#and about how I would leave the class and wander the 9pm parking lots for hours to calm down my face muscles

[neverendingford]

.

[secretshinigami]

The Surpassing

Author: slytherinpirate For: whoisnateriver Pairings/Characters: Mello/Near Rating/Warnings: Violence, (brief) mentions of suicide, minor character deaths Prompt: Mello and Near defeating Light together at the end of the series Author’s notes: This was not meant to be this long and I apologize lol

“Is that the only business you have with me, Mello?”

Mello was silent for a moment, his eyes narrowed, focused on the small white frame of the boy in front of him.

“Near,” he said, quietly but roughly. The eyes of the boy in question bore back into Mello’s, the fire in them hidden by his stern countenance. The universe seemed to fade around them, until only the two of them existed, captivated by the case, their desire to win over the other, but also the ease of potential comradery.

“Let’s get one thing straight,” Mello said. “I have no intention of working together with you on this.” He was an excellent liar, even to himself.

“Yes, I know,” Near replied. But did he know, truly? Mello wanted to stall. He knew that he had so, so much unfinished business with Near and they had no realistic chance of catching Kira unless they worked together, but he needed to maintain his dignity. This was his lifelong adversary in front of him. He would not allow himself to show weakness. Nevertheless, he couldn’t just walk away.

“At the same time, I can’t just take my photo and leave,” Mello said. “That wouldn’t be right. So I’ll settle my debt.” This perked Near’s attention. The younger boy looked up slightly from where his gaze was now focused on the ground in front of him. “The killer notebook,” Mello continued. “It belongs to a shinigami. Whoever touches it is able to see a god of death.” Mello could barely hear the small breath that Near let out at his revelation. Suddenly, the bubble that encased the two geniuses burst as an outsider decided to share his input.

“That’s crazy,” interjected Rester.

“Who the hell would believe in something like that?” Gevanni said angrily, his eyes trained on Mello.

“I would,” came Near’s soft voice. Rester and Gevanni turned to stare at him, dumbfounded. “I believe him completely,” Near continued. “What good would it do for him to tell an outrageous lie like that? Even if he had something to gain, he could at least come up with a more believable story. Therefore, these gods of death must exist.”

“The notebook I obtained had previously belonged to another shinigami, perhaps even Kira himself,” Mello said, containing his smugness and pride that Near had believed him without question. “Also, some of the rules written inside are actually fake.” Near looked up at Mello when he said this. “That’s all I can tell you for now,” Mello concluded. He looked at Near for another moment, noting his hair, his hunched back, his large eyes. After less than a minute, he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Near to his thoughts. What those thoughts were about, Mello couldn’t say. He was probably considering the fake rules. Or maybe he was thinking the same thing that Mello was: that there was a good chance that they would never meet face-to-face ever again. When Mello was at the exit, he stopped.

“Near,” he said, not turning around. For some reason his voice felt like it was almost breaking, but there was no way on Earth that Mello was saddened by their parting… right?

“Mello,” Near replied, his voice as steady as always. He reached up to twirl a strand of his hair at the same time that Mello took out a chocolate bar and snapped a piece off into his mouth. Mello chewed and swallowed, considering his next moves.

“Which of us is gonna reach Kira first, I wonder?” he said with a smirk that Near could hear in his voice. The corners of Near’s lips turned up into a smirk as well.

“The race is on.”

“We’re both headed towards the same destination. I’ll be waiting for you.”

“Heh, right.”

Apparently getting to his destination was going to be harder for Mello than originally thought. He couldn’t help but stomp his foot and make a noise of anger when he read the departure board. He was supposed to meet up with Matt in Japan to work on the Kira case but his flight was going to be delayed by fifteen whole hours! This was ridiculous. Mello huffed angrily and stormed away from the board. He supposed he would leave and go find a nice hotel or something to hang out in while he waited. Maybe he would explore a little. After all, this was the first time he had ever been to New York City.

So as it turned out, New York pizza was gross, and Mello was never going to touch the stuff ever again.

He had abandoned the hotel idea in favor of just taking the entire day to explore the city of New York. He found a coffee shop and drained three cups of coffee before setting off to the M&M store, where he filled several large bags with variously colored M&Ms. He visited several of the shops around Times Square, got himself a hot black miniskirt that he swore to himself would probably come in useful at some point and definitely wasn’t just an impulse buy, ate some disgusting pizza for lunch, wandered around some more, and was now eating an early dinner at a small, cheap Italian restaurant with televisions plastered on the back walls. Mello’s flight was at 9pm, which gave him four hours to get back to the airport. That was fine, he was almost done with his dinner anyways. He almost chuckled to himself at the notion of stopping by the SPK building one last time to say hi to Near. The building was right nearby, after all. Mello suddenly jolted upright and looked at one of the televisions as he heard the phrase “beloved god Kira.” A small crowd had formed around one of the TVs as the screen showed a helicopter zooming around the SPK building.

“We now have the building completely surrounded,” Demegawa shouted happily. Mello watched in horror as Kira-worshippers attempted to storm the building, breaking the windows and shouting, spewing chaos. This was bad. How was Near going to get out of there? Mello put a hand to his chin and thought. This was obviously a ploy by Kira to get Near to come out and show his face. So Near needed to get out of the building somehow without showing his face…

Mello had an idea.

The crowd in front of the SPK building scattered as the motorcycle drove through it, headed for a backdoor that was partially hidden behind several dumpsters. Mello parked the bike near the door and, not taking off his helmet, punched in the passcode that he remembered Lidner entering earlier to open it. Closing the door swiftly behind him, he made his way quickly up to where he had met Near merely a day before. Near looked back at the entryway as Mello entered, and while his face didn’t show it, he was so surprised that he nearly dropped his toy robot. Gevanni and Rester whirled around as well.

“Mello?” Rester said, confused, recognizing Mello by his outfit, as he was still wearing the helmet that covered his face.

“Near,” Mello said, ignoring Rester. “Come on.” He offered Near a helmet identical to his own.

“Near, you can’t trust him,” said Gevanni, reaching out a hand as if to touch Near’s shoulder. “He probably planned this whole thing.”

“I know exactly who planned this,” Near said, calmly. “And it wasn’t Mello.” Slowly, Near got to his feet. “And, like he said, we’re headed to the same destination. Perhaps he’s realized, like I have, that we would get there quicker together. After all, we are not only racing against each other…” He looked determinately at the screens showing the sack of the building. “We are racing against Kira.” Near walked over to Mello, who was still holding out the helmet. He took the helmet in his hands and looked up. Though he couldn’t see Mello’s face, he stared right into his eyes. “Well then,” he said, his voice monotone as usual but Mello could detect a hint of excitement. “Let’s go.”

Thank God for the combined connections of the two orphans. Between the mafia members that Mello knew and government workers that Near was acquainted with, they managed to acquire a seat on the plane for Near next to Mello’s in first class. It was now five hours into the flight and Mello’s patience had worn thin about two hours ago. In their hurry to leave the SPK building, Near had only been able to grab what he could carry in a small bag, which were a deck of cards and two robots, both of which he had now sufficiently played with and was looking for something else to do. Mello noticed the other boy eyeing him as he twirled his hair between his thumb and forefinger. Mello tried to ignore this at first, but Near’s eyes became increasingly wider and his face became increasingly closer to the point where it was impossible to not react.

“What do you want, Near?” Mello asked, begrudgingly. Near sat back slightly, resting his arm on his upright knee as he twirled his hair.

“Well, now that we’re working together, there’s something you should know. The second L is Kira.” Mello looked at him, thinking.

“That makes a lot of sense… It would explain why, despite their task force being on the same page as us most of the time, they still always seem to be falling behind. And it would explain why, even after being appointed as L’s successor,” Mello gritted his teeth at this phrase, “The second L has still failed to make any progress whatsoever since L’s death.”

“And it would also make a lot of sense, considering the timing of the attack on the SPK,” Near added, slowly reaching a hand up towards Mello. Mello nodded in agreement.

“So what can you tell me about the second L?” Mello asked, making sure to put air quotes around the word ‘L.’

“Not much yet, but I expect I will have the information I need soon after we land in Japan.”

“And why is that?”

“I’m going to make a call to the second L and his task force. I will tell them my suspicions of L. I have previously given them a number that they can call if they suspect L and want to aid me in my investigation. I expect to be receiving a call from at least one of them, especially after the sack of the SPK.” One of Near’s fingers brushed a lock of Mello’s hair. Mello nodded.

“Interesting. Let’s hope your hunch is right. Apparently Matt’s got some good intel waiting for me when we get to Japan, too.” Near’s finger in Mello’s hair stopped mid-motion.

“Matt?” he asked, his curiosity piqued.

“Yeah. Sorry, forgot to mention. We’re meeting up with Matt when we get to Japan. I got in touch with him after the incident in California and he agreed to help on the case.”

“That’s good,” Near said with a nod. “We may need his computer skills.” Near took a lock of Mello’s golden hair and started to twirl it between his fingers. He stared at it intensely. Mello furrowed his brow and glanced sideways at the other boy.

“What are you doing, Near?”

“I’ve always wondered… Your hair has always looked quite soft, Mello.” Mello’s cheeks colored and he huffed.

“But what are you doing?”

“I have played with my robots, I have played with my cards, and I have played with my hair. Now I am simply playing with yours.”

“It’s that entertaining, huh?” Mello asked, trying to sound annoyed, despite how good it felt to have his hair played with.

“Indeed it is.” Mello bit his lip as Near continued to play with his hair.

“Fine,” he said after a moment. “But I’m gonna watch a movie. Don’t talk to me unless it’s something else about the case.” Near nodded, his fingers still tangled in Mello’s hair as Mello took out some earbuds and started to pick out a movie from the airline’s movie options.

It was about an hour before Mello had fallen asleep, one earbud hanging out of his ear and his head on Near’s lap, laying available for Near to play with his hair to his heart’s content.

“Hey, Me– Near?” Matt had been waiting for Mello at the airport, ready to take him to the apartment that he had rented in Tokyo for the investigation.

