Though there is one last thing I wish to ask you about, if you don't mind.”, Miles had gone on to say. “Oh? What would that be, Mr. Edgeworth?”, she questioned, a bit curious as to what he was going to ask her. “Would you mind telling me what has been going on before Mr. Layton and Wright had found the dead body and the power going out? Any events that had been hosted by you?”, he had asked her. “Before those two events, I had arranged for the couples to play a game of truth or dare with the usage of a lie detector. Anyone who fails the lie detector test has to do a dare. It was supposed to be a quiz game but I thought it would be too boring.”, she replied.

That was…certainly an odd way to play the game, though he couldn't deny the creative aspect to it. At least it was kind of different compared to the sort of truth or dare games Larry had mentioned, more like ranted, to him at one point. Though he was a bit curious as to what had happened during this game, recalling the anger from Phoenix during the earlier phone call. “I see then, please make sure that another murder doesn't take place there.”, Miles had said before hanging up the phone. It was then he noticed a message sent by the lawyer, and before he could check, one of the officers had approached him.

“Mr. Edgeworth sir! We have spotted a man in a dark trench coat along with a young woman wearing purple hippie clothes quickly approaching here.”, the officer had informed him. Miles didn't know who the man with the dark trench coat was but he definitely recognized how the young woman was described. Realizing that it was Maya. “Just send them to me here when they do arrive, we still have plenty of time left before setting sail towards the vessel.”, he said to the officer. Who responded with a quick salute before joining up with the rest of the other officers. Who now seemed more on guard.

‘Just what exactly is Maya doing with a man wearing a dark trench coat?’, Miles had thought to himself, as well as wondering why she was heading here to the port with this man. Remembering that Phoenix had left him a message, the prosecutor decided to take his chance to see what kind of message his friend had sent to him. In this message, the lawyer informed him that Maya would be on his way to see him and join up with him to get on the ship. He simply sighed to himself after reading this, putting his phone away in his pocket.

That certainly did explain why Maya was heading here to the port, but how exactly did she know that he and the other law enforcement would be here as well? He figured he would ask her about it once she did arrive, along with asking that man who he was and why he was with her. He just hoped it wasn't another kidnapping situation like last time. Within minutes, he could see the recognizable outfit that the medium would usually wear, looking quite out of breath. Noticing the man with her who was wearing a pair of shades and a black trillbilly hat.

Almost immediately, officers then swarmed the pair, stopping them from going any further. Though they were more focused on the man in the dark attire, unsure of who he was. Miles proceeded to walk up towards him, and he felt as if he might have seen this guy before but wasn't sure when he might met him. “Edge…worth…”, Maya said as she tried to catch her breath, completely hunched over. “Maya, would you mind telling me why you came to see me and how you knew I would be here?”, the prosecutor had questioned while briefly glancing over at the other man. Seeing that he had his hands up as soon as the officers had surrounded him.

“Was…planning to…see you…at your…office…”, the medium breathed out before she slowly stood up straight. “Met Mauler…on the way out of the office. Decided to join him…in order to get to the S.S. Genevieve. Didn't know…you would be here too.”, she explained as she was able to catch her breath. Hearing this, he looked over at the man he now believed as ‘Mauler’. Though hearing that name, he was able to realize where he might have met him before. “If it isn't Mr. Samson Leuth, I never thought I would see or hear of you again. Where's your partner and why is Maya with you?”, the prosecutor had gone on to ask, stunning the medium in the process as she overheard this.

“Wait, you know who Mauler and D.C. are?!”, Maya had questioned, sounding rather surprised. Hearing this, the officers did take a few steps back but were still wary of Mauler. “Not personally no, though I have heard what they were able to accomplish together. Even encountering Mr. Leuth at one point. He and D.C. are private detectives that mostly work on cases relating to the mafia as well as anything related to the black market.”, Miles had explained to her. With Mauler nodding his head in agreement. “Mr. Edgeworth is correct, though I would appreciate it if you just use my code name instead of my real name.”, he said to the other man.

Maya never quite expected that the prosecutor would know about either of them, which made her wonder if he might potentially know D.C.’s real identity. “Wait, so do you know who D.C. is then, Edgeworth?”, the medium had gone on to ask, only to be disappointed when she saw him shake his head. “I only know of…Mauler's real identity but not D.C.’s, I only heard of them so I have no clue as to what they look like.”, Miles had said to her. “D.C. prefers to keep their identity private, not wanting anyone to know who they are. I'm the only one that knows and will not reveal it so don't even ask.”, Mauler had said before looking over at the ocean for a brief moment.

“Darn, I was hoping you might know something about them.”, Maya said in response, pouting a little. “Now back to my original question.”, Miles had said before turning his attention back towards Mauler. “Where exactly is D.C. and why are you and Maya planning on going to the S.S. Genevieve?”, he had gone on to ask, waiting for an answer. “I had lost contact with D.C. earlier, they told me that they were planning on telling me more information around four in the afternoon but I haven't heard from them. Miss Fey only contacted them once. Though she told me that she was planning on assisting Mr. Wright with figuring out the killer on the ship.”, Mauler had explained to him.

At least that definitely helps explain why Maya had mentioned about planning on seeing him at his office, not being too surprised that Mauler would have used a hidden transportation method to get on the ship with her. “Since it seems that you and Maya are planning on heading to the S.S. Genevieve, I would suggest that you two come along with us. We were just about ready to leave when you both showed up.”, Miles had gone on to suggest, noticing how Maya appeared to be excited by this. “Wow! Thanks Edgeworth!”, she said enthusiastically before making her way to the boat that the other officers and forensics team were on. Not letting the prosecutor get a chance to say anything else.

Miles sighed as he watched her head towards the boat, and soon heard Mauler's voice. “Why exactly do you wish to help us get on board, Mr. Edgeworth? Would this have anything to do with Mr. Wright and this…Professor person?”, the private detective had questioned him. “You would be right about that assumption, though I would rather not speak any further about it at the moment.”, the prosecutor responded before gesturing towards the medium who was getting on the boat. The private detective could see this, and decided to not question any more on it. Other than wanting to know why the prosecutor would help them out. “Then what about your reasoning for assisting us? I had something planned that would be used to help myself and Miss Fey to get on the ship.”, he went on to question.

