Courtney-
This was ridiculous. I can't believe these two survived the game as long as they had. Legit, it was eleven at night, we were all creeping against the side wall of Ibaraki Hospital, one by one. Shilo and Erin were pressed up against the wall, shimmying against it to move into the building. I stood still with my arms crossed, taking a casual step every two or three meters along they got. The whole ordeal just made them LOOK suspicious.
I eyed them off, brows furrowing in annoyance as they hummed the Mission Impossible theme song under their breaths. Probably the most humiliating thing about this situation was the fact that they could just WALK into the hospital, and it wouldn't arouse suspicions at all. But no, they had to go and pretend that they were super spies. Erin ducked down and peered around the corner, remaining still for a lone moment, before giving out a dramatic gasp and toppling back against the wall, a hand over her heart.
"EGGPLANT HERE, PAGING AGENT SMASH. COME IN, AGENT SMASH; LIGHT YAGAMI IS WALKING OUT. I REPEAT, LIGHT YAGAMI HAS LEFT THE BUILDING. DO YOU COPY? OVER."
"SMASH HERE, PAGING EGGPLANT, AND YES I COPY." Shilo echoed in a confused daze, looking around in genuine shock, before peering around the corner and mimicking Erin's movement; hand clutching her chest, back sliding against the wall. Oh, god. I hope she didn't mean copy as in COPYING Erin's movement. My jaw unhinged a little and I glanced up in embarrassment, my gaze meeting with the window of the wall next to me, and catching the horrified face of some elderly hospital patient, who happened to be gazing out of his window at the same time all of this was happening.
I pursed my lips and offered an awkward wave.
"EGGPLANT HERE: LIGHT YAGAMI IS NOW TAKING STEPS DOWN THE STREET. HE PAUSED HESITANTLY ON THE CURB AND LEANED OVER TO TIE HIS SHOES, I REAPEAT, HE-"
I smacked both of them over the head and strutted into the hospital, glancing around the place for a moment, before shrugging and making my way to the elevator.
I had no idea where I was going, but hey, I needed the exercise. Erin and Shilo dashed in, narrowly missing the closing doors and huffing in exaggeration as they leaned against the walls and groaned. I don't know if they had designated periods when their purpose simply relayed their utter incompetence, but man, I had no idea how we were going to make it through the list without being caught. I shuffled on my feet when the elevator came to a halt, and we all moved out of the stuffy little box, making our way down the first-floor corridor and peering into every room we went past. It took three doors into it, and one woman in labour, for us to realise that we weren't going to find him without help.
My eyes searched for a solution in amongst the hospital, and I finally managed to find one, in the form of three nurses sitting by the service desk. I cracked my knuckles.
"Ladies, I think it's about time we played dress-up."
Despite her big talk on how much she hated L, Shilo had kept the necklace tucked under her nurse's uniform, pulling down the white as we shut the closet with the three unconscious women behind us. I glanced over my new clipboard, attempting to find Soichiro and his coordinates.
"THERE." I jumped as Shilo placed her hand down on the clipboard, finger directing my gaze to the name before my eyes. I let out an impressed grunt, before realising that we were, by complete coincidence, standing beside the said room. My eyes watered in disbelief, and I trudged in, expecting some tough old cop guy to be lying around smoking cigars and playing poker with a cat. I was disappointed. He was lying meekly in the hospital bed, midway through coughing madly, and before I had the luxury of staring a second longer, Shilo shoved past me, causing me to ram into the doorhandle violently, and ran to his bedside. He glanced at us from the corner of his eyes, confusion lacing his expression half a second into catching us.
The blonde gripped his bed sheets and fumbled with them, as through trying to think of something to say, before her mouth opened slightly, and she let out a long, tense squeal and pointed abruptly.
"It's YOU."
He grunted in acknowledgement before coughing meekly.
"What's going on here? I thought the nurse wasn't coming back until the morning."
