Chapter 2: Who The Hell Are These People?
The next morning Shizuka was awoken by a knock on her door. She slowly got up and stretched out, noticing she hadn't changed out of her normal clothes. Oh well, it was just a nap. She thought, looking out the window and realizing it looked more like morning than evening. She checked the clock and saw it was 7am. I must've been more tired than I thought.
Shizuka walked over and opened the door to see a young red haired boy standing there, holding a Game Boy in one hand. He looked about twelve, and was staring up at her with slightly sad eyes.
"Hi" She said awkwardly, not totally sure what to do, "Um, who are you?"
"Matt" The boy, Matt, said quietly.
"Ok, um, Matt, why are you here?"
"My Game Boy ran out of batteries just as I was about to win, and I can't find any. Do you have some?" He said most of this while staring at his Game Boy, but as he asked he looked up at her and gave her puppy dog eyes.
"Just the ones in my mp3 player…"
"May I use them?" He said it in the cutest way, and mixed with the eyes, how could Shizuka resist?
"Uh, well…fine" She sighed then turned to get the batteries. Damn kids having to look all cute and innocent and irresistible, she kept thinking as she grabbed the batteries and handed them to him. As he walked off Shizuka realized that she now had no batteries, which meant no music. Well this is great, how am I supposed to get through the day without music? Even though she had planned on laying in her room until she had to come out, Shizuka decided that since she was bored, she mine as well walk around. The place was big, and as Shizuka wandered through the various hallways she knew she was going to become lost. It would be a good distraction though, it meant she would be alone with her thoughts but she wouldn't be concentrating on them.
Along the way she managed to find the kitchen, and at the perfect time since she was getting hungry, having not eaten since the night before. She had been too anxious to eat breakfast this morning and there had been no stopping for lunch. It wasn't quiet dinner time yet, probably not for another hour, so Shizuka figured it would be okay to dig around for something to satisfy her until then. She opened the fridge, looking through its contents, and found some chocolate in the back. Hmm, chocolate does make everything better, which is kind of what I need right now, and it's a good snack since it's not very big, plus there are so many back there no one is going to notice if one bar is gone, Shizuka told herself, and convinced herself to eat it. She grabbed one of the rectangles and shut the fridge door, leaning against it as she opened the wrapper. Little did Shizuka know there happened to be a boy in that orphanage that loved chocolate, and could practically hear the wrapper from anywhere in that house. Before she knew it, that little boy was bolting threw the house, ready to fight for his chocolate. The door flew opened and Shizuka was tackled by a yellow and black blur. The chocolate flew out of her hand as Shizuka hit the floor. When she looked to see what had just hit her she saw a boy, or he seemed to be a boy,* of about twelve, with blonde hair that reached about his chin and all black clothes, on top of her, an angry gleam in his eyes.
"How dare you touch my chocolate!" He yelled in her face. "That's mine and everyone knows it! Touch it again and you'll pay!"
This kid tackled me and was blowing out my eardrums over chocolate? What a brat, Shizuka thought to herself as she stared up at him. "Get off of me" She calmly said.
"Not until you apologize for touching my chocolate" He replied.
"No, I won't, because you over reacted when I didn't even know it was yours. I would say sorry if you had been nicer about it"
The kids face turned into a scowl that very clearly showed he was pissed at her. "Say sorry!"
"No!" And with that she pushed the kid off her and quickly stood up; then, being defiant as she tended to be, Shizuka picked up the chocolate and took a bite. Clearly this was not okay with the boy, who jumped up and tried to either grab for it or tackle her, he ended up doing both. Shizuka held the bar above her head even as she stumbled back against his impact.
"You're a jerk! How dare you eat my food!" The kid yelled some more as he continually jumped for the chocolate while body slamming her. Really the scene could have looked very awkward, and typically Shizuka would have laughed, except she was concentrating more on keeping the treat away.
Soon, as was expected with all the noise they were making, someone finally came into the room to see what was going on.
"Mello!" The man yelled, and both of them stopped and looked at him. He was an older man who was starting to go bald, his hair already gray. Something about him reminded Shizuka of Benjamin Franklin, or a grandpa.
Obviously this man had the kid, Mello's, respect, because he immediately moved away from Shizuka and looked up at the man.
"But she took my chocolate!" Mello pointed back at Shizuka accusingly.
"I didn't know it was his until he tackled me and yelled that I apologize" She defended.
"Mello, come here" The man said and the two walked out into the hallway, presumably so she couldn't hear them.
When they came back in the blonde boy seemed much calmer. "Sorry" He mumbled, though he didn't sound very sorry. "Can you please not eat my chocolate?"
Shizuka looked at Mello, his head was down, his hands behind his back, and he was doing that cute toe thing that kids do to seem, well…cute. "Oh, fine, here, take it" She held out the chocolate to him, and he took it quickly, looking greedy, and ran off.
