L's new Assistant

Chapter II: The hitman is a woman

When I entered the living room, he was already sitting in front of the computer and tapping quickly. I sat next to him and waited for anything to happen. Any instruction or information. But he remained silent and just kept tapping on the keyboard. I started getting jittery and opened my mouth to say something when he pointed at the display. »What do you see?« I leaned to the side to take a closer look. »A map of Japan with six black marked spots. The markings look familiar to me... Aren't these the locations of the murders of our wanted perpetrator?« »Well noticed. And on that spot right here", he pointed to the west-side of Japan, ,,is going to be the next murder.« »How do you know that?«, I asked turning to him. His pale face was illuminated by the soft lightning of the screen. His skin looked flawlessly, just like a doll. But his eyebags came into their own. I've never seen him sleep. Still, he always looks so tired. I watched as he put his thumb on his mouth. He always does that while he's thinking. It was just one of many of his habits. I wonder what he's thinking about. He probably is creating some sort of plan. Suddenly he placed his hand back on the keyboard. » I will explain it to you. There's just something missing.«, he turned to me with an expression that stated "Fix the problem". So I did. But only after giving him a little nudge. I left the living room to come back with a plate of delicious, sweet and fruity cupcakes and a bar of chocolate. In between the sweets I placed a cup of freshly brewed coffee. As I passed the couch I tripped over the tawdry carpet. Of course the stupid coffee had to tip over like I haven't had enough bad luck today. Great, now my blouse is ruined too, just like my pants. The hot coffee burned through my clothing into my skin but it didn't bother me. Seriously, I couldn't care less. I felt too annoyed about the bad day I was having to be worried about any more injuries. I placed the plate on the couch table and picked up the single cupcake that fell when I noticed Lawliet. He already grabbed some tissues and handed me them to dry myself. »Does it burn?«, he asked. »It did a little but it doesn't matter anymore.« I felt his hand on my upper back and a soft pressure that prompt me to move forwards. He leaded me to his bed room. I've never been in there. It smelled different than the rest of the apartment. Kind of bloomy and cold. The lights in the spacious room were dimmed and the view outside beautiful. I could see the splendid nature of the forest from the small balcony. He opened his closet and grabbed for one of his white oversized shirts and some black shorts to hand me both. »Cool your cleavage and wear this. We have a long night ahead of us, so you will sleep here tonight. Since the couch got wet you can sleep in my bed. If you don't mind.« I felt the worms in my stomach doing a spin. I looked at his bed. It was definetly big enough to fit two people, even three would be no problem. »Thank you and I'm sorry for the mess I made.« I still felt really horrible about it. »Watari will take care of it tomorrow.«, he wipped it off. I'm sorry Watari.

After I changed I sat back with Lawliet and we finally talked about the plan, he was about to tell me before. »I told the National Police Agency to sent out some people to watch Hamamoto Tetsuya, one of the most influential men in Japan. He and his family live in a well-secured area in a mansion in Shikoku. He has some connections in the underworld. I assume that he's the next target.« »How comes that?« »The vicitms were all top people of the higher class.« »But how comes you know that of all the rich people he is going to be the one that's next?«, I asked. »Intuition.«, he answered meager. »Intuition?« He nodded: »Mhm.« and then added: »I am 80 percent sure that he is going to be the next target of our serial killer.« I laid back on my seat, still not content with what he was saying but I had no other choice. »Whatever you say master-mind.«

I spent the rest of the night poring over a large stack of files on underground figures known to the police, looking for possible motives and other puzzle pieces that might fit while Lawliet did what he was always doing: tapping on the computer while stuffing himself with the sweets I bought. Just before midnight I was halfway through it. Most cases were about drug trafficking, others about tax evasion. But then I came across something interesting. I read the file, compared the information gathered with that of the murders, two times, three times, four times. Until there were no doubts left. ,
»It fits.«, I whispered. Promptly Lawliet turned to me. »Hara Miki. Other names: Soma Kyoko, Hirose Suzume, Minzuno Aki and Matsubara Shizoku. Her real identity and age is unknown but she is estimated to be in her early 20s. She works as a hitman in the underworld and the number of her fatalities is estimated at 50 to 60. She clearly is a woman of no mercy. The only thing she has in mind is the money. She is wanted for quite some time but always managed to submerge and change her identity and location. But here's what makes me suspicious: She used many methods to kill her targets but after her face got more and more public she prefered to kill in safe distance. By placing bombs and... using a sniper. But wait, there's more. She was last seen on June 2nd in Akita. That's the next city where the fourth murder took place. And not enough: The data of the footage of the video camera shows that it was a few days before the fourth victim was killed.« »Good job, Misa«, Lawliet picked up the file and placed it beside him. »You worked hard today. Take a good rest.« He chewed on a broken piece of chocolate when he started tapping on his keyboard again. I was about to ask how long he is going to keep working but the concentrated look on his face held me back. I shouldn't disturb just because I'm worried about his lack of sleep. After all he's an adult.

I felt free to cook myself some ramen before I went to bed. I opened the refrigerator to find some toppings like eggs for extra proteine and chives for a better taste. I was satisfied with the few ingredients and sat down to eat up my food. After putting the dishes in the dishwasher I couldn't wait to finally go to bed and sleep. As I entered the bedroom I found myself pondering which side to sleep on. I guess I will have to figure it out tomorrow and laid down on the left side, the side next to the small balcony. I snuggled up in the nice-smelling blanket and immediatly fell asleep.

4:56am

It was a rainy morning I was looking around, standing on the small balcony of Lawliet's bedroom when I suddenly saw something in the forest. There was a big, blackish thing flying in between the trees. I concentrated for a while but couldn't see it again. So I gave up and turned around to go inside when suddenly the blackish thing was already waiting there and flew right in my face causing me to trip over the balcony and... I'm falling??!
That was the last thing I thought before wincingly waking up. I was breathing heavily. Stupid thing wanted to kill me! Only then I noticed the familiar face covered in long black hair in front of me. It was Lawliet. »That's exactly how I imagined him sleeping.«, I whispered sleepy. »You imagine me sleeping?«, his sudden voice startled me. Nope. Not sleeping at all. I failed to think of any answer. He totally caught me. »Did you have a nightmare?«, he asked. »No, no. Not a nightmare. I woke you up, right?«, I asked still embarassed about the situation. »No, I was awake already.«, he answered. »Glad to hear. We can go back to sleep if you want.« That was my weak try to loosen up the situation. »Did you calm down?« »Pff, of course. It was just a stupid dream. No seriously. I've got school tomorrow. Let's just go back to sleep.« For a couple of seconds we just laied there, staring at each other. Both of us having their own thoughts. None of us knowing what the other thinks. Two months passed by but I still have so many questions left. Why did he pick me as his apprentice? I do have special abilities but many others in Wammy's House were even more of a genius. And how come his behavior changed that quickly in these two months I spent with him? At the beginning he showed not even the slightest of interest. Didn't share his ideas and plans with me. Why did that change? It feels like it's too early to ask. I tried to figure out my confusion however these were just the thoughts of a tired mind. Thoughts that were far away from consciousness. I ended up falling back to sleep.