These are the events leading up to the arrest of Damian Tenma and the ensuing investigation into the murder of Rex Kyubi.
- 12:13 p.m.
Apollo Justice received a call from Phoenix Wright regarding a job, but was disappointed to learn from Trucy Wright that his "job" was to look after her for the day, as Phoenix was busy meeting an acquaintance of his. The two headed for Nine-Tails Vale for a festival that was to take place there.
- 1:30 p.m.
Trucy and Justice arrived at Yokai Lane and discussed the exploding popularity of yokai in the village, which had boosted tourism and saved Nine-Tails Vale from the brink of economic failure. The main festival events were taking place at the alderman's manor, so they headed there.
- 2:05 p.m.
Tenma Taro and the Nine-Tailed Fox.
When the pair arrived at the Kyubi Manor garden, they met Jinxie Tenma, a friend of Trucy's and the maid at the alderman's manor. Apparently a believer that yokai were real, Jinxie immediately stuck a warding charm on Justice's forehead; presenting his attorney's badge did not deter her. Jinxie also discussed an especially evil demon named Tenma Taro, who was supposedly imprisoned in the manor's Forbidden Chamber by the Nine-Tailed Fox. A warding charm was on the chamber doors to seal him away and keep the village safe. Jinxie gave Justice a Yokai Legend Scroll depicting the two beings locked in battle.
"A Mysterious Murder"[]
The Amazing Nine-Tails saving Jinxie from Tenma Taro.
Suddenly, the trio bore witness to a peculiar scene. Someone dressed up as Tenma Taro appeared in front of a terrified Jinxie, but the Amazing Nine-Tails called out from the manor roof and leaped down between Jinxie and the creature. The Amazing Nine-Tails used his wrestling moves to subdue Tenma Taro and chase him away, and then bid the onlookers farewell. After that event, Trucy and Justice decided to explore the rest of the village.
- 3:40 p.m.
By the time Justice and Trucy returned to the garden, a commotion had erupted: Tenma Taro had killed someone! Jinxie put a warding charm on Justice and told him that the Fox Chamber was the crime scene. Justice was met by a horrifying scene: black feathers scattered throughout the room, blood on the floor with bloody bird-like footprints, a dead body that had been impaled by a spear, and another victim with a head wound, but still alive. Justice yelled for someone to call an ambulance.
A mayoral murder.
Justice returned to the garden as the police arrived on the scene. He learned from Jinxie that the murder victim was the alderman of Nine-Tails Vale, Rex Kyubi, and the other man was Damian Tenma, mayor of Tenma Town and Jinxie's father. Jinxie had come to Nine-Tails Vale to alleviate her fears and because her deceased mother had come from this village. The nine-tailed flowers in the village were her mother's favorite, and seeing them boosted her courage. Jinxie also mentioned that the warding charm on the Forbidden Chamber door had been removed, and Tenma Taro had escaped and killed the alderman.
The detectives were declaring this an open-and-shut case, and Trucy asked Justice to take the case on. Knowing that Jinxie would have no one left if Mayor Tenma were convicted, he agreed to take the case. Trucy said that she would stay behind to see Jinxie off, and then return to the office. She also warned Justice that Mayor Tenma was an intimidating man.
"The Legwork Begins"[]
Nine-Tails Vale's mental image of the "villainous" Mayor Tenma.
Though Damian Tenma appeared quite intimidating in appearance and mannerisms, in reality he was simply excitable. Mayor Tenma explained that his fingerprints had been found on the spear. As for the alleged motive, Mayor Tenma mentioned that he had been pushing a merger between Tenma Town and Nine-Tails Vale, and Kyubi had been strongly against it. The mayor asked Justice to help Jinxie through this ordeal.
The Tenma Taro newspaper article.
After the interview, Phoenix called Justice. He had just met up with the newly-hired Athena Cykes at the airport, but she had bolted toward Nine-Tails Vale as soon as she had heard about the murder there. Sure enough, Justice found Cykes at Yokai Lane, arguing with a police officer about her being a lawyer. After Cykes threw said officer onto Justice, the two had an awkward introduction. Justice learned that Cykes had procured a newspaper article showing Tenma Taro flying through the air. The two went inside Kyubi Manor to start their investigation.
Inside the manor's foyer, Justice and Cykes overheard on a TV that the Amazing Nine-Tails had gone missing. They then met Phineas Filch, who tried to steal Justice's bracelet. When called out on this, he escaped, leaving a pair of shoes and two police-drawn maps: one of the foyer, and one of the Fox Chamber. Bewildered, the two headed to the crime scene.
"The Fox Chamber"[]
Detective Bobby Fulbright stood in the way. Justice explained that they were Mayor Tenma's lawyers, and he and Cykes argued that they needed to investigate to assure a fair trial for their client. Fulbright reluctantly agreed to let them through. As they examined the Forbidden Chamber door, the detective explained that the police had found no way to open it, and that it had been shut tightly even at the time of the murder.
