Roger called both Mellow and I to the main office. It must be important because he knows that Mellow and I don't get on and normally we wouldn't be in the same room as each other. Well, I don't mind but Mellow hates me. He sees me as a rival, someone he has to outsmart to become L. I was already sat on the floor playing with a new robot toy when Mellow came in. Roger was sat on the other side of the desk calmly.

"So what is this about?" Mellow asked Roger completely ignoring me.

"I called you both here because we have a new student."

"What has that got to do with me?" Mellow asked.

"It concerns you both because she is extremely clever and could very well be L's successor." I stopped playing with my robot and looked up at Roger. L's successor huh? I thought as I began to play with my hair.

"So your saying she will replace one of us?" Mellow shouted angrily.

"That has not been decided but you should meet her none the less but before you do there are some things I must explain..."

A few minuites later we were walking down the hall. Ever since Roger explained what this new girl was Mellow had completely shut up. I couldn't believe it myself either. This girl was the daughter of a nature God and had the tail and ears of a fox? Was that really even possible? Guess I will find out soon enough, I thought to myself. The girls room was very close to mine which made me wonder about her even more. I looked down at my robot. If something like her was true that would open up so many possibilities. It would change so many things. Roger stopped in front of the door and turned to look at both Mellow and I.

"This girl has been locked away in a cell 500 feet underground most of her life and has never talked to anyone her own age. So try to be nice." Then he opened the door. The room was dark and there were no lights on at all. The only light in the room was the light coming in through the window. I saw a girl sat with her feet up on the windowsill. She looked like she was drawing and then I saw her ears and the tail the dangled from her lower back. It was pure white as well as her ears. She looked up at us and I noticed the colour of her eyes. They were red, they were so unusual that I heard Mellow gasp just a little. She got up and leaving her drawing were it was walking over to us. She wore a pain white blouse with a red ribbon around her neck, black trouser and she was bare foot.

"Hello." She said gingerly with a little wave. That was when Mellow exploded.

"So you are the girl that is going to replace one of us huh? And it will most likely be me anyway." He shouted at her. She stood there calmly and when she spook it was soft and smooth almost like a lullaby.

"You must be Mellow and Near." She said looking at me. I stared at her not making a single moved. She sighed before continuing. "I understand how you feel and that is why I have declined the offer of becoming L's successor."

"WHAT? So you think you are too good for it now?"

"No I made that decision because it wouldn't be right for me to do that to you. You have both been here longer, know L better and more deserving of the job than I am." This calmed Mellow down a lot. There was something about the way she was talking and her voice that almost made it imposable to stay angry at her even for someone like Mellow. "And so I stepped down. However I asked Watari if I could still stay here because I didn't want to go back to that horrid cell that the government made of me in France."

"That all makes sense." I said speaking up for the first time. The girl looked at me and with her red eyes and it felt as though she was looking into my soul and pulling out all the information she could about me. I saw Mellow looking at me angrily but I simply ignored him and kept on looking at the girl.

"Is this really want you want Hope?" Asked Roger.

"Yes it is only right. I do want to become a detective however I will not take up the name of the greatest detective. Plus I have often thought about becoming an artist as my love of drawing is great. This way I am not offending either Near or Mellow and also keeping my options open for the future. Though I am honoured to even be considered for such a role." Roger nodded.

"What do I tell the other children?" He asked her.

"Tell them the truth. I hate lying and they deserve to know if we are living under the same roof." She said then she noticed the robot in my hand. She looked at it with curiosity, as if she never seen such an object.

"How old are you?" Asked Mellow rather calmly especially for him.

"12." She said like it was obvious.

"You don't seem 12." Said Mellow really quietly. If I was not standing next to him I wouldn't have heard it at all.

"I'm not sure if that is a compliment of not." She said. The fact that she had heard it shocked all three of us.

"You heard that?"

"I have two sets of ears, one of which is so powerful they can hear a small animal under layers of snow, I can hear many things. Like right now I hear the other children in the dinning hall getting dinner."

"Is it that time already?" Roger looked at his watch. "Yes it is. Time to go." He ushered Mellow and I out off the room before shutting the door and staying in to talk to the girl called Hope. That must be her alias, they wouldn't have let her tell anyone her real name but still this girl intrigued me. I found myself wanting to know more and I knew I wasn't the only one. The way Mellow had acted around her was completely different to how I have seen him act towards other new students. Mellow turned and began heading towards the dinning hall, leaving me standing outside Hope's door with only my robot for company.