At some point or another, mercifully, Phoenix had managed to fall asleep.

This wasn’t the first time in the three years they had known each other that he and Maya had fallen asleep on the apartment’s couch. Of course, most of the times that it had happened before, he was lying comfortably on his back with Maya eventually snuggling into his chest.

They’d become quite comfortable with that kind of contact over time. It wasn’t really awkward for either of them anymore.

This arrangement, however, fit firmly under the heading of “still awkward” for Phoenix.

He was waking up, finding himself still pinned to the couch by just as much weight as the evening before. He was still inside of Maya’s shirt, with most of his body pinned beneath her chest. His head was free, along with the majority of one of his arms, but that wasn’t enough to let him get anywhere.

He could feel the warmth of her body heat all around him, and her gentle snores causing her chest to shift against him.

There was enough light outside of Maya’s t-shirt to see her face resting against one of the pillows on the couch. That probably meant that it was the early morning by now. Maya was definitely an early riser on the majority of mornings. They had to be ready for the trial, so the shrunken defence attorney could only hope that his assistant didn’t choose today of all mornings to sleep in.

He thought about wriggling around a bit to try and wake her up. With a quick glance around, he remembered that he was flanked on both sides by her breasts, and he dismissed the idea, groaning into the fabric of her shirt.

Almost like it had been on cue, however, Maya began to stir just seconds later.

“Mm…”

Her body shifted a bit. One of her hands rose to her face, brushing her bangs out of her eyes.

“Hm…?”

She twitched, pausing for a few seconds.

“… Nick, you’re still there, right?” she asked aloud.

“Ugh…” He moved his free arm, awkwardly rapping the back of his hand against the firm ceiling of her chest.

“Oh, good!”

With that, Maya slowly rose from the couch, moving to a sitting position. Phoenix made a startled noise, awkwardly scrambling against the interior of the t-shirt. He slipped downward a bit, past Maya’s small breasts, and wound up upside-down in her lap when he stopped moving.

One of Maya’s hands appeared, pushing its way inside of her shirt to locate him and dig him back out. He was pretty sure that he was blushing.

--------

“Morning, Nick!”

Maya was doing her best not to flush red in the face. Waking up had been weird. She remembered in pretty short order that she’d fallen asleep on the couch, with Nick tucked down her shirt. It had been funny to her initially, but now, it just felt kind of embarrassing.

She absolutely wouldn’t be telling him about it, but while she’d been sleeping, she had experienced a bit of an… unusual dream. A dream about Nick.

A rather sexual dream about Nick, to be more specific. Truth be told, it wasn’t the very first time it had ever happened, but she usually didn’t wake up with Nick right there, in physical contact with her body immediately afterward.

Hopefully she wasn’t too obviously embarrassed. Nick would start asking questions…

He was standing up in her lap now, stretching. He probably felt pretty stiff after sleeping in a position like that.

Seeing him right down there wasn’t helping with her embarrassment. The details of her dream were already fading, but when she closed her eyes, she saw a flash of her shrunken attorney friend wriggling between her fingers as he was slowly lowered straight into the opening of her panties, her other hand holding her underwear open to catch him-

She bit her lip, forcing her eyes open again. It was definitely time to put that out of her mind.

“What’s the time?” she heard Phoenix ask, in the middle of a yawn. She looked around, her hazy mind briefly forgetting where to find the clock.

“Uh… just a little past eight.” she answered.

“Hm. Better hurry, then. We should grab something to eat before we get going. This is gonna be a seriously weird way for me to show up to the trial, though. … Any chance you’ve thought of anything to make this work?”

Maya nodded, smiling. “Yep! I’ve actually got a pretty good idea!”

--------

An hour and a half later, they were standing in the courthouse, defendant lobby number three.

Their client was standing in front of Maya, understandably a bit shocked by learning what had happened to her attorney the day before.

“So, Mr. Wright…” Dr. Airie Xemple was saying, her nervous eyes locked on the shrunken figure standing in Maya’s open palm, “You’ll still be able to defend in that state?”

