Author's Note: Near turns 18 partway through the chapter. Just as a heads up, I'm going to be really busy the rest of the year and I don't think I'll be able to get more than one or two chapters out in that time. That being said, this chapter is several thousand words longer than even the longest of past chapters, so hopefully this makes up for it. Until next time. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * * August 9 * * *

It was the morning following Bambi's outburst. Once she woke up and joined the investigators downstairs, she was informed that the argument that Matt had told her about had ultimately led to L's decision to no longer keep Light chained to him - though, like Misa, he was still not allowed to leave the building without any supervision.

Amy was currently sitting at a table with the rest of the Wammy Teams in the investigation room. Despite his newly-freed status, Light mostly kept around L and the Japanese detectives. Mello had made it very clear that he disliked the brunet, and Near wasn't exactly being hospitable either, so the former Kira suspect was keeping his distance from them.

Partway through the successors' work, L walked up to the table to see how they were progressing. Around the same time, Misa jovially entered the room and stopped next to the Wammy geniuses.

"Hey, Bambi! Guess what? I have the day off," she announced with a grin. "We should hang out and do something fun."

The brunette flashed her an apologetic smile. "I would if I could, but I'm working right now. Maybe later?"

The blonde pouted. "Aww, come on. Please?"

"Sorry, but-"

L interrupted Bambi to admit, "Actually, that sounds like a good idea. Perhaps your mother was onto something with the idea of relaxing to improve brain function."

Amelia's eyes went wide. L - Mister all work and no play - was suggesting to pause the investigation for leisure time? If she was indeed hearing him correctly, he must have been incredibly desperate.

Misa's eyes lit up in excitement. "You mean you guys are actually going to take a break?"

The great detective nodded as he put a thumb to his lips. "Yes, that is what I'm suggesting. Watari and I commissioned this building with the intent of selling it as a hotel after our use for it was over, so there is a pool being maintained on the eleventh floor. I will have Watari purchase swimwear for anyone who needs it."

The model bounced up and down. "Oh, can I invite my friends now? You know I've been asking you to let me have them over."

He pursed his lips for a moment. "I don't see the harm in it."

"Yay~!"

Misa raced off as the great detective silently shuffled away from the table. L's four potential successors exchanged glances in a silent discussion of the strange conversation that had just taken place. Mello raised an eyebrow as he looked over to Matt. The redhead shrugged his shoulders before turning to Bambi with a raised eyebrow, passing the unspoken question onto her. With the eyes of both older men on her, she raised her hands in mock defense as if to say that she didn't want the responsibility of deciding how to handle the situation.

The three geniuses then turned to the youngest of the group. Near sat there, twirling his hair for a few moments as he frowned before refocusing his attention on the paperwork. The computer geeks turned to Mello in unison, watching as the blond furrowed his eyebrows.

He dropped his hands to the table with a heavy thud as he stood. "Well, I'll meet you guys downstairs."

With the decision made, they dispersed.

Some time had passed before Misa's friends arrived for what she was calling a pool party. Bambi had changed into the same bathing suit that she wore in the hot tub in Los Angeles eight months ago and the hacker was currently in the elevator as she made her way to the eleventh floor. The doors opened to reveal a large pool with many reclining beach chairs lining the perimeter. Misa and her friends - who were all clearly from her modeling agency - were scattered all around on the chairs and in the water as they conversed and splashed one another.

Off in the deep end of the pool the brunette could see Matt and Mello roughhousing between their apparent diving competitions. She couldn't help but grin at the sight. Given their boyish games, she had almost forgotten what geniuses they were - both men appearing as normal teenagers.

As the teen looked off to the side, she noticed a decently-sized hot tub where Light and L were relaxing and talking. She wondered if L would really be able to stick to the idea of not thinking about the case while sitting there.

A quick look around showed her that none of the Japanese detectives were present. Unsurprisingly, Watari was also absent from the area. Similarly, Near was nowhere to be found. Knowing her partner, Bambi deduced that he probably refused to take part in the activities and was staying in his room to think.

