Death Note - J, Chapter 31
*???*
My phone buzzes in my pocket several times. I quickly answer it through the bluetooth and take another look out the window. "Yeah? This is Lidner."
"Everything going well?" I can tell who it is already just by the voice.
"Everything's fine." I say, glancing over to the girl in the seats on the other side of the private jet. "She's pretty cooperative once she knows what's happening."
"Is she talking much?"
"She's asleep." I inform. She was out like a light not even half an hour after take off...
"Still?" There's a small pause. "I can see why. Poor thing."
"Mm-hm." I hum, still looking at her. "If the rumor is true; you can never take what Near says seriously most of the time."
"True that. Well, we were just checking on you guys. See ya soon."
"Bye," I say and hang up, then focus back on the new detective. If she's anything like Near says she is, then she'll speed up the pace of our investigation twice-fold. But we need to constantly keep an eye on her, Near orders; a bit of a 'suicide watch' of some sort for a while. Is it really true that she and L...? Why would Kira only take one of them? Surly he needs to kill them both. Unless it's been her the whole time, I joke to myself.
She stirs and her eyelids shut tighter, her face a bit of a frown. Waking up? I think, mentally preparing myself for a conversation with her. After a few seconds of nothing happening, I relax and return to my laptop and work. Her skin color says that she recently stopped going outside as much as usual, and years of stress and anxiety are starting to really show in her eyes. Not just the undereye, but the whites and irises themselves... there's a drained look in them. If we could relax her for just a while, she could look a lot healthier. She needs this help. If we could fix her up within a few years...
"...za...ki..." Her lips barley move. "Ryuu...zaki..." I turn back to her and watch her eyes become tighter for a second, then in the next, tears slipping out in drops. She begins to stir even more, her breathing uneven. "Ryuuzaki..." I bite my lower lip, going back to work until whatever dream she's having wakes her up. I don't want to look like I was watching her the whole time, it might be a bit strange... Who am I kidding? I'm sure she knows we're keeping our eyes glued to her until we're ordered to do otherwise. "Ahh! Haa...!" I see in the corner of my eye that she shoots up from her seat, bringing one hand to her forehead and gasping.
"Nightmare or something?" I ask in a way that makes me sound like I don't care.
She takes a few more sharp breaths, some loud enough to get me to stop typing look over at her. All she does is give me a confused look, eyes squinting slightly. I wait for a response, but she continues to stare at me. "Is something wrong?" I continue.
Her eyes stay like that for another moment, then as she blinks the confusion leaves them. "I'm fine." she tries in a reassuring voice, looking away. Sure, sure. "I just... I... yeah. Bad dream." she tries to quickly dry her eyes with a swipe under them with both hands. "Are we almost there?"
I check the time. "Around two more hours." A thirteen hour trip and she basically slept through it all. If it weren't for Near being the closest damn thing to a psychic and telling me not to disturb her should she sleep, I would have drawn the line at 5 hours. "You need to eat." I say, grabbing the small bag of trail mix from the seat next to me, and only giving her a second heads-up before tossing it to her. "We'll get some real food when we land."
"I'm not...really..." she begins, reluctantly eyeing the crumpling plastic bag in her hands.
"Alright, we'll treat you to some IVs when we get there." I tell her. She can't hide that she's not eating, or not as much as she should be: she's paler than she's supposed to be and her hands are shaking.
I can feel her annoyed stare, then I hear the sound of the bag tear open. "So, how much ground has Near covered upon beginning his investigation?" Questions right away?
I remember Near's suggestion to me if she began asking questions... lie. "L died not even a week ago. He was informed of it a day after, and has just gathered us all up." I answer. I could see in her eyes that she wanted to flinch during my first sentence. But they soon return to the focus mode.
"Yeah right." She retorts, popping some of the snack in her mouth and chewing it slowly.
"What do you mean?"