Behind the armchair where Mayor Tenma had been found was a small statue, which apparently depicted Tenma Taro and the Nine-Tailed Fox locked in battle. Nearby was another armchair on its side. Fulbright told them not to touch it, but Cykes warded him off by telling him about a woman who needed help outside. They then found a green, blood-stained cloth under the armchair. The room had only one window, which opened only slightly to a steep cliff. Caught in the window frame was a patch of golden fur.
"Picking Fulbright's Brain"[]
When Fulbright returned, he directed their attention to the air duct in the room, which started in the hallway and ended on a vent on the ceiling on the Fox Chamber. This vent was too high to be a plausible escape route. Fulbright also told them that Jinxie had been the first on the scene, and that she had the only key to the Fox Chamber, other than the master key, which had gone missing. The detective gave them a photo of the crime scene, explaining that Mayor Tenma was the only one without an alibi, as Filch had been working with the mayor's aide at the time. Finally, he warned them about the prosecutor: a killer named Simon Blackquill, whose conviction had brought forth the so-called "dark age of the law". Apparently, the request for him to prosecute had come from the chief prosecutor himself. Before Fulbright left, Cykes noticed that he was barefoot, and Justice realized that the shoes that Filch had dropped belonged to him. The detective had not even noticed that he was barefoot at all.
"Questions for Filch"[]
Filch showing Cykes the Amazing Nine-Tails's mask on the riverbank.
With that fiasco solved, Justice and Cykes met Filch in the foyer again to ask about his alibi. However, Filch frantically called them outside. The Amazing Nine-Tails's mask had been found washed up by the riverside. Justice found some white hair inside the mask. Filch worried that the Amazing Nine-Tails had been murdered.
Back in the foyer, Filch explained that the Amazing Nine-Tails was a wrestler from Nine-Tails Vale who donned a gold cape that looked like nine fox tails. He was responsible for the wave of monster popularity sweeping Nine-Tails Vale. There were rumors that Tenma Taro had killed the Amazing Nine-Tails, a belief stemming from the discovery of the mask and his disappearance. There was another rumor that the real goal of the merger was for Damian Tenma to gain access to the Forbidden Chamber and release Tenma Taro. During the alderman's murder, Filch claimed that had been in the caretaker's office with Mayor Tenma's aide, Florent L'Belle, and that he had not seen anybody in the foyer.
Cykes suddenly realized that the patch of golden fur that they had found in the Fox Chamber was from the mask. This meant that the mask might have been at the crime scene at some point. Justice began to wonder whether Rex Kyubi was the Amazing Nine-Tails. He decided to question Jinxie for more details.
"Questions for Jinxie"[]
The "Tenma Taro" Jinxie encountered in the hallway.
Cykes finally met Jinxie at Yokai Lane. Justice learned from her that there were matches in which the winner would remove the loser's mask. This was considered a humiliation worse than death. When asked about what she had seen, Jinxie reluctantly responded that she had encountered Tenma Taro in the hallway after calling the police. The demon had been carrying a staff, and he had fled toward the foyer. Justice noticed that there was no staff in the Yokai Legend Scroll, which he learned was the only known depiction of Tenma Taro. Jinxie also explained that L'Belle had told her about one of the village superstitions, which forbade anyone from talking about Tenma Taro, at the risk of losing their souls to him. Justice wondered why someone who was not from Nine-Tails Vale would say such a thing, and when Jinxie told him that L'Belle was in the foyer, he returned there to question him.
"Who's That Masked Man?"[]
The TV guide inside the Caretaker's Office.
Justice and Cykes discovered a TV guide inside the caretaker's office. A wrestling match was circled on it. Filch commented that the match was a complete disaster. Justice tried to question him about Jinxie's statements, but L'Belle arrived and silenced Filch. He claimed that he was merely trying to inform Jinxie of the village traditions, and both he and Filch claimed not to have seen Tenma Taro. However, it seemed to Justice as if L'Belle was controlling Filch's words and feeding him a testimony for the trial. Cykes also noticed in L'Belle's voice that he had an inexplicable obsession with Tenma Taro.
After they left, Justice decided to ask Mayor Tenma about the rumors surrounding him. When Justice asked about the real reason for his push for the merger, Mayor Tenma claimed that he simply wanted to acquire the village for tourism purposes. Justice noticed a reaction in his bracelet, and he focused on the mayor to find that the bottom of his right eye twitched when he mentioned tourism. Justice also told Mayor Tenma that his claim was impossible, since Nine-Tails Vale had been practically deserted before the Amazing Nine-Tails appeared, after the merger talks had started. The mayor then admitted that someone had blackmailed him into pursuing the merger by threatening Jinxie's life. He wondered whether the blackmailer was the killer. Justice guessed that, if Rex Kyubi were the Amazing Nine-Tails, then this would provide a strong motive to kill the leader of the anti-merger movement.
Justice knew that he would have a long trial the next day, since the only plausible suspects were his client and a creature of legend. He returned to the office to prepare.