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4: Pedantic Centuries

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Otaru felt exhausted the minute he opened his eyes after a terrible sleepless night. It was a school day, the worst day of them all. He yawned four times during that morning as he ate his bread with peanut butter and then as he was taking a bath. The third yawn is while he was entering the school gate. And the last one was when he decided not to go to school after all so he sat on a vacant bench in the park. To his astonishment, somebody jumped on his back.

"Piggy ride!" he recognized the whiny voice.

"Misa-chan, don't do that again." Otaru could only heave a sigh. Misa fixed herself up and sat beside him, giving him the happy smile.

Otaru smiled back but not with the same amount of blissful ignorance. Misa noticed this and then she did her best to cheer him up. She talked to him about her shoe shopping with Raito, Raito this, Raito that…

Otaru could not stifle a fifth yawn.

"Something is bothering Otaru-kun." Misa finally got a clue. "Your uncle is still missing, isn't he? Does Otaru-kun want to call the cops?"

"You don't have to worry about my uncle," he cut off. "I knew that wherever he is now, he is okay."

That was a sarcastic remark though Misa would never find out.

"Is Otaru-kun sure about that?" Misa pouted. "Does Otaru-kun want to go some place?"

Otaru shook his head and offered a tight smile. "I have to go to this meeting with some friends, you know."

"Can Misa come with?"

"No," Otaru answered. "I will be with Yamanagi-san."

"Oh, poor Akira-kun!" she wailed. Several people looked at them. "Misa heard about his wife and daughter. That was so tragic."

Otaru averted his gaze. "Yeah, sometimes I wish I knew what really happened to Kasumi. She and I went to kindergarten together."

"It was awful how she ended up like that," Misa put her face above her hands and doggy-pouted again. "You can never tell when a tragedy is possible. But you always know that it would be the good ones who get it. It's the reality."

Then with a sly smile she added, "Well, it's only a tragedy when it happens to a good person. But if bad people get it, Misa calls it payment."

Otaru wanted to change the topic. "Hey, do you wanna go buy some ice cream?"

Misa brightened up when she was brought back to her world of puppies and rainbows. They walked to the ice cream store.

"Otaru-kun," Misa said, "How are things with your girlfriend? Misa never got her name."

"We broke up."

"Misa's so sorry."

"I'm not."

Misa sighed and watched Otaru for a moment. She was about to say something when her cell phone vibrated in her purse.

"Raito!" she giggled as she answered the call. "Where are you? Me? Misa is with a friend..." then she drifted to her usual blabbering. Otaru did not listen anymore.

When she turned around, she forgot that she was holding an ice cream and accidentally shoved it at Otaru's shirt.

"Oh my!" Misa gasped and tried to wipe the stain off.

"It's nothing, Misa-chan." Otaru tried to stop her from touching his chest. He blushed vibrantly when she kept rubbing. "I said it's okay, Amane-san!"

"Oh! Misa has an extra shirt here." She opened the paper bag she was carrying. "It's for Raito but Misa guessed he wouldn't like it. Misa was on her way to return in but Otaru-kun need a shirt now!"

She literally dragged him behind the ice cream store and Otaru had to avoid the people giving them looks on the way. When they were safely away from the public, Misa quickly unbuttoned his shirt and took it off.

"Misa-chan, stop!"

"Don't be such a baby, Otaru-kun!" she giggled. "Misa has seen a lot of guys naked before. And you're like a little brother to Misa."

She was preparing to put on the shirt when she suddenly stopped. Otaru saw her staring at the mark on his chest.

"It's a tattoo," he said, suddenly feeling defensive. "I got it at a friend's party. You know, just for kicks."

"Misa swears she saw that design before." Misa frowned a little. Then she beamed gleefully again. "Anyway, must be a coincidence. Here, put this on, baby brother!"

She helped him put on the shirt and then she tickled him. Otaru got away from her and they chased each other around the park.

"Oh! Misa has to still have to buy Raito a new shirt!" Misa remembered as she stopped running and tried to catch her breath.

"And I still have to go to that meeting," Otaru waved a hand. "I guess I will see you again some other time, Misa-chan."

"Sayonara, Otaru-kun!" she waved back and watched him leave, with his hands on his pocket trousers.

Misa couldn't help but feel disturbed with what she saw. She needed answers fast. Misa contemplated about that tattoo on Otaru's chest. She might be wrong but she can distinctly remember where she saw that. She remembered that Shinobu Takamoto was trying to drug her when she came to his work place a week ago for a modeling offer. There was a short struggle but Misa managed to rip off his shirt. As he was preparing to inject her with the medicine, she saw the same mark on his chest.

