Chapter 1 - Homework
OK . . . can't screw up. Remember, cool, witty, smart . . . nothing more, nothing less . . .try not to flirt too much . . . one screw up and it's all over . . . I rambled in my mind as I walked through the doors of my new school. I wasn't rambling like because I wanted to fit in and be popular. I'm on a mission.
I was supposed to investigate Light Yagami as a suspect for being Kira. Now you must be thinking I'm just a field agent that does all the work. You're wrong. From data my crew, the press, and other reliable sources gathered, I have come to the conclusion that Kira must be in high school, most likely at the top of the class, and not involved in many team or group activities because he believes that the others will just be a pain and that he wants to work alone. I have narrowed down my search, and Light is my first suspect. If he does anything suspicious, I will be the first to know.
I walked down the hall attracting a few glances. Now, I am not gorgeous. I'm just average. Golden blond hair, blue eyes, B cup, barely any hips. Not much. But I had decided in order to get close to Light I had to stand out, so I was out of dress code. I was wearing a black dress shirt, red tie (unlike the bow I should be wearing), black, white, and red plaid skirt, and black converse that almost reached my knees. I was going to have to be as attention grabbing as possible to interest a guy like Light.
I opened the classroom door and scanned the room, looking for Light. I found him sitting in a desk near the window, third row back. There was a desk open between Light and a brunette, so I walked across the room and took the seat, making quick eye contact with Light before I sat down.
"Hello, class, today we will be learning about quadratic formulas . . ." said the teacher, whose name tag said, Mr. Endo, I think. I had to learn Japanese in a short amount of time so some of it still confuses me.
"Would our new student miss . . . Max Whiatee? Please come to the front of the class?" he asked. I gave a small laugh. I had refused to use a Japanese alias when on this mission, so most people had trouble pronouncing my name.
"It's Max White, Endo-sensei," I said, trying to be polite. He looked at me strangely, but didn't do anything about my attire.
"Hello, I'm Max White, I transferred from the USA not too long ago and I am a decent student. I enjoy people. My favorite color is lime green, and I do not like soda. I am also interested in drawing, sports, and I want to be a detective. Thank you," I said with a smile. I walked back to my seat and sat down.
"Hey, did you really just transfer from America? I've always wanted to go there!," said the brunette. "Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Mai. It's nice to meet you!" Mai said, doing a strange bow from her seat and almost falling over.
"Haha, nice to meet you too," I said with a small smile. I could feel Light watching me. The teacher continued talking about whatever he was talking about. I found it hard to listen for three reasons. One- Light kept examining me, thinking that I wouldn't notice just because I wasn't looking at him. Does he do this to all the new kids? Two- Mai was doodling something in her book while giggling, which was very annoying. And three- I really didn't give a crap about the lesson. I probably learned whatever it was when I was originally in high school. I was very relieved when the bell rang for lunch.
"Hey, do you want to hang out at lunch?" Mai asked. A few girls were walking next to her giggling.
"Sure, I just need to talk to someone first. . . .," I said absentmindedly, looking at Light.
Mai gave me a knowing smile, said "see you later!" and walked to lunch with her friends. Now came the hard part. It was always the hardest when you have to talk to someone for the first time. But, unlike most people, I was more worried about blowing my cover than looking like an idiot. Well, those two things might be about the same . . .
"Hey!" I called to Light. He turned around and looked at me. I felt like I was being examined. I hate that feeling. Reminds me of doctors. I shuddered inwardly.
"Hey, Max," Light said. Huh, he actually pronounced it right.
"I noticed you watching me in class," I said. I needed to be very confrontational to get to him.
"Uh . . .yeah, " Light said. I noticed he stiffened a bit. He was uncomfortable; he probably didn't think I would notice that.
"You, know I really didn't understand what we were talking about in class, could you help me with it?" I said with a semi-flirty smile.
"Yeah, I guess so, where do you live?" He asked. He seemed a bit more relaxed now.
"Just meet me after school, we can talk then" I said, trying to smile and look normal. He smiled slightly and walked away. Phase one, complete.
I loosened up a bit at lunch. I'm always so tense and nervous during the first phase of a mission like this one. I have a feeling I need to be more like myself. Anyway, I am smart, and I doubt Light would reveal his secrets to a dumb girl. I tried to laugh at some of Mai's jokes during lunch, but to tell the truth, she wasn't that funny. And I know funny.
The rest of the school day I just zoned out once I made sure the topic we were discussing was one I knew or one that was increasingly boring. I doodled in my notebook. By the end of the day I had drawn a pretty detailed dragon. I opened my backpack to slide the "doodle notebook" in with my others. Yes, that's right, I only have notebooks in my backpack. I collect them. I know it's weird, but I can't get too much weirder, can I?
I met Light in the hallway. I smiled at him. "Let's go", I said. We walked back to my house in relative silence, which was fine by me.
We arrived at my place, which was a house at the edge of the city.
I walked into the house first, "CAAAAAM!" I yelled. Cam was probably doing more computer work. Good, reliable Cam.