Mello and Near had walked out of the luggage claim side-by-side, Mello’s hair looking very messy and one of Near’s hands tightly clutching a toy robot. Mello started towards Matt when he spotted him, Near trailing closely behind. As they reached him, Matt’s face had become even more confused.

“So not that I’m like, complaining,” Matt said. “But you did not tell me that Near was coming.” Mello huffed in annoyance.

“There wasn’t time to call you. We had to get out of there and onto the plane quickly.”

“You were the one on the motorcycle coming out of the SPK building, right?” Matt asked. “I saw it on TV.” Mello nodded. Matt chuckled. “Never thought you’d play the hero for Near of all people.”

“Shut up,” Mello retorted, rolling his eyes.

“How have you been, Matt? It’s been a while.” The corners of Near’s lips curled up into a sort of innocent-ish smile as he looked at Matt.

“Yeah, it has, hasn’t it?” Matt said, scratching the back of his neck. “Yeah, I’ve been good, I guess. Got involved in this Korean-based hacking agency for a while but I haven’t been given any jobs recently because they had to separate me and my hacking partner, dude called Agent 707. Apparently we weren’t taking the job seriously enough or some bullshit.” He laughed. Mello chuckled as well.

“Yeah, because you’re the most serious person ever.”

“Hey, just because a man likes his memes does not mean that he is not serious.”

“You’re referring to yourself in the third person, Matt,” Near said.

“Matt knows this,” Matt replied.

“So since I thought it was only gonna be me and Mello in this apartment, it’s only a one-bedroom. I figured I’d sleep on the couch futon and Mello would have the bed, but since you’re here, Near… I’m not sure anymore.”

They had entered the small, but spacious for Tokyo, apartment that Matt had rented for while they worked on the case. The main room had a kitchen on one side, and a futon couch on the other that was surrounded by monitors and tech. Obviously, this was where Matt had been spending the majority of his time. There were crumbs all over the floor near the futon, which had a couple of ruffled-up blankets on top of it. To the far side of the wall between the kitchen and futon were two doors: one leading to the small bathroom, and the other to the modest bedroom with one spacious mattress on the floor, covered neatly with a black comforter and black silk pillows. Mello chuckled as he saw the getup on the mattress.

“Aw Matt, you remembered my favorite color,” he mused. Matt grinned at him. “But yeah, I dunno about the sleeping arrangements either. We can always figure it out later. For now, we have work to discuss.”

“Of course.” Matt started to make his way towards the couch futon, but Mello’s hand shot out and took his arm.

“Nuh-uh. That futon of yours looks like a rat’s nest.”

Eventually, the three of them had settled onto the mattress in the bedroom. Mello and Near sat by the pillows, and Matt near the foot. Near had taken one of the pillows and was now hugging it to his chest, running his hands over the smooth black silk.

“So the second L is Kira, huh?” Matt pondered. “Yeah, that makes sense.” Mello and Near nodded.

“Mello told me that you have some important intel?” Near asked Matt.

“Yeah. I’ve been doing some research, and there have been arrests made during the Kira case. Unofficial arrests, but arrests all the same.” Near narrowed his eyes.

“What do you mean? And how do we not know about this?”

“L kept it pretty quiet. Passed it off like this idol girl got kidnapped by some stalker, but from the evidence I’ve gathered, I’m certain that this girl was arrested on suspicion of being the second Kira.”

“Who?” Mello asked, leaning forward eagerly.

“Misa Amane. She’s an actress and a pop idol, and was abducted under mysterious circumstances pretty soon after the second Kira showed up. Then some time later she was released like nothing happened. It was totally L.”

“Huh, interesting,” Near said, pinching the silk pillow sheet.

“It gets better,” Matt said, excitedly. “Misa Amane is reportedly dating Light Yagami, son of Chief Soichiro Yagami, who is currently leading the task force against Kira.”

“I’m betting Light Yagami is working with the task force too,” Mello said, snapping his fingers.

“So Light Yagami is the second L,” Near said with a smirk.

“That’s what I was thinking!” Matt exclaimed. Almost simultaneously, Mello and Near both let out long yawns. Matt had to contain a small laugh. “Jetlag, huh?”

“Sh-shut up,” Mello said between yawns. “We did just jump thirteen hours.” Mello barely even flinched when he felt a small form suddenly lean against him. The side of Near’s face was pressed against Mello’s shoulder, his eyes drooping. Matt grinned.

“We’ll talk about the case more tomorrow. Don’t worry, I already have security cams installed at Misa Amane’s apartment, so that’s all taken care of. You guys get some rest.” With that, Matt stood up and made for the door back into the living room. Before he closed it behind him, he looked back inside. Mello had lain down on the mattress, Near curled up at his side and fast asleep. Matt held back another laugh as he closed the door and went to go watch security footage.

It was a couple of more days before the remaining members of the SPK arrived in Japan.  They rented a space similar to the one they had had in New York, buying out several floors of one of Tokyo’s skyscrapers. Near had specifically requested Gevanni to make the arrangements so that the new SPK headquarters was a very short distance from the apartment that Matt had rented. Near had decided to keep living with Matt and Mello in order to maximize efficiency in working on the case with them, and also slightly because he felt more comfortable with the companions he had known his whole life than with people he hardly knew who regarded him as a superior.

However, while they used the apartment for sleeping and for monitoring Misa Amane, the rest of the work on the case was done at the SPK headquarters.

“There’s an opening in the position of bodyguard for Kiyomi Takada,” Gevanni informed the team one morning, a couple of months later. “We should take the opportunity to plant someone.”

“I’ll do it,” volunteered Rester. “I have previous experience in this field.” Gevanni shook his head.

“That won’t do,” he said. “Takada is hiring an all female detail.”

“So it should be Lidner,” said Matt, who was leaning against a nearby wall. “Obviously.”

“Then it’s settled,” remarked Near, setting another die on top of a large dice tower. “Lidner, will you go undercover as Kiyomi Takada’s bodyguard?” Lidner nodded.

“I will, sir.”

“Good. Rester, make the arrangements.”

“Understood.” As most of the team left, Near arranged some legos in front of him before speaking.

“Now let’s review what we know so far.”

“Well,” said Mello, sitting in a desk chair next to where Near was on the floor, one leg hanging over the arm. “We know that Kira is Light Yagami, and he’s also the second L.” Near had picked up a lego man and was scribbling something on it with a black marker.

“For now, we’ll call him L-Kira,” he said, placing the lego back on the floor. On its chest was now written the letter L, the Japanese kanji character “tsuki” or “moon,” and the word “KIRA.”

“But then that other guy showed up, yeah?” Mello said, taking a chocolate bar out of his coat pocket and unwrapping it. “Someone who’s currently using the notebook.”

“We’ll call him X-Kira,” Near stated, setting down another lego with the phrase “X-KIRA” written across the chest. “Judging by the pattern of X-Kira’s killings, he has definitely made the deal and acquired the Shinigami eyes.” Mello nodded in agreement.

“But I don’t think he can communicate with L-Kira directly, which is where Takada comes in.”

“Right,” Near said, placing another lego with the name “Takada” written in Japanese Hiragana across the chest. “They must be planning to use her as a go-between.”

“So we’ve got a couple of options, yeah?” Mello snapped off a piece of chocolate. “We could just kill them and take the notebook. But that’s dumb, because it wouldn’t really provide any satisfaction whatsoever.”

“Right. And let’s not insult L’s name. He entrusted this case to us and we must solve it properly.”

“Exactly. So I guess it’s time for option B.” Mello smirked. “Let’s figure out who X-Kira is.”

That evening, Near, Mello, and Matt sat gathered around the monitors, Matt in his blanket nest on one end of the futon, Mello on the other with his leg hanging over the side, snacking on some pocky, and Near in between them, one knee drawn up to his chest and one finger in his hair. All three pairs of eyes were glued to the monitors.

“Now,” said Near. “Who would I choose to be X-Kira, out of all the people in the world?”

“Well he chose Takada because she’s an avid supporter,” remarked Mello, watching a newscast by the woman in question on one of the screens. “So X-Kira was probably someone who knew her personally and knew that she was a Kira worshipper.” Near was jolted from his staring contest with the television screens by Matt on his right, hitting his arm.

“What is it?” he asked, looking around. Matt pointed at one of the monitors.

“Look! Look at this guy.” He turned the volume up on the broadcast in question. On the screen was a man with long dark hair and piercing, determined eyes.

“I’d like to hear Kira’s voice,” the man said into a microphone. “I want to hear his thoughts once again. We should follow his teachings, exactly as Kira ordered. To me, it’s obviously the quickest path to lasting world peace. Youth have a responsibility. I think that it is of the utmost importance that young people do all they can to contribute. It is our duty to improve our society. If there are no words or orders from Kira then we have only one choice: we need to think for ourselves. We need to consider what Kira has taught us, determine what he wants most and make our own decisions from there.”

“It’s gotta be him,” Mello said, staring at the screen. “It’s definitely the choice I would make. Obviously this guy worships Kira, but he’s also damn smart. L-Kira needs someone who can make their own decisions, because, as we discussed earlier, L-Kira and X-Kira can’t communicate directly right now.”

“Teru Mikami, huh.” Matt leaned back in his chair. “I’ll get right on finding out everything about him,” he said as he picked up his laptop from the floor and opened it.

“Good,” said Near. “As soon as you find out what we need, I’ll have Gevanni start tailing him.”

“Hey,” Mello said, his voice much quieter and softer than Near was frankly used to. Because of this, Near looked up at him in a neutral expression that, when it comes to Near, could only be described as alarm.

“Is something the matter, Mello?” he asked, his head cocked to the side. He was sitting on the mattress in the room he and Mello shared– he had never felt the need to get another bed for himself, and presumably Mello hadn’t either, for he had never brought it up.

“No, nothing’s wrong at all, I just…” Mello closed the door to the room behind him. It was only then that Near noticed that Mello was hiding something behind his back.

“What is that?” he asked. Mello’s cheeks colored.

“Well, it’s Christmas, so…” He walked briskly over to Near and shoved the small gift box at him, turning away so that he was no longer looking at the younger man. “Here.” Near looked from the box to Mello before gingerly reaching up to take it. Upon lifting the lid, he found a ring that was designed to make the outer side of it look like a chocolate bar. He lifted it up and discovered that he could spin the outermost layer of the ring.

