"What do you mean I can't come?" Ori asked loudly. They were standing outside the hospital, ready to go inside, when Raito blocked Ori.
"I'd prefer it if you went home," Raito said in his usual calm voice.
"I couldn't give a shit about what you'd prefer. I want to see Chief." After hearing that Raito's dad had had a heart attack, her first thought was, 'Kira', but Cheif wasn't a criminal, unless he was working on the Kira case. The heart attack was what finally put Ori's suspicions of Raito out the window. He would never kill his father, would he? Even if it meant getting rid of anyone in his path?
"Ori, please. Just go home." Raito was trying to keep his voice level. Ori could tell, but she wasn't going to back down.
"No! I'm not leaving until I know that Chief is OK!" He was like a father to her. Even if she's only known him for a few months, he's been so kind to her. She had to make sure that he was OK.
"He's fine, Ori. I just... want to see him by myself." Raito looked at the ground. He was trying to seem pitiful enough that Ori would give in, but the fact that he was trying to manipulate her feelings only made her angrier.
"Then why is he going inside?!" Ori pointed a finger at Ryuga. Ori had been amazed that Ryuga turned out to be L, ecstatic, actually, but she wasn't going to let her feelings get in the way of what was obvious.
"Because I'm Chief Yagami's boss," Ryuga spoke for the first time since they had left the café.
Ori turned to him. "So he is working on the Kira case. I figured as much if it was a heart attack."
"Actually, Kira didn't cause the heart attack. The doctor who called me confirmed that it was caused by stress. He's in a stable condition right now and doing fine." Ryuga walked closer until he was completely in front of her.
"Light's right, I'm afraid. You should go home now. I'll contact you at a later date." And just like that, any frustration or anger that Ori was feeling flew out of her system. L--the L-- was going to contact her? Was it so that she could help with the case? Hopefully. Ori felt like she was floating on air. Her mouth felt numb as she fumbled to get the words out in the right order.
"Uh--... y-y-eah... sure... problem... n-not--" Ori gave up trying to make actual words and just nodded. She turned around smacked her cheeks to pull her back to reality. She whipped around to the two men in front of her. Her face and neck felt hot and flushed, but she put on the most determined face she could make.
"Yes, sir! I look forward to it." Then she whirled around and started making her way home. Once she was more than twenty yards away, she clapped her hands over her face.
"What? 'I look forward to it'? Am I some temp trying to prove myself or something? How embarrassing." She rubbed her face frantically then put her hands back down.
"You're pretty stiff. I didn't think that could happen." A familiar raspy voice came from above her. Ori looked up, to see the same black-clad creature she saw in the bathroom. His mouth was twisted up into a smirking expression. Feathery black wings were sprouting from his back, lazily keeping him aloft and in the air. He lowered himself down until he was next to her. His lanky figure drooped over a little like Ryuga's had.
"You're the only one who can see or hear me, so we should probably wait to talk until we get back to your house." He cackled a little. Ori nodded discreetly and the two began walking home.
"So what are you?" They were now back in Ori's room. Ori sat in her chair while the lanky creature sat on her bed, eating an apple that Ori had grabbed when she greeted Vivian in the kitchen.
"I'm a Shinigami. The name's Ryuk."
"Shinigami, eh? That sounds awfully familiar." Ori put her head in her hands as she recalled mentioning Shinigamis to Raito.
"His reaction to that... and you being in the café while he was there." She spun around a little until she was able to prop both elbows on her desk. She leaned forward to intertwine her hands together and rest her forehead on the backs. These weren't simple coincidences anymore. Raito had something to do with this. She couldn't deny it any longer.
"And L was there, so maybe he's onto Raito too. Not to mention that Raito said that Chief's heart attack was caused by stress, not Kira. Chief also survived; as far as the news has covered, no one has survived a Kira attack yet, so I guess I can't rule him out anymore." She gritted her teeth angrily. She didn't want Raito to be Kira. She wanted him to be innocent, more than almost anything, but if she was going to be a detective, she had to consider any possible possibility.
"L? You mean the skinny guy with the plain clothes?" Ryuk asked. Ori snapped up her head to look at Ryuk. He had said he couldn't tell her who his owner was, but he was practically telling her at this point. Was it on purpose, or was he just that stupid? She looked into his blood-red eyes. They were full of amusement.
'I see... he knows exactly what he's doing.' Ori narrowed her eyes at the Shinigami. 'But why? Why give me such a large hint? He's a Death God, so he's most likely working with Kira who has the power to kill.'
"Tell me, Ryuk. What do Shinigami do?" His facial expression stayed the same, but his composure revealed he wasn't ready for such a question.
"Well, we mainly gamble in the Shinigami Realm. Other than that, we write in people's names in our Death Note to take their life spans and add it to our own."
'We... so there's more than just him, but there's another thing...'
"What are Death Notes?"
Ryuk pulled the thin black notebook from before from the little case at his hip. Strange, Ori didn't even remember him taking it back. He must've done so while she was freaking out. He flipped it over and handed it to Ori. His eyes were watchful as if he expected her to do something with it. But what? She looked at the front, the words Death Note were written in chicken scratch. She opened the front cover and were eyes widened.