Shilo gripped his large hands with so much enthusiasm, she nearly tore him from the IV drip. I winced. She sure didn't know anything other than the aggressive approach, now did she? Erin found her own way into the room next, eyes lighting up with particular enthusiasm at the man.
"HEY! HEY! THAT'S HIM! THAT'S LIGHT'S DAD!"
That caught Soichiro's attention, his form moving to sit up meekly. He gripped Shilo's hands for leverage, pushing himself to a sitting position with a grimace.
"Thank you," he murmured gruffly under his breath, removing his hands from the claws on my friend. She sputtered in disapproval for a moment, before stepping back shyly and glancing away.
"You know Light? Is that why you're here?" He asked, looking from Erin, to Shilo, to me in confusion. Erin nodded enthusiastically and stepped forward, placing her hands on her hips and beaming at the man.
"Yeah, yeah! Can I touch your moustache?"
He squinted somewhat suspiciously, probably a little unsure of the dead woman's mental stability. Yeah, we all are, Soichiro. It's okay to question it. He leaned back uncomfortably, screwing up his face in subtle distaste.
"How do you know my son? School?"
I snorted.
"Let's just say that Ino here hit on him earlier today." Literally. With a tennis racket. Shilo stuck her tongue out at me, and Erin stomped her foot, demanding the attention again.
"Hey, hey, hey! You didn't answer me!"
"THAT'S THEM!"
Three half-naked nurses and two security guards stormed in, and all three of us exchanged looks, before letting out hearty screams. Shilo leapt over the bed and smashed through the window, Erin pausing a moment to stroke the Chief's moustache, before ninja-rolling over the poor man's legs and following in suit. I gulped, threw my clipboard at one of the guards and leapt out of the window hurriedly in turn.
Remember how we got the elevator to the first floor? Yeah, well hopefully that hinted you off to the fact that we were NOT at a safe distance to be leaping from the window. Me? Well, I'm a graceful being, a little more practiced in the art of defying physics, so I land on the tree beside the window, jumped down onto a lower branch, leapt down, swung around on said branch and then I met the ground in a graceful crouch, back hunched over like a cat. Shilo and Erin were less fortunate. When I'd landed, both of them were wheezing hysterically, rolling around on the grass in pain and trying to get words out. I watched in silence as they got to crawling positions, hands touching at the shattered glass beneath them. I couldn't tell if they were exaggerating at this point, or if they genuinely just sucked at being hurt. Erin scampered to her feet after some time, eyes squeezed shut, and eyes watering with tears. She had blood all over her nurse uniform. Shilo, on the other hand was still wheezing, gripping her ass in pain before collapsing back on her side and letting out an appallingly fake moan of pain.
"THEY GOT ME—THEY GOT ME—I'M DYING, I'M DYYYINGG!"
I promptly kneed her in the face, blood spraying from her nose, which she clutched in pain and shock. She pouted at me, before hovering her hand over her nose and making some loud, long rumbling noise, as if she were constipated… or a motorcycle. Erin and I exchanged looks.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Erin asked slowly, folding her arms across her chest and observing in bad taste. Shilo looked up at us, azure orbs glistening with determination.
"I'm HEALING myself. Because I'm INO—who just so happens to be a medic ninja!" She snapped, spitting out the blood that ran limp from her nostrils. I was about to comment on the absurdness of the idea, before her hand lit up, a green mist forming around the skin where she was holding her hand. Erin and I gaped simultaneously, staring at the act in wonder.
"Holy shit!" Erin exclaimed, picking glass out from her hands and keeping her eyes firmly locked on the scene. Shilo was still emitting that ridiculously annoying sound, raising and lowering her eyebrows to boast her skill to our eyes.
"Hold up, so you two both still have your Hinata and Ino powers?" I asked, glancing between the two. They stared at me for a moment, before Erin shrugged and glanced up at the window we had shattered; a good floor above us. I followed her gaze, the nurses were peering their heads out of it, murmuring amongst each other.
