"Misa says that you're gay." Mello informed Raito at breakfast.

"Really, you don't have to announce it to the entire school, I can handle that part on my own," Raito said sarcastically.

"You shouldn't act so ashamed," Mello sat down next to him.

"I'm not." Ratio began having second thoughts about the 'I'm gay' cover. It was one thing to tell this to Misa, but he hadn't wanted Mello and Matt to think of him in that way.

"Good," Mello stated. "Because I don't have time to deal with closet drama."

Raito stopped himself from telling Mello that his 'closet drama' was his and his alone to deal with. After replaying that sentence in his brain he was glad that he had not voiced it.

"So she didn't also tell you that I have a boyfriend, then?" Raito asked dryly, knowing that Misa would have disclosed the entire event.

"Oh, that was all she talked about," Mello smirked. "Apparently you're a hopeless romantic."

"She told you what I said?" Panic coursed through Raito.

"No," Mello's smirk widened. "She just said that it was sappy."

"Exceedingly so," Raito grumbled. "Remind me again why the two of you get along so well?"

"So someone can update me on your sexuality," Mello said cheekily. "Why didn't you tell her you were gay when she was trying to shag you?"

"She wasn't trying to shag me." Raito paused. "Did she say she was?"

"No," Mello laughed. "So what's your mystery boy like?"

"Mine and none of your business," Raito momentarily forgot how imperative it was that he be nice to Mello.

"Misa's right, you are possessive," Mello smirked widely.

"I'm not—she heard the possessive thing?" Raito had thought that he had been out of Misa's earshot for his last fake endearment.

"Who are you and what have you done with the shy transfer student I let hang out with me?" Mello was enjoying this too much for Raito's comfort. "I'm starting to feel bad for mystery boy."

"Don't, he likes it," Raito said before his brain told him to filter (or told him where that remark had even come from).

"Oh," Mello suggestively raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up," Raito groaned, covering his face with his hands.

"I'm not judging you," Mello said through his snickering.

"Sure you're not," Raito replied sarcastically. "Where's Matt? I can't deal with you if you don't have you're nicer other half?"

"Matt is not my nicer half," Mello snapped in faux defense, crossing his arms.

"Sorry," Raito pretended to correct himself. "More attractive other half."

"Shut up," Mello rolled his eyes. "And I don't expect him to show up today."

"Are you two fighting?" Raito read Mello's vexed expression.

"No," Mello lied. "He's just behaving like a girl. He'll get tired of it eventually."

"I'll just pretend I know what that means," he decided.

Mello had intended to apologize to Matt once he had gotten back from Ms. Seto's room, but Matt had made a point of avoiding him since their argument. His irritating worried roommate was right about how dangerous the situation could have become, not that Mello hadn't already known this going in. Acknowledging the danger was not the same as agreeing to sit on his butt and do nothing.

L wouldn't do that. Maybe Near would, since the albino twat preferred to have every tiny detail planned out before taking action. Mello wasn't emotionless like Near, or perfect like L. In a way, he had been so rash because he wanted to prove this. It was only after that he reminded himself that neither of them were watching him. And, even if L was, Mello doubted that he would have been impress by the display of blind gall. In the end, searching the room had been the right decision. Not for his pride, but for the case.

Ms. Seto didn't do it. That part had been clear. While going through her stuff (and putting everything away nicely, mind you) Mello had found out that she was also an investigator. At first this had incited a spark of jealousy. This was supposed to be his case. He wanted to be the one to find the killer, and, from reading her exceeding vague notes, it seemed that she already had a good idea who he was. Mello had pushed his green-eyed monster aside and tried to think of what action he would take next. He could tell Ms. Seto a little more than he had told Matt. He wouldn't reveal that he was L's apprentice, but would make it clear that he had been sent professionally.

With her leads, he was sure that he'd be able to find the killer before anyone else got hurt. He doubted that she would protest to collaborating, since she had no reason to. He'd have to explain searching her apartment, but if she was a detective he was sure she would understand. Deciding that the best time to confront her would be after maths class, Mello began to plan what he was going to say as he went about the beginning of his day.

Then she wasn't there.

When Mello and the other students arrived at the classroom, they were greeted by the Algebra teacher who had agreed to be their substitute. A student had asked where Ms. Seto was, but the other teacher had replied that he did not know. Ms. Seto was supposed to be at work that day.

