Death Note Alternate Reality- Welsh Edition
Chapter 4- Scholarship Students from the mid-alphabet
Matt's Room, Enlli Building, Ffriddoedd site, six-fifty ante-meridian, four days later
Matt had begun to become accustomed to never lying in, even if he didn't have morning lectures. His routine had become set in concrete: research for potential paroling criminals, pick up his daily crate of apples at the mail office, decide on the cause of death for said criminals, go to lectures, and study at the library, not necessarily in that order but always including every single facet. He also had to work in going to the gym to the routine every other day, and so, combining this with unexpected social events, Matt's life was a rather packed and stressful one.
Getting dressed, Matt walked out of his room with a rather tired-looking expression on his face. Ryuk was beginning to wonder if he should have just pressured the man into forfeiting ownership so he could find himself a stronger user of the Death Note.
"Matt?" Ryuk asked as his pet human walked down his flat's hallway, "Matt? Everyone else is asleep from the party you went to last night. I checked their rooms especially! So talk to me!"
Matt looked to Ryuk with a hateful expression on his face, "Just shut up, you wretched beast. I don't want you spying on my friends while they sleep. It's enough that I have to put up with your crap..."
"May I remind you that..." Ryuk began to say, but surprisingly, Matt seemed to have evolved a backbone.
"JUST SHUT UP!" Matt yelled, and started gasping, before lowering his voice to a whisper, looking Ryuk directly in the eye, "Look, Ryuk. I've done more than enough to entertain and feed you. You have personally ruined my life and all hopes of having a simple, fun time at university. If I don't want to talk to you, then I damn well don't want to speak to you. Got it? Now, shut up and stay behind me. I'm the one going to the mail office to get you these apples every day..."
Ryuk stared at Matt for a moment, and then grinned. From now on, things were going to get far more fun... as long as Matt kept snapping like this in public. Laughing a little, Ryuk finally replied, "This is more like it, Matt! Please, get more angry!"
Matt folded his arms and turned away from the Shinigami, and walked out of the Enlli Building. After walking to the other side of the Ffriddoedd site, Matt entered the site's mail office, handing the postal worker his Student ID. After a brief wait, the woman returned with a fairly small, yet heavy crate filled with apples.
Taking the crate with him out of the mail office, Matt looked at the top of his delivery as he carried it. Cocking his head, Matt said, "Hold on... something's wrong..."
"What do you mean?" Ryuk asked.
Matt smiled, and said quietly, "Well, for one, I don't feel like taking all these apples home..." and proceeded to raise the crate into the air, before throwing it to the floor, smashing the crate into splintered pieces and leaving the bruised and battered apples to roll helplessly across the floor while Ryuk gazed in horror.
"WHAT THE HELL?" Ryuk shouted.
Matt reached into his pocket, and got out his phone. After faking a call, he said, "Hey, Rick. It's Matt. You know the healthy eating apple delivery subscription? It's gotta go..."
Ryuk growled, "If you're gonna talk in your stupid code, I can wait for real answers! Tell me what the hell that was all about in your room..."
"Whatever you say, you crazy dog! See ya later, man!" Matt said, 'hanging up' on his call. Walking back to his flat, Matt finally got into his room, while a clearly incensed Ryuk entered shortly after.
"Okay, we're alone. Now tell me what that remorseless, senseless cruelty was all about!" Ryuk yelled.
Matt nodded, "Fine. Remember when I started killing for you?"
"Yeah..." Ryuk answered.
"Well, at first, I made sure that they mailed the apples to my room address..." Matt said, "But recently, I've also made them to write the address on top of the box directly as well as on a paper note on its side, leaving a small pentagram shape at the bottom of the address..."
"So what?" Ryuk asked, "That doesn't explain why you smashed my day's fix in front of my very eyes!"
