"Hey Mello, I heard that L has a brother."
"Okay what about it?" Mello replied sounding rather annoyed seeing as he was studying.
"How come I never heard of him?" He sighed and set down his book sitting down on the bed next to me.
"What do you want to know?"
"Anything you have to tell me." I said eagerly and for once paused and set down my video game.
"Alright, L has two other brothers; they are a set of triplets. L is the middle kid. His oldest brother A committed suicide because he couldn't stand the pressure of trying to live up to the standards of L. I still don't buy that bullshit though. He was a really nice guy; he was also my first friend." He paused for a moment probably remembering happier times with this A guy. "Anyway, his younger brother is B."
"Wait like Beyond Birthday B?" I ask looking a bit stunned.
"Yeah, Beyond Birthday. He was my roommate before A died."
"What happened?"
"B and A were really close, the only time I ever saw B smile was around A. So when A killed himself B kinda lost it. He started carrying around a knife and his jam that he always eat started smelling really weird. He eventually ran away and soon after that L announced that there was a cannibal on the loose and that it was B."
"Has B been caught?"
"No not yet. But L is still working on it." Mello went back over to his book and finished the page he was on. "Anything else you wanted to know?"
"How can you tell them apart?" I ask looking up at him as I pick up my game. Mello stopped at the door and seemed as still as a statue.
"B has the eyes of a shinigami."
"Does that mean he is one then?"
"Only half, but he's still dangerous."
"Hey Mello?" He stopped with the door half open.
"Yes?"
"How do you tell if someone has shinigami eyes?"
"B can change his eyes red if he wants too. I'm going down to the library, see ya." And with that Mello left, leaving me with this new information.
"So that's who that guy in the kitchen is, L's little brother." I sat there playing my video game wondering why a criminal like him would keep coming back to a place like Whammy's. Did he really miss this place that much? Or did he leave something behind that he kept visiting. Maybe it was A's grave. Though I don't see why his grave would be in the kitchen. Mello or Near could probably figure out why B would keep coming back, but that's because they were the top two and actually applied themselves. I on the other hand didn't much care for critical thinking and problem solving outside of my gaming. So I left it at that B would periodically visit the kitchen just because it was the best place in Whammy's to be. Speaking of which I believe it was about time for me to head down to the kitchen and get some food myself.
Out of the couple times that I have seen B he actually looks pretty hot. Nothing like the creepy pedophile look that L had about him. It was a rather huge shock to me that L and B were related. But then again they did look a lot alike. That was the main reason I asked Mello if L had any brothers. I wonder when the next time I will see him again will be. Just as I was thinking it I walked into the kitchen to see B sitting on the counter with a jar between his legs. A bit of the jars contents dripped off of his hand and onto his pure white shirt staining it bright red. His predatorial eyes watched over me as I moved around the kitchen getting together something to eat. Every so often I would glance up to see him still staring at me, licking the sticky red substance off of his fingers.
"So you're B huh?" I say almost nervously. Why I was nervous though, I couldn't tell you. Maybe it was because of what Mello said about him being a cannibal, or maybe it was the way that he was looking at me that was causing my stomach to tie up in knots. He didn't say anything to my question, but only continued to eat what I was assuming was jam. "You're probably not used to people talking to you much." I could feel myself beginning to ramble but for some stupid reason I could tell I wasn't gonna stop. "I don't see why people wouldn't want to talk to you though. You seem pretty cool. I mean interesting." Shit I am acting like a total idiot! "I'm Matt by the way." I hear the jar being moved and as I look up I see a flash of silver and B coming straight towards me. I am slammed up against the wall with an overly sharp knife pressed up against my neck. This isn't the first time my life has been threatened, and certainly not the first time that I have been in this exact same position; only with different people and different knives. I stand there calmly looking B in the eyes that now faintly glowed red. For the next few minutes we stand there completely still. Just as I feel the knife pressing in more to my neck the doors to the kitchen begin to open. Quicker than he had pinned me to the wall, B had grabbed his jar and disappeared into thin air as Near walked into the room. "Hey Near." I say casually going back over to my food still shocked that B can teleport.
"Why is your neck cut?"
"Why is my, what?" I turn to him looking confused.
"You're neck, it's cut. Looks like from a knife. Where you thinking of killing yourself Matt?" I put a hand up to my neck and sure enough there is blood on my hand. I quickly walk out of the room abandoning my food and go to the room I share with Mello. Lucky for me Mello was still down in the library studying. But who knows how long that could take. I quickly go into the bathroom and clean up all the blood to get a better look at the wound on my neck. It was just a thin slice that wasn't deep at all, more like a paper cut. I probably got it from how sharp that damn knife was. I hold some toilet paper up to the wound until it is done bleeding and go back to the now empty kitchen to finish making my food.