“Mostly to ensure that nothing happens to either you or Maya while you go out to open waters. Considering what had happened, I wouldn't be surprised if the killer might be involved with a certain criminal group.”, Miles responded to him. As much of a trouble maker Maya could be, he didn't want to see her get hurt over this. Not to mention how Phoenix would react if something might happen. He doubted that the lawyer would ever forgive him for it. “You do make a good point, plus it's best to stick together when it comes to something as serious as this. How long do you think it would take for us to arrive at the vessel?”, Mauler had asked him.

“I had just called Miss Nouncer about the details, she explained how they dropped anchor as soon as they received word that a body had been discovered. With the ship stopped in place, I would wager that it would take us a couple of hours to arrive.”, Miles said to him, and soon noticed a look of uncertainty on the private detective's face. “Surely they have someone to help protect the body so no one tries to tamper with it or take any evidence.”, Mauler had pointed out. “Don't worry, I had sent Detective Gumshoe to get on the ship. Knowing him, he will ensure that nothing like that happens. Plus, Wright and Mr. Layton will be on there as well to help make further progress before we arrive.”, the prosecutor explained to him.

It was then that he noticed the other man soon appeared to have a suspicious look, most likely towards the mention of Hershel just now. But before the private detective could say anything, the two of them soon heard Maya call out to them. “C'mon you two, we need to get on that ship!”, the medium had called out, most likely getting impatient. “If you're wondering who Mr. Layton is then I would explain about him to you while on the ride there.”, Miles had said before he began making his way towards the boat. With Mauler following behind, along with the other police officers as well. “That would be helpful, yes. I haven't heard of this Mr. Layton fellow. Mr. Wright is the only one I'm aware of at the moment.”, the private detective had said to him.

Admittedly, Miles was curious as to how either Mauler and quite possibly D.C. would have known about Phoenix. There was a good chance the two private detectives might have heard his name from the papers but what he was aware about the two of them, could have done their own investigation on his friend. He doubted that the lawyer would have any idea about their existence, and hoped that Maya at least informed him about this when she had first learned of them. “If I tell you about Mr. Layton, then you must explain to me how you and D.C. know about Wright. No use in trying to hide it.”, he said to Mauler as both he and the other man got on the boat. Seeing Maya bouncing on her seat, maybe due to excitement?

“...Understandable.”, Mauler had simply said, trying not to appear to be surprised with how the prosecutor knew about how he and D.C. knew about Phoenix. “There you two are, what took you so long?”, Maya had said as soon as she spotted them, slightly pouting as a result. “Mostly discussing amongst ourselves, did Wright call you back at any point while you were waiting on this boat?”, Miles responded before going on to question her. Only to see the medium shake her head. “He hadn't, I think that he and the Professor could be too busy investigating things on the cruise ship.”, she said to him before taking her phone, most likely checking to see if maybe she might have received a message or not.

“I see then, while you're at it, please do inform him that you're with me and that we will be on our way as fast as possible.”, Miles had advised her. Seeing the medium nod her head as she began typing out a message to Phoenix. He would have called himself but he didn't think that his friend would want to talk to him at the moment, recalling how angry he sounded just before he called him back to inform him of the murder. He definitely had to find some way to make it up to both him and Hershel, remembering what the lawyer had mentioned about the Professor. As well as learn about what could have potentially upsetted the scholar in some way. As Phoenix was rather vague about it when he first mentioned this.

“You know you could have called him yourself, even if he was investigating with this Mr. Layton fellow.”, Mauler had pointed out as he went to take his seat. Observing the officers getting on board. “...I would rather not.”, the prosecutor had said, a slightly annoyed expression forming on his face as he too took his seat right beside Maya. Who now seemed rather curious as to why he wouldn't call the lawyer himself. “Why not, I don't see why you can't call him right now and tell him yourself.”, Maya had said in response, only to see the prosecutor appear to be more annoyed. “...Like I said, I would prefer not to. Now let's just get ready to sail off towards the S.S. Genevieve.”, Miles said to her.

Hearing this, the officer controlling the boat made sure that everyone else was board before starting the small vessel. Seeing the other boats along side him as he began to set sail and headed towards where the cruise ship would be at. Going as fast as possible to get there on time, with the other boats following suit.

Chapter Text

Something that Phoenix and Hershel to both agree on was to have Gumshoe keep watch over the scene of the crime and to inform the others as to what had just happened. The lawyer didn't exactly trust Anna in informing the other passengers, considering the events that had played out during that ‘game’ in the theater. He even made sure to have his magatama and phone on him. Thankfully when they were trying to find the detective, they had bumped into him rather quickly. With Gumshoe explaining how he came out of hiding when he noticed that most of the lights had gone out. “Wait so who kicked the bucket then?!”, the detective had questioned, his expression filled with astonishment after getting told what had happened during the blackout.

“We don't really know, unfortunately. Neither me or Phoenix know who the victim is as we never encountered her before.”, Hershel had said to Gumshoe. “Though she did seem to be wearing an outfit similar to what the other waitresses wear and has black hair.”, Phoenix had added in, describing the victim's appearance as much as possible. It was then that he and the scholar soon noticed a look of recognition on the other man's face. “...You know, her description sounds rather familiar. Please show me where her body is right now.”, Gumshoe had said.

‘Could he possibly know who the victim might be?’, Hershel had pondered before both he and Phoenix soon led the detective to the scene of the crime. Upon seeing this horrific scene, Gumshoe's face visibly blanched. Due to a death happening on the cruise as well as somewhat recognizing the victim. “Wait, I've seen her before! She's the woman that I was talking about with you earlier when I encountered you and Mr. Layton in the dining hall!”, Gumshoe had said before going over to take a good look at the crime scene. “Do you know her name now?”, the lawyer had asked him, only to see the other man shake his head in disappointment. “Unfortunately no, while I had encountered her another time later on, she still refused to tell me her name. Until we know what her real identity is, we'll have to refer to the victim as ‘Jane Doe’ for the time being.”, Gumshoe had responded.

Phoenix was a bit disappointed by his response but he figured there wasn't anything he could do about it. “Would you mind telling us when was the last time you had met her, Detective Gumshoe?”, Hershel had asked him after thinking to himself for a moment. Mostly wondering why the victim would refuse to give out her name. The detective seemed deep in thought after hearing this question, most likely trying to remember the last time he had seen the victim. “Well, probably before that quiz game that you two were supposed to go to. She told me I needed to oversee what was going on, however I got lost on the way there.”, Gumshoe had explained to the both of them.