This was the first time of the day that Matt had broken his vow to shun Mello and looked him straight in the eye. This look was confused and very slightly impressed. Matt seemed to be asking "is that it?" Was searching the room all the evidence that Mello had needed to send the woman to prison? Mello shook his head. His own perplexed expression clearly broadcasted his thoughts of "I didn't do this."

He wasn't able to focus for the class period, and he could tell that Matt couldn't either. Maybe Matt was still upset with him, considering that the boy had given him the silent treatment for a day and a half, Mello doubted that he would be able to avoid an apology. Yet, he knew that Matt's curiosity was getting the best of him. The redhead was secretly dying to know what Mello had found out and what it had to do with Ms. Seto's disappearance. Unfortunately, Mello couldn't answer the second question.

"Well?" Matt did look at him as they walked out of the classroom and down the hall together.

"It wasn't her," Mello admitted, knowing he'd have to give Matt the information before the boy properly asked.

"Then why is she hiding?" Matt questioned immediately.

"She's a detective," Mello went on as if he hadn't heard him. "She was looking into the case herself, that's why she was so paranoid."

"She's from America," Matt started.

"I think she used to be with the FBI," Mello had no solid proof of this much, but he had gaged his teacher's skills when going through the few notes that she had left in the apartment. "I don't think she is now though, they would have given her more resources."

"Do you have any idea where she is?" Matt asked.

"No," Mello shook his head. "I haven't spoken to her since Friday."

"So she didn't catch you then?"

"No," Mello said flatly. "She did not. She probably doesn't even know that I was in there."

"You don't think that..." Matt's voice trailed off and he finally met Mello's eyes.

"No," Mello tried to dismiss the thought as if it hadn't even occurred to him. "Maybe she did realize that someone was in her apartment, and is trying to lay low and watch her back."

"You don't believe that," Matt saw through him.

"I don't know what happened," Mello decided to stick to saying things that were completely true. "She's probably in hiding. If she was dead, they would have found her body."

"Would they tell us if a teacher committed suicide?" Matt pointed out.

No, but I have access to all information that the school has on the case.

"They'd tell us that she's dead," Mello stated. "In the least they'd say she quit her job."

"I hope you're right."

They had reached the lunch hall now.

"Are you still mad?" Mello chanced asking.

"You're kind of an idiot," Matt didn't answer the question. "And you should have listened to me."

"Okay."

"And I'm not going to ask you to apologize," Matt continued. "Because I know you wouldn't mean a word of it."

"Yeah." Mello felt a sinking in his stomach that he didn't understand.

"So I'm going to put it behind me," Matt wore the expression that a disappointed parent would. "Just know that, even though it ended up helping you, I was the one who was right."

This caught him off guard. It was true that he did think Matt was intelligent and respected him, but he had not expected his roommate to read so much into his own thought pattern. This was unsettling, especially since the only person able to do this before was Near (and only because he was an emotionless git bent on observing anything he deemed important). Mello didn't want someone to know him well enough to have the ability to see through what thoughts he did try to hide. Being a rather emotional person, it had taken Mello effort and practice to get to the state where he was to able hide what he needed to. How did his happy-go-lucky roommate see through him so effortlessly?

"Okay—" Mello started.

"Don't agree with me," Mail chided him. "Because I know that you don't mean it. Just, keep what I said in mind, okay?"

Mello nodded.

"Thanks."

Mello nodded again.

"You can talk now," Matt said slowly.

They both laughed.

Mello felt a dim heat on his face, but tried to push it away. He didn't blush at anything, and he definitely was not going to for no reason. What was wrong with him?

By now they had arrived at their usual lunch table. Light was already there, he nodded at the two of them but his attention was on the cellphone he had pressed to his ear. Mello assumed that it was Misa he was talking to, but vaguely hoped that it was the mystery boyfriend. He was looking forward to an opportunity to embarrass Light while he talked to the guy.

"No," Light said into the phone. His annoyed but patient expression proved that it was Misa he was talking to. "What about a fire?"

This caught Mello's attention.

"You're sure?" Light paused, Mello could tell that he was listening intently. "No, I can't get the newspaper on weekdays…I'm sure you're perfectly safe…Well, don't play with matches, for one…Sorry, bad joke…Look, I have to go…Bye, Misa."

