37 ace attorney 6 - the truth about the contract

Dear Readers,

Athena and I returned to Trucy's dressing room, where we found the clipboard that was used when Trucy signed the contract.

There was some fun banter when examining it more closely, including when the holder part "bit" Athena. Aw!

There were some screws, one of which came loose. Then, the back of it was something that could be removed. We found carbon paper inside, tracing paper! What Trucy signed must've signed another contract underneath! This is how she got conned! This was a dirty trick from the "Ratings Rajah"!

Next it was time to investigate the understage. We found it unlocked this time. Yay for Bonny!

36 ace attorney 6 - returning trucy's notebook

Athena and I went back to the detention centre to see Trucy. She was performing tricks for the guard, so she was dealing with stuff in her usual way.

I showed her the contract she signed and she was shocked at the three million dollars part, saying she didn't see that, and she read it from top to bottom. There must've been some foul play with Roger Retinz behind all of it.

Then I asked her about Bonny's mistake and she got all dramatic and cliffhangery, making an entertaining narrative of how she overcame it.

There was another stage lift under Mr Hat's new position, but it was raised. Trucy then had to push that lift out of the way and then push the one she wanted to use into place. She was able to use that instead. She said she couldn't use her magic as the understage was a dark place that drains magicians of all their powers. That was a nice little detail.

Trucy didn't tell anyone else about this, so I made sure to make a note of it.

I gave her back her notebook. She said it was her granddaddy Magnifi Gramarye's notebook. He used it as a diary and to write down new tricks, some of which only members of the Troupe have seen. It was also under lock and key.

She repeated the creed that was written inside: "A true entertainer always keeps a smile on their face."

I like to think of this blog as a bit of a notebook too!

I then told Trucy that we found it mixed in with Mr. Reus' belongings and she was shocked, saying there was no way he would've tried to steal it. It would've made for a motive though, being all packed with secrets like that.

She apologised for the mess with the contract and said she would be willing to use her magic to help, though she was better at making stuff disappear. I said not to worry. It was time to check out the dressing room again and the understage too.

35 ace attorney 6 - chatting with bonny de famme

Dear Readers,

Athena and I popped into the dressing room, where we met Trucy's bunny girl assistant, who introduced herself as Bonny de Famme. She had trouble confronting us about taking Trucy's notebook, because she also had a very bunny-like timid manner. She also deeply admires Trucy as a fan and would do anything for her, including helping us prove her innocence.

I got a bracelet reaction when Bonny said she always performed her trick perfectly. I expected her nose to twitch when she said that but instead there was like a pair of eyes under her hat looking around shiftily and I said "Gotcha!"

I feel bad for using her timidness against her, but I had to confront her to admit she messed up Trucy's escape.

What happened was Bonny made Mr Hat appear on the wrong side of the coffin, but Trucy was able to deal with that mistake on her feet and pull off the trick anyway.

We asked Bonny to help us get to the understage and she said she would, but then, Roger Retinz came into the room to talk to Athena and me. He showed us the contract Trucy signed, specifically the part where the second party would have to pay three million dollars if the show got cancelled. Yikes! He enjoyed and recorded our shocked reactions, worthy for reality tv or viral social media posts.

He then left with Bonny to do more filming, doing his slimebally "Hang loose, baby" surfing gesture. 

First it was Phoenix's life, now it's this money threat hanging over our heads! What did that guy hate about the Gramaryes and magicians so much anyway? We had to go see Trucy.

34 ace attorney 6 - meeting roger retinz

The guy we met outside with the coffee cup was here at the stage now. He got all friendly when he saw our attorney badges and offered his business card. He fanned himself with a huge wad of money. He introduced himself as Roger Retinz and he was a bigshot in TV. he also likes to whip out his camera and make people do dramatic reality TV stuff. Yuk!

He didn't seem to think much of Trucy, or magicians in general. In fact, he was going to use his media control to tarnish Trucy's name! The jerk!

We'll have to save Trucy from the likes of him.