"Why are you lying to me?" she asks, in some kind of mock 'betrayed' tone. "I thought I'd be a part of this?"
"Don't get so emotional; and I'm not lying." I defend.
"Doesn't matter if you were instructed to or not, a lie is a lie. And I don't like that." I feel the strike of surprise right away. Wow, that's...
"How do you know that? That he's already begun?" I cave in; most of it was not knowing how to continue anyways.
"Well, of course he wouldn't begin just now. It may have been a while... but I think I knew Near for a bit. He was never - and this includes all of us back there - the 'waiting' type." Her eyes look off to the side for a second, then back at me. "And since you were listening to me back there and obviously knew what I meant about 'killer notebook', he already knows about the Death Note. Does he know that it has certain rules?"
Rules? She got it that he knows about the Death Note... but it has rules? I clear my throat. "Rules? What rules?" I ask, genuinely curious. She eyes me for a second, analyzing.
"Okay, maybe not about that. I'll give you guys that info." she eats more; I hadn't realized that she's almost finished. One bit after the other, apparently. How did she eat it so quickly? Is she that hungry? "Has he informed any other group or organization of it yet? Someone like an ally?"
"Not quite that." I say. "But you were close - he's told the president."
Her eyes slightly widen. "Of the US? Hmm..." she thinks it through, turning her head to the side. "I think I can get more answers when we're there. Speaking of that, where's my passport and files and the important stuff?"
"We have that covered." I tell her.
She chuckles once. "So, what's my name?" her tone has a true curiosity in it.
"I believe we used whatever you had prior to the Kira investigation." I say, trying to remember.
"May I change it to whatever I want when we're there?" she asks.
Are names just a toy to you? "Why?" I question, raising an eyebrow.
She sets the clear bag of trail mix down, - "I have my reasons. Mostly security reasons." - then adjusts her seat to fall back and lays down, leaving me at that. When I look at her bag, I notice that she's eaten all of it except the chocolate.
"Would you have preferred dark chocolate?" I sarcastically ask, turning my attention back to my laptop and returning to work.
"I don't have much of a sweet tooth."
We spend the rest of the trip in silence, and every twenty minutes when I take a glance to check on her, she's only looking up to the roof, staring blankly. Whatever that dream was, she wasn't going to risk letting it reappear. We soon arrive to the airport, landing in the spot for private jets. Time to meet the new L...
∞∞∞
On the way to the building, she seemed really... Anxious. She would occasionally do double takes from the windows or bring her face closer to it while squinting, looking troubled. I decided not to say anything about it: one because answers from these kinds of people are confusing most of the time and two, it may not be in my place, knowing only a small corner of what she's been through - the soft light grey under her eyes already tells so much (though it is what to expect of those in a job such as hers). At some point she gives up and stares down at the seat in front of her. And she's caught my eye more times than I would have liked, even though I was wearing sunglasses.
Although, at some point, I do remember her making one little joke. "If there's just something about me, that's very kind of you," that was the attention getter "but I don't prefer women." I could already tell that that was just her way to maybe get me to stop yet sound sarcastic or her age. Sometimes I forget she's really young. But a comment such as that isn't to be expected from her... what's going on with this girl?
"Oh please." I retorted, unamused.
"It'd be a lot easier if there were cameras, you know." she said, eyeing the corners of the car, the floor, sides. "Unless really well hidden, I'm not seeing the little clues to those."
"We'll take that into consideration." I answered, then it was silent again. This girl... why is she so important? Unfortunately, that answer is one that Near isn't giving us. In a few moments, I realize something. I spoke Japanese to her at the graveyard, but since she woke up on the plane... everything's been in English.
∞∞∞
I practically guide the girl by her shoulders through the hotel process. We are to meet Near at a nearby hotel late at night to discuss everything with him - or rather, I stand guard while she talks with him. When I explained the plan to her, she faded away. Her drained eyes continued to stare back into mine as she gave a slow nod, then silently walked along me with her hands in her coat pockets.
