Chapter 25: Rules
Miya stood hesitantly outside her parent's door. She wasn't quite sure what to say to her mother yet. She just wanted yesterday's conversation to go away so she could be happy again. Everything else in her life was going great. The investigation was moving along, she was falling more in love with L every second, there was a baby on the way, and L was adopting Noah. The only thing left now was to make peace with her mother.
She knocked on the door after a few more moments of stalling and was relieved to see her dad answer.
"Hey sweetheart," he said cheerfully as he opened the door. "How are you? Working hard?"
"You know it," Miya laughed. Her dad smiled warmly back at her.
"Now, what's this I hear about a new grandkid on the way?" he asked. Miya smiled.
"Yeah that's right," she said.
"Is Ryuga taking good care of you?" he asked seriously.
"Definitely," she nodded.
"Alright then," he said with a smile. Miya chuckled and gave her dad a hug, thankful that he wasn't giving her a hard time, and he bear-hugged her back.
"Mom around?" she asked once her father had released her.
"In the kitchen with Noah," he answered. Miya nodded and headed in there to see Noah at the table, finishing a bowl of cereal. Her mother was sitting across from him.
"Mommy!" he giggled excitedly when he saw her.
"Hi baby," she said, heading to the table and sitting down. "Go ahead and finish your breakfast," she added. Noah nodded and shoved a big bite of cereal in his mouth, chomping it happily. Miya then looked to her mom.
"I'm so sorry," her mother began first. "About yesterday. You know I don't think that about you, right? Things happen. I know that."
"I know mom," Miya sighed. "It's okay. I want to move past this."
"Me too," her mother said. "And I want you to know that I respect what Ryuga did last night. He didn't have to call me but he did. I'm willing to give him a chance."
"That's all I'm asking," Miya said. "I know he comes off a little…different…at first but I promise you he is the best person I've ever met." Miya's mother reached over and placed her hand over her daughters.
"I'm glad," she said. "I haven't seen you look like that in a while."
"Like what?" Miya laughed.
"Happy, I guess," her mother said. Miya smiled.
"I am," she agreed.
"Now…about something else…" Her mother began slowly. "I've had time to think about what Ryuga said and I have to know. Um, what's this about the name Oxford?" Miya got a pained expression on her face.
"Isn't it awful?" she sighed. "Hideki wants to name the baby that if it's a boy. Our poor child…"
"I like it!" Noah encouraged. Miya groaned and laid her head down on the table.
"Great…two against one…" she mumbled against the wood.
"Well maybe it will be a girl," Miya's mother said hopefully.
"He'll probably just want to name her Oxfordia," Miya sighed, lifting her head back up.
"Well, Oxford isn't so bad…" her mother said with as straight a face as she could muster. "At least it's not Aloysius or something like that." Miya couldn't help but laugh. What was with that bad name alternative? She then glanced to the clock before looking to Noah. "Ready baby?"
"Yeah," Noah said, hopping up and carefully carrying his milk bowl to the sink. He made it without dripping any milk and turned around happily. "Do we get to see Mr. Panda today?"
"We'll see," Miya smiled. She held her hand out to him and he took it.
"Bye mom," Miya said as she headed out of the kitchen. "I love you."
"Love you too sweetheart," she said. "Bye Noah!"
"Bye Gama!" he called, "By Gampa!"
"Bye," Miya heard her father call before closing the door. She and Noah made it about halfway down the road when Noah realized they weren't heading for home.
"Day care again?" Noah pouted. "I wanna go see Mr. Panda!"
"I'm sorry baby but we've got some really serious stuff going on today and I can't let you come with me." Miya felt awful, but having her son around with a Shinigami was terrible, even if he couldn't see it.
"I neva see you no more," Noah complained. That just made Miya feel worse.
"I know," she sighed. "But guess what?"
"What?" Noah said.
"Me and Ryuzaki are going to take you out for ice cream sometime soon," she said. Noah's eyes widened with excitement.
"Oh boy!" he said. "Today?"
"Probably not today but soon," she answered. Noah giggled and clapped his hands. They had reached the day care and he pulled Miya through the door, apparently eager to share the news.
"Ms. Nani guess what!" he said to the first teacher he saw. She was a tall woman with long black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. "Mommy and my new daddy are taking me to get ice cream."
"His new daddy?" Ms. Nani said as he scampered off to play with the other kids. "Ooh, do you have a new guy Miya?"
"Yeah," Miya admitted.
"Well good for you! You'll have to bring him by sometime."
"Sure," Miya said with a smile before leaving. She wasn't so sure when that little meeting would happen, however.
Miya stared up at the screen and watched Misa as she read a magazine. The blonde was so calm, but it was probably because she was completely out of the loop. She turned around to face Aizawa who had picked up the notebook and squeaked in surprise when she saw the Shinigami standing there. She had forgotten it was there and it caught her completely by surprise.
"Are you alright?" L asked her. He was looking up at her and watched as she placed a hand on her chest.
"Sorry," she said. "I keep forgetting it's there. It scares me every time."
L nodded. "Yes…it is rather frightening…" He then faced the computer screen again, completely lost in thought. Miya knew he was trying to figure everything out.
