Oh boy, his new daughter client has found his weak spot, and it's Miles goddamn Edgeworth. Phoenix thought that Edgeworth was over his weirdness about acknowledging him as a friend to others, but apparently not. Then again, Edgeworth has always been a deeply private person. Maybe he just didn't want to mix up whatever friend circle Kay is in with Phoenix.

Phoenix is incapable of stopping the blush. He just clears his throat, trying not to acknowledge how red he is now at the thought that Edgeworth is talking enough about him around other people (and apparently in a positive way) that he has his own mysterious pseudonym.

"Yeaaah, Franziska always hated the ways I rubbed off on him. She thought I made him weak at first, then I think she just decided she had to keep disliking me to justify disliking me in the first place." But now it's a more understated dislike. The 'We can tolerate each other over dinner' kind of dislike. She couldn't seem to bring herself to keep hating him after it was clear Edgeworth was a happier, stronger person for getting out of Von Karma's shadow.

He rubs his neck, glancing off to the side. For a moment, when it doesn't feel like he's being watched, his face is impossibly soft. "I'm surprised he talks about me. He's always been... private." Phoenix went through a whole year of knowing him and he hadn't even whispered a word of having a sister (although they admittedly weren't talking socially for the first part of that year). He doesn't reference friends either to Phoenix. It's always just... them, he supposes.