Day 46: Lunch

[tostepforward.livejournal.com]

The mere fact that she'd been susceptible to whatever hold the Institute had had on her yesterday was sufficient to leave Ayumu both upset and angry - no, not angry, downright furious, both at herself and whoever was responsible for that. But there was also the fact that because of it, she'd lost out on an entire day of work, and in several ways had ruined some of what she'd done already. That little conversation with Himura the day before, for instance, was something she'd sincerely prefer not to remember if she'd had any choice in the matter.

Unless the man was a complete moron, which, unfortunately, was one thing she couldn't believe of him, he had to have realized just who her brother was. After all the effort to keep that fact quiet (not exactly a secret, but certainly not advertised; half the Shinsengumi probably never even realized it because there was no reason to) she'd gone and chatted about it with him. Told him all about it, practically painted a bright target around a weakness that shouldn't have existed in the first place.

She'd spent the shift in the Sun Room pretending to sleep, while in truth forcing herself into calm. After years of practice she could shunt away the useless and distracting emotions, focusing only on what was important and needed to be at the forefront of her mind, and by the time the intercom signaled the lunch period she was feeling considerably calmer. The time to silently observe others had, as well, alerted her to something she probably should have noticed earlier: Mello was back. Would her previous objective be reinstated now? He seemed to have far less of a bulletin presence this time, so perhaps not. Still, though, it bore investigating.

None of her thoughts were visible, of course, as she moved through the line, examining the lunch selection somewhat dubiously. Now with the benefit of Yuuko's memories she might recognize the food, but she certainly didn't share the enthusiasm for it that her imaginary self apparently had. Ayumu skipped past that part and settled for the salad bar and some bread, then positioned herself in a place where she could watch both the door and the rest of the room, setting her journal open in front of herself as though planning to write something. There was far too much that she'd missed, too much work to do now.

[for Okita]

Comments

[ryuuzaki]

"Of course," he replied, sounding indifferent. "So did everyone else. They were also aware of the intention behind the suggestion. Aizawa is the exception; he was not working with us then; he has just returned, now that Kira is no longer threatening Japanese government officials. Mr. Ide came with him this time, also."

He speared more fruit with his fork. The tenor of the conversation was getting on his nerves, if he was honest with himself, and there were a number of a questions about Mello, and his current state, which remained unanswered.

There was no need, at this point, to ask about the scar; its relative freshness suggested some kind of failure, possibly in the Kira case itself.

He couldn't decide whether or not he thought it made its bearer too identifiable to take up his position. L was not, himself, particularly anonymous-looking; there were some crowds he might blend into, but not many. His unusual appearance was irrelevant as long as his habit was to draw attention only when he made a conscious decision to do so and to spend the rest of the time well out of sight. Mello's scar, and his swagger, implied that his habits were different, perhaps even reckless.

This line of thought raised another question: what had happened in the five years that separated them? The few hints Mello had given him seemed shadowed and incomplete. Matt had mentioned Near as someone who had been at Landel's in the past, yet Mello had not mentioned him at all, presenting himself as the current investigator. None of what L knew about either of them indicated that Near would have been content to step back and allow Mello to claim the case for himself.

"What do you think Near would have done? He was also here. They might have developed a plan." L's tone was as innocent as it could be, with his mouth full of half-chewed fruit.

[swornandbroken.livejournal.com]

Mello was becoming irritated again himself. I can't grasp your entire strategy immediately if you don't give me all the information. And if I'd known Light Yagami was sticking his nose into the case from the beginning, I would've suspected him much sooner. "I never saw your files, Ryuuzaki." Now he knew who would've been able to make sure they were lost. "I didn't even know who your leading suspect was until now."

He also hadn't known that Near had been a prisoner here as well, and tore the crust off one of the pieces of pizza, frowning, as he considered this. Near certainly hadn't gone missing from back home; Hal would have told him, even if she'd been instructed to keep it quiet. So it was either in Mello's future, or irrelevant to him.

He scoffed at the idea of any variation of him being up for cooperating. "Near doesn't have what it takes to get out of here. I'd be shocked if he can tie his own shoelaces. He'd be a midnight snack for the first monster whose path he crossed. Trading information? Maybe. Outright planning together? It would never happen." It was salt in the wound that Near had gone, no matter what the conditions or circumstances had been, while Mello was here (again? it didn't matter: he was stuck and Near wasn't), and he tore a piece of the crust off with his teeth as forcefully as he usually crunched chocolate.