"How to use it," Aizawa said. His voice broke through the silence as he began reading the instructions from the notebook. "It says the human whose name is written in this notebook shall die. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name, therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected. If the cause of death is written within forty seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen. If the cause of death in not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack." Miya's eyes widened.
"Wow, these are pretty heavy rules…" she commented. "This is so creepy."
"It just gets better," Aizawa said sarcastically before continuing reading the instructions. "After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next six minutes and forty seconds. As well, the back cover has more instructions on how to use it." Aizawa flipped to the back of the book and scanned the words before reiterating them. "There are two more rules. One of them is: if you make this note unusable by tearing it up or burning it, all the humans that have touched the note till then shall die."
Miya gasped and covered her mouth in shock.
"What?!" Matsuda yelled suddenly. He looked as nervous as Miya. "Is that really true Aizawa?"
Aizawa sighed. "Yeah, that's what it says."
"No way! This sucks! Why didn't you tell me before I touched it?!"
"How was I supposed to know?" Aizawa asked defensively.
Matsuda looked depressed now. "Aw man! Maybe I shouldn't have let my curiosity about seeing a Shinigami get the better of me!" Miya agreed with him one hundred percent. Damn that curious feeling!
Mr. Yagami turned to Matsuda and gave him a stern look. "Maybe, but then you would be the only one in the investigation who didn't know what we were dealing with. Is that what you want?"
Mr. Yagami was right. Even though she hated looking at the Shinigami all the time, it really was better that she saw it. She was now glad she hadn't openly agreed with Matsuda.
"No, of course not," Matsuda replied. "I wanna be on the same page as everyone on the task force chief."
Aizawa turned back to the notebook and read. "And then, there's this last rule. According to these instructions at the bottom of the back of the notebook, if the person using the note fails to consecutively write names of people to be killed within thirteen days of each other, then the user will die."
Something clicked in Matsuda's head. "Wait a second! If that's true, then that means Light and Misa Misa are completely cleared, doesn't it?"
"Now that you mention it," Aizawa said, "that's right. Light and Misa were detained for more than fifty days and are still under surveillance. If either of them had been Kira, there's no way that they'd still be alive by now.
Matsuda turned to face Mr. Yagami with a big smile on his face. "Wow, that's great news! Isn't it chief?"
"Yeah," Mr. Yagami breathed in relief.
Miya wasn't so relieved, however. L's entire case depended on the fact that Light was Kira. If he really was just innocent based on the Thirteen Day Rule, then L would have been wrong this entire time. Miya turned to look at L but his face was completely blank. She couldn't read his emotions and she had a feeling he wanted it that way.
"Rem, was it?" L asked suddenly. "That's your name, isn't it? The white thing over there."
L sudden question made Miya nervous. Didn't he realize he was talking very disrespectfully to a death god, for goodness sake?
"Ryuzaki, isn't it a bit rude to go around calling someone a 'white thing'?" Matsuda asked.
The Shinigami, Rem, turned to him and glared. Miya shuddered under Rem's gaze. "What do you want?" she asked.
"There's more than one notebook in the human world, isn't there?" L asked.
"Who knows?" Rem responded. "There may be and there may not be."
"If there are other notebooks, either here or in your world, would they all have the same rules as this one?" Miya should have known. L didn't want to surrender to that damned Thirteen Day Rule either.
Rem's answer was mechanical. "Yes, they are all the same. There are many notebooks in the Shinigami realm, but they all have the same rules. Even the rules from when humans obtain them."
Although Miya was on L's side of the matter, Aizawa and the others didn't like how L kept pursuing the matter. "Ryuzaki," Aizawa started, "Miss Amane and Light have both been cleared of suspicion. They shouldn't be under surveillance any longer."
"That's right! It's crystal clear!" Matsuda added.
L paused for a moment. He had been stacking small creamer containers together while he thought. He went to put one more on top of his tower but hesitated. "I suppose you're right." Miya could just feel her heart breaking. She had never seen him this defeated before and she didn't like it one bit. "I understand. Please, accept my apologies for all the trouble."
"Thank goodness," Mr. Yagami sighed.
"Yeah, but we still can't say that we've solved the case until we've figured out everything," Light stated. "Would it be alright if I kept investigating with you without the handcuffs on?"
"Yes," L replied quietly.
"Well I have to go pick up Noah," Miya announced. She stood up and was almost out the door when an idea struck her.
"Ryuzaki do you want to come?" she wondered, walking back over to him.
"I can't leave now," he replied.
"Sure you can," Miya said. "You've been going over the notebook all day and you need a break from that scary Shinigami. Oh, no offense Rem…"
"Miya," L sighed.
"The whole team is here," Miya said, nodding to the group behind her. "Watari will keep watch of everything, right Watari?"
"Yes," he said back. "Go ahead if you'd like, Ryuzaki."
"I'm just not sure…" L trailed off.
"We can get ice cream," she persuaded. "Over twenty flavors to choose from." L thought for a moment.
"Notify me if there are any changes," L commanded the team.
"We're on top of it," Mr. Yagami said.
"Yeah, have a good time!" Matsuda encouraged with a grin. L hopped out of his chair and Miya smiled.
"I love it when you ditch work."
"Don't get used to it," L advised. "It doesn't happen very often." Miya rolled her eyes and took his hand, pulling him from the room and away from the investigation.