Chapter Nine:
"Trickster"
Near got to his feet and stood toe-to-toe with Demetre. Demetre saw that everyone else in the classroom seemed no worse for wear, including an older male teacher who was huddled in the back with some kids.
Demetre now appeared the centre of attention and Near engaged him.
Demetre noticed the youth was dressed in casual attire, light grey slacks with a long sleeve shirt that looked one size to big for him. For a moment, they merely stared at one another, gauging each other, and seeing who would blink first.
Near produced a thin smile. "Thank you for coming to our rescue," he said. "Does our pseudo-saviour have a name?"
Pseudo-saviour? As in would-be or wannabe—even a fake-hero? An Anti-Hero like Kira. Demetre started to dislike this arrogant brat already.
"Demmy, I mean Demetre," Matt corrected himself; only his friends called him Demmy. "As for Demetre being here, it's a long story."
"I would like to hear it." Near looked Demetre over. "You appear to have come quite prepared for a confrontation, Demetre. I don't like guns. Only savages use them. I prefer to use the power on my mind to solve a problem."
"That's not nice, Near," Matt chided him. "He attended L's funeral, but he stayed back out of respect for the rest of us."
"So, you knew L? In what capacity?" Near sounded eager.
Demetre knew this game. Near was acting like an investigator, asking questions to develop a personal profile.
"I spoke him once," Demetre said.
"Really? So, you spoke to L. You saw his face. What did you talk about? Did L tell you any details about what he was working on before he died? All his files were summarily deleted. We don't know what happened. We are completely in the dark. I am L's successor, so any information will help me build a case against Kira. I'll find him and execute him. But like I said, all details of the Kira Case are lost."
"Why would L delete his files?"
Near shrugged. "I would like to talk to you, Demetre, and perhaps gain some insight into events you may have been privy to as it regards to the Kira Case, or what you may have witnessed or experienced during the advent of Kira. I need a starting point that will eventually become the beginnings of my investigation into the ongoing issues of Kira."
Near was indeed an arrogant youth, but Demetre admired his tenacity and confidence. "I don't know what I can tell you," he answered, lying. "It was a casual conversation on my university campus, To-Ho University."
"To-Ho University," Near mused. "Thank you for that starting point. There had to have been a reason for L to visit. If you're not going to tell me any details, or refuse to, then I suppose I will have to make a visit there. But, just note, if I find you're hiding vital information, and choose to impede my investigation, then I will come after you, and have you arrested for aiding and abiding a criminal."
"Stop it, Near," Mello said. "He came here to help us, but you're treating him like the enemy. There still one gunman left, the leader, and he's taken Sammy Baxter. Where is he?"
"In Roger's office," Matt replied, "and he wants twenty-million dollars as a ransom. I overheard what the man asked for, his voice carried down the hall through the office door. He was a loud man."
"Or just aggressive," Near put in. "It stands to reason a ransom would be demanded for him, knowing how wealthy Sammy's parents are, and how much they have contributed to worthy causes. His parents are Social Industrialists. But there is an unasked question here: How did these gunmen know where to find him? Or perhaps that is obvious? They followed him."
"For someone so smart, sometimes you can really dumb, Near," Mello said. "Of course they followed him, that's painfully obvious. You American's can be quite—"
"Shut up, you idiot! That is important information no one outside our close-net should know! What if Kira found out?"
Mello gasped, slapped a hand him mouth.
"So, you're from America, Near?" Demetre said. Near stayed tight-lipped. "No need to be shy. I can see it now. And the reason why I can is because I was born in America, too. But I'm not going to tell you which state. I moved to Japan when I was five."
"Hey, Demmy," Geist said. "Do you think you should be revealing personal information like that to him?" It was obvious the revelation put Near on guard, but the reason why Near was an orphan would most likely remain a secret. "By the way, I need to tell you something really important about the leader of the gunmen, but I don't know if I should because it might cause a serious problem."
Demetre gave the Shinigami an inquisitive look, then he saw Near looking at him. He knew Near couldn't see Geist, but for now on since he had admitted to speaking with L and during the Kira Case, Near would be watching him like a hawk.
Just then, Geist reacted to something out in the hall. He turned his head and lumbered away. Demetre noticed this, but couldn't react to it, because Near was continuing to stare at him. Near was not like Adam, Near didn't have Adam's special gift. Yet Near had a similar gift, a natural ability of intuitiveness, and for an up-and-coming investigator, that was a prized asset.
"Um, hey, Demmy," came Geist's voice. "I think we have a problem here. You better come and take a look. You're not going to believe it!"
Demetre sighed, then said, "Matt, Mello, Near, I'll trust you to look after the other kids for me for a moment. I need to do something alone." He looked at the male teacher at the back of the room. "It doesn't look like your teacher is capable of the responsibility currently. He looks shocked."
"He was shot at, the bullet going into the wall next to him as a warning," Near revealed. "Naturally, one would be shaken."
"I want to come with you," Mello urged. "Let Near babysit the others."
"If Mello is going, then I am, too," Matt said firmly.
Demetre knew that Mello and Matt had a brotherly bond, he could see it in their faces and how they reacted to one another. In the future, they would be close, and they would be an interesting pair in the battle with Kira, branching off in a separate kind of investigation, and would engage in nasty tactics in an attempt to outwit Kira and to outsmart Near. But it would also get them into a lot of trouble.
The future was fluent. Since Demetre entered the fray and was in possession of his own Death Note, things that he was shown in the timeline from Geist may or may not come to pass as they originally played out. But he wasn't worried about the future, his only concern was the present, and Sammy Baxter. If he could prevent some tragedies, then he would. It would be atonement for getting Dana killed.