"Well, when I looked at today's delivery, the address was written on top of the box, just like normal, but it was missing the pentagram..." Matt mused, "That means someone had gone to the effort of unscrewing the top of the crate, and then replacing the top afterwards, almost but not quite imitating the original top of the crate... someone's checking the crates of apples... not only that, they're keeping the original lid... that means that the police may be onto me."
Ryuk chuckled to himself, "Guess that means you're in trouble. I'm not letting you stop this..."
Matt raised his fist, and almost decided to punch the Shinigami, before stopping himself and saying, "You're kidding, right? Now the police are involved, shouldn't you no longer need apples to stave you off? Things can only get more 'interesting' for you now!"
"But thanks to your... kindness, I guess I've been spoilt rotten..." Ryuk replied, "I'm pretty much addicted to apples now. I guess you could say... it's like how most of your friends are with alcohol..."
Matt scowled, "I see... well, in that case... I have a different plan. Ryuk, how easily can you go through walls? You were clearly able to check that my flatmates were asleep, so can you do this for me?"
"Do what?" Ryuk asked.
Matt darkly grinned, half-glancing at Ryuk, "I'm no longer going to send the crates of apples to my address..."
"WHAT?" Ryuk screamed, holding his hands to his head.
"Calm down and let me finish." Matt said, a tad of sarcasm in his voice, "I am, however, going to send it to various room numbers and buildings on the Ffriddoedd site. I will, by all means, make sure the apples are in the mail office. However, I will not pick them up, because I only live in room A-two-one-two. You can do that for me..."
"Huh? What do you mean? I can't just take solid objects through walls with me, you know!" Ryuk replied.
"That's not my intention." Matt replied, "My intention is this... I will destroy the next two days' incoming deliveries of apples, but from today, I will vary the addresses that the apples are delivered for. This means you'll have to go cold turkey for two days, however, you're going to like this next part..."
Ryuk twitched a little, and said, "Huh? Why?"
"Because, I'm now going to make two criminals die and sent a crate of apples each every day, just so you go along with my plan." Matt said, "Basically, instead of picking up the apples, I will stand next to the mail office building, during which you go through the mail office wall. There, you'll find the crates containing the apples, and eat all the contents without opening the boxes, that way, if the student who's address I'm using goes to check his mail, he'll just receive a strange, empty crate. This way you're satisfied, and I stand less of a chance of being caught for... whatever crime they think I've done. Maybe they think I'm evading tax on apple delivery or something. But whatever it is, if the police start investigating me, they could find out that what I'm doing's far worse... anyway, what do you say? Is it a deal?"
Ryuk's eyes narrowed, and his head began to twitch more frequently, "That seems fair... but asking me to quit apples for two days is to much. You're buying me a pack of apples... now."
Matt shook his head, "I hate you so much..."
"And I'm liking you more and more..." Ryuk said with a grin, "...now you're even killing more often... you're upping the amount of deaths just to sweeten a deal with me... and here's me thinking you had human 'principles'..."
Matt looked to Ryuk with a pair of glazed eyes, "I thought you didn't care about human morality. Remember?"
"No, but it's funny to see that you've stopped caring..." Ryuk pointed out.
Matt suddenly became defensive, "This is a means to an end. If I have to kill scum-bags to ensure my survival, I will. It's not like I'm harming society by writing these guys off, anyway. Hey, Ryuk, does the Death Note work even if the pages are torn out of it?"
Ryuk stifled a cackle, before saying, "You changed the subject quickly, didn't you? I don't know, but probably. Only the Shinigami King knows what exactly the Death Note is, and whether its affected by its physical state..."
"I see." Matt said dismissively, "Well, I'm gonna keep some on me just in case. I'll test it out by putting some pieces of it into my Organismal Diversity notebook and I can multi-task as I work on an essay in the library."
"But if someone accidentally touches it, they'll be able to see me... it's a little risky if you ask me..." Ryuk warned.
"Ryuk, have you seen my handwriting?" Matt asked, a somewhat wry smile on his face, "No-one wants to copy my notes. I may be the one people like to study with, but I am the translator of my notes. There's no way someone would want to try and read my notes themselves. That's what my digital copies are there for."
