Chapter 9: Septième Jour
"L, why can't you take off the handcuffs while Mello takes a shower?" Yume asked as she sat down by L, who was sitting next to the bathroom door.
Mello was currently in the bathroom taking a shower.
"How can he take a proper shower with that chain. And how can he take off his shirt to take a shower? It's going to get wet. How is he going to get clean clothes on? Why are you so cruel to poor Mello?"
L shrugged. "Light was able to take a shower perfectly fine. If he can, so can Mello.
"You're just a big meanie when it comes to poor, wittle Mello-Wello."
"Yume, just leave him alone. He won't change his mind. It's fine, I can handle it." Mello called from the bathroom.
There were a few moments of silence.
"So L, what are we going to be doing today?" Yume said, trying to make a conversation with the world's smartest detective.
"We're going to continue to try and trace where B is. I'm going to continue tracing his movements from when he escaped to now. Hopefully it will uncover some clue as to where he is right now."
"Are you completely sure that it is B who is behind this?"
"Yes, I am."
"And what would your percentage be?"
"At least ten percent."
Yume glowered at him. "You know, I am starting to think that you just make up those numbers for the hell of it."
L shrugged once more. "Will you get that plate of cake for me? I can't reach it."
"Yea, yea." Yume said as she got up from her comfortable spot and retrieved the cake for him.
Matsuda woke up, disappointed that he was unable to find any clues or get in contact with L the previous day. He sat up in bed and decided to try to call L's cell phone again. Whenever he tried to call L, Yume, Near, Kyoki, or Mello earlier his phone wouldn't let him connect to their phones.
It still wasn't letting him get through.
Matsuda paced around in the room for a few moments before deciding to go out and look for L himself... and look for the ones behind the calls while he was at it as well.
B sighed. Eris was out and he was bored. Ryuk went with her, but even if he had stayed B was sure that the two of them would get into another argument over which was better out of apples and strawberries. So that left Kyoki, which luckily for him he found her rather interesting to talk to.
So that is why minutes later he walked into Kyoki's room with two cups of tea with sugar.
Kyoki smiled happily at him from where she was sitting on the couch. She set the manga she was reading on the table before her. She then took the cup that B held out to her.
"Thank you." She smiled.
"I didn't know how much sugar you liked in your tea so I just put in the same amount as mine." B explained to her.
"It's fine. I normally put a tad bit more in, but this is fine. I like the sugar more than the drink so I like to have less liquid and more sugar." Kyoki paused for a moment. "Is Eris going to join us today?"
B shook his head and sat down. "No. She's currently busy at the moment. But perhaps she will stop by later."
"Eris and I got off on the wrong foot... again. Ever since I met her ten years ago, I've always acted immature and competitive with her. Anyway, I was wondering if she was coming since I wanted to apologize for being rude to her before."
"There really is no need. Eris understands that you were in a bad mood when you first came here. She would have behaved the same way. So don't worry about it."
Kyoki nodded. "I see. But I still feel like I should apologize to her... Anywho, I read some of the manga and I really like it so far."
B smiled, apparently pleased by this.
"Why do you want to see L?"
B was a little thrown off by this sudden question. She changed the subject like it was nothing.
"That is a secret." B tells her.
"That's not fair. Anywho, now that I am reading the manga of Akazukin Chacha, I kinda wanna see what the anime is like too."
"The anime is good too. Though there are a few changes in it."
"Really? What are they?" Kyoki wondered.
B went on to tell her what they were.
Before Eris left the hideout she grabbed Kyoki's phone so she could make the call to L outside. There really wasn't a reason why she wanted to make the call outside, she just did it. She dialed in his number and waited for the detective to answer.
"Hey L. It's me Euphony, the one who has Kyoki. If you want her you will have to trade yourself for her. Will you comply with that?"
Without any hesitation L said, "Yes, I will."
"Good." Eris said as she walked out of a cake shop out onto the busy sidewalk. "L, I will send you the coordinates where you can get Kyoki soon."
"Can I have proof that Kyoki-san is fine? May I talk to her?"
"I'm out shopping at the moment. When I get back I'll call you back so you can talk to her. Kyoki's eating better now too. I'll get in contact with you later like I said so you can speak to her. Until then, later." Eris then flipped her phone shut and placed it in her pocket.
She then continued on her shopping trip.
