Near's POV
He was walking down the corridor when it happened. Dressed in his usual attire of white pajamas, musingly twisting a lock of hair between his fingers, Near had just turned the corner when he heard the scream.
"MELLO!" The unfamiliar female voice screeched, the racket coming from inside his second bedroom. He immediately deduced that the voice belonged to the mysterious girl who had arrived in the middle of the night.
His hypothesis was proved correct as Mello was forcefully ejected from the bedroom, landing heavily on his side. Several yards away, Near could hear the air whoosh out of his lungs. A wet footprint glistened on the front of Mello's leather jacket. Several other Whammy's kids poked their heads out of their doors, puzzled expressions on their faces. Mildly startled, Near paused in his walk down the hallway, his hair still twisted around his finger.
A girl, a teenager, stepped briefly out of the room, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her. Her dripping wet hair was fiery red, as was her face. Her eyes, narrowed in ferocity, were focused only on Mello.
"Find your own damn bathroom!" She shouted, an American accent evident in her tone. She pitched a wire brush in Mello's general direction before stomping back into the room, slamming the door behind her.
Mello lay on the ground in shock, the scratches left behind by the bristles of the brush bleeding slightly. After a few moments of utter silence, Matt, who had been striding down the opposite side of the hallway, burst out laughing, almost dropping his Nintendo DS in the process. With the awkward silence broken, the other Whammy's kids retreated back into their rooms, some laughing along with Matt, others shaking their heads or rolling their eyes.
"It's not what you think, Matt," Mello groaned, his face red with embarrassment as he pulled himself to his feet. "I was just trying to get a peak inside her backpack-"
"Which was in her bathroom?" Matt grinned, turning back to his game and walking back down the hall.
"Yes, it was!" Mello protested, following Matt around the corner. The hallway was deserted again…except for Near.
The white-haired genius was standing, unmoving, near the wall; however, his mind was racing. Intriguing,he thought. If Mello is telling the truth, then there must, indeed, be something important inside that backpack. Why else would she take it inside the bathroom with her? If there had been makeup or clothes inside the backpack, that she wanted to use inside the bathroom, she would have taken them into the bathroom with her, instead of bringing the whole bag in.
The girl's face, livid with anger, flashed in his mind. At the memory of her expression, Near's mouth twitched slightly in a rare revelation of emotion. He had to admit, he was somewhat curious about this girl. Ever since Mello had been introduced to Whammy's, no one, male or female, had ever managed to physically kick him out of a room, though some had tried.
I wonder what other changes this girl will bring,Near mused as he resumed his walk down the hallway, finger twisting a lock of hair.
Olivia's POV
As soon as she had put on some decent clothing, Olivia exited her room, hair still slightly damp. She was still fuming, but she knew that Mello had already been punished enough; there was no need for her to seek him out and pummel him, though she desperately wanted to.
She had left her backpack in her room, after thoroughly hiding its contents. She was confident that not even a genius (*cough*Mello*cough*) could find any of those items. After all, who would look beneath the floorboards under her bed?
As Olivia strode down the hallway, she caught the scent of a familiar smell. Following her nose, she soon came to an open doorway beyond which…
"Oh, wow!" Olivia muttered, stepping into the spacious room.
It was obviously a library, with wooden bookshelves covering every inch of the wall space. Two comfy-looking couches faced each other in the center of the antique rug, a low glass table between them. Beyond the couches, on the far wall, a large, empty fireplace gave the room a homey look. Two large double windows stood on either side of the fireplace, offering an excellent view into the surrounding countryside. Walking up to one of the shelves, Olivia pulled out a book, one of the Sherlock Holmes series. She leafed randomly through the pages, the familiar calming book-smell wafting through the room. Olivia sighed peacefully.
"Can I help you with something?" A soft voice asked. Olivia jumped, snapping the book shut, looking around wildly for the source of the voice. It seemed to be coming from behind one of the couches. Olivia warily walked across the room, holding the book protectively against her chest. Behind the couch sat a familiar white-haired boy dressed in pajamas. He never looked up from his blank puzzle as she approached.
"Oh! I…I'm sorry. Was I bothering you?" Olivia stuttered, feeling like a complete idiot as heat flooded her face. Wow, now I really understand what Jay was going through when she met L,she thought. Near didn't answer her right away, but continued to focus on his puzzle, keeping his eyes down. This gave Olivia the chance to compose herself- she quickly forced a somewhat neutral expression on her face, trying desperately to keep her fangirlish excitement locked up inside her.
As the last pieces of the puzzle were pushed into place, Olivia realized that the puzzle wasn't blank, after all. At least, it wasn't completely blank. A single black, old-English letter L had been printed in the top left corner. Olivia immediately recognized it- It was the same puzzle that Near had been working on in the anime, when Rodger had told him and Mello that L had died.
When the final piece of the puzzle had been set in place, Near admired his handiwork for a few seconds, then looked up at Olivia, his face blank. As his eyes met hers, there was a single moment in time when Olivia thought that her heart had stopped. But, in the next second, it beat again, and the moment was gone. Near turned back to his puzzle, and began to disassemble it piece by piece.
"No. You weren't," he murmured.
Jay's POV
The scent of food wafted through the cell bars, making my stomach rumble in anticipation. Well, It's about time,I thought, pushing my glasses into place with my shoulder. Watari (well, at least, I assumed it was Watari; he was wearing a stretchy, black mask, like a robber) approached my cell, a plate mounded with food in hand. He swiped a card through the automated locking system, and the door swung inward. I remained seated on the bed, not wanting to alarm him, seeing as he had a stun gun holstered on his belt.