"Sorry about that," The older man said, "When Mello came here after his parents death, he started eating chocolate as a way to cope, and eating it every day seemed to have stuck with him. Most of the children here have something like that, a way to cope with their emotions that ends up becoming an addiction. It ranges from books, to toys, to certain types of food. Anyways, you're the newest member of Wammy's House correct?"
Shizuka nodded, "Yeah, and who are you?"
"Roger Ruvie, manager of Wammy's House when Watari isn't around" He told her.
"Oh, ok. Nice to meet you, I'm Shizuka"
"I know. We'll have to find a good alias for you to use, can't have anyone knowing your real name"
This line confused Shizuka, "Why can't anyone know my real name?"
"Has no one told you what Wammy's House is about?"
Shizuka shook her head, causing Roger to sigh, seemingly in exasperation.
"The purpose for the children of Wammy's House is to create a successor to the world's greatest detective, L."
"I don't know who L is" She felt stupid for saying that, especially since if this person, L, was the world's greatest detective, she thought she would know about him.
"He's solved countless cases and is extremely intelligent, the best there is."
"And this place exists so when he dies someone else can be him?" The concept seemed strange, and was certainly a lot of pressure to put on these kid "genius's". What if one of them didn't want to? I personally wouldn't mind since I was planning on doing something in criminal justice, but what about the ones that just want to be normal kids, not in some orphanage where they have to life up to this guy L?
"Correct, and that's all you need to know. I assume when Watari dropped you off he assigned someone to show you around?" Roger said, bringing Shizuka out of her thoughts.
"Um, yeah" She nodded, though where he is, is beyond me, Shizuka thought, a bit annoyed that B, who was supposed to be her guide, had just left her.
"Good. Well, if you need anything ask any of the children, or come to me if it's urgent. And if you come up with an alias, let me know" And with that Roger left.
"Ok, cool, I'm glad to see you care so much" Shizuka mumbled sarcastically as she turned back to the fridge, noting not to take any chocolate, and just to be safe, anything chocolate flavored. In the end she picked some grapes to eat, figuring no one would care if the healthy food was gone. Unless a kid is addicted to grapes, then I'm screwed, she jokingly thought, smiling, anyways, an alias, what should be my alias? Shizuka went through names in her head that started with S, not wanting to differ too much from her real name.
She ended up searching for the library, deciding to look through some books to find a name. Of course, the place was big so it took awhile to find it, and after fifteen minutes of searching she finally did. Not surprisingly, it was extremely large, bigger than the public library back home. Of course, aspiring genius's need plenty of compelling literature to make their minds grow so one day they can hopefully be this L guy. She went through the rows and rows of books, opening every couple to see if she could find a name. Eventually she reached the back of the library with no luck in finding a name, though she did find twenty or so computers sitting back there. The boy that took her batteries earlier, Matt, was sitting on one, staring at his screen intensely while his hands flew over the keys. Apparently he had moved on from the Game Boy to computer gaming. She sat next to him and looked at what he was playing, something with a guy in a red hat and a jumpsuit hopping around and yelling 'yahoo!' in an Italian accent. Not interested, Shizuka got up and went back to looking threw more books so she could find a name, of course none could be found. Finally, she gave up, frustrated that she wasted all this time with nothing to show for it except a half-hour wasted. Looking at her watch, Shizuka saw it was already 5:10pm, and figured dinner must be soon. Mine as well go ask that Matt kid how dinner works here, she thought, turning around and heading back to the boy.
"Hey" She said as she sat next to him again. He didn't seem to notice her. "Hello? Kid? Matt?" She poked him.
He paused the game and turned to her, seeming just slightly irritated that she had interrupted his game time, "What?"
"How does dinner time work around here?"
"They'll announce it over the PA system" Matt pointed to the speaker above their heads.
"Oh, ok, thanks" She got up, about to leave, when he started talking to her.
"Here's some batteries to replace the ones you let me borrow" He said, holding up two double A's.
Sweet Hallelujah yes! Now I can listen to my musical drug!, Shizuka thought, the batteries practically glowing angelically in his hand. She grabbed them and quickly thanked him before speed-walking, then running, back to her room.
When she got there Shizuka shoved the double A's in her player and put the headphones in her ears, letting the music wash over her. She fell back on her bed, closing her eyes, in total bliss. "Strange maze, what is this place? I hear voices over my shoulder, nothing's making sense at all. Wonder, why do we race? When everyday we're runnin' in circles, such a funny way to fall. Tried to open up my eyes, I'm hoping for a chance to make it alright. When I wake up, the dream isn't done. I wanna see your face, and know I made it home. If nothing is true, what more can I do? I am still painting flowers for you" Shizuka sang the lyrics passionately to "Painting Flowers" by All Time Low, one of her favorite slower songs. The day seemed to lighten a bit more now that she had sweet musical melodies floating in her ears
*Don't take offense to that Mello fan girls, I love him too, but you have to admit he is a bit feminine