Ryuk rolled his eyes, "It still seems pretty risky to me..."
"Just shut up and roll with it, alright? Isn't risk fun to you Shinigami, anyway?" Matt asked.
"Well, I just don't want you to start becoming all depressed when you end up having to kill your friends just to keep me a secret..." Ryuk muttered.
"That won't happen." Matt promised, hoping he would be able to keep it, "I'll burn the pieces of the Death Note I use right after I use them, and only keep them in my biology notebook when I'm alone."
"Aren't you Mister Careful?" Ryuk remarked, "I'd hate to see it blow up in your face..."
Matt smirked, "Ryuk, I'm pretty sure even your kind are above lying..."
Ryuk chuckled to himself, "Oh? Was that too obvious?"
MI5 surveillance and intelligence sector, Thames House, London, England, three days later
While MI-five had many other issues to deal with, now a large, but not dominant, section of the surveillance sector had become a new base for both L and his team, a set of surveillance agents who were willing to actively watch out for the latest criminals to die. 'Watari' and his computer were sitting at the centre of the ordeal, with the people who weren't at their computers checking through CCTV camera footage waving evidence at the web-cam of the laptop.
L muttered, "So... A-two-one-two, Enlli... A-three-two-two, Enlli... B-two-two-four, Borth... A-zero-three-two, Peris... all repeated twice. The first was over two days, while the next three addresses were obtained from the same day from different post offices... the speed of the killings has increased... it's like they have... somehow found out that we're onto them, for the pace of the deliveries to increase after a two-day lag... show me the first lid again..."
An agent held up a square crate lid up to the web camera, and after a pause, he said, "Oh... please can you bring the agent who was tailing the criminal that day?"
The agent nodded, and walked away, and after a short while, brought back a tall, elegant-looking woman.
The woman seemed rather proud of herself, and said, "What is it, L sir?"
L decided to bait the woman, "...Miss, can you please tell me your name?"
"I'm agent Suzanne Frost, sir. Infiltration and reconnaissance expert!" the woman declared.
"Well, Miss Frost... you've provided me with an important clue..." L mused through his computer, "I admit, if it wasn't for your actions, I would not have spotted this..."
The woman blushed, "I just do what I can..."
L laughed a little through his computer, "Yes, you did just as well as I'd expect an agent of MI-five to do... you replaced the lid of the crate you obtained this from?"
"Yes, sir! I also checked the crate for any suspicious items, but none were found, sir!" Agent Frost vigilantly said.
"...so you were responsible for that error, then..." L finally got to the point.
The woman's disposition fell, "What, sir?"
L sighed through his computer, "The only reason we didn't confiscate the entire box for a proper analysis was to avoid being noticed by whoever's responsible for this. We would just take the lid for inspection and investigate the contents before placing a new lid on the crate that had an exact replica of the address written on it..."
"O-o-of course, sir!" the rapidly decomposing agent stammered.
"So, why did you forget the pentagram below the address?" L asked, "Don't you see? That's what was odd about this address... the pentagram is probably the way the 'Mafia', or whatever is responsible for this, tells their members that it's an address relating to their job. Or at least, clues them in on whether their goods have been tampered with. And you fell for it, hook, line and sinker... but, from this, I can certainly deduce one thing. Although the pace has increased, and the deaths are being organised at opposing ends of the country, seemingly to throw us off, that there is common ground. Whatever is responsible is operating from the Ffriddoedd site, Bangor, North Wales. And is now aware of our movements. We'll have to be discrete from now on..."
"How do you mean, sir?" an agent next to him asked, while Suzanne Frost walked away from the area in shame.
