Disclaimer: Characters and affiliated material belong to Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. No profit is made off this.
Chapter one edited 7/17/2011.
Chapter One: Dupin
A boy no older than nine willed his short, tired legs to keep running down the pedestrian cross and onto the sidewalk. In his exhaustion, his feet slapped heavily on the pale concrete and he had to struggle through the towering crowd. Light needed a place to hide soon. If those boys caught him, they would beat the hell out of him. They were especially angry with him since he had beaten up one of their numbers back in school. But that coward, Yujirou, after running off with his tail between his legs had returned with two other boys followed him into Shinjuku Station.
They were used to having soft-spoken boys like Light quiver in fear of them; not bang them up good and proper. So, proud, no bullshit-taking Light was in for it because when those pansies could not manage to intimidate someone on their own, they multiplied in numbers. Grade school was a bitch.
They had finally spotted him on the Yamanote Line going home so he had to get off a few stops early. Harajuku Station. His mom was not fond of him going there—did not want her only son to get any funky ideas from the eccentric teenagers that frequented the place.
He had veered south of the station and now turned left into Omotesando Avenue, running and heaving great labored breaths into his burning lungs. He shoved through the crowd of strolling, noisy adults hemmed in by the trees and neatly trimmed bushes on one side of the walk and the buildings on the other. Turning his head, he saw they had not turned the corner yet.
Quite violently, he bumped into a larger, denser body, falling back on his hunches. The cheek which hit the man's torso burned as much as his arse.
"Tahh…", he hissed, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth as he rubbed his abused backside.
"Little children shouldn't run through crowded places, especially when they are not looking forward," the man he bumped into said coldly. He grabbed Light under the armpits and hoisted him up onto his feet before he was trampled by absent-minded grown-ups.
Muttering a thank you as well as an apology, Light tried to run off when the man stopped him by the arm. Light looked up and saw that the "man" was quite young—maybe a teenager. Under his pulled up, thick, black hoodie sweater he had black hair and eyes and very pale skin, but it was difficult to tell if he was half-Japanese or completely foreign. He wore a pair of dowdy jeans and white sneakers, standing in a peculiar posture. He looked like a young hoodlum. Light was not comfortable with being touched by such a shady character.
"It's rude to crash into someone and just run off."
"I said I was sorry now let go, please! I'm in a hurry!"
"A grade schooler in a shopping district in Harajuku, running, looking behind him, and in a desperate hurry to escape. It's very suspicious."
Light was irritated and quite affronted with being called suspicious by a guy like him. Once again, he tried to dislodge the man's grip with a frustrated growl. He did not want to tarry under such a rude gaze with Yujirou and his thugs after him.
"There he is! Get him!" shouted a faint voice from behind.
"Now I'm going to get beat up because of you," he groaned with a frown.
"Why is that?"
Light looked over his shoulder at the three boys nearing quickly, rudely shoving through the crowd. Turning back around with a vexed scowl, he snapped, "Because one of them picked on me and I made him stop. Now they're mad."
The young man's grip on his arm remained firmly in place while he put a thumb to his lips in thought. "Made him stop, you say? And how do you make a bully stop bullying?"
"By kicking his ass."
"Ah. Yes, that would be the most effective way. Or so one would think but now the bullying has tripled. Literally."
Yujirou and his friends, Jun and Fusao, stopped suddenly, gasping but grinning triumphantly. "Hah!" cried Yujirou, "Nowhere to run now? You're gonna get it."
"Get what?" asked the strange man.
Yujirou's triumphant smirk turned into a sneer. "What?"
"Who the hell are you?" snapped the chubby one, Jun. Light rolled his eyes at him. They were such idiots; but idiots did make up the majority of the population and that was the only reason idiots had an irritating tendency to win over intellect. Sheer numbers.
"Quite a dirty mouth," muttered the strange man. Though Light could not see the his face, he heard the tinge of amusement in his cold tenor.
"Yeah, butt out. This is our business!" cried the third one, Fusao.
The stranger sighed and pulled Light behind him. "I'm afraid you're wrong. See, it's my job to defend the innocent and take down the criminals."
"Youneed to stop watching anime you Harajuku punk!" answered Yujirou smugly.
"I see you have no respect for your elders. What a badly reared miscreant. Well, let me put it this way: I heard from a very experienced and credible source that the best way of dealing with your ilk is," the young man leaned over Yujirou, towering considerably over the boy, "is to kick your ass."