33 ace attorney 6 - examining the backstage

Dear Readers,

After taking fingerprints from the coffin, something bothered me. It was Mr. Reus' position of his fingerprints. It looked like he was facing backwards. I also wondered why the stab was in his back. Ema said he could've twisted and turned as this was happening, or at least that's what the prosecutor said anyway.

After showing my lady-killer eyes, as Athena put it, Ema allowed us to examine the backstage but not to move anything. She opened the backstage curtain.

There was another coffin here that looked like it had a dragon stuffed inside, but it was just painted on the front. There was a path to the understage, but the door was locked. Trucy called it the abyss and I said this was a swing and abyss, which is really clever!

Other interesting included the winches, the disused fire bucket and not so interesting was the ladder to the catwalk. I was terrified of going up there but we had to anyway.

The Mr Hat puppet was up here and it looked like his cape was slashed with a blade or something.

Two pulleys up here. The smaller one was attached to Mr Hat and the larger one must've been for the dragon.

We took a closer look at the cushions that absorb the impact of things being raised up. Athena saw that I was trembling so much she offered to hold my hand.

That's all we could examine for now. Ema said we would have to get a magician to let us check the understage passage.

32 ace attorney 6 - taking fingerprints with ema

Dear Readers,

With that hypothesis in mind, we asked Ema if there were any fingerprints on the coffin. She was saving the best for last and we had the chance to help her.

She went over the mechanics of dusting for fingerprints with the touch screen and blowing into the microphone for blowing the dust away and incredibly to refill the jar if we use it excessively and run out. Amazing!

Weirdly, the microphone didn't work for blowing dust, but there was a blow button so I pressed that.

Then I realised that the microphone on my headphone cable was being used. Hahaha. All this time, even the objections and stuff in the last case. Oh well I stand corrected!

I was now able to check the whole of the outside of the coffin. I checked the doors but there were none. Then I saw a smudge on the top and found prints around it. When it came to analysis it didn't match anyone involved with the case. The prints inside from before belonged to Mr. Reus.

After a lot of dusting and blowing and rotating, I eventually found another print on the front, towards the top right. It was Bonny's. She wasn't wearing gloves and she put the front on during the show.

That was it. All belonging to Bonny, Mr. Reus and an unidentified person.

It's fun doing this stuff with Ema again after all this time!

31 ace attorney 6 - investigating the stage

Dear Readers,

Now to investigate the stage with Athena and Ema.

Athena even offered a tutorial on this! Very kind of her, but I declined.

Ema was doing her own investigating. There was a curtain to backstage, but I didn't want to incur her displeasure, so I left it for now.

There was a box like the shelving unit we had in the office, the dragon thin that Ema herself was looking at, the camera which showed the same footage that was on TV and this time Athena noticed the shadows, the reference she made to Pop-up Pirate; yeah that game is popular in Europe like she said but isn't it in America? Ah well.

That was about all we could investigate for now... at least at this angle! I was able to use the direction pad to change angle to look at more stuff on the stage.

We examined the coffin which was now unfolded and spread out on the ground. There were secret doors on the bottom and in the back.

We examined the outline and Ema showed us the crime scene photo. Mr. Reus had a stab wound in his back and a stunt wire harness around his waist.

The stunt dragon thing was all flat panel stuff. Trucy convinced me to help her make it with her magical smile. Athena said Trucy had me wrapped around her little finger. Oh well...

There was a sword here covered in blood and it looked like the murder weapon. It looked nothing like what Trucy was using. I asked Ema about fingerprints and she said there were none. On the other hand, Trucy was wearing gloves, on both hands.

At the end of this, I was thinking this didn't add up at all. I had to think about all the stuff that happened. Athena tried to snap me out of my concentration and I said I think somebody switched Trucy's rubber sword for the metal one in order to pin the murder on her. Athena asked when and I had three choices: Right before the trick, after the set piece fell and during Trucy's trick. 

I picked the wrong answers before picking after the set piece fell. Before the trick choice had some amusing dialogue. 

Someone must've been trying to frame Trucy for murder.