Sorrow & Mercy: a Great Ace Attorney AU

A Curtain of Truth

"What!?" Ryunosuke gasped.

Much to Stronghart's great anger, Maria produced the ring from her lab coat pocket. It glinted in her pale grip, exactly as Susato had remembered it.

Ryunosuke frowned. "This ring...appears very sharp," he said quietly to Susato as he examined it.

"Yes. I remember once, when I was a child...I was sitting with Kazuma-sama, Genshin-sama, and Mrs. Asogi. When I poured Genshin-sama his tea, the light caught the ring in such a way, I felt the urge to reach out and touch it! But...I cut myself on it," Susato said.

Ryunosuke frowned and started paging through Klint's autopsy report. The look on his face unsettled her. She peered towards her father. He was staring at them, and she wondered if he had overheard her.

"...Poor father. He looks so troubled," she murmured.

"Perhaps because ten years ago...something happened that's been weighing on his mind. 'I couldn't say,' were his words. That phrasing was very deliberate, I'm sure!" Ryunosuke said.

"Yes...I wonder...if he's had his suspicions all these years," Susato said. Hurt for her father welled up inside of her. Just how much had he been burdened with for all this time? All he had kept from her, all he could not say, all he had doubted...It was so awful.

"We can't shy away from this now. Even if what we might uncover could lead to total calamity," Ryunosuke said firmly, looking up from the report and nodding with determination.

"What...What do you mean? Do you mean because fabricated evidence would mean...that Lord van Zieks prosecuted Genshin-sama falsely?" Susato said warily, tears beginning to burn in her eyes at the very idea, a terrible heaviness swarming her lungs.

Ryunosuke stared forward with resolve, but she saw him swallow. "Professor Mikotoba...why were there no other abnormalities? With a ring this sharp, if the victim had swallowed it...there would be evidence of such a thing, surely?"

"I had the same concerns," Yujin said. "When Doctor Wilson showed me the ring and told me to record it in the report...I raised my objection then. He told me he was more experienced than me and that he could think of plenty of ways to explain why no injuries were visible. He told me to write, 'the victim would appear to have ingested the item as evidence to identify the assailant.' So...that's what I wrote."

"So I was right! Dr. Wilson deliberately fabricated the results of the autopsy to implicate my father!" Kazuma said, bashing his fist against the bench.

"I'm disappointed, Counsel. That argument is nothing but speculation," Stronghart said.

"What!?" Kazuma hissed.

"It...It isn't," Susato said.

"Dr. Wilson was Britain's leading authority on forensic science and autopsy work. There is no scientific basis on which to doubt the man's expert opinion," Stronghart stated.

"Pardon the interruption, My Lord, but damage to the mucous membranes of the throat is easily identified even in living subjects," Yujin protested.

"Yes. Using an endoscope..." Maria Gorey confirmed.

Susato pressed a wary glance towards Barok. A shadow seemed to darken his eyes, even though she could tell he was considering this information with great attention.

"Dr. Gorey...rest assured that your removal of evidence from the stores without permission will not go unpunished," Stronghart said.