Death Note: The Next Kira (Part One)

Chapter Twenty-Four (Part Two): Meeting Near

JANUARY 24, 2006

AROUND 8:20 AM 

TOKYO, JAPAN

                                                                              MARIE 

"Marie?" I heard a woman ask. 

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked to my right, nearly falling out of my seat. 

"Whoa," Ms. Hirota let out. "Are you okay?" 

I stayed silent for a few seconds before coming up with an answer. "Uh...yeah. I mean, yes, Ms. Hirota. Why would you be worried right now?" 

"Well," Ms Hirota began, putting her hand up to her chin for a few seconds. Then, placing it down. "You look a bit tired," Ms. Hirota continued. "Did you sleep well?" 

I hesitated, trying to do my best to come up with the best answer. To tell you the truth, I couldn't remember what I dreamt about last night. I tried to remember what it was, but all I knew was that I had a bad case of deja vu earlier that I nearly drowned out all other conversations and noises. 

"Alrighty, class, if you wanna study, work on homework, play on your flip phones, DS, PSPs, take a nap, or whatever, then you are free to do so, but whatever you do, please do not disturb the other people around you. We'll try to think about a lesson that we'll give to you tomorrow."

 Mr. Yamamoto turned around and walked to Principal Mizuki. "You'd better have my Algebra classes not wasted with free time for the students!" he snapped. 

"Don't worry," Mr. Mikami assured him. "They can write some haikus for fun."

 Mr. Yamamoto sighed in annoyance. 

"Ooh, I would like one!" Alissa said.

 "Me too!" Osuke said as he held his hand up. 

 "I would like one too!" I heard a girl say. I turned around and saw a girl who had long, natural, deep red hair and teal eyes who looked like she had come from America, too. 

"Okay," Mr. Mikami said. "Anyway, for those of you who want to create your own haikus for fun and not for grades, I'll leave the sheets of paper here." 

"What a cheapskate," Mr. Yamamoto said under his breath. 

I watched as Alissa and Osuke got up from their seats so that they could get their sheets of paper. I then saw a couple that I haven't seen before. They were both of African American descent, and there was something that was very unique about them...especially the girl. She had her hair braided from her roots to her tips, which was dyed a bold red that reminded me of Ariel's hair color from The Little Mermaid. The guy stood out because of his black-to-blonde ombre dreadlocks, but I did notice that he wore a Smash Mouth t-Shirt and blue jeans. 

Right before the girl that I have seen in class, who was the one with the deep red natural hair, got her paper, Mr. Mikami got the class's attention by clapping his hands.

"Alright, everybody," he began. "Class, I want to introduce you to a couple of new students." 

The couple that he was referring to turned around and faced us with smiles on their faces. "This is Hailey and Daemon," he continued. "Be sure to welcome them with open arms."

 Everybody in the classroom whispered and chattered about them as they got their pieces of paper. Right after getting their pieces of notebook paper, they went to find a place to sit down.

 "Sit with us," Alissa offered, which they accepted as I watched them sit down at the table where she and Osuke were.

 I then got up and went straight to the boy who looked like L but had white hair. I sat down across from him and watched as he built something with the Jenga blocks. I was kind of bummed to find out that he wasn't wearing the Link hat anymore, but that didn't stop me from trying to strike up a conversation with him.