*Faints, wakes ups, dies, is revived* I LOVE YOU ALL! When I posted this story I wasn't expecting to get even 100 Reviews. But look at that! I get 200! You people are too good to me! It even went over 200! You're going to make me cry! Thank you for taking your time to review. And to all the silent readers out there thank you to you to.
And because you are all so beautiful I up date as fast as I could! More YAY! *throws confetti*
And If you call now I will throw in with this new chapter a *gasps* Fan art! Curtsey of Mrs. Cassidy304! Reviews AND fan art! You spoil me you do. Fan art can be seen on my profile.
Now I shall stop yapping in your ear. (Doubt many of you read these anyway. but if you do, LOOOOOOVE YOU :P) just happy today. On with the chapter…
Neon Green: Part A
Down Memory Lane
Raito always considered himself a patient person. You had to be when you had a younger sister (especially if that younger sister was Sayu. It was like the girl couldn't do anything on her own!) But this, this was going beyond testing his patience.
At the moment Happiness was skipping ahead while humming to himself. (Raito wasn't sure but it sounded like something from The Lion King.) Child-ness was still being carried by the teen. The boy had gone back to pulling his hair at every given moment. Though it wasn't as annoying as it sounds seeing as he'd been doing it for HALF of the trip while Happiness skipped around humming whatever came to mind and Matsuda tried to make conversation and failed miserably. Then tried it all over again. Why? Because he was Matsuda and he wanted people to be happy and get along.
Quite frankly, this could get on anyone's nerves.
The Little L tugged on an already sore spot on his head. Raito could not help but flinch in pain. Then he heard amused giggles. He sighed.
This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't.
"-And you should have seen the look on his face! But then again after throwing up in front of like ten police officers, I think you can imagine-"
Raito covered his eyes and tried maintaining some form of sanity. Which was becoming harder and harder at every word that slipped out of Matsuda's mouth.
"Oh, the chief was torn between pity and embarrassment! He was having the most trouble getting little Raito out of the closet! He just didn't want to come out! Ashamed as he was..."
The teen wondered if he could strangle the man with his belt. Or his hands. Choke down that man's windpipe to make sure nothing like this ever came out again. He didn't care at the moment if that would most undoubtedly frame him as Kira. At the moment it seemed worth it…
" -It came to point the chief was banging on the door, having given up talking softly and..."
Matsuda had the brilliant idea to retell stories from the teen's youth. Embarrassing stories. Which he had most likely heard from his father at late stakeouts, and sometimes seen himself. The teen was balling his fist and coming very close to the unsuspecting cop. A punch, maybe yanking out the other's voice box...
There was a suddenly a flash of blue that got his attention.
"Sadness? What are you doing here?"
At the statement the police officer and other personalities turned to see what was going on. And indeed, the airy personality had just walked out from behind one of the many curves of the road.
The personality looked up with his far away gaze before focusing on the people in font of him. "Hmm? I'm sorry, I missed what you said. May you please repeat the question?"
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you to be in Aizawa's group? Oh no! Did something happen! AHHH!" Matsuda then began to panic. Raito rolled his eyes.
"Happen? No, no. Nothing happened at all…" Sadness's eyes drifted to look off to the distance. He paused. "Well, actually, I did come out here for a reason." Another pause. The personality seemed to be deep in thought. "Ah, yes, I was sent back to inform the other groups that we have found the missing personalities."
"Really!" Raito and Matsuda exclaimed at the same time, but for very different reasons. Matsuda because, well, it was Matsuda. Hot coffee in the morning exited him. Raito, because that meant that not only was the search over but that this nightmare of a group would be over and they would be one step closer to getting out of here.
"Oh yes. Quite surprising really. Mogi-san told me it would be best if I went out to inform the others. Lucky I came upon you, was it not?" Sadness said with a small humm, gliding over the ground lost in life. "Unfortunately they seem scared of making a move, worried they would scare them off again. So they sent me to look for the rest so as to not take any chances."
"Well then, take us there!" Happiness said with a great smile.
Sadness blinked at them. "Should I?"
"… Uh, yeah? Isn't that the whole reason why you came back…?" Matsuda asked slowly.
Sadness looked upwards. "Uhmm, I guess. But doesn't that mean I shall be doing two trips instead of one?"
"We will resolve this ourselves, then the trip will be over. Come on, lead the way." Raito hustled, eager to get a move on.