“I see, though it turns out that ‘quiz game’ was actually a game of truth or dare.”, Phoenix had gone on to say, and he could see the Detective's eyes light up in response. “Oh! Did you two have fun?”, Gumshoe had asked, looking rather excited. At least until he noticed the slightly awkward looks shared between both Phoenix and Hershel. Even seeing how there was a slight reddish tint on their cheeks. “...Wait, it didn't go well, did it?”, he went on to ask. “Not going well would be…an understatement at best.”, the lawyer had responded while his friend remained quiet. Phoenix briefly looked over at the scholar, a bit worried over how his friend was currently feeling.

“Sorry you two had to go through that, even if I don't know what went down. Listen, you two go and make sure that the other passengers are safe while I keep watch here.”, Gumshoe had said to them. “We already planned on informing the others as to what had happened, though I wish you the best of luck, detective.”, Hershel had said once he got over the brief moment of awkwardness. “Yeah, we'll see you again later.”, Phoenix had added in before he and his friend left the area to go find the others. During their walk, the scholar had decided to ask the taller male a certain question. “...I hope you don't mind me asking, Phoenix. Do you know if maybe the other passengers might still be in the theater?”, he went on to ask.

“To be honest, I don't really know if they're still there or not. I pretty much ran out of the room after you left. How are you holding up right now?”, Phoenix responded before following up with a question of his own. “I…suppose, I'm still trying to get over what happened…”, Hershel had said, followed shortly by a moment of silence before he continued speaking. “...I do hope you weren't too uncomfortable with what had happened.”, he said to him, looking at the ground for a brief moment. Hearing this, the lawyer soon stopped walking and turned to face him, prompting the other to stop as well. “Honestly, that whole game was on increasing levels of discomfort so don't think this would be in any way your fault, Hershel.”, Phoenix had gone on to say, drawing his friend's attention back towards him.

“Besides, I uh…”, the lawyer was about to continue speaking before losing the words he was about to say next. Not that he had forgotten what he was going to say, more so with how embarrassed he was as his cheeks grew warm. “What is it, Phoenix? Is it something important?”, Hershel had asked, noticing how his friend had gone quiet. “I uh…think I'll tell you once we get off this ship. Just remember that none of this would be your own fault alright.”, Phoenix had said, giving him a reassuring smile and waited for the other man's response. A few seconds had passed before the scholar smiled slightly back at him. “I will hold you to it once we return to land.”, he said to him. With a nod of acknowledgement, the two of them soon continued walking down the hall. Hershel, with a bit of reluctance, takes his friend's hand in his.

----------------

Some time had passed before both Phoenix and Hershel soon found a few of the passengers. Seeing Lyra, Dominic, Clement, and Pascal standing in the hall just outside of the game parlor. With Pascal looking rather the most panicked of the four. Though they too spotted the lawyer and scholar coming up towards them. “Oh! Hello Mr. Layton and Mr. Wright, I assume that you two were also coming to the game parlor as well?”, Lyra had said, looking between the two to see if everything might be alright. Recalling how they both left the room after the dare had been completed.

“Actually no, there's something rather urgent that you must know. Do you know where the others might be at right now?”, Phoenix had responded and soon questioned her about the whereabouts of the other passengers. “Well I'm not sure about passengers but I do remember hearing Tina Hacket cancel the game and allowing the rest of us to either return to our rooms or go somewhere else. Before she left in a huff, she did seem to be rather annoyed.”, she responded to him. ‘So that would be a no then.’, the lawyer had thought to himself before looking over at Clement and Pascal. Seeing the panicked look on the programmer's face.

“...Actually, me and Pas had seen Hudson and Bell shortly before the blackout occurred around the cabin room area. It was right before we decided to go to the game parlor. When the lights came back on, they were no longer there.”, Clement had said. “Where exactly were you and your husband when the blackout had occurred?”, Hershel had gone on to ask. “We uh, w-were going through the hallway to go to o-our rooms when we first r-ran into them. T-This was after Tina had allowed u-us to leave the t-theater.”, Pascal had said to him, sounding nervous as he stuttered his words. ‘Why does he sound so nervous all of a sudden?’, the scholar had pondered before seeing how Clement looked over at his husband with a concerned expression. Possibly also noticing the man's nervous demeanor.

“Is everything alright, you seem nervous all of a sudden Mr. Pascal.”, Hershel had then went on to ask, drawing the other man's attention. “S-Sorry just uh, well…I-I…”, Pascal was beginning to say, looking unsure if he should continue speaking as he eyed the door leading to the game parlor. “Did either you or your husband go in that room?”, Phoenix had decided to question the programmer. “You think him stuttering might have something to do with the game parlor?”, Lyra had asked before looking over at Dominic for a brief moment, seeing as he was eyeing the door as well. A hint of curiosity on his face. “We don't know until either Pascal or Clement tells us.”, the lawyer had responded to her.

“While me and Pas had came here shortly before Mr. and Mrs. Tipple had arrived, I did step away for a moment as I thought that I might have seen someone walking away. Though I didn't get a good look at them.”, Clement had said before turning to face his husband. “Did you look in the room while I was gone, Pas?”, he went on to ask him. Pascal nervously nodded his head. “Y-Yes, I uh…think it's b-best if I j-just show you.”, the programmer had said before he started to open the door. Both Hershel and Phoenix wondered if maybe whatever the other man had seen could be another potential murder, something that neither of them would hope to see. As the door fully opened, the group soon peered inside the room.

Looking into the room, the lights were on and so far nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. That is until Dominic was the first to point out what appeared to be a trail of red leading behind the bar. “Is that…?”, Dominic had begun to say, afraid of what it might actually be. Seeing where the man was pointing at, Hershel and Phoenix both went into the room and followed the trail. As they followed red stains to behind the bar, they were rather stunned with what they had just found. Laying there was a blonde haired woman, wearing a tattered blouse and jeans along with a cloth gag in her mouth. She seemed to be covered in bruises and had a few stab wounds on her leg, with blood leaking out of where she had been stabbed. She seemed to be unconscious.

“Over here quickly, we need to cover her wounds!”, Hershel had said with urgency, and soon the others joined up with them to see who exactly they might have found. Upon seeing the unconscious woman, the other four seemed rather stunned. With Lyra and Dominic wondering just who exactly this woman was as they had never seen her before and why she appeared to be in this state. Clement and Pascal on the other hand, had a look of recognition. With the former looking rather stunned but also relieved while the latter couldn't believe that he was seeing her like this. With Phoenix noticing how they reacted slightly differently than the other couple as he helped place some clean wash rags from the bar over the woman's wounds.

