Chapter eighteen:

"In the living room." Matt admits to Mello glancing behind himself over his shoulder. "He said he wanted to get some more work done." He turns back to the blonde when the other sighs upon hearing this.

"Getting work done is good yes. Though to be honest…" Mello slightly glances away from the red head in the kitchen with him. "I am a little worried about how things are going with him." His attention turns back to the other after he says this as a hand comes to rest upon his shoulder.

"I am too." Matt agrees as the other there with him looks to him. "I know that we all can get a bit busy with work, though we've been around each other for quite a long time. We both can tell that something is wrong with him. I don't think I really need to remind you that he can overwork himself when something is bothering him. We're the only ones that can stop him before he goes too far with it."

Mello nods his head in agreement with determination sparking in his eyes. "We need to be there for each other. If we don't then who will?"

"Exactly." Matt agrees smiling a little at hearing this. "We can handle this. I know we can."

The two peer into the living room where they see the platinum haired boy working away. They know that he has either not noticed them or he just is letting them watch him for a bit.

"It must have been from the latest bombing." Mello mentions quietly to Matt. His eyes falling to half open as he remembers the talk with Near in the middle of the night. "He mentioned that he was thinking about the lives that might have been lost in it. I think that it could be bugging him a bit."

"He probably wondered if we had found out about the bomb sooner. If we could have given them more time to get everyone away from it." Matt does understand why Near would be thinking about that. He can't say that he hasn't thought about it sometimes himself. He shrugs it off as that they made sure that less lives were lost that day. He just knows that Near isn't him and handles things differently than he does. He is aware that if it really bugs Near then it'll linger with him for awhile. "Especially with how we all ended up here. We all saw our own horrors before we ended up as a group and got away."

Mello lets out a heavy breath at the reminder of the past. "Yeah. That's true." He glances back to the kitchen. "Why don't we join him and try to see if us helping him will make him not overwork himself? Sometimes it helps to get him to agree to stop working for a bit. Especially if we get a lot of stuff done."

"Sounds good to me." Matt goes to the kitchen with the blonde and the two get the food. He leads the way out and gives Near his portion in which he is thanked. "We figured we'd join you and do some extra work too."

"That's fine." Near agrees looking over a piece of paper. He moves his hand from his hair to grab some food. He doesn't take a bite yet though. "Matt can you get some more information on Teru Mikami and Kiyomi Takada? I have a suspicion that they might be a pair of trouble. They went to the same school and they were in some of the same classes and clubs."

"Will do." Matt salutes then settles at his computer with his food typing away to check them out. He even begins checking their emails and texts. He is just doing anything that he can hack into to see if Near is right that they know each other. He trusts Near's instincts on this since he's been going through quite a few things.

"Need me to check something?" Mello brings up before taking a bite of his food. His gaze on the shorter male next to him.

"Actually yes." Near confirms and hands the blonde a folder who takes it. "That folder has information on some of the bombings. Though something has been bugging me about them. They're so precise and planned out. Demegawa is definitely not smart enough to plan these out. Kira is definitely planning out the moves. Demegawa seems to be more of a man that kind of covers up as the leader of the group. Taking orders."

"Well we all suspect that." Mello begins though Near slightly cuts him off from saying anything else.

"I am not quite finished." Near informs Mello who shuts up to listen. "However there are some places that I think that they are avoiding. I wanted one of you to look at it and see what you thought without me pointing out the spots. Since Kira is the one who is deciding the moves to take then I am wondering if those areas hold significance to him or her."

"Oh. I follow." Mello realizes what Near is talking about. "Kira could be protecting certain areas as much as possible. Keeping chaos to try to not be found out about doing that." He gains a nod from the other. "Yeah. I could take a look." He opens it looking at the information there knowing that there are multiple pages.

"Thank you Mello. I do appreciate you and Matt helping me out with this."

Mello grins with a hint of a smirk on his lips. "We're in this together. No matter if we argue or get along. We'll always have each other."

Near smiles softly and nods in agreement. "Yes. That we are. No matter what happens we will always have each other." He agrees with this and the two of them turn their attention to what they need to do. He knows that all three of them are enjoying the food as they work. He is glad to be able to have the two with him knowing that they have his back, and they'll let him lean against them if he needs the support. He feels lucky to have two such caring people to be able to live and work together with especially since they have no one else. He focuses on his work trying to keep the nice feeling of the reminder that the two do care for him. He will try to help save as many people as he can with his research. He couldn't save anyone when the three of them had to leave together as their homes were struck. He feels like he needs to try to help save others to make up for being unable to do anything back then to get anyone else out to safety. He keeps working and enjoying the good food that was made.