The anti-justice really thinks he is in some kind of game, where there is a knock and answer, without realising that the intensity of the latter, because I don't back down if he wants to cross the line.

He came into my room on the morning of the 16th. He let me know himself and I'm sure you're wondering why and why he didn't keep it a secret. Unfortunately, I think I know the answer.

'Unfortunately', although it's not entirely negative, but it is bad enough, because it means that I have come into contact with L so much that I can understand him or, rather, hypothesise and have a high percentage of probability of being accurate in listing some of the motivations that guide his actions, besides that of annoying me and believing that all this is hilarious.

I will briefly discuss the technical aspect, which is the fact that the cap he took possession of like a kleptomaniac served to cover his new haircut.

He is bald and doesn't seem to like it at all – rightly so, since it doesn't suit him as well as it suited me. This is not my subjective opinion, but it is objectively true, as Ayla merely tells him that it will grow out quickly, rather than letting him know, as she did with me, that it looks nice whenever she gets the chance.

L does not react to her encouragement, except with an annoyed expression, probably because she is the main culprit. She stepped in during his haircut, when the hairdresser walked away for a moment. I don't think L had noticed what Ayla was up to until he heard the razor being turned on and, a second later, a certain breeze touching a spot on his head that hadn't seen the light of day for probably years.

The only downside of this issue is that it didn't destroy the relation Ayla and L have, because my best friend made it up to him, even though she shouldn't have, as I don't think she did anything wrong.

In any case, since he didn't want to have his head exposed to the public of Wammy's House, as well as staying in the room longer, with the occasional visits from Natal and Elioenai, he decided that the best solution was to steal and vandalise other people's objects, because not only did he take my cap, but he also used a permanent marker to draw over the 'E', which is just above the Velcro strap, so that it looked like an 'L'.

I didn't get so angry, although I had the right to be, but I didn't care that much about that letter. I thought it was the initial of his code name, but then I saw it in a book and realised that it starts with the letter 'A'. Since then, I used the 'E' as an identifier to know that it was my cap, even though the other residents do not have one in the same dark blue colour.

I preferred to channel that feeling into a plan to make L a problem in Watari's eyes. It failed – although the conversation itself was positive from my point of view, because I wasn't grounded for destroying L's floppy disk and Watari told me he was proud of me.

I should have expected that, because L wouldn't have let me go if it had actually affected him, not to mention that his very choice to be transparent should have indicated to me that it would be pointless.

If I had found out about it myself, secretly, without the cap being ruined, I would have had to find confirmation that he had used it, so that my complaint would have had solid evidence to support it. It was going to be a long task and L did not want to waste time.

By telling me, and having a witness in my favour – Ayla – as well as his own initial on the back of the cap, I could head straight to the owner, expose everything, and, in this way, learn that Watari is aware of everything I have done and am going to do.

In a nutshell, it doesn't matter what L decides to do in response to my behaviour, because he likes to snitch and, by telling Watari everything, he has a justification to act in a way and I can no longer turn to the owner, expecting him to indulge me, as I'm sure L will try not to exceed the level of severity of my actions in Watari's eyes, otherwise he will end up in the wrong.

He also left me a clear message of this fact.

'An eye for an eye', on my card. He didn't ruin it completely, because he wrote it on top of the piece of plastic. All I need to do is replace it. Of course, it is the mockery rather than the damage that should bother me, but it is neither.

It's the fact that in less than two months L has managed to cut off one of the main bridges that would have allowed his immediate transfer, while I couldn't even comprehend what he did to convince Rae and Ayla to agree to participate in his failing project.

What's more, since he's staying in the room and seems sad about his new cut, Rae hasn't even had a chance to talk to him and ask for an explanation of her position.

I keep saying seems, because I get the impression that it's just an excuse to spend a lot more time alone. Seeing him in a bad mood, no one will bother him, and he will be able to work on his stupid project in peace, getting ahead of the game to make sure it's foolproof, while I'm stuck as a pawn one square away from three pawns next to each other. If I advance, I will be eaten by one of the two on the side, because I have no one I can use to eliminate them.

My first pawn should have been Rae, but if she doesn't do anything, I wouldn't know who to turn to. There isn't anyone on the project who can't stand L as much as I can, and in order to get anyone else to turn on him, I'd have to get to know them first, which would take me a lot longer than I have, since most of them are older than me and will leave Wammy's sooner.

My gaze fell on the part where I had written Watari's words and a small smile formed on my lips. I circled that writing and drew little flowers around it. I hadn't stopped thinking about it for a single second since he had said it, because there was a big difference in my eyes between telling me that I was doing well and the fact that he was proud of me.

Doing well meant that I was simply following some directions I had been given. To have that feeling towards me was something more personal and, especially in my case, it meant that it had not been ruined by everything I had caused in the previous two years. It also signified that he could be impartial enough not to consider me based on my responses to the behaviour of L.

In a way, I could get back that Watari whom I had met that day and who had taken care of me before taking me to Wammy's. Perhaps, I had been too hasty in thinking that he had completely changed with L's arrival, without realising that he had a big enough heart to allow me to continue residing in it.

"Ethe!" Ayla jerked open the door, which slammed against the large dresser against the wall.

My body twitched briefly, from which I recovered fairly quickly, unlike the page I was drawing on, which had a long line running through it.