“Clement and Pascal, do you happen to know her?”, Phoenix had decided to ask while Hershel made sure that the woman's wounds would be properly taken care of. Along with Lyra and Dominic joining in to help out. “Of course we know her, that's my sister, Clementine. But what is she doing on this ship anyway?”, Clement had responded, and looked as if he was about to tear up over seeing his sister like this. While Pascal remained nervous before sighing for a moment, and appeared to be shaking a little. “Actually dear, there's something I must tell you. I was planning on saving it for later but now isn't the time.”, the programmer had begun to say, drawing the other's attention towards him.

‘What exactly is Mr. Pascal going to say?’, Hershel had thought to himself after overhearing this. Looking over at Phoenix to see if maybe he might have an idea. Seeing his friend glance at him, realizing what he could be thinking, the lawyer simply shrugged before directing his attention back towards Pascal. “Would it have something to do with why you keep working long hours Pas?”, Clement had said, surprising his husband as a result. “Wait, how did you-”, Pascal was about to ask before his husband quickly cut in. It was then that Phoenix noticed the two psyche locks that had surrounded the programmer from earlier soon cracked and broke off. At least that cleared one of the hidden secrets he picked up on.

“I admit that I had seen a text message appear on your phone while you were away from it the other day. Since it had mentioned Clementine's name, I guess I had to see it. Since she had been missing for quite awhile and thought that the message was possibly from a detective.”, Clement had begun to say, surprising the others who had overheard this. “I hope you don't mind me asking but would you mind explaining more as to what is going on, Mr. Clement?”, Hershel had asked, though he started to piece together as to why Pascal had been working long hours as previously mentioned. The same with Phoenix as he soon voiced what he had been thinking.

“Is this what this gift is, using extra money to find your sister?”, the lawyer had questioned, soon noticing the rather stunned expression on the programmer's face before he nodded his head in response. Even Clement didn't seem to expect this before regaining his composure, briefly glancing over at his husband for a quick moment before going on to explain to the others. “Ever since October after me and Pas had returned from a short vacation overseas, I had received a phone call from an unknown person saying they had my sister. At first I thought it was some kind of sick joke until I heard her voice over the phone, begging to be set free.”, Clement began to say.

Hershel and Phoenix did seem rather intrigued by the mention of the month of October, with the lawyer wondering if that might also have something to do with the incident that the passengers had witnessed. Though he didn't interrupt the other man. “This person wanted five hundred million dollars if I ever wanted to see her alive. Me and Pas had asked for any detective to help find her as we didn't have the money. Though they didn't have much luck. Now back to the message that Pas had received, it turns out that he was wanting to pay for the ransom himself.”, the chef had finished explaining before turning his attention to Pascal. “Why didn't you tell me sooner Pas, I would have found a way to help pay as well?”, he then went on to ask him, a look of confusion on his face.

“Like what Mr. Wright had mentioned, I intended for it to be a gift. I was this close to making five hundred million dollars so we could pay for the ransom. You always told me how Clementine was your only family member left and I wanted to surprise you by getting her back. That's why I had been working very long hours.”, Pascal had explained, seeing his husband look rather surprised by this and being rendered speechless. As the others had heard this, they thought it was rather sweet. Though that's when a thought appeared in Phoenix's mind. “Did the person who called you for the ransom ever mention who they were and why they had kidnapped her?”, he had gone on to ask, soon drawing both of their attentions.

“They didn't mention who they were or why they had kidnapped Clementine in the first place. All they said was that they have her and to pay the ransom if we ever were to see her again.”, Clement had said. “I believe that even if you were to accumulate the ransom money and give it to the kidnapper, you still wouldn't see her again.”, Hershel had chimed in, after putting together what he believed was a very grim truth. Phoenix's face soon paled as he realized what he was referring to, and looked over at the unconscious woman that Lyra and Dominic were currently still helping. They too seemed rather intrigued by the conversation though they didn't say anything, wanting to make sure that Clementine's wounds were properly cleaned and patched.

The couple simply gave a confused look to the scholar, though they did appear as if they didn't want to fully believe what exactly Hershel had just implied. “W-What do you mean, Mr. Layton?”, Clement had asked, a bit nervous as to what exactly the other man was about to say in response. “Before I explain, there is something that I had recently heard about while I was talking to Miss Numbs earlier.”, Hershel had begun to say before glancing over at Phoenix. “I had planned on telling you this beforehand but we had been caught up with that game.”, he said before turning his attention back to Clement and Pascal. Earning a curious look from his friend as a result. ‘Wonder what this could be?’, Phoenix thought to himself.

“You see, Miss Numbs had asked me, Mrs. Starla, and Mrs. Fotina if we had heard any sign of muffled screaming in the dining hall during lunch. With her describing that it sounded as if someone was screaming bloody murder. While there isn't definitive proof, I believe that your sister may have been hidden away beneath the dining hall.”, Hershel had continued on to explain, seeing the other men's faces look rather stunned. Even noticing that Pascal started to blanche, as if he may have realized something. “I…I would have definitely tried to recognize whose voice it was if I was there at the time.”, the programmer had said, a look of panic as he glanced over at his sister in law.

“That's right, you were resting in our cabin room during that time dear.”, Clement had said, soon looking rather afraid as to what he was going to hear next in regards to this. “So would that mean…?”, he continued on to ask before trailing off. With Phoenix deciding to respond to his question. Hershel wasn't exactly sure if he had the heart to say it out loud. “It means that the kidnapper had stowed her away underneath the dining hall and planned on having her leave the city. Potentially to be picked up.”, the lawyer had said, trying not to appear to be too uncomfortable. He wasn't sure how they would react if they told them of a dead body on board shortly after hearing this.

“I don't mean to interrupt but I think she's starting to wake up.”, Lyra had chimed in, as she and Dominic soon stepped away a little for the now conscious woman who was slowly starting to wake up and was also trying to stand up. Overhearing this, Clement and Pascal immediately went over to her side to help her up. With Hershel and Phoenix starting to wonder if the marks they had seen on the door earlier might be related to her in some way. “Clementine, how long have you been passed out?”, the chef had asked as soon as he went over to her. Though it seemed that she wasn't completely aware of her surroundings, having a glazed look and trying to process what she had just heard.

