P. 40: "If I wanted to, I could recall many delicate moments from my childhood: the sense of being protected that my parents gave me, my affectionate nature, simply living in a playful, satisfied existence in gentle surroundings."


"If I wanted to, I could recall several pleasant moments from my childhood," Near deadpanned, "but since those memories represent only a very short period in my life, I see no point in revisiting them now."

Sayu slouched, sighing from her cross-legged spot on the floor, and picked up a lone black die from the half-finished tower before her. "It just seems so sad to think that someone my own age could already be so cynical and jaded..."

"To be fair, Miss Yagami, I'm nearly two years younger than you," the cold albino corrected her, "and there is a large difference between cynicism and logic." The girl glared at him and threw the die with a hollow clack to the floor. Near picked it up calmly and returned it to the same spot on the tower that she'd taken it from.

"So letting that... that Mello person get hold of that notebook thing was logical?" she yelled. "And letting my father play right into his plans, and then letting him get himself killed out of guilt for it later, was that logical?!"

The boy's starch-white fingers paused in their work, hovering over the newly begun seventh story of the dice construct.

"No, that was far from a logical move," Near decided, turning a queerly rounded smile up at her. "You might call it an act of love."