“I-It’s a spinner ring,” Mello said, interrupting Near’s examination of the object. “You put it on and you can spin it. I know you have a bunch of toys and shit for this stuff but I’ve never seen you stim with anything like this so… I thought you might like it. I dunno. Merry Christmas.” Mello was still not looking at Near. “The chocolate thing was probably stupid,” he rambled. Near put on the ring and stood up so he was now much closer to Mello’s height. “I can send it back and get you a different one with robots on it or something–”

Before Mello could say another word, Near had taken the other man’s face into his hands, turned it towards himself, and kissed him. After a couple of moments where his mind was buffering, Mello leaned into the kiss. Soon after, Near pulled away and looked him in the eyes, his cheeks tinted pink. Mello stared back, his face a deep crimson and his eyes wide with shock.

“I got you something too,” Near said quietly, before going over to the small chest of drawers that were full of his things.

“But you just gave me something,” Mello said, barely audible and just a bit dazed. Near pulled a rectangular box from the bottom of a drawer and padded softly back over to Mello to hand it to him. Mello, still slightly stunned, took the box and opened it. It was a bar of chocolate, but not one he had ever seen before. The design on the wrapper was nothing but a cute robot, no label or other identifying marks anywhere to be found. Curiously, he unwrapped it enough so that he could bite off a small piece, breaking it off with a satisfying snap. It was good. Really good, in fact. So good that Mello momentarily forgot what had just transpired between him and Near.

“Near, where did you get this? It’s fucking amazing.”

“I made it,” came the soft reply. Mello stared at him dumbfounded.

“You made it?” Mello looked at the bar again. That would explain the robot. But damn. “How? When did you even have the time?”

“I had Matt distract you by taking you to the shopping district and buying you whatever you wanted,” Near stated, matter-of-factly. Mello sighed, chuckling.

“Ah, so that was planned. Looking back, it was kind of weird that Matt suddenly really wanted to buy me stuff. But I’m not complaining.” He looked at Near again. “How, though? This is like, super good.”

“I’ve made note of your favorite brands and researched the ingredient mixtures in each of them until I found the perfect recipe.”

Mello let out a breathy laugh. “I love you,” he sighed, grinning, unaware that he had said anything.

“What?” Near asked, his heart rate suddenly increasing. Mello’s gaze jerked up in embarrassment as he realized what he had said.

“I-I mean–”

“Is that true?” This question left Mello speechless. Of course it was true, but what if Near didn’t reciprocate? Mello swallowed a lump in his throat before giving a small nod. Near reached up his hands and tangled them in Mello’s hair, as he had done so many times before. He stared at Mello as though seeing him for the first time.

“I love you too,” he whispered. At this, Mello leaned down to kiss Near once more, wrapping his arms around the other man’s slender waist. Near used his grip on Mello’s hair to pull him down slightly further, at the same time standing a bit on his tiptoes to shorten the height difference between them and make Mello easier to kiss. Neither of them registered that the bedroom door had opened until they heard a voice.

“Hey, Lidner called, the dinner between Misa and Takada just ended–” Matt’s train of thought cut off as he noticed the scene in front of him. Mello and Near had pulled apart when Matt started talking, but it was painfully clear what had been going on. “And I guess this is a thing that is finally happening now,” Matt said, staring at his two friends. “Okay well, congrats, and I’m gonna go. We can talk about work later. Okay bye.” And with that, he quickly shut the door behind him, extremely grateful that he no longer had to be in the middle of all the tension that had been building up between his two roommates for the past few months.

“The dinner between Misa and Takada, what exactly did it prove?” Rester crossed his arms, looking between Near, who was seated in his normal position on the floor with his finger puppets, Mello, who was idly lounging in a desk chair, and Matt, who was leaning against the wall holding a Nintendo.

“Light Yagami is popular with the ladies,” Matt said amusedly, reaching down to the floor to pick up a puppet that had somehow managed to roll its way over to his feet. He tossed it back over to Near as Rester spoke again.

“But that’s not that important, is it?” he asked, confused.

“It is if they’re both in love with him,” Mello said. “If they’re truly in love with him, they’ll not be swayed to betray him.”

“Love is a powerful thing,” Near said flatly, glancing at Mello. Mello’s cheeks colored and he glanced away. Matt snorted.

“I suppose you’re right,” said Rester, having caught none of the interactions that had just transpired between the three other people in the room.

“We need to take both of them out of the picture,” Near pointed out. “While Misa Amane does not seem to pose as much of a threat right now, there’s a good chance that the only reason that she’s even alive is because L-Kira plans to use her in the future.”

“And as for Takada,” said Mello. “She’s already being used by Kira and is likely going to continue to be used. The sooner they’re both taken out of the picture the better.”

“And,” began Matt. “It should definitely be noted that there’s a good chance that Takada will have pieces of the notebook on her.”

“Yes, that’s a very good point, Matt,” Near stated. Matt nodded in thanks. “So we will have to be very careful. Whoever carries out the mission to remove Takada from the picture may very well die.”

“Let’s focus on Amane first,” Mello suggested, pulling a chocolate bar out of his pocket. “You said your guy Aizawa has been talking to Mogi, Misa’s acting manager. There’s a chance we may be able to get Mogi and Misa to come in willingly.”

“Of course, if they don’t, we may have to use force. But for now, that’s a good plan.”

“I’ll begin making the arrangements, sir,” said Rester before nodding to Matt and Mello and leaving the room. Mello stood up and walked slowly over to Near, snapping off a bit of chocolate into his mouth on the way.

“Do you really think detaining Amane is going to solve anything? She hasn’t been relevant to the case in a long time. Could she still prove useful to Kira?”

“To be honest, this is more or less just a power move. But, who knows. Misa Amane will do anything for Light Yagami,” Near replied. He turned to look straight up into Mello’s eyes. “As I said before, love is a powerful thing.” Mello stared back at Near, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips and a light flush upon his cheeks. Neither seemed to remember the other, quiet, video game-playing entity in the room until it spoke.

“Get a room.”

“Near. It’s taken care of. I did exactly as you asked.”

“Good.” It was now getting fairly late into January, and Near was on his stomach in front of his laptop, having just received a call from Gevanni. As soon as he gave Gevanni his approval at the confirmation of the task’s completion, he hung up.

“So the notebooks are switched?” Matt, who had been helping Mello with his plans, looked at Near. Near nodded.

“Yes, Gevanni just switched out the pages of the notebook in Mikami’s locker for fakes.” He turned around and sat up to look at Mello.

The chocolate-lover was hunched over, scribbling down notes, scratching things out, squinting at the writing, then scribbling things again.

“How is the plan for Takada coming?” Near asked.

“Pretty good actually,” Mello replied. “I’ve got most of it figured out, but there are a few kinks. Here.” He sat up and picked up the piece of paper he had been writing on. Near scooted closer to where Mello was sitting and Matt leaned in to listen as well. Mello cleared his throat.

“Okay,” he said. “So to start off, we have someone from our team drive up to NHN as Takada is leaving and drop a smoke bomb. That’ll create a distraction. We want this to be big, because we want Kira to notice us. Hopefully he’ll end up messing up and doing something rash, just like with Lind L. Tailor back in the beginning.” Matt nodded and Mello continued. “Then another one of our team abducts Takada. They’ll switch vehicles into some kind of truck, and then eventually get back here without the cops tailing them.” He looked up at Near. “I know it’s like, illegal, but…”

“It’s our best shot,” Near said. “We just have to figure out who of our team is doing all of this.” Mello nodded.

“Right. I was thinking–”

“I’ll do the smoke bomb,” Matt said with a shrug. “Can’t be too hard, right?”

“No,” Near said adamantly, shocking the other two just a bit.

“Why not?” asked Matt, his brow furrowing.

“We need you on tech support. You need to keep the coms running, hack into security cams, and anything else related that we might need on this mission. As for the person abducting Takada, however,” he turned to Mello. “I think it should be Mello.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Mello said.

“Hold on a minute,” said Matt. “Takada probably has some of the notebook on her. That’s putting Mello in a hell of a lot of danger.”

“So we’ll have a drop-off point,” Near stated. Mello put a hand to his chin, thinking as Near continued. “Mello can abduct Takada on a motorcycle, the same way he rescued me in New York. That way he won’t have to show his face. Then he’ll get to the drop-off point where another team member will be waiting with a truck. Then we’ll just transfer Takada to the truck and Mello can meet back here while the other team member takes Takada.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Mello with a nod.

“And, this means that when L-Kira calls me about Takada’s abduction, I can blame the whole thing on you, as he still does not know that we are working together.”

“To be honest,” Mello remarked. “I’m kinda glad we have like, a whole ‘team’ to do this with. It would be hell trying to figure out how to pull this off with just me and Matt without us, y’know, dying.” Matt chuckled.

“Mells, you wouldn’t let me die,” he said with a grin.

“So you’re glad you finally matured and decided to work with me instead of against me?” Near asked Mello, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Shut up,” Mello said, rolling his eyes. But he smiled as his eyes found Near’s again. Near, going against his character, returned Mello a smile of his very own.

“All set to go?” Matt spoke into the headset.

“Roger,” replied Rester as he drove the red car towards the NHN headquarters.

“I have eyes on Takada,” Matt said, his eyes glued to the NHN security cams stationed around the outside of the building. “She just got out of her car. Go, now!” The red car zoomed into the front lot of the building, skidding as Rester pointed the smoke gun out the window and fired. Several security guards who had tried to run at him were now lost in the smoke.

At the SPK headquarters, Matt switched over to the body cam on Lidner as Near sat behind him, watching avidly. As Lidner escorted Takada over towards the doors, Matt switched his comm over to Mello’s.

“Lidner’s getting in position, be ready.”

“Roger that.” At the sound of Mello’s voice, the finger that was in Near’s hair began twirling faster, his other hand clutching tightly to the puppet he had made of Mello’s likeness.

As soon as Takada got onto the bike with Mello and Lidner directed Takada’s security detail to follow Mello and Rester, Matt switched his comm over to Lidner.