When she narrowly escaped, she told Raito about it who promised to tell Mikami to get rid of him. Then she kept thinking about the weird shape of that tattoo.

It has to be a coincidence. Otaru can't be associated with the same man who abused girls for fun. Maybe it's a new trend in the tattoo world now and it was a coincidence they shared the same tattoo.

Misa knew it was a coincidence. And she prayed desperately that it was.

XXXXXXXXX

"Forgive me, Lord for I have sinned. Do you remember me? It is I. I who held a four hundred-year-old grudge, I who suffered the perdition of the heavy weight of my sin. I am Enma Ai. I am calling You after centuries of placidity. Please answer me this time."

Go and do not sin again.

"But my Lord, if I am forgiven, is this not a sin, these activities of mine that is concerned in putting demented souls in a place of torment now that you might set them free--"

--if they will come forward and seek forgiveness.

"I still do not understand Your Holiness."

Child, is it true that before you place the bid over their works of evil that you ask them to turn away from it and ask forgiveness?

"'Tis true, my Lord."

And they rarely do ask for reconciliation.

"For they are cowards, my Lord! They fear you and they refuse to understand. My own problem at hand is not of their own. But it is the cleansing of my conscience. I do not question the punishment. I have accepted it fully but my God, please do not forsake me this time! Allow me to enter the kingdom and experience paradise. Oh my God, can you not hear the silent breaking of my heart? I have wept for years to no definite avail. My God, please."

Enma Ai, child, you have recognized your sin and is forgiven for that sin. But your service is not yet over. You shall continue to practice your occupation at hand, sending sinners to perdition if they refuse to renew the covenant.

But, my Lord!

Listen, child! It took you four centuries to come clean. You even try to execute the final steps of your own vengeance. Your disobedience is upsetting child.

"Go away! You are not my Lord! You are a demon disguised as my own despair! Leave me now and do not come back. How dare you deceive me in my time of wretchedness?"

But how do you know what I am?

"God forgives. He sweetens the spring of bodies who comes to Him and He hasn't spoken to me since what happened.

Then foolish girl, why do you seek him again?

"I shall not answer that. I shall not speak to you about this again. I know that you are a test and a test I shall pass. But now leave me be!"

You are a prisoner, Enma Ai. Do not desire for freedom for that is a thirst you will never get to quench.

Alas the demon servant vanished before me. I sat down in the rocking boat and had not thought of anything else. The visions of silhouettes filled my mind. The pink flowers and the dreadful mist have laid themselves above me like a droopy iron curtain. Time is no longer of significant value but if I am still in eternal damnation then how come my heart still wishes to defy?

"Ai," it was the voice of the guardian, urging me return to my cottage. I took the paddle from the corner and slowly rode the boat across the vast lake. I could neither reach heaven or hell but my state of mind does not and wouldn't give a damn anymore.

"Ai," the guardian continued to call my name in the depths.

"Yes, yes, I am yet again summoned." I hurried towards the cottage to meet my latest customer. After the bargain and emotionless monologue, I finally retired and returned to my abode. I lazily laid down my head on the soft pillow my grandmother has provided me. I wanted to dream about flowers. But it might have been because flowers are all I see outside.

I closed my eyes and drifted into a fake sleep, waiting for the blinking of my computer monitor to order me to take and deliver the vengeance paid.

XXXXXXXXX

Otaru found the waiting area Akira has instructed him to stay for awhile. He was stunned to see Sayuri already there. She wore a bright yellow sweater and a leather skirt. She was leaning on the wall, looking across somewhere not specific. She continued blowing smoke from her lighted cigarette. Otaru approached her silently.

Sayuri didn't seem to give a reaction that she knew he was present. He sat down on the floor and sighed heavily. When he did, Sayuri said. "You wanna hear something really sad?"

Otaru looked at her; bewildered that she would ask that. "Is it important to know sad things?"

"It benefits you, actually." Sayuri remarked. "But most of us prefer the happy endings and the best times of our lives. We received a blessing though. From this day on, we have a world of our own. We're bound to be damned when we die anyway so let me ask again, do you want to hear something really sad?"

"Whatever."

She crushed her cigarette with her shoe. "I, Sayuri Masato, summoned the Hell Girl to take revenge against my only daughter Sakura."

Otaru stared and found out that he couldn't comment.

Sayuri looked off in a distance and begun to narrate her story, "My daughter is fifteen, a year younger than our Midori. She and I always got along. We do what mothers and daughters do so I won't bore you with those details. My relationship with her changed when she met Kouji Sautome."