Matsuda had gotten lost. He had no idea where he was. Or where he had come from. Or where he should go. He stood there outside a cake shop while he tried to think of what he should to next. Luckily for him as he was waiting there a young woman came out with a cell phone. Matsuda didn't pay any attention to her until he heard her say L and Kyoki's name. He knew at once that he had found one of the people behind this whole scheme. Matsuda fought back the impulse to start jumping up and down out of happiness. Matsuda instead carefully began to follow the young woman down the busy streets. It was hard for him to blend into the crowd and not make it seem obvious that he was following her. Even though he had the crowd to his advantage, he was still very careful.
Once L was off the phone with Euphony he told the others of what was said over the phone.
"They better not be doing anything bad to Kyoki or I will so kick their asses!" Yume shook her fist in anger in front of herself.
Beside her, Sidoh found this action funny and was trying to mimic her.
"I don't think they are harming her." L assured her. He looked at the clock. "Sadly all we can do now is wait, which isn't something I want to do, but we have no other choice at the moment."
Yume groaned. "I'm pissed off. I'm going to go eat." Yume went to go find something to eat.
"She's right. Now is a good time to eat." L said as he went to the table for a cake and began to eat it.
Mello sighed as he grabbed a bar of chocolate and started to chomp on it.
As Eris walked she pulled out a small mirror to make it look like she was looking at her reflection, but was really using it to look over her shoulder. Ever since she exited the cake shop she had a feeling she was being followed. And she was right. Eris quickly put the mirror away and ducked into the alley. Moments later her stalker went to walk past, but Eris quickly grabbed his arm, pulling him into the alley, twisted it behind his back and shoved him up against the wall.
"Just why do you think you are following me?"
"...I wasn't following you..." He laughed nervously.
"You're a bad liar, Tota Matsuda." Eris said as she spun him around. "Surprise that I know your name? Don't flatter yourself I only know who you are since I was warned of your stupidity and unpredictability. I knew you were rather 'stupid', but I didn't think you were this stupid. Really, what were you thinking? Well, at least we got your little entrance out of the way now. Oh, and I wouldn't try anything stupid or reckless. I do have a gun, and I will shoot you if you try to run away or attack me."
Matsuda's phone rang.
Eris held out her hand. "Give, please."
He sighed but did as he was told.
She slid the phone in the opposite pocket from Kyoki's.
"I guess I have no choice but to take you along with me for now. You may get to join up with your friend too. Oh, I hate to say stuff like this, but like I warned you with the gun, I will use it. But if you do try to get away and succeed, I will personally kill Kyoki. So no funny stuff, right?"
Matsuda bit his lip and nodded.
"Good. Now, walk beside me until we get to that car a little bit down the road."
Eris then led the way to the car. When they got there Eris opened the door and held it open for him to get in first. She crawled in after him. Eris leaned toward the driver seat to talk to the driver.
"Drive around for a little bit while I get a hold of B." She whispered to them.
The driver nodded and began to drive.
Eris sat back down and pulled out a blindfold from a holder in the car and handed it to Matsuda.
"Put that on."
Matsuda did as he was told like a good little boy.
Eris then took a mechanical device from her purse and began to scan him with it.
"Well, aren't you a naughty boy. Called for help, did you? Remove your belt."
"W-what? Isn't that a little... inappropriate right now?"
Eris stared at him for a moment. "Don't play stupid and give me the damn belt."
Matsuda reluctantly did as he was told.
Once the belt was in her hand she sighed. "You must have either activated it while you were following me or when I slammed you up against the wall... No problem though."
Matsuda began to sweat nervously.
Eris pulled out her cell phone and called B and told him of the situation. He gave her new orders that she quietly told the driver...
"His signal is in Chicago?" L asked Watari through the phone. Watari had called him moments before to tell him of the distress signal coming from Matsuda's belt. "What is he doing here?"
"Perhaps he wanted to help with the investigation." Watari suggested.
"Probably, but there is no need for him to do so." L sighed. He was suddenly worried that Matsuda would either get himself or Kyoki killed. "Please send me a map showing where Matsuda is currently going."
"Right away." Watari ended to call to do what he was asked.
L closed his and awaited the information to be sent to his phone. He only had to wait a few moments. He opened his phone and looked at the map on the phone. There was a red dot traveling around the map that represented Matsuda's whereabouts.
"So... Matsuda is here? But why? If he used the belt he is in danger... right?" Yume said.
"He probably got lost and used the belt in hopes that we would find him." Mello told her.
Yume couldn't help but laugh at that.
"The two of you should get ready. We are going out." L turned to Mello. "You will have to drive while I tell you the directions to take."
"What do you want me to do, L?" Yume asked.
"Sit and be quiet." L said as he headed toward the door.
Mello followed behind while Yume felt useless.
When they were in the car parking lot, L froze for a second. "The car has stopped. We must hurry." L quickened his pace toward the vehicle.
