The Imprisoned Turnabout

Episode 2: The Imprisoned Turnabout is the second case of Gyakuten Kenji 2. The case takes place in a prison, and follows Miles Edgeworth as he crosses paths with judge Hakari Mikagami and prosecutor Yumihiko Ichiyanagi for the first time, and reunites with an old friend of his father's, Tateyuki Shigaraki.

The crime?
In a dark hallway of a prison, a small bell rang as a shadow walked among the cells. The lights flickered. The shadow lingered beside the dead body of Manosuke Naitō. The lights flickered and the bell rang. One light was turned on, revealing the figure to be a dog with blood on its mouth.

Beginning

 * March 27th, 10:16 AM

Two days after the fake assassination of Teikun Ō, Miles Edgeworth, Kay Faraday and Dick Gumshoe came to the detention center to meet with Manosuke Naitō. His trial for the murder of Gai Tojiro was to begin the next day, and Edgeworth had been assigned to prosecute him. After a while, a guard suddenly entered the room, proclaiming that Naitō had been murdered, and the three rushed toward the detention cells. However, the guard instead led them to the prison area. They wondered how Naitō, who had not been convicted yet, had ended up in the prison area. The crime scene was a prison work room, and there Naitō was, unmistakably dead.

Investigation of Workroom A

 * 10:32 AM

Edgeworth obtained a floor plan of the prison, and he noted that Naitō should not have been able to get to the prison at all. Edgeworth found a right-handed rubber glove and a portable chessboard near the body, which was covered in a dirty sheet with a rope on top. Upon closer inspection of the rubber glove, Edgeworth found that the backs of the fingers were coated in blood, suggesting that someone had dropped it after the pool of blood had formed. The guard informed them that these rubber gloves were used for prison labor, and their usage was heavily regulated. Edgeworth also looked under the sheet to find that the underside of the sheet had bloodstains. It appeared that Naitō had died instantly from a stab to the neck. Moreover, the body was covered in dirt, and the top of Naitō's head had small bruises. Gumshoe took a photo of the body to go along with the notes that Edgeworth was making. Edgeworth also noticed an expensive-looking ring on the victim's newly exposed finger.

Edgeworth turned his attention to the holding cage in the room. There was a stack of colorful sheets on the floor, with a whip on top of it. The sheets were unmistakably the same kind as the sheets covering the body. It began to worry Edgeworth that the murder weapon had not been found. Before the three of them could mull over it much, however, another visitor arrived. Edgeworth immediately recognized him and introduced the others to Tateyuki Shigaraki, a defense attorney and an old acquaintance. Shigaraki made some veiled references to Manfred von Karma, as well as Edgeworth's "betrayal" to the "von Karma way". Shigaraki was to be Edgeworth's opponent in Naitō's trial.

Shigaraki and Edgeworth had a discussion about the victim and the workroom, though it mostly consisted of the former playfully making a mockery of the other. Edgeworth wondered how the prison was monitored, and the guard replied that all of the inmates wore electronic bracelets, which were activated by sensors on the doors. The guard added that no inmates were scheduled to be in this workroom. With this knowledge, Edgeworth realized that it should not have been possible for the rubber gloves to be at the crime scene. Shigaraki responded that there were "things" other than inmates and guards that could travel through the prison, and he got everyone to follow him outside to the prison hallway.


 * 11:06 AM

The hallway was now crawling with animals. Shigaraki explained that animal therapy had been introduced to the prison a few years ago. Each prisoner was assigned a pet to take care of in the workrooms. The pets also had microchips that caused the door sensors to open the doors for them, allowing them to move anywhere inside the prison. A large, black dog with a bell stood out from the rest. It barked violently at Edgeworth before moving toward the special cell.

Gumshoe then pointed at one of the prisoners to question. The prisoner apparently had a thing for dramatic introductions, and he stayed silent, giving off a menacing vibe, before saying that it was "exercise time". He introduced himself - Shūji Orinaka, a former boxer - and a polar bear clinging to his chest - Mark, his pet. Edgeworth tried questioning him about the case, but Orinaka adamantly refused.

Orinaka's movements
Edgeworth took a tactical approach, noting that he should not push Orinaka while he was agitated and in his fighting stance. Edgeworth began by asking Orinaka about his actions that day. He waited as Orinaka began calming down, carefully suggesting that Orinaka looked tired. Orinaka replied that he had held off on his training, and just stayed quietly in his cell. Edgeworth, however, had difficulty believing this, as not only was Orinaka sweating profusely, but he had repeatedly admitted to being tired.

The time of the incident
Edgeworth continued by asking him what he was doing at the time of the incident. Orinaka claimed that he and Mark were sleeping. Edgeworth apologized for waking Orinaka, and the boxer replied by thanked "Mr. Prosecutor" for understanding. Edgeworth jumped on this, saying that he had only introduced himself as a prosecutor when he arrived, which was around the time of the incident, meaning that Orinaka couldn't have possibly been sleeping then.

Now knowing the Orinaka was not asleep, Edgeworth asked if he had noticed anything during the incident. Orinaka seemed dazed, so Edgeworth asked again, more forcefully, knowing that he would have noticed something while exercising. Orinaka desperately told him to be quiet to prevent the animals from getting frightened "again". Edgeworth realized that the animals had been frightened before, meaning that Orinaka did know something about the case after all. Orinaka finally admitted that he had heard a piercing scream, frightening the animals.

