Oh my Light, guys... 100 reviews. I love all of you. And that, my friends, is the reason for this early update. :D And tomorrow I shall put up another chapter as normal!

paige g: ...I always thought of Near as a mushroom. I guess that's just because Toad from Mario reminded me of him. xD Oh, the irony...

Enjoy the (relatively short) chapter!

"I'm home!" I sang happily. "Oh, hi Leonard!"

"Hello," L greeted.

My nieces ran to hug me. "Sorry I can't stay long," I grinned. "I gotta watch Light use his charisma on Takada."

"You mean his manly charm?" Anna asked, and laughed.

"Oh, Sam," I sighed. I looked to L. "Hey, you were real accurate. It's December fifth, isn't it? How did you remember and figure out the dates?"

"I have a long-term memory," was his simple explanation.

I smiled as I set down my bags. "If you two want something to do," I said to my nieces, "you can unpack my bags."

"On it!" Sierra replied.

Anna saluted me.

"See you soon, guys!" I grinned, then headed back to the headquarters. I'm in Japan, I thought happily. It's weird, though. I notice now that the people on the streets sound different in America than here. There's a distinct difference… maybe it's my mind seeing them as two separate languages. If I can identify the difference, maybe I can consciously switch languages. I wonder how many languages I can speak….

…Anyway, it's gonna be weird just sorta watching Light woo Takada. Matsuda will enjoy it…. Say… what is with Matsuda? Maybe he really is a pervert….

…Nah.

He's just childish.

If he were a perv, it'd be creepy, that's for sure. …Yeah.

And poor Ide will be so confused.

I smiled and continued on my way.

"T-turn it off!" Ide cried the next day. "This is bad!"

"My god, Ide, just turn away," I sighed.

"Yeah, what's the hurry, Ide?" asked Matsuda.

"Besides, they're only hugging," I shrugged.

"But they were…."

"Yeah. About to kiss."

Matsuda laughed joyously. "This is so fun to watch!"

"Kira?!" Takada whispered on-screen.

Mikami! I thought in delight. "Ooh!" I grinned. "Now, Matsuda, this is interesting!"

"Kira?!" yelped Ide.

"I-it can't be!" said Matsuda.

"It is," I said. "Look."

Someone died on the television screen on the screen. …The screen on the screen. Heh. Oh, poor man…. Sakujo, I thought, trying not to giggle hysterically in excitement.

"Oh no, he's the real thing!" Ide gasped.

"Well, isn't it a progress, though?" asked Matsuda. "A cell phone call from Kira…."

"I was about to say that," I frowned. "I mean, what we wanted was info on Kira, right?"

"Well, yeah," agreed Ide, "but…."

"Wha-?" asked Matsuda.

"Light's answering the phone," said Ide worriedly. "This is bad…."

"This is progress, though, isn't it?" I asked with a grin.

"What's so great about Light being in danger?" asked Ide.

"You look a bit excited, Natsumi…," Matsuda remarked.

"November twenty-sixth?" asked Light. "Five sheets of paper? What are you talking about?"

I giggled. "It'd be funny if Kira started randomly spouting nonsense…."

"That'd be weird," agreed Matsuda nervously. "But… Light is…."

Light wrote something down on a sheet of paper. In Japanese. "Meh!" I hissed.

"It can't be helped…," said Aizawa grimly.

"Let me guess: we gotta get rid of the bugs," I said.

"Can't you read?" he asked.

"Not Japanese."

"All these years, and you still haven't learned?"

"I know a little…."

He sighed.

"Can't we leave a bug or two?" asked Ide.

"No, if we do, and Kira finds out, they're both dead," I said.

"Exactly," Aizawa frowned. "We're not in a very good position here…."

You're not. Light is. Even though you don't know that.

One by one, each of the screens went to static, and the speakers were soon silent. I couldn't help it. I burst into laughter.

"Wh-what's so funny?" Matsuda asked anxiously.

"Now isn't the time to be laughing," Ide agreed.

