Mello wanted to go find Light the second they checked into the hotel and figure out if he had the Death Note. He thought that if Yagami didn't have it they would have a chance of finding it before he did and they could prevent all that was going to happen. It was a sound plan. Even L agreed to that.
He didn't agree with tracking Light.
Instead, he wanted them to start with research, see if anything had changed with Yagami's school work or general behavior within the last few days. Mello protested the plan. "He didn't change his behavior the entire time he was killing thousands of people! He worked with his own father on the case and the man didn't notice any difference!"
"It is possible Light Yagami's father was blinded by the perfection he believed his son was," L said, his voice monotone as he started at his computer screen. "Please work on background research with Near and Matt. I will be doing the same. Let me know if anyone finds anything different in his patterns."
Mello bit off a piece of his chocolate bar in irritation. He had just told L that he wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Yagami was too smart for that. Hell, there was a possibility he didn't even have the Death Note yet! And, based on the timeline L himself had constructed, he didn't think Light received the notebook for the next few days!
Of course, that was a different L. This L hadn't met Yagami yet. He didn't know how…charming the man could be. He just had Mello's word on it.
Not that he shouldn't trust what Mello had to say. Mello supposed him even coming out here and doing anything was more than he would have done if someone came to him with such a story. Maybe he should just do what L says.
He could say I told you so later.
Of course, he didn't get the chance. Near, from what Mello could tell, had been researching Light's family while Matt had hacked into the school data base. It was only about twenty minutes into the 'research' that Matt cleared his throat while looking from the timeline Mello had constructed to the computer screen. "Uh, Mells? Do you remember if Yagami missed any school?"
"School? No. Perfect student, perfect attendance. Why?"
"Because he's called in the last two days sick," Matt muttered, wincing as the blonde's hand tightened around his chocolate bar.
"Does it state who called?" L asked, not pausing in whatever he was typing.
Matt nodded, "Says his mom did."
The chocolate bar snapped. This wasn't right. Light Yagami had never missed a day of class. Not even when he was Kira. Things couldn't be changing already. That didn't make any sense. Even if he already had the Death Note, things should have been falling into place the same way they did the first time. This didn't fit the pattern.
"I'm going to his house," Mello hissed, standing and grabbing his black jacket. How he missed his fur coat. And his leather. These black shirts weren't cutting it for him anymore.
"You are staying here," L said, taking a bite from the cake that somehow kept appearing in front of him. "This is why we are doing research. We do not know that things are going to play out the way they did before."
"Why wouldn't they?" Mello demanded, eyes flashing. "Me being back here shouldn't change anything in regards to Yagami! Especially his schooling!"
"Which is why we are doing this research," L told him, raising an eyebrow and gesturing toward Matt and Near with his fork. "Please resume doing your own."
It was the next day that Matt told them Light had returned to school. Mello insisted on following him home or at least part of the way home. He thought he had the better chance of noticing if something was wrong if he could actually see the boy. He had been studying him for years, after all.
L agreed with him but said he was would only permit Mello to do so if Matt came along. Mello had tried to protest. As much as he liked Matt, the other boy wouldn't notice if anything was different but L wouldn't let him leave the hotel without the redhead.
Which is how Mello found himself discretely following behind a tired looking Light Yagami, his hood pulled over distinctive his blonde hair, as Matt followed behind him with yet another video game in hand. "Are you going to put that thing away?"
"Nope." Matt replied, not moving his eyes. Mello wondered how the boy didn't fall all over himself. It wasn't like he could see where he was going. "Besides, we can't have both of us looking suspicious."
"I'm not acting suspicious!" Mello snapped, darting between two buildings as Light turned his head slightly with a frown on his face.
"Of course you aren't," Matt muttered.
Mello pointedly ignored the comment, following Yagami for a few more minutes before letting the boy continue home alone. "Done playing stalker?" Matt questioned lightly as Mello turned back toward the hotel.
"Shut up."
"Anything?" L questioned as soon as they walked in, his eyes focused on the screen in front of him. Near sat off to the side on the floor, a deck of cards in his hand that he was building a house out of. Mello had to fight back the urge to kick the thing down.
"He looks tired."
"Many people do," L commented lightly.
Mello rolled his eyes in response. "Yagami never looks tired. He's incredibly vain. Always has to look perfect."
"He has been sick, Mells," Matt reminded the other boy, throwing himself onto the couch with the game still attached to his hand.
"Whatever," Mello muttered, not believing for a second Yagami had been sick. No, something else was going on. And he was going to find out what it was. But he might need some help.
With that thought in mind, Mello moved toward the smaller boy cautiously, sinking down to the floor and taking one of the cards from Near's hand. Near watched him warily but Mello just placed the card on the house gently.
Near blinked for a moment, obviously confused as to why Mello hadn't pushed the entire thing over as he usually did, but picked up a card to continue building, letting Mello add cards every so often.
The next day found Mello trailing Yagami once again. Nothing incredibly odd happened, though Mello noticed that Yagami looked even worse than he had the day before. He didn't mention this, though. Not after the reaction it received from the others previously. He would keep it to himself and try to come up with a reason. Maybe L would take his observations more seriously then.
It was the third day that something changed. Mello had been outside of the school with Matt, placing a piece of chocolate in his mouth, when Matt spoke. "Do we really have to follow him every day? Someone is going to start to notice."
"Not if we're careful," Mello replied, not wanting to have this conversation again.
"Mells, come on. Yagami seems like a boring, normal guy."
"He's not. Keep complaining and I'll bring Near with me instead."
Matt snorted, "Right. Because being followed by a sheep won't be noticeable."
Mello had to clench his teeth together to stop from snapping at the other boy. Why? He had no clue. He had been the one to start calling Near a sheep all those years ago because of the boys shaggy white hair and all white clothing. But, for some reason, it bothered him to hear Matt talk about Near like that.
Maybe it was just because that was Mello's name for the strange boy. Yeah, that had to be it. He just didn't like someone else using it.
He was so distracted that he didn't notice the black book fall from the sky to land in front of the school.
When the doors opened, Mello snapped back to attention to focus on Yagami. Something was different today. Usually, he walked out the doors and began home instantly, maybe waving or smiling at someone as they called out to him. Today, he moved slowly, cautiously, in the opposite direction. "What's he doing?" Matt asked, frowning as his game hung down at his side.
Mello shook his head, moving slightly to try and see what the young man was heading towards.
It proved to be a mistake.
As he moved, his hood slid slightly to reveal a shock of blonde hair.
Light Yagami's head flew around, his eyes widening in shock as they landed on the two boys. "Mello?!" Light gasped, taking a few steps toward him. "Why are you here? How are you here?"
Mello stepped back in surprise and apprehension. This wasn't right. Yagami was seventeen. At seventeen, he hadn't even known Mello existed. His brain, for the first time in his life, was frozen as it tried to process this new information. That was the only reason Mello could think of that the next words flew out of his mouth. "To stop Kira."
As the last word was uttered, Yagami turned on his heel and practically sprinted toward the area he had been heading toward only moments before. He stared down at the ground in horror. Mello stared at him warily, wondering if Yagami had somehow lost what little sanity he seemed to have had. Matt gripped the back of Mello's shirt, trying to pull him away. "We have to go. Something is wrong."
"So was I," the words penetrated Mello's confusion, making him turn his eyes back to the young man. Yagami had his eyes closed in defeat, his shoulders slumped. Mello suddenly felt afraid. He had never seen Kira look so overwhelmed. "It's going to be a lot harder now," Yagami muttered, his eyes flying open to meet Mello's, "the Death Note is gone."