Shigaraki interrupted the conversation. He said that he appreciated the opportunity to observe Edgeworth in action, and that he would be reporting these events to "that person". He asked Edgeworth if allowing himself to be tainted by the "von Karma way" was really the best way to honor "that person's" memory. Edgeworth replied that, for the time being, they should focus on Orinaka, and asked him to testify.

About the incident
Orinaka testified that, after the end of recreation time at 10 AM, he returned to his room and went straight to training. Just then, he heard someone yell, "I've been stabbed!". However, since he was locked in his cell, he was unable to help, despite the value of concern for others being promoted at the prison. Orinaka added that he got his exercise equipment from "the Supplier". Edgeworth immediately noticed a contradiction: the victim had been stabbed in the throat and died instantly, so he couldn't possibly have screamed.

Orinaka admitted that he had never heard the scream. The prisoner in the neighboring cell had heard it instead. Said prisoner confirmed this, adding that the screamer had said, "Someone! Come quickly! A man's been...", meaning that it belonged to the one who had discovered the body. Edgeworth then wondered why Orinaka had not heard the scream. Sensing that he was becoming suspicious, Orinaka insisted that he had been locked in his cell the whole time. The second prisoner agreed; none of the prisoners could have killed the victim, and he threatened to kill anyone who would suggest otherwise. It seemed as if Edgeworth could no longer get more information out of the prisoners while they were riled up.

The Prosecutorial Investigation Committee
Just then, a black-robed judge entered the hall and demanded silence. She said that the prisoners should be thankful for being able to live a life without the need of money. The guards told Orinaka that he would be spending the night in the disciplinary room, to which he yelled in protest. The Judge said that he should be thankful for the opportunity to cast off his sins and be reborn anew. The guards dragged him away, still screaming.

The judge, named Hakari Mikagami, had come to meet with Edgeworth personally, as an arm of the Prosecutorial Investigation Committee. Accompanying her was a younger man who introduced himself as "renowned" prosecutor Yumihiko Ichiyanagi. Neither Edgeworth nor Gumshoe had ever heard of him before, but Mikagami explained that he had become a prosecutor in the past month. Mikagami further explained that Edgeworth's investigative authority was to be reliquished to Ichiyanagi. The reason: Edgeworth had boarded President Teikun Ō's plane, which was protected by extraterritorial rights, and had even ordered a search of the president's officials. A single mistake would have been disastrous, and Mikagami said that Edgeworth had overstepped his authority.

Edgeworth agreed that his actions went against regulations, but they allowed him to find the truth. Mikagami believed that this "the end justifies the means" thinking was dangerous, and Edgeworth replied that he could not accept Mikagami's sacred treatment of the rules above all else. Nonetheless, Mikagami had the legal advantage in this debate, and threatened to take away Edgeworth's badge if he defied her. Gumshoe rushed forward in protest as the guards began to escort Edgeworth and Faraday out, but Edgeworth told him to comply and work under Ichiyanagi. However, he warned Mikagami that this was not a surrender, and he promised that he would return. Before he left, Shigaraki informed him that he would report the day's events to "that person".

Middle

 * March 28, 9:45 AM

Miles Edgeworth and Kay Faraday met the next morning in Room 1202. They discussed the unreasonable, ruthless behavior of Hakari Mikagami and Yumihiko Ichiyanagi, and Edgeworth was concerned about what the Prosecutorial Investigation Committee was thinking. Regardless, he was not planning on giving up on the case. Dick Gumshoe called Edgeworth, telling him that the police had arrested a suspect. Edgeworth and Faraday rushed to the detention center.


 * 10:23 AM

Sōta Sarushiro, the suspect, was an easily frightened individual and would not cooperate with Edgeworth, whom he found scary. Faraday introduced herself and, after failing to convince Sarushiro that Edgeworth was not such a scary guy, she at least got him to cooperate for his own good. Sarushiro said that he was a friend of Naitō's and that he had met with him and brought him his chessboard. Edgeworth assured Sarushiro that he need not worry if he was indeed innocent, and that he had a personal stake in this case as well.


 * 11:22 AM

The two then met Gumshoe outside the visitor's room. The three knew that they still could not do anything short of having Edgeworth represent Sarushiro as a defense attorney. Shigaraki then arrived and mentioned that he had taken on Sarushiro's defense. Seeing this as his only chance to investigate, Edgeworth asked him to become his assistant for the case. Initially, Shigaraki refused, but Faraday and Gumshoe vouched for Edgeworth, saying that he was no longer the ruthless student of von Karma that he once was. Shigaraki finally agreed to take them in as assistants, and he formally introduced himself as the head of Edgeworth Law Offices, the law firm founded by "that person": Gregory Edgeworth, Miles's deceased father. Shigaraki emphasized that Edgeworth would still have to prove to him that he had changed. Edgeworth sent Gumshoe back to keep investigating with Ichiyanagi and to report on their findings, while the other three went into the prison again to question the inmates.