Light ended the call and stuck his phone into his bag.

"That was Misa," he told the two of them.

"We got that," Matt blandly assured him.

"Apparently there was a fire at the post office Saturday night," Light continued.

"Really?" Mello made himself look vaguely interested. "Anyone die?"

"Yes, actually." Light looked at Mello the way that a principal would look at a student who had received several demerits.

"Oh," Mello's eyes met the surface of the table. "Anyone we know?"

"The body wasn't identified," Light said bitterly. "But apparently that person broke into the building to set fire to it. The back office was completely destroyed, but since the walls are stone the flames stayed in that room."

"The first time anyone was grateful for the historical preservation laws," Matt muttered.

"So it was suicide?" Mello clarified, the hair on the back of his neck prickled.

"It was arson," Light corrected, but his expression showed that he was following Mello's thought process. "But I guess you could say that as well."

It could have been someone from the school. Yet this was definitely out of the killer's style. Every death so far had been portrayed almost perfectly as a suicide, leaving little room to doubt what really happened. This instance was vague, and left the victim unrecognizable. He supposed he'd have to find out if the murder had left anything to allude to one of the student's being the found body, or if any of the students mysteriously disappeared.

Mello nearly fell out of his chair at the realization.

"Are you alright?" Matt was staring at him. "You look kind of pale."

I'm going to be sick, Mello did not confess out loud.

"I need a moment," he stammered.

With that Mello ran from the lunch hall. Instead of heading in the direction of his and Matt's room, he took a quick detour to one of the buildings he was not aloud to enter. Sneaking into Ms. Seto's room was harder than it had been on Saturday when no one was around. If he was caught, he planned to say that he had a question on the homework he didn't think the substitute could answer and wanted to see if Ms. Seto was up to explaining it to him.

The room was locked the way that it had been before, but it only took Mello a minute and an overused bobby pin to get inside. This time he was in even more of a hurry, and didn't have time to look around at everything. Instead he went straight to her dining counter. He noticed the absence of car keys, but that was not what he was looking for. On Saturday, he had purposely left the door of the right cabinet under the counter open. This was a test to make sure that Ms. Seto knew that someone unwelcome had been in her room. After noticing he was almost positive that she would close it, for her room was kept clean and he didn't know anyone who wouldn't close the annoying door.

Right now, the cabinet was still wide open.

The murderer had hoped that there was a spy. This would only make his job easier. The problem was that it had taken too much of his time to find out that there was one in the first place. Now he knew for sure. His source had confirmed it.

Until recently he hadn't worked with other people. This sort of game was only fun if you earned a solo victory. But in order to get what he needed he found that he would have to sacrifice some pleasure.

The source was the first ally who's trust he'd had to win. Bribery was below him, but in the end it wouldn't matter. He'd get what he wanted because of this inconvenience.

At the moment the spy was not a threat. He planned to keep it that way. He planned to end it that way.

"You think it's her, don't you?" Matt asked upon entering their room.

Mello was sprawled out on the bed, computer in front of him and three bars of chocolate to his left. Matt must have waited until after lunch had ended to come after him. This he was grateful for. Mello didn't need Matt to see his freak out while it was still in it's pre-chocolate stage.

"He must have found out that she was onto him," he explained. "So he killed her before she could tell the police."

"She's only been missing for a day," Matt tried to remind him.

"Two days," Mello corrected. "And not only missing, she never came back after Saturday."

He told Matt about the cabinet.

"This doesn't prove anything," Matt said, but his tone wavered.

"It proves that she didn't come back to her room," Mello said. "She left for a night and a day, missing a day of her job without any warning in the process. Either he was onto her and got rid of her, or she's hiding from that exact fate."

Mello paused and took another bite of chocolate to further collect his thoughts.

"Matt," he started. "You were right when you said I was too rash."

"I said you didn't have to—"

"I'm not apologizing." He cut him off. "Well, I'm not apologizing for searching the apartment, or for going back today for that matter. But I am apologizing for dragging you into this, because, I guess I'm only fully realizing it now, but…we could die."

I might be in over my head.

"I know," Matt's certainty caught him off guard.