“Lidner, Mello’s going to be taking back streets, which gives you time. Go as quickly as possible.”

“Got it,” Lidner said as she ran towards the parking lot. Matt sat back in his chair, his heart pounding in his chest.

“And now we wait,” he said. He bit his lip and looked at Near. “You alright?” he asked. Near gave a curt nod and said nothing. Matt frowned but didn’t press the issue. They were both worried, after all.

Matt switched a few of the screens on the monitor to show various news broadcasts as Near monitored the tracking device they had placed on Mello.

“One of the attackers was heavily armed,” one of the news broadcasts was saying. “As of this moment, both Miss Takada’s escort team and the police are hot on the tail of the suspects.”

Near booted up his laptop and plugged in his headset.

“What are you doing?” asked Matt. Near gave no response, and called the NPA task force. Just after he spoke, Matt let out a loud gasp. Near looked at him in alarm as the call rang. Matt stared blankly at the opposite wall for a few seconds before shaking his head. “Sorry,” he said, his voice sounding odd. “I just… Felt really strange for a second there…”

“L,” Near said as the task force picked up the call. “I am not the one who kidnapped Takada.”

“Is that so,” said Light Yagami on the other end, more of a remark than a question. “Then it has to be… Mello.”

“Yes, that’s right. I have to be honest with you on this, we had one of our members escorting Takada, and they confirmed it. Mello was the one who abducted her. I apologize for letting this happen while one of us was guarding her.”

“Near, isn’t there any way for you to contact Mello?”

“No, I’m afraid that would be impossible,” Near lied. “While I do have a method of getting in touch with him, there’s no way he’d respond in the current situation.”

“Mello is in position, go now,” Matt spoke to Lidner in the comms. Lidner opened the back door of the truck and stepped in.

“Halle?” Kiyomi Takada looked between the driver of the motorcycle and her bodyguard. “But–”

“Time to go,” Lidner said to Mello. Mello nodded and got back on the bike.

“Good luck,” he said to Lidner as he put the bike in reverse and drove out of the truck.

“Mello’s out,” Matt said to Near, who breathed out a small sigh of relief.

“So you’re with them,” Takada said to Lidner, frowning.

“Take off everything you’re wearing and put it all into that box,” Lidner said, gesturing to a cardboard box between her and Takada. Takada frowned and glanced at the box, scared. “Hurry up,” urged Lidner, cocking her pistol and aiming it at Takada. She held up a blanket. “You can use this to cover yourself.” Takada paused a moment longer before turning around and beginning to undress. When she had stripped down to her undergarments, she spoke.

“Before I take off the rest, could I please have the blanket so I can wrap it around me?”

“We’re both women here,” Lidner remarked. “I see no need.” Biting her lip, Takada continued to undress until all of her clothing was in the box. She still faced away from Lidner, her hands clutched to her chest. “Turn around,” said Lidner. Slowly, Takada turned around, hands still against her chest, trying to act embarrassed. But really, Lidner noticed a bit of fear. “Show me your hands.” Takada looked up at Lidner with a soft gasp. After a few moments, she put down her arms and opened her hands. Out of her right hand fell a piece of notebook paper.

“As for the suspect who was gunned down earlier, we’re still not able to identify him. The police are tracking the remaining suspect and are–”

“Rester,” Near said, staring at the screen in guilt and sadness. He looked down and turned his chair around to face away from the news broadcast. “I did not mean for you to be killed. I’m sorry.”

Next to him, Matt sat in silence, his face in an expression of both sadness and confusion.

Suddenly the door opened. Near looked up as Mello walked into the room. He got up out of his chair and went to go meet him. He paused for a moment before wrapping his arms around Mello’s neck in a hug.

“Hey, what’s this for?” Mello asked, hugging back with a slight blush on his face. Near pulled back and reached up to twirl his hair.

“We lost Rester,” he stated. Mello’s face fell.

“I’m sorry.” The two of them stood in silence for a moment. Then Mello looked up at Matt.

“What’s the status on Lidner?” he asked.

“She’s on the move. The plan seems to be going well so far. And, Lidner found a piece of the notebook on Takada.” Mello nodded. Near began to walk back over to sit down and Mello began to follow before suddenly staggering back with a sharp intake of breath. Near looked back at him.

“Mello?” Mello blinked several times and regained his footing.

“Yeah… I’m okay. I just… Felt really weird…”

“That happened to me earlier,” said Matt, his brow furrowing in confusion. Suddenly he jerked back to his monitors in alarm. He put the comm to his ear and switched the security feed over to Lidner’s body cam. “Lidner? Hello?” He switched the feed to the camera that was placed inside the truck. “Guys,” he said sullenly to Near and Mello, who had started hugging again. They pulled apart and looked over.

“What is it?” asked Near.

“Lidner’s dead.” There was silence in the room for a long time. Near and Mello came to sit beside Matt and the three of them looked at the monitor that showed Lidner’s slumped over body in the driver’s seat of the truck. They continued to stay silent as they watched Takada break the window and retrieve her things from the passenger’s seat. It was only after about twenty more minutes that the silence was broken by Near’s phone ringing.

“Gevanni,” he stated to Matt and Mello before answering the phone.

“The notebook we switched out the pages of is a fake,” Gevanni relayed to Near. “Mikami has a real one in the bank.”

It was January 28th.

“Are you ready?” Mello asked Near that morning as they were leaving the apartment. Near took Mello’s hand in his own and nodded.

“We have everything we need to catch Kira. Thanks to the discovery of the real notebook, our plan is foolproof.”

“I sure hope so,” Mello replied, not even trying to hide his worry.

“Everything will be fine,” said Matt, locking the door as they stepped out of the apartment. “It has to.”

A little before one o’clock, the SPK positioned themselves at the Yellowbox warehouse to wait for the NPA task force to arrive. Misa Amane had been set free and put up in a hotel, and Near had spoken to Light Yagami earlier to confirm the plans.

Near sat in the middle of the warehouse, one knee drawn up to his chest. He patted his chest to assure himself that the notebook was still there. Behind him was Gevanni, who had just arrived from tailing Mikami, and Matt, dressed in a suit, disguising himself as if he had been a member of the SPK all along instead of Mello’s accomplice. Mogi also stood with them, having gone to the warehouse with the SPK after being set free from his detainment. Mello himself was waiting some blocks away in a truck that had monitors that connected to security cameras that the SPK had placed around the warehouse. Once the NPA were all in the building, Mello would keep watch for Mikami to enter. Once that occurred, he would move closer and wait for his own entrance.

Aizawa was the first of the NPA to enter the building.

“Hello, Mr. Aizawa,” Near said, his face obscured by a mask. “I am Near.”

“Hello,” said Aizawa, stepping further in. “I was sent in ahead to make sure you were here. I’ll go and retrieve the others.”

Near, Matt, and Gevanni were silent as Light Yagami and the rest of the NPA task force entered the warehouse. The air was thick with tension. Eventually, Aizawa was the first to break the silence.

“It’s them,” he said to his task force. “Those four are the SPK. And the one wearing the mask is Near.”

“Hang on,” said Touta Matsuda, on Light’s left. “Am I the only one who’s seeing something wrong? He can go around accusing people of being Kira, but the fact that he’s wearing a mask says that he’s only trying to protect himself, not anyone else!” He pointed an accusatory finger at Near, who reached up to tap the mask.

“It’s just a precaution. There’s a good possibility that Kira has already seen the faces of everyone in this warehouse except for mine. In fact, he may be writing down your names as we speak. So I’d like to wait for one hour. No, make it thirty minutes. That should give us more than enough time to see if anyone is being controlled before they die.”

“Uh? What?” Matsuda said, glaring at Near. “You’re gonna wait and see if we die?” Near gave no answer to this. And so they waited. After the time had passed, Matsuda spoke again.

“Near! It’s already been over thirty minutes. Nothing’s happened yet!”

“Of course not,” said Light Yagami, speaking for the first time. “That’s because Kira’s not here with us.”

“Very well,” said Near. “Everyone seems to be safe. I’ll remove my mask now.” Near reached up and untied the mask from his head, lifting it away from his face. He looked up at Light Yagami in what could only be described as a hard glare. Then, inexplicably, the corners of his lips upturned and his eyes widened until he was giving a creepy smile. Light narrowed his eyes at this, obviously not amused. After a few more moments, Light Yagami smirked.

“You’re quiet, Near. What’s wrong? Are you still waiting for something?” Near picked up his Kira puppet and turned it around to face Light.

“Waiting,” he said. “That’s an excellent choice of words. Yes, I am waiting, for the arrival of the one who will solve everything once and for all.” Ide’s eyes widened.

“Someone else is supposed to clear this up?” he asked, confused.

“He’ll be here soon,” said Near. “It’s only a matter of time. There’s only one entrance to this building, and the only way to look inside is by opening that door.” Near looked over to the red door they had all entered through. “That means he’ll either walk through that door, or at the very least, open it and peek through.”

“And just who is this person, anyway?” Matsuda asked, angrily.

“X-Kira,” Near replied. “The one who is currently using the notebook and killing people on Kira’s behalf. He’s bound to come here and bring the notebook with him. And then, he’ll see me and then write down my real name. Or rather, he’ll write down the names of everyone here who knows about the notebook, and kill them.” A few gasps could be heard from the task force.

“What… What are you saying?” Matsuda asked, getting increasingly angrier. “This doesn’t make any sense! What are you trying to tell us, Near? That some other guy is gonna drop by with the notebook, poke his head in, and kill us all?”

“And you want us to sit back and let it happen?” chimed in Ide.

“Yes, that’s correct,” Near said, calmly. “Now listen carefully. If someone comes into the warehouse through that door, just let him in without resisting. If the door opens slightly, simply act as if you don’t notice anyone there.”

“But… But that’s just crazy!” Matsuda shouted.

“He’s already here,” said Near, excitedly. All eyes suddenly turned towards the door, where someone was undoubtedly peeking through. As the mystery person began to move frantically, as if he were avidly writing something down, Matsuda drew his gun. Matt and Gevanni drew guns as well and pointed it at Matsuda.