 * 11:50 AM

Inside the prison, the trio met Marī Miwa, the warden of the prison and the detention center. Edgeworth asked whether she was in the prison on the previous day, and she answered that she attended an Animal Show in the prison's courtyard, which took place from 8 AM to 10 AM. Miwa invited them to look around the prison before leaving. Edgeworth asked the prisoner who had heard the scream where the screamer was, and the prisoner replied that he was in Workroom B. Shigaraki asked a guard to open Workroom B to talk to the prisoner inside. The prisoner introduced himself as Frank Sahwit, and he was training to become an animal beautician. He claimed that he was just grooming pets at the time of the murder, but he refused to say anything else, even though Edgeworth had not asked him anything else yet. Edgeworth knew that Sahwit was hiding something, and he aimed to get it out of him.

"Who is this man?"
Edgeworth noticed that Sahwit's expression did not change much, and he would have to rely on Sahwit's words to determine when to strike and when to yield. Edgeworth first asked whether Sahwit was involved in the case, but the latter insisted that he was an upright, model citizen who would never be involved in a murder plot. Edgeworth pointed out that an upright, model citizen would not be in prison, but this caused Sahwit to yell that he did not know anything. Sahwit quickly apologized for his outburst and said that Edgeworth should look for the discoverer of the body elsewhere. Edgeworth replied that he had never mentioned who he was looking for. Edgeworth noted that Sahwit was trying very hard to suppress his emotions.

Sahwit's actions during the incident
He now wanted to find out about the goings-on on the day of the murder. He asked Sahwit about what he had been doing. Sahwit replied that he was trimming the animals. He did not recall any panic, and he could even hear somebody's voice. Edgeworth suggested that Sahwit had heard a scream.

Edgeworth then asked what the prison was like on that day. Sahwit said he did not know, but earlier he had mentioned hearing a scream. Sahwit showed another flash of anger, insisting that he could not remember what he had heard. Edgeworth backed off, asking how his grooming skills were coming along. Sahwit talked about areas he still needed to work on, and mentioned that he could work with the animals even when they were frightened. Edgeworth remembered that the scream had frightened the animals. At this, Sahwit became more visibly agitated, and he insisted that, while he had heard a scream, he was not trying to hide anything from Edgeworth.

About the scream
Edgeworth asked when Sahwit had heard the scream. Sahwit tried to change his story, saying that he had attended the Animal Show, and thus he had not heard any scream. Edgeworth heard the agitation in Sahwit's voice and instead asked what animals were on stage, which threw Sahwit off and caused him to claim that there was a whale, an obvious lie. Edgeworth then asked who the scream belonged to, having established that Sahwit had not gone to the show. Sahwit insisted that he did not hear the scream of the one who had discovered the body. Edgeworth wondered why Sahwit had not assumed that the scream belonged to the victim. He then realized that Sahwit was the one who had screamed.

Sahwit was now compelled to testify, but he wanted to know why Edgeworth was doing all this. Edgeworth replied that he was trying to find the truth. Faraday and Shigaraki corrected him, saying that the first concern of the Edgeworth Law Offices was defending the client. Edgeworth responded that he would need to hear Sahwit's testimony regardless.

When Sahwit found the body
Sahwit said he had been in Workroom B. On a whim, he had decided to go outside and look through the window into Workroom A, which was when he had seen the body. Sahwit also mentioned the roll calls in the prison, which happened at 7 AM, noon and 9 PM, during which the guards also checked the workrooms. The body had been discovered during the 7 AM roll call.

Edgeworth told Sahwit that his bracelet would have triggered if he had tried to leave Workroom B. To explain this, Sahwit testified that he had just leaned out of the room while his right hand, with the bracelet, remained inside the workshop so as not to trigger the alarm. When asked why he would do something so troublesome and potentially dangerous, Sahwit replied that he had heard sounds coming from the other workshop when no one should have been there. Edgeworth asked whether Sahwit had seen who had caused the sound. After some prodding, Sahwit revealed the truly terrifying sight that he had witnessed: a large black dog biting the victim's neck!

Edgeworth asked for more details on the murder, which Sahwit gave, much to the horror of Faraday and Shigaraki. Sahwit finally mentioned that he had also seen a ring with a snowflake insignia. Edgeworth remembered seeing this ring on the victim's right hand, but he realized that the right hand had been hidden under the sheet. Thus, Sahwit must have moved the sheets himself.

Sahwit gave into his anger and threw his toupee at Edgeworth. Startled but unrelenting, Edgeworth further explained that Sahwit had to have gone inside Workroom A. The rubber glove found at the crime scene was proof of that. However, Shigaraki noticed something odd: Sahwit should have mentioned that he could not have entered Workroom A due to his bracelet, but he had neglected to use this last line of defense. At this, Sahwit admitted that his bracelet was broken. Edgeworth told a nearby guard to replace Sahwit's bracelet, and he kept the broken one. Sahwit insisted, however, that he was not the killer. He had really seen the black dog, and he had entered afterward to search for loot. When the prisoners returned, he had returned to his room and let out a scream to deceive them.

All this still did not explain how the body had gotten into the prison in the first place. Edgeworth had a bad feeling about the black dog, and he confirmed with Sahwit there was one other prisoner who had not seen the show, and could not even if he wanted to. This prisoner resided in a special cell, where he received special treatment. Edgeworth, Faraday and Shigaraki had their next destination.