It was only now that Mello realized how little he knew about the boy who's help he had enlisted. Sure, the majority of what Matt knew about him were lies, but Mello had expected to be a closed book to everyone he met at this place. The fact that the roommate he happened to get was the second (first if you didn't count the sociopathic genius that was Near) person to acknowledge Mello's emotional walls was something he had not bargained for. He knew that he trusted Matt, but originally this had only been because he knew Matt had no reason to betray or hurt him.

"Matt?" Mello's voice dropped to a softer tone. "Why are you doing this?"

"I don't know," Matt shrugged and walked to the desk chair. "Because I'm bored."

"You play video games because you're bored," Mello dismissed this answer.

"Because I'm scared I could be one of the victims," Matt tried.

"So you put yourself in even more danger," Mello looked at him pointedly. "I want a real answer."

"Because of you," Matt's eye's traced his shoes.

"What?"

"You were so determined when you first brought up the subject," he explained. "I guess you kind of drew me in."

Mello didn't know what to say to this.

"I don't regret it," Matt added. "I feel like we're making a difference, or that we're about to."

"Yeah," Mello contemplated Matt's words. "You know I didn't have a lot of friends back home."

"That doesn't surprise me," Matt smirked.

"Stop being cheeky, I'm trying to say something meaningful," Mello faked frustration.

"Why don't we skip the sappy stuff and find out if Ms. Seto is really dead?" Matt suggested.

"Good plan."

Raito closed Jenson's file. After pouring over it, and only coming out with the fact that the boy had been severely depressed (maybe suicidal on his own) and had a girlfriend that he didn't know how to stop talking about. He had used his belt to kill himself. The fact that the belt had been a gift from the parents could have been the killer's attempt to frame the death on family issues. However, it also could have been because there was no convenient and assumable way for Jenson to have gotten rope.

Raito opened the file of the second victim. He made a mental note to ask L for access to Smith's emails as well. In the meantime, he looked over the notes that he had initially. Once there was the smallest speculation that Smith had been murdered, every detail of the death seemed to point to it.

The first tip off was the note. Raito was not an expert on suicidal teenagers, but he knew that the phrase the killer had scrawled (or forced Smith to write) was an accurate generalization of why to end it all. Raito hated saying that the only thing making something suspicious was the fact that it wasn't, but the note clearly had no depth to it.

The next oddity was the murder weapon. Why would the killer use a knife that could easily be identified as not belonging to the boy? If Raito had been in the murderer's position, he would have used one of a razor blades from the shaving kit Smith's roommate kept in the bathroom. He looked over a picture of the weapon, again taking note of the faded initials. The A was written above the S, and smudged dot separating the two letters.

Smith's roommate had been the most cooperative when talking to the police during their investigation. The boy had never broached the subject of murder, but hadn't wanted anyone who heard about the suicides to get the wrong idea about his friend. The notes from the interview that had been conducted with the roommate weren't the most descriptive, but it gave Raito a clear idea of what the boy's attitude was.

"He was a little down the past few days," the roommate had said in the interview. "But that wasn't like him. He was usually a happy-go-lucky bloke."

Raito looked at the note again.

"There's no point anymore. I'm sorry. A." He read out loud to himself. No point to what? If Smith wasn't depressed this didn't make any sense.

Sighing, Raito directed to his computer screen which now displayed Smith's personal information. His eyes glazed over name and birthday on their way to finding family economical stance, but comically froze and zipped back to the line displaying Smith's full name.

Adam Samuel Smith.

Adam Samuel Smith.

"Samuel," Raito whispered. "Sam."

Everything clicked into place.

Misa hated working at night. The town was small and she liked the community, but that didn't mean that she felt comfortable walking alone through the darks streets. The distance between her apartment and her job was far enough of her to be dreadfully uneasy by the time she reached it. Usually she was able to bare through this, but this time her photo shoot had ran exceeding late, and by the time she was ready to go home it was midnight. All of her male coworkers were headed in a different direction as her, and none of them were chivalrous enough to go out of their way to walk her home.

"Jerks," she muttered to herself, missing home more than ever. She pulled her cellphone out of her purse and called the one person who might help her out.

"Misa," Raito didn't sound like he wanted to talk.

"Can I ask a big, big favor?" Her voice was nearing pouty, but she reminded herself that this wouldn't work on Raito.

"I'm kind of busy." She heard him sigh. "What is it?"