"Sorry…," I giggled. "I just… it was… oh… never mind…."

"Happy Wednesday!" I grinned, holding up my glass of grape juice.

"Does the day really matter, considering the circumstances?" asked L.

"Not really," I grinned, "but hey, Wednesdays are nice. The very middle of the week."

"I suppose…."

Anna giggled.

"It's weird," commented Sierra, and put some rice in her mouth. She covered her mouth before saying, "We used to be excited over Fridays, but whether or not it's Friday doesn't make a difference anymore."

"Yeah…," I agreed with a sigh. "And what with the whole 'going to another world' thing, we never finished school."

"Yeah," Anna sighed regretfully.

"I just miss it because that's where I was able to see my friends," said Sierra quietly. "Like Kylee and Savannah and Alyssa and Samantha…. Well, my Samantha."

I laughed. "It's like a Samantha is an object, the way you put it. 'Everyone has a Sam. Get yours today!'"

Sierra, Anna, and I laughed.

"I thought ownership of other human beings was morally wrong," said L, sounding vaguely confused.

"It was a joke, silly!" I grinned, then sighed. "Oh, how I want to pet your hair…."

L opened his mouth to reply, but there was a loud knocking on the door before he could respond.

I blinked. "Light?" I guessed, getting to my feet. I opened the door to be glomped by a Sam. Nope. Not Light. "Sam!" I cried in delight.

"Eilatan-chan!" she replied. "Anna! Sierra! …Leonard…."

"Sam!" Anna grinned, jumping to her feet.

"Sayuri!" Sierra squeaked. Both of them ran over to hug her.

"Group hug!" I laughed.

"Yeah— yeah, okay, meh, you can stop now," said Sam.

"The four of us are together once more!" I cried dramatically as we all released her.

"Can I eat here?" asked Sam. "I'm starving…."

"Of course!" I grinned. "C'mon, I'll get you a plate."

She sat down on one of the seats. "So, what brings you here?" asked Sierra.

"The SPK just got to Japan," Sam explained, "and Near and the others still have to set up HQ, so I can eat here tonight, and I'll be contacted once it's all set up."

"So you're still with Near?" asked Anna.

"Yeah."

"That's so cool!" Anna cried. "I wish I could be with you…." I set Sam's plate in front of her and sat down.

"Yeah, well, it's kinda boring, to be honest," Sam admitted.

"But Near is awesome!" Sierra protested.

"Yeah!" Anna agreed.

"Not when you spend most of your time with him, listening to his long explanations on things I already get."

"I had to do that with L, you know," I laughed. "Yet I never got tired of him…."

"Yeah, well, L's awesome like that." Sam gasped, then pointed at L dramatically. "That man ditched me!" she exclaimed.

"What?" asked Anna.

"He left me alone with Near and his creepy smile, with only Gevanni to protect me! He is a cruel, cruel man!"

"You know why you had to stay and I had to leave," L sighed.

"She doesn't mean it," I assured him.

"Oh, by the way, thanks for changing your favorite character," said Sierra.

"You're welcome," Sam said. "Actually, Mello really confuses me, it's like I like him, but I hate him, and it's doesn't make sense!"

Sierra laughed. "So who's your favorite now?"

"Uh…," Sam replied, eyes wide. She glanced at L.

L took a big bite of his powdered jelly donut – he was the only one allowed to have sweets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

"It's… uh—My favorite is—It's Matt! Yeah…."

L gazed at her, cocking his head to the side.

"Alright then…," I said, then laughed.

Anna giggled along with me.

"Yeah," Sierra agreed with a grin. "Matt's awesome. He's my second favorite!"

"Really?" asked Sam. "Who's your third?"

"Matsuda!" Sierra cried in delight.

"Matsuda's my… um…," Anna said, then thought for a bit of a longer time. "Matsuda's my third favorite, too, I think. Yeah…. Wait… does NeoLight count as a character?"

"NeoLight?" L asked after swallowing his donut.

"It's Light when he's all creepy and doing his evil laugh," Sierra explained.