"What is it Max? You know how I don't like yelling!," Cam said, walking down the stairs. She saw Light and her eyes got wide. She looked at me with her how the hell do you work so fast face. Then she smiled at Light.
"So, I see you've got a friend already!," she winked at me. "I'll just leave you two alone . . ." she started walking up the stairs.
"Cam, Light's here to help me with homework, and I need you to work some of your snack making magic!" I stated. I was trying hard to make myself blush, hoping Light would think I have a crush on him.
"I'm not really that hungry," Light said.
"Nonsense!," Cam exclaimed like a mother, "you NEED to eat this."
"Yeah, tonight we're gonna make pizza!" I exclaimed.
"Pizza? Um . . . not something I would usually eat," Light said.
"Well, if you don't like eating it, at least you'll like making it!" I said, getting out some pizza fixings. I pulled out some dough and started kneading it on the counter. Light looked at me strangely.
"Are you just going to stand there or are you gonna make some pizza?" I asked, smiling.
Light grinned slightly and helped me with the pizza. Surprisingly, I actually had fun. We then ate dinner with Cam, where she slyly brought out a very nice topic for conversation.
"So, how about that Kira?" Cam said, stuffing her mouth with pizza as she talked. Oh, Cam, perfect manners when she meets somebody new; then when you shove food under her nose she jumps on it like a puma.
"What about him?" asked Light, who was looking a bit uncomfortable holding greasy pizza with his hands.
"Well, do you agree with his ideas? Do you think that this is how criminals should be punished?" I asked, trying unsuccessfully to eat my pizza without it leaving an annoying string of cheese connecting the piece I bit with the main slice.
Light watched me deal with the cheese string as he debated his answer. "I think that criminals need to be punished, but humanely, not by murder" he answered.
I had a feeling that was what he would say.
"I'm pro-Kira myself, always liked the idea of taking the law into my own hands," said Cam between bites of pizza. "I mean, the world could always use less evil".
Cam was, of course, totally lying, but Light didn't need to know that.
"But doesn't Kira bring more evil into the world by murdering all those people?" I asked, faking astonishment at Cam's comment.
"What could be wrong with murdering a murderer?" Cam responded.
"I think we should move on to another topic," said Light, who looked even more uncomfortable.
"You're right Light, why don't we just go upstairs and you can help me with my homework?" I asked.
"OK," he said.
Cam looked at us angrily as we climbed the stairs to my room. My room was very strange, to say the least. Most teenage girls would have posters of bands on their walls, and stuff thrown all about the room, but I'm not a normal teenage girl. The headboard of my bed rested against the wall opposite the door. The walls to both sides of the door were covered with book cases, the wall to the left was filled with books, the wall to the right filled with all my notebooks. I also had a desk with a computer, and an iPod dock.
"Nice room," said Light, glancing at the book cases. "Are these all notebooks?"
"Yeah, I kind of collect them. Weird, huh?" I said, lying down on the floor. Light was looking at me with a strange expression. "Oh, I'm sorry, I usually do my homework on the floor." I said, patting the carpet next to me.
"You really are strange," Light commented playfully as he lied down. It felt kind of strange doing homework with someone, considering I never had problems in school. I asked a lot of questions, and Light explained them all calmly. When we were done with the homework, I decided to make small talk.
"So, do you like music?" I asked, putting my iPod into the dock and scrolling through the songs.
"Yeah, I guess," Light said. I turned on the Beatles "Let It Be". Of course it was in English, so Light was a bit confused.
"This song is in English, by a British band called the Beatles, do you know who they are?" I asked Light. He shook his head no. I then commenced to telling him about the Beatles and their music. Then we just listened to the song, which had changed to "Hey Jude". I started singing along. Light looked at me strangely again, it seems like he does that a lot. "Come, on, you can sing along too!" I said playfully. Soon he was singing along too, and we were both swaying. It was kind of fun. Well, I do always like it when my work is fun.
"Now let's pump up the volume!" I said, turning up the volume and changing the song to Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher". Light and I had fun, he was playing air guitar as I jumped on the bed and played air drums. By the time the song was over, we were both sprawled on the floor, laughing.
"Haha! That was the best time I've had in a while, Maxi-chan," Light said. I didn't know if he was referring to me as a friend or an inferior. I decided on friend.
"I had fun too Light-kun! Who knew we could have so much fun when we just can here to do homework!" I exclaimed, smiling widely. "Do you think you could come over another time too?" I asked.
"Sure, as long as we get to eat some more of that food. It was delicious!" Light said, smiling as we walked down the stairs.
"Bye! See you soon!" I called as he walked out the door. As soon as he was at the sidewalk, I closed the door and yelled "SCORE!"
Cam came upstairs from her computer lab setup in the basement. "Score" was our way of saying that the plan was going well so far.
"Already! Damn, you work fast," she said. "Are sure he's Kira?"
"If I was sure, would I be investigating? But I think he is 26% Kira right now," I said, sitting down on the sofa.
"Ah, Max, you and your percents," Cam said, "did you get anything out of him?"
"Not yet, but I'm building a bond. If things keep up like this, I'll get my first piece of evidence by Friday, and we'll be heading to L on Saturday," I said.
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," said Cam.