Allison

"And Mrs. Hajamba told me that her eldest daughter is almost done with the twelfth grade."

"Wow," I said, "that's great."

"Allison," Story said after a brief pause. "Why did you call?"

"I told you, I just wanted to catch up with you," I said.

"Ye just called yesterday," someone said.

"Story, who's that?" I asked.

"Oh, sorry, did I forget to tell you? I'm sewing up a skirt I ripped, so I put you on speaker. Don't worry, though; the only ones here are Harrowing and me."

"But who just spoke?"

"Harrowing."

"...Seriously, who was that?"

"Harrowing," said the voice. "I know how to speak, ye know? I ain't a eejit."

"Well, then why have you never spoken before?"

"I didn't feel like talking," she said matter-of-factly.

"Allison, Harrowing has a point," Story said. "You just talked to me yesterday. What's going on?"

"Nothing, Story," I assured her.

"Arri arri," she said. "Now I don't mean to pry, but please don't lie to me."

"Story, I'm not."

"Liar," said Harrowing.

"I think I liked it better when you didn't talk," I replied.

"Good for you," she said.

"You can tell us, Allison," Story assured me.

I was silent for a moment before I finally spoke up. "Story, what would you do if you saw your mum again, but you couldn't have her come back with you?"

Then the line went quiet, the only sound being the scratching of pencil against paper. "I'm sorry, love. I shouldn't ha—"

"—I would stay with her," she said.

"But what if you couldn't?" I whispered.

"I would stay with her," she repeated, "no matter what.
"Allison, did you find him?"

"Huh?"

"Mello. Did you find Mello?"

"...Yes. Yes, I did."

"Then if you really care, never let go."

"...I love you, Story," I said. "I love you both."

"I love you, too, Allison," said Story.

"Whatever," said Harrowing.

Her harsh response caught me off guard, and I was shocked. Then after a moment, I started laughing. "Talking or not, you never change, Harrowing," I said.

"Allison," Story said, "just be careful."

"Aye," Harrowing agreed. "Try not to die; I don't want to listen to Story's keening."

"I'll be careful," I said. "I promise, I won't die."

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"Square root of 906.01 is thirty point one. Square root of 912.0 is thirty point two."

"Birdie, what are you doing?" I asked.

She merely shrugged. "Trying to pass the time. I'm bored.
"Square root of 918.09 is thirty point three."

"And so you're doing this?"

"Why do you ask? Does it look like I'm doing something else?
"Square root of 924.16 is—"

"—Thirty point four?" I guessed.

"You're no fun," Birdie said.

"I know," I said with a shrug as I flipped through the pages in my book.

"What are you doing?" she asked me.

"Learning Finnish and Nepali," I said.

"Both at once?" she queried.

"Yes," I confirmed. "It's what I do, Birdie."

"Which language is that?" Birdie asked, pointing to a book. The cover read "Sanakirja Suomi-Englanti ."

"Finnish," I told her.

"Finnish," she repeated. "Is that what they speak in Finland?"

"No, Birdie, it's what they speak in Yemen," I said.

"No need to be sarky," she replied. "Just because you had a cruddy day doesn't mean you have to take it out on me. At this rate I may as well go back to Wammy's."

"Which reminds me," I said. "I recently spoke with Diyanah."

"Diyanah?" Birdie echoed.

"Yes, Diyanah," I confirmed. "I spoke to her about Essence and her rituals. Birdie, you were complaining about her alter, and Diyanah told me that it's a small table that's not even a foot tall, with a pentagram drawn on it. There are two candles on the alter that are battery powered because Roger doesn't allow people to keep candles in their rooms since it's a fire hazard. It doesn't sound all that odd."

"She has a bunch of tools."

"She has a wooden knife, a chalice, and a bloody stick," I countered. "I did some research, and there are a lot more tools for Wiccanism than that, but Diyanah told me that Essence doesn't have any more. Essence is being very respectful of others' beliefs by trying not to bring too much of her own into your room."

"Well, Diyanah has a religion, too," Birdie replied.

"So do I!" I exclaimed. "So do Story, Lacey, and Joy! So does nearly 80 percent of the British population!"

"Okay, so I just don't like Essence."

"Seriously? She has to be one of the nicest, perkiest people I've ever met."

Birdie groaned at the mere thought. "I know, and it drives me insane."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Final answer?"

"I swear to God."

"Birdie, I'm fairly certain you don't even believe in God."

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," she said. "Either way, it's none of your doggone business, and that's just how I like it."

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I enjoyed the biting cold. Being able to breathe and see my breath in the air. It was a reminder of winter and Christmas. Near had set up a small Christmas tree in the SPK headquarters, likely more as one of his little projects than anything else. I sat on a train skimming through a magazine as I waited to get off at the next stop.

"Stop it!" came a distressed voice. I looked up to see a young woman across from me being harassed by a man.

"Why, toots?" he jeered. "You must be vamping with such a short skirt."

"S-someone," she pleaded.

"Hey, jerk!" I shouted at him in his native tongue. The man turned to look at me, an eyebrow raised, and he smiled in amusement.

