Insanity's Ideals ~Prequel to Deathnote~

Chapter 19 ~Heights~

I scrutinized the building with  narrowed eyes, flipping the letter over in one hand. To think I could be so easily played by someone aggravated me, and for him to even go as far as to say that he is my ‘biggest fan’ pisses me off even more. He doesn’t even notice that by doing this, he is only making himself scum underneath my feet. People like him are meant to be stepped on.

I knew that as soon as I got the notebook back, I would not hesitate to be rid of him.  Coughing into my sleeve, I muttered a string of curses. I had considered the idea of having another attack like that last one while I was meeting with him, but I never really thought that it would happen. Moreover, I did not want it too. If I were to collapse in front of him because of this, I would hate myself. I don’t want to show any sign of weakness around anybody, let alone this sociopath.

Glancing down at the letter again, I re-read it with a few quick flicks of my eyes.

“Akuma...”

Beside me, Ren floated weightlessly with a few flaps of his wings. I listened to the sound of their flapping for a few moments, feeling a seconds peace. It was odd that I found a Shinigami’s very presence calming. Perhaps I found comfort in it because having Ren still visible and audible, assuring me that I did not lose ownership of the Deathnote yet.

While I was in the hospital, I went through the other letters, reading them over carefully. He did not try and communicate clearly again like he did in the first letter, but instead communicated through puzzles. After solving the puzzles, I learned the address of where I was going and other somewhat disturbing information about his ‘love’ for me. Needless to say, I burned those letters as well, sickened by the thought of what he said in them.

In my head, I went over the answers to the puzzles. He was waiting for me in one of the fanciest hotels in Tokyo. He was in room 666, fittingly, on the top floor of the hotel. As I approached the counter to check-in as a visitor, I pushed my fake ID forward.

“Ah, Ms. Hideaki, welcome. The second elevator on the left.”

I nodded to the lady in thanks before withdrawing the ID and walking briskly away. Pressing the button and tapping my foot impatiently, I waited for the elevator doors to slide open and allow me in. When the elevator arrived, I felt a little bit of fear creep up into me. The elevator walls were made of glass. Pure, clear glass. Gulping back the nausea that had begun to churn in my stomach, I stepped into it.

“Ren, do me a favor and fly up to the room. I don’t think having you in this elevator would be... convenient.”

“Whatever you say,” He shrugged and left through the glass wall that separated the outside and the inside. “So you up there.”

With a snicker, he rocketed up to the top floor and entered into one of the rooms. I was now beginning to wish I had Shinigami wings so that I could get this over with faster. Although I hated to admit my fear, I was terrified of heights. Originally, I could not stand the idea of going up into the top floor of the hotel because of how high it was. I did not count on going into a glass elevator, either.

The elevator jolted slightly when the doors closed behind me, leaving me alone with nothing but silence and the faint sound of motors working. I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked directly at the horizon as to not get sick.I was lucky that the floor wasn’t glass, but instead tile. I breathed a small sigh of relief. If it had been a glass flooring and I had looked down at the wrong time, I would have fainted. I hated being so high up because it made me feel like the ground below me would somehow break and I would plummet to my death.

Shuddering at the thought, I fought to keep the emotions under control. I had figured that being Tenshi meant nothing should be able to shake me so badly, but the fact of the matter was that I am human until I achieved what I needed to do. That was just the way things were for now.  As I watched myself become more and more level with the taller skyscrapers in Tokyo, I found it even more difficult to breathe. My fear was beginning to suffocate me. I prayed for a brief moment that I would not have a panic attack.  I could not lose it here before I even got to see the face of the person who called himself Akuma.