Five days since the entrance exams had passed by quickly. Ori had done practically nothing but her school work and researching Kira. L was quite surprised by how boring she was. After his second meeting with her outside of the café, he was almost one-hundred percent sure that she wasn't Kira. He was also sure that she would be more interesting, but she wasn't. Maybe under other circumstances, she wouldn't have been so dull. But at the same time, under other circumstances, L wouldn't have been watching her on security cameras.
"She doesn't support Kira, yet she can understand why other people would." He mumbled against his thumb. "She's capable of putting herself in the minds of others and how they think." She would be a great asset to the taskforce. But she was only eighteen; the probability of her getting overly emotional was fairly high. Not only that, but she was friends with Light. If she found out that he was their prime suspect, how would she react? Even if she was beginning to suspect it herself, having L tell her that she was probably right wouldn't be good for anyone.
"She wants to be a detective." Watari's voice suddenly came from behind L. He turned around to see the older man holding a small tray of sweets and various fruits.
"Is that so?"
Watari nodded his confirmation. "Not only that, but she looks up to L." Watari's voice was filled with faint amusement. L watched as Ori stood up and stretched. She rubbed her face with her hand and began to lightly jump around the room. She only went a couple inches off the ground, but she jumped repeatedly while shaking out her hands. Once she stopped, she looked so tired. Over the last five days, she had only gotten about twelve hours of sleep. The most amount of sleep she had consistently gotten was the night before, when she had gotten five hours. Three nights ago, she had only gotten one hour. She slept from three-fifteen to four-twenty-six. For the next couple of hours, she was perched at the computer. Every so often she would turn to a pad of paper and write in it. L knew that the pad was filled with pages and pages of notes. He was pleasantly surprised at how long she could focus for so long.
Ori walked over to the oak wood dresser tucked into the corner of the room and began to pull clothes from it. L was glad that he was alone, otherwise, he would have to deal with the frantic and annoying shouts of disapproval that L was a pervert or something. She left the room for a while, and during that period of time, L watched the security cameras in Light's room. He was still doing his homework, all the while criminals continued to die. Both of them were extremely boring.
"What if Light somehow found how about the cameras and is finding ways to kill criminals while appearing like he was doing his school work. L couldn't completely rule out the possibility for he had put a lot of cameras in the room and he was fully expectant on Light finding at least a couple.
Ori came back wearing pajamas and a towel draped over her head, she walked over to her chair and sat down. She looked drained, but it was late, almost nine-thirty, but Light was going to be awake for another hour or so, and Ori was going to stay up even later. A knocking sound came from Ori's room. She spun around lazily in her chair. A woman with straight brown hair that was a few shades darker than Ori's walked into the room and sat on Ori's bed. Ori smiled at the woman kindly.
"Hey, Mom. What'cha need?" Ori asked her mother.
"Watari, please get me a file on Ori's mother." L said instantly.
"Honey, I know that you haven't been getting enough sleep." The woman said in a gentle voice. "I get that you want to find out who Kira is, but you won't be able to if you're not getting the required amount of sleep." So Ori's mother knows about Ori's search for Kira. L wondered if Ori would ever tell her mother about her suspicions of Light, or if she already had.
"I know, Mom, and I will. I was just about to call it a night." Ori gathered her hair together into a loose ponytail and walked over to her mother.
"It's just that... after the entrance exams, when I got home, you said that this whole Kira thing was scaring you. I don't want you to be scared anymore, so I'm going to find Kira as fast as I can, whatever it takes."
Ori's mother put a hand over her heart. "Oh, Honey..." Her voice was soft, as if Ori had touched some deep part of her heart, but then her tone turned teasing and she poked her daughter in the nose.
"You want to find Kira so that L will take an interest in you and ask for your help with other cases." Ori's tan face turned pink.
"That's not completely it! I really did mean what I said: I want to stop Kira so that he won't scare people anymore. What he's doing really is evil, no one deserves what Kira's doing to them; they're already serving their sentences!" Ori's mother stood up from the bed. She was only a couple inches taller than her daughter and placed a hand on her cheek.
