April May

"April May"

- April May! At your service! *wink*

"Judge"

- Order! An introduction should not require any reaction from the crowd! The witness will refrain from wonton [sic] winking!

"April May"

- Aww... Yes, Your Honor.

"Phoenix Wright"

- (This is not good... She's already captured the heart of every man in the court!)

April May was a secretary at Bluecorp and a witness in the murder of Mia Fey. She accused Mia's sister, Maya, for this crime.

A blackmailer's assistant
April May was the secretary of Redd White, the CEO of Bluecorp. Bluecorp was an information-gathering corporation that frequently used illegal methods to obtain their information and would then often use said information to blackmail various important individuals, including those in the legal system, making Bluecorp almost untouchable by the law.

"Tippity-tapping" Fey's phone

 * Main article: Turnabout Sisters

"April May"

- Isn't tippity-tapping er... irrelevant?



White suspected that Mia Fey, a defense attorney, was investigating him and thus had May plant a wire tap in Fey's office to keep an eye on her. It turned out that Fey had spent most of her life gathering evidence to take him down. The wire tap also picked up a phone conversation with her younger sister Maya Fey, telling her to hold on to evidence that was stored in a clock shaped like The Thinker.

On the night of September 5th, both White and May booked a room in the hotel across from Mia's office. A little before 9:00, May ordered some ice coffee for both of them and flirted with the bellboy so that he would remember her and thus create an alibi later. White meanwhile went over to Mia's office to take the evidence and destroy it. He also killed the lawyer with the Thinker clock in order to silence her permanently. To guarantee the success of his plan further, he had May call the police and testify that she saw the victim's sister Maya kill her. She was told by the police to stay in her hotel room until she was called to testify.

Meeting Wright
"April May"

- You're the lawyer, aren't you? The detective told me... He said, "Don't say nothing to that lawyer, pal!" Tee hee!

"Phoenix Wright"

- Memo to self: thank Detective Gumshoe for making my job harder.



May soon received a visit from Phoenix Wright, Mia's protégé and also Maya's defense attorney. May declared that she had to go "freshen up" so that she could "look the part of the beautiful eyewitness". Upon returning, May found Wright rummaging around in the drawer she was hiding the wire tap in and quickly stopped him, letting her temper get the better of her for a second. May refused to tell Wright anything about what she had seen, what she did for a living or whether there was anyone staying with her in the hotel room. Later, while May was in the bathroom, Wright returned and found the wiretap in the drawer.

Trial tantrum
"April May"

- Oooh? Oh ho ho. Mmmrrrrrph! Ooooorrrrrrrggggghhhhhhh... hhh!!! What's it to you, porcupine-head!? That stupid clock doesn't matter, okay!? She did it! And she should die for it! Die!

In court the next day, May was called to testify as to what she had seen. She tried to twist the facts to make it seem that Maya was the culprit, but Wright was able to find the contradictions in her testimony. Firstly, he pointed out that May made no mention of Maya's unusual clothing or hairstyle in her description of her. She then let slip that she knew about The Thinker being a clock, odd because it was only one of two in existence and, although it "spoke" the time, it was broken at the time of the murder. Upon having her testimony questioned, May temporarily lost her temper and yelled at the defense attorney, much to the shock of the court. Wright then presented the wiretap as an explanation as to why May knew about the clock, and May properly lost her temper, breaking down on the stand and revealing her true personality: aggressive, sneering and temperamental. Despite this, Wright was unable to pin the murder on her and thus called the bellboy to testify. Unluckily for May, Wright was able to figure out that someone else was staying with her in the hotel room from the bellboy's bringing of two ice coffees. After the trial, May was arrested for wiretapping and as a possible accomplice to murder.

In detention
"April May"

- Well hello! I didn't expect anyone to visit me in such a dank place as this... It's really quite... moving. Not! You stinking lawyer! I hope you die! Have you come to laugh? Yes, laugh at the fallen Miss May!


 * The canonicity of part of this section is unclear, since the player may have to find out White's identity from Marvin Grossberg instead of May depending on which conversation choices are selected.

Wright went to visit May in the detention center to find out about the man who was in the hotel room, but May was hardly pleased to see him and refused to help. However, Wright eventually found a photograph of May's boss, Redd White, from Grossberg's law office, as well as an affidavit from the bellboy claiming to have seen White in May's hotel room with her. Wright showed the bellboy's affidavit to May and was able to find out who and where White was by bluffing to take what he had learned to the press. May still did not tell him whether or not he was responsible for Mia's death since she was scared of her employer, having seen him silence someone with her own eyes. Wright went on to prove that White was the true murderer and that Maya was innocent.

Personality
"April May"

- I like a man with a big... vocabulary.

First impressions of April May gave the appearance of a cute, lively, and flirtatious young woman who liked to tease people and knew how to get her way. She would normally do this with her sex appeal, using a combination of ample cleavage, an innocent expression and a cutesy style of speech.

When cornered, however, May would reveal her true personality: aggressive, sneering and temperamental. Whenever this happened, the top heart-shaped button on her blouse turned upside down, and her left eye would start twitching subtly. Although a formidable individual herself, she was shown to be frightened of her boss Redd White, most likely since she knew he was certainly capable of murder.

May enjoyed ice coffee, ordering it at the Gatewater Hotel when she stayed there. She also believed that everything was sold in stores; this proved to be her undoing when she tried to explain that she had seen the murder weapon, the statue/clock of The Thinker, in a store even though only two copies existed and both were made by Larry Butz.

Name

 * The first three kanji of her Japanese name mean "pine", "bamboo" and "ume" (Japanese apricot or plum) and together make up the word "shouchikubai", which means "high, middle and low ranking" (making it similar to White's Japanese name, which is made up of the kanji for "small", "medium" and "large"). The pine, bamboo and plum are common subjects in Chinese and Japanese art that have come to represent winter. The "low, medium and high" refer to the roots of the pine tree (low), the stalk of bamboo (middle) and the flowers of the plum tree, which are the first to blossom in late winter (high).


 * Her full English name, "April May", refers to the months of April and May.


 * "Masha Vril", her full French name, comes from the French words for March ("Mars") and April ("Avril").

Development

 * April May and Redd White's names were chosen together. They were some of the first characters created and they set the standard for all the witnesses that would follow them, both in terms of eccentricity and pun-based names.


 * Originally Wright was not to meet May until her court appearance, whereupon he would get "heart eyes". The script was changed, however, so Wright would meet her during his investigation instead. The sprite affiliated was cut.


 * Both April May and Redd White accused individuals whose surnames rhyme with their own; April May accused Maya Fey and Redd White accused Phoenix Wright.


 * While most unmarried female witnesses are addressed by the title of "Ms.", April May is referred to as "Miss".


 * The hearts on May's suit turn upside-down when her temper gets the better of her.