Chapter 2

The quiet boy in Wammy's House

Time flew by and the day had come for her to go to Wammy's House. Watari had picked her up early in the morning and arrived at the special orphanage early in the afternoon. They didn't talk much inside the car, except for when Watari was explaining to her how the institution worked, when she was going to have classes, when was dinner time etc etc.

She stepped out of the trendy black car and starred at her now new home. It was a huge early Edwardian styled building, protected by an elegant black metal fence. She followed her new guardian inside the garden and into the house. It was Sunday, so all the children were playing outside, except a few teenagers who played in the computer room. As the tour of the institution went on, she liked the place more and more. However, before they reached the dorms, she saw a small boy, probably 2 years younger than her judging from his skinny appearance. He was standing strangely on a chair in the corridor, staring at the floor. Watari saw the boy, he let go of Lizzie's hand and went to see the boy.

"Hello Lawliet, what are you inside on this sunny day?

-I'm bored.

-I can see that, but I'm afraid I have no further cases for you, why don't you try and make some friends?

-They do not wish to be my friend and neither do I.

-I see, well, why don't you go to the library, I know you've read almost every book in there, but I bought some more yesterday. You should go, alright?"

Lawliet took the advice and walked off in a strange manner. Watari sighed.

"Why doesn't he want to make friends Mr Watari?

-It has more do with the fact that most people don't except him as he is, child. Lawliet might only be nine, but he is already one of the best investigators in the country. He is very intelligent, and sadly, does not talk the same way children do and cannot make proper conversations with other children.

-Oh...but are you sure he is nine? He is ever so small.

-Lawliet is special. Anyway, let's go to your room and let you unpack your suitcase.

-Alright."

She entered her new room, it was a lot bigger than the one she used to share with her siblings and the one she had at her aunt's house. She was happy, she will have lots of place to draw, paint and read mangas. She unpacked her suitcase, not knowing what to do after, and having lost sight of Watari, she decided to look for the library Watari had mentioned earlier, hopping to find mangas to read. She walked down stairs, corridors, kitchens, dinning rooms, living rooms, play rooms, computer rooms, class rooms, and finally found the library.

She entered the room, and immediately saw the boy she saw earlier. He was sitting in the same strange manner as before. Hearing her come in, he looked away from the book he was reading, and looked at her. He made a study of her and when finished, looked back at his book and started reading again.

Amazed on how many books there were, Lizzie didn't know where to start looking, remembering the conversation the boy had with Watari early, she knew she could count on this Lawliet boy.

"Hello Lawliet, I'm Lizzie, I'm new here, it's nice to meet you!

-...

-Um, so how are you, is the book you're reading interesting?

-...

-I know you like books, could you help me find a book I'm looking for please?

-...

-You remind me of a transmitter I used to have.

-...

-Oh well, I'll look for a manga on my own, nice seeing you!"

Wow, he really is shy. It's a pity, he has a very nice voice, he should use it. After twenty minutes of searching, she found a dozen of them. She started reading them, by the time she had finished, it was already dinner time. She put back the mangas where they were, and heading out the library, Lawliet was still reading.

"Um, Lawliet, it's dinner time, I think we have to go to the canteen now.

-...

-No but seriously, your dinner will go cold if you don't come.

-...

-Lawliet, come on, Watari told me if students are late, they won't get any food. You don't want to be hungry do you?

-...

-I'm sure the book is interesting, but if you finish now, you won't have anything else to do after, wouldn't it be more logical to spend your time better?

-...

-Well I'm going seeing you don't like me, bye!"

Well that boy is stupid, who would skip dinner, I'm sure the food's great here, I saw what the cooks were cooking earlier, it looked great. She headed to the dinning room, well, more like the dinning hall. She met some new people and befriended them as soon as she met them. When she finished eating, she looked around the hall for Lawliet, hoping he did come and eat, but there was no sign of him. She saw that her new friend Melody didn't eat his strawberry cake, and had already gone. She took the cake and went back to the library. Again, Lawliet was still reading quietly in the library, only the book had changed. Lizzie went back to the manga section of the library and started reading again. She was hoping to stay up till eleven o'clock in the library, eat her late night snack and then go to bed, but at around ten o'clock, she heard a weird sound.

GROOOOWL. What on earth was that sound, she looked at the source of the noise, it was Lawliet.

She went towards Lawliet, a manga in a left hand and the cake in her right.

"You sound hungry, do you want my cake?

-..., (he didn't say anything, but looked at the cake she was handing out)

-I don't really need it, I had my dinner, here, take it."