"I'm stranded," she said. "My photo shoot just got done, and it's really creepy outside, and Misa doesn't want to walk home alone."

"You realize that Lowood isn't exactly near where you work," he sounded more tired than irritated.

"Sorry," she knew she was pouting now.

"No, it's not your fault you're stuck," he sighed again. "I'm leaving now. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thank you!" She exclaimed into the phone.

"Yeah." He hung up.

By the time Raito arrived, the only other people in the building were the janitors. He didn't look as vexed or tired as he had over the phone, but Misa understood that she had just asked him to go completely out of his way to help her. If she hadn't known that he was gay she would have taken that as a sign that he had feelings for her.

"Thank you!" she said to him again, flinging her arms around his shoulder in a sloppy hug.

"You're welcome," he said as he disentangled from her.

They started walking, Misa leading the way because Raito had never been to her apartment before.

"You're not still freaked out about the fire are you?" He wondered. She remembered how she had called him in a panic when someone at work had told her about what happened.

"No, it's not that," she honestly answered. "I just don't like being outside at night by myself."

She was relieved when he didn't push the subject.

"Why did you tell Michael about my boyfriend?" His voice wasn't resentful, but she could tell that he hadn't wanted his school friend to know.

"Misa's just happy that Raito is in love," she giggled. "She had to tell someone."

"Talking in third person is not half as cute as you think it is," he pointed out flatly.

"Raito is a meanie," she huffed, but wasn't genuinely offended.

"I'm just saying," he shrugged his shoulders.

"Just because you don't think I'm cute, doesn't mean that I'm not," she crossed her arms.

"I didn't say that you're not cute," he tried to amend his speech. "I just said that the way you were talking wasn't cute."

"Same difference."

"Is there anyway for me to win this conversation?" He asked.

"Nope," she beamed at him.

"You remind me so much of Sayu," he laughed.

Misa knew that this was his littler sister. If he had said this to her a few days prior, she might have been offended or maybe even heartbroken. Now she had to remind herself that she was not pursuing Raito. He wasn't single and he didn't even like girls. Why was fate so unfair to her?

"How's Sayu doing?" she asked absentmindedly.

"She seemed fine the last time she called me," Raito answered.

"Does Sayu know about your boyfriend?" Misa wondered.

Raito paused before answering this.

"No. I haven't told my family," he said this solemnly.

"I'm sorry I told Michael," she said sheepishly.

"That's alright," he brushed off.

They were walking through a side street when it happened.

Misa wasn't paying much attention to her surrounding, she could easily walk to her apartment on autopilot. Raito seemed to be more alert, but this didn't mean that he was ready for what happened next. Misa was talking, and she was vaguely aware that Raito wasn't really listening to her. She twirled one of her pigtails as she spoke.

The man with the kitchen knife seemed to come out of no where. Raito later explained to Misa that he must have been following them, and hiding in side alleyways to avoid being seem. However, at the time Misa felt like he had just appeared behind them.

Before leaving Japan, she had taken a self defense class that had taught her how to react to this sort of situation. Everything that she had learned dissolved from her mind the second that her eyes met the knife in the man's hand. Her throat and mouth dried, preventing a scream from escaping her.

Raito started shouting something that Misa's panicked brain could not make sense of, but there was no one around to hear him. The side street was devoid of people, and lined with closed shops instead of houses. The next few seconds were the most frighteningly eventful of her short life.

The stranger waisted no time charging the pair with his weapon ready. In this millisecond, Misa realized that she was the one that his knife was aimed at. She was about to die, and she could not move to stop it. She could not will herself out of her shock.

Raito was faster than the stranger, stepping in front of Misa and swinging a punch at their attacker's face. The knife slashed over Raito's arm as he delivered this blow, making contact with his right shoulder. Misa heard a sickening ripping sound, as it tore through more than just his shirt. Only now did a useless cry escape her lips.

Their attacker recovered from Raito's punch with in seconds, but Raito was not as fortunate. Misa watched him hiss and clutch at his wound, blood dripping through his fingers. Their attacker lunged at him, but Misa flung herself between the two of them. She vainly tried to push the man away, but he shoved off her feet with little effort. Raito went for another punch, but the pain that he was in slowed him down. The man knocked Raito on the head with the blunt wooden end of the knife. Raito fell gracelessly to the ground, torso landing atop Misa's legs. Misa didn't have time to wonder why he hadn't just killed her friend, for the man's attention was now fixed on her. Both fear and the weight of Raito prevented her from standing up. Not that there was anything she could have done. The street was narrow, and she doubted that she could outrun the man with the knife.