"...well, what I'm truly interested in is how these murders are being organised. To do that, we're going to have to look at the Ffriddoedd site closely, but without any official presence..." L said, "...if you want to do things my way, then just say, otherwise you can simply choose to arrest all four of the people who live at the addresses and confront them with circumstantial evidence that they could easily deny... what I intend to do is find out what exactly the aim of this smuggling business is, and how they are organising the deaths of the criminals... especially yesterday's case, which involved a heart attack... how a criminal organisation manages to pull such a feat off certainly needs close, in-depth, and most importantly, undercover investigation. And, quite frankly, Miss Frost's little mess-up has proven to me that your agents may not be up to the job of infiltration, especially not of a residential site for university students, as most people here are too old to be regular first-years eligible for living in Halls of Residence. So I have an alternate plan..."
Roger's Office, Wammy's House, Winchester, a few minutes later
Roger was sitting in his office, not really doing much beyond staring at a Goliath Beetle that made up one of the largest specimens in his insect collection. He occasionally checked his desktop computer for changes, but for the most part, he was sitting there, bored and dreading the next lesson he'd have to spend with the children of Wammy's House.
This was in part why Roger preferred the presence of Near to the others- his attitude was anything but childish, playing with toys aside. Not to mention that he was the third oldest child in the house, younger than only Mello and the third-smartest child at Wammy's- a boy who's alias was the rather normal-sounding 'Matt'.
Roger stopped thinking to himself as his computer began to beep, and after clicking an icon on his computer, Roger said, "Hello?"
A certain disguised voice spoke through the computer, "Hello, Roger. Please can you summon Near and Mello to your office?"
Roger let out a mildly disgruntled tut, and said, "Fine..."
Walking out of his office, Roger headed down the old-looking corridors of Wammy's house, eventually entering the common room, causing the lively atmosphere in the room to instantly die, and said, "Excuse me, please can I have Near and Mello for a moment?"
While Mello instantly got up from his activities and headed for the door where Roger was, Near remained crouched on the floor, stacking matchsticks to form a tower.
Roger hung his head. Even though he found Near to be the most tolerable child as a person, he certainly had some insufferable mannerisms.
"Near! Now, please!" Roger shouted, causing the rest of the common room to burst into laughter.
Near turned away from Roger slightly, before finally standing up. When the boy walked, it seemed awkward and unnatural, like it was a rarity for him to engage in locomotion at all. Mello laughed a little, "Nice one there, Near. Smartest in Wammy's! Ha!"
The three began to walk back to Roger's office, and on the way, Near looked to Mello from the side, "I happened to beat your score in the most recent exams by five percent. And given your consistent record of around two percent inferior test scores to my own, I can quite soundly claim to be the most intelligent in Wammy's for the time being. However, I am not going to doubt that you are skilled, Mello. I was working hard on creating the Empire State Building, and I know that if I were to leave it incomplete that our fellow students would destroy all my works..."
"Oh, what's the matter, Near?" Mello asked mockingly, "Are you going to cry when you find it all smashed?"
Near's face formed into a dark smile, "Not as much as you did when you found out Matt beat you in the mid-semester exam on analysis of Media Censorship..."
Roger resisted telling the pair to shut up, and simply said, "That's enough, Near..."
Mello smiled slightly, and said, "Thanks for taking my side, Ro..."
"You need to be quiet too." Roger interrupted the youth, "Both of you need to know something... L personally requested your presence. This could be important..."
Near smirked, "Yes, Mello. Please take this seriously..."
"You started it!" Mello shouted.
"I think you'll recall that you mocked my status as the one who is consistently superior to you and will never catch up to. That triggered the rest of the conversation." Near stated.
"Shut up, Near! Just shut up!" Mello snapped, before Roger raised his hand for a moment, suddenly disconcerting the two youths into being quiet.
Once they reached Roger's office, both Near and Mello sat on the floor, Near in a crouched, hunched position, and Mello in a relaxed, open-legged position. Roger turned his computer's monitor around, and showed them the image of the letter 'L'. Finally, Roger sat at his desk, and turned the web-cam on his desk around to face the two Teenage Genii.
"Ah. Hello, you two. How are things?" L's voice asked.
"Just fine..." Mello replied, while Near was clearly thinking of a response.