"Well, why couldn't you two just ninja your way to the ground. I've seen Naruto characters jump off cliffs and be totally chill with it." I pointed out. Erin and Shilo exchanged looks, the latter of my friends clearing up her little healing session and getting to her feet.
"Dramatic effect." Shilo answered, at the same time that Erin said;
"I was rapt by effect of the moustache."
I stared incredulously at the two, before hearing a loud bellow from the hospital entrance. The guards were running at us, screaming at us to halt, and to put out hand up, guns pointed at our skinny little forms.
Erin was the first to scream this time, shoving past me and bolting off in the other direction like a chook without its head, running hopelessly down the street with violent shrieks that nobody could make sense of at the time. They reached us, and I placed my hands up in surrender, Shilo glancing to the side, before shoving her finger at me.
"IT WAS HER."
She shouted, before skidding on her feet and bolting off after Erin, narrowly missing a bullet as it was shot. I sighed, staring between the two guards.
"Now, now, boys, I don't want to have to hurt you."
And I pulled my secret weapon from under my clothing, a black notebook with the words 'Death Note' scrawled over it. Shilo and Erin had no idea that I had it, and quite frankly, I didn't feel like sharing the news.
"Stay back, or I'll kill you," I told them, pulling the pen I had attached limply to the cover out, and opening the book. They pointed their guns at me.
"Ma'am, get your hands up in the air, NOW!"
I squinted at their name tags, let out a hoarse laugh, before deciding maliciously on their fate. So, what did I do? I rolled up the book, jabbed one of them in the nose with it, and then ducked to sweep the legs of the other. I gripped the pen tightly in one hand and jammed it into the skull of the guard who I'd forced from his balance, the fucker landing dead immediately on the ground. The live one was clutching his face in pain, and I used his hesitation to grab his gun from his grip and whip the top of his head with the barrel, taking in his surprise for my own amusement, before cramming the weapon into his mouth and shooting.
Now the nurses and Soichiro were staring in shock at what I'd done; taken out two highly trained guards with little effort. I glanced up at them, waved sweetly, and then brushed the blood off my dress.
Shilo and Erin were still half-way down the street, screaming.
"Wow, wow! Courtney, you really are amazing aren't you?" Shilo and Erin sat by me in the hotel room, the bluenette lounging across the bed, and the blonde sitting on the carpet staring up at me. I was leaning against the wardrobe, Hilly was behind Erin, brushing her hair and pulling it up into a ponytail for her. I think she, as the one being touched by the pervert, was just way past the point of questioning him, and how he had the perpetual need to get all cosy with her. It was like—as long as Hilly wasn't touching her boobs, the situation remained pretty chill.
Back to the current, I nodded in approval at their commentary, running my fingers through my long brown tresses, enjoying the peace after a long day of hard work. There was a long string of silence, before Shilo peered at the list in her grasp and hummed.
"We should have a few days until Misa comes in." She spoke, resting her back on the wall, and slamming her head back on it incidentally. Erin and I both drew in firm, pained breaths as Shilo whimpered and grasped the back of her head, before bursting into an abrupt stream of laughter, the two of us close to rolling over in tears at how hilarious this seemed to us. Shilo growled, shooting us both an intense, perilous glare.
"SHUT UP!" She demanded hastily, slamming her fists down on the ground like a child throwing a tantrum, which only caused Erin and I to remain in hysterics; Erin wheezing uncontrollably as she rolled around on the mattress, kicking her legs up in the air, in an attempt to service the pent up energy the situation was giving her.
