Chapter Text
The walls are softly coloured, a pastel blue, which is supposed to calm the mind. The couch is soft and plump, a maroon brown; it seems to match effortlessly with the rest of the room. There's a soft throw blanket next to him; it's stripy, pastel blue, and yellow. He runs his fingers over the soft texture, focusing on how it feels like the stray cats that were outside of his old house.
"Can't you at least pretend to pay attention? I know this is a difficult time for you, but this can help you; you just need to try." She babbles on, her shrill voice grating on his ears. It's nonsensical, really. He's Light Yagami, his father's little genius, his mother's golden child, and his sister's amazing big brother. He doesn't need a shrink. Even if he did need one, Mackenzie wouldn't be much help. She's a foreigner, her American accent is clear when she speaks Japanese. She's rather ordinary; she has long blonde hair, placed into a nice tight bun, her eyes are blue and burn into him as she stares, probably waiting for a response to something she said. She's in a presentable suit; it makes her look more professional than she truly is. She's rather overdressed for a children's counsellor.
Light stares at her. He feels underwater. Everything's been too much recently. The only thing on his mind is the accident. It plays on repeat, like a film; he watches it in his head. He's seen it from every perspective that his mind has to offer. From third to first person, from his own eyes, his father's eyes, his mother's eyes, and his sister's eyes. All he can truly focus on is what happened. He can't move on. He doesn't want to move on. Even if the accident is all he can remember, it means that he will never forget them either. Doesn't want to forget the kind look his mother had that afternoon when he brought home his report card, showing 100% on all subjects. How his sister ran around, the hyper child she was, her laughter bubbly and carefree. doesn't want to forget how he was doing his math homework on the kitchen table, his mother was cooking katsudon for dinner that night. Sayu was playing with some of her toys at the table as well, certain things she did made him laugh and lose focus on the homework. It was a relaxed night. Soichiro was even home early that night; having finished up a hard case the night before, he had spent the entire day doing paperwork and finalising everything.
*Click, click, click*
The sharp noise startled Light. His eyes widen, and he looks up in surprise to see Mackenzie's fingers obscuring his vision. She had clicked her fingers right in his face. Her fingers are pale and slim; her red nail vanish was chipped, and there was obvious dirt underneath her long nails. She wore a wedding band; it was gold and shinny, yet a tight fit on her finger, making it look fatter than the rest. Her face was quite close to Light's as well. The beauty mark on her chin looks more like a mole. She smiled sickeningly sweet; her artificially white teeth had a red stain from her obnoxiously bright lipstick.
"I asked what you did in school today, Light. It's impolite to ignore people." Her voice was nasally and snobbish, as if she were so much better than Light. She stared at him expectantly. Her question showed her interest, but her eyes revealed that it was fake; she looked disgusted to even be near Light. He knew that she was only in the country because of her husband's occupation as a military soldier. The orphanage barely paid her, only well enough that she could claim that she was adding to the household income.
"We did multiplication; the other kids were struggling with their timetables. I wasn't." Light replied, he wasn't bragging, only stating a fact. His voice showed his disinterest in being here and in talking to this shrink. He's been forced to go to mandatory counselling by the orphanage for three months now. Mackenzie loses patience with each weekly session.
"That's great, but oh, look like our hour is up. I'll see you next week, Light." Her tone showed that she was happy that it was over. She pushed him harder than needed towards the door and slammed it shut after him. Light was used to this; she was not made to work with children, and each session she seemed at her wits end.
The counselling room is located at the very end of the staff rooms' corridor. The hallway is always cold, no matter the weather outside. The old building moans and creeks as he travels past each door. The walls are made of moulded wood, and its smell fills the air. Light is used to it by now; the entire building smells like this, leaving the smell to fade into the background. The lights flicker and buzz above him, seeming disturbed by his presence. He pushed open the heavy door that led to the main room. The sound of children playing and laughing exploded in the air, the silence from the corridor long forgotten.
The children look ordinary; their generic faces blend together. They seem to not have a care in the world; the fact that they're in an orphanage doesn't bother them. They play games, or with toys, or with each other. They offer to play with Light. Yet he denies, some of the older kids call him a spoilsport. They don't like him very much. Their jealous of him the teachers say. He doesn't care. He doesn't have time to play around. He needs to avenge his father, his mother, and his sister. He was kept alive to take revenge. He doesn't play around with the other kids; he studies. He gathers all kinds of knowledge - anything he can get his hands on. He's years ahead of the other children in his class; he doesn't have time to interact with them beyond basic politeness; they'd only slow him down. The teachers called him isolated, shy, lonely, and socially challenged at the beginning. Light took this as a challenge, he hates people doubting him; he's his father's perfect son, he can do anything. He proved to those teachers that he could make friends if he wanted to. He befriended the entire class; they all wanted to hang out with him. After that, he was forced to stay polite to them. But it was worth it. He now has followers. People who want him to acknowledge them. They aren't worth much now, but it's good to have options open.
"Light! Light!" one of the girls shouts over to him; he isn't quite sure her name, she's an average girl, she plays dolls and gossips with the other 7-year-old girls. They hadn't interacted much, but he knew she had a slight crush on him. "Can you help me with the math homework, please?" She draws out the word please, as if trying to be cuter in hopes that he would agree. She's holding the blue book to her chest, and she opens her eyes big, trying to imitate a puppies eyes. Light simply nods. She's a charismatic girl; she could come in handy if he would ever need her. She shows him the basic multiplication, the 4 times table. He helps her through it, making sure she understands the work; it would do no good if his pawns couldn't do such basic math. Oh, thank you, Light!" She squeals when we're finished.
By now it's dinner time, all the children line up by the wall, nobody dares to push, not wanting to be sent to the back of the queue. All the children are silent, wanting to be let into the dining room. Mrs. Niijiima allows us into the room one by one, slowly. Dinner today is nothing special - some miso soup. Everybody stares at it, waiting for permission to start eating.
"Before we start dinner today," Mrs. Niijiima begins her before-food speech. "I have an announcement." This was strange; the children whispered quietly to one another, trying to guess what it meant to their friends. "Tomorrow morning, instead of normal classes, you will come here and do an test. An important figure has asked that you take them, and doing well on them can open many paths for you in the near future." The whispers become louder, and the children complain about having to do a test with such short notice. Others are curious about who this figure is. "Now then, let dinner begin."