暗い
- Excluding Dark Evans, I do not own any of the characters in this story. All of the characters belong to the Death Note series created by Tsugami Ohba and Takeshi Obata. -
I sat with the cup of hot chocolate clutched in my bloody hands, trembling slightly. Whether it was from cold or lack of sleep, I was unsure, but something told me that I would find relief from neither tonight. I shuffled my feet nervously, brushed my dark red hair out of my brown eyes.
"I'm scared," I admitted finally.
"I would be very surprised if you weren't," he replied, taking a seat across the table from me.
"What do I do now?" I asked, biting my lip.
"You forget what has happened, and you move on. It is as simple as that." He shrugged, as if he didn't know what else to add.
"I can never forget what happened," I replied somewhat coldly.
"I would be very surprised if you could," he said again. His cryptic answers bothered me, and I gripped the mug in my hands tighter in frustration.
"Why am I here?" I asked, frowning at the table. It was a very detailed table; the tree it had been carved from very complex and knotted.
"That is something you must find out for yourself. In the meantime, Harlow, I suggest you get some rest." The man stood up from the table, shrugging out of the thick coat he had been wearing. It was still damp from the rain.
"Don't call me that," I half-snarled. I didn't intend for that to happen, but in light of recent events, I was not myself.
"Then what shall I call you?" he asked, somewhat bemused.
I bit my lip, thinking for a moment. Only one word entered my mind. "Dark," I replied. It was how I felt at that moment.
"Well then, Dark," the man said, "my name is Quillish Wammy, or Watari. Why not we find a room for you?"
I stood in the shower early that morning, the water dripping down my face and through my hair. It was cold, but I'd rather have a cold shower than a hot one.
I would like to say that I woke up, displeased that it was now required I wake up early. However, for the past fifteen years I'd found sleep hard to come by. I'd gone to bed at 11:30 that night and woken up at 12:00. It wasn't a lot for the average human, but it was all I needed.
I was starting a new case today. I'd been called to the Kanto region to take part in the "Kira" investigation. Whom or what Kira was exactly, I wasn't sure I cared. It was something to take my mind off of things. I'd been told that L, the world's greatest detective, would be there, but I highly doubted that. During my years of education at the Wammy House, I'd never really seen "L," though I was told that he was in the same building for many years. If I'd ever had a chance to see L, I'd likely missed the boat.
As I stood in the shower, cold water streaming down my body, I contemplated the strange location set for a meeting. Instead of, say, a government building, or at the very least a police station, we were meeting in a hotel room. It seemed curiously informal, to say the least.
What bothered me the most, aside from the curious suspicion that perhaps this was all a practical and rather cruel joke, was the idea of meeting new people. I'm generally an introverted person, and the idea of going out and introducing myself to some new humans terrified me. I could remain cool, stay tactful as I introduced myself as Dark – I rarely, if ever, used my real name – but upon arriving at my house that night, I would fall to the floor and tremble.
Pulling on my clothes, I headed out the door. Perhaps the day wouldn't be as awful as first days on the job usually were for someone like me.
Nervous, I straightened my clothes as I left the elevator. Generally rather nervous of heights, the fact that this meeting was being held on a floor above ground level bothered me. I tugged uneasily at my gloves, covering my arms but exposing my fingertips. I was wearing my dressiest clothing; a ¾ length white blouse with a dark grey vest, long fingerless gloves, and denim cut-offs with knee-high Chuck Taylor's. I'm not a very dressy person.
I looked down at my hand, pulling back the glove slightly. My computer had received a message to come to a particular hotel room; it had also warned that the hard drive would self-destruct in thirty minutes upon receiving the message, to avoid third parties accessing it. It was pretty bloody annoying, considering the fact that the computer was rather costly, but luckily for me, all of my virtual life was stored on a memory key which hung from my neck.
I knocked on the hotel room door, biting my lip. A man, likely in his fifties, opened the door, streaks of grey hair and tired eyes marring his rather good-looking visage.
"Ah, hello," he said, smiling. Though he smiled, his face still looked tired and worn. "How may I help you?"
"I-I'm here regarding the…" I dropped my voice to a whisper, "the Kira case?"
The man's smile vanished. "I beg your pardon?" he returned, frowning.
"My name is Miss Evans," I held out my hand to shake his; a common form of human greeting, I despised other people touching my hand, but I knew that this was a situation in which I needed to earn his trust. "Please call me Dark. I'm here as a – "
The man's eyes widened. "You're Dark?" He appeared flabbergasted.
"Yes," I replied, nodding slowly.
A voice from inside said, "Let her in, Soichiro." Soichiro, still frowning, reluctantly stepped aside. I smiled half-heartedly and entered the hotel. Four other men sat in a sitting area near the balcony windows, overlooking the bustling city below. While three of them were dressed in smart business suits, the last wore baggy jeans and a loose-fitting shirt. Judging by his scruffy hair and his overall casual appearance, I questioned whether or not this strangely attractive young man was truly committed to this case.
Then I saw his posture, the way he sat on the couch, the way his black eyes, rimmed by dark circles, peered up into my own. Absentmindedly glancing at me, balancing on feet, he studied my physical appearance, my stance, my expression… as I did the exact same to him.