11:30pm. We're in the elevator and slowly going up up the building, to nearly the top floor. One minute the girl is somewhat talkative, and the next she's completely reserved. I know I'm not supposed to understand her, but the curiosity is there. What's up with this girl and why does Near need her so badly in this case? Why get her now, in a state of grief? How can she be of help so soon after her apparent lover was murdered? Surly he can't expect her to recover so soon?
The elevator stops with a ding, and the doors slide open. "C'mon." I say and put a hand on her left shoulder to escort her out and through the hallways. Down a hallway, a turn left, then a few rooms on the right side. Room 117. I bring my hand to my ear to switch on the Bluetooth. "We're here."
"Are you being followed?"
"No, sir."
"Come in."
I take the key from my pocket and slide it along the door handle, and the little light on it goes from red to green. I turn the handle and push the door open, then with the other hand give the girl a nudge and allow her to walk in first. She complies after a brief moment. I eye the white-haired boy standing by in wait; he gives a nod and I return it, closing the door on him and waiting outside.
∞∞∞
*J*
Why am I still here? Why did I come to America? Why did I care about being seen by Misa or not? Why am I breathing? Why am I standing here, living? Why am I doing this to myself? I don't want this. I don't want to do anything, yet at the same time the only thing I want is to catch Kira and make sure he dies for what he's done. ...I can't rest until Light is dead, in any means necessary. Yes, Light being caught is the only thing that's keeping me here.
So that's why I'm in a country that speaks what I used to speak for so long, and therefore reminds me of Whammy's House. And it's why I'm meeting a successor to the Kira case in this country, in a manner just like when I met L: the world's greatest detective who's death will continue to haunt me. I wish I can just forget. Hit a delete button and any emotional attachment I had towards would just vanish and I can focus on catching Kira. I wish I could just...
"Ahem." someone standing before me clears his throat. I'm back in reality. The younger boy dressed in baggy jeans, long sleeved white shirt and wavy white hair on his head awaits something from me. A greeting? An answer? A question? I wasn't listening... and I bet my eyes right now are saying those exact words to him. He takes a breath and readies himself to repeat his words. "Welcome, Miss Rei Suzuki, to the SPK. I should assume you know who I am?" I nod. "Would you like to sit?" I nod again. He shuffles over to a nearby coffee table with couches around it and I blindly follow, feeling a bit of relief in my legs when I sit. The table has several boxes of dominoes, which Near empties on to it and begins placing them upwards onto the table. "Care for water? Coffee? Tea?"
I shake my head.
"Please, don't try to yell out everything at once." he retorts. "So I have decided to hire you for the investigation of Kira. In return for a work building to stay and live in, you help us with all the information you deem is necessary for this case. That includes speculation, theories, and any suggestion that may not be true but will help in any way." I can see that what he's built with the dominoes so far is a kind of foundation, and he moves on to stacking domino on domino to make something.
And like the pattern has been, I nod. He doesn't take it and tilts his head forward in a way that says 'what was that?'. "Sounds fair." I mutter.
"So you're okay with leaving everything in Japan? And you're willing to share important information as well as keep secrets here?"
"I had nothing to leave anyways..." I start.
"A laptop with information on it?" I shake my head. "Not even a bag?"
"I couldn't. I only brought what they didn't know I even had." I say.
"And that would be...?"
"That's a secret." I say in a bit of a stronger tone to imply I have no intention of telling even him.
He nods. "Very well." He goes back to his little house.
"And you're wasting time asking me these things." I continue. "What kind of a person drops everything so suddenly to move to an other country? Surely they had people who knew about them back there?"
"I'm curious to that myself."
"Maybe I left them a suicide note."
"How do you know they won't be looking for you? That sounds like a rather rushed plan to me." As he speaks, he hardly looks me in the eye from being so focused on his domino house. I get a familiar feeling of frustration for a moment, then remember just who the kid is. I know he's listening, maybe better than he would be if he wasn't playing around.