"Keep your nose out of this, foreigner," he said. He looked me up and down. "Unless you want to keep me company instead."

"You're disgusting," I spat. "Why don't you do us all a favor and jump out of the moving train?"

"Why don't I shut up that pretty little mouth of yours?" he said as he approached me.

"Because I'll break you in half if you come within even a meter of me?" I suggested.

I barely even noticed when the train door slid open and a man dressed in black slipped out. That's when the man in front of me dropped dead.

"Bloody hell!" I shrieked in English.

"Allison?"

I turned to the speaker, and I saw Gevanni sitting in a seat not far from me, his cellphone against his ear.

"What the heck did I just do?" I asked him worriedly in English.

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Birdie and Patience ran up to me as I entered the SPK headquarters.

"Allison!" Birdie cried.

"Are you okay, Allison?" Patience asked.

"I heard you almost beat the crud out of a guy!" Birdie added.

"Really, Birdie?" I said. "A man drops dead right in front of me, and that's your main concern?"

Birdie shrugged.

I sighed. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing really," Birdie said. "Light Yagami's a womanizer, invisible Shinigami; the usual."

I was about to make a wry remark when a ringer went off.

"It's Gevanni," said Commander Rester.

"Mikami muttered to himself," Gevanni said once we'd accepted his call.

"Muttered to himself?" Commander Rester echoed in confusion.

"Yes," Gevanni said. "I thought it might be him talking with a Shinigami. Since it was from a great distance, I couldn't get his voice, but I recorded the image of his lips. I'm sending the video tape.
"It's a picture taken during his break at the roof of the prosecutors' office that Mikami works for. Here's where it starts."

"He's saying something. Play it again, but slower," Rester requested.

"That's not necessary," I assured him.

"You can read his lips at that speed?" Rester said skeptically.

"Yes," Near, Patience, Birdie, and I all said at once.

"He said, 'Is that you, Shinigami?'" I translated.

"You certainly didn't get into Wammy's for nothing," Near remarked.

"Thank you," I said, genuinely touched. That was the closest thing I'd ever gotten to a compliment from Near.

"He seems to have reacted to seeing the wastepaper under his foot," Gevanni said.

"He breathed a sigh," Rester noted.

"He seems to be talking a little longer," Gevanni pointed out.

"'That Shinigami hasn't appeared since he gave me the notebook,'" I said before anyone could raise a question.

Rester merely blinked in shock.

"It follows that Mikami was given a notebook by a Shinigami, but the Shinigami hasn't been with him since then," Near deduced. "He saw a wastepaper roll on the roof and got the wrong idea about the Shinigami's presence."

"No Shinigami is with Mikami," Rester concluded.

"Humph, so that's how it is," Near said, tossing one of his toys aside.

"Patience has a Patience-look on her face," Birdie made known.

"Birdie, I have no idea what that means," I said.

"It means she has an idea, but she doesn't feel like saying anything," Birdie explained. "Come on, Allison. You should notice these things by now."

"What is it, Patience?" I asked, going along with Birdie.

"Nothing," Patience assured us.

"Patience, you didn't sign up to sit here and be useless," Birdie said, hands on her hips. "If you've got something to say, then say it."

Patience looked at Rester and then Near, who nodded.

"Mikami's smart," Patience began.

"What amazing insight," Birdie said. "You've outdone yourself, Patience."

"Enough, Birdie," I said.

Birdie stuck her tongue out at me.

"I mean, they wouldn't have picked just anyone as X-Kira," Patience explained. "He's an intelligent man. I don't think he'd risk talking to himself."

"He killed a man in public," Gevanni pointed out.

"I guess," Patience admitted, "but even that seems... I don't know... doubtful.
"And if he touched the Death Note and is able to see the Shinigami, why would he need to double check? Why not just look around?"

"You have a point," Near said. "However, whether you're right or wrong, we'll have to take this one step at a time."

Patience

I'm not quite sure when or why I became comfortable talking. Sometime after Allison came, that much I know. I had always been able to talk to Allison normally (well, to an extent) and hanging around someone as blunt as Birdie, watching what I said wasn't really all that important. Then later, I was able to talk to Rester, if just a little, and then Gevanni and Lidner. What I didn't expect was that I'd eventually be able to talk to Near. Near and I had always been able to talk. Just not... verbally. Somehow, the two of us had a way of communicating just by looking at the other, but over time, I feel like we lost that ability. The two of us had to talk on a verbal level, and oddly enough, I didn't feel uncomfortable like I did when I was talking to other people.

So when Near and I sat alone in the room of the SPK headquarters, I didn't hesitate to speak up. Birdie had gone to wander around the building, Allison said she'd had an important phone call to make, Lidner and Gevanni were still undercover, and Rester was running some errand for Near. It was that errand I wanted to talk about.

"You know if you bring Amane here, Birdie will probably go looking for her?" I pointed out.

"What makes you say that?" Near said, turning to look at me.

I shook my head. If he didn't think that was the case, then it probably wasn't. He was smarter than I was, after all. "Never mind."

"No," Near said. "Tell me: what makes you say that?"

I was silent for a moment, somewhat stunned that Near was urging-no, ordering me to continue.