The assassin

 * 12:41 PM

In the pitch-black special cell, the black dog glared ominously, scaring off Faraday and Shigaraki. Its owner - Ryōken Hōinbō, an assassin - lit candles to illuminate the cell. When asked for his alibi during the Animal Show, Hōinbō replied that he was in his cell the whole time, working on chiseling. Edgeworth was shocked to find that the warden had given the assassin as many as five metal chisels. He also noticed a chessboard with an unfamiliar Cerberus piece on it. Hōinbō explained that he had started playing chess by correspondence since his time, and that he had carved the Cerberus piece on a whim.

Edgeworth and Hōinbō then talked about the victim. As Edgeworth expected, Hōinbō knew all about the investigation, and he mentioned that it was fortunate that Naitō had escaped the charge being levied against him: the attempted assassination of President Ō. This revelation shocked Edgeworth, and he now realized the real reason the Prosecutorial Investigation Committee had taken him off the case. They sought to cover up the fake assassination plot, and blame Naitō for a real assassination attempt that had never happened. Hōinbō added that Mikagami and Ichiyanagi had searched the entire prison for the murder weapon, but they had come up empty. With that, Hōinbō had his dog, named Kuro, show the three investigators off.


 * 1:12 PM

In the prison hallway, Edgeworth found Faraday cowering on top of a large rock in an animal playground area. Shigaraki had apparently high-tailed it out of the prison entirely. Edgeworth decided to leave Shigaraki to himself and investigate Naitō's cell.


 * 1:34 PM

In the detention center hallway, Edgeworth and Faraday noticed Marī Miwa talking with a guard about an interrogation with Hōinbō. When Edgeworth asked about it, Miwa replied that she made sure to have conversations with every prisoner in her "home". These conversations would happen in the Warden's Office. She then left to feed "Ally", an alligator that lived in a pond in the courtyard. Disappointed that he could not get any information about Hōinbō, Edgeworth continued to the holding cell.

Investigation of the holding cell

 * 1:43 PM

Inside the holding cell were a bed and a desk. Edgeworth discovered that the floor in front of the bed had been wiped clean. On top of the bed was a torn-up newspaper. Edgeworth conjectured that someone had wiped the floor with the newspaper. On the desk was a memo that appeared to depict a chess game in progress. Edgeworth noticed that the positions of the pieces were the same as they were on Hōinbō's chessboard, minus the Cerberus piece, which meant that Hōinbō was playing against Naitō.

Edgeworth also found a security camera and asked a guard nearby to fetch the footage. The guard did so and found footage of someone being attacked by a black animal in the holding cell at 6:42 AM on the day of the murder. This footage suggested that Naitō had been killed in his holding cell rather than in the prison. Edgeworth asked the guard to fetch Gumshoe and have him examine the wiped floor for bloodstains.


 * 2:15 PM

Back outside, Edgeworth and Faraday bumped into Shi-Long Lang. Edgeworth wondered what he was doing here and why Lang was alone when he was typically accompanied by a 100-officer squadron, but Lang blew off his questions and continued on his way. Edgeworth then talked to the guards. One of them was looking for one of his uniforms, which had gone missing the day before the murder, and the other confirmed that Kuro had not been seen in the detention center.

Shigaraki then returned with some news. He had heard from the guards about an incident on the day before the murder. While Naitō was being escorted to his holding cell, the guard escorting him had been attacked and knocked unconscious. By the time other guards had arrived on the scene, the keys to the holding cell had gone missing. The guards had searched the holding cell and turned up nothing.

Mikagami and Ichiyanagi then arrived on the scene. They were surprised that Edgeworth had returned, and Shigaraki explained that Edgeworth was volunteering as an assistant at Edgeworth Law Offices. Edgeworth asked why Sarushiro had been arrested, and before Mikagami could refuse, Ichiyanagi jumped on what he saw as a challenge. He relished the opportunity to show everybody that he was indeed more competent than Edgeworth was, and Edgeworth saw his opportunity to gather more information.

Reasons for arrest
Ichiyanagi's testimony was very vague, stating that he had found "traces" of "that guy over there". On Edgeworth's insistence and Mikagami's request, he clarified that Sarushiro's fingerprints had been on the victim's chessboard. Edgeworth told him that this was only natural, as the chessboard had been a gift from Sarushiro. Edgeworth suggested that Ichiyanagi's arrest had been rash, which the latter apparently had some trouble understanding. Ichiyanagi began responding that Sarushiro was indeed neither a guard nor a prisoner, but Mikagami interrupted and suggested that Ichiyanagi talk about the murder weapon.

Murder weapon's location
Ichiyanagi testified that the murder weapon was clearly a sharp metal object, but since such objects were restricted from the prison, the weapon must have come from outside. He reasoned that the weapon had been hidden inside the chessboard. Edgeworth looked inside the chessboard to confirm that there was a hidden compartment that could fit a knife. Edgeworth pointed out that the security gate at the entrance to the detention center would have made it impossible to smuggle a sharp metal object in, but Mikagami responded that packages went through a simpler check.

Edgeworth asked Ichiyanagi where he thought the weapon had gone, and Ichiyanagi responded that it must have been hidden somewhere in the prison. Edgeworth wondered whether Ichiyanagi had already forgotten about his own thorough search of the prison. The younger prosecutor floundered and had to be calmed by Mikagami, before he suggested that the killer must have smuggled the weapon out of the prison. Edgeworth retorted that this was impossible thanks to the security gates. He then gave evidence for his theory on where the murder weapon had gone: the security footage. He gave his theory that Kuro had killed the victim inside the holding cell.