"Ori, you have the biggest heart of anyone I know, but if this is going to wreck your body, I don't want you doing this." She pulled Ori into a hug and rubbed her back.
"Just be safe, ok?" Her mother said in a soothing voice. Ori hummed softly in her response. Ori's mother left her room and closed the door behind her. Ori backed up until she collapsed back into her chair with a huff.
"Like L would ask for my help with anything." She was staring at the ceiling. "I bet he's got an entire team full of people far more capable than I am."
"Well," L muttered, "she's right about the team part." Watari placed a slim file in front of L, next to his cup of tea, but his eyes were still focused on Ori. He had found that each night, as the hours went on and it became later and later, that was when Ori had her "breakthroughs". She would get an idea and then push with that.
"All right, back to the murdering bastard," Ori said and spun around to her computer. "My guess is that even though it would make sense to take the criminal's names off the news broadcast, it would only make things worse." She kicked away from her computer and stretched her legs out as she spun herself around repeatedly in the middle of the room.
"It would only make Kira angry, and they would go after people with no criminal background until he got what he wanted. At least, that's what I would do if I was Kira. I'd hold the whole world as my hostage until criminals started being put on the news again. So the murders will have to continue until I can get some solid evidence on who Kira is. Unfortunately, L and everyone else on the internet are the ones doing all the work. I have to get some kind of pattern down other than the fact that Kira's changed the killing to happen once an hour, every hour, every day." She was silent for a few minutes. While she was silent, L read through her mother's file. Her name was Vivian Cobb, and she was living in America until she met her husband Nanase Daisuke, an optician. Vivian was a psychologist. Well, that explained why Ori was able to get along so well with others. Vivian worked from eight in the morning until two-thirty in the afternoon. Apparently, she was very good at what she did and almost everyone who saw her walked away satisfied.
"So her father is an eye doctor and her mother is a therapist. That explains a few things, I suppose."
"Actually," Watari said, "Orien's father disappeared seven years ago. There were no leads, no suspects; it was as if he just vanished." L turned back to the old man for a moment.
"I see. That's probably why she wants to become a detective, so she'd have the resources she needed to find her father." L swiveled his head back around so that he could look at Ori. She had pulled her hair from her ponytail and the honey-brown locks spilled down the back of the chair. She spun herself around one more time then stood up and walked to her desk. She picked up her phone and flipped it open. Pressing a few buttons, Ori then held it up to her ear. On the TV watching Light, his own phone rang. L stood up for a moment and pushed the two TVs together.
"Ori?" Light asked. "What are you calling me for?"
"No reason, really. I was just bored."
"So now I'm the cure for your boredom?" He asked in an irritated voice.
"That's not a very positive way of putting it." She said. Her voice was light and even a little teasing, but her expression was serious and worried.
"Are you going to actually sleep tonight?" Light asked. He leaned back in his chair. He seemed to be staring at something in his room, something L couldn't see.
"Geez, you and my mom need to relax. I'm going to be fine; don't worry so much."
"Ori, if you pass out tomorrow during the entrance ceremony tomorrow from sleep deprivation, it's not going look good for you."
"If I pass out tomorrow, it's going to be because of your boring speech. Congrats on coming in first, by the way. I heard you tied with another student."
Light laughed lightly. "Yeah, I don't know who they are, but I'm sure we'll be able to get along."
"You think so?" Ori asked, then she turned to the pad of paper. She stared down at it for a moment, then spoke again.
"Have you ever realized..." She started, her words came out slow and steady. There was a calculating tone that only L seemed to have caught.
"That Kira could be potentially killing innocent people?" She bit her lip in expectation but kept her voice even. Light didn't react, only turning a little in his seat.
"What makes you say that?" He sounded genuinely inquisitive.
"Think about it: people get wrongfully convicted of crimes all the time, and with Kira killing any and all 'criminals' without even a second thought, wouldn't it make sense that a significant amount of Kira's victims are actually innocent." Light was quiet. Almost... suspiciously quiet.
"Now that I think about it, you do have a point." L listened to how interested Light sounded, like it would be beneficial to him. Ori seemed to have heard his tone as well, for she leaned forward on her chair, resting her elbow on her desk.