"Birdie has a grudge against Kira," I said. "Misa's a suspect, and she was there when May died. Maybe it's too obvious to be true, but Birdie won't care. She'll see it just as it seems to be because she's emotionally invested."

"There's not exactly much she could do about it," Near said, going back to his toys.

"Birdie always finds a way when she's determined," I pointed out.

Near paused from playing with his toys. He didn't turn to look at me, but I noticed the corner of his mouth twitch into a smile for a split second. No, it had probably been a flicker of the lights or something.

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"Wait a minute," said Allison, quickly scanning the room. "Where did Birdie go?"

"I think I know," I said, pointing to the screen that showed Misa Amane's room. Misa was sitting on the couch, and Mogi sat in a chair in the corner, having fallen into a deep sleep. I noticed the doorknob to the room was moving back and forth.

"She didn't," Allison gasped. Sure enough, the door opened, revealing Birdie.

"How in the world did she get in there?" Rester said. "I still have the key."

"She roomed with a girl who knew how to pick locks," Allison explained with a sigh. "Isabela was her name, I think. When Isabela left Wammy's, she gave Birdie a few skeleton keys. At least, that's what Birdie said; she may have just stolen them."

"Seems likely," I said with a sigh.

At this point, Birdie had already gone up to Misa, prepared to confront her.

"A kid?" Misa said. Despite Birdie being taller than Misa, her age was apparent. "What's going on now?"

"Why did you kill her?" Birdie asked Misa.

"What?" said Misa. "Kill who? I didn't kill anyone. Oh, great, is this about Kira again? For the millionth time, I am not Kira!"

"No, but you killed her," Birdie said. "You killed May."

"I'll go get her out of there," Rester said, beginning to walk away.

"Give her a minute, Commander Rester," said Near.

Rester raised an eyebrow, wondering why Near would allow for this to continue. Still, he relented, returning to Near's side, the tension he felt clear.

"May?" Misa echoed. "No, you're wrong. I would never hurt May. She was my friend."

"She was?" Birdie said. She knew Misa had been suspected of being the second Kira, but she was unaware of her connection to May.

We knew they went to L.A. on separate planes and stayed at the same hotel but in different rooms, but we also knew that they'd been working at the same company. We didn't have enough information to know if it had been a friendly vacation or a business trip.

"No. No, I don't believe you."

"Look, I'll show you," Misa said. "Do you have a cellphone? They took mine away."

Birdie hesitated before nodding.

"She's going to call someone," Rester said.

"I don't think she is," I said curiously.

"Look," Misa said after a minute, holding up Birdie's phone. "This is an email I got from May. See?"

Birdie stared at the phone's screen, squinting as if that would help her understand the foreign text.

"I can't read Japanese," Birdie admitted after a moment.

"You can't?" Misa said, somewhat surprised to hear this. "But you can speak it just fine."

"I only need to know how to talk," Birdie said with a shrug. "What does it say?"

"It says that Eli proposed to her," Misa explained, a sad smile on her face.

"Eli?" Birdie repeated. "So then you and May really were...?"

"You... you're Birdie, aren't you?" said Misa.

Birdie nodded. "How did you know?"

"May told me a lot about you," Misa said, closing her eyes and smiling kindly.

"Really?" Birdie said, her face brightening up.

"Yup. She told me you're a math genius."

"Yeah," Birdie said with a laugh, "that sounds like May."

"I've never liked math," Misa confided. "I always hated going to math class when I was in school."

"Honestly, I don't like it all that much either," Birdie admitted. She and Misa laughed together.

"Why don't you sit down?" Misa said, patting one of the empty couch cushions.

Birdie smiled and sat next to Misa, silently accepting her offer.

"Hey, do you want me to teach you how to write your name in Japanese?" Misa offered.

"Yeah!" Birdie said excitedly. "After that, do you want me to teach you how to use the cotangent of a radian to find the hypotenuse of a triangle?"

"Um, no," Misa said.

Birdie laughed. "Good; I wasn't going to, anyway."

Misa pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and began writing characters down, explaining to Birdie the sounds they made and the significance.

"I'll go get her out of there now," Rester said.

"Don't!" Allison said frantically, surprising Rester by the urgency in her voice. "Please, Near. Let Birdie stay."

"Allison," I trailed off.

"Look at her, Patience," Allison said, pointing to Birdie on the screen. "Really look at her."

I did. I watched as Birdie sat there, laughing and smiling, and it was then I remembered something that I hadn't in a long while: Birdie was a child.

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A/N: I was on Wattpad looking at Riddles and noticed some of the lovely comments, so I just had to work on getting this chapter done. I'm so sorry if you don't think it's good, which is why I appreciate feedback so much. Someone pointed out that Near and Patience are going sort of slow, and I realize that and apologize, but Near's really hard like that. Still, I did my best to incorporate that into this chapter.
I really enjoyed writing this chapter, though, mainly the part with Birdie and Misa. I'd been looking forward to it for a while. I loves me some dramatic irony.
An FYI, there are two Easter eggs in this chapter. I'm not pointing out where, though.
Please give feedback and share this story with anyone you think would like it!