Mikagami took over from here. She pointed out that Edgeworth had neglected to explain how Kuro could have gone to and from the prison. She also revealed that she had been hiding her true reasons for the arrest her whole time. She stated that Sarushiro was a circus performer working for the Berry Big Circus, and that he had performed in the Animal Show, providing him with the opportunity to kill Naitō. Mikagami pleaded with Edgeworth to quit with his defense attorney act when he did not even know his client's occupation, and she told him that she could still relieve him of his badge if they crossed paths again during the investigation. After she and Ichiyanagi left, Shigaraki revealed that even he had not known about Sarushiro's occupation, and he wondered why his client would hide such crucial information from him. Edgeworth insisted that he was not going to give up on his investigation.

End, Part 1

 * 3:02 PM

The trio returned to the Visitor's Room to speak with Sōta Sarushiro. The client confirmed that he was employed at the Berry Big Circus, and that he had set up the Animal Show with a supervisor. He introduced them to Money, his pet monkey. Sarushiro explained that he had been moving equipment for the Animal Show into Workroom A, and he had sneaked into the detention center to see Naitō. He feared that, had he told Edgeworth about all this, he would have suspected him, too, since that was probably the basis for Ichiyanagi's arrest as well.

Sarushiro also explained that he and Naitō had both lost their families at a young age, and that each was the only friend that the other had. Both Miles Edgeworth and Kay Faraday could relate to this, and Sarushiro seemed too timid to be capable of murdering his own friend, so Edgeworth assured him again that he believed in him. The three headed to the prison and noticed that the door to the prison courtyard was open.


 * 3:37 PM

At the courtyard, the team encountered Dali the elephant and Sarushiro's supervisor, Regina Berry. After some introductions, Berry described the Animal Show. It featured a love story between Dali the elephant and Regent the tiger, with a villainous monkey played by Sarushiro. Berry also mentioned that Sarushiro had insisted on making all of the preparations, and that he had spent a considerable amount of time near a well nearby. Edgeworth checked out the well and found some equipment, including a pulley and a 15 kg weight, and wondered what it was all for.

Frank Sahwit was also in the area, helping with the cleanup of the Animal Show set. They discussed Ryōken Hōinbō, whom Sahwit revealed was the Supplier that Shūji Orinaka had mentioned. Hōinbō was regarded as a sort of ruler of the prison due to his ability to procure items for the other prisoners. Edgeworth also asked about Sahwit's pet grooming, and the latter replied that he had been practicing during the Animal Show, around 9 AM, by putting mud packs on all of the animals in the prison, which explained the mud on the rubber gloves.

Marī Miwa then arrived on the scene. She told Edgeworth that the Animal Show happened every month, and that she was a big fan of Berry's. Edgeworth also noted that she apparently thought very highly of Frank Sahwit as a model prisoner, despte the facts about him that had recently been revealed. Miwa then revealed that there had been three empty seats at the Animal Show, which meant that someone other than Sahwit and Hōinbō had missed the show. Edgeworth returned to inside to investigate this matter.


 * 4:02 PM

As the three reentered the prison, Dick Gumshoe returned, saying that forensics had confirmed traces of blood on the wiped floor of the holding cell, and that he had instructed them to find out whose blood it was. He had also brought some of his "Seven Tools of Investigation": a metal detector, the police dog Missile, and a fishing pole. Edgeworth had Missile follow the scent of the body to find out where it had been dragged from. Gumshoe started to notice that the scent of the body had a hint of sweetness to it, like cake.


 * 4:24 PM

The trio followed Missile to the special cell, which was uninhabited at the moment. They wondered whether the dog had found something important inside the cell. Instead, Missile had found chocolate cake. Meanwhile, Edgeworth noticed that one of the five chisels in the cell was smaller than the others. Now free of this distraction, Missile followed the body's scent to Shūji Orinaka's cell, which was also empty. Missile barked at a punching bag inside, which turned out to have been hiding a hole! Missile and Faraday went through the hole and came out at the holding cell.


 * 5:04 PM

Faraday had just discovered an underground tunnel that ended under the holding cell's bed. This explained why the body was covered in dirt. Faraday had also taken a photo of the tunnel, which showed some spoons and forks, as well as animal tracks of some sort. Edgeworth alerted the prison guards to what had just been found, and a search for Orinaka was conducted. However, he was nowhere to be found.


 * 5:34 PM

Edgeworth assured Miwa that it would be difficult for Orinaka to have escaped the prison, thanks to the security gates. Meanwhile, the results on the blood in the holding cell were back, and it indeed belonged to the victim. They now had all the evidence that they needed to confront Hōinbō. Miwa warned Edgeworth that Hōinbō would be tough to crack. She had failed to get to him even after many interrogations and many pieces of evidence against him.


 * 5:55 PM

The team was suprised to find Hakari Mikagami and Yumihiko Ichiyanagi near the special cell with Hōinbō. Mikagami reminded Edgeworth of her warning, but Edgeworth replied that he had no intention of backing down just because of her threats, and voiced his intention to question the assassin. Mikagami challenged Edgeworth to criticize the argument that she had formed against Sarushiro, at the risk of his badge. Edgeworth trusted his reasoning and accepted the challenge.