The personality lifted an eyebrow at being pushed in such an out of character way, but said nothing and did as he was told, gliding off in front. It was actually rather close to the area they were in before. It didn't take that long to reach where the others were. Soon Aizawa and his group became visible, standing in front of a building.
They looked surprised to see them. "Well, that was fast."
"Aren't we missing a few people?" Mogi asked, inclining his head.
"Oh, I met them on the way. They insisted I show them here and they would resolve the problem on their own. Without the need to ask help of the rest of the party…" Sadness said idly as he glided by to stand at the edge of the group and gaze off into the distance.
Aizawa rolled his eyes. "Fine then. Any ideas? We are trying not to have a repeat of the last disaster."
"If I recall correctly, Shuichi, you were in the center of that disaster," Mogi commented off-hand.
Aizawa coughed, bringing his hand in front of his mouth, trying to hide the pink tint on his cheeks. "Yes, well, we certainly don't need another one of those now do we? So, suggestions?"
Raito shook his head. Did he have to do everything around here? "We should use the divide and conquer tactic. Paranoia is the obviously the driving force of the relationship. He will react at the slightest sight of danger to his charge. What we do is lure him out and convince Fear we mean no harm. He will be able to convince Paranoia. However, we should be more careful of our methods if this works…" Raito gave a pointed look at Aizawa, who coughed again.
Matsuda raised his hand, as if he was asking a teacher a question. "Okay, but how do we get them out, and who do we send in?"
"We make shuffling sounds and hope Paranoia comes out to investigate. He will leave Fear behind so he doesn't get hurt. We hold him down and who's free, goes in," Raito said dully, annoyed he had to explain simple details to supposedly intelligent police officers.
"I think Raito-san should go try to bring the other out," Mogi said out of the blue.
The other task force members looked at him incredulously. Including Raito. "Are you mad man? After the little show they put on? What gives you even the slightest idea that he should be the one barging in through that door and try to drag out a man who is overly terrified of him?" Raito had to agree with Aizawa. The wide-shouldered man did seem to have a few screws lose if he was suggesting such a thing after what had happened.
Mogi shrugged a large shoulder. "He has the most diplomacy and quickest wit. Aizawa has a short temper and has already scared him off once. I don't particularly feel too confident sending in one of the other personalities. I lack the necessary persuasive skill and I'm certainly not sending Matsuda in…"
"Hey!"
"No offense."
"Eh, you're probably right not to do it anyway…."
Aizawa interrupted. "Okay, fine. Raito goes in but I still think that is a bad idea to let him go alone."
"That's why I'm coming with him," Mogi said. He then gave the teen a knowing look, which Raito reflected by lifting an eyebrow.
"Fine. Great. We are all settled. Let's do this and do this soon."
"Gee, you sure are in a hurry Aizawa. What's the matter?" ever-curious Matsuda asked.
"Well, firstly there is the fact that I have no idea how long we have been in this nut house, and my wife will kill me for not phoning her. But more importantly Yumi is turning six, in what I hope is still next week. And I would much rather have a gun my mouth then miss my little girl's birthday."
Matsuda gave a high-pitched squeal that had all people within hearing range covering their ears. "ARE YOU SERIOUS? Why didn't you tell us? I totally forgot! Oh! I so have to get her a birthday present! And I have the perfect gift too! My uncle has this toy store up north of Tokyo and they have this amazing bunny-" Matsuda then proceeded to jabber on about how exited he was and how wonderful it was. He went on and on about his gift and thought of even better ones as he went. In short, he sounded like a middle-aged mother with her friends at afternoon tea.
"You know, as much as this personal shit is interesting and all, I quite frankly,don't want any of you people in here as much as you don't want to be here. But we've been over that haven't we? So if we could cut this useless conversation in half and get a move on that would be just dandy." Anger stepped in, pushing Matsuda to the side.
With that less-than-gentle push from the red-eyed personality, they initiated the plan. Mostly they just hit the walls of the building and stomped about. It was rather embarrassing.
There was sound of talking from inside the building before light footfalls were heard. When the door opened the group all lunged on top of Paranoia.
"What the hell? Get off! What is the meaning of this?" As Paranoia continued to straggle Raito rushed into the building, having a hard time detaching himself from the struggling pile of people
As soon as he was inside Mogi came in, stumbling slightly. Both of them then made their way to the back of the room, which was strangely dark.
