A/N: This is one of those chapters that I just do for the hell of it. Because it's funny, and you need comic relief every once in a while. :'D Kind of what I did for Chapter 9, but Chapter 29 is serious, because it's so close to the finale and I can't really fit a chapter only for shits and giggles in there. I'm so mean to her sometimes. I swear if I were to meet my own character face to face, she'd strangle me!
Oh, and I've been taking a Forensics class this semester! It's hella cool, and I discovered that they only get hair DNA from the little bits of skin left onwhen they're pulled out. So I'm going to leave the below plot device alone because I'm way to lazy to touch it right now, and hey, maybe they do have little skin-bits on Misa's hair.
- DW
Chapter Nineteen - Amusement
Friends do not lie,
But they can keep secrets.
Friends do not cheat,
Or they are not worth it.
Friends are not rude,
But they can be honest.
Friends do not stab you in the back,
Or they are not your friends.
Friends are people who will watch out for you,
And you watch out for them.
I am relaxing in the new hotel room. It's been twenty days since I burned Misa's Death Note (that would make today June 14). The Second Kira is no more. The other detectives are puzzled by this. They would have thought that if the Second came into contact with the First, that at least some sort of message would be sent.
L had no idea of what to make of it, and I could only hide my smile.
The Task Force has a small shred of DNA from the envelope: one of Misa's hairs. I've been thinking about how I'm going to negate it. Unfortunately I can't see how I could pull that off without leaving any evidence against me.
"Kurai, I'm bored!" Vile shouts at me. I roll my eyes and focus on the article I was reading on my laptop. I'm laying on my back, stretched out on the couch, head against the armrest with a pillow in between. It's still early morning, so I haven't bothered to change out of my pajamas. Ryuzaki is somewhere else in another room.
"Then go do something," I say back quietly.
"I can't think of anything," he whines like a child.
"Since when have you been such a pain?" I groan and slide my hand down my face. "Fine, I'll help you get rid of boredom if you can sabotage Misa's evidence for me."
He's silent for a moment before, "Alright." His wings extend from his back and he takes off in a swish of air that ruffles some of the pages on the coffee table.
I … I hadn't actually been serious. I mean, who would have expected that he'd actually agreed to do it? I wonder what he's thinking, but most of all I hope that I haven't gotten myself into something I can't handle.
I quickly finish reading the article, something about glowing monkeys for Aids research. After that, I shut the lip to the laptop and go searching for Panda-Face. I don't want to admit it, but I'm bored too. Light hasn't done anything yet, and I'm sitting here on edge.
The next room is dark, so I flick on the lights. L looks over his shoulder from his perch on his chair. The laptop he clings to so closely is resting on the table in front of him. A tray of sweets is sitting next to that.
"What you doing?" I ask, looking over the chair at the screen.
"That is hardly a proper use of grammar."
"It's the morning; I don't feel the need to use my brain." I lean on the chair so that I'm staring right at him, arms dangling down. "There's no need to give me that look Panda-Face."
"My name is not 'Panda-Face'," he makes a point of looking back at his computer screen.
"You need a break."
"I will take a break once I figure out why the Second Kira has disappeared."
"They're probably dead; Kira must have killed 'em. Besides, it's not like you can do anything at the moment."
"I would like to continue with my work, if you mind." His intent could not be any clearer. I sigh, then get off the chair and head off towards the in-suite kitchen to make some fresh coffee. I need it desperately at this point.
I grumble the entire while. I am taking the first sip of a cup when Vile floats up through the floor. "Back so soon?" I ask.
"It was so easy to do," he chuckles. "You owe me now."
I narrow my eyes, but Shinigami aren't as easy to read as people are. "Fine, what do you want?"
"I want something interesting today. Not just sitting around doing nothing."
I think a moment. I can make that happen. But first, something suddenly strikes me, so I go pour another cup of coffee. "Try this," the red lights blink from his skull, so he shuffles over and leans down so that I can pour the hot liquid down his maw. I maneuver the cup past those huge teeth and pour it straight down his gullet, retracting my hand before he bites it or something.
