A Year of Jubilee [The Death Note Fanfic]

Chapter 63

Mello's eyes widened a fraction before he schooled his expression into something more neutral. "Hey J." He relaxed back into his pillows. "Didn't think I'd be seeing you."

"I—" She floundered for words. "Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah." He tapped at his bandaged face. "This is just a scratch. You should've seen the time one of the kids back at home tried building an airplane and I was the test pilot."

She let out a shaky laugh, then stuck out her hand. "Nice to officially meet you."

Mello snorted but reached out and gave her hand a firm shake. Then he eyed L quizzically from where he was standing behind Jubilee. "Who's the guy?"

L stepped forward slowly. "Hello, Mihael," he said softly. "I imagine I'm not what you expected."

Mello stared at L for a second, and then his eyes grew round. "Ry—Ryuzaki!" he sputtered, dumbfounded.

L gave a short nod. "I am glad to see you made it out of that truck incident alive."

Mello flushed a little. "About that," he began nervously, rubbing the back of his head, "I admit it didn't quite go according to plan, but—" He lowered his hand as his expression grew more serious. "The end goal was still reached. We now have the location of the Death Note."

"Yes," agreed L.

"What do you plan on doing with that information?" Mello asked, quickly reverting to business mode.

"I have some ideas," replied L, "But I thought the three of us would discuss the matter and come up with a plan together, since we are all here."

How cute, remarked Hellenos. It's like a family reunion.

"It can't be a reunion if we're meeting for the first time," Jubilee muttered under her breath.

You're right, I should have said family meeting, said Hellenos with a broad grin, just as L said, "What was that, J?"

"Er..." She racked her brain for something relevant to say. "Could we just do the same thing as before, with the notebook that was in Mikami's locker? Switch it out with a fake?" She wrinkled her nose as she remembered the details of that incident. "Except that time, it didn't really work since I guess we switched out a fake for a fake...right?"

"It appears so," said L. "However, that doesn't mean that it isn't still a good idea—now that we've found the real one."

"We've got four days until you two have got to be at the warehouse," interjected Mello, the miniature cogs over his head lighting up and spinning as he did some rapid mental calculations. "Depending on how many pages in the notebook are full already, it might be a close call...but just enough time to construct a fake."

"We can't risk removing the notebook from its location, in case Mikami goes to check on it again," L said. "So Wedy will have to break in again to take clear photos of all its pages, as well as the front and back covers."

"I can help her with constructing the fake, once she's got the photos," Mello volunteered.

"Very good," said L with a nod, then turned to Jubilee. "Can you contact Wedy and let her know?"

Jubilee blinked, her mind whirling from the speed of the conversation. "Uh, yes," she managed, pulling out her phone. Pulling up her last text from Wedy, she began to type as the two continued their conversation.

"By the way," Mello was saying. "Once Soichiro Yagami...passes, there will only be eight of you left to go to the warehouse."

"Yes," agreed L slowly.