Well, here it is. Sorry for such the long wait. Not only did I have to worry about school but my computer has been acting up. It's basically falling apart right now.
Mello awoke to the sound of nothing. No, that's not right. He awoke to the sound of peace and quiet. Ah, finally, some peace and quiet. Well, another day of school. Another day of those annoying brats is more like it. He prayed to God that Maria was sick and would therefore miss school.
"Matt," he called out. There was no reply. "Matt," he called out louder. There was still no reply. He would have to go to wake his friend up. Again. "Matt I swear, if you aren't up by the time I get to your room, I'm gonna..."
He saw Matt, butt sticking up and face on the floor with drool coming out of his mouth. This was the perfect opportunity for Mello to literally kick some ass.
"Ow. What the hell was that for?"
"Get off your lazy ass and get ready for school."
Matt said some colorful obscenities under his breath and got up.
He then paused momentary, trying to remember where he put his school supplies. 'Oh yeah,' he left it in the closet. With everything else.
He would have to search through all that stuff. "It's better if I don't go to school then."
It was no use. Mello wanted him to go, so he, Matt, will have to put up with it.
He slowly turned the knob on his closet, 'I hope nothing falls on me.' and opened the door. The things in the closet became an avalanche, falling on top of him and covering him up. That ought to teach him to be more cleanlier, more organized, but he's used to things like this happening.
Thus started his day of trying to dig himself out of the pile of things, all the while trying to find his school supplies.
He hoped Maria was in a better situation than the one he's currently in. Maria. She's an okay gal, sometimes annoying, but she's really good. There was just something about her that brought out Matt's brotherly side. Was it her childishness? Her smile? Her crying? Matt honestly didn't know the answer.
He wants to protect. Protect her like a big brother should. Like he should have-
He really hoped that the day would get better. Waking up to your friend kicking your, quite literally, ass, and then being buried under a pile of things was no fun.
He really has to get going. He could hear someone honking their car. Akira was there to pick them up. Matt doesn't know why the man couldn't just let them walk to school themselves. It's not like some murderer is out on the lose. Oh, right. There were murderers out there.
Matt quickly got as much school supplies as he could find. He didn't bother with cleaning up the mess. He'll clean it up when he feels like it. He ran into the kitchen, got himself two slices of bread, and put them in the toaster. He anxiously counted the seconds, waiting for the toast to be ready. For some reason, it was taking longer than it usually does. Matt could smell something burning and when he finally figured why the toast was taking too long to be done, it was too late. He had somehow managed to burn the toast to a pitch black crisp. Not even jam could save it.
Matt threw the brunt toast in the trash and hurridly made his way to the lawn where Akira was waiting. When he got there, he saw Mello glaring at him.
"It's about time you moron," Mello said.
"Let's just get in the car," Matt replied.
Near and Maria were already in the car. Both were playing with toys.
"Uuu~. Hi Matt, hi Mello," Maria greeted.
"Hi Maria," Matt said kindly and Mello said in a grumpy tone. Mello was really hoping that Maria would be sick. That way, he wouldn't have to deal with that annoying girl. He wonders how can anyone put up with that girl, and if she has any friends. How can a mother put up with that?
The car ride was relatively quiet. If one could count the noises coming from Maria's mouth as quiet.
Mello gritted his teeth. Will this girl ever be quiet?
Then the car stopped in front of the school. Mello unbuckled his seat-belt as fast as he could and ran out of the car. He didn't even bother closing the door. Matt followed, and so did Maria. Near was the last one to get out of the car. He looked at the driver and thanked him for the ride. The child watched as the man left them to continue their education. Not that the education was actually new. The class is small, a mix of grades, and unfortunately the three Whammy boys are completing assignments that are below their intelligence. Mello could not wait until the investigation started and he could have something challenging.
The four children crept into the school building. Matt had hoped they weren't late. They weren't. In fact, they were rather early. The only people in the school who were not them were Satoko and Rika, one of whom was setting a trap.
"Rika, how's the practice going?" Satoko asked her dark haired friend.
"The hose is a little bit heavy, but they say that I'm getting the hang of it," Rika said.
"That's great, Rika!" Satoko tied a knot in the rope.
"Exactly what are you practicing for?" Mello literally made Satoko jump when he asked that question. She soon recovered.
"She's practicing for the cotton drifting festivel," she replied bluntly. She did not appreciate that scare.
"You should come," Rika told them.
"I'll consider it," Mello said like he really did not want to go. "Besides, it's probably something stupid," he muttered under his breath. Apparently, he didn't do a good job because other people heard him. Satoko's and Matt's eyes widen from what they heard.
The problem was that it was not because Mello thought that the festival was actually stupid, he just thought that he would not have the time to enjoy it. Rather than admit it, he decided to play the sour grapes trope. He's like that.
"Sorry if he offended you," Matt told the two girls. Mello had already taking a seat and was sulking. "He's a good guy, just somewhat of a jerk," Matt confessed.
"Hmph," Satoko said, "it's his fault if he wants to miss a very fun day."