Vile stands up strait, completely still for a moment. I wonder if caffeine works on Shinigami. I start laughing quietly when he shakes his head, his entire body shivering shortly after.
"Whoa, what is that stuff?" he asks me, looking around for more.
"Coffee," I smile, "Really gets you going."
"More …" I bet if he didn't have a skull for a head, he would probably start drooling right around now. I grab the coffee pot and pour the rest down his throat. He starts acting like he's caffeine-high or something, which all things considering is probably true. I can't help but laugh when he trips on thin air and falls on his face. He looks like some sort of weird chicken.
After Vile calms down I go back into the living room and fetch my cell-phone. I have something in mind that Vile will find interesting, and we all need it desperately.
"Hello?" Kakushin answers.
"Hey, what's up? I need a favor of you," I quickly explain what I have in mind.
"Sure thing, I wouldn't miss this for the world! I'll be right there."
I go get changed while I'm waiting for Kakushin to get here – jeans, black socks and a black and white striped sweater with convenient pockets. I like pockets. They're so useful.
"So what do you have planned?" Vile asks.
"Just watch," I stick my tongue out at him.
I also call the others and instruct them to meet us outside the Collage campus. Kakushin arrives shortly, knocking on the door to the room. I quickly let her in.
"Alright, let's go," she giggles. I lead her into the other room as silently as I possibly can. We sneak up on Ryuzaki …
I lean over the chair and snap the lid to his laptop shut.
He looks over at me and gives me the best death-glare he possibly can. I give a big grin, and from his other side Kakushin grabs his arm and yanks him out of the chair. I laugh at his stunned expression from on the floor. He stands up and goes to grab his laptop (shooting a glare at Kakushin), but quickly discovers that I have it.
"Niiro, give my computer back," he says through gritted teeth.
"No," I reply, still grinning. He moves to take it from me, but I dance just out of his reach. "You're not getting it back unless you promise to take a break."
He pauses, seeming to weigh his options. I wonder if he's arguing with himself. That's a sign of insanity, especially if you argue back.
"Come on Panda-Face! It'll be fun!" Kakushin adds.
"Alright," he lets out a sigh and relaxes. I hand him back his laptop and he sets it down on the table. "What do you want of me?"
"We're going to go out with the others," I reply.
"Who is included in 'the others'?" he looks over at me with an annoyed expression.
"Makoto, Light and a friend of Light's."
He looks as though he wants to hit his head repeatedly against the wall. I would have sympathized with him, but he needs to get out more, so I can't. Too bad for you, L.
We get over to campus pretty quickly. Makoto, Light and a girl that I've seen in some of my classes are there (I can't remember her name for the life of me). I smile and wave as we approach as Kakushin skips up to them. L lurks behind me, giving off an aura of serious dislike. Vile seems to be having fun, because he keeps chuckling every once in a while.
"What's up guys?" I ask as we get close enough.
"We got here as soon as we could," Makoto answers.
"Thanks. It took both Kakushin and I to get Panda-Face outside," I laugh good-naturedly. I don't care if I'm getting glares from behind my back. Today, he's in such a bad mood he's not even pretending to be nice. That's saying something, especially when he's in public.
I then turn to the rest of them, "Are we going?"
They all nod or give a grunt of agreement.
We walk for a while, talking about things like classes or recent news or other things like that. We stay away from the Kira case however, because Light's friend is the only one not in the 'informed' group.
That is, we avoid that topic until she brings it up.
"The Kira killings still haven't stopped, even with all the people after him," the girl says, and pretty much the rest of us tense up.
"Well, Kira leaves no evidence besides death," Makoto interjects, "It's no wonder that it's taking a while."
"They've gotten nowhere though," she replies steadily, "It's as if the police force and L are incompetent."
Ouch, that must have hurt. I glance back at Ryuzaki, and sure enough he's tensed up even more. I now look over at Kakushin, and with pleading eyes I convey the message 'we need a distraction'.
Kakushin seems to get a brilliant idea, because she gives a sequel of joy and points across the street. "Kurai, oh my god we have to do this!"
I look to where she's pointing.
Oh god no.
I run and hide behind Ryuzaki. "Don't make me go in there!" I get amused looks from Light, Makoto, Kakushin and the other girl.