He took the piece of cake and started eating it. He finished it quickly, showing that he was very hungry. He then took back his book and started reading.

Lizzie now thought that Lawliet was very rude, it's one thing being shy, it's an other thing not saying thank you. She walked off to her bedroom to go and clean her teeth and read. Class was starting tomorrow and she wanted to put on a good impression.

Next day, pretty boring, was introduced to her class, made new friends bladibla, the usual. However, after lunch, the pupils were divided by skill. She ended up with a class full with pupils twice her age, except for one pupil : Lawliet. As nobody was sitting next to him she took the liberty to sit next to him. He didn't seem to happy with her presence but didn't say anything.

"Alright class, I'm Mrs Windowglass and will be your criminology teacher this year. You'll start the term with this test, it will evaluate your deductive skills etc. You have three types of papers, you don't have to do all of them, but knowing you're from different age groups, it's best to have the choice. Begin.

Lizzie was shocked, she only learned how to write last year, and now she was supposed to do this huge test? Thankfully, it wasn't a dissertation, and was more of a questions and answers kind of test. The hour finished, and she had finished just in time. The rest of the day was quite normal class stuff. However, Lizzie did notice something peculiar, Lawliet's stomach was growling. He hadn't eaten...again. Lawliet was extremely skinny, and because of that looked a lot smaller than what he should look like. At the end of class, she decided to confront him

"Lawliet, haven't you eaten today?

-...

-You shouldn't do that, it's bad for your health! Suit yourself, I'm going to the computer room if you need me!"

She went on the internet and looked for " why won't my friend eat". Eating disorder was the first thing she saw, anorexia, and other nasty conditions. She researched the reasons for these illnesses put didn't really match the normal mindset of a nine year old boy. Watari had said that the boy was special so she assumed people would already be looking after him, however, nobody seemed to being anything. That or she hadn't been looking very well. Anyway, she had homework to do.

Did all the normal things she had to do and went to bad.

The week went on, all went normally, despite the one day Lawliet wasn't there. On Friday, Mrs Windowglass announced the results of the first test.

"Well, I'm glad that you all did well, however, I'm surprised that the two youngest in the class got the bast marks! As you know, the police will be giving us cases. According to your rankings and marks, you shall be given cases to solve, fail to do so, the case will be given to an other person in the class. You will be marked academically with tests that I make, but you will also be marked based on what you produce on the field. For the moment, we only have three cases at our disposition, Lawliet, you did best so you get the Acazert case, Elisabeth, you did second best, you get the AZS fraud case, and Robert, third best, you get the East End smuggling case "

The entire class stared at the Lawliet and Lizzie, mostly out of envy. It had come to Lizzie's notice that nobody in the class liked Lawliet because he was "superior" to them in terms of marks. She had got along well with her older classmates, but, she had a feeling that they weren't going to be friendly towards her now that she was in the same situation as Lawliet. Class finished, Lizzie headed for the computer room to get information on her new task, but stopped when she saw three boys of her class picking on Lawliet

"So squirt, trying to make life difficult for us ? We won't be tolerating what you did to us last year

-Yeah, stop taking all the cases, you're so annoying!

-Hey, you too new girl, (he grabbed her by her hair), you WILL give us your case, we need them, you don't, now hand yours over!

-In your dreams you big bully, she ducked down punched him behind the knee, making him fall and pressed her hands together and hit his head. She then took Lawliet's hand and ran off with him to the library, thankfully, they didn't follow.

"Do they usually do that to you?

-...

-Hey! I've been nice to you for a hole week and you haven't even spoken to me! Stop ignoring me!

-I'm not ignoring you, I just don't understand you

-What don't you understand.

-You're stupid if you haven't realised that they will now hunt you down too!

-I don't care, and besides, they were going to hunt me down either way. I stand up for myself. My father always told me that you can't let the bad people take control of you, and that's what I'm going to do.

-It is stupid, you cannot win against a hole class.

-Is it because of them you don't eat?

-...

-Hey, if you want to use your tongue only to say mean things about me, think again! I've noticed the fact that you never eat, are you anorexic?

-Am not! Leave me alone! You just want to befriend me like the last one to take my case!

-No I don't! I have my own case!

-Then you want me to do it for you! And I'm sure you cheated on me! There's no way you did better than Robert!

-I did not cheat on you ! I don't need to! You're stupid! I'll do my case on my own and will solve it before you ! Goodbye! And I'm not talking to you ever again

-Never wanted to speak to you in the first place!"