The Fawn | Death Note

21. Of Lies and Desperation

* * * April 27 * * *

It was a warm spring afternoon, and the sun shined brightly on the inhabitants of Tokyo. A few blocks from To-Oh University was a small café nestled between two shops. The aroma of coffee and freshly baked treats filled the area, enticing anyone who walked by to come and take a look. Despite the hour, the café only had a handful of customers at the tables. A waitress retrieved her most recent order from the chef and approached a table in a small alcove at the front of the café where a young man and woman were sitting.

She placed the plates in front of her two customers before asking, "Can I get you anything else?"

The brunet smiled and shook his head. "No, thank you."

She nodded and turned to walk away.

As Bambi returned her attention to her food, Light spoke up. "Thanks for making the time to meet on a weekday. I'm too busy on the weekends."

The brunette smiled at him as she waved a hand lightly. "Don't worry about it."

Light pushed his plate off to the side to make room for his laptop and the rubric.

"We should split the work for the presentation in half," he suggested. "If you don't mind, I was hoping to do the parts involving the crimes he committed, Birthday's background, and unusual aspects of his crimes." He looked up at his work partner expectantly.

That would leave her with profiling Beyond Birthday, connecting the case to a modern topic, and discussing his fate. The hacker's expression remained neutral for a moment as she sat in silence. I'm already wary of what he may know about me, and I don't want to deepen his suspicions. I'm going to be out of my comfort zone no matter what part of the project I have to do.

"Yeah, sure," she said as she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't really care what I do. It makes more sense for you to do the crime stuff anyway with your major."

Light gazed into her eyes for a few moments, almost as if he were searching for something, before smiling and beginning to eat his food. Bambi's eyebrow twitched upward as she noted his apparent surprise. How was he expecting me to answer? She frowned before starting to pick at the danish on her plate.

They both took out their laptops soon after that and began working. Since Bambi already had a vast collection of information published on Beyond Birthday, she simply kept it hidden and pretended to search. A few minutes passed before Light broke the silence.

His tone was that of interest as he explained, "A quick look at his Wikipedia page tells us that Detective L actually worked on the original case a few years ago. A detective called Deneuve worked on the second case after Birthday's escape from prison last year."

A few moments passed before he added, "Is 'Beyond Birthday' a normal name to you? From my point of view it's fairly strange, but that may just be cultural."

"Yeah, it's pretty weird if you ask me," she admitted with a laugh.

Light nodded to himself before continuing. "It also says that he killed fifteen people - three in his first case along with an attempted suicide. He is suspected of murdering twelve people in the past year in addition to an attempted murder in Japan, and a kidnapping and torture incident. He also seems to have loved puzzles. And apparently he died this past January due to complications with a gunshot wound."

She wasn't sure, but it almost seemed like he had narrowed his eyes for a brief second after reading that last line.

A few moments passed before he asked, "So, what do you make of all that?"