How to use it...
1
'The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
If the cause of death is written within 40seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen.
If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
After writing the cause of death, detail of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.'
Ori closed it at immediately and looked over at Ryuk. "Is this for real?" His permanent smile seemed to grow even wider. It wasn't like Vivian's perma-smile. Her's was gentle and soft and warm, while Ryuk's was unnerving. It sent chills racing down her spine.
"Why don't you try it out and see for yourself?" He tilted his head to the side in a questioning manner. Ori's cozy room turned cold. The dark teal walls turned even darker, the yellow glow from her light turned paler and harsher. She slammed the book onto her desk, breathing hard. Her head was spinning. If Ryuk was standing in front of her, then it had to be real, right? Or was this the countless nights she spent awake without sleep finally getting to her? Was Ryuk just a figment of her imagination? Telling her that Raito was Kira because she wanted to be right even if she didn't want him to be Kira? If Raito was Kira, then she would've been correct from the beginning, she could say that the new it from the very start.
But she was touching the book. She could feel the cool leather material; rough under her fingers. She felt the soft paper on the pad of her thumb when she read the rules. She wanted to make sure it was real. This was something that could help Ori find Kira. She needed to have all the information she could get her hands on.
She handed the notebook back to Ryuk.
"I can't risk it being real. If it is and I kill someone because if it, it'll ruin everything." Ryuk took the book in his gangly fingers. He cackled as he clipped the book back in place at his waist.
"Well... aren't you quite the righteous one?"
"It's not about whether or not I'm righteous. If I use it and kill someone--even if they're a criminal--I'm the exact same as Kira, and all of this will have been for nothing." She stood up from her seat and leaned against the back of her chair. "'Absolute power corrupts absolutely'. That's the saying, right? My guess is that Kira's addicted to killing criminals. The power's gotten to their head; they truly believe that what they're doing is right." She pointed to the book at his hip.
"Kira truly believes what they're doing is right, but if that's the case, then why are they so adamant about keeping their identity a secret?" Ryuk said nothing, opting for just a shrug.
"They have so many supporters, and Kira could just kill the police if they get in their way."
"Dunno." Ori turned back to Ryuk. Either he did know and he wasn't going to tell her, or he really didn't know. Either way, he was of no help.
"You should go back, Ryuk. Before your possessor starts to miss you."
"He'll be more suspicious than anything." Ryuk cackled one last time then unfurled his wings. He flapped them once and phased out of the roof. Ori walked over to her window and opened it. She peered outside. The sun was still up and she was able to see everything clearly. She looked to the left, then to the right. In the air, she could see Ryuk flapping his wings.
In the direction of Raito's house.
'So... Kira's a man. That doesn't make me feel any better.'
<> <> <>
Ryuk passed through the wall into Light's room. The young man resisted the urge to turn to him. As far as Light was aware, the cameras were still in his room; he couldn't risk it.
"I know you can't talk, so I'll just tell you that I was stretching my wings. You're so boring that I had to go fly around for a while." Light proceeded to say nothing. His homework was laid out before him, with a small scrap of the Death Note tucked underneath a page from his school notebook. Every now and then he would slip out the paper a little bit and write a name and then a time. After that, he went back to solving equations for a few minutes. This went on for a while until Light's mother called him down for dinner. He closed his notebook, with the Death Note scrap still inside and walked down to the dining room with the rest of his family, minus his father. After Light and L went to go see him, he asked L what he could do to take suspicion off of him. The world's greatest detective was onto him; it was only a matter of time before he proved it to everybody if Light didn't clear all suspicion of him.
<> <> <>
"Sir, there's something strange going on on the security cameras in Ms. Nanase's room." Watari's voice came from behind L, who was busy drizzling chocolate syrup over some fruit. The detective looked up at the television watching Ori. She was staring at something on her bed. Usually, she stared off into space while she was deep in thought, but this was different. There was a new intent in her posture. She was sitting in her chair, staring at her bed, holding a black book in her hands. She seemed agitated, even angry or a little scared. She slammed the book onto her desk then pushed the book towards the direction of her bed. Then... something strange happened. The book just... vanished.
"What?" He muttered in astonishment against the spoon in his mouth. "How did it... what happened?"
"I'm not sure, sir," Watari said unhelpfully. L tried not to roll his eyes at the older man.
"A black book that suddenly disappeared the moment she let it go. Did it just fall? Or is there something else entirely?" L would have to ask Ori whenever he revealed the security camera to her and Light. Hopefully, she would tell the truth, but if she didn't, he didn't know how far he could push her. And would it be smart to discuss it with Light? It seemed like an odd question, but he was their prime suspect, and Kira has super human-like powers. If a book just were to vanish, would that grab Light's attention? There were too many uncertainties; they had to go about this carefully. Otherwise, it would ruin everything.
"Watari, could you please get me Ms. Nanase's phone number?" L asked. The old man nodded and hurried off to his separate office of computer screens.