Amy carefully began to walk around the pool toward Matt and Mello, but Misa waved her down and called out, "Hey, Bambi! Come here so you can meet my friends!"

The brunette halted her steps, glancing to the boys at the back for a moment before stepping into the pool and wading over to Misa.

"This is my newest friend, Bambi," she introduced before giving the genius the names of the three young women standing around them.

Given Misa's enthusiasm, they seemed to accept Bambi into their group with relative ease. The women spent some time floating around as the models talked about their upcoming photoshoot, some inviting the brunette to come along. After a while, the constant splashes at the deep end started attracting attention from some of the models around the pool. Amelia looked up to notice Matt and Mello showing off in their diving competition. She couldn't help the corners of her lips from curving into a smile as she watched on.

Misa shot her a sly grin as she teased, "It's one of them isn't it?"

Bambi stuck her tongue out playfully as she folded her arms. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Still, she couldn't help the slight blush that rose to her cheeks, contradicting her statement. Misa folded her arms as she stared the genius down with a knowing smirk. The girls around them didn't appear to notice as the blonde dropped the topic and continued her earlier conversations with ease. After a few more minutes of listening, Amy decided to get away from the mindless chatter. She got out of the pool and made her way to the hot tub.

The hacker greeted L and Light as she stepped into the soothing warmth of the water, noting that they were not discussing the case for once. The men returned her greetings, Light with a warm smile and L with a more lethargic one. Still, L seemed happier than he had been lately - or at least more relaxed.

"I have to admit," he began, "while I had doubts about the success rate of this relaxation method, so far it has noticeably allowed me to think more clearly. Not only that, but my body feels more relaxed. I didn't realize how tense I had gotten."

Bambi smiled warmly at him. "It's good to have you back to yourself, Ryuzaki."

The trio sat there in an amicable silence as Amelia felt the warmth of the water jets massaging her back. She found herself closing her eyes to let herself fall deeper into her state of relaxation as she listened to the sounds of the guests playing in the pool. At some point into the teen's near-meditative state, she heard someone disturb the water of the hot tub. She peeked an eye open to see L standing, a wide grin plastered on his face.

"That's it!" he cried out. "We spent so much time focusing on criminal deaths that we completely overlooked non-criminal heart attack deaths. The key to finding Kira must lie in those. Bambi, I need you to run your program without the criminal filter."

With this exciting new lead, the young woman was quick to follow L and Light out of the hot tub. After separating to change, the three of them met on the investigative floor to carry out the new plan. A few moments passed as the hacker opened her program and edited out the lines of code that created the original filter, replacing them with a more useful one.

They waited a few minutes as Bambi ran the program again and it poured out the relevant data. As expected, there were many innocent people who died in their old age of heart attacks - likely natural ones. However, the next cluster of younger deaths left Robin Hood standing there with her eyes wide open.

She covered her mouth as she fell into her chair, mumbling a breathless, "Holy shit."

Light raised an eyebrow as L asked, "Care to share your discovery, Bambi?"

The brunette shook off her stupor to explain, "Those three men are Yotsuba executives. They were all appointed after I outed the corrupt ones."

Her former classmate pursed his lips for a moment as he glanced to the side. "This could mean that Kira works for Yotsuba and is trying to get higher up in the company."

She nodded. "It would make sense. A few of these other deaths were CEOs of Yotsuba's competitors."

"We can't know for sure if Kira is in Yotsuba unless their stocks rise, though this appears to be a promising lead," L added.

"What's a promising lead?"

Bambi turned to face the elevator where the new voice came from and was greeted with the sight of Matt and Mello standing there, still in their damp swim trunks as they approached the group. L explained the situation to the pair as they stopped by the screens.

A few moments passed as Miles pursed his lips before turning to Amelia. "Didn't your friend have a program that could predict stock changes based off external influences?"

She grinned. "That's it!"

Without another word the teen hurried off to her room to call Kato. Once in the privacy of her living quarters, the brunette took out her phone and dialed her old friend's cell number. She listened to the rings for a few moments before he answered.