"Come on Kurai, it won't kill you!"
"You know damn well I hate those hell-holes!"
"You do look like you could use it," Light's friend says. Insensitive bitch …
Vile is laughing hysterically now. Are you happy Shinigami? You don't have to be bored today. I'm sticking my pride and dignity out for you! This wasn't worth the evidence! I repent!
The girl and Kakushin drag me out from behind Ryuzaki (who looks slightly less pissed and even amused) and away over the street. "Save me!"
"Come on Kurai! It'll be fun!"
"Yeah, you'll look great afterwards."
"I don't want to get a makeover!"
"I hate both of you," I hiss. They forced me to get a freaking makeover. A makeover! Fortunately, I insisted that the stuff they did to me wouldn't be permanent. I can take it all off as soon as this is done. They said something along the lines of 'just try it, you might like it!' I want to rip out the heart of something. Why, why me?!
"You don't, you're just not used to what they've done with your hair," Kakushin laughs. We're in a row, in seats, as whatever that stuff was dries.
I glance over at Kakushin (on my left) and then at Takada (I got her name earlier).
I look back at the space in front of me and groan, "This was not a good idea. Although, not my worst." I grimace.
"What's your worst?" Kakushin asks.
"Getting drunk on my eighteenth birthday."
Both Takada and Kakushin laugh at me.
"It's not funny! I have no idea what I did that night, but according to Yae I was on the phone."
Kakushin gives one of those evil grins that we're so proud of, "With who?"
I groan again, "Panda-Face."
Kakushin roars with laugher and Takada just looks confused.
"Panda-Face?" she asks.
"Our nickname for Ryuzaki," I say.
"Why would you call him that?"
"It's a long story," I quickly tell her about my 'Panda-eyes' and how when Kakushin met him she exclaimed that he had them too. I don't tell her about the reason for the meeting however. Top secret shit that is.
"You know him well?" Takada asks me afterwards.
"Sort of, we're friends."
"You're dating Light, and friends with the other top-student."
"That about sums it up."
"I mean, why would Light take an interest in you? You're so much like Ryuzaki. Not the type that Light would go for."
I give a small smile. "Panda-Face and I might be similar in a cosmic sort of sense, but we have very different personalities. As for Light, I have no idea. My guess is that I'm the most intelligent female on campus. He seems to not like people less intelligent than him." Takada huffs indignantly.
"Yeah, that's true. I bet if Panda-Face was a girl, Light would be going after him instead of you," Kakushin points out.
Now that thought was funny! Both Kakushin and I laugh so hard we start tearing up.
The Shinigami, Vile, followed the three human boys as they continued to wander. He had no interest in human female bonding behavior, even if he did pity his human's misfortune. That was why it was so amusing.
In the meantime he found this group to be much more interesting. Only the one human boy, Makoto Korin, could see him, and seemed rather perplexed as to why Vile was following them instead of Kurai. The answer was simple: Kurai had promised entertainment, so he was going to get it.
It was the other two he was interested in though. These two hated each other with everything they had, but acted like they were friends, except today. Today the dark one was followed by a black cloud of anger, and it affected the other two.
It was the perfect scenario for something interesting to happen.
Ryuk, who was trailing after the group too, seemed to agree.
"So … How's it going with you two?" Makoto tried to break the awkward silence, causing Vile to smirk inwardly. It was the calm before the storm, the tense silence where you could hear a pin drop.
The Shinigami was just waiting for the pin to drop, and all hell would break lose.
"Alright I suppose," Light shrugged.
"It would be better if we had a lead," Ryuzaki muttered shortly.
"Sorry man, I can't help you with that," Makoto shrugged.
"Wait … does that mean you're in on the case?" Light asked Makoto.
"Yeah, I hacked Kurai in. That's how she got on the case in the first place." Makoto laughed good-naturedly and rubbed the back of his neck.
"You're a hacker?" Light asked.
"That is what he was implying Light, or do you feel the need to state the obvious?" Ryuzaki said dryly. Light's attention switched from the hacker to the dark detective.
"I was just double-checking. It's polite, and a way to forward a conversation," he replied steadily.