He loomed over her, a crazed look glazed over his eyes. The firm realization that she was about to be murdered by someone she did not even know settled in her heart like an iron rock. She felt tears prick her eyelids, but didn't have the time to let them spill. She winced, letting her eyes close, as the stranger leaned towards her, knife (still dripping with Raito's blood) raised at her terrified face.

She waited for the impact, the pain, and then the nauseating darkness, but none of this came. A strangled cry met her ears and curiosity forced her eyes open. The man staggered away from her, clutching his heart as if he himself had been stabbed. Sweat broke across the man's brow as he gasped for one last breath.

Misa watched as the man who had been about to kill her collapsed in a still heap. She stared, not knowing what to think. Was he dead? What on earth had just happened?

Her confusion was broken, when her gazed trailed down to the unconscious boy on top of her. Just looking at the dark red stain growing on Raito's shoulder was enough to make her light headed. She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone, moving as quickly as her shaking hands would allow. She dialed 999, waiting only a second to speak with an emergency operator. Her quivering voice spilled the cliffnotes of what had just happened. She was assured by the calm voice on the other line that help was on the way.

Misa tucked the phone away. She decided to focus on breathing calmly as she waited for the ambulance and police to arrive. Her eyes had fluttered closed, only to be startled open by a soft thud next to her. Expecting another form of danger, she immediately tensed. When her eyes met a black notebook, she felt her features relax. Gingerly she reached for it, foolishly looking up as if to see where it had come from. Her fingers turned the cover, and she read the scrawled notes on the first page.

The human whose name is written in this note shall die.

Confusion muddled her thoughts as she continued to read. Her gaze stopped with astonishment at the fourth rule.

If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.

"Oh my God," her eyes darted to the crumpled body of their attacker.

She heard sound of an ambulance approaching, and stuffed the notebook into her purse. Not knowing for sure what she was going to do with it.

The first thing that Raito registered was a dull pain in his right shoulder. The rest of him felt numb and heavy, but uninjured. Thought of what had happened before he blacked out slowly drifted into clarity. There were voices around him that he tried to distinguish. He kept his eyes shut until he recognized one of them as Misa's.

The blonde noticed that he was awake instantly, mumbling thanks to the doctor that she had been speaking to in her limited English. Raito surveyed his surroundings. The gray walls of the hospital room were enough to make him uneasy. Ever since he was a child, hospitals had always made him anxious. He turned his head to inspect his shoulder, which was wrapped in thick bandages. He vaguely wondered if he needed stitches (or if it had already been stitched while he was unconscious).

"How do you feel?" Misa sat down on a chair next to his bed, concern etched over her pretty face.

"Groggy," he answered honestly. "What happened?"

"Someone tried to kill us," tears formed in Misa's eyes.

"Did you know him?" Raito couldn't stop himself from jumping on the question.

This could be linked to the murders. Maybe their attacker was the murderer and he had hoped to kill Raito first and then set it up to look like he had committed suicide. Raito had always thought that the murders took place in the victim's rooms, but it was possible that this was connected.

"No," Misa shook her head. "The police said that maybe another model hired him. Someone who saw me as competition."

"Wait," Raito mentally replayed being knocked unconscious. "How did he…stop?"

"I don't know," Misa bit her lip. "He just collapsed. He knocked you out, and was going to kill me, then he just fell down and stopped breathing."

"That's odd," Raito couldn't think of a better word to describe it.

"I think it was fate," Misa whispered.

"Yeah," Raito had always hated that word but didn't want to say anything that would distress the poor girl more. "Misa, do you think you could give me a minute alone. I want to call Ryuzaki."

"Of course," she nodded, and produced his cell phone from her purse. "They didn't want you to have anything in your pockets. I have your keys and wallet too."

"You can give me those later," he told her.

He waited until she left to room before selecting L's contact. The detective picked up on the third ring. Raito knew that he probably expected it to be an emergency, and Raito felt that, even though he was currently out of harm's way, the attack counted as such.