"Paranoia? Is that you? What was that noise outside? Is every-" Fear stopped coming forth and cut himself off when he noticed who was waiting for him.
He backed off so fast he fell over.
"What do you want?" The personality curled inwards but did his best to keep his doe-eyes on both of them.
Raito lifted his hands up in a sign of peace. "We just want to talk."
Fear pressed himself closer to the wall. "Yes. Kira will try to ease me into a sense of security and trust. Then he will attack me to find my weakness. Isn't that right? Kira-kun."
Raito bristled. "Why I never!"
Fear stood up abruptly "I may be skittish, jumpy and afraid of my own shadow. But I sir, am no fool!" Fear had such a commanding tone and strong stance he almost seemed brave. That is, until he realized the position he was in and to whom he was speaking. He moved swiftly to the other side of the room, crouching again.
"I know I'm the weakest link. I'll- I'll crack under the slightest pressure. Normally that is fine. The others keep me secure, keep me calm and confident." He stopped, looking at Raito. "But now the threat is directly in front of me. Victory on a silver platter. It is every sadistic wet dream. I can't go with you. I can't do that to the others; to myself. I will not be the one sentencing us to our death. God knows we have enough trouble with Love…" Fear covered his head, trying to pretend he wasn't there.
Raito looked at a loss. "You can't be sure that I will do any such thing."
Fear's watery eyes narrowed. "Once again, do not insult my intelligence. You may put up your endearing act. Swipe people off their feet with compliments and empty gestures but beneath you are cold metal, Yagami-san. People to you are just pawns - stepping-stones to reach your goals. And I'm the perfect opportunity window."
Raito stiffened with every word, hands clenching. At the end he wanted to throw a fit. Deny, deny, deny until his throat hurt. But nothing came out. For in the end, Fear was right, and he knew it. Did he love his family? Yes. Would he sacrifice them in if there were no other option, to reach what he wanted? Yes.
And the realization made him sick.
When did this happen? When did getting what he wanted become more important than his family? He was ambitious, but never did it go this far… what was the turning point in his life where he sacrificed people, not just peoplebut people who loved and supported him though so much in his life?
Maybe being a mass murderer isn't such a far call then? If he could trample over his family, throw them under the metaphorical bus, people he didn't even know would be like stepping on ants.
Raito shook his head viciously. The constant accusations were starting to get to him. But he would not waver. Just like he would not waver in his belief that even though Kira was evil, what he did was for the good of humanity. He wasn't Kira, and that was that. He just needed to get his priorities straight. His family was above all, and no amount of personal gain would change that.
Now he just had to repeat that constantly in his head until it went through his thick skull.
"I think it is more than that. I think you actually are afraid of Raito, the man. Not just Raito, the suspect." Both the teen and personality snapped their heads to stare at large policeman.
"But of course I am afraid of him! I am chained to a murderer! Death is knocking at my damn door!" Even though his back straightened, Fear still kept himself in his crouch.
"No. I think it runs deeper then that."
"How can it run deeper than the cold fear of death!"
Raito however had both eyebrows far up his forehead, giving Mogi an astonished look. Was the man insinuating that L had a fear of… commitment?
No.
This was Mogi. Just a friend of his father. The man couldn't be able to read that deep.
Right?
Mogi turned to him, lifting an eyebrow of his own. And Raito suddenly felt like maybe he might be underestimating the people he worked with.
Mogi faced Fear. "I can understand your hesitation. However, I will make you a deal. You and Paranoia may stay as far away from the group as you deem necessary, as long as you stand within sight. We will not force you to do anything you do not want to, as long as we can come to an agreement. If we do this right, then the task force, myself and Raito will be out of here soon."
Fear eyed him suspiciously. He turned to Raito, then back to Mogi again. "…I might take that offer into consideration. Nevertheless, I would like to have a word with Paranoia before taking up such an offer."
"Naturally." Fear eyed him up and down again as if expecting him to break down and confess his real intentions. Mogi just crossed his arms and waited patiently. Fear then scampered off, apparently not finding anything he should be concerned about.
Mogi soon followed, but stopped when Raito didn't follow after. "Something wrong, Raito-san?"
The teen was giving him a blank look. Then, "you should talk more."
Mogi just laughed.
