Sorrow & Mercy: a Great Ace Attorney AU

Wound

Susato winced. "Yes. I don't know what Genshin-sama said to my father, and I was shocked that he was so concerned about my safety...but he agreed to let me stay and he did his best to protect me. I was...barely able to move or speak when we arrived."

"...If you appeared as you did yesterday, then you presented a truly pitiable sight. It would be hard for anyone to turn you away in such a state," Barok said.

"I...I can scarcely believe any of this is true," Susato said.

"Yet it is an incontrovertible fact."

Susato's eyes watered. "I suppose this means that...everyone lied to me. Mr. Sholmes. My father. Judge Jigoku...Genshin-sama...And I suppose Kazuma-sama did too. I just...I don't understand. How did he know? How did he know, but I didn't!? I was the one who told him his father was never coming home..."

"So. You truly believed Genshin had died due to illness?"

Susato nodded then looked up at the portrait of Klint. "...All this time, I have mourned them both. All this time...I had wished they were both still alive." Susato shut her eyes. "When I first returned to Japan...I would hear my father in the other room. And every time, I would picture it was Genshin-sama instead. I would wish...I would wish he was alive. That he was near me. And yet...he was the one who killed Klint! He killed the kindly Lord Chief Justice, too! All this time...It was him! The man I called father in my heart." She wiped at her cheeks, her tears falling uncontrollably. "This is...This is too much."

"Miss Mikotoba..."

"Even now...I still love him," Susato admitted and pivoted towards Barok. She stared at him searchingly, but she could read nothing in the planes of his face nor in the depths of his eyes. He was so closed off to her now, so distant. All she saw was the lurking grief that scarred him just as surely as the mark upon his face. "How can I forgive myself for that? How can I feel one moment that I have forgiven him for something so awful, and the next regret ever knowing him?"

"...Miss Mikotoba. For these past ten years, I have both forgiven and condemned you in my heart nearly every day," Barok said.

"What?" Susato exhaled.

"When you first left the Manor, I believed in Genshin's decision, for I thought it was a means to ensure your safety. Then, as time passed and your absence continued, the dark thoughts grew more convincing. Until I believed them to be an unconscionable truth."

"What truth?"

"...I was convinced you had acted as an accomplice of sorts for Genshin. That you had helped him select his targets, or else assisted in obtaining items bearing their scent. After all, the victims were people you had cause to encounter, since you were dwelling at the van Zieks manor," Barok said.

Susato stared at him, horrified. And felt her heart breaking anew.

"You knew Klint's schedule. You had easy access to the property and could have opened the gate at any time for Genshin. And then he rushed you away, to ascertain you would not be forced to speak to anyone from the Yard. So that Lord Stronghart would not discover you at the scene of the crime. Genshin wanted to keep your involvement a complete secret," Barok said. "I even wondered if your arrival was at his behest. If he had been planning this for some time. That is the truth I have been burdened with these past ten years."

"No...No! Genshin-sama...He did support my desire to go to London to find my father. And he did introduce me to Lord Klint van Zieks...But...But I thought he truly cared for you all. How...How could he have done this!? How could you think I would have helped him do this!? He killed people! He ripped Klint's throat open with a dog!" she shouted, her shoulders trembling.