Something in the man's face, which Light could not see with the hood blocking his profile, scared the hell out of Yujirou. Eyes wide and pale-faced, the boy backed up, turned on his heels and fled, his equally spineless lackeys right behind him.
Light stood behind the man in shocked silence as larger bodies scurried and pushed by. When the strange young man turned around, Light saw that his eyes were very wide and penetrating, in spite the fatigued shadows around them. He looked quite frightening in Light's young, impressionable mind.
"Um...thank you. For helping me," he ventured tentatively.
"You're welcome…ah?"
Light thought quickly. He did not want to give his name to a suspicious looking stranger. "It's…Tsuki. With the characters for luck." It was not that far off his real name but it was the quickest that had come to mind.
"Tsuki with the characters for luck—how fitting. But Tsuki-chan, you're lying to me."
Light flushed at being caught and, to keep his embarrassment hidden, retorted sarcastically, "Well, what's your name, detective-san?"
"You may call me Dupin."
Light stared at him skeptically. Then, when he recognized the name, a slow grin formed on his small face before he burst into laughter. He supposed he had that one coming for his derisive detective-san. The man was clever and had a witty sense of humor. An actual hoodlum would not have known the reference if it bit him in the ass. Light was surprised to find that he was beginning to like the stranger.
Yujirou was probably hanging around waiting to catch him once he left this young man's side. Not able to go back home any time soon, Light asked Dupin if he could stay with him a while.
"Of course," Dupin replied, "I didn't think those bullies would give up so soon. Criminals are like evil little bacteria; they hide when beaten, ready to burst out again once the coast is clear. That's why you always take extra precautions after they've retreated, to make sure they don't come back. Meantime, we can have tea and cake."
The man had taken him to a fairly pricey coffee shop nearby that sold European teas, coffees and pastries. The place looked very coquettish with glossy wood tables and cushioned seats; very open and airy with beautiful greenery outside. Right by the entry was a display glass with all sorts of artfully tasty looking cakes. Light's mouth watered as he stared at them.
There was so much diversity; everything was tempting. Light, who got tired of Japanese food, loved coming to these shops but his meager allowance money could never afford such a place. Since he was going to be treated, he would ask for as much as possible.
"Can I have three of them?"
The hooded youth turned to him and asked, "Tsuki-chan likes cake?"
"Yeah…?"
"Have as many as you want then. I will."
"Huh?" He probably thought Light would not order much due to his little frame. Was Dupin in for a shocker, he thought. "Are you rich, Dupin-san?" he inquired sarcastically but was once again impressed at Dupin's quick response.
"Yes, I am. And I'm going to have all of these, plus some Earl Grey."
"Um…I'll have all these," Light said, pointing his wide selection. "And some Earl Grey too."
So Dupin, smart-aleck teenage foreigner with a lot of money, was going to buy all Light asked for? The boy had to fight to suppress an excited grin. There was nothing more pleasurable to a child then the prospect of receiving all he desired.
Light went to go sit at a round table outside in the spring weather with the scent of cherry blossoms subtly lining the tepid air. An umbrella shaded him from the sun. It felt really good to be there. In spite Dupin being a little odd, he was interesting—and rich! Light could eat all the cake he wanted.
When Dupin sat across from him, he propped a leg on his chair and wrapped an arm around it. The posture was typical of a teenager. His mom warned him about following this sort's example. And that hoodie made him look more like a street urchin than a rich kid.
"Is your dad rich? What does he do?" he questioned both out of curiosity and to strike a conversation.
"My grandfather. He's an inventor."
"An inventor of what?"
"Things."
Light's face contorted into a frown. By the serious tone, he could not tell if that was an evasion, a joke, or Dupin was simply demented.
"Um…yes, what sort of things, I mean. Because I like that sort of stuff."
"Do you, now? Grandpa invents useful things, like spy gadgets for the government."
At this, Light sat up, countenance alight with interest. "That's awesome!"
Dupin nodded indulgently, apparently more concerned with his own questions. "And what have you invented? You said you liked this sort of stuff. I assume you've indulged in this interest?"
Light blushed. It was really embarrassing. A secret hobby he kept to himself. No one knew of his secret, but Light had opened his big mouth so he supposed he had to answer. He felt quite comfortable with it, to his amazement. Dupin was strange and suspicious looking, but something about him made Light feel at ease and open.
"I…well—don't laugh, okay!"
"There is nothing a child does that is stupid. You are in the process of growing and learning, all of which have no limits. Exploring even what most might consider whimsical, crude, or eccentric may be the foundation of ingenuity. I assure you I won't laugh."
That was an answer Light could chew on. Dupin was highly intelligent and it made Light want to talk a million things with him. With ill-suppressed excitement, he explained: "Okay, I checked out this really old book from the library by John Bate, The Mysteries of Nature and Art, and I've been copying some recipes from it for practice; small versions of waterworks and fireworks, secret compartments in my furniture in my bedroom. I'm also learning how to draw and color with water colors quite well. It's not a useless book at all, like my teacher said."
The young man stared at him with an odd, unreadable expression for a good moment before speaking again. "Tsuki-chan, you're tracing Isaac Newton's childhood projects."
"H-how did you know?"
"You're copying recipes from John Bate's book. Newton did around your age."
"You know about that?"
"Don't look so surprised. Everyone should know about that. It's common knowledge."
"They should but they don't. You're twisting hairs! Of course I am surprised—I thought you were just another Harajuku weirdo. Teenagers are supposed to be stupid and barbaric and they pick on me all the time. And you knew I'd be surprised because it's rare for teenagers to talk like that. You're toying with me—making me ask questions you know I'll ask."
Dupin chuckled, a slight smile breaking his austere visage. He looked very pleased for some reason. "You caught me. You're clever for your age. But I'm not 'toying' with you. Dissecting you makes you more easily understood. Long explanations can mislead, short answers to the right questions makes for a clean, succinct conversation."
"Oh."
"Ah, here comes our tea."
A young waitress carried a tray in one hand with their steaming beverages. As she placed them on the table, Light noted the fine, painted china tea set in which their drinks were served, the intricately engraved sterling silver of their utensils, even as he sat on a white padded Victorian garden chair. He felt like an English prince and he delighted in this illusion of exaltation.
Soon their desserts followed and their table was littered with different cakes and mousses.
"You can have a taste of everything if you like," Dupin said, studying him closely, and Light did so without any false coyness.
Dupin chortled softly at Light's display, remarking, "Children are so honest about their desires. Pity they grow out of it."
Light did not know what the young man meant. How was enjoying cake an expression of honesty? Ignoring the comment, he sipped his tea.
Dupin put an appallingly large amount of sugar in his. "I don't want to completely cover the taste of this tea with sweetener so I put only five teaspoons in it."
Light nodded silently with a slight sneer on his face, unsure on how to answer that.
Only five?
Overall it had been a pleasant afternoon. Light would have gone home content that day. They had chatted idly about Light's school, books, Dupin's grandfather's inventions; and Dupin had been a great listener. Light had the most splendid conversation of his life. They ate all their desserts, drank a few more cups of tea and would have gone their separate ways.
"Would you like a ride home, Tsuki-chan?" Dupin asked.
"I'd love one, thanks."
Nodding, Dupin turned to lead him out of Omotesando when a terrified scream cut through the air. Light was startled and tried to see what had happened across the street. At the end of the block people were running over at something near the Laforet building.
Dupin was at once alert and running towards the source with Light following close behind. There was a crowd around something, murmuring, gasping and pointing at the thing that had caused several people to scream in horror.
Dupin cut through the bodies, Light holding onto the hem of his hoodie until the young man stopped abruptly.
On the floor was a boy around Light's age, dead. A pool of dark blood beneath him spread wider, growing thicker. Black eyes were opened, unstaring, mouth livid and slack. The air was tinged with a cloying sweetness that made Light gag. His body numb, head swirling, Light bent over and threw up.
He was nowhere finished ejecting all the cake he ate when he vaguely felt a hand cover his eyes and a very strong arm wrap around his shoulders, pulling him away.
"You shouldn't have seen that, Tsuki-chan," he heard above him. Light had to strain to listen. He had to keep reminding himself to pull it together or the light-headedness was going to make him faint.
"I should have been more careful," Dupin murmured to him softly. "But I promise to take care of this. Because of my carelessness. Because you had to see it. I'll take care of it, Tsuki-chan."
Despite the words and the hand rubbing his little, chilled back, Light found no comfort.