"Not only that, but I don't think that Kira understands why the criminals are doing what they're doing."
'So that's what she's doing. She's going to criticize Kira and try to listen to what Light does.' L found himself leaning forward in interest. Ori was much more cunning that L had previously thought.
"I'm not saying that the murderers should be let off the hook, but what about the petty thieves who're only stealing to help their families? What about all those newly orphaned children who are now going to have to grow up as thieves themselves because they have no other choice? Isn't that only causing an endless loop? I don't think Kira's fully thought their plan through." There was a pause as Ori briefly looked out her window.
"It's almost as if... Kira's, the real criminal. Don't you think?" Light said nothing. He made no movements.
"Yeah, maybe," Light finally said. His tone was stiff and forced out. He sounded irritated and upset.
'Seven percent.' L thought to himself. The probability of Light being Kira had risen to seven percent.
<> <> <>
"Yeah, maybe," Raito's tone was odd. Ori listened to the ridged edge in his voice. Like he was actually angry. She couldn't say that she liked it. It made her nervous, but then she would shake her head and just think that maybe he agreed with Kira's views and nothing more.
"Do you think that Kira knows what they're doing is wrong?" Ori knew that this was going to hurt her. Asking so many questions to the person she was beginning to suspect was Kira. She wasn't exactly being subtle, so Raito must've known that she was on to him. How was he going to react? Would he try to kill her for getting to close? Or would he refrain from doing so because he knew that killing someone he knew and was close with would be suspicious or because he wasn't actually Kira? Ori was in too deep to back out now. She just had to stick with it.
"I'm not sure," Raito said. He sounded thoughtful, a complete one-eighty to how he sounded just a moment ago.
"Maybe Kira's just doing what he thinks is right." So now he's defending Kira. Did he seriously not catch on to what Ori was saying? Or was he playing it off as Ori covering all her bases?
"I can see that, but these criminals have already gotten their sentences. Why punish them further?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe you'll get to ask him when you find him." That caught Ori off guard. If Raito were Kira, would he really be that supportive and sure that she would find Kira? Was he only saying that so he wouldn't seem suspicious? Ori could never get a read on Raito, and it was something that always annoyed her. Maybe it was because they were friends and her mind was too blurry, or maybe it was because he was just so perfect that Ori couldn't get passed how he was on the surface. She could never figure it out, but she was never able to tell what he was thinking or when he was lying, and it was so frustrating.
"Anyway, I think I should be getting to bed. I'll see you tomorrow, Ori." Raito said on the other side of the line.
Ori nodded, then remembered that Raito couldn't see her. "Yeah, see ya, Im-a-gay." He hung up instantly. Ori stared at the phone in annoyance.
"Geez, guy doesn't know how to take a joke." Ori set the phone down and quickly brushed her hair before getting into bed with a book. She had promised her mother she'd go to bed at a reasonable time, after all.
She read until her eyelids started to droop, then she set her book down, turned off the light, and tucked herself under the covers. She couldn't fall asleep for a while, she just sat and listened to her ceiling fan spin in the middle of her room. Her eyes were closed and she focused on steadying her breathing in hopes that the actions would soothe her enough to lull her into sleep, but it didn't work. She rolled over in her bed over and over again, groaning and sighing. After a while, she flung her covers back and went to her window. She drew the curtains and tried to name the constellations in the sky, but it was hard because of the city smoke and street lights. She was able to see Katakana, Yagi, and Ohitsuji, just like when she first started her study session with Raito.
"If I die, then Raito is Kira, no doubt. He wouldn't want me to be going against him." Ori admitted to herself. Normally, admitting something out loud would take the heavy feeling of guilt off your chest, but saying it only added to that uncomfortable and heavy feeling. She rested her head on her crossed arms, feeling pitiful. She was doing nothing but staying up too late and then moping around because of it and she had to stop. She stumbled to her chair and spun around once she sat down.