“Hold it! Don’t do anything!” shouted Matt. Matsuda put his hands up and looked at Matt in fear and alarm.

“Everything is fine,” Near tried to assure them. “You won’t die.”

“How can you be so sure, Near?” asked Light.

“Because I modified the notebook,” Near said, holding up a tiny toy notebook between his thumb and forefinger. The task force behind Light gasped. “We took brief possession of the notebook and switched the pages,” Near explained. “The person behind the door has been doing the killings for Kira. He has also been using exactly one page every day. Based on that, I was able to replace the page he would use today, as well as all subsequent pages, so that no one else would die.” Near paused until the figure behind the door stopped moving so frantically. “On the other side of that door is X-Kira,” he stated. “My guess is, in roughly forty seconds, he’ll look inside to see if we’re dead. That’s when we’ll restrain him and seize the notebook. Whoever’s name is not written down must be Kira.” After a moment of stunned silence, Aizawa spoke.

“It’s true,” he said. “Kira would be the only one that guy wouldn’t try to kill. But still…” There was silence for another thirty seconds until Light turned his head towards the door.

“You there, outside,” he said. “Have you finished writing down the names in the notebook?” From the other side of the door came the voice of a young man.

“Yes,” it said. “I’ve written them.” Aizawa, Ide, and Matsuda all shared a look of fear. More silence.

“Don’t you think it’s rather odd?” asked Near after a few seconds. Light turned to look at him with a hum of mild confusion. “Why would he answer you so quickly, calmly, and honestly when you asked him if he had written down our names yet?”

“Who knows,” Light replied. “Maybe he’s just honest. Or confident that he’ll succeed, or perhaps he saw through your brilliant plan.”

“Huh?” Matsuda looked around, scared. “In that case, we’re in big trouble.” After a few more seconds, Near spoke with purpose.

“Teru Mikami. If it’s not too much trouble for you, won’t you please come in and join us? I already know that you’re the one who’s been judging and executing people for Kira. If you’ve already written down our names, then there shouldn’t be anything to be afraid of. You can come right on in.”

“Teru Mikami, is it?” said Light, eyeing the door with a small smirk. “He’s correct. There’s no reason to hide from us, you can come in.” At Light’s words, the door opened. Teru Mikami stood in the door frame, clutching the notebook. “How many seconds has it been since you wrote down the first name?” Light asked. Mikami looked at his watch, his eyes shining.

“Thirty seconds,” he said, grinning. “Thirty-one. Thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine!” Light’s gaze turned to latch onto Near.

“Well Near,” he said with a devilish grin and a horrible gleam in his eyes. “Looks like I win.”

“Forty!” Everyone waited with baited breath. Matsuda shut his eyes and put his hands over his head. Nothing happened. Matsuda lifted his head, confused and hopeful.

“W-we’re still alive,” he said, a bit shocked. “It’s been over a minute and… we haven’t died.”

“Didn’t I already tell you all that no one was gonna die?” Near said, slightly annoyed.

“B-But why?” Mikami shouted, distraught and confused. “Why won’t they die? God…” He turned to Light, panicked. “I did everything you told me!”

“Matt, Gevanni, take him now!” Near shouted as Matt and Gevanni ran at Mikami, pinning him against the wall and handcuffing him. As they did so, Mikami’s notebook fell to the ground in front of him. Near reached up a hand. “Gevanni, the notebook, please.” Gevanni picked up the notebook and handed it to Near. “If you didn’t believe me earlier, then see for yourselves.” Near showed Light and the task force the page of the notebook. On the top were written the names: Nate River, Mail Jeevas, Stephen Loud, Shuichi Aizawa, Kanzo Mogi, Touta Matsuda, and Hideki Ide. “I can confirm that the first three names are definitely the real names of the SPK members,” Near lied. In fact, this was the first time he had ever seen or heard Matt’s real name. “The second four are the names of your team. The only name that hasn’t been written down is Light Yagami. If that weren’t enough, Mikami also addressed you as God, and said he did what you asked him to.” Near lowered the notebook so he could glare over the top at Light. “It’s settled.”

“It’s a trap!” Light suddenly shouted, clearly panicked. He pointed a finger at Near. “This whole thing is a setup! This is all part of Near’s plan to frame me! Isn’t it a little odd that no one died after having their name written in the notebook? This proves it’s a trap!” Near couldn’t help but give a tiny smirked. Light Yagami had cracked.

“I believe I already told you that no one would die because I modified the notebook.” Light gritted his teeth, his eyes wide.

“No! You– gh–” He frowned and looked to the side, towards Mikami. “That can’t be. This is a setup. I don’t know this guy!” At this, Mikami promptly burst into tears. Matt, who was holding him, raised an eyebrow in distaste. Aizawa walked over to Light and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Light,” he said. “It’s too late to deny it. You know Near has won. Just a moment ago you were saying ‘it looks like I win.’ How much more of a confession do we need?”

“Light,” came Matsuda’s heartbroken voice. He sank to his knees next to the man he once called a friend. “Why?” he asked softly as he lowered himself to sit on the ground, his head bowed. Mogi stepped forward to cuff Light. As soon as he touched Light’s hands, however, Light gasped and shoved him back.

“Stop it!” Light yelled, frantically. He ran towards the back wall and tripped, falling on the floor before getting up again and flinging himself at the wall.

“Light Yagami,” said Near. “L. Kira. It’s over. You’ve lost the game. Just a moment ago you proclaimed your victory, expecting us all to die. And to tell the truth, you might have actually won. And I would have lost. We ended up doing exactly what you expected us to, and altered the fake notebook in Mikami’s possession. However, when I said before that we had modified the notebook, I was in fact referring to the real notebook, as well as the fake. We only switched part of the fake notebook. But as for the real one, we replaced the entire thing.” Near lifted a finger to the notebook that his Mikami puppet was holding and tipped it over to reveal a red ribbon with the word ‘fake’ written on it. He then reached into his shirt and pulled out the real notebook. “This notebook here is actually the real one.” Light gasped.

“No! Impossible!”

“We used the same kind of pen that Mikami used, copied his handwriting perfectly, and made both the inside and the outside of our fake look exactly like the original. Gevanni was able to do it in a single night. Of course, since I had touched the real notebook before coming, I’ve been able to see the Shinigami as well,” Near said, finally acknowledging the god of death standing behind Aizawa.

“Oh,” said Ryuk.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Shinigami. I’m Near.”

“Heh heh heh, nice to meet you too,” Ryuk said with a ghastly smile. “My name is Ryuk.”

“Some of the edges of this notebook’s pages are torn. Tell me, if someone’s name was written on a ripped off piece of paper, would they still die?”

“Oh yeah,” Ryuk said. “‘Course they would.”

“I thought so. I bet you were able to use that to your advantage,” he said to Light. “I wonder how many times you deceived us with this, and how many people you killed. Light Yagami, you are Kira.” Near noticed Light’s eyes flash to Mikami, likely wondering if Mikami had betrayed him. “You’re mistaken,” he said, answering Light’s thoughts. “This was all thanks to one person. This all would have gone completely differently if it hadn’t been for him.”

“Hadn’t been for who?” asked Ide, looking at Near.

“Me,” said a new voice from the door. The faces of the task force, Light, and Mikami whipped around to see Mello, standing in the doorframe with a smirk on his face.

“Mello!” shouted Aizawa in recognition. “We thought you were dead! The other remains found with Takada’s in the church fire…”

“Were Halle Lidner’s,” Near said, solemnly.

“But Lidner was part of your team,” said Ide, confused.

“Yes,” Near replied. “But so is Mello. He’s been working with us ever since the sack of the SPK headquarters in New York.” Light stared at Mello, aghast.

“Wh– but… The whole time?” he yelled.

“Yep,” Mello said, walking forward into the warehouse, his heels clacking against the floor. As he arrived next to Near, he reached out a hand into which Near placed the real notebook. “Check this out, Kira,” Mello said, flipping open a page of the notebook and showing it to Light. On the top of the page read, ‘Kiyomi Takada, suicide, burns to death, January 26th, 2:33pm.’ Light read the words and processed them before turning to glare daggers at Mikami, who recoiled in fear.

“God,” said Mikami. “Y-you told me you couldn’t move freely. I had to make sure Takada was taken care of! Wasn’t that my duty to you?”

“It’s all true,” Mello said, grinning. “On the 26th, right after the news broadcasted Takada’s kidnapping, Mikami went to the bank.”

“I’ve been trailing him,” said Gevanni. “I knew he went to the bank every month on the 25th. So it was odd for someone so methodical to go to the bank twice in two days. I followed Mikami to the bank as he headed for the safe deposit boxes. It was only at this time that he seemed concerned whether someone was following him or not. I got into his safe deposit box, inside was the real notebook. Sure enough, Takada’s name had already been written inside it.”

“Do you get it now, Kira?” Mello asked, raising an eyebrow at Light. “Mikami made a move on his own and wrote a name in his notebook and you didn’t realize it because you had already used a piece of the notebook to kill her yourself. This is where we figured out that there might be a fake notebook. And that’s how we were able to stop you.”

“Why did you suddenly start working with Near?” asked Aizawa.

“Because,” Near said. “He finally figured out that, working by ourselves, neither of us would be able to attain our goal, and surpass our mentor, L. But, together–” He lifted up his thumb, his index finger, and his middle finger, which were holding the puppets of L, Mello, and himself respectively.

“Together we can stand with L!” Mello shouted with a grin, finishing Near’s sentence.

“Together we can surpass L,” Near continued.

“And now,” Mello said, pointing a finger at Light. “Acting as one, we can face the Kira who defeated L and, with solid evidence, beat him at his own damn game.” Near smirked at Light.

“Let’s see you try and talk your way out of this one,” he said.

“If you can,” Mello added.

After a few moments of silence, where every eye in the room was trained onto Light Yagami, Light threw back his head and laughed. He laughed a horrible, maniacal laugh that shook almost every other person in the room to the bone. Finally, as his laughter died down, he bowed his head and looked back at everyone with gleaming eyes and an evil smirk.

