A/N: The reason Light was okay with May's presence was because he needed to get Misa off his back. This was an EXTREMELY serious situation, and he couldn't afford her getting in the way.
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May
The photo shoot May had previously been at was for a movie starring Amane Misa that was in the works. The movie would be shot in Hollywood, so Misa would have to go to America. May was going to be working with Misa during the filming process as well. Misa was fine with that, though, since she and May had been friends for quite a while at that point.
"I'm going to Hollywood already?" May said, eyes wide in surprise. "I understand why you're going, but why me? I don't have to go for a while."
"It will be fun, May-chan!" Misa assured her. Misa had invited May to come with her to Hollywood the next day, and the two were currently talking about it over the phone. "My boyfriend's going to be really busy with his work, so I'll need to spend time with someone."
"What work does your boyfriend have to do in LA?" May wondered.
"Oh, um... it doesn't matter," Misa said, not wanting to reveal that her boyfriend was the famous detective L, "but that's not the point; the point is that I want you to come with me! He said that you could come with us; you'd just have to stay in a different room."
"Well, I'd love to go Misa-chan, but I have so much work with planning the wedding and such," May explained.
"I can help you!" Misa insisted. "We can do some planning in LA! I'm plenty capable of it! Amane Misa, wedding planner extraordinaire!"
"Well, Eli is pretty busy," May noted, "I guess it wouldn't hurt if I went with—"
"—Yay!" Misa cheered.
"Will I get to meet your boyfriend?" May asked with a grin. She'd never met Misa's boyfriend in person. In fact, she wasn't even sure if Misa had ever mentioned his name.
"Um... no," Misa said. "Probably not. You'll have to go on a different plane. Plus, he's going to be really busy."
"A different plane?" May asked. "Why?"
"Um... the plane we're going on is full," Misa explained. "Don't worry, there are other planes. I'll give you your ticket and information. We'll meet when we get to LA at the hotel, okay?"
"Fine," May said with a sigh. "Amane Misa-chan, you certainly know how to put up an argument."
"Yup," Misa laughed, "I'm one stubborn girl!"
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Six days had passed, and May was currently in her hotel room, which was down the hall from Misa's. It had turned out that Misa's boyfriend would be staying at a different hotel, yet he still insisted May should have her own room.
"He seems like a nice man," May said to herself.
She sighed, she'd talked to her old roommates from Wammy's a couple of days ago, telling them about the strange hijacking that happened while she was on her plane to LA. Birdie, on the other hand, hadn't been picking up her cell phone. Birdie had been acting strange lately, or at least it seemed that way to May. It worried her.
Bored to death, she put on some nice clothes and grabbed her purse and cell phone. She always put her cell phone in her pocket.
She walked down the hallway to Misa's room. She'd suggest the two of them go out and have some fun. She had her cell phone in her hand, planning to call Misa right outside her door since Misa always did that to her. It was extremely annoying. May loved her anyway.
Outside of Misa's door, she dropped her phone and bent down to pick it up. She could hear someone talking to Misa, but she didn't take much notice of it. It was probably Misa's boyfriend. Maybe now May would finally get to meet him.
"Well, no matter how you look at it," May heard a man's voice say, "it's not Mello." May froze, and her eyes widened. "In four years, he couldn't change that much."
Mello? she thought. She listened intently to what they said to each other.
"But I'm pretty sure this guy's close to Mello," the man said.
"Eh? What do you mean?" Misa asked. "Didn't you say the owner was Mello?"
"I gave up ownership of the book, and Tōsan relinquished it to the criminals. In other words, the man whom Tōsan gave it to became the owner. But he was killed when the helicopter exploded, so then ownership would pass on to those who picked it up from the wreckage.
"Suppose they are eventually eliminated, and so forth. The book would continue to change owners until it was someone in Mello's circle. For that reason, we can assume this man has used the book, or he's at least kept it safe for the one who's using it.
"Plus, the mere fact that he's still alive must mean that he's close to the ringleader: Mello. All couriers have been killed without hesitation, after all.
"The pictures I gave you, Misa, are from an FBI database on people involved in organized crime. If we find this guy, we're sure to find the notebook."
What the heck is he talking about? May wondered. No, it don't matter. If this is our Mello, then I just need to keep listening.
"Misa," the man said, "thank you. In your eyes lies the hope for our New World."
"Oh, Light!" she said.
"Great!" the man—Light—said. "First, I need to learn all the mafias this guy works for. I'll go back to headquarters and investigate."
"Eh?" Misa exclaimed.
May, hearing footsteps, jumped out of the way and stood next to another room a couple of doors down, with her cell phone to her ear, pretending she had heard nothing.
Light stepped out of the room and glanced at her for a moment, pondering if she was significant or not. He then walked away in a different direction.
Although she doubted she'd find out anything more than what she had heard, she put her ear to the door of Misa's room.