"It was. Yet one of Kira's victims we know of is believed to have committed suicide and yet to this day, her body hasn't been found." I inform. But because my mother is probably dead, and so is L-" there's a sharp pain in my chest "-most of them will think it true... despite how quickly it came along..."
Near doesn't say anything else, but continues to create the little building, yet his silence implies that he's waiting for me to say more. But there aren't any words leaving my mouth. Instead, my eyes begin to feel warm and slightly sting. Then I watch the whole room swirl apart, the couches and tables mixing in with the walls and ceiling; rays of light gleaming across room from the lamps and lights on the ceiling. Without needing to blink, a few drops escape my eyes and everything returns to being clear. It takes the feeling of the first few tears sliding down my cheeks and dripping from my chin for me to break. All I can hear is my sniffing and the endless click clack if the dominoes.
Unable to contain it, I allow my face to contort in sadness and I bring my arm over my eyes, controlling my breathing. I can see him. The rare smile, the regular blank expression. His voice rings in my head, and my body yearns electrifying feeling I would have when he kissed me. I remember when I would hold his hand, when he shared food with me, when we worked as a team throughout the case. One second, everything is fine... but in the very next he's gone and will never come back. All I can see of him now is his corpse. His eyes as the life drained out of him, I hear his straining voice as he did everything he could to mutter those last words to me.
Those last words of the last sentence he never got to finish. But he said enough. For some reason, my mind flashes back to sitting behind him and Light in the helicopter, moments after the apprehended Higuchi. I see that little pin that fell from Light's seat and rolled over to me... a sewing needle tinted red at the pointed edge. I grit my teeth and wipe away the salty tears that continue to leave my eyes. The pain in my chest continues, like something is grabbing my heart from the inside and twisting it around roughly. At some point, that becomes the reason why I continue to cry. To cry and look weak. But how can I not when I keep thinking I see him walking among the people in the streets? When he's appeared in every haunting dream I've had since then?
And it won't stop. I can try all I want, but I can't get over it. L's dead. Dead. He was murdered by the very person he promised to stop. I'll never see him again. I'll never feel the affection from him again. I'll never get to continue with that emotion that changed something within me. No, there's only one thing to do now, and it's to kill Kira. The only goddamned thing that's clinging onto my soul is catching him. I can't let go... and because of that, I will catch Kira. I'm not continuing to be a detective because it's something I enjoy: I'll continue because of that one obligation I still have left.
"The only way they'll know if it's true is if that was your intention in the first place. A suicide note isn't convincing if it's just for show." Near finally continues when he sees that I try to control myself.
I gulp to clear the knot in my throat and give my eyes a quick swipe before talking as steadily as I can. "Then we have nothing to worry about." I state firmly, continuing a half-lie.
Only one might think it's a lie, I want to say. Might. Even he could probably be convinced. ...I should be okay... as far as what truly defines a person's name. I should thank Watari...
"Tell me, Miss Suzuki, why you're continuing to do this despite your... situation." he asks.
"I'm certain you already know." I say in a tone that also can say 'Do I absolutley, really need to tell you?'
"Very well. Then before you can proceed any further with us, you have to be psychologically stable enough to do so." He explains, still stacking away with the toys. "I won't take any information from you nor let you do work until I deem you ready to do the investigation."
My moment of greiving ends right then and there, and is replaced with a moment of anger. "What?" I demand. No... I didn't come here to just wait! Things need to happen right now!
"Miss Suzuki, if you had previously thought that I'd let you or anyone else working under me attempt to do their jobs while the world around them is falling apart, then I'm afraid you're mistaken." He informs me and continues to stack the dominoes at a remarkable speed into something like a castle. "You can't hope to solve a puzzle perfectly when your brain is one second away from going unconscious from lack of sleep. And as far as this case goes, any little mistake can leave all of us in a situation--" the room is full of the sound of something crashing and falling apart, loud enough to make me jump; and my eyes watch Near's house of dominoes tumble down and sprawl out across the table in an instant. "--we'd much rather not be in."