"I'd think it counts," I shrugged. "It's kinda like how Light and Kira are almost two different people…. Kira is NeoLight, and Light is… well, Light. Obviously. Speaking of his evil laugh, though, I showed the investigation team Light's laugh!"

"Oh my god, Natalie," Sam sighed, trying not to laugh.

"And don't worry, Leonard, I didn't tell them it was Light laughing," I added.

"Did any of them think it was you laughing?" asked Sam.

I laughed. "No, Sam. Wow."

"Well, it sounds like you!" Anna insisted.

"Not really," Sierra disagreed.

"Somehow I doubt Natsumi is a mass murderer with a messed up sense of justice," L said dully.

Sierra, Sam, and I laughed. "Or is she?" asked Sam.

"I don't think so," said Anna.

"Who here out of all of us has actually killed a person anyway?" asked Sierra.

L cocked his head to the side. "Indirectly," he said.

"Um... I did," Sam said hesitantly.

"Oh my god!" Sierra yelped. "You killed a guy?!"

"Yeah…. On a piece of the Death Note… in my own blood… after I was almost shot three times…. All I'd have to do is die in a stairwell, and I'd be a Light."

"Actually," I corrected, "he gets shot five times before dying on the staircase. He's shot three times in the manga, where he dies in the warehouse, not in the stairwell."

"Oh, meh. Whatever."

I grinned. "What, do you want to be like Light?"

"No!"

"Exactly."

"Meh!"

"I don't wanna be a murderer," said Anna.

"Well, me neither," said Sierra.

"Ehhh!" Sam whined. "I killed a guy!"

"...Who was trying to kill you," L finished. "It was self-defense."

"I guess…."

I smiled intently as I listened. It was nice having the four of us back together again. Even if it was only for a short amount of time. And soon we'd be apart once more….

"You need to take a shower right now, young man!" Sierra commanded.

"…I'm thirty years old, Yui," L replied dully.

"Fine, then. You need to take a shower right now, thirty-year-old man!"

"…Right."

"Whoa," I commented, pulling on my jacket as I watched Sierra try to push L into the bathroom. "I didn't really keep track of his age. He is thirty now, isn't he?"

"I guess," said Anna.

"Well, I gotta go. Bye, guys!"

"Goodbye, Natsumi," said L flatly before Sierra shut the door in his face and leaned on the door to ensure it was shut tight.

"Bye!" Anna and Sierra said together. I closed the door behind me.

"Light's doing amazingly with Tacky, don't you think?" Matsuda was asking as I entered headquarters. "Oh, hi Natsumi!"

"Hi," I greeted with a smile, taking off my coat and hanging it up.

There was a crash as the door was flung open, then a rush of air as my niece ran in, then made a running jump to glomp Matsuda. "…What just happened?" I asked blankly.

"Wha-?!" Matsuda cried, nearly falling over.

"Matsuda!" Sierra cried happily. "Hi! I've always wanted to meet you, for real, not just glimpses, you know? So I followed Natsumi here so that I could meet you! Matsu!"

"Um…," Matsuda responded.

"Natsumi," said Light, getting to his feet, "get her out of here. I'm sorry, but she's not allowed to be here."

"Uh, yeah…," I agreed. "Yui, get off of Matsuda," I said, prying her away from him.

"Mehhh!" she whined.

Well, I thought, now I know why she wanted L in the shower so badly.

"Look, Michiyo will get mad at you for leaving her behind, so you better go back there before she gets bored."

"Yeah…." She left grudgingly, but gave a very hearty goodbye.

Matsuda scratched the back of his head. "What just happened?" he asked.

Yep, so I hope you enjoyed the extra chapter today! Tomorrow is the usual update, of course. I'm looking forward to that one, actually, 'cause something significant happens. :3

Fun Fact: Sam and Natalie/I used to do this thing where we'd call each other by our backwards-names. Sam would be Mas, and Natalie would be Eilatan. Ha.

Review? For Matsuda!