Phoenix shrugged. “Assuming that the courthouse staff doesn’t decide to call pest control on me, yes.”

Dr. Xemple managed a small, uncertain smile. “Well, I’m very glad to hear that, at least. I’m so, so sorry that this happened to you… I had no idea that the prototype Dr. Smalls was working on might actually… well, actually be able to do this.” she said, ending the reply with a small wave in his direction.

“It was pretty crazy to find him like this.” Maya remarked. “Nick could’ve gotten into serious trouble if I hadn’t found him!”

Down in Maya’s palm, Phoenix rolled his eyes.

(Sure, Maya, don’t mention that the “trouble” you’re talking about was you almost making me your lunch.)

A voice interrupted from nearby.

“Defence, it’s time for you and your client to enter the courtroom.”

“Got it!” Maya called out over her shoulder. “On the way!”

She looked down at Phoenix again, still standing in her palm.

“OK, Nick, you ready?”

“As ready as a two inch-tall lawyer can be, I'm pretty sure. Let’s get going, Maya.”

--------

The courtroom was filled with roughly its usual level of rumbling noise from the gallery. Maya was standing at the defence bench, fairly sure that she could hear a few comments here and there about the apparent absence of the expected defence attorney.

“What’s going on?” someone audibly wondered aloud. “That’s that mousey girl who’s always hanging around with Wright, but where is he? Don’t tell me she somehow managed to become a lawyer, too…”

Maya bit back the urge to snap back with a remark of her own. She’d been in this courtroom plenty of times! She would’ve known what she was doing, even if Nick wasn’t ready to defend…

Finally, the Judge’s gavel clapped down, and the gallery fell silent.

“Court is now in session for-…”

The old man’s voice trailled off.

“Erm… Ms. Fey?” he asked aloud. “Where is Mr. Wright? Surely you aren’t planning to argue this case on your own…?”

Maya groaned quietly.

(Don’t the bailiffs tell this old fart anything…?)

She cleared her throat.

“Um, Your Honour, he’s actually right here with me.” she said, pointing a finger toward her robes. She wasn’t finished her explanation yet, but the Judge spoke up again before she could continue.

“Er, now, Ms. Fey, it’s very sweet of you to say that Mr. Wright is with you in spirit, but I’m afraid-…”

“Uh, no, Your Honour, I mean he’s right here.” she interrupted, not really feeling patient enough to deal with this kind of thing right now. She again jabbed a finger toward her chest, indicating the tiny figure that she’d tucked into the frontmost fold of her robes. Phoenix was perched there, his upper body exposed against her chest. Beside him, she was wearing a small microphone pack.

The Judge blinked in confusion, and was about to inquire further when the bailiff finally appeared, whispering something to him.

“B-but that’s… Mr. Wright? How in the world did this happen to you?”

“Lab accident.” Maya said. “No offence, Your Honour, but aren’t we supposed to be starting?”

There was a rumble from the gallery again.

Franziska was standing opposite them, leaning over the prosecution bench with a smirk on her face. It was a bit uncomfortable seeing her again, Phoenix had to admit, after she’d tried to feed him to Maya the day before. She spoke up for herself.

“The bite-sized Phoenix Wright had a small accident during his investigation yesterday afternoon.” she said. “He has experienced a bit of… I believe the word is ‘shrinkage’.”

Maya heard a small laugh from somewhere behind her. The Judge clapped his gavel down again.

“Very well.” he said, though he sounded a bit uncertain. “If everything is in order, then court is now in session for the trial of Dr. Airie Xemple.”

“The prosecution is ready, Your Honour.” Franziska said, straightening up. She was still smirking.

“The defence is-…” Phoenix looked up at Maya. “Maya, the mic!”

“Oh. Oops. Sorry, Nick!” she said, reaching down to flip the small switch and turn the microphone on.

Phoenix shook his head.

(This is gonna go wonderfully.)