Movement to the prison
Mikagami argued that the attack on Naitō's guard escort was for the victim to steal the prison keys. Sarushiro had smuggled Naitō into Workroom A using the holding cage that was now in the workroom. As evidence of this, she revealed a photo of camera footage from 10:14 PM on the night before the murder, which showed the cage covered in a sheet. The cage blocked the camera's view enough that Naitō could have unlocked the prison door and entered the cage unseen.

Edgeworth asked why Naitō had not just escaped the prison immediately after stealing the keys, rather than wait for his friend. Mikagami replied that Naitō had simply chosen a method that would be the most likely to succeed, and he had hidden the keys on his person until the opportune time. Edgeworth pointed out that this was impossible, since Naitō had been searched immediately after the incident. Mikagami retorted that the victim had simply hidden it inside the chessboard, and that she never agreed with Ichiyanagi's claim that the murder weapon had been hidden there.

Mikagami added that Sarushiro had the opportunity to kill Naitō. The Animal Show climaxed when Dali the elephant blew Sarushiro away with the power of her love, and this had given him 15 minutes to commit the murder. Edgeworth then revealed that Naitō's blood had been found in the holding cell, negating the opportunity that Mikagami had argued. He had even uncovered the route that the dog Kuro could have taken after the deed: Orinaka's underground tunnel. However, Mikagami had an ace up her sleeve: Naitō's autopsy report, revealing that the victim had been stabbed in the neck multiple times with a sharp metal object.

Mikagami said that this was Edgeworth's last chance to yield and keep his badge. However, Edgeworth insisted that he was acting as a defense attorney's assistant, and that his goal was to protect not his badge, but his client. Tateyuki Shigaraki told Edgeworth that he was sounding more and more like his father. He did not believe until now that Edgeworth had really changed from his ways under Manfred von Karma.

Edgeworth realized that the killer was human, and that the footage of the black animal merely showed that the animal had leapt at its victim. He posited that Kuro had knocked Naitō unconscious and dragged him to Hōinbō, and the assassin had killed him. He noted that one of the chisels - the smaller, portable one - had disappeared, and he suggested that it was still in the vicinity. Edgeworth then noticed that Kuro had been silent the whole time, unlike the day before. Mikagami ordered Hōinbō to make Kuro open his mouth, and indeed, the chisel was there. A blood test confirmed that it was the murder weapon. The assassin merely smiled and commented on how interesting this turn of events was.

Hōinbō's explanation
Hōinbō insisted that he had no motive to kill Naitō, since he did not even know him. Edgeworth disagreed, showing Naitō's memo, which proved that they were playing chess together. The assassin continued to deny any connection, but admitted that the dog had indeed carried Naitō to him. However, Naitō was already dead, so Hōinbō had Kuro carry the body to Workroom A. He added that Kuro's bell was custom-made, and the only other one like it had been attached to his knife, which had been confiscated after his conviction. Because that bell was attached to the chisel, Hōinbō had mistaken the chisel for his knife, so he had Kuro hide it to prevent false suspicion from landing on him. Ichiyanagi had forensics test the chisel for fingerprints, and only Naitō's were found.

His theory now disproven, Edgeworth was confused as to what to do next. Faraday and Shigaraki snapped him out of this confusion, saying that he only had to concern himself with finding the truth and saving Sarushiro, not how he arrived at the truth. Edgeworth agreed that he would not give up on his client, as long as there was another way to the truth. To start with, he posited that the murder weapon had been hidden in the chessboard, as Ichiyanagi had originally theorized.

The security footage of the animal attack was still problematic. To remedy this situation, Gumshoe revealed the fourth of his Seven Tools of Investigation: "Mr. Analysis", a video analyzing machine. Using Mr. Analysis, Edgeworth saw a reflection of the victim in the mirror, showing that he was wearing a cap from a prison guard uniform. After Gumshoe confirmed that there had been no reports of animal attacks against prison guards, Edgeworth remembered the stolen uniform and realized that the victim in the video had stolen the uniform to prepare for his prison break. Edgeworth then examined the animal attacker and found that it was a small bear. Putting two and two together, he deduced that the person in the video was Shūji Orinaka. He also explained that the bear had been covered in Sahwit's mud packs at the time, which was why it appeared black in the footage.

Edgeworth gave an overview of the events. During the Animal Show, Orinaka left Mark in Sahwit's care and entered the tunnel that he had dug for his escape. However, Mark escaped to follow its owner, resulting in the incident captured on the security camera. This was when Sahwit, chasing after the bear, glanced into Workroom A and saw Kuro removing the murder weapon from Naitō. If all this were true, then the timestamp of 6:42 shown on the security footage was three hours off. Gumshoe asked the guards about this and found out that the camera's power had been cut for three hours. Being an old model, the clock had stopped when the power did. Considering these events, Gumshoe also revealed that Naitō had claimed that he had been knocked out by the same person who had attacked his guard escort.

Edgeworth informed Marī Miwa, who had just arrived, of the conclusions concerning Orinaka that had just been reached. Mark then appeared and latched onto one of the guards accompanying Miwa, blowing Orinaka's cover. Before Miwa had Orinaka taken away, Edgeworth asked for permission to interrogate him.

