Mello and Near had spread all the documentation out around them, cross referencing the information from the school and the police. So far, they hadn't found anything that matched up. The only name Mello had even found vaguely familiar on the school records was Lights, but he figured that wasn't something for him to bring up.
Nears right hand was twirling his hair furiously as he looked down at the papers, his eyes flickering from one document to the other. It reminded Mello of when he saw the boy doing his puzzles back at Wammy house and he was trying to find the next piece in the all white board. Except this time, Near wasn't finding the piece. And he was getting irritated.
Matt had joined them after he finished getting a list of all of the students for the past five years and he looked just as irritated as Mello. "There's nothing here," he muttered, shooting a look at L to make sure the older man hadn't heard him.
Mello had to agree. He couldn't find any correlation, any sort of pattern. For the first time, he hoped Near would cut in and declare to have found the answer, but one look at the boy told Mello that wasn't the case.
Light and L didn't seem to be faring any better. Both were typing away at their computers furiously. L was hunched over more than usual and Light as glaring as if the screen in front of him had somehow personally offended him. Apparently they hadn't found any leads either.
"You three should get some sleep," L finally said, not looking away from his screen, "and I believe Light should be getting home. You do have school in the morning."
"I think this is more important than school," Light muttered back, though he began to shut down the computer and push away from the desk.
Matt stood and stretched his arms above his head, popping his back loudly. Mello winced at the sound as he got to his feet. "Do you have to do that?"
"Yep."
Near continued to sit, surrounded by papers. "Come on, Near."
The younger boy shook his head, "Mello should go sleep. I will continue to look for a pattern with the case."
Mello rolled his eyes. Of course. "Sorry, not going to happen. The panda look doesn't really suit you," he ignored the huff he received from L's direction and grabbed onto Near's arm, hauling him to his feet.
"Mello-"
"Mello is right, please sleep so you are well rested for tomorrow. We will continue to work then," L commanded, turning to look at the boys and motioning to the bedroom.
Matt was already in bed, his game firmly in hand. Of course, he hadn't been able to play in seven hours. He had probably been going through withdrawal of some sort. "Put it away, Matty," Mello said, quickly changing into his pajamas and sliding into bed beside him. There were only two beds in the room and he had quickly decided on sharing with Matt. Wasn't the first time he had done so and it most likely wouldn't be the last.
Sharing with Near just seemed…odd.
And there was no way he would let Near sleep in a bed with Matt. That wasn't going to happen.
"One more level," Matt muttered, turning on his side to make it harder for Mello to rip the game out of his hand.
Mello just rolled his eyes and watched as Near slipped between the covers of his own bed. The boy was usually asleep within minutes, whether Matt was still playing his game or not, but that didn't seem to be the case tonight.
It was another ten minutes before Matt turned off the game and placed on the floor beside the bed. He was asleep instantly. Mello didn't have any such luck. His mind kept shifting between the facts that they knew. None of it made any sense. Who could have picked up the Death Note? And the killings... a police officer and a teacher? Maybe a student? Perhaps they needed to look back further than five years. Maybe something had happened with that teacher years ago that the person hadn't ever forgiven her for.
He just really hoped it wasn't going to take hundreds of people dying for them to find out who this new Kira was. What would be the point of him coming back if the same thing was going to happen again, only in a different way?
"Is Mello awake?" Near questioned loudly in the silence.
Mello jerked at the sudden noise before shushing the other boy instantly. "Matt's asleep."
"Does Mello believe this new Kira is worse than the old Kira?"
Mello sighed. "Near, Matt's asleep."
"We are talking quietly."
Mello fought back a chuckle. No, they really weren't. He sighed as he flipped the covers away from him before standing and going to sit next to Near on his bed. Near's eyes went wide as he stared up at him. "What is Mello doing?"
"If you want to talk that's fine, but we aren't going to wake up Matt," Mello muttered, shifting on the bed so his back was pressed against the headboard and he was just to the left of the lying boy. "To answer your question, I don't know. Light was – Light killed a lot of people. But they were criminals. It got worse as time went on, the killing became for less and less crimes, but at the beginning I could see why he was doing what he was doing. This Kira – two people in less than twenty-four hours? A police officer and a teacher? I haven't looked into the teacher's history but I know Ukita's. I studied it the first time. There was nothing there that should have led to this."
"So this Kira is killing either because of a grudge or just because they can," Near said softly, reaching up for Mello's hair.
Mello rolled his eyes at the awkward position. He was sitting up on the bed against the headboard, while Near was lying on the bed with his arm straight up to play in the air so he could reach Mello's hair. He moved quickly, leaning down to grasp the small boy under his arms and pulling him up into a sitting position beside him. Near yelped loudly and Mello slammed his hand over Near's mouth as he looked toward Matt warily. The gamer was very grumpy when woken up.