“That’s right,” he said. “I am Kira. And what can you do? Kill me right here? Hear this: I’m not only Kira, but I am also God of the new world!” He turned to face forward. “Kira has become law in the world we now live. He’s the one who’s maintaining order. I have become justice, the only hope for mankind.” He turned back around to face the wall and lifted his arms straight out to the sides. “Kill me?” he asked, quietly. He looked over his shoulder at Near. “Is that really the right thing to do? Since Kira’s appearance six years ago, wars have stopped, and global crime rates have been reduced by over seventy percent! But it’s not enough. This world is still rotten! With too many rotten people, somebody has to do this! When I first got that notebook all those years ago, I knew I had to do it. No, I was the only one who could! I understood that killing people was a crime. There was no other way, the world had to be fixed! A purpose given to me! Only I could do it.” He turned around dramatically, waving his arms. “Who else could have done it?” he shouted. “And come this far? Would they have kept going?” He stepped back and lowered his head. “The only one who can create a new world is me.” There was a moment’s silence.

“Bullshit,” Mello said, frowning. “You’re just a murderer, Kira.”

“And this notebook is the deadliest weapon of mass murder in the history of mankind,” Near added.

“Face it, you’re just a criminal, just like the rest of them. You’re no god, you’re just a deluded guy with a twisted sense of justice.” Mello smirked.

“Just a crazy serial killer,” Near said. “Nothing more, and nothing less.” Light was silent for a long time.

“Mello,” he said after a minute. “Here’s some food for thought. That notebook you have, and the one that Aizawa brought from the Japanese task force headquarters. Are they both real?” Mello narrowed his eyes at the same time that Near tilted his head to the side. Light continued, starting to walk over to a corner, away from the group. “At the moment, only I know where the real notebook is. If you truly want to defeat Kira, as well as test the notebook that Aizawa’s carrying…” He stopped and shrugged his shoulders. “I guess you’re gonna have to write down either my name or Mikami’s. It’s the only way to see if it’s real… Or fake!” At this, Light pulled a piece of paper, seemingly from up his sleeve.

“He’s hidden a piece of the notebook!” shouted Matt. Mello dropped the notebook next to Near and pulled out his gun. Before he could do anything else, though, Matsuda had shot Light.

“Matsuda, you idiot!” Light yelled in agony. “Who the hell do you think you’re shooting at? Don’t screw with me!”

“What was it all for, then?” Matsuda asked, tears in his eyes. “What about your dad, what the hell did he die for?” Mello frowned at this, feeling guilty. He felt responsible for that particular death.

“My dad…” said Light, panting. “You mean Soichiro Yagami.” He sounded deranged. “That’s right, Matsuda! In this world, all those earnest people like him who fight for justice, they always lose. You want a world where people like that are made to be fools? I know you understand, so kill the others! Shoot them!”

“You lead your own father to his death,” said Matsuda, his hands shaking and tears running freely down his face. “And now he’s gone you call him a fool?” Light was silent for another few seconds before starting to frantically write again, this time in his own blood.

“His blood!” Aizawa shouted. Matsuda yelled and shot Light again, three times until he fell backward.

“I’ll kill him,” Matsuda said in fury as he marched towards Light. “I’ll kill him! He has to die!” He aimed his gun at Light again and as he shot, Aizawa, Mogi, and Ide grabbed his arms so the bullet hit the ground next to Light’s head. Light began to crawl back up onti his hands and knees, facing away from everyone.

“Damn you,” he said. He reached a bleeding arm up into his jacket.

“A gun!” Matt shouted, just as Light pulled his gun out, aimed it at Near, and fired.

Ever since Near had arrived at the hospital, he had been sitting in the chair beside the bed, almost completely unmoving, his eyes glued to the face of the man who had sacrificed himself to save his life.

Mello was hooked up to an IV and fast asleep, having just gone through surgery after he had been shot in the stomach when he had dived in front of Near as Light fired his gun. Near had instructed Matt to take Mello to the hospital immediately, and he and Gevanni had stayed to finish their showdown at the warehouse with Kira, as much as it had hurt Near to not be with Mello as he lay in an ambulance, possibly dying. As soon as he could, Near had rushed to the hospital, which is where he had now been for the past few hours, holding Mello’s hand, occasionally playing with Mello’s fingers or hair, and staring him, hoping against hope that he would wake up, and soon. Matt had been in and out, bringing several chocolate bars to place on Mello’s bedside for when he woke up (if he woke up), and trying to chat with Near in an effort to cheer the both of them up. Now, however, Matt was back at the apartment, sleeping. Near supposed it was around three or four in the morning at this point. He was tracing circles on Mello’s wrist when he heard a light gasp. He looked up to see Mello’s eyes fluttering open. His heart pounding with relief and excitement, Near scooted as close to Mello as he could.

“Mello,” he said, softly, his lip trembling slightly. Mello looked at him.

“Near… I’m alive?”

“Yes… Yes, you’re alive…” Near gave Mello a rare genuine smile, and Mello smiled back. “Mikami’s dead,” he continued.

“What about Yagami?”

“We’ll talk more about him later.” There was a pause before Mello spoke again.

“Thank God you’re okay,” he said.

“Me?” Near frowned. “You took a bullet for me.”

“Yeah, which is why I’m glad my sacrifice didn’t go to waste.” He chuckled and Near rolled his eyes with affection. But his face fell as he looked back at Mello.

“Mello… Do you remember, there was a conversation we had when I was ten years old…” Mello furrowed his brow, trying to remember, and Near continued. “You… You overheard from Roger that I was considering killing myself. You hated me at that time, but you invited me to play chess with you, and you didn’t destroy the board when I beat you. After the game you told me… You told me not to die.” He looked at Mello, who was staring back at him, his face in a sullen expression. He nodded, to signify he remembered the conversation. Near shut his eyes and squeezed Mello’s hand. “How could you be such a hypocrite…” Mello took his other hand and placed it on top of Near’s.

“The day I overheard Roger, my mind was blown. I just couldn’t imagine a world where you just weren’t there anymore… That day, I swore to myself that I would keep you from dying. Otherwise, who would I have to aspire to beat anymore?” He chuckled before sighing. “Honestly, I kinda think I was probably in love with you way earlier, I just didn’t realize what my feelings were. Love is a strong emotion, and so is anger. I think I tended to mix them up sometimes…” Near leaned down to kiss Mello softly on the lips.

“I love you, Mello,” he said.

“I love you too, Near.”

Meanwhile, in the medical ward of a disreputable secure facility miles away, Light Yagami opened his eyes.

[bloodelves88]

Trip to Taipei/Hualien/Taichung/Puli, Taiwan (Part 1)

Part 2 here (Taipei). Part 3 here (Taipei). Part 4 here (Taichung/Puli). Part 5 here (Puli). Part 6 here (Puli/Taichung/Taipei).

Wow, that’s a long title, 😅. Probably the first time I’ve traveled so much in one trip as well. That isn’t my only first. This is the first time I’m traveling overseas without my family (well that’s not really true, since I went on a work-holiday trip last month, but I don’t think I’m counting that). I went with two friends I met during one of my projects in university.

The trip was from 21 August to 28 August. It’s mainly a sightseeing trip, so expect lots of pictures of nature and stuff.

Day 1

The flight was at 8:50am, and I was initially planning to take the MRT there until I realized just before I fell asleep (I was already on my bed) that I can’t actually get any bus to the MRT station at 5:30am. The first bus is around 5:30am, sure, but that’s when the bus leaves its first stop. It would be 6am or later by the time it reaches the bus stop at my house, so that’s a no go. I ended up needing to download the taxi app and paying a lot more. But hey, 45 minutes more sleep.

I brought some bread from home for breakfast, but I still bought an Egg McMuffin from the airport anyway. I was going to fly on Scoot, which serves expensive meals and didn’t allow consumption of outside food.

Not my plane. The one behind with the yellow tail is.

We reached Taoyuan International Airport around 1:40pm, then went to obtain a prepaid SIM card to use for internet. It’s unlimited data for $14 for eight days, so it’s a really good deal. After that, we decided to buy some lunch from the convenience store at the airport since we couldn’t find a proper place to eat. I bought an onigiri, a sweet potato, and a meat bun. This is my first time having convenience store onigiri, and it’s actually pretty good. I also opened the packaging the wrong way 😅. The sweet potato was strange though. It’s really chewy and gummy.

After eating, we headed towards the train station. Then we saw the sign for the food court. Geh.

Day 1 is a day of nothing but traveling, so it was us going to the Taipei Main Station first, then boarding the TRA high speed trains to Hualien.

It was almost 8pm by the time we reached Hualien. Now it’s time to find our lodgings. This trip is the first time I’m staying in places other than a hotel as well. Our first lodging is a bed and breakfast, more commonly known as a B&B. The place we stayed at is called Xiong Zhi Mi (熊之蜜). I have to say I’m pretty impressed - it’s very cozy and it doesn’t really lack anything a hotel has. The benefit of such places is that they don’t have many guests, so they can really focus on providing service and a good experience for you.

There was also something really interesting about the room. Pink lights! 😆

Anyway, we still didn’t have dinner yet, so we went out to look for something to eat. Unfortunately, Hualien is considered a rural place, so the shops were mostly closed by then (around 9pm), and we ended up eating at Family Mart. 

Convenience store food again! It’s not too bad, but the meat is a little hard and dry. I also bought some cut fruits to eat (guava, dragonfruit, oranges, mangoes). The mangoes didn’t taste as mangoey as I’m used to. And guavas aren’t nice. I’ll never like guavas. Then we decided to explore a supermarket nearby. There’s quite a few supermarkets in the vicinity, which thinking about it now, is a little strange. 

I bought two pairs of socks from the supermarket at NT$19 each. The design on the black sock is under the foot. I also saw a farmer’s  straw hat on sale and took a picture of myself wearing one. Not showing it here.

Motorbikes are very prevalent in Taiwan, it seems that there’s motorbike shops anywhere you look, and there’s rows of motorbikes lined up almost everywhere you go. In the bigger cities, the area just before the traffic light is demarcated as a motorbike area. They’re definitely not second class citizens on the road, unlike in Singapore.

Helmets with all sorts of designs are very prevalent in Taiwan.

Day 2

Breakfast was at the first floor of the lodgings. 