He was from the Wammy House. There was no doubt about it.
"Hello Dark," he said smoothly, his voice somewhat monotonous. "Welcome to the team. Come sit over here." He indicated a chair placed next to his own. Somewhat reluctant, I sat up cross-legged on the chair. I don't like my feet touching the floor when I'm sitting, unless I'm actually sitting on the floor. Some of the men in suits, including Soichiro, gave quick, confused glances in my direction.
"This is Miss Evans, better known as 'Dark,'" the young man said. "She'll be joining us to work on this case. Dark, here we have Soichiro Yagami, whom you've already met…"
"Hello Dark," Soichiro nodded in my direction.
"…then we have Matsuda over here…" the young man lazily rolled his glance over to another man, perhaps only a bit older than himself, who grinned and waved. "Mogi… and Aizawa."
"It's a-a pleasure to meet you all," I stuttered. "You are…?"
The young man gave me a mischievous smirk; so small and so fleeting that I questioned whether or not I had seen it. "My name is L," he replied.
My heart leapt into my throat and ceased.
"For the purpose of this investigation, however, I ask that you call me Ryuzaki," L requested. I was still in shock. Memories flooded back, of a young boy with tousled black hair and black holes for eyes. That was L, all along?
"Certainly," I nodded.
"Now, Light Yagami is not here as of yet, as a school student, there will be days when he arrives late," L sighed, nibbling at his thumbnail. "He is a vital element to the Kira case, just how vital, I will explain later…"
"Excuse me, Ryuzaki," I interrupted, "but I need to know… exactly what is Kira?"
The resulting silence was deafening. Matsuda gave me a look that clearly questioned my sanity, or at least where I'd been for the past forever.
"Kira is a person who is behind the killings of various criminals in the past months," L replied. "We've identified this as an attempt at ridding the world of evil, whether due to pathological need or desire to play God, we are unsure."
"Vigilante justice gone wrong?" I suggested
L half-smiled. "To a degree. However, what is troubling about this exactly is this. These criminals always die from a heart attack, Kira does not need to be in the room to kill them, and all he does need is their name and their face…"
A chill flowed down my spine. Reaching into my pocket, I grasped the cool metal of the pocket watch. It couldn't be… could it?
"Pardon me…" I said, "but if that is the case… have you not made a vital error?"
The men in the room stared at me.
"If all Kira needs is a name and a face… well, put it this way," I leaned in, on a roll here. "I've seen you all, and I've acquired your names, or at least your surnames. If I wanted to, I could go through police files and find your full names. I could kill you all, because you've told me who you are. If I only just entered the room, how can you trust me so much? You shouldn't trust me at all.
"There's the possibility, however," I added, glancing in L's direction as he stared at me, "that you've given me fake names. I wouldn't question it, as I'm sure Ryuzaki would have thought to have given you warnings to conceal your identity from Kira.
"However, so far, Soichiro is the only one here who's shown the slightest bit of distrust towards me," I mentioned. "I approve."
Soichiro nodded, the slightest grin appearing in the corners of his mouth.
"I am not Kira," I admitted, "but if I'm going to be with this case, I don't want you to trust me so easily until I deserve it."
The room was silent for a moment. Finally, Matsuda said, "I see what you meant, Ryuzaki. She really is amazing."
I blushed slightly as L replied, "Yes, she is. However, she raises a good argument. Don't trust her until you feel you can. Now, this meeting is over. I'll see you all tomorrow."
The men left the room, bringing their bags and their phones with them. I was about to get up and leave, but L said, "Wait, Dark."
I spun around, flustered. "Y-yes, Ryuzaki?" I replied.
"I received your file from Watari," L said, placing a thick file on the table. I swallowed nervously. Likely that contained my school suspension reports, my psychiatrist visits, and all of my test scores.
"Your school work is nothing short of… well, dismal," L sighed. "However, you are certainly rather intelligent, and resourceful enough that we can use you in this case…"
"Ryuzaki?" I said. I wasn't sure where this was going.
"I picked you out of the various Wammy House children because your file showed promise," L explained. "Please do not prove me wrong. Being at the Wammy House for about the same length of time as you were, I trust you as of now."
"But Ryuz – " I tried to interject, but L stopped me.
"I realize that it may be unwise, but hear me out." L looked up from my file, the deep dark eyes boring into my own. "I can tell that you are a good person; you saw exactly what it was that Kira was doing; vigilante justice that tried to play God. Perhaps you can see the appeal, like Matsuda, but you realize that it has gone too far, with hundreds of criminals dropping dead weekly." L grasped a cup of tea sitting on the table and proceeded to toss several sugar cubes into the cup.
"Would you like some tea with your sugar?" I asked. I had been told of L's insatiable sweet tooth.
L only smiled. "I am going to speak with Light-kun later on at the To-Oh University. You are free to accompany me if you wish."
"I'd love to," I replied. I was eager to meet Light Yagami, the key element of the case. Despite how uninterested I had been before, I found myself unable to think of anything else.