“The defence is ready, Your Honour.”

The Judge nodded. “Prosecutor von Karma, your first witness?”

--------

The trial’s proceedings began roughly as normal. Seemingly the only detective ever given any work to do in this city, Dick Gumshoe was called to the stand. He recounted the case’s details in his typical, mildly bumbling manner. Phoenix asked a short list of questions, finding at one point that Maya had accidentally switched his mic off again.

The prosecution’s opinion was that the victim, Dr. Connor Smalls, had been alone in his lab on the day of the murder, when he had been visited by Dr. Xemple. Dr. Xemple herself had indeed gone to the victim’s lab to see him on that day, but insisted that she had merely discovered the scene of his apparent murder, calling the police once she was over the initial shock of the discovery.

Detective Gumshoe went on to describe the manner of the victim’s death. Dr. Smalls had been found slumped in his desk chair when the police arrived, but the prosecution claimed that Dr. Xemple had moved his body there after his death.

In the same basement lab, a loose bookcase had been lying on the ground, apparently knocked over at some point that day. Dr. Xemple insisted that she had discovered the victim at his desk, and in her state of shock, accidentally backed into the bookcase, knocking it over. Detective Gumshoe, however, instead suggested that the bookcase had in fact been deliberately pushed over on top of the victim, accounting for an unusual pattern of bruises that covered his front.

“Objection!” Phoenix yelled, recalling what he’d read from the case notes, which were lying on the defence bench in front of Maya. To his confusion, Detective Gumshoe didn’t stop speaking.

Maya was looking down at him.

“Crap…! Sorry, Nick…”

She switched the mic back on for a third time.

“OBJECTION!”

This time, Gumshoe fell silent.

“Sorry, Detective,” Phoenix said, “But your story’s not adding up. Your own autopsy report states that the victim died as a result of asphyxiation, not being crushed under a bookcase.”

“Objection!” Franziska shouted back, clearly ready for such a question. “Do be patient, before you foolishly run your tiny mouth, Phoenix Wright.” she said. “Our scruffy detective claimed no such thing. If you can stand waiting just a minute or so, my next witness will explain. You can do that, can’t you?”

Phoenix sighed. Franziska was condescending on a normal day. She clearly felt even more comfortable behaving this way when he was smaller than her thumb.

The Judge nodded. “Very well. If you have no further questions, Mr. Wright, the prosecution may call their next witness.”

--------

Detective Gumshoe left the stand, and the next witness arrived. She was a strawberry-blond young woman, most likely in her late twenties. Phoenix had a guess as to who she was. Dr. Smalls had a part-time lab assistant, who he and Maya had tried but failed to get in contact with during their investigation.

“Witness, your name and occupation.” Franziska said shortly.

The young woman, dressed in a very casual autumn jacket and jeans, nodded.

“Sarah Flatt.” she said. “Lab assistant for Dr. Smalls. Well, part-time, anyway. … Is it ex-assistant now…?”

A loud crack sounded as Franziska drew the whip she always carried around and swung it in the witness’s direction.

“Save your foolish personal mutterings for after your testimony.” she said impatiently. “Now, you will testify about your activities on the day of your employer’s murder.”

“Right…” Sarah said, looking uncertainly in Franziska’s direction. “Uh… so, I usually work in the evenings. Dr. Smalls is-… was always staying up super-late with whatever he was working on. He just wanted me to keep an eye on something that night, but he didn’t really explain much. He never did, actually. Anyway, he wasn’t there when I showed up. I hadn’t seen him since the night before, so I dunno where he went. I sat down at his desk to wait, ‘cuz his chair’s way more comfortable than mine. I was probably there for… maybe half an hour? Doc never showed up, which is weird for him, so I packed up and went home again.”

Phoenix checked his mic. It was actually on, this time.

“Half an hour? Is that accurate?” he asked.

“Give or take.” Sarah answered with a shrug. “Like I said, Tiny, he never showed up, either way.”