"Look what I got!" She continued, closing the door behind her with the heel of her foot, while I put Mazzaroth away behind the pillow I was resting on. "I finally convinced The Dame!"

She climbed on top of my bed and handed it to me, before beginning to hop happily from my mattress to hers.

"Oh, wow... The Crowned Oath."

I couldn't hide my astonishment at seeing that volume, since it had been something Ayla had been trying to retrieve for almost three years, which was to say, ever since Watari had brought it to Wammy's House and The Dame had gotten her hands on it, ending up taking on that medieval persona.

"You have proven yourself to be a noblewoman, and, to my pleasure, I am willing to hand over my most prized possession to you." She tried to imitate her tone, though she did not succeed very well and it only sounded like that of a male with a sore throat.

The Dame had a naturally more mature voice, since she was thirteen, but she tended to force it downwards at times, because she had the impression that it made her more authoritative, perhaps not realising that this was mainly because she walked around with her fencing sword, even though Watari had forbidden it, but she had said it was just an accessory and that she would never take it out. She had added that she was afraid someone would break it, so it was safer on her.

Ayla dropped onto her knees on my bed, placing herself in front of me as I slowly and carefully prepared to open the zip of the little bag that contained it.

"No, stop!" Ayla ordered me and I froze on the spot.

She got off the bed and reached into the last drawer of the dresser.

"We must be careful." She pulled herself up with a hop and showed me two pairs of socks. "Synthetic ones! The wool ones leave too much fuzz."

She returned to sit facing me and I found myself nodding.

"Right, we could cut ourselves with the edges."

There was no way we could afford to ruin the only book inside the orphanage, because it wasn't certain that Watari would have the chance to request another signed copy from his friend.

"Oh, I was thinking of your sweaty hands, but you're right! If they're as sharp as her sword, we could really get hurt."

"From the look of it, the sword isn't that sharp..."

I thought back to the last time I had seen it out of its sheath and distinctly remembered that she had run her finger along its length, causing no injury.

"It doesn't matter because, if anything happens, she'll burn us at the stake like witches! She told me so!" I sensed a note of concern in her voice. "And I'll wear a witch costume for Halloween!"

"But ghosts are immune to fire and swords." I reminded her. "Everyone is scared of them, so I will protect you."

It was true. There was nothing more fearsome than an untouchable force that could appear and disappear at will. In some movies, they even had the ability to move objects; therefore, I could throw them and still be in the part.

However, I had to admit a certain ignorance regarding ghosts in the Middle Ages, but I imagined they must have been strongly present, as they were commonly associated with castles.

The first year I had not paid particular attention to The Dame's movements, as Ayla had not yet told me of her interest in her. The second year, on the other hand, yes, I was fully aware of it, but, unfortunately, during Halloween, I had not been around her for a second, not even during lunch or dinner. I didn't actually know how she would react to a ghost, but they were the scariest creatures.

Once we had placed the socks on our hands and exchanged a glance of understanding, I took care to create a wide enough opening in the bag so that Ayla could pull the book out, without having to drag it across the plastic.

She held it in mid-air, while I placed its container on the nightstand to my right.

I grabbed Ayla's pillow and placed it behind me. This way, we were able to settle comfortably under the covers, with the book of The Dame on my legs pulled up, as if they were a bookstand.

"Are you sad?" It came naturally to me to ask her, since it was the customary question I posed when she wanted me to read her something.

Although the circumstances were different, I still felt the need to clarify that matter, before plunging into the reading.

"How could I be? Look what a treasure we found!" She pointed with both hands to the book.

"About the register?"

"No news, but it took him three years last time, so..." She shrugged. "I just want to find out the secret of The Dame right now."

I nodded in assent and, with extreme care, lifted the book cover.

"What's that scribble?" Ayla asked, pointing to the paper.

"It's a signature."

"Watari's is much better."

It was true, since he wrote his full name and, apart from the Q and W, which were more elaborate, everything else was in a cursive that was rather close to standard, which, even for people like me, who couldn't write it but only read it, was quite understandable. In addition, I really liked the curlicues that his initials had, which, in that case, did not exist and everything was rather stiff and linear – sharp almost.

I was about to turn the page, but Ayla stopped me, grabbing my pyjama sleeve.

"Wait... Were you writing? Did I bother you?" She asked, and her voice sounded dimmer, a sign that all the tiredness she had accumulated during the day, from running back and forth, was catching up with her and that I wouldn't be able to read more than a dozen pages.

"You never do." I answered her. "I was drawing some—"

"Dinosaurs?"

I would have liked to, but truth be told, I preferred to colour them.

"Little flowers."

"Oh... Can I read your diary?"

It was the first time she acknowledged Mazzaroth's actual existence, which meant that, from the beginning or nearly so, she was aware of my habit. I didn't know how I should feel, because the fact that she had asked me that question and hadn't judged it was pleasing, but I regretted not being able to say yes, since its contents were obscure even to the one who I thought knew me best of all in there.

"In the future, perhaps." I replied, but it didn't seem satisfactory, so I decided to continue. "Right now, it's boring, because I'm talking about things that happen at Wammy's House, which you also see."

"Hm, okay…" She yawned, before resting her head on my shoulder. "I can't wait to be in the future, then..."