"Uuu~I want to go to the festival," Maria held Sakutaro close to her body.
"Sure you can come. It will be so much fun," Satoko told the younger girl.
"Near, don't you want to go to the festival? Uuu!"
Near glanced at Maria, played with his hair for a bit, an then answered: "I might."
"So, when's the festival?" Matt asked the two girls.
"Two weeks sir," Rika said. "You should come watch me."
"I'll make plans to attend it."
Matt walked to his seat and sat down. Then he laid his head on his desk and fell asleep.
Near sat upon the floor, putting together that same blank puzzle.
Maria, oh course, continued to play with her beloved Sakutaro.
"Uuu~I wonder what the festival will be like," Maria said to her little friend.
"I'll bet it would be fantastic," Sakutaro said.
"I miss Mama," said Maria dejectedly. "I wish Beatrice was here."
"Remember what your Mama said?"
"Uuu. Yes," Maria replied somewhat bitterly.
"I can't always take care of you," both of them said.
'It's not like Mama actually really took care of me,' Maria thought. 'No, Mama's good.' Maria tried to banished the bad thoughts of Rosa. 'Mama's good. Mama's good. It's just the bad witch that posseses Mama. That evil witch is the bad one. Not Mama.'
Maria clutched Sakutaro. She was beginning to feel the after effects of not eating breakfast. She would have to go to the store after school to buy some more food. At least she was able to put together a lunch.
She liked Akira, even if she didn't know him for that long. He was nice to her. She wonder if that's how having a father would be like. To have someone pat her head, tell her that she did a good job, play with her, help her with her homework, tuck her in at night, and protect her from the bad witch.
Bad witch. If her mother turns into the bad witch, does that mean that Maria will turn bad?
She contemplated the idea of having a bad side to herself.
She will fight against the bad side then. She will not let the bad side win, if she even has a bad side.
Maria shook herself out of her thoughts and watched Near as he went on to solving his puzzle. Pale hands grabbed an even paler piece and placed it inside the puzzle. Piece by piece, he put the puzzle together. There was an L in the corner. Why would an L be in another wise blank puzzle?
Near lifted the puzzle up and then let the pieces fall to the floor. He started the process all over again.
Mello saw Maria watching Near. He saw that Near did not even respond to the girl's presence.
"Near is so rude," Mello muttered to himself.
He wished the boy would just disappear. No. Better yet, both of those annoying brats need to disappear. Near only gets in Mello's way. Mello knew that if Near didn't exist, then he (Mello) would be L's favorite. If only Near didn't exist. Unfortunately, Mello can't just erase Near from existence.
Matt was asleep. A little bit of drool went out of his mouth. His red hair was all shaggy and his goggles were in an awkward position. Mello swore that he was the only orderly one of the two of them.
A few more students came in. Satoko guided them past the traps. No more piece and quiet for Mello. Those children were so loud.
A scream was heard through out the class room.
"Dammit Satoko. My hip!" Keiichi roared as he chased the bratty little blonde around the class.
"Oh ho ho. Looks like you fell for my traps again Keiichi," Satoko taunted. For added affect, she stuck out her tongue at him and said, "Nyah, nyah. You can't catch me. You can't catch me."
That was her big mistake. The moment she stopped to taunt Keiichi (it was actually a little after she stopped) that he caught her.
"You're gonna pay you little brat," Keiichi was about to finish until Rika told him not to with those big, pleading eyes.
"Teacher's coming," some student yelled. Everyone, save for The Whammy boys and Maria, helped clean up. Mello watched everything, and he was greatly amused by what he saw. He has not seen a prank like this for weeks. He liked the pranks, especially when it was on someone else and not him.
Matt just woke up right when everyone was cleaning so he was a little lost. Near glanced at the scene between Satoko and Keiichi a couple of times, but was otherwise uninterested. Maria thought it was very funny. She knew that today was going to be the best day ever.
School passed. It was a little boring for the Whammy boys. Maria struggled with some of her work but Rena helped her out with it. She liked Rena and wished that they were related. She wished that she wasn't the only child. That way, she won't get lonely but she has all her "friends" to keep her company.
The children are a lot nicer to her than all the other children at her old school. They probably don't even notice that she's gone. They are probably having a great big party because the weirdo is gone.
She just wanted everyone to be happy because of magic.
She doesn't want to be alone in that empty house. She's tired of being alone.
The car ride back home was unusually silent. Matt was a bit concerned about Maria. She seemed to be in a bad mood. It was too late to say anything because they were about part ways.
"Goodbye Maria," Matt said.
"Uuu~Goodbye," she replied.
Once the three boys got out of the car, Mello taunted Matt.
"I didn't think you'd go after someone that young," Mello said.
"It's not like that!" Matt blushed when he heard what his best friend was getting at.
Mello snorted and then laughed out loud. Matt sighed because that was the only thing he could do. Hitting Mello would mean Mello getting pissed off, and when Mello gets pissed off, it's bothersome.
Near observed the two for a few seconds before making his way outside. He did not want to bother the other two nor did he want them to bother him.