Phoenix chose to ignore the minor jab.

“The bookcase in the lab. Was it still upright when you arrived? When you left?”

Sarah nodded. “Yep. Still standing, right there in the middle of the friggin’ room. I was always telling him that was a dumb place for it.”

Phoenix glanced down at the crime scene photo on the bench.

“There was a set of headphones on the victim’s desk.” he said. “You said that you sat down there. Are they yours?”

“Yep.” Sarah replied. “I was getting kinda annoyed that the Doc wasn’t showing up, and I forgot them there. Figured I could just grab them when I came back in the next day.”

Nothing was providing the opening Phoenix needed yet.

“So, while you were in the lab, did you see the defendant, Dr. Xemple?” he asked next.

“No.” Sarah said plainly. “Doc had a sticky note on his desk saying to call her, though.”

Franziska’s smirk noticeably widened a bit.

“… You said that you sat at the victim’s desk? That’s where he was found, not too long after you say that you left.” Phoenix said.

“… Yeah? Why d’you ask?” Sarah inquired. “Like I said – his chair’s way comfier than mine. Well… it normally is. It felt kinda weird that night, actually.”

“Objection! This is a pointless line of questioning, Your Honour.” Franziska interrupted.

The Judge nodded. “Agreed. Mr. Wright, if you don’t have anything else substantial to ask…”

“Uh…”

Phoenix looked down at his scattered case notes again. At the same time, Maya's hair beads swung a bit in his peripheral vision, indicating that she was doing the same. Sitting here in the front of her robes was still proving to be hard to get used to.

They had a clearer picture of the scene just before the apparent arrival of Dr. Xemple in the lab, but nothing that might help to clear her. So far, it still appeared that she was the only other person to enter the lab aside from the victim himself, and her claims about what happened wouldn’t be good enough alone…

“… In that case, witness, you may leave the stand.” the Judge continued.

“Huh. That was quicker than I was expecting.” Sarah remarked. "The news always makes this whole ‘witness’ thing seem like a total drag.”

“She’s taking her boss’s death pretty well, isn’t she?” Maya quietly remarked. “Doesn’t sound like they were very close.”

Phoenix was looking over the crime scene photo again. The victim’s front was covered in strange bruises, but he still didn’t buy into Franziska’s claim that they had come from the bookcase being pushed onto him.

(C’mon, we’re out of time… think…!)

He looked up just in time to see Sarah stepping away from the witness stand. She was a fairly tall woman, and his position in the front of Maya’s robes left him level with the middle of Sarah’s back. He suddenly spotted something.

“OBJECTION!”

Sarah paused.

“Uh… aren’t we done?” she asked, looking over her shoulder in his direction. No one else in the courtroom said anything, though Franziska had one of her hands on her whip once again.

“Ms. Flatt.” Phoenix inquired. “Strange question, but... those jeans you’re wearing. Is there any chance that you were wearing them on the night of the murder?”

…

There was a generous pause in the courtroom. Phoenix suddenly felt glad that he was too small for anyone but Maya to notice the blush creeping up his cheeks.

“Uhh… yeah, pretty sure. They’re my favourites.” Sarah said, glancing around in mild discomfort. “… Why does that matter?”

“Um, Nick?” Maya whispered. “No offence, but now’s really not the time for you to be asking her random questions about her pants.”

“M-Maya, just roll with it, please…”

Franziska’s whip cracked in the air again. Phoenix felt strangely relieved to be too small for her to strike him with it directly.

“Phoenix Wright, you may trade fashion tips with the witness after the Guilty verdict.” Franziska said, somehow managing to smirk even more widely. At this rate, her face was liable to split into two separate parts.

“L-look, just…” He groaned. He had an idea that he was starting to feel fairly confident in, but he needed a minute to clarify. “Ms. Flatt. There’s a pattern sewn into the back of your jeans.” he said. “I have a feeling I’ve seen it before.”

Sarah blinked, looking even more confused. “Uh…”

More awkward silence.