Otaru froze at the name. Sayuri glanced at him with a small smile. "Yes, it was the same man who raped Kasumi."

"Go on," Otaru implied.

"I knew that this is the phase teenage girls have to go through and there is no room for mistakes especially if you are a mother. I knew that Sautome kid was a problem the moment my daughter invited him to come over for dinner."

Sayuri got tired of leaning against the wall and decided to sit beside Otaru instead. She continued her story; "Sautome influenced Sakura with bad things, things that pollute a teenage girl's mind. Sakura was raised right. But Sautome changed all of that in just two days of getting along with her. Sakura took off with him without telling me and I was worried sick and wanted to know if she is not harmed. And she wasn't. She got back home without a scratch. I told her not to see Sautome again. She shouted at me and told me I was a horrible mother and then she went upstairs and locked her room. I have no idea what to do with her so I decided to go to Sautome and asked him to stay away from my daughter. Akira-kun got there first and the old man was beating the shit out of Sautome."

Otaru nodded. "He has every right to."

Sayuri laughed a little then took her lighter. She played with it as she spoke, "Akira-kun told me what happened. Sakura and Kasumi were classmates so they know each other well. I asked Akira-kun how he could be so sure it was Sautome and three other guys who did that to Kasumi and he said that Sautome admitted. And then Akira-kun pulled me close to him and said that Sautome also confessed that my daughter was there the night it happened and that..."

"What?" Otaru looked at her worriedly. "What happened next?"

Sayuri met Otaru's gaze. "Akira-kun said that Sautome told him that Sakura was the one who urged him and his friends to scare Kasumi."

Otaru could not believe his ears. "You don't think she would do that, right?"

"Of course not, she is my daughter!" Sayuri smiled. "But just in case, I was told by Akira-kun about this website he heard can send people to hell. I looked for it myself and didn't find it. I decided not to rush on things so I confronted my daughter about it. And I was in for a shock."

Otaru said nothing. He watched as Sayuri lit another cigarette. She blew the smoke and then she said, "Sakura said she only wanted to joke around with Kasumi. But Kasumi was really scared so she told Sakura to get lost. My daughter was offended so she told the guys to hit Kasumi a little. When they did Kasumi started screaming so they have to shut her up. Sautome, that piece of garbage, started...hurting Kasumi and the other three helped him. Sakura just stood there and watched."

"No," Otaru responded weakly.

"I asked her why she let it happen and she said that maybe because she is afraid that they might hurt her too if she tried to interfere. And then she started to laugh and said, 'on the second thought I think Kasumi deserved it.' I was horrified of what she said and demanded her why she thought that way and Sakura said...just because."

"Just because?" Otaru asked.

"Just like that," Sayuri shrugged her shoulders. "Such a simple answer for letting somebody do violence to somebody. What made me realize that this person is no longer my daughter is when I saw how Mizuki suffered when Kasumi died. She was a mother like me and she was suffering in pain. Her daughter was a good girl and she doesn't deserve to have daughter taken away."

"Sayuri-san," Otaru wanted to ask her to stop because it was too much to bear.

"I couldn't let a mother suffer like that," she pressed on. "And my daughter will make other mothers suffer again because she was an evil spoiled brat. I know she was no longer the daughter I loved. Sakura is just not Sakura. She's the embodiment of evil. And when Akira-kun said that the website does exist, I looked for it and met with Enma Ai."

Otaru felt his chest hurt but he managed to listen to every word.

She went on, not minding his condition, "I didn't have doubts as I pulled the string. I did it in front of her and told her that I love her and that this for the best. I also said that someday I would come back for her there in Hell just to see how she's holding up. You know, Otaru-kun, I regretted what I did to my daughter but she had it coming. She made the wrong choice. She was an accomplice to a brutal crime and she sadistically participated in it. As her mother I have to be the responsible adult so I have to make sure she realized she is wrong and that she has to learn a lesson."

Otaru nodded again. "It must have been hard."

"Kids today take their mothers for granted," Sayuri smiled sadly. "They just don't realize how ruthless we can be when it comes to our children. Better for us to be the one to punish them than let others condemn them."

Otaru opened his mouth to say something but felt lost of words. Sayuri laughed again but there was no humor to it. "You have to understand, a girl whose idea of fun and joking around is to watch her friend get raped is not something my daughter will do. So I sent that bitch inside my daughter's body to hell. I know Sakura is no longer there and that she is dead."

She stood up and offered a hand to help Otaru up.

"I told you it was a sad story," she remarked then she glanced at her watch.

"I think Akira-kun and the others will be arriving anytime now. Now, would you be a dear and help me with these cupcakes I made for us?"