Convincing Paranoia was easy after that. Fear didn't look too convinced when he pulled the other aside to have a private conversation outside of hearing distance. There was a lot of hand gesturing, side-glances and whispering. In the end, Paranoia pulled the other into a hug and muttered some more. They came over and both agreed, not bothering to hide just how hesitant and uncomfortable they were. Both immediately stepped to the back of the group, but always stayed within sight.
At the moment they were all making their way to the checkpoint his father instructed. This time it was a more pleasant trip, for Raito that is. Apparently Anger and Aizawa were doing the courtesy of pissing each other off - bickering between each other and demanding the group be silent. Which suited Raito just fine. He didn't know how many stories Matsuda had heard from his father but knew someone was going to get hurt if any more came out to the open.
When they did manage to get to the Kira building his father's group came into sight. Raito could hardly contain the rather evil little giggle that threatened to bubble to the surface. From the looks of it, his father didn't have an enjoyable stay either.
He was standing very still, shoulders square and hands clenching and unclenching. He looked like he was using all his willpower not to rip Courage into tiny tiny shreds with his bare hands. Courage didn't seem to know or care. He was bouncing about, doing cartwheels and just having the time of his life. He would sometimes flip over his father's shoulder. Raito had to hand it to him, the man had some strong will. Suddenly his own group seemed very much nicer.
Love was trying to console him, inching his hand to his father's shoulder. But every time he came close the man would give him the evil eye. The man looked angrier at the blind personality than with the one using him as an obstacle course.
That couldn't be good.
Logic and Reason were standing happily to the side (well, not happily, but you get the idea.) very much just left all to their own, even looking rather amused by the whole thing.
Kind of.
When his father finally saw them coming he could not have looked more relieved. "You came back! And it looks like we lucked out on our first try."
"Wonderful," Reason (or Logic, whoever) commented dully. "Now we can initiate our such for those who are missing, and which we did not lose on our own account"
Aizawa grumbled.
"Yay! Now we can go down to Memory Lane!" Courage bounced on the balls of his feet and twirled about.
"Why do you insist we go there?"
"… I'm bored."
"…You're board? You are putting our lives in danger because you think it will be FUN!" the twins said together, astonished.
"You know, if you put it that way… It sounds bad…" The twins just gave him a we-are-about-to-give-you-a-lecture look. "Look, you two are the smarts and all. The whole 'cool and collected' thing. And that's nice. But don't you think that sometimes you just go through so much drama when none of that is needed?"
Happiness grabbed Courage by the shoulders and steered him away. "Let us just censor all we deem necessary. Like that, we can visit a point we haven't looked into yet and keep safe. Everyone wins! YAY!"
The twins seem to give it some thought, then grunted and nodded.
Raito was rather surprised how easily that went over. He was expecting fireworks. But it all seemed fine. For some reason it just didn't boil well with him. Oh, the teen just knew that in the end something baaaad was going to happen.
More fun.
They began walking again. Since using the 'desired' entrance was out of the question because of Fear, the personalities decided they should take the closest in-city entrance.
Unfortunately, that just happened to be behind the Hall.
Which meant lots more walking.
Raito tried to contain his joy.
Luckily they took another route that dogged the Plaza completely, landing them at one of the tips of the semi-circle building. From there they made their way behind it. Because of its shape the path seemed endless. And that was not only to Raito but to the task force as well. Eventually (after a handful of annoying moaning from Matsuda) they reached the entrance the personalities spoke about.
It was simple yet odd-looking. It stood a few meters away from the curved wall. It was a half-dome shape, the back facing the Hall. The straight side had a simple door with Greek-style pillars on either side. On top of both pillars were identical gargoyles that were leaning over the edge. Their eyes were red which Raito thought strange since no other statue had this splash of color.
Happiness in the front of the group opened the door. Inside it was completely dark, with only the light from outside to reveal steps that led downwards. Like a basement. Only at the very end instead of just being more darkness there was a small light.
"Uh, is it a good idea to go down such a...Gloomy star case? It looked dangerous," Matsuda said as he peered inside.
"Don't be such a cry-baby!" Courage grabbed the man by the wrist and dragged him down, soon being swallowed by darkness.
The rest soon joined. Raito kept his hands pasted to the walls. He went slowly so he wouldn't fall. Which in retrospect was a fine idea because before reaching the bottom there was a yelp and thumping, which was to be found out later Matsuda falling down the rest of the stairs, dragging down with him Courage, Happiness, Love, and one of the twins, who looked beyond infuriated.