"Stop laughing, Ryuk!" she heard Misa say, even though the room was completely quiet. "You can be really mean, you know that?"
Silence.
"No, I'm sure Light will succeed in the end. He promised me that he and I will be the god and goddess of the New World. Isn't that romantic?"
Silence was her response.
"Wow, I've got it made. I'm famous, have the best boyfriend in the world, and on top of that, he's Kira!"
May's eyes widened. She doubted it at first; it was probably Misa just being her typical, odd self. But she was a Kira supporter. Not to mention, she and Light had been talking about Mello, who was most likely involved in his own investigation on the Kira case at that very moment.
May was angry, upset, and confused. Mostly upset. Had her dear friend turned out not to be who she'd thought she was? Still, she forced herself to keep listening in the hope that Misa would reveal more.
"What do you mean, 'What am I doing?'" Misa asked the so called, "Ryuk." "I'm calling someone; what else would I be doing? Geez, Ryuk, you can be really—Ooh, wait! It's dialing!"
And at that moment, the worst thing possible happened:
May's phone went off.
She went stiff, feeling like she couldn't move. May quickly grabbed her phone and denied the call, though she doubted it would do much to help.
She ran to the elevator, frantically pushing the button. She felt like she was in a horror movie, trying to outrun the killer. Misa... she was the killer.
Her eyes stinging with tears, she gave up on her futile attempt to get the elevator door to open and took an alternate route.
She tore down the stairs, going as fast as she could, not sure if she could even outrun her oncoming death. She grabbed her phone and dialed a number.
Patience
Where was I in the middle of this? I was across the country in the SPK headquarters. Birdie had wanted to stick around a bit longer, so I reluctantly agreed that we could stay a while.
I had been doing my best to look after Birdie and make sure she didn't wreak havoc on the place. She'd been wandering around the building, and I eventually lost track of her. After a half hour of searching, I went back to the main room of the building where the SPK members always convened, hoping that Birdie would eventually return. That and I didn't want to be alone on a dark and rainy night and knew Near was probably still there.
I actually hadn't been aware that May was in America; I thought she was still in Japan.
I heard my cell phone go off and received a glance from Near.
"Sorry," I said, "I thought I had turned it off."
"Who is it?" he asked.
I looked at the caller ID and answered, "May."
"You may speak with her," he said.
"Hello?" I said, picking up the phone, wondering why Near was looking at me as I spoke.
"Patience!" May cried. "Thank god! This is going to sound insane, but I know who Kira is."
My eyes widened.
"Hold on," I said, turning to Near. "She says she knows who Kira is!"
Near's eyes widened; even he couldn't have seen that coming. "Put her on speaker," he demanded.
"I heard them talking," May explained, not bothering to mention who, "they were talking about Mello a-and a notebook. I-I heard her say who Kira is."
"May, Near's here, too. What happened? Are you alright?"
"Who is 'she?'" Near asked. "And who is Kira?"
I glanced at Near, who was fully alert, staring intently at the phone in my hand.
"I'm not one hundred percent sure, but from what I over—" There was a pause, followed by a crash.
It was silent for a moment, and then I heard a creek.
"Are you sure it came from in here?" a woman's voice asked.
"Yeah, I think so," a man's voice replied.
"Oh my god!" I heard the woman cry, followed by the sound of someone running. "Is she okay?"
There was a pause, followed by an answer. "I think... I think she's dead."
"Get an ambulance, just in case," another voice said, this one female and with a distinct Japanese accent. "Both of you. I'll watch over her."
I heard footsteps, then silence. The person knelt next to May's lifeless body. I heard a sigh, followed by, "May."
I couldn't hear very well since it was over the phone, so I couldn't tell what the sigh was for or how they felt. Perhaps it was sorrow, frustration, maybe even joy.
The phone was evidently discovered, and whoever was there hung up.
May; she was so sweet, so kind. Even though I didn't intend to, I had gotten close to her, and now she was gone.
Why does this always happen? I silently asked myself. Why did I always end up being left alone? Was there some god out there who hated me? Who wanted to make me miserable and take away everything that I loved?
"Patience, are you okay?" a voice asked. I turned to see Birdie in the doorway.
"Birdie," I said. "May is... she's gone."
"What?" Birdie asked, confused by what I was saying. "What do you mean, Patience?"
I couldn't answer. I was too busy trying not to slip up and burst into tears.
"May died," Near said. "No, she was killed. By Kira."
Birdie's eyes widened, she blanched, and her breathing became heavy. "You're wrong!" she yelled. "I hate you, Near! She's not... May's not..."
I walked up to Birdie and held her hand. She grabbed me, pulling me into a hug, and burst into tears. I'd never seen Birdie like this; not once in my life. May was dead, and now... Birdie was lost.
"May!" she screamed. "May!"
We just stayed there like that. I don't know how long we stood there. It might have been hours or only a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity.