People are in Conan, but Ace Attorney

Chapter 884 A Dragon-like Reversal (88)

"Then, the defense will proceed with the questioning phase."

Xiang Yuanguang's voice was calm, as if Nishikiyama Akira's testimony could not leave any ripples in his heart, and the same was true for Kiryu Kazuma beside him.

Because Akira Nishikiyama had previously almost confessed on the top floor of the Millennium Tower that he was the one who killed Sera.

Therefore, in Kiryu Kazuma's view, the fact that Nishikiyama Akira killed Sera no matter what happened, regardless of what he said in court.

He didn't care at all about what Akira Nishikiyama's testimony was, so he was unaffected by any emotional fluctuations.

“Mr. Jinshan, I would like to question you about your second statement of testimony.”

"You said that at the time of the incident, you were having a meeting with senior members of the Jinshan Group at headquarters, and that other people could testify on your behalf. So, who exactly are these 'other people'? Are they the senior members of the Jinshan Group?"

The lawyer in blue gently set down his coffee cup and calmly asked,
"Since Mr. Jinshan just mentioned the matter of witnesses with vested interests."

"I believe you are also aware that the higher-ups of the Jinshan Group have an absolute stake in this matter, right? The credibility of their testimonies alone may not be very high?"

Upon hearing this, Akira Nishikiyama's eyebrows twitched involuntarily.

The next moment, he frowned, realizing that his emphasis on the stake in the case during his testimony might become a weapon for Xiang Yuanguang to use against him.

Just as he had previously implied that Seiichi Nagashima had a vested interest in the matter, making his testimony unreliable.

The high-ranking members of the Nishikiyama Group that he mentioned in his testimony are undoubtedly also stakeholders. If Seiichi Nagashima's testimony is unreliable, then the testimonies of the Nishikiyama Group's high-ranking members are also unreliable.

— Either all of them are believable, or none of them are believable; this is a multiple-choice question.

Akira Nishikiyama's thoughts raced, and he simply said,
“That’s right, the person who can vouch for us is indeed a high-ranking member of the Jinshan Group, but…”

"There are no buts. To verify whether this is true, it is actually quite simple. Just ask the Jinshan Group members who are currently in detention where the higher-ups were on the day of the incident."

Xiang Yuanguang interrupted Jinshan Zhang directly.

He launched his attack without hesitation, slamming his hands on the table, raising his head sharply, and staring at Nishikiyama Akira behind the witness stand. For a moment, he actually brought a strange sense of pressure to Nishikiyama Akira.

"Officer Kazami, this can be done, right? Using a projection device?"

Kazami Yuya, standing next to Nishikiyama Akira, had a sudden flash of inspiration, but then fell into a deep thought.

Indeed, this is a very good way to argue against Akira Nishikiyama, but there is a huge flaw in it—this flaw is not Akira Nishikiyama's flaw, but rather the flaw of Kou Gen.

We only need to assume the simplest case.

That is, after Akira Nishikiyama assassinated Sera Katsumi, he returned to the headquarters building and ordered all members of the Nishikiyama Group to keep it a secret and, if questioned by the police, to say that they were all in a meeting at the headquarters building at the time of the incident.

If that's the case, then the testimonies of all members of the Jinshan group would be remarkably consistent in tone.

If we actually followed Xiang Yuanguang's request and directly connected with the detention center to have the police officers there conduct a live interrogation, the final outcome would be predictable.

Kazami Yuya was hesitating whether to agree to Xiang Yuanguang's request. He felt that Xiang Yuanguang was mostly bluffing, but if Nishikiyama Akira actually took advantage of the situation and demanded that the Japanese Public Security Bureau conduct a live interrogation, then the situation would become troublesome.

However, at that very moment, Xiang Yuanguang snapped his fingers.

An invisible, powerful wind blew outwards from him in all directions. The moment the wind hit him, Kazami Yuya finally made up his mind and said,

"That's right, it can definitely be done."

“The Japanese Public Security officers who escorted Seiichi Nagashima to the detention center should be arriving by now. If we contact them, we can project the live feed from the detention center onto the courtroom screen.”

Kazami Yuya has now made up his mind, naturally because of the inexplicable wind.

As everyone knows, Xiang Yuanguang is a sorcerer who calls himself a lawyer. His specialties are mind magic and wind magic. The wind that suddenly appeared must be the work of Xiang Yuanguang.

He could easily regard it as an undetectable code.

Xiang Yuanguang suddenly stirred up a storm, which naturally meant that he was confident that Jinshan Zhang had not done such a thing, otherwise he would not have urged him to put pressure on him in this way.

Upon hearing what Hikaru Muto and Yuya Kazami said, Akira Nishikiyama's expression changed slightly.

After assassinating Sera Katsumi, he parked his car in the large parking lot in Kamurocho and then took several core members back to the Nishikiyama Group's headquarters.

However, he did intentionally create the illusion that all the senior executives were in a meeting in the conference room.

However, he did not actually inform all the Jinshan Group members that he was having a group meeting with other high-ranking members, because the timing was too coincidental, and some Jinshan Group members saw them coming in from outside.

If we were to directly inform all members of the Jinshan group, they would be holding a group meeting.

It's inevitable that other ordinary members of the Nishikiyama Group will connect him with the assassination of Sera Katsu. If it's not explicitly stated, the other Nishikiyama Group members will think it's unrelated.

After all, people tend to follow the crowd, and as long as some people have the impression that the Jinshan Group's senior management is holding a meeting.

So when the police officers question them and take their statements, all the members of the Nishikiyama Group will say that the Nishikiyama Group's higher-ups are having a group meeting. However, if the questioners are changed from police officers to members of the Japanese Public Security Bureau, then that's a different story.

Everyone knows how ruthless the Japanese public security forces are; if they're asking this question, they must suspect something's wrong.

It's hard to say whether the Japanese Public Security Bureau might threaten members of the Nishikiyama-gumi inside the detention center from outside the live broadcast, causing them to change their story and say that the Nishikiyama-gumi's higher-ups didn't hold a meeting, but rather that most of them were out...

Even if the Japanese police don't explicitly say so, and it's just a biased questioning, some people will still find such threats unbearable.

Akira Nishikiyama's face was somewhat gloomy, but he finally gritted his teeth and said,
"Of course, you can go and ask them specifically."

"The high-ranking members of the Jinshan Group were holding a group meeting inside the headquarters building at the time of the incident, and all members of the Jinshan Group can serve as my alibis!"

His words sounded somewhat unconvincing, yet strangely persuasive.

After all, not everyone has the courage to use so many people as their alibis.

(End of this chapter)