"Just give me a few moments to myself, okay?" Demetre said. "I'll be back. Promise."
Demetre smiled at the trio as he departed the classroom, shutting the door behind him. He felt like he was their big brother, and naturally, they would want join him wherever he went, never missing a moment of the excitement.
But the moment he stepped out into the hallway with Geist, he halted in his tracks, glad that he come out alone.
A bizarre sight befell him, a Shinigami hovered above the floor with a plume of pink smoke beneath its feet. It had blue skin and its body was completely wrapped in leather binds with pins sticking out of its skull. It looked like something out of an old horror movie. The one anatomically distinct feature was that it was female. It was also thin and exhibited healthy and bare breasts and black nipples.
"Greetings, Demetre Draycott, and the Shinigami Geist," the female god of death spoke cordially. "You are able to see me because I wish it, otherwise you would have to touch my Death Note. At the moment, the children in the classroom are fine. I was to teacher you spoke to."
"Ms. Kristtcer?" Demetre said. When he first heard her name, something didn't sound right, but it let it slide due to the situation, now he figured it out. "I understand now. Your name is an anagram, a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word to make a new one. It wasn't hard to substitute the letters into a suitable arrangements to make a proper word—Trickster."
The Shinigami smiled. "Very good, Demetre Draycott," she said. "That is indeed my name. A name given to me from birth by the Shinigami King. He gives all Shinigami a new name after they are born, what you humans call reincarnation. We were all once other entities. I'm a rare form of Shinigami and I'm able to manipulate my form into whatever or whoever I wish. Basically, all Shinigami have the ability to blend in with human beings disguised as one of you, it is our way to interact with our prey before stealing a life span. There are a few others who look like me, some who believe in the sanctity of life, some do not. And not all Shinigami are lumbering Neanderthals."
"Hey! I take offence to that crack," Geist protested, reaching behind his back and pulling out his boneclub, a weapon he carried around with. "Call me that again and I'll smash you!"
"Geist, settle down," Demetre said, but he could understand the comparison. Geist did have that way about him. "Let's see what she has to say."
Geist snorted and returned his boneclub to its holster on his back. "Fine, take the pretty, blue skin, pink-cloud floating, bare-breasted, Shinigami's side," he said sullenly.
Demetre returned his attention back to Trickster. It was a good thing no one else could see her or they would be frightened by her appearance. He as familiar with Shinigami because of Geist, so he was not intimidated by her. And he had to admit, she was quite attractive for a god of death.
Trickster put up the hand. "Please, know that I am not your enemy," she declared, "and I came to you as a courtesy to issue a warning. You are in grave danger here, Demetre Draycott. There are forces out to get you. The League of Darkness have been watching you with scrutiny and have found interest in your resistance to use the Death Note despite its awesome power. Unlike Kira, you intrigue them to the extent that they may wish to offer you a hand to join them."
"I know all about the League of Darkness and their agenda and I will have no part of them. I have also made a vow that I will not use the Death Note, despite owning one. I will not use it for personal gain."
Trickster cocked her head inquisitively. "Then why keep it? Why not simply relinquish ownership?"
"I keep it because I am needed in this fight against the forces of evil. If I ignore everything, and simply relinquish ownership, then the LOD wins. I know there are others out there who are in this same fight. This is a battle for the world. I am not only fighting the League, I'm also keeping a certain someone else at bay, and he knows it. Both need to be stopped."
Trickster nodded. "I believe I understand," she said. "We Shinigami talk with each other in the Human World, and I am familiar with your struggles and your hardships. Rarely have I come across, in all the years, such a noble human being."
"That's where you're wrong," Demetre stated. "I'm very selfish. I keep ownership of the Death Note to preserve a world the way it is, so it doesn't fall into darkness, on multiple fronts. I'm in no way a noble person."
Demetre thought of Light at that moment. Despite everything that had happened between them, he still knew there was good in Light. Despite unproven, he believed Light was being possessed by entity not unlike a devil, and not the Shinigami Ryuk.
"Do not sell yourself short, Demetre Draycott," Trickster said, in response to Demetre's ill-nobility remark.
"A lot of heart attacks around the world have been attributed to Kira," Demetre continued, "and I believe that is just the beginning of a larger agenda by another source. People with no underlying causes are dying, hundreds of thousands in the past two years alone and not just criminals. People in prominent positions of power are dying now and the League of Darkness is trying to assert their dominance in high society for a power shift. Those who do not agree with their philosophy, die. But those who see the next evolution of humankind are rewarded. When death is the only alternative to joining their ranks, there is only one choice to make. The League must be stopped! And I must find the man who murdered my beloved Dana, who hides amongst them. Only then can she rest in peace. But I will do it without killing."
"Then you have a difficult task ahead of you, Demetre Draycott, if you choose to enact justice without committing acts of evil."
"I will enact justice through deliverance and redemption. There are evils in this world that should not be allowed to exist."
"Um, Demmy," Geist began, "this is interesting at all, but I really have to tell you something. When I looked into Main Facilitator's Office to see the gunman, and saw the boy, Sammy Baxter, and Roger Ruvie—even though the gunman was wearing a mask—I couldn't see his lifespan."
"What?" Demetre snapped his attention to Geist. "Then that means he owns a Death Note. Did you see his name?"
Geist nodded.
But when the Shinigami told him the man's name, Demetre legs nearly collapsed from beneath him.
To be continued...