"Shit. I'm pathetic." She clapped her hands on her cheeks. "I gotta stop moping around if I want to catch Kira. No more just sitting here. I'll get a good night's rest, and be ready for tomorrow!" She crawled back onto her bed and curled up under the blankets once more. She still wasn't able to fall asleep, but it didn't bother her as much as before. She lied there until dawn came, occasionally slipping into a light sleep before opening her eyes again. This went on until the growing rays of sunlight poked through her open curtains. The rays blinded her and made her squint. She rolled over away from her window, groaning in annoyance. When she finally got up, her body felt heavy, like lead. She pulled on a pair of pale blue ripped jeans, a crimson-colored t-shirt, and a black hoodie. Today was the entrance ceremony, and Ori was very relieved that she had been accepted, but dressing up in a skirt or dress wasn't something she was going to do. Ori pulled on her socks and black combat boots and grabbed her back before making her way downstairs. She was up far too early to have to leave right away, but she wanted to walk around the city for a while before she had to get to school. She walked down the stairs to the kitchen, where the usually bright, warm, and homey feeling was replaced with a more cold and barren. Ori couldn't remember the last time she had seen the kitchen lights turned off. She turned on the kitchen light herself and put some bread in the toaster. When it popped up, she slathered one slice with peanut butter and the other slice was covered in jelly. She sandwiched the bread together and went to the door. She placed her hand on the knob, then looked up the stairs. Vivian would worry if she didn't know that Ori had left before she woke up. She grabbed a napkin from the kitchen and a pen from their junk drawer and quickly scribbled on the napkin.
Mom,
I woke up before you and decided to take a walk before heading
to Todia, so don't worry. Love you.
-Honey
She stuck the napkin to the fridge with a magnet resembling a smiling chibi rice ball. Ori smiled when she saw the magnet and went back to the front door. It opened with a soft creak. The crisp morning air made Ori glad that she was wearing a sweatshirt. She slipped out the door and softly closed it behind her. She pulled her Walk-Man out of her bag and pressed play after she put the earbuds into her ears. She stuck the Walk-Man in her sweatshirt pocket and listened to the music's low pulse thrumming in her ears. A part of her was nervous that she would end up with a heart attack and that Raito really was Kira. It was absolutely terrifying to think about. What would happen if Raito was Kira? What would she do? Would she be able to even look at him? Ori took the toasted sandwich out of her mouth and bit on her thumb harshly, gnawing on it until she could taste the tell-tale salt and iron of blood on her tongue, but it was faint, almost as if her mind was far away and she wasn't actually tasting the blood. Absentmindedly, she only bit down harder, sinking her teeth lower into the soft flesh in between her teeth.
"Ms. Nanase, I didn't expect you to be out here this early in the morning." Ori looked up to see Ryuga slouching a little ways in front of her, still wearing the long white shirt and blue jeans. Did he have multiple pairs of the same outfit, or was he just wearing the same clothes?
Ori released her thumb and walked closer, also removing her earbuds from her ears and pausing the music. The dark abyss of his eyes watched her carefully as she made her way over to him.
"Yeah, I just decided to take a little walk before class started." She quickly sucked the blood from her finger. She didn't like the bitter taste very much, but it didn't bother her. She just wished that she hadn't bitten down so harshly since she didn't have any bandaids on her.
"I see. Are you all right? You seem a little unsteady." He gazed down at her wavering frame. The heavy feeling her body had taken on after she got out of bed still hadn't left her. Her movements felt slow; it almost took everything out of her just to move her feet in front of each other.
"I'm ok. I just didn't get enough sleep last night. It's like my brain wouldn't turn off long enough for me to actually get any rest." She rubbed her eyes and yawned. It had only been a few weeks since the whole Kira thing started, but it felt as if an entire era had gone by. Things were so hectic that Ori could hardly catch a breath before the next person died.
"Hey, Ryuga?" Ori called out. He turned his head to looked at her with his wide eyes.
"Yes, Ori?"
"What do you think of Kira?" She knew that it was an odd question, especially since they had already talked about Kira that evening outside the café, but she didn't know what else to talk about.
"I think that Kira's evil. Anyone who could kill without feeling guilty is a criminal themselves." He looked at Ori with what she would almost describe as a knowing expression, but she couldn't think what for.