At the bottom the light was bright. Which was explainable, considering that at Memory Lane were built multiple inter-connecting corridors with nothing but monitors covering wall and ceiling. There was hardly any space left between monitors.
The corridor itself was only wide enough to for five grown men to stand side by side. The ceiling was low but had enough space for them to stretch their arms up that the tips of their fingers just barely scraped the top.
All the monitors were the only illumination in the corridor. Each one had a memory on it. Raito felt like a chameleon trying to look at them all at once. It was thrilling. His throat felt dry. This had to be the ultimate experience of bonding. This was not hearing a story from another person. This was living it from their point of view. It was more than Raito could ever hope for.
The confined space filled with personalities and the team, involving quite a bit of shoving. Most of the personalities pushed forward and organized themselves near Logic and Reason. With a slight incline of the head the personalities divided themselves. They all put both of their hands over the monitor-covered screens. They closed their multiple-colored eyes. Their bodies then began to glow, the light then moved and concentrated on their hands.
"Okay. What's happening now?" Matsuda asked one of the only two Personalities who wasn't participating.
"I thought it was obvious. This is the censuring process. Mostly they will bleach out real names. There is not much they can do. It is too much of a job and you really can't fiddle much with memories. You just can't. But they are doing it for you. They can't turn any of them off, so they will probably be moving the more important ones out of reach," Courage answered idly, arms crossed over his chest.
"But why aren't you and Sadness helping them?" Matsuda asked.
"Didn't feel like it." He grinned. "Nah, the job's really tiring. But in reality it doesn't need all that much manpower. Even though we have no real form it is 'emotionally straining' if you know what I mean." He laughed to himself.
It didn't take long after that. When the other personalities did remove themselves what Courage commented on became apparent. The personalities were so pale they looked translucent. They actually had a see-through appearance.
"You - you most likely will become distracted soon so - so we might as well move as quickly as possible." Logic (probably Logic) tried keeping an even tone but it became obvious he was as badly affected as the others.
It was true, however. As soon as they began to move, something along the line caught the attentions of each and every one of the task force members, whether it was by their own curiosity or because they got tired of waiting for the others.
Raito himself was drooling over every image, until one image in particular drew him near. When he came close to the monitor it was like he had stepped into a bubble. All sound outside the bubble was blocked and only the sound of the memory was heard.
On the screen was L. Child L. Child L was not all that different from Child-ness, only instead of honey- orange eyes, the deep brown that could be considered black, stared back. L's piercing gaze. Child L was looking in a full-length mirror. That was how Raito could see him since all the shots were from L's point of view. He looked to be around seven in age. He was wearing so many layers of clothing he must have been two times his actual size. He looked like a giant marshmallow. He was adjusting a wooly hat with mitten-covered hands.
"Watari! Are you done yet! We will miss the snow! Come on now! It will melt if you take any longer!" L cried, not taking his eyes away from the mirror. He had to pull down his scarf so his voice could be heard. He was speaking in English with a slight British accent.
"One moment, my boy! I am still looking for an extra scarf for you! I will not risk you getting hypothermia!" came a faint reply from the other room.
"Hypothermia! Watari, if you dress me in any more clothes I run the risk of having a heat stroke! Not hypothermia! Do I have to repeat myself? Very well; the snowwwwww! It will be spring if you are not done sooooooooooon."
"Don't be so dramatic my boy! I just wish to keep you healthy and happy! Now where is that scarf…"
"I am in perfect health! I would be running laps if I wasn't afraid of falling down and being incapable of getting up again because of the sheer amount of layers! I'll be like a turtle on its back!"
There was a chuckling sound from the other room.
"As for my happiness? Well, I think you are quite aware of what will make me immensely happy at the moment…"
There were footfalls and the view turned. It was a much younger Watari, standing in front of a European-styled corridor. The man actually had dark brown hair on his head and a moustache. He was wearing a heavy winter coat and gloves. In his hands rested a navy scarf.
The man kneeled and tried to put the scarf on the boy. A small hand stopped him. "Watari, I am fine with the amount of clothing I have on. You on the other hand should be using this scarf." The older gentleman chuckled but let L's tiny hands tie the scarf sloppily around his neck.
When finished the screen moved up and down. Little L seemed to be jumping. "The snow the snow the snowwwwwww! We are all done! Can we gooooo now?" the little boy whined.