XXXXXXXXX

"Misa doesn't understand!" Misa whined over and over again.

"I told you he had errands to attend to!" Matsuda explained over and over again.

"Raito would not leave Misa like that!" Misa pouted.

Matsuda sought out some assistance from Mogi and Aizawa who just shook their heads.

"I don't think that is impossible." Raito replied languidly when he appeared from the door. He was so absorbed about a lot of things for the past few days.

"Raito!" Misa immediately jumped at him. "Did you miss Misa?"

Raito thought for a long moment about that. And he took his time pondering about it too.

"Raito-kun," Matsuda said. "You have a message from N."

Raito eyed the monitor on his left. The letter that is beginning to haunt him popped out. A voice spoke.

"L, I think you should see this."

XXXXXXXXX

Akira Yamanagi delivered the news solemnly. There were ten of them now gathered in the room. The circle is expanding and pulling in more pledges and Akira was pleased that they were all willing especially Otaru. But the meeting was now about Shinobu Takamoto, one of the first pledges of the circle who died a week ago. The details of his death were shady and Akira knew there must be something more to it. As he took another bite from Sayuri's cupcake, he tried forming theories that can fit it. He can't find anything useful at the moment.

Otaru, on the other hand, was quiet. He hasn't spoken to anyone in the room, not even when Midori tried to engage him into a conversation. Sayuri was in the corner, eyeing the cupcakes she made by every crumb and not really listening. Ranmaru was talking to the others about Takamoto.

"What kind of theory is that?" Ranmaru responded to Subaki Hanagaza.

Subaki Hanagaza who works for a pharmaceutical company and Mizuki's attending doctor the night she died, looked at Ranmaru for a moment before he laughed loud and tossed his necktie on the table in front of them.

"It does make perfect sense," Subaki countered on. "Isn't it suspicious that Takamoto died like that, three nights after sealing his deal with the Hell Girl?"

"They couldn't possibly know that there is an organization of advocates like us?" sixteen-year-old Ayaki Tomomi joined in. "I mean they couldn't have known that the tattoo has something to do with a website that sends people to hell."

"Yeah, I know." Subaki answered. "But I have a friend in the police department and he said that when they found Takamoto's corpse the tattoo on his chest caught the attention of a certain detective. Now they think it's Kira's signature."

"My," Sayuri finally said something. "They think that Kira killed him?"

"We all know his activities," Makoto Takano, a plumber and a young father remarked. "Shinobu is no saint. When I heard about what he does to those girls, I was immediately repulsed and I know he deserved what happened to him."

"It was horrible!" Midori agreed. "I mean, okay, he is part of the circle but I know that guy is serious trouble. He might be a victim in his own way but he is a criminal by heart."

"Aren't we all criminals?" Tenchi Shinoda called out from the corner where he sat, looking at the cracks in the wall.

"We are not talking about you again," Makoto waved his hands in the air. "Especially in the time of crisis like this."

"But think about it!" Tenchi pushed on but Makoto ignored him.

"Why would the police think Kira did it?" Ranmaru asked softly, almost to himself.

Ayaki smiled and replied. "Kira is popping out criminals. That's what he is known for. Kira is just one of those guys."

"I know Kira will kill again." Tenchi began pacing around the room.

"It won't happen again." Shiori Nanase laughed. "I mean, come on, what are the odds that Kira would kill another one of us?"

"I'm a convicted felon for manslaughter." Tenchi answered her. "Doesn't that give you proof enough?"

"So you think he will come after you?" Shiori laughed again. "Man, you can't be serious. Shinobu is a creep and maybe even before Kira has his name on his list, I don't know."

"So you think this is a coincidence?" Tenchi remarked. Shiori waved him off.

"Seriously, let us not make a big deal out of this," Subaki shook his head irritatingly.

"But why give the credit to Kira?" Makoto added. "Including the tattoo? Don't we want them to learn that we exist?"

"We don't exist to be popular, Takano," Subaki countered on. "We are grieving for our loss. We don't campaign anything."

"Subaki is right."

They all turned to Akira.

"Let us see this as a blessing," Akira reminded them with a tight fatherly smile. "Let us comfort ourselves with the fact that the police are following the wrong scent. We can't have them snooping around. We have lives to attend to."

He walked to the nearest window and pondered on it. "We have lives, whatever is left to it at least."

Nobody spoke except Otaru who stood up to meet Akira's unwavering gaze.

"I will find more of us," he said firmly. "There are more of us out there who paid the vengeance and we must get them in the circle."

"Otaru-kun, you can be so blissfully passionate," Midori beamed at him.