"Raito-kun?" L's voice didn't reveal any emotion.

"I'm alright now," he started. "But I'm in the hospital."

He explained to L what had happened. The detective listened mutely, leaving Raito completely in the dark as to what he was thinking.

"Do you know when exactly you were attacked?" L asked once Raito was finished talking.

"A little over an hour past midnight," Raito informed him. "Why?"

"Two of your classmates were found dead three hours ago," L said solemnly. "The time of death was reported as around the same as your attack."

"Does that mean—"

"I do not know what it means," L's voice was stone cold as he cut Raito off. "You said that the man who attacked you died?"

"According to my friend," Raito answered.

"I'll look into what your hospital has on him," L decided.

"Is there anything you want me to do?" Raito didn't want L to think of him as useless or vulnerable.

"Recuperate," L answered dryly.

"I want to help," Raito tried again.

"You are no use to me injured," L informed him.

"Oh." Raito felt like he had somehow let the detective down. The last thing that he wanted was for L to think that he was unable to handle this investigation.

He heard L sigh.

"Raito, I'm worried not disappointed." L seemed unaware that he had dropped the honorific.

"I don't need you to baby me," Raito blurted before he could restrain himself. "I'm not going to let this slow me down.

"You were stabbed," L emphasized each word, his voice heavy.

"In the shoulder," he tried to argue.

"Had your attacker not miraculously died, we would not be having this conversation." L's tone was more authoritative than Raito had ever heard it, and he had listened to the man give orders to the NPA (granted, he had been using a voice disguiser at that time). "I was the one who placed you in this situation, now I am going to take the steps needed to protect you."

"I knew what I was getting into," Raito muttered.

"That doesn't matter," L dismissed. "If I told you to jump off a cliff, you'd probably do it."

"No I wouldn't," Raito huffed vainly.

"I knew you would take this case, and I knew that it was dangerous." L continued as if Raito had not spoken. "At the time I had not taken into consideration the possibility that you would be targeted so easily. I don't expect you to give up because of your injury, I know that you're far too prideful for that, but I will demand that you take the time to heel before doing anything that will endanger yourself again. That includes walking alone in the middle of the night."

"I'm not a child," Raito exclaimed. "You wanted me on this case. You trust me enough to let me hear your voice. You may not think I'm your equal mentally, but you did admitted that I'm the closes person you've come across."

L didn't speak for almost half a minute.

"You are a child," his voice was soft now, but that didn't prevent the infuriation that these words caused. "However, you're right that you are the first person that I've met to match me mentally. You're also the first friend that I've ever had, so forgive me if you feel that I am overly concerned about your safety."

Raito was glad that L could not see him, for he was nearly gaping at his phone. A warm feeling that he couldn't quite explain settled in his chest.

"But," he stammered. "We've never even talked face to face."

"I've kept my identity hidden for your sake as well as my own." L didn't seem offended. "Yet, I enjoy talking to Raito-kun wether or not he knows what I look like."

"I'll be more careful," Raito heard himself submitting to L's side of the argument. "And I'll take a few days to rest."

"In the hospital," L instructed. "We both know how safe your school is."

"Fine," Raito sighed. "By the way, I'm not that prideful."

"Yes you are," L chuckled. "That's how you remind me of myself."

Raito felt a smile tease his lips.

"I'm going to look into what we know about your attacker," L informed him.

"Bye," Raito said before the detective hung up on him.

As L had expected, the autopsy reports of the man that had attacked Raito and his friend were not yet entered into the hospital's database. He didn't think the police would have any finalized information yet, but, being L, he was capable of speeding up this process. A quick email stating that this assault was relevant to the Lowood suicides gave him access to pictures of evidence and the witness statement given by Raito's friend. He by passed the statement, deciding that he'd go back to it if needed.

The first picture that he went over was the one of the would-be-murder weapon. The knife must have been taken from the man's kitchen, this gave L doubts that the man had been hired to kill Raito's friend. Surely if this was an assassination, he would have used a more thorough and harder to trace weapon. It was possible that the knife was new, bought for the occasion, but this was hard to tell due to the blood it was coated in.

Raito's blood.

