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“I got pizza,” Matt said, knowing Mello wasn’t listening. He crossed the kitchen to the living room threshold, and the tile was cold against his feet, but he didn’t feel like getting socks. Mello was sitting on the couch, one knee hugged to his chest, hair falling so it obscured his face. Before him was a set of computer screens that presently contained information on every member of the Japanese task force, with one window displaying the modeling portfolio of one Misa Amane, the girl Near suspected of being an accomplice to Kira. Matt could see her round face and blonde hair from here, eyes staring wide and unblinking into the camera. Despite the small smile on her face, she had an overall frightened, almost mournful air. “Ordered it earlier; it’s in the fridge. Cute, isn’t she? I told you.”
At this, Mello turned to him, a look of mild irritation flashing on his face. “Can you take this seriously for two seconds?”
Matt huffed. “No. No seconds.” Then he flopped down on the couch next to Mello, crossing his legs and leaning forward to closer examine the profile of a deceased Soichiro Yagami. “Come on; you know I was joking, and, anyway, what’s the point of lurking around in the shadows like this if we’re not gonna have any fun?” He didn’t give Mello a chance to respond. “Damn, this is the guy you killed, right? He looks kinda old. D’we have any confirmed connections within the task force?”
“I’m trying to find out about his son,” Mello said. “Light. Obviously the Yagami family had a personal stake in Sayu Yagami’s kidnapping, and I’d be interested to know if Light was heading up that investigation.”
“You think so?” Matt sat back.
“Yes,” Mello said. “They’ve done a relatively thorough job of covering up the identities of everyone involved, but it seems reasonable for them to have had a specific person in charge of the raid.” Saying this, he absently brushed a gloved finger over the mess of scarred flesh covering the side of his face. One corner of his mouth was pulled permanently into a slight frown, and, when Matt had looked after him in the days or weeks following the explosion, some skin had pulled apart in places, leaving small holes through which bright teeth were visible. Mello didn’t talk about it much (or at all) but Matt got the feeling he was proud, in a way. It was pretty sick-looking.
“And what about Misa?”
That look of irritation again. “What about her?”
Matt held up his hands in surrender. “I’m being serious this time, I swear. Has she done any murder lately? Maybe burst into an evil monologue, or broke down and confessed to killing the previous L? Pass me a cigarette, by the way.”
Mello obeyed, shaking his head. “If she was Kira before, she isn’t now. That girl barely does anything except wait for her boyfriend to come home.”
“Her boyfriend Light Yagami?” Matt shifted so his shoulder brushed with Mello’s and pulled out his lighter, not doing anything with it.
“The very same.”
“And?”
Mello sighed and shook his head. “He’s barely home, and when he is, he doesn’t do much. I have some thoughts, though.”
“Woah, thoughts?” Matt flicked the lighter open and shut a few times, watching the flame flicker in and out of existence, before putting his arm around Mello’s shoulder. “Will I get to hear these thoughts?”
Mello pressed his lips together. “I need to be sure, and maybe talk to Near.”
“Oh, that’s no fair.” The computer screens flickered and Matt put on an exaggerated sad face. “Near gets to hear all your cool theories before I do? I call bullshit; you hate him.”
“What do you think?” This was a challenge. Matt had been third-smartest at Wammy’s, only a bit behind Near and Mello, the latter of whom often insisted he could have brought the three of them into a tie if only he paid more attention in class. It wasn’t that Matt didn’t care, or even that he didn’t want to be L’s successor, but third place was comfortable. Unlike Mello, who would take whatever measures necessary to reach the top and destroy himself and anyone who stood in the way in the process, Matt found hanging back a bit to be advantageous. He knew he could meet the expectations everyone else had of him with ease, and third place was just far enough out of the spotlight for him to have some protection. L had plenty of enemies, after all, and everyone he came into contact with was liable to become a target. So normally, he held his tongue, at the very least.
But this was Mello, and Mello expected you to match his burning intensity in regards to every inane subject, and he was so damn passionate about it you felt like a fool for even thinking about half-assing it.
“I think,” Matt said, lighting his cigarette, “that if Near has reliable information that L arrested Misa under suspicion of being the second Kira, she probably is. Or was. And Light’s her boyfriend, you say? That coupled with his relations to Soichiro Yagami ties him to the raid, if not more. It’s too much to be a coincidence. But how are you going to prove it?”
“If I can get in the same room as him, I’ll kill him,” Mello said. “And then proof won’t matter. But…”
“But,” Matt finished for him, leaning into the other’s shoulder while keeping the lit cigarette at arm’s length. “If, as you suspect, Misa used to be the second Kira and isn’t anymore, Kira’s power can be transferred. And then it won’t matter if you kill Light or Misa or everyone who’s ever laid eyes on that fucked up murder notebook, because a new Kira will rise every time.”
“With the United States caving to international pressure, on top of everything else,” Mello said. “Anyone could be a suspect. That’s why I need to speak with Near.”
“Damn bureaucrats,” Matt said with a grin. “They make things so complicated. Must be why the previous L rarely worked with police pre-Kira.”
“Yeah.” Mello leaned down and removed a chocolate bar from his bag, which Matt took as a sign to heat the pizza in the microwave.
“C’n I have some?” he asked, gesturing towards the candy bar. Mello paused, hand halfway to his mouth, and looked at him. “It was a joke. I was joking.” He leaned forward, kissed the other’s cheek, and stood. “I’ll make dinner.”