Sweets

CHAPTER 4

"Oh my. Ryuzaki right? Why are you still up? It's pretty late." Kristie showered Ryuzaki in questions. But knowing him, he shouldn't have any problem answering every one of them.

"Yes, that's correct. And I don't sleep, I am an insomniac." He replied with both an emotionless face and voice.

"Is that right? Oh I didn't know." Kristie apologized. I tried to sneak away but Ryuzaki caught me by the before I can get anywhere.

"Hold on. I have been meaning to talk to you. Alone." He said with a pointed look in Kristie's direction.

"How come?" I decided to play dumb. "You don't even know my name and besides, anything you can say to me, you can say to her too. She's not my best friend for nothing." Kristie nodded proudly but I knew I couldn't fool him.

"Yeah! We do almost everything together. Except for homework and she likes reading way more than I do so I don't always join her in the library and..." And so she rambled on.

Ryuzaki turned to me. "Don't do these unnecessary things. We both know that we know each other."

"Please. I'm tired. Whatever you have to say, it can wait at least until morning." And with that I turned away and climbed the stairs to my dormitory.

#

The next morning I only went down to the Great Hall reluctantly. But I didn't see Ryuzaki at all during breakfast.

The new timetables were handed out and I noticed that, despite choosing similar subjects in year three, Kristie and I didn't have many periods together, unlike in the previous years, since I had some advanced classes now.

Just as we finished breakfast and started to our first lesson (Herbology with Hufflepuff), Ryuzaki came through the doors of the Great Hall and seized my arm as though he knew I would be there. He pulled me along the never ending corridors like he already memorized the entire castle.

"What are you doing? I'm going to be late to class!" I tried but he didn't listen. He just continued pulling me along. Finally, having found an empty classroom, he stopped and looked around.

"Sylvia is your name now I assume?" He said nonchalantly and caught me off guard.

"Y- Yeah. How did you know?" I asked. But I didn't get an answer.

"Well okay then Sylvia, I know that you have questions and as I have the corresponding answers, I shall give them." He continued, completely ignoring my first question. "Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of work tracking you down since you now seem to live the majority of your life here, where no technological information is saved. Hence, nothing can be obtained about you. Unless one goes over to look at the files in this world, of course."

"But how did you do that? How did you get the records from the Ministry?" I asked, terror evident in my voice for the first time in years. There was no saying how far this man's powers could reach.

"Well," He explained, "it wasn't easy at first but even in this world, some of the people have heard of my name before."

"You mean some wizards and witches know that there is the world-class detective 'L'?" I asked, astounded. I didn't know he was that popular. Or maybe not everyone was entirely oblivious about the co-existing worlds.

"Yes I would assume so. Anyway, after I got the information about you, both me and Watari set out to find you as soon as possible, because-"

"Watari? Why? And why did you want to find me? Just- What is going on?" I was completely baffled. I just didn't know what was going on anymore. This didn't sound like they were coming to take me back there. Right?

"Would you let me explain?" Ryuzaki asked annoyed. I nodded.

"Well, the thing is - I need your help."

I stared at him. He? My help? That's impossible! The great 'L' - Why would he need my help? Wasn't he the one who solved the most difficult cases? Why would he need me? A mere copy...

"Why?" I managed to whisper hoarsely.

"Why? Isn't that obvious? You were one of the few candidates worthy to succeed me. You are brilliant Sakura."

I flinched at my real name. I hadn't heard it in years. Since that night I ran away I found it to be smarter to use a fake name. And over the years, I grew used to being called 'Sylvia' or 'Sil' instead of 'Sakura', so hearing it again for the first time in forever was very strange. I didn't know how to react at first and Ryuzaki seemed to notice.

"You see, B has just broken out now too. And he is a lot more dangerous than you are. He hasn't struck yet, but it will happen eventually." Ryuzaki explained.

"I still don't see where I come in." I stated.

"Oh that's easy. You don't have to do a thing until B decides to act up. I am in regular contact with Watari to keep up in the muggle world, as you people call it, too. That way I will immediately know if there is something suspicious. When a case pops up, I want you to accompany me to the city and we will set up our headquarters for the investigation there." He concluded.

"But still, why did you want me to help? And who said that I will go with you?" I was yet again dumbfounded by his immediate assumptions. He really hadn't changed at all.

"Well, you know B the most. At least better than I do. You still spent a lot of time together after I left, so you will be able to decipher his moves and riddles, which surely will be present, far quicker than me. You know his motives better than I do. And as for if you will be coming with me, you will. That's that." Ryuzaki stated as if it is the most normal thing in the world.

"Wow, slow down. First, I do not know B better than you do. You don't know what happened!"

Lies probably, but I didn't want to get jumbled up in this.

"All of us always kept to ourselves, noone was particularly talk-active."

So many lies. I prayed that he didn't really know.

"And second, you can't assume that I will go with you just like that. I am not abandoning my life here just to go solve a case with you that may be on the other side of the world. I have friends here you know? I have a family. I am not going to throw away a life that I built for myself after Wammy's ruined my first for me. Not for some stupid case!" I was angry. How could he just assume something like that? For once in my life I wanted to do things my way. For once, I didn't want everyone else deciding what would be best for me.

"You won't come? I thought you wouldn't pass a chance like that." He said.

"What chance? Turning my back on everything I have here would be foolish. This is my chance, Ryuzaki. My chance at a life without anyone constantly making choices for me." I calmed down a little but still I couldn't believe that he had the nerve to say something like that to me. But on the other hand, I was not entirely sure if he knew what was going on in the basement of the orphanage. Or still is. It was always kept hidden from the other kids so I couldn't know how much Ryuzaki knew.

"Hm... Maybe you're right. But please, think about it." He offered yet again. And then, he, again, caught me completely off guard once more.

"After all, you're the only one I know for sure I can trust completely right now. You're the only friend I ever had."