“We should probably try and have her lie down on something more comfortable.”, Hershel had advised, with Phoenix immediately looking for something until he spotted a small sofa in the corner of the room. “That small sofa should do just fine.”, the lawyer had gone on to say. Hearing this, both Clement and Pascal helped Clementine up on her feet and began guiding her to the sofa while Lyra and Dominic followed right behind to make sure that she didn't fall along the way. Just as she began to lay down, the others soon heard the sound of a door opening. Prompting them to look over to see Starla, Fotina, Hudson, and Bell looking rather startled. Though they became more surprised as soon as they noticed the group.

“...Alright, what did we just walk in on?”, Starla had questioned after a moment of silence had passed. Hudson tried not to notice the red streak on the floor and paid more attention to the stranger laying on the sofa. “It's a very long story, why do you four seem as if you had seen ghost all of a sudden?”, Dominic had questioned. “Well we just discovered a dead body near the cabin room area. A detective is standing guard there and we decided to try and find the others.”, Fotina had responded, stunning the others. With the exception of Hershel and Phoenix as they already knew beforehand. Hudson seemed slightly annoyed by the mention of the detective but he remained silent. Unsure of what else to say.

“A-A dead body?!”, Clement had said, sounding panicked by this before briefly looking over at his sister. “Who was killed then, do we know who it could be?”, Lyra had gone on to ask, a bit worried that it might be one of the other people that she had met during the duration of the trip. “That would be Jane Doe, we were planning on telling you and the others but we got caught up in this situation. Though neither me, Hershel, or Detective Gumshoe know who the victim actually is.”, Phoenix had responded to her question. “So that's the same detective who was trying to get on board before the cruise had left then right?”, Starla had questioned, earning a nod from the lawyer.

Bell had noticed how Hudson did seem to calm down a little, as for why she had no idea about yet. “I do think that maybe we should definitely share what we just witnessed so we can have some idea as to what is going on. More specifically who that woman is over there on the sofa.”, Bell had gone on to say. “I would have to agree with you Miss Numbs. Though we would have to explain this all to the others who aren't currently present with us.”, Hershel had said in agreement. Hershel, Phoenix, and the other four that had been in the game room soon began telling what they had discovered in this room. With Clement and Pascal explaining more about who Clementine is and mentioning that they had found her unconscious behind the bar.

Starla, Fotina, and Bell seemed to be rather stunned after hearing this explanation while Hudson looked over to check on Clementine. “How is she right now?”, he decided to ask. “Besides the wounds and bruises she had sustained at some point, she seems to be fine. Though we decided to let her rest until she recovers a bit more.”, Hershel had responded before turning his attention towards Bell. “Though I do believe that she could have been the one who was the source of muffled screaming you had told me, Mrs. Starla and Mrs. Fotina earlier.”, he continued on to say.

“But how exactly would we know that, where could she have been in the dining hall as I don't remember seeing her at all in the same room as us during that time.”, Starla had pointed out. “Which is why we would need to see if maybe there's some kind of hidden room beneath the dining hall.”, Phoenix had suggested. “I would have to agree with you, Phoenix. Though we do need to ensure that none of the others might have potentially been harmed. The real killer of Jane Doe is surely still onboard.”, the scholar had said to him in response.

“Maybe we should be in two different groups? Where one stays here and looks over Clementine while the other group tries to find the others who aren't here.”, Fotina had then suggested. Overhearing this, both Lyra and Dominic soon spoke up. “Me and Dominic should stay here in the game room.”, Lyra had said. “We would make sure that no one suspicious tries to come in while we're here.”, Dominic had added in. “The same goes for me, she is my sister after all and I want to make sure she's at least partially recovered.”, Clement had gone on to say, with Pascal nodding his head in agreement as he too wanted to stay in the game room.

“Would anyone else like to stay in here and keep watch?”, Starla had decided to ask, with Bell raising her hand in response. “I would!”, the therapist had said and soon went to join up with the other four who opted to stay in the room. “Nervous that you might run into the killer?”, Hudson had gone on to ask her, only to see his fiance shake her head. “That's not the main reason, it's mostly just to ask Clementine some questions once she recovers.”, the therapist had said to him. Hearing this, he decided that sounded like enough of a good reason and soon joined up with the other four who wanted to look for the other passengers.

Seeing as how there were a total of five people in each group, Hershel figured that this should be enough. But first, he and Phoenix would have to ask about their whereabouts when the blackout had occurred earlier. They were already at least somewhat aware about Hudson's and Bell's whereabouts but weren't sure as to where either Starla and Fotina might have been when the blackout first occurred. “Before we head out, would you mind telling us where you and Fotina were at before you came in here?”, the lawyer had decided to ask, prompting the voice actress and her wife to look over at him.

“We mostly spent our time in the dining hall after that fiasco of a game. Though while we were waiting there, not a single passenger or staff member came in. It felt really empty.”, Starla had said in response. “We even checked the kitchen, but we didn't see anyone else in there either. I mean they could be in their own rooms but considering what time it was, we figured that could have been in there.”, the journalist had added in, confusing the others that had overheard what had just been said. “I see, well besides not seeing anyone else, did anything happen to occur during that time while you and Mrs. Starla were waiting in the dining hall?”, Hershel had gone on to ask.

Fotina took a moment to think to herself, as she tried to recall anything else that might have been strange. “It's nothing much but there was a potted plant that had been knocked over in the corner of the room, as well as these strange red streaks on the ground.”, she then went on to respond. Both Hershel's and Phoenix's eyes begin to widen as they overheard this new information from the journalist. While they were mostly planning on finding the others, they now had another goal in mind. “Thank you for telling us this, let's go ahead and find the others. As well as do a more thorough examination of the dining hall.”, the scholar had said before he and the other four soon left the room.

“Wait, why do you want us to go and examine the dining hall?”, Hudson had questioned, a bit confused as to why they would need to go there. “Just more so to make sure that the killer might be in there or not.”, Phoenix had responded. It wasn't an outright lie as the killer could have potentially gone in there after Starla and Fotina had left, but also to see if his and Hershel's hunch of there being a hidden room underneath the dining hall might actually be true. “Also there was something I forgot to ask, where were you and Bell go to after encountering Clement and Pascal?”, the lawyer had decided to ask the model. Only to be met with a confused look after asking this question.

“I…don't really know. As far as I remember, me and Bell were with Starla and Fotina after discovering the dead body.”, Hudson had responded, looking rather troubled as he tried to remember but couldn't. Hershel, Starla, and Fotina soon recognized this. After what had been explained to them by Bell earlier in regards to her fiancé’s memory issues. Phoenix was confused but thought it was best not to further question it right now, and tried to remain focused on the current task of trying to find where the others were at. “Well do try and tell us if you do manage to remember anything.”, the lawyer had said before the group continued down the hall. With the first room they decided to head to would be the dining hall.