"STOP LAUGHING, I'M IN PAIN!" Shilo snapped again, rubbing the back of her head aggressively now. Erin drew in one-half breath half-gasp in an attempt to find air and rolled a little too far, falling off the bed and landing in a heap on the floor, twitching indefinitely and giggling uncontrollably on the floor. As myself, seeing this tremendous display of hilarity, I clamped my hands over my mouth and doubled over, trying desperately attempting to keep my laughter past the hysterics. Now Shilo was laughing, generous lines of 'pfffff' and a couple of sprays of saliva travelling across the room after being shot earnestly from her mouth.
All three of us were gasping and flailing around on the ground, searching for air, while Hilly sat still on the bed and watched.
"Okay, okay—" I gasped, pulling myself up from the ground, getting out the last few snorts I had to offer, before finding my knees and gesturing to Shilo.
"Continue…"
The blonde let out a firm breath and read over the list in her hand, wiping the pricking tears at her eyes. She sniffled and nodded, calming her breathing as the room transitioned, gradually into silence.
"Okay, so—we have a few days until Misa does her thing with the tapes and shit happens. So, what I think we should do, is…" She pointed at something on the list; "2; feed Ryuk an orange."
Erin and I nodded in agreement, but Hilly butt into the conversation, promptly.
"Uh, we're in the same Hotel as L right now, right? Why don't you do one of the ones involving him?"
Erin and I paused incredulously, turning to stare at Shilo questioningly. She had to have known that we were in the same hotel. She'd been so eager to find the 'Imperial' hotel on the way there, hadn't she? Plus we had to mug like three guys on the way to get the money to pay for a single night in the damn place. I turned to Hilly and shot him my most serious gaze, focusing promptly on his eyes, which for once, weren't covered by sunglasses. I bit down on my thumb, staring at the wall in limp concern. Dammit, I wasn't smart enough here to conjure up an idea to outsmart L. If we were jumping to statistic conclusions, Erin would be smarter than me, and Shilo would be just above her. My abilities lied bay more at being one scary ass motherfucker, and acting like I knew shit. Mainly just acting in general. Yeah, that would be about right.
OH—THAT! I HAD A GENIUS IDEA!
"I vote that Shilo comes up with a plan." I stated firmly, Erin nodding in agreement as we all turned toward her. She was the crazy Otaku, right? She knew more about Death Note and its characters than I did, and out of her and Erin, that still held true, as well. She was crazy good with memorising wiki pages and character statistics, so surely she'd be able to come up with something from that.
"Oh, yeah." Shilo snorted sarcastically, getting to her feet and gesturing to her bloodied outfit.
"I can see how that would go down, hm, let's see—'Oh, hey, Ryuuga, how are you? What? Why this? Oh, just a bit of blood from when I jumped from the second story of the hospital and then got kneed in the face. Oh? Well, the blood was from my nose, but I healed it in like two minutes with my majestic ninja healing powers. Oh, yeah, and we killed two security guards and mugged two people on the way here. Anyway, how was your day?"
Erin butted into the conversation;
"Actually it was three people."
Shilo turned to glare at her for a moment before sighing.
"All I'm saying is that this isn't exactly the most comfortable get-up for jumping into the detective's hotel room."
Hilly clicked his fingers, and we were all back in our bunny outfits. I screamed loudly and spun on my feet, face lighting up with pleasure.
"MY TUTU!" I squealed, jumping up and down on the spot.
"ITACHI'S BOXERS!" Erin shouted in turn, pulling the underwear out from a little compartment in the material. Oh, lord. Shilo stood there, unamused, folding her arms across her chest. She wasn't wearing the slutty type of outfit. No, she was stuck in a bunny onesie.
"Is this your idea of a joke?!" She snapped at Hilly, teeth gnashing under her paled lips. The Shinigami let out a coarse laugh and waved her off.
"Hey, hey. Just covering up what doesn't need to be seen."
She lunged across the room for him, and he promptly floated to the side, causing Shilo to skid over the bed and crash violently against the glass door, face mushing raucously against it, before she slid down with a commercialised noise. Erin and I winced in reaction and glanced at Hilly, who shrugged. Shilo, who always seemed to be fine when dealing with these comedic consequences to her thoughtless actions brushed herself off and turned to glare at Hilly.