"This is Kato Nakamura speaking. Who is calling?"

"It's me."

She heard him quietly gasp before whispering, "Amelia? Why are you calling me?"

"I have a favor to ask of you," she explained. "We found a new lead, but we can only be sure if their stocks rise. Since we would have to wait until October otherwise, I wanted to know if you would send me your program."

"Of course. Anything to help you take him down." There was a pause before he added, "I'm sending you the files now. Good luck."

"Thanks. We should be one step closer now."

With that said, they bid their farewells and hung up.

After putting away her phone, Bambi made her way to her computer and downloaded the program. Following Kato's instructions, she input the externalities into the analyzer and waited for it to compute the predictions. Thanks to the superior power of her desktop, the wait was short. A small window popped up with the results of the analysis - Yotsuba stocks were set to skyrocket. Without wasting another moment, she rushed downstairs to share the news.

By the time the young woman made it back to the investigation floor, Matt and Mello were dried and dressed. Near and a few of the Japanese detectives had also joined the team in her absence, though some of them were stuck monitoring the security cameras as Misa's friends departed from the building. Those who were not busy gathered around as the hacker explained the verdict.

When she finished speaking, L grinned and put a thumb to his lip. "We should acquire Yotsuba's digital files and search them for incriminating information so we can start looking for Kira."

There was a resounding murmur of agreement amongst the group, though Bambi and Matt knew better.

The redhead frowned as he chimed in. "Their security system is much more advanced than it was a few years ago, especially after being targeted by Robin Hood. There's no way I could ever hack into them, and as incredibly skilled as she is, not even Bambi could do it from the outside anymore."

L's smile disappeared as he turned to the brunette for confirmation.

She nodded her head and explained, "They're not dumb, and their security system is far too protected against outside attacks. Even when I tried to check on them last year, I couldn't get in."

There was a silence before Near suggested, "We should have Bambi work on the inside to give her access to their computers. It worked well for our last case."

L pursed his lips as he nodded.

Light chimed in with a slight venom in his voice. "She's a good enough actress to get away with it."

Bambi tightened her lips into a thin line as she looked away.

"There's probably going to be physical evidence too," Mello pointed out.

"Then we should have you search for that while Bambi works on the digital evidence," L decided. "We just need to find open positions that would suit our needs."

After watching Light turn to walk away, the hacker followed Mello and L to the computers and searched online for available jobs at the nearby Yotsuba office building. After some time researching, they found that a new secretary position had just been posted the other day and was now accepting applications. There were also several openings for nightshift janitors.

"You should apply at separate times to appear unrelated," L told the pair. "Though, we need a new alias for Bambi and to create paper trails for both of you."

"I have a contact who specializes in forging documents specifically for that," Mello admitted.

The head detective grinned. "I'll take you up on that offer."

With that decided, everyone dispersed to work on their new tasks - morale much higher than it had been yesterday. Still, Bambi couldn't help the forlorn look in her eye as she gazed off to Light. A pit of guilt swelled in her stomach as she thought to his comment earlier. After a few moments of self-pity regarding her soured friendship with the former Kira suspect, she narrowed her eyes in a fierce determination and stalked over to him.

She grabbed Light's arm before telling him with a stern tone, "Hey, we need to talk."

Before he could argue, she pulled him away from the investigation and into the stairwell.

Light frowned as he folded his arms. "It was pointless to move if you don't want eavesdroppers. There are surveillance equipment everywhere but your rooms."

Idiot. The hacker resisted slamming her hand to her head as she pouted and her face flushed red. "Yeah, but at least this way they need to make more of an effort to do it."

The Japanese teen couldn't help but smile softly, though he immediately stopped himself and frowned. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Don't play dumb. You know, you were a pretty good actor at To-Oh too," she commented with a huff. "Look, I thought we already went over this when I got here two weeks ago. We both lied to each other, but it was for the sake of the case."