The thought brought a sickening feeling to L's stomach. Instinctively, he took another bite of his cake, hoping that the sweet taste would dull his guilt. He willed away thoughts of Raito lying on the side walk, bleeding through his excessively ironed shirt. He absentmindedly placed his thumb between his teeth after swallowing the cake. Closing the image of the kitchen knife, L clicked on the next picture.

He froze as his eyes met the killer's lifeless face. Even through the pale and stiff expression that all dead bodies assumed, L recognized that face. His mouth dried, but he didn't stop himself from biting harder on his thumb.

How had this not occurred to him before?

At that moment the phone that he given Raito the number to started ringing. Slightly alarmed, but seriously doubtful that the boy was in danger again so soon, L answered.

"It's not an emergency," Raito skipped saying 'hello.' "I just remembered something that I had been meaning to tell you about the suicides."

"Go on," L urged him.

"The first two victims knew each other," Raito started. "Actually, they more than just knew each other, they were in love."

"They were in a relationship?" L wasn't expecting this.

"Yeah." He could see Raito nodding in his mind's eye. "And it's true that the knife used to kill Smith didn't belong to him. It was Jenson's. The writing wasn't Adam Smith's initials, A dot S, it was their initials, A plus S."

"But Jenson's name started with an 'H,' " L pointed out.

"Not his middle name," Raito countered. "Hadley Aaron Jenson. Neither of them were out about their relationship or sexuality, so they referred to each other by their middle names. It was their code."

"That could mean that Smith's note—"

"Didn't end with his signature," Raito cut L off in his excitement. "It wasn't 'I'm sorry. Signed A.' it was 'I'm sorry, A.' "

L heard Raito take a breath, but the boy stopped talking there.

"Is that all?" L knew it was not.

"The thing is," Raito sounded uncertain now. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that these were genuine suicides. It makes perfect sense, when you look at all the facts. Jenson was sent away from home on his parent's request. This must have been because they thought time away that environment, perhaps even away from a lover they caught him with, would 'cure' his sexuality. At Lowood he meets Smith, they fall in love (or at least it's love on Smith's end) and for a little bit things are great. Then Jenson realizes that, no matter what happens with Smith, his parents are never going to accept who he is. One night he decides he can't take it and sends an email to his sister about how terrible his life is. Then he hangs himself with the belt his parents gave him as one final act of spite."

"I assume Smith is distraught over this," L spoke up.

"Exactly," Raito confirmed. "he's heartbroken, maybe even blames himself. After three days of misery, he can't take it anymore and scribbles a final apology to his dead lover, before cutting himself with the knife secretly given to him by Jenson."

"Yes," L's own voice sounded distant. "That would makes sense."

If all of this was an elaborate cover constructed by the killer, it was well done. It made murder look flawlessly like suicide. Or…

This confirmed it.

"Raito, you remember what I said about resting?" L asked the boy he was still on the phone with.

"Yes," Raito sighed.

"Forget it," L instructed. "I'm coming to Lowood. As soon as I have a hotel room, I will tell you how to get there and expect you to meet me."

"L, what is going on?" Raito questioned. "Your attitude just made a complete three-sixty."

"Something very, very bad is going on," was all the answer L could give.

Last night I had a fangirl attack when I found out about Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's new manga.

Hopefully some of what happened in this chapter was a surprise. I'm interested in knowing what your guys thoughts on Misa's Note and Jenson and Smith.

Reviews:

To everyone who made predictions on the identity of Seto and the killer, I'm not going to say if you're right or wrong (even though it's kinda obvious by the end of this chapter) only because I plan to next chapter. However, I will say that I try to make small details significant and Seto's fake name is a clue in itself.

Cyinamas, yup Light is definitely "pretending" to be gay. I'm happy you liked Seto. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of strong girl character in the cannon, therefore there aren't may in this story. So I wanted her to be cool even though she was only here for a few chapters.

Wizard-Party-Forever, I'm glad you're liking Misa. I always felt that the fandom was too hard on her, especially in LxLight fics, when she's actually a fun character.

no account, thanks for the prediction!

Bluxpudding, thanks for the review! It might take a bit for them to find out about the letter, mainly because I like to make this as hard for L, Light, and Mello as I can. (I'm evil!)

Lala the Screaming Fangirl, in this fic Matt didn't go to Wammy's House. He and Mello met for the first time at Lowood.

The more reviews the more enthusiast I am to update, just saying. See ya next chapter!