When the body was found
Orinaka said that the day that the body was found happened to have been the day he had planned to escape. Edgeworth asked for more details, and Orinaka elaborated that he had not changed into the stolen uniform until after he had reached the holding cell, and then getting out of that cell was simple. Edgeworth realized that Orinaka had stolen the keys to the holding cell. Although Orinaka had not actually escaped until after the discovery of the body, he had attempted to escape before then, and this showed that he had to have the key. Orinaka had attacked Naitō and the guard to steal the keys to the holding cell, as evidenced by the traces of Naitō's blood on the floor of the cell. Finally defeated, Orinaka handed over the keys.

Edgeworth continued that only Orinaka could have been the killer. Orinaka insisted that he had done nothing of the sort, and that he had not even seen a body. He also said that he could not have gone into Workroom A. Edgeworth suggested that Ryōken Hōinbō was an accomplice, and he had had Kuro transport the body from Orinaka's cell to Workroom A. However, Orinaka mentioned that he had only dug the latter half of the tunnel, and that there had already been a tunnel connecting his cell to the courtyard well. He added that the well had a sweet smell, like candy, which Edgeworth connected to the sweet scent that the body had given off. This proved that the body had been transported through the tunnel.

Mikagami now gave her revised theory as to why Sōta Sarushiro was the killer: Since Naitō was also planning to escape the prison, he and Orinaka agreed to share the key. Naitō set his escape plan with the killer in motion first, being transported by holding cage to the courtyard, where he was killed. The body was dropped during the Animal Show, after Orinaka had made his own escape attempt. Kuro then transported the body to Workroom A. The only person who fit with what the killer had done was Sarushiro.

Edgeworth pointed out that there was no proof that the body had been dropped down the well, and he asked to investigate the well. However, Miwa said that it was getting late, and she insisted that all visitors leave. The investigation would have to wait until the following day.

Little Thief

 * March 29, 10:12 AM

Miles Edgeworth, Kay Faraday, Dick Gumshoe and Tateyuki Shigaraki returned to the prison courtyard the next morning. Everything had been cleaned up, but this was not a problem for them, for they had Little Thief. Edgeworth sent Gumshoe to look for Regina Berry while he examined the courtyard as it was during the previous day's investigation. He noted Dali the elephant, and wondered what the tools and weights beside the well were for.

Edgeworth then examined the courtyard as it was during the Animal Show using Little Thief, based on information obtained from Berry. He noticed a crate of apples. Regina said that she had misremembered this detail, as the apples had gone missing before the Animal Show. Edgeworth deduced that somebody had moved the crate on the night before the show, in such a way that Dali could reach it and eat all of the apples.

Edgeworth asked Berry about the climax of the Animal Show, when Sōta Sarushiro gets blown away by Dali. Berry guessed that it employed some kind of device. Edgeworth deduced that the tools around the well had been for this purpose. Faraday went to ask Sarushiro how the device worked. It turned out that the device used a pulley system attaching Sarushiro's body to the weights, which were held over the well by a stopper. The stopper was attached to Sarushiro by a second rope, so that he could remove the stopper at the right time, causing the weights to fall and send him flying. Edgeworth noted that the weights needed to exceed Sarushiro's weight to work, and he realized that there were not enough weights in the simulation.

Edgeworth asked Gumshoe to use his metal detector to find the missing weights. He found the weights in the grass around Ally's pond. Ally then emerged from the pond, and the metal detector reacted to her as well. Berry said that Ally was feeling sick, and perhaps she had ingested something metallic.

Edgeworth noticed something else about the tools around the well, namely that only the rope with the stopper was there. He realized that the rope on the victim's body was the pulley rope. This meant that the killer had replaced the weights with the body and dropped the body down the well via Sarushiro's mechanism, while hiding the weights so that nobody was the wiser. The killer had wrapped the body in the sheet to prevent the body from leaving a blood trail. This had to have been set up on the night before the Animal Show, after Sarushiro and Berry had left. Edgeworth remembered the apple crate, and he deduced that whoever had set up the body had also pushed the apple crate out of the way to enter a door that it was blocking. The door was locked, so Faraday asked a nearby guard to get the keys, which they found out belonged to the warden.

Inside was a circuit breaker panel. Edgeworth realized that someone, probably the killer, had entered the room to cut the power to the security cameras. This placed suspicion on Marī Miwa. Edgeworth was now prepared to confront Hakari Mikagami when she finally arrived at the scene. She had brought a completed autopsy report.

Judge Mikagami's reasoning
Mikagami first repeated her argument concerning who had dropped the body down the well. Edgeworth refuted this by explaining Sarushro's contraption and his finding that the killer had switched the weights with the body. Since everything related to the show had to be approved by prison staff, this placed suspicion on people other than Sarushiro.

Reason for suspicion
Mikagami then brought up her other argument, which was about how the body had been transported. Edgeworth asked whether Sarushiro really could have been the only person who could transport the body without arousing suspicion. Mikagami argued that Sarushiro's privileges as a circus performer gave him free access to the prison. However, Edgeworth pointed out that the power had been cut to the security cameras, which provided the real killer to roam free without being detected. Edgeworth suggested that somebody had intentionally cut off the power using the circuit breaker. With this, he was about to reveal his suspect when she suddenly entered the courtyard.

Edgeworth noticed that Missile had detected a sweet scent on Miwa, the same one that was on the body. Mikagami was now beginning to realize that Edgeworth might be correct. The questioning of Marī Miwa began.