"Change my outfit. If you guys are serious about me distracting L while you lumps of shit sneak in and replace his sweets with vegetables, then you better give me something to work with."
Hilly put her in an 'I am Kira' shirt. I didn't want to know where this guy was getting his merch, but I'd never seen a shirt with that written on it, not even on ebay.
"Howdy guys!"
We all whirled around, Erin and Shilo glancing in wonder at the new guest in the apartment. I, too, had met this woman before. She'd been there to reprehend me when I'd first gotten into the game to fetch Shilo and Erin. She had been thoroughly convinced that I was dead, until my lack of profile and knowledge on the realm changed her mind. Though, she didn't seem surprised in the slightest to see me there, then. My two friends ran up to her immediately, simultaneously throwing their arms around her.
"Emily! You were in this realm for Death Note, too, weren't you?" Erin asked, pulling back from the embrace and staring up at her wondrously. She offered a grimace and nodded slowly, leaning against the door and humming in broad enthusiasm.
"That's right, girlies. You have a question for me, then?" She asked, raising her brows expectantly. I watched as Shilo finally pulled back and pointed abruptly at Hilly. Hilly lifted his shoulders in a shrug as the blonde began talking.
"Tell me, if I were to wear something to distract L while these two replaced his sweets with vegetables, what should I go with?" The blonde asked slowly, glancing to and from Emily and Hilly. Emily placed a hand on her head, rubbing at the bridge of her nose in confusion.
"Uh, we're at the Imperial hotel right now, aren't we? Well—the thing is, even here, L has his security ramped up tenfold, there's only one subtle way into that room and one way out. That's the door. I'm sorry to tell you girls, but he's really, really, really hard to distract. A man like that is way too careful."
Well, that was one way to raise Shilo's dedication to the task; offer a challenge. Said person in the room placed her hands on her hips and leaned forward, a smile tugging at the sides of her mouth.
"I'm smarter than you, you know. I'll figure it out." She insisted, patting Emily's shoulder with mild enthusiasm. The Shinigami shook her head and sighed.
"He doesn't give a shit about what you wear, don't you get it? He's L; you could turn up naked and he'd still-"
"Just PUT me in SOMETHING!" Shilo snapped aggressively, apparently getting a bit sick of all of this communication to and fro. Emily chewed at her lip and thought for a moment, before sighing. She clicked her fingers.
Now the blonde was standing in just a long, overly large baggy shirt. Her knees were torn up with scratches and blood covered the majority of it. She peeled over in pain at the gashes dealt to her pale form, blonde hair out and covering the majority of her being. Next thing we knew a massive crack of thunder loomed over the skies, and the heavens opened to a vicious thunderstorm, rain pelting down carelessly. Erin and I exchanged looks, Emily's face finally lighting up with pleasure at her own idea.
"Alright you two, Courtney and Erin, get out of here. Wait by L's apartment. The task force should have cleared off by now, and L and Watari are left in the apartment, and Watari is about to go and get something from the service desk. Shilo's gonna start thrashing around and making a lot of noise. Guess who's gonna come and find her here? L. That's when Hilly will go inside and let you in, where you have the amount of time it takes for Watari to get back to replace all of the sweets with vegetables. Got it?"
We all stared in slight awe, dumbstruck at how precise the Shinigami was. She seemed to really know what was going to happen, and I had the feeling that she'd been reset in the Death Note universe too many times in the past. How many times had she relived this exact moment? I had to wonder…
Shilo nodded, and tried to act calm as Hilly conjured up some duct tape and slammed it over her mouth, before in half an instant, she was tied to the bed, like this was some kinky BDSM thing. I felt Emily shove at my shoulders, and I dumbly allowed it, making my way out of the room with Erin and moving down the corridor to lay waiting by L's room, next door.