[ryuuzaki]

So, now it was obvious: in five years, Mello had been unable to accomplish the identification of Light Yagami as the leading suspect in the Kira investigation.

L had achieved it in two months, starting from scratch. Although it was true that he'd had the advantage of some cooperation with the Japanese police, they'd hindered him in other ways, and much of what he had learned was extraneous to his involvement with them. The FBI was useful, too, but they had assisted him only for a brief time. What had consumed all the months since then was a maddening series of attempts to prove what he knew to be true.

Even allowing for a number of circumstantial strictures -- that his own chosen successors were quite young, and that Yagami would almost certainly have suppressed as much evidence as he was able to -- L was disappointed that so little progress had been made in half a decade. Mello's comment about sharing information supported his suspicion that Near was also pursuing the case, and that they were not collaborating, or not collaborating much. There was no way of knowing how far Near might have gotten on his own. Probably not much further than Mello, if Kira was still a factor.

His flat gaze had been trained on Mello for a few seconds, but then he shook his head, as if to clear it. There is never any point, he thinks, in wasting much time wishing that circumstances could be different from what they are; it only prevents us from confronting them in an effective way.

"For the time being, Kira is... not irrelevant, but a secondary concern. The case may become more important again in the future. The current situation is more vital at the moment." He paused to load his fork with more fruit; there were now only a few pieces left. "Apart from resentment, which is natural, do you have any other specific thoughts on it?"

[swornandbroken.livejournal.com]

Mello's theories and knowledge about the Institute were a work in progress. In a day, he'd gone from being certain the whole thing had been orchestrated for the sole purpose of taking him out of the picture to realizing that whatever the hell was going on here, it went too far, involved too many variables, for that. He tore the pizza crust into small pieces and ate a few, trying to pull something more useful from his mental file on the place than what they both already knew. L was right, of course: catching Kira had to take a backseat to getting back into a position to do it.

"I don't think it's random who they drag in, but there's no pattern I can see, yet, except that they take people who know each other. You, me, Matt, Near, someone called Mikami, who apparently knew me. That's not a chance sampling from back home. They've gone to a hell of a lot of trouble to get specific people." Including what amounted to time travel, and apparently being interested enough in Mello himself, among others, to kidnap them twice. But why? He tore another bit of crust off, but just tossed this one onto his plate.

"Who told you Near had been here? Did they actually see him?"

[ryuuzaki]

"No, you cannot accurately say that 'they' have gone to a lot of trouble. They may have, or they may not have, depending on how easy it is for 'them.' The mechanism of abduction is not known, although I'm told that some of the situations have been impossible... locked-room scenarios and so on, like moving vehicles. That is anecdotal, however." L paused to swallow the bite of fruit he was trying to speak around, his last. There was still some pizza left on his tray, but with the exception of the sweet baked pineapple, it wasn't to his taste.

"My own should have been relatively difficult; I was taken from a place with strong security measures. To me, the supposed irrelevance of how secure the situation ought to have been implies relative ease on the other side of the equation." He paused to shrug. He preferred to work on as few assumptions as possible; a guess might be lucky, but supportable facts were always preferable. Hunches came later, and were mostly useful as directional cues. He would still have to double back if a weak hunch didn't pan out, and decide how much effort to commit to a strong one.

"Some of the people here know each other; some do not; without interviewing everyone who is here, has been here, and will be here in the future, there is no way to be absolutely certain about the assertion. What we can say is that some people who know each other have been here."

On the periphery, nurses seemed to be picking up their activity. He suspected that it was only a matter of time before one came to encourage him to move on to the music room, a prospect he wasn't looking forward to. He wanted to be able to hear Landel's announcement; if it interrupted the conversation, so be it.

"Matt mentioned that Near had been here. Do you think he would have taken it on faith?"

[swornandbroken.livejournal.com]

Poke a fucking hole in every idea I have, that's nice. Even if L were right--which, okay, he probably was--it was annoying.

"No one should've been able to get to me, either." Mello had sidestepped the security to get into Lidner's place easily enough, but no one on earth should have been able to break in while he was there, not stealthily enough to catch him by surprise. He still didn't believe plucking people out of any time they cared to was easy; the idea made him feel too powerless, and he'd never accept that.

He rolled his eyes reflexively at the realization that it was almost time to get fucking herded along again, but he was done eating.

"No. Matt wouldn't have believed it without a reason. Do you know who this Mikami person is?"