Kira

"Kira"

- I heard a faint voice cry out. The next moment, those two villainous men burst into flames!

Kira was a flower girl in Labyrinthia who appeared as a witness in the trial of Espella Cantabella.

Background
Nothing is known of Kira’s past life before she signed the contract with Labrelum Inc., although it can be assumed, as with the other people who signed the contract, she was unsatisfied with her previous life. After her memories were suppressed, she started a new life as a flower girl in Labyrinthia and as a “witch” born with magical powers.

Kira tried to live a normal life as a flower girl, but was unable to due to her powers. Most likely due to Darklaw’s manipulation of the Story, Kira came to believe that Espella Cantabella was the Great Witch, Bezella. Believing in the prophecy of the Story that the witch trials would end when Bezella was put to the flames, Kira waited for her chance to frame Cantabella for witchcraft and have her executed in order to end the witch trials.

Espella’s Trial

 * Main article: The Fire Witch

Kira’s chance came one rainy evening when she spotted Cantabella travelling by herself through the forest, bringing goat’s milk for Patty Eclaire. When Cantabella was suddenly attacked by Robbs and Muggs, Kira casted Dimere on herself to get close to the scene undetected. She then casted Ignaize to incinerate the thugs and made her escape, accidentally dropping her glasses into the milk bucket in the process. Once she noticed that her glasses were gone, Kira chanted Amere to become visible again, which caused Emeer Punchenbaug to mistaken the word for his name and trip. Kira hurried back to the crime scene to search for her glasses, afraid that suspicion would fall upon her. But they were unintentionally taken away by Mary, who took the bucket to save the milk.

Kira then appeared at Cantabella’s trial at the witches' court as a witness to the crime, together with Mary, Wordsmith, Knightle, and eventually Punchenbaug. They testified altogether against Cantabella as the witch who murdered Robbs and Muggs. During the trial, Hershel Layton noticed that Kira could not see the mud on the broken lantern, which led her to confess that she had poor eyesight and had lost her glasses a few days ago. Later, Layton and Phoenix Wright were able to prove that one of the five witnesses was the real witch, eventually pointing to Kira when Punchenbaug testified that he heard a woman call out his name. The defenders pointed out that it was actually “Amere” chanted by the flower girl to reappear near the crime scene. Kira openly denied the defenders’ claim of her being a witch, but they proved that she needed to appear at the crime scene to find her glasses. And when she denied their claims again, the milk bucket was searched and her missing glasses were found. Wright and Layton proved that Kira was the real witch, causing her to scream in agony.

Kira was then placed inside the cage above the fire pit and she confessed to everything. She openly accused Cantabella of being Bezella and pleaded for her life. But the judge and Zacharias Barnham did not listen, even when Cantabella offered her life instead. Before her execution, Kira accused Cantabella one last time of being Bezella before being sent to the flames.

As a Shade

 * Main article: A Taste of Despair

In actuality, Kira did not die in the flames and was sent falling deeper below. She was eventually taken to Darklaw, who had her brainwashed with no memories of her life as a flower seller. Kira became a new Shade, doing various tasks given to her by Darklaw.

One day after Maya Fey’s trial, Kira was sent to cause an explosion at the marketplace. Wright and Luke Triton caught up to her as she tried to escape, and they recognized her as the flower girl. Wright tried to ask her why she was still alive, but she did not answer and fled. Since Fey was also sent down to the fire pit, Kira’s appearance gave Wright hope to believe that Fey was also alive.

The Final Witch Trial

 * Main article: The Final Witch Trial

Later that evening, Kira was given another task, this time by the Storyteller himself, to “kill” him. She climbed up the bell tower, sneaking past the vigilantes, in order to prepare for the assassination. However, she encountered Darklaw, who was carrying an unconscious Cantabella up the tower. Darklaw proceeded to attack Kira, who gave a struggle. She managed to scratch her assailant’s neck and pull off her pendant before she was drugged unconscious. Darklaw then hid Kira higher in the tower in the belfry and had Cantabella framed instead for killing her father.

During the trial, Wright and Fey were able to figure out the contraption in the tower and found Kira hiding behind the Bell of Ruin. They brought her to trial as a witness to testify what she was doing up at the tower. Whenever Wright questioned her, Kira would only gave vague answers as she was trying to cover for Darklaw. But after Wright changed his tactics and pressed on Darklaw instead, Kira got the courage to defy her mistress and testified that she had betrayed the Shades.

After the trial’s conclusion, Kira was able to return to town as a flower seller.

Name

 * Her Japanese given name comes from the English word "murderer".


 * "Kira", her English name, is a play on "killer" (linking it with her Japanese version's counterpart).


 * Her French given name is "Rose", which references her job as a flower seller. Her surname "Morthem" may be a play on "mortem" (as in post-mortem"), which comes from the Latin word for "death" ("mors").


 * "Bella Dorner", her full German name, is a play on "Belladonna", also known as "Deadly Nightshade".


 * Her Spanish name comes "Malva", a genus of flowers. It is also a play on the phrase "criando malvas", which is similar to the English phrase "pushing daises"; this pun is even referenced in-game by Phoenix Wright.


 * The Italian localization gives her the name "Rea", which is the feminine form of the Italian word "reo", meaning "guilty (of)" or "offender".


 * Her Dutch given name comes from "Anemoon", which is the Dutch word for the Anemone genus of flowers. Her surname "LeFeu" is French for "the fire"; a hint that she is the "fire witch".