Matt was breathing steadily and Mello let out a relieved sigh. It seemed they were safe. He slowly released his hold on Near and almost laughed at the completely amazed expression on the boys face. "Why did Mello do that?"
"If you want to play with my hair at least make it less awkward," Mello muttered, knowing it was a lame excuse but not having anything better. Honestly, he had no idea why he had done it. If Near wanted to let his arm grow tired by letting it stand up like that he should have just let him.
Near's expression closed off once more but Mello could see the confusion still in his eyes as the boy moved to make himself comfortable. He eventually ended up pressed against Mello's side, his hand once again having found itself to Mello's hair. "Anyway," Mello said, clearing his throat, "like you said, this new Kira is definitely different. But we'll figure it out."
Near merely hummed, his fingers sliding throughout a strand of Mello's hair. The two boys sat in silence, both lost in thought until they both eventually drifted off to sleep.
Mello woke up to laughing. "Go away," he muttered, not wanting to know what his idiot roommate was doing now.
"Aww, does Mello want alone time with Near?"
The words penetrated Mello's mind but he couldn't make sense of them. Alone time with Near? What the hell was Matt going on about now?
It wasn't until his foggy brain registered the warmth pressed against his right side, the weight on his chest, and something in his hair that his eyes shot open. Holy shit. Near. He was in bed with Near. Near was pressed against him, his head on Mello's chest, his hand in Mello's hair. Asleep.
Matt was laughing beside the bed, holding his stomach as he struggled to stay upright. "I wish I had a camera right now. I wish I was allowed to have a camera right now. Your face!"
Mello lunged at his roommate, knocking Near off of him in the process. Matt sprinted out of the room, leaving Mello to stare blankly at the door as Near blinked at him sleepily from the bed. "Mello?"
Feeling the blush crossing his face, Mello cleared his throat harshly. "We need to work on the case," he snapped, turning and walking out of the room quickly.
He glared at the still giggling Matt and the amused L as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a chocolate muffin. How could he have allowed himself to fall asleep in the same bed as Near? What had he been thinking? And Matt had seen it! He was never going to hear the end of it.
"Please continue to work on the assignments I gave you last night," L said a few minutes later as Near stepped out of the bedroom. "Expand the search another five years. Light should be joining us once class lets out for the day."
Mello clenched his jaw at the information but didn't comment. It wouldn't do any good anyway.
Mello was uncomfortable the entire day. He kept thinking of Near sleeping against him, of the weight of Near's head on his chest. What was wrong with him? Hell, he might be thirteen at the moment but he had been twenty when he died. So it wasn't odd for him to have…feelings or whatever. But Near didn't remember being any older. Near was twelve. And Mello didn't remember being attracted to Near when he saw him when Near was eighteen.
Holy shit, there was something wrong with him.
Or maybe there wasn't. Maybe it was just because he was getting to know Near this time around. He had never done that before. Or maybe it was just because they were kept in close quarters here and no one else was around. Well, no one else besides L and Matt. And Light.
Yeah, and that wasn't going to happen.
That had to be it. It wasn't that he had feelings for Near, it was just that he was thirteen years old and had slept in a bed with someone he didn't see as family. That was it. Nothing to worry about.
He had been so worried, he hadn't even made a comment when Light showed up and sat entirely too close to L. But he had noticed.
It was hours before anyone spoke, everyone growing more and more frustrated as no new leads were founds. The only good thing to happen that day was no one else had died.
"There are three possibilities," Near said, bringing everyone's attention to him. He didn't look at anyone, instead moving to grab his finger puppets and placing one on his finger, "the first is that someone else, who didn't know what the Death Note was, picked it up that day when Light was distracted and kept it," another finger puppet, "the second is that the person that picked it up believed it to be a joke and tossed it away, which then someone else picked it up and began to use it," a third puppet, "the last option is that there is someone else besides Mello and Light who remember this alternate timeline."
Lights eyebrows furrowed while L nodded slowly. Matt just sat back in surprise. Mello leaned forward, placing his hand over the puppets to make Near look up at him. "What do you mean?"
"I have not understood why it is only Mello and Light are the only ones to remember these events," Near said, his eyes flickering to Mello's and away again, "so I began to look at what Mello had in common with Light. There are a few possibilities, but only one that I believe could be the cause."
Mello didn't like where this was going. "How long have you been thinking about this?"
Near didn't answer the question, instead lifting his hand to begin twirling his hair. Mello shifted his eyes to L, waiting for the order he knew was coming. "Please look into the location of Misa Amane, Kyosuke Higuchi, Kiyomi Takada, and Teru Mikami."