Chapter 3: Wednesday

On Wednesday all of Light's friends were acting… Strange.

B was unusually jumpy.

Mello was unusually silent.

Matt was unusually klutzy.

Near was unusually talkative.

L was unusually not present.

At lunch Light sat down with another hummus and vegetable platter. "So guys…" He began awkwardly. No one looked up from their food/DS, except for Near, who chirped, "Yeah light?"

Light began spreading hummus on a celery stick slowly. "Do any of you know why L is absent today? As long as I have known him he has never been absent once. This is very unusual behavior for him so if you know why he's not at this table please say so now, or forever hold your peace."

At this B yelped and almost dropped his jam jar.

Near looked like he was going to say something, but he looked around the table nervously. Well, he mostly looked at Mello, who had been eating his chocolate in stone cold silence. Near knew Mello well enough, he knew that Mello would explode and probably shoot some innocent student if he worded his sentence in a way that displeased Mello.

"Well…" Near began, somewhat hesitantly. He twirled a lock of his hair slowly a couple times before saying, "Yesterday afternoon, Watari had a stroke. He lived but he's in a coma. L is… Remarkably distressed. He's not going to leave Watari's side until he fully recovers. We would have stayed also, but L insisted we come to school. Then under his stress, he cracked a stupid joke about us protecting you from Misa and Kiyomi. That is why L is not here with us now."

Everyone's jaws dropped at least partially. For the first time that day, Matt looked up from his glowing DS. That was the most anyone had ever heard Near say at one time.

Light however, was the first to recover from Near's speech. He stabbed a baby carrot in his hummus.

"Well I hope Watari recovers soon." Light continued eating his vegetables in angry silence. For some reason his was angered by his friends. He knew that they were consistent, stable people who always acted the same and were steadily predictable. Except for B, who's nature it was to be unpredictable. No matter, everyone was acting out of character and Light didn't like it. He didn't want to blame Watari, it wasn't his fault he had a stroke. Yet Light kept turning his fury on the kind old man. Great. Now even Light was acting out of character. Light mentally mugged himself.

After lunch Light had art class. Clay therapy worked very well for Light. Oh yes it did.

As Light slammed his slab of clay on the table, B cringed. After the third or fourth slam, Light finally noticed this.

"Erm, B? Is anything wrong?" Light asked.

By twitched, then cracked his neck loudly. "It sounds like… Dead bodies… Falling to the floor…" B muttered, his eyes flitting up and down from Light to Light's clay.

Still eyeing B nervously, Light began to knead his clay like dough, slowly spreading it out without making a sound.

"He's not going to die, you know. I can see it. I've tried to tell L, but he won't believe me."

Light paused. It seemed B was growing more deranged by the minute. So Light decided to play along with whatever B was getting at. "If you mean Watari, then that's great."

Before Light could start forming his clay, B scowled and leaned in dangerously close to Light's face. Light noticed that B's red eyes were glowing furiously.

"Do you really believe me, Light Yagami?" B hissed. His eyes flashed even brighter when he said Light's name. "He trod a path that few do trod, did Sweeney Todd."

B moved away from Light, going back to his own clay as if nothing had happened. As Light further perfected the clay fingers on his clay hand, he wondered what went on in Mello's rehearsals. Everyone seemed positively entranced with Sweeney Todd… Maybe Mello was a good actor after all. Light made a point to go to Mello's rehearsal tomorrow.

Anyway, throughout the period B continued to mutter incoherently. At the end of the period, Light made a point of talking to the art teacher about moving Light's seat. Because of B kept this type of psychotic prophesizing up, well, Light wasn't sure how much he could take. One period alone had drove his head spinning madly.

Light left the art room in a disheveled state. He forgot to wash his hands of clay grime, and ended up getting it all over his pants. Then he realized he had forgotten one of his binders in his English class, two flights up. Light knew he would be late for chorus if he tried to retrieve it, so he left it for later.

Walking into chorus, he saw Mello talking to the chorus teacher with almost a sour expression. Once Light had gotten his chair and folder set up, he asked Mello what was up.

"Hey, Mello what was that all about?"

Without making eye contact, Mello said, "I told Ms. Cooker I had a hoarse throat. My divine inspiration is being blocked off…" He sighed. "I don't know what's going to happen in rehearsal today…" He closed his eyes momentarily. Matt rubbed Mello's arm, attempting to comfort him. Mello opened his eyes and smiled almost sadly as Ms. Cooker played the opening chords.

Through out chorus, Mello really did make an effort not to sing. Light snickered at the occasional time when a particularly powerful note came bursting out from within him. Ok, Light will admit it, Mello did have a good have a good voice.

Normally, Mello took pride in his voice. He boasted of it, and gloated even more whenever he got a solo. He could also often be seen singing outside of him and Matt's house.

Speaking of which, one time Mello had been outside singing All I Ask of You. Near had also been out and saw him. Near watched Mello curiously. During the climax of the song, Mello turned around and saw Near. This caused the sound of gunshots and much verbal abuse. To make a long story short, Mello was also hypocritical of his voice, refusing to perform privately in front of anyone.

This was funny, because Light once mentioned it to Matt, and Matt said that Mello sang in front of him often. Interesting.

Anyway, that's beside the point. What I was saying earlier was the normally Mello boasted of his voice. Today he kept it quiet, locked up within himself. He only talked of his 'divine inspiration' to make himself sound grander.

Wow. I'm jus noticing this now, but the only realizing I'm writing about Mello's singing voice is to make this chapter as long as the other two. Same thing with this paragraph. Merely a filler.

BLA BLA BLA back to the real story now!

So yeah, in general Mello did not sing. Then when the class was dismissed, Mello and Matt vanished. Light didn't mind, but on the way up to his locker he caught himself singing Dansi Na Kuimba under his breath.

"Dansi na kuimba… Dansi na kuimba kwasauti dance and sing… Dansi na kuimba- AGH!"

Light really detested that song, but it got stuck in his head like L's voice. Wait- what was that?!

Light growled to himself, chucking an apple at Ryuk. Startled, Ryuk dematerialized his body out of instinct, letting the apple soar through the air. The apple hit the ground with a loud bonk. Ryuk let out a cry and dashed to pick up the apple. He then burst into tears when he realized the apple was badly bruised.

Light ignore him. Assuming he was not going to L's today, Light headed for an exit that would make his route home roughly twenty feet shorter. Surprisingly enough, B was at the doorway, as if waiting for Light.

Seeing Light, B gave a maniacal smile. As Light walked past B and through the doors, B gave the wave of British royalty. Waving back like he always did, Light wondered if he should start doing research. Research on local psychologist who specialized in working with adolescents. Light was seriously worried about B.