Author's Note: Disclaimer. I do not own Death Note (I wish!) or any related characters… I don't even own my OC's, who are all actually my friends XP. Uhm… I've only read barely half of Death Note as well as the How to Read 13 and Another Note, so pardon if I don't capture the characters perfectly.
Meet Tommy
You are not normal.
I grew up listening to those words every day.
You have the eyes.
All those troublesome, stupid numbers floating around me…
Let me introduce myself. Tomoyo Briarwood. Part-Japanese, part-Chinese, part-American transfer student to Shohei Gakuin, former black-cap hacker. I've lived in Canada's Downtown Toronto near a beach all my life, so moving to Japan—into the crazy-busy Tokyo—is quite a change for me.
I saw the shadows fall, I know just what I saw. Did I see anything at all…
"Hm?" I picked up my cell. More correctly, Blackberry Storm.
"Tommy, are you at school now?" My mother. She's a regular worry-wart, also half-Japanese and half-American. But her Asian side dominates—she has to call me five times a day (wake-up call, arrive-at-school-safely call, lunch call, dinner call, and before-bed call), expects me to be on honor roll, and thinks that I'm a perfectly straight-forward, academically-dedicated little girl. What she doesn't know? Cosplay and music are my life. She would flip out on me if she knew how many times a week I sneaked out to cosplay conventions or took over my job as a street performer. Then again, when your mother works seven days a week and lives half an hour away from you, you build up independence and rebelliousness fairly quickly. Especially when it's been like that for ten years now.
"No, Mom, Shohei doesn't begin until eleven, but it drags all the way to six, remember?" Shohei Gakuin. The local 'geniuses' high school. Virtually the gifted program, magnified. You need an IQ over 125 to get in, as well as a written teacher's recommendation, a personal interview, and quite an amount of school fees each year. Basically, Shohei only takes those with huge potential and trains them into 'perfect' pillars of the community. I'm in Shohei with a 143 for being 'analytical' and mostly for my computer skills.
That was convenient. There was going to be a cosplay convention at nine, a café in Akihabara. I had half an hour. Perfect. Ten to change into my costume, another twenty to navigate my way there.
"Tommy?" Wow, I had forgotten my mother was still on the line. "The housekeeper will be around at twelve. She'll restock the fridge, clean the house, and don't worry, I reminded her not to go into your room."
"Okay, Mom. Love you." I ended the call, tossed the Blackberry onto my bed, and climbed out. Bunk bed, as in one of those desks-at-the-bottom, bed-on-top types. But I mostly pulled out the folding bed that came out from under the desk and my official bed was usually occupied by stuffed animals and my cat, Mame. Mame was actually named 'bean' after Mamegoma, my favourite line of… well, teenage-girl-obsessed-items. I actually have over thirty Mamegoma products in my room alone, and then more around the house.
"Mame-chan," I grumbled, standing on tip-toe and carrying the cat to the ground. A pretty American bobtail, silver-black-and-white in color. I loved her to pieces, but she could be a little… troublesome. She was amazing in the way that she could somehow climb her way up to the top bunk every single night, but needed me to get her down in the morning.
I stumbled over several boxes to my closet—I had moved in two weeks ago and hadn't gotten to unpacking a lot of my belongings yet. In the closet, my favorite outfit. The classic Lolita-maid outfit, complete with the mid-thigh black skirt, white apron, and black combat boots (a personal touch). I got dressed quickly and then checked my hair in the mirror. It was my hair that always threw people off when they were guessing my race. It was a strange apple-red with black under-layers, and I had never, ever dyed it before. My eyes were more American, having typical western shape and wide-eyed innocence, but my pupils were dark and occasionally scary. Shoot. My new haircut—bicep-length with layers and slightly longer in the front—didn't really go with my outfit. Oh, well. I collected my hair into a low ponytail to my right. The next five minutes were spent applying eye-liner to an Adam Lambert-like level, and then frosted-pink lip gloss. I picked up my backpack (black-and-white messenger, with punk neon-purple headphones). My blue Zune MP3 was on its armband (which was wrapped around the strap of my messenger bag)
Hmm… I licked my teeth. I had just brushed them half an hour ago, but they felt icky after eating a cup of yogurt. I'm not a health nut or anything, but my general menu consists of a cup of yogurt for breakfast, yogurt and an apple for lunch, and mango shake plus salad for dinner. I ate more back in Canada but I have to cook for myself in Japan. Seeing as the last time I tried making fried eggs, I set off the fire alarm, I eat packaged food now. I rinsed with 0.2 percent mouth wash (because I'm obsessive that way) and then headed downstairs. Shit. Running late. I dashed out the door and attempted to work out my map.
_______________
Ugh… First time I come out in years and I stumble upon a group of cosplay freaks. I licked my thumb before picking up a new piece of cake. I haven't revealed myself in public for quite some time. I was going to some new café called Swallowtail because I heard from Watari that their pastries were amazing. And just my luck. They were hosting a cosplay convention today.