"It could be a stop sign." Yume said as she climbed into the back seat of the car while Mello got in the drivers' seat and L sat down in the passenger seat.
"I don't think so. It's been still too long to be that."
Just as Mello started the car, the red dot began to move as well.
Yume leaned forward to watch L's cell phone.
"Please put on your safely belt, Yume-chan. I do not wish to have to explain to your cousin that you were injured during our pursuit of Matsuda due to your carelessness."
"You're starting to sound like my grandma." Yume grumbled, but did as she was told. She leaned forward once she was done. It was harder and painful to watch the phone, but she wanted to stay in the action. "Their car is freaking zigzagging everywhere. I don't think that is safe..."
"They must be on a motorcycle." L thought for a few moments. "They must have found out about the belt, took the belt before dropped Matsuda off somewhere, then took off with the belt to throw us off."
"We're still going to follow the signal, right?" Mello asked.
"Yes. Just in case there is a chance that Matsuda is on the bike. But that is unlikely."
For the next few minutes L directed Mello which roads to take. They were closing in on the dot.
"Hey, there is a bike up ahead... but it looks like only one person is on it. So they must have dropped Matsuda off." Yume said, pointing ahead.
Mello got closer to the bike and they learned that a woman was driving the bike.
"That is the one. Mello, try to get in front of her and slow the car down so she will eventually stop." L told the younger man.
Mello nodded.
"Oh, no..." Yume said as she the female driver suddenly grabbed her chest, causing her to lose control of the bike. The bike veered off the road to a building, crashed, then exploded.
Mello slammed on the brakes. Yume was glad that she had listened to L and put on her seatbelt.
L looked at the map on the phone. The signal was lost.
"What happened?"
"After they dropped Matsuda off they must have passed on the belt to someone. Then they used the Death Note to get rid of the signal and person..." L explained.
"Should we check it out?" Mello asked.
"No, there is no need to do that. We need to leave now before too much attention is drawn here."
Mello started back up the car and made a U-turn and headed back to the hotel.
"Nice quick thinking there with the transfer of the belt and using the death note." B told Eris in the monitoring room.
"Thank you, I guess. But it was pure luck that everything went the way it did. I just hope that the criminal I used didn't hurt anyone else when she died." Eris said.
"It won't affect anyone else. The note doesn't work like that." Ryuk explained.
"Well, then I am relieved. How are our captives?"
"Kyoki fell asleep while reading manga earlier and Matsuda is still out from that dose you gave him in the car." B said.
"I see. He was being cooperative, but I didn't want to push my luck, that is why I used it. I hope that was all right."
B nodded. "It was fine."
"Was it all right for me to catch him?" Eris wondered.
"Yes. If you had let him go, he would have found where we are at sooner and told L, and that would have ruined our plans. You did perfectly fine."
Eris smiled happily. "Thank you."
"The one who was killed was Mila Urie." L told them a little bit after they returned to the hotel. "She just got released from prison last week for murdering her step-father when she was in her early teens while she was high on various drugs. The prison where she was being contained reports that she was in perfect health when they released her. Tomorrow we will investigate the area where the car stopped."
"Why can't we do it now?"
""L is waiting to gather information on the houses first. And probably to come up with a plan to get close to the houses." Mello told her.
"He's right. I am already working on the plan now." L said. He was currently sitting in front of his computer with many programs on as he prepared for the next day. He then looked at Mello intently. "Mello, I will require your help for the most of my plans. Is that all right?"
He nodded. "Of course."
"L, what do you have planned?" Yume wondered, a little worried. Deeply worried.
"I can't say until everything is ready." L told her.
Yume pouted.
Kyoki opened her eyes, surprised that she had fallen asleep. She could have sworn she fell asleep on the couch, but now she was on the bed. Perhaps she had walked over here in her sleep. It took her several moments to realize that someone was lying next to her. There was a warm body next to her. She was almost tempted to curl up next to the warmth and go back to sleep, but she remembered her situation and wondered who the body was. Kyoki jumped out of bed and ran to the door.
Matsuda was woken by the sudden movement on the bed. He sat up, rubbing his head. He slowly stood up.
"Where am I?"
Kyoki didn't turn around until she got to the door. She was shocked to see Matsuda here.
"Onii-chan? What are you doing here?" She smiled happily and ran over to him to give him a hug. Even though she was not related to Matsuda, he had always been like an older brother to her during the amount of time she knew him so she always called him that.
"I was trying to find L when I heard this woman talking on the phone about you so I followed her and... well, I got caught." He laughed nervously.