Chapter Text

Gumshoe didn't really know how much time had passed since he had seen Hershel and Phoenix walk off to go and find the other passengers. As he really didn't have his watch on him and was afraid he would get distracted if he were to look up the time on his phone. Though he was sure that they would come back once they managed to gather everyone else, and make sure that no one else got killed. He felt a bit guilty, as he was the last to see the victim alive. Thinking to himself that if he just continued to talk with her or try and persuade her to show him where the theater was at, this wouldn't have happened.

For now though, the least he could do is to avenge this woman's death by finding out who the real killer is and detain them. If only the detective would know who this woman is, and why she seemed so familiar to him. The answer was there but he just couldn't quite figure it out yet. Even during this time, he had encountered four of the other passengers. Two he recognized as Hudson and Bell, though he didn't know who the other two women were that were with them. He still couldn't get over that glare that the male passenger had given him. As if he had done or said something to offend him in some way.

Gumshoe had briefly explained what Hershel and Phoenix had told him in regards to the victim, and even warned them to be on the lookout for anyone suspicious as well as try and find anyone else that was on the ship. He figured that the more people would know about this, the better it was to try and have them group up so the killer wouldn't land a sneak attack on them or go catch them when they would be alone from the others. It was only a short conversation, as the group soon went on their way. Though Hudson did shoot him one last glare before going off with the others.

Besides the group of four, Gumshoe didn't really see anyone else. Which was somewhat of a good sign as that would mean less risk of someone trying to mess with the crime scene. But that would also mean that something could have potentially happened. He tried to shake those thoughts away for now, and instead decided to try and figure out just who exactly this woman was. Getting a closer look at her face to see if that might potentially bring up something. Try as he might, he still didn't have any idea as to who she is yet. Causing the detective to frown in frustration. “Just who exactly are you and why do you seem so familiar?”, he said, mostly to himself as he continued to stare at the dead body.

Only didn't really realize that someone had overheard him, that is until he heard a slight squeak and the sound of footsteps moving away. Surprised by this, the detective immediately turned around and instinctively showed his badge to where he heard the squeak coming from. Only to see that it was Tina, who seemed to be rather stunned by him turning around all of a sudden. “Don't come any closer, pal! This is a crime scene so please don't think about touching anything!”, he exclaimed. “This is where the crime scene is at?”, the ticket holder had questioned once her stunned expression soon turned to look of curiosity. Though there was also a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“Yes, it is important that you don't touch anything as it will make things difficult in figuring out who the killer is.”, Gumshoe had explained before putting his badge away. “So I have heard, Miss Nouncer had explained what had occurred and I came to see who the victim is. Do you know who it could be?”, Tina had gone on to ask. “Before I answer, tell me what Miss Nouncer has already told you.”, he said to her. Wondering just how the hostess of this event had heard about there being a dead body. Before thinking that maybe Miles had already told her about it.

“Well she explained how a prosecutor and the police force had spoken with her as to what had happened in regards to the victim. Apparently a blackout had occurred for some reason, the engineers in the engine room are trying to figure out what happened. She told me to go and find where the victim's body is at.”, she explained to him. So the prosecutor did already tell Anna about what had happened. “Alright then, however as the detective in charge I must advise you not to touch anything and try to cooperate with me. As for the victim's identity…that I don't know.”, Gumshoe had responded to her, seeing a look of confusion appear on her face.

“...You…don't know?”, she asked, wondering just how exactly the detective didn't know who the victim was before trying to look around him. But due to his size, it was hard to get a good look. “How do you not know?”, she continued on to say, only to see him nervously rub the back of his neck. “While I had met her on the ship before her death, she didn't really tell me her name. I'm not sure if there are other staff members who might know who she is.”, Gumshoe responded before he suddenly realized something in particular. “Wait, do you perhaps know who she might be? If so then that would be really helpful!”, he said, and seemed rather overjoyed by this possibility.

“I could definitely try and see if I might know who she is.”, Tina had said, a bit nervous as she never really came across a dead body before. “Great!”, the detective said excitedly before moving out of the way so she could get a good look. Once he moved out of the way, the ticket holder took a few steps closer so she could examine the body more closely. Upon seeing the victim, her face soon grew pale and a horrified expression slowly appeared on her face. It looked as if she might puke any second. Seeing this, Gumshoe started to grow worried and wondered if maybe she wasn't used to seeing a dead body. Not that he would blame her for her reaction.

“You uh, don't have to look at it anymore. Do you need a bucket or something?”, the detective had asked. “Is…is this some kind of sick nightmare?”, Tina had questioned though her eyes didn't move away from the sight, with her body beginning to shake. “Unfortunately this is real, I wished that it didn't happen in the first place but we should try and figure out who the killer is.”, he responded solemnly before noticing how she became eerily silent all of a sudden. “Do you recognize her at all?”, he then went on to ask, hoping to get an answer in regards to the victim's identity. Though the woman's response was something he wasn't expecting to hear.

“O-Oh dear god…t-this can't be h-happening.”, Tina had begun to say, as her eyes were now welling up with tears. Gumshoe was a bit afraid that seeing the corpse might have been a bit too much for her. “I mean you don't have to tell me right away, how we just take a moment and relax.”, he said and soon placed himself between the ticket holder and the dead body. Hoping that this would at least help in some way. Only he didn't get any response from her, as he watched as the woman soon fell towards the ground. The detective quickly caught her before her body collided with the floor, and only then did he realize that she had passed out.

Gumshoe began to panic, as he wasn't sure what to do next and quickly looked around the area to see if maybe there was some place he could have her lay on until she regained consciousness. But so far, there wasn't any sign of a chair or bench in the area to place her on. After observing his surroundings, then began to check her pulse to make sure that it was fine before laying her on her back on the ground. It was then that he heard the sounds of approaching footsteps, prompting him to look up to see two familiar people stopping dead in their tracks as they took in the scene before. He recognized them to be Chance and Clover, who both appeared to be rather stunned by what they had just come across.