“Maya, hold up the crime scene photo, please.” Phoenix quietly requested. Maya was looking about as confused as Sarah by this point, but did so.

“Nick, that pattern…” she inquired under her breath, sounding a bit exasperated, “Were you looking at her butt …?”

He ignored the question for now.

“Your Honour. The victim’s front was covered in a pattern of bruises. Ms. von Karma claims they got there as a result of a bookcase being pushed onto him, but I have another theory. Ms. Flatt, uh…” He hesitated. “… I’m really sorry to ask this, but could you…”

“Wh-what, just present my ass to everyone here? Are all lawyers this crazy, or is it just the tiny ones…?” Sarah groaned. She turned, using one hand to lift her jacket away a touch.

Maya flinched, jostling Phoenix’s perch in her robes.

“Whoa, I think you’re right…! It’s totally a match! But…”

Phoenix smiled, finally feeling properly confident.

“Your Honour, my theory is a very different one. I believe we’ve been imagining the victim’s death the wrong way entirely.” he said. “Everyone in this courtroom can see what happened to me during my visit to the victim’s lab, right?”

“You foolishly shrunk yourself to the size of a particularly underachieving stick insect.” Franziska retorted. “What of it, Phoenix Wright?”

“Nick, are you seriously saying-…?”

He nodded. “I believe that the victim had the very same thing happen to him. In the basement lab where Dr. Smalls was found, there’s a prototype machine capable of shrinking a person to just a couple of inches tall. The defence posits that the victim inadvertently shrunk himself to about the same size that I am now. Now, he also had a notebook in his lab that my assistant here read through. It specifies that the shrinking effect only lasts roughly twenty-four hours, but that was more than enough time. I suspect that our witness, Ms. Sarah Flatt, entered the lab as she described, and went to sit down on her employer’s much more comfortable chair, unaware of what had happened to him.”

The gallery was getting a bit noisy again. The Judge clapped his gavel. Franziska was looking irritable, and eager to interrupt.

“Ms. Flatt says that she sat down in the chair for about a half an hour. Now, if she happened to miss that a certain someone was already in that chair when she sat down-…”

“Objection!” Franziska finally called out. “Phoenix Wright, are you really trying to claim that the witness sat down on the victim without noticing him? Nothing on our record suggests that Dr. Smalls was mute. He would have shouted and been noticed!”

Phoenix shook his head. “Witness, you said that the headphones found on the desk were yours? Were you wearing them while you were coming into work, by any chance?”

Sarah hesitated.

“… Yeah.” she said. “It’s against lab protocols, so I didn’t mention it. ... Thanks for selling me out, shrimp.”

“Uh, right, sorry… but in that case, you’ll note that I need this microphone for anyone but my assistant to hear me. By that logic, you probably wouldn’t have heard Dr. Smalls, if he was down on his chair and calling out to you.”

Sarah looked uncomfortable again. She clearly hadn’t expected anything like this.

“Objection!” Franziska interjected again. “Phoenix Wright, I realize that your brain is smaller than a grain of rice right now, but use your head. If the witness had accidentally taken a seat on top of the victim, he would have been crushed well before he could suffocate!”

“Objection!” Phoenix answered back. “I mentioned a notebook from Dr. Smalls himself. There was another note about the shrinking effect. It specified that anyone or anything that was shrunken down by the machine would also become significantly more durable until the effect wore off.”

“Objection!” Franziska was getting very irritated now. “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned this notebook, but there was no such thing entered as evidence!”

Phoenix’s stomach lurched.

“C-crap, she’s right…!” he stammered to himself. They hadn’t presented the notebook as evidence before the trial. Without having it officially approved, they couldn’t present it now…

Maya was looking down at him, but he had no idea of what to say. He was thinking things over frantically, suddenly at a loss again, until…

“Objection!”

Phoenix nearly slipped from his position in the front of Maya’s robes as she made a sudden move. Regaining his balance, he looked up in surprise.

“Maya…?”