"Did L ask for your help?" Kyoki wondered.
"Ah, no. I came to America on my own. He probably didn't know I was here until my belt went off."
"I see. Well, then I should explain the situation here as it right now." She went on to tell him of everything that had happened from the first day. However she didn't tell him of Eris's real name, her connection to Eris or how they were all once a part of Wammy's House.
Matsuda walked around the room as she talked. He realized that his foot was chained.
"Euphony and B are really nice people. They won't hurt us. I think the chains are just a way to keep us in here. Don't worry, ok?" Kyoki smiled at him.
Matsuda wasn't so sure about the safety of their situation, but since she was so relaxed, Matsuda decided that he should try to be as well.
L's phone rang. It said it was Kyoki and he answered it right away.
"L, it's me again. We now have Matsuda along with Kyoki. We will release the two of them together when you come. You can talk to Kyoki now."
L heard a door behind opened and Euphony telling Kyoki that L was on the phone. Seconds later Kyoki was talking to him.
"Hey L. It's me. I'm doing fine, so there is no need to worry about me. How are you?"
"I'm fine. I'll see you soon, so hang in there."
"..." Kyoki grew silent, which wasn't exactly like her.
"If you are thinking I shouldn't try to get you back, then you are wrong. I can't leave you there."
"Thank you, L, really, but you need to think about your own safety. Matsuda is here now, funny huh? Now it's not so boring. I should be going now. I think Eris wants to get back to work. Talk to you later."
"Goodbye." L said. He heard Kyoki hand the phone back to Eris who ended the call.
"How was she?" Yume asked the moment he took the phone away from his ear. She had wanted to rip the phone from him and talk to her cousin, but she contained herself. Barely, though.
"She sounded fine. I'm going to take a shower." L said and then walked into the bathroom without a further comment.
Now it was Mello's turn to wait outside the bathroom door. Yume sat down next to Mello. For the twenty minutes it took L to take a shower, they didn't speak, both lost in their own thoughts.
As L was walking out, Yume saw L recuff himself.
"H-Hey! Did you take that off when you took a shower?"
"Yes. I had it chained to the towel rack. Why?"
"Do you know how unfair that is? You made Mello be chained, but you free yourself?" Yume was getting frustrated with this cake eating man.
"Calm down. Tomorrow Mello will be free and then we can forget all about this. Be patient, all right?" L said as he headed straight for the cake.
"I still think it's unfair..." Yume said, walking away.
After Kyoki was finished talking to L Matsuda noticed that she became a lot happier.
"Kyoki-chan?"
"Hmm?" Kyoki asked as she spooned in a mouthful of jam into her mouth.
"Do you love L?" Matsuda asked with a silly look on his face.
Kyoki froze for a moment. A second later jam sprayed from her mouth as she tried not to choke on it.
Strawberry jam flew all over Matsuda's face.
"I-I d-don't know w-w-what you are t-talking about. I-I d-don't love a-anyone. No one at all."
Even though his face was covered with jam, he couldn't help but laugh. Of course it was a kind, brotherly laugh, not a mean one.
"I know the signs of love, Kyoki. You should just go with it instead of fighting it." He advised her.
"You're mistaken. Yes, you must have me mistaken with someone else. I love strawberry jam. So leave me to eat." Kyoki sat over in the corner and ate her jam.
Matsuda went to the bathroom to clean his face. He sighed; realizing this task was going to be a little difficult.
After thinking alone in his room, B went to the monitoring room where Eris was.
"B, you should have seen it. Matsuda said something about her loving L and then the jam she had been eating sprayed all over his face. It was great. You should watch it later. What is it? You've been thinking, haven't you?"
"L probably noticed the slight pause in the movement of the cars. He may have realized that Matsuda got off there. But that is all right, don't worry. L will investigate that area tomorrow, so please use caution to everything that you do. Please try to refrain from going outside."
"I understand." Eris said. "I apologize for the flaw."
B shook his head. "There is no need for that. I am quite glad it happened. It will help us make the plans go by even easier. Well, then. I think I am going to go back to work on my laughter. See you later."
Eris giggled as he walked out of the room.
AfterNote: This fanfic is taking a little bit longer to finish than I thought since I've been trying to divide my time into writing and playing Crisis Core, but I've been playing the game a lot more than writing. But I beat the game earlier so hopefully I can focus on writing again soon. Though I kinda wanna replay the game to finish the missions and do other side stuff. Anywho, this chapter was amusing to me. It feels to me that it is off, but I like it. And that is all for this note since I am rather pissed at my sister who keeps moaning and groaning about her tooth. Later.
