"Don't worry if he said that he'll be back, then he'll be back. He never gives the time of day to liars. In the contrary, he despise dishonest people," Vash informed me. I smiled at him dearly, but it quickly faded away when I noticed Rikku coming my way. "You and L's mannerisms were painfully genteel!" She exclaimed slightly, but something about her attitude made the hair stand on edge. I, along with so many others, turned my attention towards Near, as the boy suddenly burst out in bubbles of laughter. "What's so funny, twerp?" Rikku asked kind of ill-tempered. "It wasn't peculiar [he sniggered], that was affection- Can't you tell the difference?" An uproar of amusement filled the backyard, as bubbles of laughter escaped from every mouth. "Darn girl! You just got yourself burned, by a kid," Paul said through his own chuckles. "Let's go, I don't trust that fury look in her eyes. Elsewhere might be a saver option," Vash said before the laughter could subside and helped me to my feet. "Where are you taking our friend?" Mello and Matt asked in unison. "Anywhere but here. L asked me to keep her out of harms way and that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm afraid that the devil might be closer then you think," Vash informed them. "No question there," Matt said as his eyes fall upon Rikku. "Yeah, better safe then sorry. Mind if we join you, or at least until he returns?" Mello asked and so the joined us too.
***
Lawliet
Once we've entered the main office, out of hearing distance; I've noticed Roger, the orphanage's administrator. He was seated in his usual seat. Out of respect he took himself out of his chair when he seen us enter. "Morning Roger. So what seems to be the problem, Watari? If it's another case file I'm sure that it could've waited for a few more minutes." I asked him calm and collected, but I'm feeling completely annoyed. "I'm sorry, I wish it could have stayed unmentioned for a while longer, but that simply won't do," he confessed, his facial expression still supposedly unreadable. "Spill the beans? What's going on Watari? Roger?" I asked this time, in a slightly more straight forward manner. Watari exhaled loudly and said as Roger took a small oval box from the cabinet and handed it over towards him, "Somebody from inside the orphanage sented this to me yesterday evening. When we came back from the carnival, it was on the table. A servant informed me that it was left on the porch after the doorbell rang twice." With nervously shaking hands Watari gave me the box. Firstly, I opened the attached letter. In a perfectly curled style stood written:
Is this what you're teaching your orphans, Mr. Quillsh? Are you turning them into wicked psychopaths, like myself? Tick tock, Watari, time doesn't wait for anyone! You are in my rear view mirror- I'll advice you (and if you're clever, then you'll take my advice), to get Lawliet (or is that not L's real name?) in on this... he'll much rather think outside the box. Let's see how many lives you can save by joining forces. Yours truly. Anonymous!
I could sense some sarcastic laughter in his last few words. That gave me the shivers. I opened up the box to be greeted by the fowl smell of blood and death. What used to be an animal's paw stared me in the eye. I returned the lid much to quickly. "So roughly analyzed, Anonymous is a bloody killer and his motive, for some very strange reason, is to murder one or more of your orphans. At the moment his most likely only experimenting on animals, trying to find the style that fits him best." I said as I handed the box back to Roger. "A catastrophic certainty," he spat. Roger wiped the sweat away with a handkerchief and continued, "He should be stopped immediately." I caught hold of his eyes, pin them down with my own grayish ones. "Unfortunately it's easier said then done. He thinks of himself as invincible. Else he wouldn't have rewarded Watari with present. And how does this Anonymous character even know our names? That's a mystery, well back to the point. He blames Watari for his murderous instincts. Faltering him for changing him into something that he had always been subconsciously. I suggest not to say a word about it for the time being," I ended. "And why would you propose something like that? Don't you think that they have the right to be warned?" Roger squeaked much to loudly for my comfort. "By all dew respect; yes, I believe they do- under the normal circumstances, but not in this case. If we're to warn the others it will only cause an uproar and that would give him reason to strike even quicker. I don't want him to know that I'm onto him, not just yet. If we follow my method we'll most likely catch him before he could get a taste of human blood." Both Roger and Watari, along with me were on the same page. So they agreed to keep it quiet for the time being.