"Miss!" I waved at a nearby girl. Maid outfit, strange red hair, smiling and chatting with a small, be-dimpled, wide-eyed boy and another petite girl with copper-red hair and a kind smile.
"Waitress!" I trilled. She stared at me, eyes wide. I guess I looked quite maniacal, bunny-hopping up and down on my chair. To add to that? My chair fell over at that moment.
"Omigosh, are you alright, mister?" Her Japanese was a little… Off… Had a western tinge and she wasn't articulating perfectly.
"You should have come earlier," I snapped, feeling my face redden. "I'm not used to having to act like a clown just to call a waitress."
"I'm not a waitress, genius." She raised an eyebrow. She could tell?
"You know who I am?" I was surprised. How was she to know that I was the world's most renowned detective? From the way I was acting, that should be virtually impossible.
"Tsch." She grabbed my right arm and yanked me up. Surprisingly strong for a teenage girl. Ah, I see… The art of sarcasm. You know, being away from civilization really is taking its toll on me.
"How are you…?"
"This is a maid outfit," she replied slowly, "Cosplay convention today? I think the waiters and waitresses are dressed as super heroes today."
"I see…"
"Alright… You're fine now, right?" She pulled my sleeve up and did an once-over on my arm. "I'm not going to check your back for spinal injuries 'cause I don't want to be a pervert to a panda."
"Panda?" I cocked my head.
"Are you being sarcastic or are you really…" She smacked her head. "I'm just going to leave." She joined the two she was conversing with earlier with an exasperated roll of the eyes to me.
I raised my eyebrows as I added more sugar to my already-goo-like coffee. Surely, the world's number one detective can't be as stupid as she indicates, right?
_______________
"So, you were saying?"
I loved talking to other cosplayers. They just understood things others didn't, and besides, you could hide under a disguise when you're talking. It just makes you feel safe. The boy was five foot three and still growing, with dark brown hair, large eyes, and an immensely likeable smile. I have no idea what he was dressed up as—weird old-fashioned butler outfit, interesting hand gear. The girl was five foot four with pretty red hair that was sort of fox-like, with a gold sheen to it. It was a lot longer than mine, around waist-length, and clipped up. I think she was dressed as Orihime Inoue.
"Hm? Oh, nothing." I shook my head dismissively, watching the strange panda-eyed guy from before.
L Lawliet
75231362
Klutzy, sorta ranging between cute and dim, pretty light-weight. Weirdly attractive.
"I haven't seen you around, I believe," The boy added, touching the back of his neck awkwardly. "You are…?"
"Tommy Briarwood. I'm sixteen going on seventeen," I replied with a smile. I learned to smile with my mouth closed from when I was twelve and my teeth had overbite, were slightly misaligned, and consisted of a variety of shapes. Now, they returned to their default position—biting my lower lip.
"I'm Wally Tsunio. Sixteen as well." He smiled sheepishly again. "I'm going through my growth spurt a little late. And yes, coincidentally, I'm dressed up as Walter. That is, Walter C. Dornez of Hellsing. This is my friend and classmate, Su…"
The girl cut him off, poking Wally's head to the side. "I can introduce myself." She stuck her tongue out and I watched in slight amusement as they started a 'zapping' match. Walter won quite easily, successfully evading most of her attacks, before she finally got him under the ribs.
I let out a small cough and then walked across the room, plopping into a sofa with my knees pulled up. Bored, I fiddled with my Zune and turned on Hey There Delilah. A few years old now, but still one of my all-time favourites. I turned to look at the seat beside me, and, like a scene out of a horror movie, saw Lawliet's eyes studying my red hair.
"Aah!" My breath caught in my chest and I vaguely realized I was digging into a pressure point in his wrist, the way I had been taught to. "What the freak are you doing?"
"Mm?" He had retreated back to his seat now, nonchalantly sipping coffee as if he hadn't been looming over me a moment ago.
"Gawd… What are you, a pedophile?" I couldn't help letting that slip out.
"Tomoyo Briarwood, Shohei Gakuin?" He asked, not bothering to introduce himself.
Stalker, stalker, stalker… Wait… Is he one of those underground human traffickers? Save me!
"I assume you are from the introduction that you gave the two youngsters over there. I am L."
"I noticed," I started to say before shutting up. He probably wouldn't believe my story about the eyes. "I noticed that you seemed extremely suspicious, whether it be eating habits or sitting style." To my disdain, he had the exact same pose as me, knees hugged up to the chest. Except on him, it looked more like a fetal position.
"Have you heard about the Kira case?"
I cocked my head to the side, tracing back to all the news broadcasts I had watched over the past two months. "I think so. Yeah."
"I would like to formally invite you to the Task Force." His dark eyes looked at me as though staring right into my brain.
"Why me?" I couldn't help croak.
"See, I had my assistant, Watari, hack into the latest Shohei files. Shohei is a big help to us when it comes to recruiting help. We noticed you were in the Top 5 for this year's new additions, and we decided, upon reading your report, that you would be perfect for the job." His eyes darkened. "Your thinking style is just like Light Yagami's."
What?!