Watari smiled. The screen stopped moving.
"Watari… why are you smiling like that?"
The man shook his head. "I am just glad to see you this way, L."
"…What way?"
"Acting your age."
"…I'm sorry, but I don't think I follow..."
The man's smile became sad. "It is so rare that I see you act like a child. You have seen too much for your age. You set such high goals for yourself and follow them with such diligence… It is easy to forget how young you really are."
Pause.
"Watari?"
"Yes, L?"
"The snooooow!"
Watari smiled wildly, mustache curling at the ends. He suddenly leaned over and embraced the boy.
"Why are you hugging me?"
"Because, L, you are just something special."
Raito stepped back. It was like pulling his head out of a bowl of water. Stepping away from the bubble made all the sound of the memory disappear. After seeing that memory Raito felt like hot lava was spilling down his back. He wasn't quite sure why.
One thing was true, though: L was seriously something special. Raito needed to see more. He craved it. This was gold. All the monitors had random images on them, not at all in chronological order. He went along the wall until something else gripped his attention.
Many of the images consisted of cases. Face-to-computer interaction with great politicians of other countries. Sometimes Raito would poke his head in and listen to what was being said. Though for most part the debates were quite interesting, they didn't hold his attention long. Raito could hear this kind of stuff if he wanted; could even have a debate with the men himself. Though it was sometimes funny to see L manipulate and argue with people like the vice president of France, it still didn't satisfy his hunger.
Most of the time arguments like this were done in the language of the person with whom he was arguing. Paranoia wasn't lying; the man did know more than his fair share of languages. The teen was fluent in three languages: Japanese, English and French. He had learned some Spanish and a small amount of Italian, so he could understand a lot of what was going on around him, but there was quite a bit he didn't understand.
Raito sometimes had trouble distinguishing L's voice from the others since everything was in L's point of view and his voice came out the way he heard it, not like Raito did. It was astonishingly different.
Something soon got his attention, however. He wasn't sure why. This image was of crisp pages of a book written in English. Raito's reading of the English language was rusty; he hadn't used it since school. However, it didn't mater in the end, because as soon as he stepped into the bubble to try and read what was written, there was a thud and one side of the screen went black. L was wincing, one eye closed. A hand came up to rub along his face.
The view was moved from the book over the top. It was a playground, with standard playground toys and children. The trees were bare and the floor full of orange, yellow and red. Not far away there were five boys, all with a pile of rocks in their arms.
"Ah! Right on the head! Did you see that! Right on the head!" One of the boys laughed. He was rather skinny and was wearing winter clothes like his friends.
"It was a nice shot Will, but I can do soooo much better! You'll see! I'll get the little freak right between the eyes!" a much bigger boy with a strong accent challenged.
More rocks were thrown. The book came back into view, probably to act like a shield. There was a lot more thumping. Most of it sounded like it hit the hard cover of the book but there were some more sounds of discomfort from L.
"Oh! Did you see that! Scratched him! He's bleeding a little!"
"You're right! Serves him right! Sittin' there with a book. Acting like he can read! Bloody stuck up if you ask me! What is he? Four?"
"He can't even talk! Been here almost a year and not word! He's either retarded or a snob."
The book didn't move. More thumping sounds. More rocks.
"Not one kid of the orphanage goes near him. The little creep. I heard if you stare into his eyes you turn into stone… or was it go insane? Ah, doesn't matter."
"Really? Well maybe we should carve them out when he sleeps to prevent it!"
"Didn't ya hear? The thing doesn't sleep! My mate tried playing a prank on him one night, almost wet himself. He swears the thing's eyes glowed in the dark. Wouldn't put it past him to have wearied eyes, too."
"Oi, if he's so bloody strange, then we oughta go at him with more then rocks, ne? Maybe we can pound some normality inta him?"
The screen shot up over the edge of the book. The five boys had let go of their rocks and were charging forward. The screen jerked about - L was trying to escape. The ground was suddenly up close. Small hands, smaller than the ones before, with many scrapes and bruises broke the fall. The screen swiveled around to see that one of the boys, one of the much bigger boys, had a thin ankle wrapped in his large chunky fingers.
"The little freak is trying to escape us," the boy jeered to his friends. He turned to L. "What, kid? Afraid of a little human contact, eh?" The boy leaned in close. A tiny fist hit his face. The boy stepped back, startled but not enough to let go of the leg.