I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to see Beyond Birthday again. It had been several weeks, more like a month, since the last incident with him in the kitchen. L had ordered us all down to the common room to hear him blab about the dangers or going into the forest and reminded us that B was on the loose. If anyone saw him they were to tell Rodger or to call Watari. I pretty much ignored everything that he said though. Yes B had tried to kill me but there was plenty of time for him to do so in the time that he had me pinned and the time that Near had walked in. That was still the most puzzling thing for me. Why didn't he kill me? L and Mello portray him as a cold blooded, vicious killer that shows no mercy. Yet he didn't kill me. Sure he may have cut my skin a bit but I had had so much worse than that. Hell if Near didn't point it out I wouldn't have even noticed it. It seemed like B was the only thing I could think of lately. Thankfully when everyone left that was all that was on anyone else's mind too. Once Mello and I got back to the room another question that I could ask sprung to mind.
"Hey Mello, if B is part shinigami then what special things can he do?"
"What are you talking about Matt?"
"Well can't shinigami you know, see people's death days and fly around and stuff?"
"I am pretty sure that he can see people's real names and death days. I don't know about flying around but I think that he can teleport. That is why it is taking so damn long for L to catch him. He keeps disappearing and we can't trace him." Mello continues to ramble on about the case and how many times L has been close to catching B. But at this point I just tuned him out. I always found it amusing how Mello would say 'we' like he was a part of L's investigation team and was helping him in tracking B down. But we both knew that L would never let Mello or Near help him with this investigation in particular. I still don't get why everyone was so afraid of B. Is it because he is a cannibal? Or is it because he isn't fully human. I wonder if anyone besides Mello knows that. I mean I am almost positive the L would know, I mean he is B's brother after all. I wonder if Near knows. But before I could question this any further I realized that I was doing too much critical thinking and was hungry once again.
"Hey I'm going down to the kitchen, want me to get you some chocolate?"
"Sure." Apparently Mello had finished his rant because he had gone back to studying for the upcoming test. I go down to the kitchen and to my surprise I see B standing on the counter reaching for a jar of jam. I smile to myself thinking that I might actually get a chance to talk to him again. By the time I get to the fridge B is staring at me with the same predatorial look scooping a glob of the stuff out of the jar with his hand and licking it off efficiently smearing it on his face.
"Hey." Once again B ignores me and continues to eat. I am really beginning to wonder if he even talks. "Do you even talk? Or are you just mute?"
"I'm not mute." I freeze for a moment with my back to him. I never imagined what he might sound like. But damn he sounded sexy! "Shouldn't you be running off to alert L that I am here?" I turn around with the necessary things to make a large lunch.
"Why would I do that? I hate L." Hopefully that will get me on his side. But instead he remains silent and I continue to make my lunch. Once I finish I go and grab a few chocolate bars for Mello.
"So you're Mello's new roommate?"
"Yeah, I better get back with his chocolate soon too otherwise he will flip out." I grab my food and smile. "See ya latter B." He disappears and I go back to my room.
The next couple of times I go down to the kitchen B and I have similarly small conversations. It's almost like he doesn't trust me. This next time though is different. I had gone down as usual to make some food and B was reaching for one of his jars but couldn't reach it. "Having a bit of trouble?" He sat back down looking very frustrated and continued to stare at me so I go on with making a meal.
"Matt, come here." That was the first time he actually said my name.
"What is it?" I ask going over to him.
"Get up on the counter." I sit up on the counter next to him as he stands up. "Stand up." So I do giving him a questioning look. The next thing I know I am being lifted up by B whose face is currently right next to my crotch. "Grab one of the jars."
"Got it." I say picking up one of the jars. He lowers me back onto the counter gently and takes the jar. As I go back to making my food I smell something absolutely disgusting. I turn to where the smell is coming from and see that B has opened the jar and is now eating the contents. I fully believed Mello now that B was a cannibal. The strange thing is that it didn't bother me too much.
"What?" The way he said it was almost a challenging way.
"Is that really human?" I ask genuinely curious.
"Do you want to find out?"
"Kinda." I'm kinda getting nervous about this now.
"Then come here." I cautiously go over to B and look up at him. "Go ahead." He said moving his hand closer to my face. I look up at him again and lick one of his fingers. It didn't taste as horrible as I thought it would. I could taste the metal of the blood, but I also tasted the sugar of the jam. It was the perfect combination of the two of them. "Well?"
"It wasn't that bad I guess."
"Are you going to finish?" I assumed he was referring to the concoction on his hand. I step closer to him and go back to licking his fingers which were the only things with the blood and jam on them. A couple memories flash back but I push them away. But the whole time I can't help but think that it feels like I am giving his fingers a blow job. When I finish I step away from him. B looks a bit shocked, but interested at the same time. "Did you enjoy yourself?" Whether this was a meant in a sexual way or not I just took the easy way out.
"I guess." I reply and go back to making my food. "Hey B. How come that tastes like jam but also like blood?"
"Because it is." Soon enough B and I are actually having a conversation and I have completely forgotten about my snack. Another thing that I have forgotten about is time and the fact that Mello wanted me to bring him a chocolate bar. Out of the corner of my eye I see the door open and I'm guessing B does too because he grabs his jar and disappears just as Mello walks in.
"Uh, hey Mello!" I say nervously and jump down from the counter and move back to my long forgotten snack.
"What the hell took you so long?! What are you doing down here anyway? Talking to yourself?" I try to interject but Mello ignores me and grabs his chocolate storming out.
"That didn't go too well." I stick around in the kitchen for a while longer but B didn't back show up.
Over the next few weeks I would be going down to the kitchen four to six times a day just to say hello to B. I don't know what it is about him, I just love being around him. At times in the room when Mello is studying I wish that B was my roommate instead of Mello. At least B would talk to me. Although when Mello was studying I would usually go down to the kitchen to talk to B anyway. Every conversation I had with B was greatly amusing. Maybe a bit on the disturbing side but who really cares.
"You know B, I'm actually really glad I met you." I say calming down from laughing.
"Why is that?"
"Because Mello is an amazing friend and all but he studies a lot. It's nice to have a friend to talk to and laugh with." And for a split second there, I swore I saw a smile on B's face. It made me the happiest I had felt in a long time. "Hey I have to get going. I don't want Mello getting suspicious." I hop off the counter and grab a chocolate bar. "See ya later today B." B disappears in response and I head back to our room. This was perfect, I was seeing B a lot and no one suspected anything. That is until I got back to the room.
"Where the hell have you been going Matt?"
"The kitchen. I thought I told you."
"You've been going down to the kitchen a hell of a lot Matt."
"Okay, and? Maybe I'm growing more." Mello looked at me with great suspicion and went back to reading. "Oh hey Mello, want some chocolate?"
"Sure." I walked over to him and put it on his book. "Thanks."
"No problem." I sat down on the bed and began playing my video game. This is not good. Mello is getting suspicious. How long am I actually going to be able to keep this up? To stay safe I didn't go down to the kitchen later that day. But that night I couldn't help but keep thinking of B. Where he is, what he's doing. Wondering if he could be thinking about me too. I decided to push those thought aside and actually get some sleep.
Right when I wake up I head down to the kitchen in hopes of seeing B down there. Thankfully he was, but he seemed upset. He didn't have a jar of jam or a knife so I was already a bit concerned.
"Hey B. Sorry I couldn't come down last night. Mello is kinda on to me. I don't think that I'll be able to come down as often." He stayed silent with his head down. "B, are you okay?" He got off the counter and began to slowly walk over to me. Now that he was standing I could see that his shirt was splattered with fresh blood. "Um, B, are you okay?" He continued towards me and he pulled a bloody knife out of his pocket. He looked up at me and his eyes were glowing blood red. The next thing I know I am thrown into the wall and B comes running at me. I grab both of his wrists as he tries to plunge the knife into my neck. I manage to push him off a bit but he swings at me again, this time cutting my side pretty bad. He gives an insane smile and licks the blood off and grabs my hair pulling me closer.
"Time to die." He flips the knife around in his hand and holds it up to my neck. I screw my eyes shut not wanting B to be the last thing I see. But instead of feeling the pressure on the knife get stronger the presence of B is ripped away from me. I look over and I see Mello getting thrown off by B and he disappeared. Mello gets up and goes over to me.
"Are you okay?" He starts immediately looking me over and his eyes land on the slash in my side. He drags me off to our room and directs me to take off my shirt and lay down. At this point this kind of thing is routine to me. Mello rushes out of the bathroom with our medical stuff. He cleans and stitches me up and wrapping some other medical stuff around me so that it doesn't get infected.
"Thanks Mello." I say very half heartedly.
"What the hell happened Matt?" He starts packing up all the unused supplies.
"I don't know. I went down to the kitchen and then he attacked me." I looked down at my feet. B had attacked me. But why?