The brunet furrowed his eyebrows. "That's true, but I didn't start to put the pieces together until after we had known each other for a while, so I actually believed that our friendship was genuine. Even when I first suspected you, I still held onto the idea that I might be wrong about my theory until you proved me right. I know that you were working for the sake of catching Kira, but knowing that it was all a lie hurts. Everything I thought I knew about you - all those little tidbits you shared - how much of those were lies to keep me talking? Right now, you're a stranger to me."

Amelia's eyes widened before her expression softened and the corners of her lips dipped into a frown. Now she understood, and she felt foolish for not realizing it sooner. Her mind turned back to how her time as Robin Hood had affected her friendships with Kato and Melinda, and she sighed.

"It seems that I'm very good at ruining friendships," she mumbled before looking up at him. "I get it now, and I'm sorry for not taking it as seriously as I probably should have."

Light's expression mirrored hers as he slowly unfolded his arms and waited for her to continue.

"And yeah, Ryuzaki forced me into the situation to begin with, but it was my own choice - against the wishes of everyone else - to be your friend," she assured him. "Everything I told you was true." Bambi pointed a finger at a corner of the ceiling as she argued, "And they were all stupid little things that couldn't possibly be used to track me down, therefore I'm not breaching my contract in any way, so don't you dare try to hold that against me, Ryuzaki."

The former Kira suspect smiled as a short chuckle escaped his lips.

Amy looked back to him as she continued, "Anyway, my point is that the friendship was real, even if it was based off a few lies. I could have easily ignored you and kept an eye on you from afar like I was supposed to, but I really came to value your companionship and our discussions."

Light smiled before commenting, "I don't think I was really giving you a choice. I was a bit persistent at the beginning despite reading you as not wanting my company."

She laughed. "Yeah, you really were. To be totally honest, it made me really suspicious of you. Why were you so stubborn about it?"

"Stubbornness is definitely a trait of mine, though it isn't as strong as Ryuzaki's," he admitted.

The pair of geniuses shared a bout of laughter before Light continued. "It wasn't entirely clear in my mind at the time, but hindsight tells me that I was drawn to wanting to help and protect you after I discovered that article about you and Beyond."

Bambi smiled. "Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad it happened. You're a good friend. I know it probably won't be easy, but I would like to rebuild that friendship."

He returned the smile. "That is a goal I would also like to achieve."

* * * August 12 * * *

Mello's contact prepared their paperwork and backstories in record time. After having enough time to go over the information, L called Bambi and Mello to meet with him and discuss the plan in more detail. The three of them were sitting around a coffee table as the great detective handed them their respective alias files.

"Mello will be monitored by Matt as in your previous cases together, and Bambi will be monitored by Near for the same reasons," he explained as he turned to the young man. "You will be going by your same alias, Takeshi Moto. You had working class parents who passed away in a house fire recently, leaving you to fend for yourself. That's why you need this job."

The blond nodded as L turned to face the brunette. "Your alias for this mission is Lola Montez. To cover your working accent this time, you are a native of Mexico. Your mother passed away while giving birth to you, leaving your father to raise you. He met a Japanese woman while on a business trip when you were six years old. They eventually got married and decided to move to Japan. You were unable to get into university, so you decided to go straight into the work force. That's why you are applying for a secretary position at Yotsuba."

She frowned. "Why didn't I make it into university?"

"You don't look old enough to have graduated," L told her. "I needed an explanation for why you were so young and entering the work force. In addition to that, the excuse that you are uneducated makes you appear as less of a threat to the highly educated Yotsuba executives. You know how arrogant they tend to be."

Bambi slowly nodded and pursed her lips before adding, "Okay, but what about Mello's alias? Are you sure it's a good idea to have him go by that old one?"

"The only previous records under that alias are related to my burns and skin grafts," the blond explained. "The whole house fire part of my story covers that. My contact took care of creating the rest of the trail to make it seem as if I lived here my whole life."

"Okay." The brunette turned to her boss. "So, which one of us should apply first?"

"Physical evidence will take more effort and time to gather, so Mello will be applying tonight," he decided. "You will wait a few days."

With that set, the geniuses dispersed.