“What just happened here?!”, Chance had questioned as he looked between the unconscious woman and the victim. “Trust me when I say that a whole lot has happened here, pal! First a body had been recently discovered here and I'm standing guard to make sure no one tries to mess with the crime scene. Then Miss Hacket just came over here earlier wanting to see the dead body before she passed out.”, Gumshoe had quickly explained to them, not wanting either of them to get the wrong idea as to what had happened. “That…certainly is possible. I don't think any normal person would handle the sight of a dead body so easily.”, Clover had commented before looking down at Tina.

“How is her pulse?”, she then went on to ask. “Should be fine, I just checked it a moment before you two arrived. I even caught her before she hit the ground so she shouldn't have any damage to her head.”, the detective had responded to her and watched as she knelt down beside Tina. “Do you know who the victim might be?”, Chance had questioned as he turned his attention towards the corpse, as he didn't recognize who the dead woman was. “Unfortunately no, so she's considered a Jane Doe for now. I had asked Miss Hacket if she might know this person but she passed out before I got an answer.”, Gumshoe had said to him, and carefully watched as the other man was examining the state of the victim.

“Besides you and Miss Hacket, was there anyone else who had came across this dead body?”, Chance had asked. “Well it was Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton who had discovered the body first and then they informed me that they had come across the victim after the power had gone out temporarily. Right now they're trying to find the others and make sure no one else got attacked.”, the detective had said to him, before going on to ask his own question. “Just where were you and your wife were at anyway?”, he questioned them. “We had been in our room for the most part after leaving the theater, that game we had to play was a complete disaster.”, Clover had responded.

“Yeah, we were checking in with my folks over the phone to see how our daughter was doing when the power went out. We just stayed in there and locked our door and windows as an extra safety measure.”, Chance had added in, with Clover nodding her head in agreement to what her husband had just said. The detective couldn't help but be slightly confused as he heard the man mention locking the door and windows, wondering what sort of reason they would have to do that. “Why did you lock the door and windows? Did you happen to see the killer at some point through the window when the power had gone out?”, Gumshoe had asked him.

“Neither me or Clover had seen anyone that seemed suspicious, but I had a suspicious feeling in my gut. As if something bad was about to happen, and it seems I was correct.”, Chance had responded while gesturing towards the victim currently lying on the floor. “Well I do hope that both Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton will be able to round up everyone else then, don't want another murder to happen.”, the detective had said, a worried look on his face before checking Tina to see if she showed any signs of regaining consciousness soon. It wasn't long until he heard his phone begin to ring, and took it out of his pocket. Where he could see that it was Miles calling him right now.

“Who's trying to call you, Detective?”, Clover had asked, as both she and her husband were curious to know who it could be. “Hang on one moment.”, Gumshoe had responded to her before immediately answering the call. “Mr. Edgeworth, sir! What can I help you with?”, he went on to ask the prosecutor, thinking that he wanted to do something for him. Not noticing the couple's reactions as they appeared to have recognized the name that he had said out loud. Though they remained quiet while Clover made sure that Tina was alright and Chance continued to watch over the dead body.

“Would you mind telling me how the situation is right now, Detective? Maya and I, along with some of the police and forensics are currently on our way there right now.”, Miles had informed him. “That's great! I'm not entirely sure if I could be the only one having to make sure that the scene doesn't get tampered with. So far the situation doesn't seem to have escalated, and Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton are currently looking for the other passengers. I only met two of them, Mr. and Mrs. Locke. Along with another member of staff, Tina Hacket.”, Gumshoe explained to him and looked over his shoulder for a moment.

Thankfully it seemed as if the young woman was starting to regain consciousness, as she slowly began to sit up while looking around. The detective soon turned his attention back to the phone, and soon realized that Miles seemed to be silent. “Hey sir, are you still there?”, he went on to ask. “Yes I'm still here, though I must ask. Would Mr. and Mrs. Locke happened to go by Chance and Clover?”, Miles had questioned him. “That's right sir! At the moment, they're helping me keep watch over the victim so the real killer wouldn't try and take anything that could potentially incriminate them.”, the detective had replied back. “How did you guess, sir?”, he then went on to ask.

“I had thought their names sounded familiar. Right now I just want you to continue watching over the dead body, we'll be arriving in around an hour and a half so do be patient.”, the prosecutor had said to him. Hearing this, Gumshoe was a bit relieved that the other man and some law enforcement members would be here to help with the investigation. Now that he thought about it, he had noticed that it didn't seem like that the cruise vessel wasn't moving an inch. “Of course sir!”, the detective had said before hearing the phone being hung up. After putting his phone away, he soon went over to check on Tina. Who by now seemed rather disoriented for a moment.

“How is she doing, Mrs. Locke?”, Gumshoe had asked the other woman. “I think she might need some time to sit down for a little bit, don't want her to fall while trying to stand up. So far she seems to be alright.”, Clover responded to him, while Tina remained quiet. “That's good to hear.”, he said with a smile before looking over at the now conscious woman. “Are you able to speak right now?”, he decided to ask, only to see her shake her head in response. All the while glancing at the dead body for only a brief moment. “Well just take all the time you need to recover, alright?”, Gumshoe said to her in a reassuring tone before going over to the dead body.

He could see that Chance seemed to be very focused in watching over the scene of the crime, and didn't seem as if he had moved an inch. “I have a question detective, do Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton know about Prosecutor Edgeworth?”, the casino owner had asked, confusing the detective as a result as he wasn't expecting to hear that question. “I'm not too sure if Mr. Layton knows as I didn't get a chance to know him too long, but Mr. Wright certainly does. They faced off in court numerous times.”, Gumshoe responded to him. “Why do you ask?”, he went on to question him.

“There was this game from earlier where it was some kind of weird truth or dare game involving a lie detector test. Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton was asked a question on whether or not they knew Prosecutor Edgeworth and when they said they knew him, the test came out that they were lying.”, Chance had responded to him. “That's a bit weird since I know for a fact that Mr. Edgeworth knows Mr. Wright, hold on for one quick second. Let me call and ask if he might know about Mr. Layton.”, Gumshoe had said and soon pulled his phone out again. “Wouldn't it make sense that you would know Mr. Layton, after all he is Mr. Wright's fiance.”, Clover had pointed out. The detective tried not to panic as he heard her point this out, and didn't want to blow Phoenix's and Hershel's cover.

“I don't personally know him myself, as the only times I do get to meet Mr. Wright is when we're on a case. Usually he would just come by and ask for more information relating to the case. So I haven't met Mr. Layton in person or heard much about him. Probably because Mr. Wright doesn't want to get his work and private life mixed too much.”, Gumshoe explained to her. “I mean it does make sense, considering how Mr. Wright is a lawyer, he wouldn't want Mr. Layton to potentially be harmed by someone who might have had a grudge.”, Chance had said, earning a confused look from the detective as a result. “The way you said it sounded as if it was really common for the two of you.”, the detective commented, seeing the couple's expressions soon turn a bit serious.