"You're willing to delay the progression of your case for my health?" I question.
"You sound like you know something a little too important." He comments, restarting his castle again.
"I do, as a matter of fact. But unfortunately," I drag "I can't say - or it won't be taken seriously - until I'm all better, correct?"
"Correct."
"So how am I supposed to recover so quickly?" I ask cynically, leaning back on my chair in defeat. If he was going to suddenly change his mind, he would have done it by now... maybe this was his whim the whole time.
"I can never expect you to just forget about L. He was, after all, very important to you..." he stops in the middle of his construction to watch more tears flow from my eyes involuntarily. "And until things like that can be said by us and even you, I don't believe it will be right to have you work in an environment where that subject will be brought up many times."
Dammit... why won't it stop? I think while I clean my face once more. Why can't I just control myself? I know that I'll never let go of this... but the least I can do is hide it when I need to! Why...?
"You're only human, Miss Suzuki." It was as if he literally read my mind. That's what gets me to nod and cave in. "I have one last question: tell me how you can be so certain, 110% sure that they think you're dead?"
I almost want to grin at what I did, despite my situation right now. "What better way to convince them that the suicide was real than to write a name that could very well belong to me followed by the reasons for me doing it... in the Death Note itself?"
He only nods, continuing to build. "You didn't kill anyone else, did you?" He casually asks.
If he only knew the willpower I had to not kill Light... "It was a whim. The intended outcome would to be who I knew was Kira and then myself, but... something told me to run instead. I just couldn't kill my suspects without proving it myself."
"Alright."
"I want a new name..." I request, looking at his, somehow already halfway done, domino castle.
"I had a feeling. If there's anything else you need, do not hesitate to ask. I understand that you want to change completely: it's a common solution for people going through a tough time." Is his response. I truthfully didn't know what to expect for his answer. I don't know if most of what I've been saying this past week has been completely in character for me. Wait, only a week? It can't be
I feel my eyes start to glaze over with more tears and my lip trembles. I take a deep breath, lay back on the couch with my eyes closed and continue the steady breathing. These are going to be the longest few years of my life...
∞∞∞ Death Note - J ∞∞∞
Out of the many kids living in the House, only 25 were deemed suitable for the task. It could only be the children in this chosen group, and should one decide to leave, there would be no replacement. There couldn't be a replacement. While very young, they have the option to be taught a language of their choice, and multiple languages if it was what they wanted. And each kid was given an initial to live by, not just by their group members, but the other children of the orphanage. These initials ranged from A to Z, excluding only the letter L, who was just a bit older than the group of that time and very young, yet knew exactly how he wanted things to play out.
Watari took care of the program, or at least, what was left of it just after it's beginning. Many of the kids thought it would be too much to dedicate their lives to living up to the unnamed legend of a detective, and there left the first wave of the girls and boys who had the potential. Then, quite a long time after the first wave of those who would leave, L decided it would be best to let the kids know exactly what they would be getting their selves in to, since they had grown older. Five at a time, there was no sparing them the risks they would have to take, the burdens they would always need to carry, the lies they would have to tell, and deaths they can either be directly or indirectly responsible for. One of these small groups sent in to the supervisor Roger's office was of the letters I through M, but because there were so many that had left before, the entire alphabet was out of place.
This group had two girls, three boys. Their letters were J, M, N, O, and R. Within the first few minutes, the girl called O decided to leave without a second thought when fear easily overcame here. The boy called R left shortly after. And ultimately, after a long moment of decision-making after hearing out the whole message, the other girl called J had left the group as well. It would take several years for the whole system to nearly be destroyed only from the people leaving the program, or things much worse. Because the ones in the beginning of the alphabet would be the next to succeed L, the whole program was not only more stressful to them but very urgent as to get them at L's level. The oldest girl called A had committed suicide from being under the pressure to live up to L for too long; the boy called B had gone insane and became a killer himself.
