Letters and Numbers
~ABCD~No…no, no, no!!! If you were asked "What is the first letter in the alphabet?" you would most probably expect the answer to be "A", in this case…you would be wrong. Yes, even such a seemingly simple question is twisted into more complex terms here. And just where is here you might ask? Well this is an orphanage—but not just any ordinary orphanage, it is a fairly large estate where all the most ingenious little minds are gathered and where they are stripped of names and humanity. They are given an alias, perfectly severed from society, and constantly live in distress from pressure and trepidation of having to transcend one of so called "world's greatest detectives". What a delightfully disastrous place!
At Wammy's House everyone is expected to know that the alphabet doesn't begin with A, no not even B! ...But L, L was first, always first. Even though he remained anonymous to most of us, he was idolized and his work never went without exaggerated amounts of admiration. He was never wrong.
I had always believed that letters and numbers would serve as some advantage over L. That was until I realized some…misconceptions: (1) Since I already knew that B came before L, I had assumed that the current rankings at Wammy's deemed insufficient, so I would then use numbers to my advantage. Then I pondered a rather problematic question. If we were known by alias/letters and ranked by numbers, then #1 would obviously be considered the best, yet (s)he would not be #1 since L would still be alive and continuing to decipher mysteries and largely demanding cases. In that case it would mean that L is greater than possible, beating even the best—that he has gone past any ranking and is even higher than #1. But if 1 were the highest then would he be 0? No in that case he wouldn't be ranked—left between the borderline of the best and the worst or the scale would start at 0. Maybe he was ranked by letter since he had surpassed numeric values and L was actually a variable used to express how greatly indisputable he truly was. In extension, if we were to take into account the fact that we are simply possible successors that would create an even further gap from his level of competency and ours. If you were to think about it we are merely the closest to his status maybe we're not as close as we might assume. How would I be able to bridge an impossible gap?
Adding to my previous statement: (2) There was a different way that I could use numbers, as far as I know I am the only one here capable of this…talent…but later on it lost its appeal. My age is a benefit to me of course, but see, if I won merely because he died it would not prove a thing…and so I would have to surpass him in some aspect—whatever that may be—before he meets his demise, and that in a way that he, too, would acknowledge his defeat. That would beyond doubt be an admirable feat for me—and better yet…it would mean failure and defeat for him.
I have yet to meet this L so my assumptions on him may be somewhat off considering that they were mostly rumors passed by his loyal disciples, I mean what genius would try to keep everything sanitary and then walk around with no shoes or socks? And some told me he always hunches his back like an old man, yet he sits in what closely resembles fetal position. Others told me that he was distant, though kind and that he never visits so how are we supposed to be like him? Did he not want successors, then why would we be put to this? It was said that he would only meet those ranked above #4 and since I have no usable picture my eyes are rendered useless so … I will just have to try and beat these other pathetic excuses for runner-up heirs and then continue to plan overthrowing this idealistic image of divinity. Until then I bid you farewell.
~BB