Doesn’t look good, but it’s surprisingly filling and doesn’t taste bad at all. I quite like it. Each sandwich stack has four slices of bread, containing lettuce, fried egg, and some strange meat thing. The tea is unfortunately a little too sweet though. It also came with fruits (watermelon and dragon fruits). After breakfast, we stopped by at Family Mart to stock up on some food for lunch. There’s no food where we’re going.

Anyway, our first place to visit in this trip is Taroko Gorge. We headed to Hualien Station to try to catch a bus there. We missed the bus by a few minutes. Then, we got approached by a taxi driver trying to tout their services, but we declined him. A while later, we got approached by another one. This one was quite a bit cheaper (NT$600 vs NT$350 per person), so we started to think about it. We accepted, and the driver went off to find two more people to bring along. I was a little bleh at this since this meant that we had to wait for these two people, or they had to wait for us while we explored Taroko Gorge. The NT$600 driver was a private one catering to just the three of us though, so I guess their cost is about NT$1800 divided among the available passengers.

The taxi stopped at Taroko National Park East Entrance Arch Gate on the way there, where we could buy some snacks and fruits. I wanted to buy a bunch of bananas, but the driver said he bought some for us already. Nice of him to do so :D

Our first stop at Taroko was Shakadang Trail. The taxi parked in Xi La An Tunnel, and off we went!

(map from https://www.taroko.gov.tw/en/Tourism/TrailDetail?id=209)

It’s a 4km trail that follows the river. I think we stopped and turned around about halfway in. The river has very clear blue water, and it’s very pretty.

The trail was mostly cut into the rock like this. It’s easy to walk and very safe.

We walked until we reached some stalls, and there was a sign warning us about the next section being just wilderness. So we decided to head back.

Next, we went onto Xiao Zhui Lu Trail. The entrance is just next to the entrance of Shakadang Trail. 

That red bridge leads to both of the trail’s entrances.

There’s not much to look at in the Xiao Zhui Lu Trail.

I guess the main thing on this trail is this really narrow suspension bridge. Fun 😄

End of this trail, back to the taxi. Next up, Swallow Grotto Yanzikou Trail.

This trail apparently has a risk of rockfalls, so we all had to wear helmets while on this trail.

Looking through my photos, I realize many of them look very strange since there’s no perspective of scale. Ugh.

Example:

Totally looks like random tiny rocks, but I assure you most of those rocks are bigger than you.

Apparently there’s some face-looking thing to see in the above picture. But I’m totally not seeing it.

End of Swallow Grotto Yanzikou Trail. Next up, Baiyang Trail. This trail is about 2km.

This trail also has a risk of rockfalls, but there’s no need to wear a helmet. There’s quite a few tunnels on this trail, and they’re quite dark. It’s possible that there are times you can’t see your hands in front of you sometimes. You’re encouraged to bring a torchlight with you, but it’s not that necessary. There’s the torchlight on your phone if you really need it anyway.

The first kilometer or so is wheelchair and child friendly, so there are actually paved roads. After that, it’s a dirt trail.

Rocks stacked by people. I think these are the rocks from rockfalls. You’ll probably die if hit.

Another suspension bridge. This one is much wider and proper.

This is near the end of the trail. There’s a waterfall inside that tunnel, and it’s very dimly lit. You will get wet. It’s impossible to stay dry in there. There are actually a bunch of raincoats outside, but we didn’t take them for some strange reason. Getting wet was fun anyway 😆

This is the view from the end of the tunnel. The waterfall is just to the right of that bright spot of light inside. It’s not a big waterfall, but it’s loud and cold and wet 😆

Turn 180 degrees. This is the view out of the tunnel. 

End of Baiyang Trail. Next up, Qixingtan Seaside Park. It’s around 5:15pm at this point, and the other two who were sharing our taxi were already waiting for us. Whoops, wonder how long they’ve been waiting.

We reached Qixingtan at 6pm, and the driver only gave us 30 minutes to explore it. It was the end of the day 😅

This place is basically just a beach. The unique thing about this beach is that there’s no sand on it, but there’s pebbles and gravel.

Seems like they were setting up for a night market. We didn’t explore that since it was time to go.

Here’s the places we went in Taroko Gorge.

Time to look for dinner.

While wandering around, we came across a honey tea shop, selling tea drinks that had honey in them. I can’t remember what I bought, but I did buy something. We continued walking, and we came across a pet shop. They were selling hamsters and rabbits, and they were all still very young and very cheap. They’re so cute.

SGD$9 for a rabbit.

We went to a tea house called Wang Tea House. 

I had Zha Jiang Mian, black tea, and green tea pastry.

It’s not bad. But I wouldn’t say it’s very good either. The pastry didn’t even have any green tea taste. 

Thinking about the taxi driver, it would have been a total disaster if we decided to take buses around Taroko Gorge. There was barely any time left after all the activities, and while on the roads, I didn’t see any bus stops, and I only saw one bus. Advice for anyone reading this - take a hired taxi for the whole day. It’s worth it.

The weather was also a lot better than I expected. I expected to be walking under the hot sun, sweating buckets and feeling uncomfortable. None of that was true. The sun was hidden behind clouds, there was ample cool wind, and there were no pesky insects to bother you. I’m not sure if that’s because a typhoon was due to hit Taiwan two days later, but thank goodness for such weather.

After the meal, we walked back to our lodgings. On our way back, I bought a cake that I saw on the previous day while heading towards our lodgings. I was already kind of full, so I kept it in the fridge to eat the next day. 

End of day 2.

Part 2 here (Taipei). Part 3 here (Taipei). Part 4 here (Taichung/Puli). Part 5 here (Puli). Part 6 here (Puli/Taichung/Taipei).

[spn-and-daddy-issues]

From LARP to Love - Pt. 1

Charlie x female!reader

You meet Charlie while LARPing and your relationship grows from there. Eventually when she helps out Sam and Dean you tag along and get comfortable at the bunker. 

This part one is just the intro, not sure how long it’ll go, but eager to share how it unfolds from here :)

“M’lady. I have news from the South.” You dropped to one knee and bowed your head as you reached the spot in front of the throne. 

“Please, rise and share it with us.” The queen stated simply. As you stood back up and looked to meet her eyes you could see the small smile that she was hiding. 

“The Southern troops have made camp on the far bank of the Angel River. There is a party of three that approach our camp. They appear to be carrying a message for you directly, m’lady.”

“Thank you. You may go rest now, I will need you again shortly.” She nodded at you, again with a small smile. 

You wandered back through the camp back to your tent, rolling your shoulders as you went. You were definitely ready for a snack and a nap - the spot you waited at in the woods to collect intel was high up on a hill and the hike up and back down had really taken it out of you. 

You had just fallen back into your makeshift bed when the entrance to your tent was pulled back, “Y/N. You’ve been requested by the queen.”

You tried not to sigh as you hauled yourself back out of your bed. This was just supposed to be fun but it was so damn tiring!

You made your way back to the queen’s tent and command center and waited outside until it was your turn to enter. You followed the usual drill once being called in, lowering to one knee, bowing your head, all of that again. 

“Please rise. And everyone else, leave us.” The queen ordered, sounding a bit more serious than usual. 

As soon as the tent had emptied except for the two of you the queen stepped down from her throne and stood face to face with you. “How are you doing Y/N? Are you having fun? You seem tired.” 

You were surprised at the shift in tone and the concern. 

“This is Charlie speaking, not ‘your queen.’” She joked at you, a full smile lighting up her face. 

“Oh, uh, yeah,” you stuttered a little bit, adjusting back to being out of character, “Yeah, I’m enjoying it. It’s my first LARP and it definitely is more tiring than I expected though.” You laughed. 

“Yeah, it’ll get ya. But I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying it! They made me the queen for this round because I’ve been around for a while, so I also kind of took it upon myself to check in on the newer folks. Make sure that in real life everything is going well too.” 

“I appreciate that.” You offered a smile back at Charlie, realizing for the first time how gorgeous her eyes were. 

Throughout the rest of the long weekend you felt invigorated by Charlie’s concern for you and dove even deeper into your character. The battle to end the weekend ended up being quite muddy due to the rainstorm earlier in the day and after the scene was wrapped up you found yourself joking with Charlie again, throwing mud at one another. 

After you both cleaned up and packed up you found yourselves walking back to the parking lot at the same time. 

“Thanks for looking out for me Charlie, I really had a great time this weekend.” 

“Anytime Y/N! It was great to work with you and get to know you! Here, let me know what event you’ll be at next.” She handed you a slip of paper with her phone number on it before slipping into her car. 

Over the next couple weeks, as you were forced to return to reality, you found yourself thinking about Charlie more and more. You didn’t have the time off to go to any of the upcoming LARP events nearby, but you really wanted to see her. 

After endless debate you sent a quick text - Hey Charlie, it’s Y/N. I can’t make it to the event this weekend due to work, but I was hoping maybe you and I could still meet up and catch up some time soon?

You set your phone down and buried yourself in the research you were doing for your upcoming historical lecture and tried your best to resist the temptation to check for a reply every five seconds. It took a lot of focus, but eventually you were fully immersed in your research and had gotten five more pages perfectly formatted and together when you heard your phone buzz. You tried to deny the excitement buzzing through your veins as you turned it over and unlocked it. 

Bummed you can’t make it, but we definitely need to meet up sometime soon! How about drinks at 9pm at The Pour House on Center St? 

You reread the text a couple times to make sure you read it correctly – ‘soon’ as in tonight, soon? You were in good shape for the big seminar lecture you had coming up, your next few classes were already laid out with the notes sheets already posted on the class’s online discussion board. Why not?

Perfect, I’ll see you there!

You glanced at the clock to get an idea of how much time you really had and realized it was already 7:30pm. With the twenty minutes it would take you to get to the bar you didn’t have long at all to get ready. 

[rachelisnotatwork]

Week one: Heading back down under

This time I let Marcel pick our big holiday destination, and he picked Australia. Can’t say I was super keen, as a work colleague fairly accurately summed up my feelings towards Australia: “It is an oven full of spiders”. I’m not big on visiting places were everything can kill you. But considering Marcel’s sister has emigrated to Australia and Marcel has wanted to go on a big road trip there for years, I sort of felt I couldn’t say no (I was thinking it though).

