Piles of smoking rubble scattered across a courtyard. A middle-aged man stands on a hill just beyond the desecrated building. The great Detective Wammy had failed. Detective Wammy had been called to investigate a string of arson happening all across the country. His latest assignment had brought him to a small house on the outskirts of town. He had not made it in time. The remains of the house lay, smoldering at his feet. Agent Wammy walked through the remains looking for anything that could be saved from the ashes.
He wasn't expecting to find anything until he heard a noise. It was the sound of shuffling. Wammy walked on, hurrying to the source of the noise. He arrived at a grassy field not that far from the house. There was a small boy with black hair sitting on the hill. The boy was wearing a white shirt, stained black by the ashes, and a pair of ragged jeans.
"Excuse me child, but do you know what happened here?" The boy jumped at the sound of the voice. He saw the middle-aged man towering over him with his wide-brimmed hat tipped down over his eyes.
"W-who are y-you?" The boy stuttered. "I am Detective Wammy and I have come to solve the case of the arsonists that defile this fair town. May I ask what a sweet child such as you is doing in this ashen place?" Wammy inquired. The boy looked away sadly. "This-this was my home." Wammy took pity on the boy. "What happened to your parents?" Wammy asked knowing the dreadful answer. The boy looked behind himself forlornly. Wammy looked past the boy and saw two cross-shaped memorials. "They died in the fire." The boy stated sadly. It was then that Wammy noticed the dirt on the boy's hands. Wammy swept of his hat and placed it on the boy's head. "Come with me." He patted the boys' head affectionately. "To where?" The boy asked. "To a better life." Was Wammy's simple answer. The boy and the man walked off together.
"What is your name?" The boy asked. "I am Detective Wammy." He answered. "Is it okay if I call you Watari?" The boy asked as he tried to keep up with the other mans long strides. "Yes, but only if you tell me your name." The boy thought for a moment. "I shall be called L." "Why L?" "Because I have forgotten my real name and it is always safer to use an alias. Besides, L was probably the beginning letter in my real name." Watari smiled at the boy and patted him on the head. "Is there any reason for all the secrecy?" "Yes. I want to become a detective. I want to save people and solve cases." "Is there any other reason? To make your parents proud, perhaps?" "No. There is only one thing that will make them proud, and that is if I continue to live on, protecting people so that they will not suffer as I did. Please Watari, teach me how to become a great detective."
Two weeks had passed since Watari had found the boy in the burned down house. In those two weeks the boy had solved more cases than Wammy solved in a month. The boy was a genius, no doubt about it. In that time Wammy had also gained something important; he gained a son. Wammy had once had a wife and son. Seeing this boy figuring out puzzles and solving problems reminded him of his son and what he would have done with him if he were still alive.
"Watari?" A small voice and tap on the hand startled him out of his thoughts. "Yes child?" The boy showed him a picture of a man that he had undoubtedly printed from the computer. "This is the guy, he is the arsonist." At first wammy had no idea what the boy was referring until he remembered that he had found this boy from a fire. "How do you know he is an arsonist?" The boy lowered the picture and started. "Because, Watari, he is not very smart. The night he burned down my house I saw him. He was not wearing a mask to cover any part of his face and he left his fingerprints." The boy's quick answer surprised Wammy. This boy has the making s of a great detective. "Alright. I shall search for this man." Wammy got up, but the boy stopped him. "There is no need to search. While I was finding who he was I also came across his whereabouts. Right now he is residing in 476 Lukeville, a hotel if I am not mistaken. The man changes hotels every time he burns a place down probably getting the money from the house that he looted and burned down. We have two days before he moves out of his current location." Yet again Wammy was surprised. "And how, may I ask, did you get this information?" The boy sighed; he was getting tired of all the questions, but he responded all the same, he was actually quite proud of his way of finding things. "Well, I checked the records of every store in this district and came across the things the man bought." The boy continued, enjoying the look of astonishment that was plastered over the older man's face. "He has already obtained most of the items he requires to desecrate another house, he just has a few more items that he needs from a certain store which will be open two days from now." Wammy finally got the dumbstruck look off his face. "How did you know what store he was waiting for?" The boy smiled again. "Like I said, he wasn't very smart. He goes to the same stores every time. It was a simple matter to track down the records and find out his plan. Please Watari, I know this is the guy." Watari saw the pleading look in the boy's eyes he couldn't help but do something about it. "Ah, I will find him." He got up from his chair and ruffled the boy's hair as he walked out the door.
It had taken a long time to find the man, he was out of the hotel for quite a few hours, but when he came back he had with him a bag. Wammy was sure that inside the bag was all the evidence he needed to bust the guy. What am I doing? I'm going to arrest a person just because a boy told me to? This defies all the rules of being a good detective. Wammy was about to call it quits when an image of the boy's pleading face appeared in front of him. I can at least try. Wammy followed the man into the hotel. The man took an object from the bag and laughed. "Tonight this hotel shall go up in flames!!" This was the right man. As Wammy prepared to arrest the man another thought struck him. The boy was right this man is incredibly stupid.
"Freeze!! You are arrested!!" Wammy shouted at the man. "Oh yeah? Under what charge?" The man spat at the floor. "Arson." Wammy dived at the man and slapped a pair of handcuffs on him. This was it, he had done it, he had arrested the arsonist.
When Wammy got home he expected the boy to be full of questions and come barreling at him asking them one after the other. But he came back to a house filled with silence. He thought something terrible had befallen the boy until he heard the sound of steady breathing. The boy was curled on the couch, fast asleep. Watari smiled and covered the boy in a blanket.