Yes, some of those who stuck with the program longer than the first wave of kids who left didn't come back out, if they did at all, the same. In the end, by the time of L's death, there were only two left who could be a true successor to L. However there was one other than the two, M and N, that would make a surprise reappearance. The girl called J would be the one of many people L would come back to when visiting Whammy's House. At first these visits were intended to pursuade the drop-outs into returning, but L soon knew that it wouldn't happen and instead would offer any emotional support in any way he could. Going back to this girl, she purposely let her name be a mystery. While very young and with no true parental guidance, she had trouble with trusting others. L had given her the nickname J during a casual conversation before the program began (and it's what sparked his idea for it).
The girl had a desire to find out who her parents were, only to be told that she was placed here by a woman to stormed off the minute she handed over the small child not even a year old to the workers at the doorstep, with no father in sight. All they were given by said woman was the girl's name, and we're asked to please take care of her. Then the woman left without another word, probably not knowing that there was a whole process upon putting a child up for adoption. The description of her was that she looked frantic, a bit sickly, and dressed in a heavily wrinkled and dull outfit. Perhaps this woman was not ready for a child, or not fit to take care of one.
Then there was the story of a young woman seen jumping off a bridge a few weeks later, who's picture was devastatingly familiar to the workers. Roger knew it would be almost cruel to let the idea that the girl can still search for her mother only to find out herself eventually and did not omit that information when explaining to the daughter. Perhaps because it was too much for her to handle, and because she usually shut herself out from people except her fellow group members to succeed L, but she found a way to convince herself that it was some kind of dream - anything that was unreal and just a trick of the mind. Little by little, through opening up to the group more and studying away even after she decided to leave, she managed to forget.
In fact, she forgot more than what was intended. By the time she was sixteen, having spoken to a few of the Succession program and years of listening and taking mental note of how conversations around her go, she allowed herself to talk to others outside of when it was absolutely necessary occasionally, then a bit frequently, to the point where by the next year (although not perfect with conversation), she was noticed by a couple willing to take one of the older kids. Yet the girl in a way was unlucky, seeing as the adoption was more of a challenge from the mother to the father that he wasn't ready to take care of a kid with her; they chose an older one because he or she would leave the household at some point very soon.
The mother honestly did try for a long time - it didn't take long for the father to leave. But she went out of her way to teach the girl about life, and interaction with others, and the hardships to overcome. Thinking that a job with the police as a detective will not only be in her category of problem-solving, but a job that will get her to interact and meet people, the girl who called took the last name Suzuki from the adoptive mother and the first name Rei for it's similarity in sound to "J", soon was able to get a job with the help of Whammy's House giving an explination about their "school" system there. Then her mother began to crash, with J too busy with her work and herself to bother too much with it, but she knew in the back of her mind what was to happen.
And soon enough, a boy called Yagami Light with grades worthy of deep envy, an emanating optimism, and a sense of justice strong enough to inspire others discovers the fatal weapon called the Death Note. Who would have thought that a notebook could turn someone like him would become a ruthless, cold-hearted mass murderer?
∞ Death Note - J ∞
"Do you think it's real!?"
"I have no way of knowing..."
"What!? You don't know the name of your own employee?"
"Everything she's given out has been fake! Her adoptive name doesn't count on the Notebook either!"
"Then it's a simple question." Yagami Light silences his group. They all focus on him for a brief moment to hear him out. "Is that name in her handwriting?"
Matsuda looks at the words in the notebook again, his face showing reluctance. "Yes... I'm certain."
"And is that name the same one on her birth certificate?" Light continues.
"Well... her mother was absolutely cooperative..." Aizawa begins, then hesitates. "Since she had no reason to hide it, then it must be true..." He doesn't want to outright say that it was indeed a match.
