Project
He sat there eating his infamous strawberry shortcake with English tea to accompany it (filled with sugar, of course). There was no light in the cold room except for the dim monitors. He liked it that way. He preferred the dark for the light will only blind you and catch you off guard.
It's been about a week since they've caught Higuchi and found the notebook. For now, the task force members have gone home and Light went to sleep, giving L a much needed moment of solitude and peace. Well…maybe just solitude. He had spent most of the day (and night) reading over the rules of the Death Note and thinking about that 13-Day Rule. If it weren't for that one rule they might've proved that Light and Misa were guilty. It was too convenient.
And if that's not enough, the killings resumed almost immediately after Amane was released. But no matter what, it wasn't enough for the rest of the team. To them, the accused were innocent and all because of a rule that could very well be a fake. This is why he always hated working in teams. You always have a naïve few.
The thought caused him to remember the first time he worked in a group at the orphanage, the one he was in before dear Quillish found him.
He was merely seven years old when he was put into an advanced class. He was working with older students, around the ages of twelve and thirteen. Each student was assigned with two other partners. The assignment was to pick a random song and analyze the lyrics. To little L, this was child's play and he would rather do something productive (like study criminology) than fool around with these…simpletons. However, if he didn't do the assignment he would surely get a beating from Mr. Myers. He's gotten enough of those to scar his legs and change the way he sat for good.
He was paired with two girls in the class, Amanda and Jennifer, who were going through a phase at the time. Phase meaning obnoxiously believing that the world revolved around them (a trait that belongs to a narcissist), blabbering nonstop about nonsense, and overall being annoying and idiotic twats. That being said, he would rather have taken the risk of being beaten.
To his surprise, the girls have chosen a tolerable song: "Running Up That Hill". A new hit single by Kate Bush that had just come out the month before. He liked said song and didn't mind analyzing it. The problem was his partners. If he did all the work, he would've wasted his time because when it would be their turn to present in front of the class, his partners wouldn't understand half of what they were reciting (much less explain it). But if he didn't do any work and just watched them, he would punished. They would all have to work together which also a problem because it was like a human working with dogs.
"I think the song is about a girl who's really into a guy and…and she would do anything for him."
"Ya, she'd run up a road, hill, even a building!"
He was confused as to whether he should cringe or laugh. Girls these days. Always relating everything with romance. Well he read the lyrics and he can understand how they would come to that conclusion, but he knew it was the wrong conclusion.
"Instead of relating everything with romantic feelings," he began "Why don't you try and look for another meaning?" The two girls looked at him in utter confusion. Oh boy.
"What do you mean? This song is about love!" Amanda claimed.
"If you're so smart, why don't you give us the right meaning?"
The fact that I, a second grader, consider a sixth grader's work to be easy must be proof that I am smart. He kept that thought to himself. They would surely find a way to twist his words and get him in trouble for insulting them. "That was my intention, Jennifer. I, for one, believe that the answer is written in plain view instead of subliminally. The narrator is simply saying 'What would it be like to switch places?'" The two continued to look at him in confusion, so he continued.
"The first few lyrics speak for themselves. The narrator is telling the other person about their struggle or lifestyle, challenging the other person to take walk in their shoes. For the next few after the chorus: 'You don't want to hurt me/But see how deep the bullet lies' now we know for sure that the narrator is talking about a struggle. The other person doesn't seem to understand that the speaker has a back story. Or, according to the following lyrics, the other doesn't believe anyone else really has a back story. Doesn't believe that anyone else is struggling like they do. Basically, the narrator is trying to convince the other person to swap places with them, so they can both see the other person's point of view. What the song doesn't say is what the struggle is, exactly. It could be the hardships of being a certain gender, a specific struggle, or maybe just how they have lived life itself."
The two girls looked at him in awe. It was amazing to them that a boy at such a young age could understand something better than they could.
"I hope you don't decide to use my analyses for the report. It is a song about love. You said so yourselves."
It humiliated them. They were just proved wrong by a child, and mocked for it as well. They hadn't spoken to him for the rest of the project and wrote the report using the romance idea. This caused little L to get a beating for not participating in the project.
Once again he was focusing on the true meaning, and once again people went for the wrong one. Once again will he be beaten. Once again would he have surrendered himself to fools.
Unless, of course, the fool's work had been in vain.
He had lost that time because he allowed himself to be beaten for the benefit of fools and it felt horrible and humiliating and made him vulnerable until Qullish had saved him. No one was going to save him now. He has to save himself and he has to be the one to humiliate the fools.
'L Lawliet will die quietly of a heart attack twenty-three days from this date.'