"Completely unnecessary," Ryuzaki retorted.
And …
"What is with you? There's no need to be rude," Light's smile faded.
The pin dropped.
Vile laughed inwardly in victory. He was right, these humans were so interesting.
"There's no need to be a snotty teenage brat," L growled back. The group stopped walking as Light and L had a stare down. Makoto stood next to Vile, who was chuckling.
"What's wrong with you? You're acting like a real jerk," Light was getting really pissed.
"Well maybe if Light were to stop talking, we could go and get this over with."
"Maybe if you got that stick out of your ass, and acted half-way decent, you wouldn't have to 'get it over with'."
"It all counts on your perspective of 'decent'."
"Well you could at least try to act like a human being!"
"Or Light could accept that everyone doesn't have to fit into his vision of how the world should work. Very Kira lik-"
Ryuzaki never got the chance to finish, because Light's fist connected with his face. Makoto flinched from the sidelines as the scrawny detective hit the pathment, hard. Vile just chuckled louder, which escalated into full-out howling.
The stunned L silently picked himself off the ground, his face shadowed and mouth set in a frown. His arms hung limply by his sides, but you could tell that he was ready to spring at any moment.
"You know, Light, it's impolite to hit someone."
Light stalked forward so that he was right in the detective's face. "It's impolite to take your frustration out on other people!"
The next move was completely unexpected to the others, especially since it was L making the move. He ducked down and twisted his body around, sending his foot into the air, which caught Light right in the jaw. The brunette flew a few feet where he hit the ground, the breath rushing out of his lungs.
Light blinked as he recaptured his lost breath. He got off the ground and was just about to rush forward and attack L with everything he had, but Makoto jumped in between them, waving his arms.
"Enough guys, stop fighting!" Makoto shouted.
The two of them backed down, still glaring at each other.
Vile laughed hysterically, clutching his stomach and bowed over. This was so much fun! He enjoyed being near the human Kurai, because she was able to give him much amusement.
Today was definitely not boring.
I grumbled all the way back to the hotel. Damn them, they did all this weird shit to me, and it's going to take at least three showers to get it all off. Next time I need to come up with a quick distraction, do not ask Kakushin.
Don't even get me started on that bitch Takada – all self-righteous and stuff. Thinks she's all that and a bag of chips, going for the 'sophisticated' look. No, real smart people look like we're crazy, just kidding, or am I?
You know what? I don't even care anymore. I'm just going to go up there, take an Aspirin, a nice long shower and then sleep.
Makoto called me earlier, told us not to wait up for them. I wonder what happened. I'll probably find out later. So I'm just walking across the lobby, into the elevator.
Ding! It stopped. Shuffle down the hall; take the key-card from my pocket; swipe it through; open the door.
I give a loud sigh of relief and then I notice Vile standing in the middle of the room. I quickly glance around to make sure nobody is here. "Happy now?" I groan.
"Yep," he chuckles. "Hey, do you have any more coffee?"
"No," I say, lethargically shuffling towards the bathroom to get this crap off my face. That's when I pause. The room that Ryuzaki currently lurks in in dark – usually there would still be a faint glow coming from his laptop. There is no glow now.
I cautiously step into that room, careful not to hit anything. It's quiet, too quiet. "Hello?" I say, looking around.
"Hello Niiro," a muffled voice replies. I sigh, shake my head and go turn the lights on. Is he really just sulking? He sulks like a child.
'I'm also childish and I hate to lose', he had said. Well, I can see the truth in that. It takes me only a few seconds to find him. He's in the corner, back to the wall, face buried in his knees and arms extended over them. His hands continue to clench and unclench.
"What happened to you?" I ask, standing in front of him. He slowly looks up, and we study each other closely.
He has a nice shiny black eye, and I don't mean his usual brand, I mean the bruising kind.
He is silent for a moment. "You look … different," he observes, sub-consciously bringing his thumb to his lower lip.
"No shit, Sherlock," I sigh. "I'm not even going to ask what happened. I'm just going to go take a shower," I shake my head, turning around to leave the room.
You better be fully satisfied Vile, because I'm not helping you again anytime soon.
I need an Aspirin …