Gumshoe didn't really know why they seemed serious, and thought that now wasn't the best time to ask. Before silently turning to the phone he had in his hand as he began calling Miles. A couple of seconds of ringing and he soon heard the prosecutor's voice on the other end. “What is it Detective, is there something that you have to report?”, the other man had asked. “Well so far nothing yet, I just called and wanted to ask if you might have met Mr. Layton before in person.”, the detective had said to him. “Of course I have, though this was only during the holidays. Now please don't call back unless it's something important.”, Miles had said, sounding a bit annoyed before hanging up.

“What did he say?”, Chance had questioned him, waiting to hear what the response was. “Mr. Edgeworth confirmed that he does at least know Mr. Layton, he even said that he had met him before. So that lie detector that claimed that Mr. Wright and Mr. Layton was lying, must have been an old dated one.”, Gumshoe explained to him, only to see both Clover and Chance appear to be rather confused. Even Tina seemed a bit surprised as she overheard this and soon opened her mouth to speak. “B-But how can that be? Miss Nouncer told me t-that the lie detector was the current model, even the other couples that p-passed the lie detector test were genuine with their answers.”, Tina had said to him.

“Wait, you mean like the one we use on certain occasions? The one that's proven to have a one hundred percent accuracy in determining who's lying or not?!”, Gumshoe had questioned with an astonished tone to his voice, thinking to himself just how exactly the hostess was able to obtain that. As far as he knew, it was something that only law enforcement would use and wasn't meant for the public. Tina nodded her head in response, though she and the other couple were rather confused with how stunned the detective had sounded just now. “Is something wrong detective, you sound as if it's not normal for someone to use a lie detector.”, Clover had commented.

“That's not the issue, anyone can acquire a lie detector but the one Miss Hacket just described is one that isn't used by the public. It's kind of like a secret weapon for the police and other detectives to use.”, Gumshoe had responded to her. “By any detective, you mean like those who are more like private investigators?”, Tina had asked after hearing his words, a bit curious about this. “Pretty much, as long as someone works in law enforcement or has a profession relating to law then they are able to use it. But if it's someone that works outside of that then they can't.”, the detective had confirmed. Noticing a brief look of recognition on her face but wasn't sure why she made that expression.

“Maybe Miss Nouncer secretly works with the law or something? It would explain a bit more as to how she was able to obtain that lie detector that you mentioned.”, Chance had pointed out. Before Gumshoe could respond, he soon noticed the other man immediately dash off towards the end of the hallway, prompting the detective to follow while Tina and Clover looked on from a distance. “Why did he take off running just now?”, Tina asked in confusion, seeing a thoughtful look on the other woman's face. “My guess is he probably saw someone suspicious.”, she replied, only to cause the ticket holder to be more confused. As she didn't recall seeing anyone else entering the area.

“Stay right where you are!”, Chance had exclaimed, causing the detective to quicken his pace. Hoping that nothing bad was about to happen. As he rounded a corner, he soon noticed the other man grabbing a person's arm. He didn't really recognize the guy that Chance had a hold off, but he certainly had a stunned look on his face. “What's going on, why did you just start running off like that Mr. Locke?”, the detective had questioned. “Please make him let go of me!”, the other guy had said, struggling to get out of Chance's grip. “I saw Mr. Smiles silhouette, I thought he had a weapon on him.”, the casino owner had responded.

“I don't have a weapon on me!”, Dennis had said, sounding rather astonished by this accusation. “A-A weapon?!”, Gumshoe said, sounding a bit surprised and soon went over to the other man to see if he might actually have a weapon on him. The only thing that he did find that the other man was holding was a letter opener, though there didn't seem to be anything suspicious about it. “It's just a letter opener, there doesn't seem to be anything on it. You can let him go now.”, the detective had reassured Chance. An annoyed sigh escaped his mouth before he did as the detective requested, prompting Dennis to take a few steps back away and rubbed his arm where it had been grabbed.

“Would you mind telling me your name and what you have been doing before Mr. Locke caught you, Pal? I don't quite know who you are.”, Gumshoe had gone on to ask, though he was curious why the other man was carrying a letter opener. “My name is Dennis Smiles, and I had been with Amicie shortly before getting my arm grabbed by him.”, he began to respond before gesturing towards Chance. “She is my fiance, and we've been mostly hanging out in a nearby lounge area for the time being. Though I had received a letter telling me to come here.”, he continued on to say. “...More like a mistress than a fiance.”, the casino owner had muttered, earning an annoyed look from the dentist.

“Is that why you were carrying that letter opener then?”, the detective had asked, and was slightly confused by the implication of what Chance had muttered but thought it was best not to question about it right now. “Yeah, with the way the letter was written it was pretty urgent. I had to use a letter opener to get the envelope it had been placed in to open. I had forgotten to put it away as I was in a rush to get here.”, Dennis explained to him before putting the letter opener in his pocket. “I see then, though I must advise that you get Amicie here with you and make sure she isn't alone. Someone being on their own is rather risky at the moment.”, Gumshoe had advised him, earning a confused look from a man. Though he simply nodded in response before going off to get Amicie.

“We should probably join back up with Miss Hacket and Clover, detective.”, Chance had then went on to suggest, with a slightly annoyed expression on his face as he looked at the ground. “Well yeah of course, we do have to make sure that nothing happened to them while we were away. Why do you seem so annoyed?”, Gumshoe had asked, confused by the other man's current expression. “...Nothing to worry about detective, we will just have to wait for Mr. Smiles and Miss Oste to join up with us.”, Chance had responded. “I don't mind at all in following after Mr. Smiles. As I do want to make sure that he and his girlfriend will be alright while you check in on Miss Hacket and your wife.”, the detective had said to him.

“I suppose that is a good idea, not to mention it would split us into two groups of three. Just be sure to watch your back though, I don't fully trust Mr. Smiles.”, Chance had advised him before going off to join up with the other two women. Gumshoe was confused by his words just now, unsure as to what might have happened after hearing him mention about how he didn't trust the other man. For now, he decided to go and follow after Dennis to make sure that he and Amicie were unharmed. He really didn't want another murder on their hands, and hoped that Miles and the police would arrive as soon as possible.