"Gee Ed, he got you good!" the thin one laughed.
"Shut up Leo! Now you made me mad you little prick! Fuck, he's actually stronger than he looks…"
"You're just a wimp, Ed. The kid is, like, four or something."
"I told you to shut up Leo!"
The boy's fist, Ed's fist, came down. The screen moved again from the sick look of enjoyment on the other boys' faces to jean-covered knees. L was doubling over. There was even a small grunt of pain.
"Hey, he didn't let go of the book. What? Got some stupid attachment to something you can't even use?" Dirty hands reached for the book that could be seen at the edge of the screen. They tried taking it away but both of L's tiny hands unclenched from around his stomach and snatched it back.
After that what was on screen became too blurry to make out. Soon the screen went black but sounds were still clear. Most if it was grunting, either from L or the other boys, it was hard to tell. There was also a lot of laughing.
"The stupid prick is still trying to protect the book! He must really have air between his ears!"
"We just oughta hit him harder! He'll let go soon."
"What is the meaning of this!" A new, older, feminine voice was heard. The sound of flesh hitting flesh stopped and shifting was heard. Most of it was drowned out by the sound of heavy breathing, interrupted by small gaps.
"It's not what it looks like!"
"I do not wish to hear your attempts to excuse yourselves. Go to the headmaster's office at once! I will deal with you later if necessary." There was silence. "NOW!"
More shifting of clothes. A line of light was seen and then the whole screen lit up. A woman approached; neatly dressed with elegant glasses perched on her head. Raito's eyes widened when he noticed the woman was the one he'd seen at the Plaza a long time ago. If not the same, then almost identical. She was the golden statue with the scrawl on her face.
"They made a mess of you didn't they?" She shook her head. "Why does this just happen when I'm in the worst of moods?" she asked more to herself than to L.
She bent over and snatched L's wrist. The hand and arm now looked like they went through the blender, ruffled up with multiple spots of blood. They crossed the playground, following into the building. Throughout the whole walk the screen kept moving around. Many children and young teens were everywhere, all of them coming out to see the commotion. Mostly the screen stopped on one until they got out of sight. L was holding their gazes. All the children, teens and even a few adults, looked away. Most of them looked more than a little unconvertible.
Finally the woman stopped, pushed a door open and sat L down. The room was an infirmary. She went shuffling through drawers, muttering to herself.
"You know, mister - you could avoid these kind of situations if you actually made friends." Her speech had been interrupted in the middle of saying L's name. This had to be the censorship the personalities were talking about.
The woman looked over her shoulder. It was like she was staring directly at Raito. She turned. "It doesn't help that you don't talk. I have seen your medical reports, you know. I know you're not mute." She came over with a metal tray, medical supplies on it.
She kneeled with a cotton ball in her hand. She brought it close to the screen. This close up you could see the sheer amount of make-up trying to cover up the women's real age. One side of the screen went black again. There was a small hiss.
"Stings, doesn't it?" L didn't answer. She sighed. "You know, children your age would be bawling their eyes out right now. Crying and hauling." Pause. New cotton ball. "I hardly see you cry. In fact, I think I only saw you do it once. And that was when you first got here. It was so quiet, too. No wonder you scare the living daylights out of everyone around you, boy. You're five yet you act like you're an adult."
She stopped again, this time just looking at L – at Raito. She stared for so long Raito thought the boy had turned her into stone. It was like she was searching for something.
"They say you're retarded," she said rather bluntly; dully; over the sound of clothes rustling. A flash of white passed the screen. She had taken L's shirt off. She seemed to flinch when she looked at him again.
"They really did a number on you, didn't they? Look at this… I think I'll have a private talk with them later." Her face darkened. "And children are supposed to be pure. Ha!" She continued working but the screen moved to a point over her head.
"I don't think you have mental problems at all." The screen moved down. Raito caught a glimpse of the slim child's torso and flinched himself. What was not being wrapped in bandages had flakes of blood and was colored blue and purple.
"…But sometimes I wonder…." She snorted. "I'll admit that in the beginning I was just like the others." L hissed again. "Sorry. Do you know how uncomfortable you make people feel?" She looked at him once again.
Staring again. This time she looked fascinated. She smiled. " Of course you do, don't you? I think you like it. I think it amuses you. I use to be just like my colleagues at first. You have got all of them fooled, don't you? You keep them at a distance with a disguise of ignorance, when in reality, I think it is quite the contrary."
