Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: The Frigid Melody

At the Mountains of Music pt. 1

The heavy wooden door swung open with only the barest high-pitched squeak, and Michaela's feet thumped softly on the monochrome chequered floor as she led her two companions into her home's foyer. A pair of red velvet chairs sat in one corner, separated by a matching mahogany side table, set against a stark grey wall. The Professor held his hat to his head as he looked around, taking in the cold sunlight that poured through the iron-framed windows and the deep mahogany beams that propped up the stucco ceiling.

He saw Phoenix shivering out of the corner of his eye and tried to put it out of his mind as Michaela opened another oaken door.

"Quite a nice residence," he commented.

"Cold though," Phoenix said as they followed their guide through the next door. "Don't you guys have heating in this place?"

The next room turned out to be an office following the same theme of decoration, although this time accompanied by a mahogany desk polished to a mirror shine and bearing impeccably organised stationery. On top of that, a marble fireplace was set into one wall, its mantlepiece topped with photo frames and translucent statues.

"My mother maintains the belief that a cold mind is a sharp mind," Michaela explained, "but I would be pleased to light a fire for you both if you so wish."

Layton looked down at the fireplace. He couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of wood. Wherever it was kept, it would leave a mess all over the floor on the way to the hearth.

"It's a kind offer, Ms Michaela," he said, "but there's no need to compromise your mother's belief for our sake."

Phoenix shivered again and shoved his hands into his jacket pockets so deep that his zip opened from the force.

"Are you sure about that?!" he demanded.

Michaela either didn't notice that outburst or didn't care.

"Could I please request that you wait inside her office?" she asked, hands clasped happily. "I believe she may be visiting one of our village's businesses at the moment, but if you would be so kind as to wait, I shall find her and bring her to you momentarily."

The Professor offered her a smile.

"We don't mind waiting at all," he said, and cast his eyes in Phoenix's direction.

The man in question gave one last violent shudder and gritted his teeth.

"No," he not-so-subtly growled. "I guess we don't."

"Very well," Michaela said happily and ignorantly, "we shall return soon."

And with that, she breezed out of the room, her skirt and coat flowing like wind in her wake, and allowed the door to close gently behind her.

Phoenix groaned from somewhere in the back of his throat.

"Seriously?" he hissed. "You don't want to warm up a bit? This place is freezing! "

Layton pressed his scarf over his nose and mouth and breathed into it to warm up his face.

"It wouldn't do to ignore the customs or beliefs of a place where we are mere guests, Mr Wright," he pointed out, and rubbed his ear to beat away some of the cold. "I would have thought you'd seen by now that the people of this village are rather old-fashioned."

The taller man glared in the direction of the window.

"But I swear it's somehow colder in here than it is outside," he said, kicking his foot back and forth at the floor. "All these tiles don't help. Would it kill this lady to get a carpet?!"