* * * August 17 * * *

It was mid-afternoon on that hot summer day. Light was sitting next to L around the rest of the Japanese detectives on the investigation floor of the task force headquarters. Mello was currently at his interview at Yotsuba, being guided by Matt in the corner of the room via headset.

Another death linked to Yotsuba had just come in, but the brunet found himself lost in thought. It's really a different person. The Kira before was isolated and the Kira now... If you cling to the fact that he is killing off convicts, it's the same, but the difference is clear. The Kira right now just kills off anyone who is broadcasted as being a killer. The previous Kira did not judge anyone who didn't have any intent to kill, anyone who accidentally killed people, or people who had special circumstances.

He scrolled through the recent list of Kira murders as he rested his head in his hand. For example, someone who accidentally hit another person with their car and killed them... The Kira before would not kill this person if he had not done something atrocious in the past. Not only that, if there was a reason to kill the person, if Kira himself determined that the person judged was at fault, he killed them. He did not kill arbitrarily.

Light furrowed his eyebrows as he dropped a finger to his lips. If I were Kira, I would use this sort of judgement. Compared to that, I can't sense any human feelings from the current Kira. He paused for a moment and narrowed his eyes. No, the Kira from before and the Kira now aren't different from mass murderers. For murderers, there is no good or evil, both of them are evil. I know that. However, the pattern of the previous Kira's killings are frighteningly close to my own way of thinking.

He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. What am I thinking? I am not Kira. However, Ryuzaki should be aware of the differences between the current Kira and the previous one. Why hasn't he said anything about it? Does he assume that I was the previous Kira and there is no need to say anything now?

The brunet pursed his lips as he tried to turn his mind from the subject, instead thinking to Bambi. Misa - and consequently, Matsuda - had taken her out to go shopping for outfits to wear for her interview and hopefully while working there.

The corners of his lips curved into a soft smile. I can imagine it now.

Bambi was probably having fun and joking around with Matsuda and Misa. Light reasoned that Bambi had likely not had any contact with other women outside of To-Oh for quite some time, and that was part of the reason for her friendship with the model.

A sigh escaped his lips as he looked to the side. The young man was well aware that despite everything that had happened between himself and Bambi, he still harbored feelings for her. Still, Light found his own knowledge of the brunette - his own behavior - disturbing.

The teen genius frowned again. Given everything I knew from the past, what Kai and Riku presented, and the fact that Bambi seems to be working for L under an apparent contract, she has to be the Robin Hood Hacker. There is no denying that - especially after what she was assigned to do for the Yotsuba mission. Still, I was sure of this before I knew she was L's agent... That and that other thing.

He held his arms as he looked down. That picture was clearly Bambi being carried by Mello. She was Beyond Birthday's final victim - she even admitted it... but, how did I really come across that article? It's in English from an obscure American newspaper. Why was I looking into that?

Light closed his eyes. Maybe I really was trying to practice my English while keeping up with world events... Though, that was hardly an international event until he tried to commit murder in Japan, and that was after I already read the article.

He pursed his lips as he withheld a sigh. Aside from that, I clearly remember seeing a comment saying that Beyond Birthday's only living victim was named Amy, but it was on a Kira supporter website. Even if I see Kira's point in doing what he does, his methods are immoral, and I would not actively seek out one of his websites.

The former Kira suspect paused and furrowed his eyebrows. Maybe I was just trying to figure out where I stand on the case, but my stance is clear now.

Still, a part of Light could not deny his sympathy for Kira. The young man heaved a sigh before trying to cast away his thoughts in favor of focusing on the case.

* * * August 29 * * *

Mello had started working at Yotsuba last week, and Bambi was called earlier that morning to be informed that she got the job. Given that it was the middle of the day and the blond was working nights, he and Matt were sleeping. The young woman was currently sitting with Near as they discussed how to go about their mission.

The young man handed his partner a clear earpiece as he explained, "This is the same kind of transceiver that you used in your hometown with Matt. There is a GPS tracker in it just in case something goes wrong and I lose contact with you. Just as a reminder, it only transmits sound to me when you press the button on the side, but you will be able to hear me through the receiver at all times."