Finally, the white-haired boy said, "...what has happened in your case that is urgent enough to only contact the two of us about?"
"...ah... very good, Near." L replied, "Your deductive skills are quite amazing..."
Mello became indignant, "Hey! I knew something special was going on! I just didn't want to state the obvious!" Mello truthfully shouted, despite the context making it seem like he was merely feigning intelligence.
L stopped for a moment, expecting an argument to break out, and once it was clear that Near wasn't interested in provoking Mello any further, he continued to talk to the two, "Near mentioned something that is at the heart of this matter. Something has happened in this case that may require your assistance..."
Near smiled slightly, "Our assistance?"
Mello pumped his hands in the air, "Yes! Finally! A real case to show that I can be better than Near!"
L paused to allow for an argument once again, but once again, Near settled for simply maintaining a condescending, passive-aggressive grin, letting the man continue, "I have recently found out that the perpetrator or perpetrators of the recent smuggling incidents are people who are based on a Residential Site owned by the University of Bangor, North Wales. This site is known as 'Ffriddoedd site', and it has several buildings within it. Some three of which so far have been confirmed to be used by this proposed 'Mafia'. What I want you two to do is apply for a late scholarship in the university. I will pull some strings, and allow you to get rooms in the 'Enlli' Building, where two of the 'Mafia' members are based, as well as getting onto a course. Given that this is fully paid for, are there any preferences on your courses?"
Near looked down, and said quietly and quickly, "Architecture."
Mello stopped and burst into laughter, saying, "You aren't gonna get to build your stupid matchstick towers in that, you know..."
L decided to step in, and said, "Mello, do you have a course in mind?"
Mello smiled, "Easy. I'll double-bluff. I'll do Criminology and Psychology Joint Honours!"
"Good choice, Mello. Now, I shall have Mello as an eighteen-year-old student of high ability, while Near... due to his... young appearance, while be a sixteen-year-old child prodigy who got in due to his extraordinary skills." L proposed, "...but I would prefer it if you came up with your own aliases for when you get there..."
"Michael Cain!" Mello answered.
"Nathan Richardson..." Near mumbled.
"Good. I shall organise your entry into Bangor University with the British Government, and soon, you'll be living in Ffriddoedd site. I will give you both laptops with the ability to contact me on them. They will be linked to a 'Skype' account, which will lead to myself, meaning that, for the very first time, you will see my face. This is so that if your... flatmates notice that you're talking to someone in your room a lot, you can tell them that you're 'Skyping' an old friend. Maybe even let them speak to me if it will help you integrate with the student crowd. All that I ask is that you blend in... but remember these room numbers... because these are the students you need to spy on..." L paused, and made sure the pair were listening attentively, and then said, "A-two-one-two, Enlli building, A-three-two-two, Enlli Building, B-two-two-four, Borth Building, and A-zero-three-two, Peris Building. You will live on the first floor of the Enlli building. Mello will live in A-one-one-one, and Near in A-one-one-zero. Your goal will be to find the people who live in the rooms mentioned, more information on which will be made available to you via your laptops, and integrate into the student society, investigating them and any more revealed members of this 'Bangor Mafia'. You shall share any information with me..."
Near looked up at L with a little fear in his eyes, "But... L, I've never lived on my own before..."
"Near, you shall learn when you go there. Mello will take care of you if it gets tough..." L waited, making sure that Mello was listening, "Won't you, Mello?"
Mello clenched his teeth, and then looked to Near, "Fine..."
Near smiled, "Well, Mello, it'll be good to finally test our investigative skills together, won't it? We'll work together well, I'm sure of it..."
Mello grunted, "Is that supposed to be a joke?"
Near shook his head, his expression now neutral, "Not at all. This will be a learning experience on many levels, I can assure you. I'll even learn about architecture while I'm there too..."
Author's Notes: Um... yeah, not much to say about this chapter.
Um... kinda expected twist exclamation mark one exclamation mark eleven exclamation mark one?