A Year of Jubilee [The Death Note Fanfic]

Chapter 23

In the perfect world of Jubilee's imaginary mind theater, when she went downstairs for work the next day, she would have grabbed an extra cup of coffee, piled it high with sugar cubes, and delivered it to L with a smile and an apology. Something cool and collected like, "Sorry about yesterday. Can we start over?" Or, "That wasn't cool of me to flip out. Let's put it behind us." Maybe she would throw in a muffin from the refreshment cart along with it. Or, perhaps, in an alternate cut scene version that her mind had contrived, she'd have gone above and beyond, asking Watari to help her bake a cake the night before.

But this was reality, and reality wasn't a perfect world, and she wasn't a perfect person. And gracious apologies that came easily, and affable reconciliations that smoothed everything over, only existed in the realm of her imagination—where she had rehearsed the above scenarios repeatedly, yet still found her feet walking right on past the detective when she approached him in real life.

Tomorrow, she thought resignedly as she slid into her chair. Tomorrow I'll say sorry. But that was what she had told herself twenty-four hours ago, and even now the very thought of it put an irrational sense of dread in her.

Maybe it was because ignoring the problem was less risk than addressing it and having to open up that whole can of worms again. Tense silence between her and L was marginally better than giving him an opening to potentially reproach her for her conduct. If she had to hear him tell her one more time that her emotions were hindering her progress on the case, then she just might lose it. Although, to make it all worse...they probably were.

Moodily, she pulled up footage and proceeded to fast forward it as usual. Hours passed by in this fashion as the repetitive images played before her. This, combined with the drone of quiet conversation around her, made her continually have to suppress a huge yawn. A few feet to her right, Aiber, Wedy and L had been discussing a lengthy plan of action.

"So I just have to get close to these guys, right?" the blonde man said at one point, flipping through a stack of Yotsuba employee profiles. He looked up and grinned. "Leave it to me."

Wedy, seated by his elbow, also addressed L. "And you want me to breach the security and override the surveillance cameras in the Yotsuba Group's head office. Is that all?"

"Yes," replied L from his usual crouched position in his chair. "At this point, it's safe to assume that Kira and the Yotsuba Group are connected in some way. We need to investigate Yotsuba and determine who holds Kira's power, and also if there is more than one person who possesses this ability. However." He swiveled away from his computer to face them, wearing a serious expression. "We cannot let anyone from Yotsuba figure out that we are investigating them. If they do, we won't be able to catch Kira. So please, do not act out of panic or haste, and do not take matters into your own hands."

"Ryuzaki," Watari's voice suddenly interrupted from the speakers.

"Yes. What is it?" asked L.

Watari's voice was grim. "I have just received an emergency signal from Matsuda's belt."

Everyone in the room looked up at this, including Jubilee.

L's expression had blackened perceptibly. "Where is he?" he asked darkly.

"It seems," began Watari, "That it is coming from within the head office of the Yotsuba Group."

There was a moment of shocked silence.

"What?" squeaked Jubilee, whipping her head around the room. She hadn't even known that Matsuda wasn't there. "He left?"

"He's been on a film shoot with Misa, posing as her manager," answered Mr. Yagami, before adding thoughtfully, "The set is not that far from the Yotsuba building. He must have thought it would be a good opportunity to investigate."