"Unless it was forged." Soichiro suggests.
"I checked; it's definitely legitimate." Aizawa adds in an undertone. The room goes silent.
So that's how it is, is it? Light thinks to himself. I never thought Ada would grow to become so weak after L died. I certainly expected her to quit or just be unable to move forward in the investigation, but she's too stubborn to kill herself. Killing herself is the way to admit she lost the game, and she had a childish approach to the idea of losing... Running back to his act, Light mimics the expression of grief and distraught on his face and lower his head. A certain someone's voice replays in his mind, sounding distant.
'Now that Raye's gone I have nothing to lose anymore! I wanna catch Kira!'
No, she may have been smarter but she wasn't as tough as Misora. From what she's revealed about her past, even an idiot can notice that she had never experienced much love before. To then have the real thing come and go so suddenly... no matter how many times she probably told herself, she wasn't prepared for it. He concludes. Being driven to suicide was inevitable. Light forces himself not to smirk right then and there, but he knows on the inside that he has nothing to worry about now. Like those soon to come, any of those who dare question the god of the new world will be punished with death.
"Whether it was that Shinigami," Light says in a hushed voice. "or Kira... whoever killed L also killed Ada, even if it wasn't completely direct." His eyes seem to nearly glow in contrast to the shadows his bangs and angle of his face are causing around them. "He killed people that didn't even need to die... they weren't criminals..." he hinted his anger cleverly in those words.
"Gives us all the more reason to catch him." Matsuda says in a nearly cracking voice, his eyes flickering over to the birth certificate that the Chief is holding.
"With three of Kira's most difficult identities to uncover dead, and yours possibly being the easiest, I must request that anyone too unwilling to continue on in this investigation leaves." Soichiro announces, not truly expecting anyone to walk out.
Meanwhile, Ryuk snickers behind Light at the fact that he truly thinks Ada is dead. C'mon Light, are you falling for her trick so easily? I'd like to see how this turns out though... He catches the name on the birth certificate once again, and feels a pang of nostalgia. Victoria Gladwyn? Wait a second... Ryuk let's out a chuckle. She did not! Is she really...!? At this thought, his laughter steadily increases to the point where it's almost diabolical. There are so many surprises here in the human world!
Light just gives him a confused look while he fakes turning around to put his face in his hands. His eyes peeking through his fingers ask Ryuk the question.
Uh oh, better not ruin it as an audience member. "And watch'a looking at? I thought you'd be happy that you actually got her."
Not.
∞∞∞
So yeah, I know I'm still editing (currently finished with chapter 12) but I couldn't wait any longer! Here's the new chapter~ And just to let you guys know, the editing is for storywise; kinda changing things here and there. As for typos.... nope. You'll still find those ≥﹏≤
So I decided to give the beginning something different. I let it be from the viewpoint of Halle just for... well, just for the heck of it. I wanted to see what it was like to read the story from the viewpoint of someone else for once, and let the readers interpret what Ada/Rei was feeling by only what someone else could see.
Anyways, I also decided to tie up some loose ends on J's past and reasons for her strange memory in this chapter as well. I do hope I was able to address them all, since I've been editing and seeing the story from the beginning again. But if there's something I missed or if something doesn't make sense (that's bound to happen... this story's a mess no matter what I do ≥3≤), feel free to point it out and I'll figure something else... Unless I'm withholding something on purpose.
Oh yeah, and to clarify something in the end in case it was confusing: Ryuk knows something is up with that name... how does it connect to J though? Well, whatever it is he sure ain't telling Light!
But, hey, the chapter is now up and we should totally forget about that 25-year wait inbetween!
... ＼(￣▽￣;)／
And also I made the edit of the picture provided :)
.
*Follow my tumblr for quick news updates, special previews, and deleted scenes! I'll also be answering and asking questions about my stories there!
https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ilive4games