Sayuri gave a puzzling smile behind Midori and took a bite from the cupcake.

Akira put a hand on Otaru's shoulder. "Yes, my boy, I know you would."

XXXXXXXXX

Rem sat in one of the steep boulders among the vast of mountains. She couldn't remember the last time she was here. It was one of the rarest kind gestures that Ryuk did for her. He must have sensed that she needed this chance more than he did. Rem sat there, waiting for a way to grab her chance. She has plenty of time after her physical death. Shinigamis don't die permanently after all. But they do get placed in another world.

"Excuse me?"

Rem didn't turn around.

"I was looking for a friend and they pointed me at this direction. Clearly you are not the one I wanted to see."

"Are you the Hell Girl?"

Rem finally turned to take a closer look at her. She was surprisingly young. Well, that's what you get for living in the lull: immortality and youth mixed with a bitter restitution. She was young but a Shinigami can look through the façade and Rem could see that the girl was centuries old and tired.

"You must know Ryuk-san then." The girl implored. She wore a dark kimono with cherry blossoms embroided in the hem.

"I want to talk to you," Rem began. "I hope you didn't mind that I asked for Ryuk to change schedule."

"It was short notice but I can adapt easy to changes," she walked to Rem and looked at her in the eye.

"Sit down, Ai-san," Rem said gently. The girl obeyed.

"Are you aware of what is going on in your territory?" Rem decided to ask without wasting time.

"Yes," Enma Ai answered. "I see a lot of death marches during this time."

"You mean, during this year."

Rem could see a little frown on the girl's face when she nodded.

"It was Ryuk who started it," Rem smiled this time. "If he wasn't so bored then nothing could have been imbalanced now."

"Nothing is imbalance," Enma Ai replied. "Death Notes are necessities."

"I know you don't have a problem with shinigamis using death notes," Rem responded. "It has been going around in ages even right before you started your service. But it has to piss you off somehow."

Enma Ai looked at her languidly with those blood red eyes. "You think that I am provoked that a human is using the death note?"

Rem did not say anything.

"Death marches upset you." Rem implied. "I can see that, Ai-san."

"Do you know that we all have a price to pay?" Enma Ai countered.

"I agree." Rem looked off. "When a Shinigami dies, it goes nowhere but back here in the lull."

Enma Ai smoothen the cloth of her kimono and stared down at her lap as she went on. "A human is using the death note for self-interest. There is no law against that. But as soon as he dies, he stays in the lull."

She looked up at Rem and asked. "Does that circumstance sound familiar to you?"

Rem shook her head slowly.

"My point is that I used a death note in a way," Enma Ai explained. "I did not get it from any Shinigami. But I used a death note to burn a village years ago. I paid an expensive retribution and for that I was damned."

"And this is your punishment." Rem nodded to see that she was following the conversation well. "I supposed it wouldn't be much a problem but since a customer of yours who will go to hell when he dies...died soon in the hands of the human using a death note…"

"And then the world became smaller," Enma Ai smiled weakly and looked down at her hands. "It is a coincidence no matter how you look at it."

Enma Ai looked up at the gray sky and sighed. "It's irresistible, the offer of revenge. The human using the death note might have not denied that it was irresistible. The offer is always appealing. Revenge or death note, something is to be paid."

"So with you and Kira?"

"We have different roles," Enma Ai replied. "We represent different realities. And what happened with Shinobu Takamoto-san is a coincidence."

"Yeah, I guess it will only happen once." Rem agreed.

"But it won't."

The whole place stood still. Rem gave Enma Ai a questioning glance.

"What do you mean?"

"Have you heard about the circle?"

"Huh?"

Enma Ai shook her head. "Never mind."

She was about to stand up when Rem asked suddenly, "What do you mean that it will not happen once? Do you mean to say Kira would kill one of your clients again? I thought your clients are victims of crimes not criminals?"

"I don't choose a customer, they choose me." Enma Ai was about to walk away but Rem followed behind her.

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"I will take the soul of the one who paid the cost and perish him or her to hell," Enma Ai responded. "I really do not have a problem with Yagami-kun. But the death marches are getting frequent. And you are right when you said I was uncomfortable about it."

"So that's just it?" Rem was perplexed.

Enma Ai stopped from walking and faced her. Her blood red eyes were steady and her lips forming in a small smile.

"He would have to pay a price in the future," she whispered. "And I have a good feeling he will be pleased to live in the lull with me."

Rem found that statement weird. Before she could open her mouth, Enma Ai added coldly, "After all, he had paid for that particular ending."

"What?"

Enma Ai said no more as she disappeared in the green smog.