Our flight was a very civilised 9pm on a Sunday. However we were lending out our flat whilst we were away and in the run up to leaving we’d been pulling lots of shifts to pay for it (the oven full of spiders is surprisingly expensive) and so that left us spending the weekend frantically packing, cleaning and mopping the place.

We managed to head off without any too obvious catastrophes and headed off on our first flight to Singapore. We hit turbulence pretty much straight away. Nevermind I thought, that will soon settle down. It did not. We were jiggled constantly all 12.5 hours of the way there. Quite hard to sleep whilst being constantly jolted. Thankfully there was an excellent movie selection.

When we arrived, we headed straight to our hotel, One Farrer Place. We had stayed there on our previous trip and quite liked it, plus we got a huge discount on a booking website. When we arrived, our receptionist told us the bad news that our class of hotel room (the cheapest) was booked out. So we had to be upgraded to a huge room with free-standing bath tub on the top floor. Which is the sort of bad news I’m happy to deal with.

We were so tired, we couldn’t be bothered to go far for dinner. We were staying in Little India, which is a great place for vegetarians but less good if you always ask for Asian Vegetarian as a meal on your flight. I couldn’t really face my 4th curry in 24 hours. So instead we ate at a surprisingly good but completely empty Thai restaurant in the hotel next door. The air-con was so frigid we ate poolside and enjoyed the warm night air.

The next day we had a lazy morning by the pool, then headed out to meet our friend Ryan for lunch. We had had a fairly late breakfast but managed to stuff ourselves at Lau Pa Sat food market, because we are committed like that. We had basically chosen Singapore as a repeat stop-off for two reasons; to see Ryan and to eat a lot of good, cheap food. Both missions were accomplished.

After that we had a wander around the Gardens by the Bay. The last time we’d been there the Flower Dome had been shut. We went in this time. It was a bit underwhelming, especially since it was having a sunflower show and there were lots of weird Dorothy-themed statues there. Plus sunflowers aren’t the most...diverse group of flowers to display in huge numbers. The cloud forest was better.

When we came out it was pouring with rain (unexpected, although given it is so humid I’m not sure why I was so surprised) so we got a taxi to dinner. Last time I was obsessed with this tofu starter dish we ate at a place called The National Kitchen, so I went back and ordered so many of them the waiter kept thinking I was making a mistake. I was not. We went home and I passed out in a python-like coma.

Our flight was unfunnily early the next day so we got a taxi to the airport. Check-in was super quick and seamless (got to love the slightly dictatorial nature of Singapore. Everything just works...so well) so we had loads of time. After breakfast and laughing at the Heavenly Wang sign (because we are immature) we found out that they have a free butterfly garden in the airport (because why not?) so whiled away some pleasant time there.

Our flight to Perth was a lot smoother, which was great because the audio on my entertainment system didn’t work, so thankfully I could read a book without getting airsick. We touched down shortly afterwards and went to wait for our baggage. Marcel went to the loo and came out complaining that someone had produced something that smelt God-awful as he was washing his hands. I kept complaining that he smelt of some sort of sulphurous nightmare. He claimed I was imagining it. Until he smelt his hands and realised Perth airport had invested in some soap that appears to be going for the smell of “digestive distress”.

We got through security and went to pick up our car (with me staying a good ten foot from him). The Hertz lady decided to tell Marcel whilst taking him down to our car, about how the Outback is full of “real sickos” that will murder you. Great chat before a road trip.

After driving to our airbnb and dropping off our stuff, we went to Kings Canyon Park to stretch our legs a bit and see an overview of the city. Spring is wild flower season and their botanical gardens were in bloom, which a lot of beautiful flowers that smelt atrocious and may have been the base for the airport soap. One of the rare occasions when admiring a photo might have been better. We did see some kokaburras in a tree at the end of our trip, which was very satisfying on a stereotype level.

We were aware Perth was a rare opportunity before we headed into the food wastelands of rural Australia to eat some good food, so we wracked our brains for a cuisine we wouldn’t be able to get easily and would miss. We settled for Mexican and ate an obscene amount.

The next day we drove over to Freemantle (apparently a sight Lonely Planet recommends but the thing that was most impressive there was the GIANT container ships getting loaded by giant cranes). We went there because we wanted to see a virtual reality documentary they’d made about the Australian Antarctic base. When we arrived everyone in the audience was north of 80. I never imagined my first experience of using a VR headset would be in the company of the least likely cohort to use them. It was pretty cool though. It was only half an hour, which was a mixed blessing because it was really impressive BUT I was starting to get motion sick so was pretty glad it came to an end.

After that we headed into town to do some boring pre-trip shopping (essentials like sim card, basic food supplies, a large water container, a shit ton of books and expensive chocolates). After that there wasn’t much time left so we went for another nice wander in Kings Canyon and I found a bunch of statues to pose with and embarrass Marcel.

The next morning after breakfast we hit the open road. I thought that the bits around Perth might still be quite busy. Especially since it was going into a holiday weekend (the bastards get a long weekend for the Queen’s birthday here! Why don’t we?) But no, pretty much as soon as we left the outskirts of Perth we were about the only car on the road. Despite the lack of traffic we saw about 500 dead kangaroos on the hard shoulder. Depressing and also slightly alarming.

On the way to our first town, we stopped at a National Park called the Pinnacles. As we were buying a parks pass, I was slightly horrified to see the woman selling tickets appeared to be in some sort of giant bee keepers outfit. This turned out to be because the place was RIDDLED with flies. Despite being a beautiful and mysterious rock occurrence, every time we got out of the car about a thousand flies attempted to fly into our noses and eyes. Frantic waving of your arms around your head did pretty much nothing. Our trip there was short. We did see a galah though, which I made very angry by accident getting close, so that was another stereotype win.

We instead decided to go for a walk on the beach opposite which was windy. This was a good choice as the flies were completely thwarted by the wind. The beach was beautiful and empty. We looked at the turquoise sea and decided to dip our toes into it. It was FREEZING. We then decided to walk along the shore line. We walked happily in the wet sand for a bit before finding it was full of washed up jellyfish, probably of high toxicity. Apart from the near death experiences, it was a good walk.

We arrived in time to watch the sunset in Jurien Bay. We cooked dinner ourselves since nothing was open but a bottle shop when we arrived, and had an early night as we had an early start the next day.

I must confess I was rather apprehensive as the morning came as Marcel had arranged for us to swim with sea lions. I had many reservations about this venture. Secondly, shark attacks are often explained away by sharks “mistaking” people for seals/sea lions so dressing up as one in a wetsuit and hanging out with them seems a rapid way to get eaten by a shark. Thirdly, the water was, as evidenced by our explorations yesterday, freezing. Fourthly, there seemed to be a lot of jellyfish in these parts… However we’d paid up so we set off after breakfast for the harbour.

The boat was lovely and new and did provide wetsuits although sadly they were of the short armed and short legged variety. I kept asking for larger ones because I hate tight-fitting stuff. This turned out to be an error as when we got there, brisk winds abound, and had to jump into the water, I realised that having a super baggy one that just lets cold water run over you is not the point of a wetsuit.

The experience was pretty amazing though. The sea lions live on a protected island inside a reef, so that took out the shark fear. They are very curious and like to swim twirling around you, blowing bubbles, it you twirl too. Which was really fun to do, although I got worried that I don’t really understand the behavioural patterns of sea lions and I might be signalling that I was keen to mate for life with one of them. Annoyingly just before we left I found an underwater camera that Marcel had bought a decade ago and despite finding the batteries had leaked, I cleaned the inside with a cotton wool bud and vinegar (as the internet recommended) and found a blank memory card for it and charged it and took it into the sea to find the waterproof seal had clearly eroded and it died in about 4 seconds, leaking battery gloop. So alas no photos.

We were given restoring hot drinks and tim tams once back on the boat, which Marcel found very exciting and wouldn’t believe was just essentially a penguin bar. We headed back to shore and had lunch during which I very, very slowly thawed out (over about 3 hours).

After that we drove up to Kalbarri, a town on the outskirts of Kalbarri national park. We walked out under a very starry sky to an Indian restaurant, which was surprisingly decent for a tiny town in the middle of nowhere.

The next day we headed into the National Park past about a thousand dead kangaroos. The park is famous for its gorges, so we headed to the furthest away one first and went for a walk along the river bank, hoping that being by the water would distract the inland fly plague from trying to drink from our eyeballs every 0.3 seconds. Alas it did not.

We then headed to a few spectacular lookouts, largely power-walking around them to avoid being besieged by flies.

The last one allowed you to see into a beautiful bend in the river gorge, which you could hike down to if you were feeling sporty/tolerant of flies, which we were not. We could however from above, see a guy spend about 20 minutes setting up the perfect selfie of him in his camp site. Which was quite amusing to watch.

It was heading towards late afternoon as we drove back through the park. We saw about 100m ahead of us, a kangaroo gracefully bounce out into road. Awwh, how cute we thought. And then it immediately got hit by an SUV going in the opposite direction. Now we know why there are so many dead kangaroos by the side of the road and also why almost all the cars have giant kangaroo bars on the front. Car that had hit the kangaroo and thus was responsible for removing the giant corpse from the road was filled with a large tourist family including wailing kids in the backseat who probably hadn’t just had the right sort of kangaroo memories generated.

Apparently, hitting kangaroos can kill you, if they come through the windscreen. So the week ended with me having to add that to the giant list of ways I’m concerned I might die in Australia.

So far the list goes as follows. I will keep it updated:

Ways I've thought I might die in Australia this week:

death by falling off a cliff/into a river/into the path of an oncoming car because you couldn't see anything due to frantically waving your arms because of the flies, contracting trachoma from said flies and then being savaged by your guide dog, being bitten by a sea lion, being eaten by a shark whilst pretending to be a sea lion, being stung by a washed up box jellyfish whilst trying to mind your own business on the beach, hypothermia from the freezing cold Indian ocean (it is definitely warmer at the Indian end), being killed after hitting a kangaroo that bounces up and through your windscreen