𝙋. 𝙒𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 🚲

"I don't, I promise."

Phoenix shoved his hand in his pocket while he waited for their food.

"So? Can't a guy buy lunch for his best friend just cuz?"

Phoenix stood back to wait for their food.

Phoenix rolled his eyes playfully, then ordered his a little more spicy. He stepped to the side to let Miles pay.

"One of these days I'll buy you lunch."

"True, and I know how particular you are with your new hires. Hopefully those graduates can help lead the future of prosecution."

Phoenix followed Miles's gaze.

"Oh! I don't think I've tried that one before. Let's do it!"

"Jeez, is it really that hard to find decent prosecutors? Damn, and I thought we had it bad."

Once they arrived at the food trucks Phoenix looked around to see his options.

"Hm. . . What're you in the mood for?"

"Oh yeah it's also my birthday."

". . . You know maybe I should take Athena's advice and get a back brace. Had one hell of a time getting out of bed this morning."

Phoenix playfully nudged Miles with his elbow.

"Can't let your subordinates get bored, now can we? They might start bugging you more."

— Athena have been doing most of the trial work. I've been handling the backend stuff."

Phoenix beamed.

"Yeah! We've been getting a lot of clients lately, so we're always busy. In face I've kinda been looking into taking on a paralegal to offload some of the work."

At Miles's next question he laughed.

"No, no. Knock on wood, they've all been pretty standard. Actually, Apollo and —

Phoenix followed on the other side of him.

"Yeah? They've definitely gotten a lot better lately. They come by the office sometimes, and I'll usually treat the kids with lunch when they do. They deserve it for all the hard work."

"Huh, you never struck me as the type of guy that eats from a food truck. Not that that's a bad thing."

He gestured for Miles to walk ahead of him.

"Lead the way, Edgeworth."

"I'm touched~"

Phoenix put a hand over his heart.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind lunch. What were you thinking?"

"Gross. Hate that. We should send a pack of wolves on him."

He chuckled.

"But now you're dealing with your favorite grating attorney! That's gotta be something, right?"

Phoenix made a face.

"Yeesh. Sounds boring. Glad it's you and not me."

He chuckled.

"I hope it went well, though?"

"Eh, I'll live. I always do."

He nudged Miles's elbow.

"What have you been up to, Mr. Chief Prosecutor? I hardly ever see you anymore."

"Can you blame her? She loves me."

He looked down at Pess.

"Don't ya?"

That earned him an excited tail wag.

"Of anything I'm the lucky one. She came into my life right after I was disbarred. She was my light."

He smiled fondly at the photo.

"Still is."

Phoenix chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's. . . kind of a long story. Basically her birth father was my client, then he vanished and abandoned her. I couldn't just let her get swept up by the system, so I adopted her."

"I think you'd like him. Sweet kid, very passionate about defending. Oh!"

He pulled out his wallet and pulled out a photo. He showed it to April, in it was a picture of him and a little girl on a magician's outfit.

"That's my daughter, Trucy. She works here too."

A thought occured to him.

"You haven't met Apollo, have you? Apollo Justice?"

"In the meantime, you're more than welcome to hang out. Just be warned, Apollo can be kinda loud."

That still made him uneasy.

"I'd rather give you a fair wage. I'll crunch the numbers, maybe run it by Apollo, then I'll let you know. Alright?"

Phoenix was taken aback by the offer.

"Oh, um. . ."

He rubbed the back of his neck.

"I mean, it would be helpful. I kinda do everything around here. I would have to look at our finances first, I'd hate to underpay you."

"Yeah, me too. . ."

Even if it didn't bring Mia back, at least the bastard who got her got served the justice he deserved.

". . . I'm sorry. Really. You didn't deserve that."

"Can't say I blame you. That guy sucked. Hated him from the second I met him, even before I knew about the awful shit he did."

"Yeah? Well at least you had some time off. I'll bet that was nice, yeah?"

"Ohhhhhhh."

He's still confused.

"Got it."

He doesn't.

". . . Capcom? What does this mean, Pearls?"