"Why I can't be the killer"
Miwa claimed that she had not entered the prison at all between the night before the Animal Show and the Animal Show itself, citing that there was no record of her entering the prison. Edgeworth responded that she could have just gone through her garden and across the barbed-wire fence. However, she could not get across the fence without accessing the breaker room. This meant that she had an accomplice who had cut the power to the cameras and the fence. Frank Sahwit fit the bill, since his bracelet was broken.

At this, Miwa confessed to being an accomplice to the Supplier. Ryōken Hōinbō apparently had henchmen, and he had threatened Miwa and her family to get her to give him whatever he wanted. In this way, he had become the Supplier. Miwa had taken Sahwit on as a partner in crime after he broke his bracelet, in exchange for her silence on the broken bracelet as well as special privileges. Once a week, Sahwit would cut the power to the cameras and the fence, allowing Miwa to go into the prison undetected with the goods. She would drop them down the well and spray perfume into it to signal Kuro to deliver the goods to Hōinbō. Miwa would then correct the timestamps on the cameras after Sahwit restored the power.

Miwa also claimed that, although the day of the murder was a delivery day, she had not had anything to deliver. Sahwit had apparently cut the power anyway, which was why the timestamps had not been corrected this time. All this seemed to remove suspicion from her. However, Shigaraki asked her to testify on her opinions on the culprit, since this would be important information for Sarushiro's trial. This lure worked, and Shigaraki told Edgeworth that it was now his turn to show that a defense attorney never gives up.

Miwa's story
Miwa claimed that she suspected Hōinbō of committing the murder. Edgeworth asked her about her thoughts concerning the circumstances behind the murder. Miwa replied that she did not know much about Naitō, but he would have been an easy target, and Hōinbō must have used the chisel hidden in the chessboard to do so. Edgeworth asked how she knew that the murder weapon had been inside the chessboard. Miwa replied that she had interrogated Naitō and learned about the chessboard's secret.

Miwa claimed that the interrogation was just a routine chat of the kind that she had with all new inmates, and that Naitō had returned to his cell afterward. Edgeworth questioned the claim that the victim had made it back to his cell, but Miwa claimed that she had no motive to kill Naitō, since Hōinbō was who she was after. Edgeworth disagreed with this as well, pointing out the chess game that the two had been playing. He said that Miwa must have figured out that there was a connection between Naitō and Hōinbō, but she had taken it further and believed that Naitō was one of Hōinbō's henchmen. When she found the chisel inside the chessboard, she had panicked and killed Naitō.

Miwa then pointed to the autopsy report, which stated that the fatal wound was four inches deep. This meant that the chisel was not the murder weapon after all. Edgeworth rethought his logic and realized that it had been misled from the beginning. The false murder weapon had been planted to get Hōinbō expelled from the prison.

Edgeworth realized that the real murder weapon was Hōinbō's knife, which had been delivered to Miwa along with other evidence related to the assassin. Miwa had detached the bell from the knife and attached it to the chisel. Regardless of all this, they did not have Miwa's permission to reinvestigate the prison. Edgeworth stalled for time by saying that he knew the location of the murder weapon. He eventually realized the meaning of the metal detector's reaction to Ally the alligator: she had swallowed the murder weapon! Regina Berry had the alligator open her mouth, and the knife was indeed inside! Now caught, Marī Miwa despaired at how Ryōken Hōinbō had ruined the paradise that she had created.

Aftermath

 * 12:41 PM

Forensics confirmed the presence of traces of the victim's blood on Hōinbō's knife. However, whether Naitō really was a subordinate of Hōinbō had yet to be seen. Yumihiko Ichiyanagi set off to investigate this matter. Before Mikagami left as well, she warned Edgeworth that the truth was not as important to the world as he believed it to be, and that the law was not meant to bend to the will of an individual.

Meanwhile, Sarushiro had been released, though he still seemed frightened by Edgeworth. He wondered whether Naitō had trusted him, since he had harbored enough hate toward somebody else to kill him. Edgeworth reassured Sarushiro that Naitō had trusted him enough to request a chisel hidden inside a chessboard to attempt a prison escape. Sarushiro was glad to hear this, and he vowed to be a great animal tamer for Naitō's sake. He and Berry gave Edgeworth a Berry Big Circus promotional poster and invited the gang to the next show before leaving for practice.

Edgeworth thanked Shigaraki for allowing him a way to investigate the case. Shigaraki asked Edgeworth whether he would like to be a defense attorney for real. Edgeworth, Gumshoe and Faraday all found this rather preposterous, since Edgeworth was a prosecutor, but Shigaraki insisted that he was being serious before leaving for the day. Edgeworth pondered whether he should really try to fulfill his original dream of becoming a defense attorney like his father.

References to other cases

 * Frank Sahwit first and only previous appearance was in the first case of the first game in the series: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. He was put in the game to signify the tenth anniversary of the Ace Attorney series.


 * A parrot similar in appearance to Yanni Yogi's Polly can be seen in one of the cells.


 * The Berry Big Circus was the setting of Turnabout Big Top. The poster that can be seen in The Imprisoned Turnabout prominently features Max Galactica, who was the defendant in the aforementioned case.

References to popular culture

 * One of the cats in the prison is called Wagahai, which is a reference to the novel I Am a Cat (Wagahai wa Neko de Aru in the original Japanese) by Natsume Sōseki.