She picked up a chair and moved it in front of L, apparently done with his treatment. She turned and went through a bag Raito didn't remember being there, before she brought out a simple notebook, brown in color. Tiny hands tried to snatch it away. She held it over her head.
"I found this in the library. I would say you had forgotten it there but I know better. How many that time? Ah, it doesn't mater. You never give us names. We catch them in the act. Why is that?"
No answer.
"It's not important at the moment." She waved him off and opened the notebook. L made a noise of protest. "It's all right. I didn't read all of it. I found it a few days ago. Had no idea whose it was. Mostly it's just dictionary notations; definitions of words. For a while I thought it was from an older child. The handwriting could only be that of a child. I tried asking around some of the classes but wouldn't you know? No one recognized it." She waved the open book.
"The analogies in here are actually rather impressive. Not if you are in fourth grade, but for someone in kindergarten, it is fantastic." She flipped through some more pages. "They really don't think you are capable of reading – or even understand half of what they say to you, you know. But from what I gathered from this book you must have quite the vocabulary. Where did you find a book with German? I'm quite sure we don't have any in the library…"
L's hand tried to swipe the notebook out of the woman's hands, but she pulled it back. She then closed it and flipped it, presenting it to him. The screen moved to her face then the book. Both tiny hands swooped it up and pressed it closely to his chest.
"Do you know how I figured out it was yours?" The screen focused on her face again. "Yesterday, when I was on library duty, I saw you with multiple dictionaries, as well as a copy of Moby Dick and Sherlock Homes. It came to me then. I didn't believe it at first but when you pulled out loose papers to write on, it just seemed obvious. I really don't see how the other teachers or caretakers were never bothered with what you were doing. Then again you do know how to keep them away…" She tilted her head back. "I was never curious, either. But after that I saw things a little differently. Like, even though you never participate in class, you're always scribbling in your book. I didn't notice that before. Or that when you're not reading, it looks like you're reading people." She giggled.
"Isabella always tells me you give her the willies, you know. She thinks you know some of her deeeeep secrets, or some other rubbish like that. Maybe you do... You don't sleep enough, you know."
She stopped again, staring at him like she expected something. When nothing happened, her shoulders slumped. She picked up the metal tray. "Maybe I'm over-thinking things. Maybe I just sat here and wasted my breath on a strange little boy who likes to copy things out of the dictionary and shuffled through older children's notes. And who just likes to stare…" She had her back to him, now putting things away.
Only the sounds of some bottles being put away resonated. Then…
"Thank you." The voice was raspy, but young and thin. The woman jumped and there was a clatter of metal hitting wooden floor. She whipped her head around, eyes so big Raito was surprised her make-up wasn't cracking and chipping around her eyes.
"Y-you… did you…?"
The screen focused on bony knees. "You are the first person who has attem- attempted to speak to me. Not only did you speak to me like a person, but as someone who was fully aw-aware of what is happening around him." Some words were broken up. He must have had trouble with the pronunciation and with the lack of use of his voice. The screen focused on the woman again. She looked like she was having a hard time breathing. "Not even my parents thought I was this lu- lucid. Thank you."
The screen moved rapidly to the side where his hand snatched the book he had with him earlier. Then, with book and notebook in hand the scene began to change. First the door of the infirmary opened, then it switched to blurry corridors with more whispering. Finally L arrived at another room that had to be a third the size of Raito's own room with barely enough space to open the door.
Raito pulled himself back from the bubble again. He simply sat back. He was trying to process all that he had just seen. There was so much he could get from what he'd just seen. But all he could think about was that group of kids. He could feel the heat rising in his body at the thought.
They were but mere children. Couldn't have been much older than L himself - probably seven. Yet they threw rocks and then fists. They had no mercy and had been fully conscious of what they did. They took pleasure in seeing another person suffer because he didn't fit into their expectations.
The world was rotten.
It explained so much, yet raised more questions than it answered. An orphan, resented by his peers. The world was cruel to L yet he didn't hate it. He didn't turn into a psychopathic murderer, using his intelligence for crime. There had to be a reason.
Watari came to mind. In spite of this, Raito felt like there was more than just the kind gentlemen to be accounted for the way L turned out…
The teen looked up and down the corridor with the millions of images flashing colorfully.
Well, he might not find the answers he was looking for but he surely was going to try.