All is well in that area.
"So Rena, what do you think of the newcomers?" Keiichi asked.
"They seem really nice but I wish they would speak up more," Rena said, thinking of Near. "I think Maria's really cute. I wanna take her home with me," she gushed.
"I wonder why they're here?"
"Eh," Rena paused, "maybe they're exchange students!"
"I didn't think that we would get any exchange students," Keiichi said. "But it doesn't seem impossible for that to happen," he added. "Anyways, I heard that Rika and Satoko invited them to the cotton drifting."
"That's very nice of them."
"I can't wait to see Rika's outfit."
"Me neither. She'll look so, so cuuuutttee," Rena blushed as she rubbed her face. "Will you help me look for treasure? Will you?" Rena asked suddenly.
"Sure I will," Keiichi patted the ginger's head causing her to blush more.
Treasure hunting for Rena meant going to a dump sight and looking for anything that she thought was cute, which was technically everything.
It's such a shame what happened there.
Maria sat on her bed. She wanted to call her mother but she was unsure if her mother would actually answer her. Well, sulking wasn't going to accomplish anything. She needed to unpack her things. She sure had a lot of boxes. She knows, she could make a game out of it and Sakutaro could play with her.
She grabbed the lion-boy and dragged him to the nearest set of boxes.
"Uuu~Let's open these up," she told her friend.
Maria quickly tore off the tape from each and every box, humming as she did so.
All her friends greeted her.
"Uuu~Good evening everyone!"
"Good evening Maria," her friends answered.
Maria unpacked more and more of her belongings. All her friends are with her now so how can she be lonely?
It was getting dark outside. Oh, Maria had forgotten to get food earlier that day, and now she was hungry. She has to go to the store, pronto.
"Maria, where are we going?" Sakutaro asked.
"To the store," Maria replied. She was used to going out late at night, so it did not bother as much. She grabbed some money and stuffed it into her little purse.
"Goodbye everyone!"
"Goodbye Maria!"
Maria ran. She had to get to the store so that she can get some food for dinner. She was thankful that there weren't that many people out that evening so she wouldn't accidentally crash into one while she was running. The store that she sought was just up ahead. Victory will be hers. Almost there, got it.
"Here we are," Maria told the stuff lion. She open the door to get inside.
"So, what do we know about the deaths?" Mello asked Matt and Near.
Matt raised his hand: "That it happens on the night of the cotton drifting festival."
"Exactly," Mello slammed his fist into the palms of his other hand. "What else?"
"The one of them is connected to the dam construction," Near answered. "In the first one, a construction worker was brutally murdered, and another construction worker disappeared. "
"One gets killed, and then another person disappears," Matt said.
"We still need more information," Mello concluded. "We need to gather up more information on the victims. Tomorrow." Unfortunately for them, L neglected to tell them the names of the victims. He said that they would have to find them out on their own. They would gain the experience. He also said that if anything bad happened, or if they were suspicious, they should call the police and have the police call L. Mello wondered if L has any of those task forces nearby.
The meeting was adjourned, and the boys retreated to their rooms to sleep.
"Thanks sir," Maria waved at the clerk. He smiled at her. He was a little concerned (very concerned) that a girl her age was shopping all by herself. Girls her age shouldn't be out so late. Rika and Satoko should know that. 'Those two should really be careful at night,' he thought.
Maria ran down the path to her home. She ended up leaving the store at a late hour, and now it was dark outside, but she didn't mind. She was used to it. She was also going to have a feast.
Then she ran into him.
"Sorry," she looked up, "Keiichi?"
"Don't worry about it," he scratched his head.
"Hau~so cute," Rena said.
"Eh? Rena don't think about such things," Keiichi warned his friend. "Kidnapping is a crime." He turned back to Maria, "Why are you out so late?"
"Uuu~ I went to buy food," Maria held the bag in front of her so that Keiichi could see. "Sakutaro and I are going to have a feast."
"Alright then. Goodbye."
"Uuu~ Goodbye!" Maria ran off again.
"I hope she makes it home safely. Don't you Rena?"
Rena clenched the deformed (she calls it cute) doll in her hand.
"Rena?"
"Why isn't Maria's mom with her? I wonder. I wonder," was all that Rena said.
"That's...is strange," Keiichi replied. He couldn't really answer Rena's question properly. "Maybe she doesn't have one?"
"Hau~I want to hug her now."
"Okaaay..."
This was one of the best feast in the history of best feast.
Now, Maria was tired. She cleaned the dishes, took a bath. After she was done with all that, she grabbed Sakutaro and went to bed. It's not that bad at that town. Sure it's small but the people are nice to her, and the other kids don't bully her. That's always a plus. She's going to miss this place once she goes back home, which will be in a few weeks. Maybe a month or so. She wondered how her mom was doing.
'Probably sleeping around,' Maria tried to quickly shut off that hateful voice in her head. She did not want to think about those things.
She hugged her Sakutaro to her chest and slept. She dreamed of sweets, magic, and her friends, who were nothing more than toys.
AN: I hope this chapter was okay.