Watari closed the cell door behind him, the lock clicking into place. He set the plate of food on the bed next to me, and then proceeded to unlock my handcuffs, pulling out his gun as the metallic restraints slid off my wrists. With a sigh of relief I pulled my arms in front of my body, massaging where the handcuffs had cut off circulation. I looked up to see Watari standing near the door, the stun gun pointed at me. Uncomfortable, I stretched my arms one more time, and then grabbed the plate of food.
Lying beneath the plate was a set of chopsticks. Oh, great,I thought, tentatively picking them up. Now, how am I supposed to use these?I thought back to every Chinese and Japanese restaurant that I had been to, calling up all my experience, which wasn't much. Okay…I think you hold one stick with your thumb…and keep it solid. And…the top one…is the one you move…oh, great, I have no idea.
In the end, I just went with what felt right. It took me a few tries to actually get the food to my mouth, but in the end, I managed it.
Just as I was about to take my first bite of egg, I caught a glimpse of the gun out of the corner of my eye. I slowly looked over at it, eyeing it wearily.
"Ummm…do you mind putting that thing away?" I asked, motioning at the gun. Watari looked down at it, then back at me.
"I'm afraid I can't," Watari said, and his voice confirmed his identity. I quickly repressed my smile.
"Well, could you at least point it at the floor, or something?"
In response, Watari shifted the gun slightly away from me. I thanked him, feeling less uneasy.
Within minutes, the food was gone, and my stomach was no longer rumbling. I delicately placed the chopsticks on the side of the plate, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. Suddenly, I felt scratching on my scalp, and Near scurried out from under my hair. He scuttled down to the plate, nibbling on the crumbs left behind from my meal.
"You had the rat with you, all this time?" Watari muttered to himself, astonished. I looked up at him, slowly stroking Near's fur, and shrugged.
After Near had stopped munching on the crumbs, Watari took a step forward, raising the gun. I quickly pulled Near off of the plate, and held him up in my hands.
"Could you take care of Leer for me?" I asked, remembering to use the fake name I had come up with. "He needs more food than just crumbs, and exercise, and water…" I trailed off. I realized that I was doing the right thing- It was what was best for Near. But the thought of giving up my only companion in this cell made my throat choke up a little. Watari took the rat, putting him on his shoulder.
"Of course," he said, his voice noticeably kind.
He locked my hands behind my back once again; my arms ached in protest as they were forced back into the position that they had been in for hours.
As Watari left the cell, I caught his attention, careful not to use his name.
"Um…Excuse me?" Watari turned back.
"Yes?" He asked.
"When you bring my lunch…could I have a glass of root beer with it?"
"Root beer?"
"Yeah."
"I'm afraid we only have water."
"What?" I was shocked. "You…don't have…root beer?"
"No, we don't." And with that, Watari strode out of sight.
"Are you kiddingme?" I called after him, anxious.
My only answer was the slamming of a large, metallic door. I leaned back against the wall, eyes closing.
"No root beer…" I muttered. Of course. L's trying to get me to confess, so he won't let me have root beer. This is going to be fun. Not.
A few hours later, L began to interrogate me again.
"I already told you, I didn't have any cards in my backpack!"
"A witness saw it fall out, there's no use in lying."
"I am not lying! Why are you getting so worked up about this, anyways?" I hissed, playing dumb again.
"If Kira had gotten his hands on that card, he could have killed the man pictured there. That is why I am so 'worked up,' Miss Jay."
I was sick of pretending. Even after less than a day, I was sick and tired of this game. I just want to go home…
No. I know that L will release me eventually. All I have to do is survive for fifty days. I know that I can do this. I will do this!
A small screen popped out of the side of the camera, the clicking noise startling me out of my thoughts. It crackled to life, showing an image of the bottom half of L's true name card, the part showing his face.
"Do you recognize this man?"L asked.
I pretended to think. "Yes…he was at the café. Nea-Leer managed to make his way onto the guy's table." I paused. "But why would Kira want to kill him? Is he important to the case in some way?"
"He is working alongside L to capture Kira."
"Alongside L? Then you must be L."
"Why do you think so?"
"Why else would you be so concerned about this? Who else would go to these extreme measures to keep me here?"
L paused, thinking. "I can neither confirm nor deny your hypothesis."
"All right then," I said, smiling. "If you won't tell me who you are, then I guess you won't mind if I call you L from now on."
"You may call me whatever you wish; it doesn't matter to me. Now, did you know this man's name?"
"No. He never told me," I said truthfully.
"Then how did it get on your card?"
"I didn't have any cards!"
"It fell out of your backpack."
"Says who?"
"Says the witness."
"Who is…?"
"Who is someone I know very well and would never lie to me."
I see, L. You followed us out of the café, didn't you?I thought. A 'witness', indeed.
"Was it the guy from the café?"
"I can neither-"
I cut him off. "Confirm nor deny that hypothesis, yeah. I know." I paused. "You know, if you don't tell me if my hypothesis is true or not, I'm just going to assume that it's true."
"Why?"
"Because you're avoiding the question."
"I might just be trying to avoid giving prisoners information."
"Avoid giving information to a prisoner whose only crime was supposedly to drop a card?"
"Exactly."
I sighed. "Fine then, L. Don't answer my questions. I won't answer yours."
Author's Note: Yes! It's up! Don't forget to review- you'll get to hit the character of your choice with a water bottle! Hmm…or maybe one of those dunk machines would be better…*grins evilly*
Oh, and if any of you want to do fanart…feel free! Just make sure to PM me a link, or something so I can post it on my profile. After all, awesomeness should be shared, no?