He then handed her a necklace with what appeared to be a black jewel on display. "This is the same one you used on our last mission. Not much has been changed. It still records sound and video through the gem, but there is a new switch on the side so you can turn it off. This will make coordination much easier when you use the restroom as opposed to sending me away for a few minutes."

Bambi breathed a sigh of relief. Using the restroom was really awkward last time, even when she hid the camera under her shirt. Not to mention the other issues that came about from that. Since Near went away from the screens for a set period of time and she forgot to check the clock the first day, the young woman left alone with the suspects and nearly compromised the entire mission - a rookie mistake, but one that she was glad to do without.

Near twirled his hair as he reminded her, "When verbal responses are not possible, use the same gestures as last time - two taps means yes, playing with the necklace means no. If you need to convey something more complicated, type it when no one is looking and make sure to point the camera in the right direction. I will help you provide appropriate responses when needed and keep you up to date with important events here."

A few moments passed in a comfortable silence before he asked, "Do you remember when we first met?"

The hacker winced, the scene crystal clear in her memory banks. "Yeah, you couldn't stand the idea of working with me since I was a criminal, and you said some hurtful things to express just how much you hated me."

He nodded. "I never expected it in that moment, but you have proved my assumptions wrong. You are a hard worker and you are good at what you do. I find myself looking forward to missions like this given how well we work together." A soft smile graced his lips. "I am happy that I got the chance to know you and work with you."

She grinned. "Thanks. You're pretty cool too."

* * * September 4 * * *

It was the morning of Bambi's first day working at Yotsuba, and she was standing in the front lobby as she waited for her new coworker to come and escort her to the correct office. Mello started working there a while ago, but he had only managed to bug a few offices and meeting rooms near the bottom of the building, planning to slowly work his way up.

The agent was dressed in a formal women's suit, complete with fancy shoes and a nice jacket. Another few minutes passed before a woman approached the brunette. She was grinning as she made a beeline for the teen. The woman's appearance made Amy think that she was in her mid-twenties. She had dark brown hair pulled up into a bun, though she let the shorter ends frame her face. The hacker noted that their outfits were remarkably similar - not surprising given the strict dress code they both had to adhere to.

The newcomer stopped before Bambi with a smile. "You're the new secretary, right? I'm Sora Fukuda, your new coworker, but you can just call me Sora. I'm looking forward to working with you."

Amelia returned the smile and bowed her head. "It's nice to meet you, Sora. My name is Lola Montez, but you can call me Lola if you wish."

Sora escorted the teen into the elevator and selected one of the floors in the middle of the building.

As they started moving upward, she commented, "It isn't often that I get a new coworker to train, let alone someone who's actually younger than me. I started working here when I was about your age."

The doors opened and Bambi followed behind her coworker as she showed the teen to the office she would be working in. Inside the room were two desks facing each other on either side of the room, leaving a walkway between them and to the door of the executive they were both working for. Sora walked the hacker over to the desk that was labelled with her alias and turned on her work computer.

The older woman quickly wheeled her chair next to Amy before explaining, "Our main job is filing and organization of the company documents and finances in this division. By the way, all executives have two secretaries, a senior one and a newer one. The senior secretary focuses more on taking calls and organizing their executive's schedules and meetings and all that fun stuff. Once you've worked here for a few months, I'll start teaching you the more advanced things and we can split that work. It's especially helpful during the holidays since those always get super busy."

After her quick introduction, Sora showed Bambi the ropes, explaining how to use the organizational programs, how to access her company email, how to use Microsoft Excel, and everything else she needed to do.

When the teaching session was over, the elder secretary couldn't help but laugh. "Wow, you're a natural at this. I don't think you'll have any problems, but if you have any questions or need any help, don't be afraid to ask."

Bambi thanked her for her help before she wheeled back over to her desk across the room and returned to her own work. With no one breathing down the hacker's neck anymore, she went straight to her mission. Over the past month, Amy and Miles had developed a new crawler spyware to implant in Yotsuba's internal systems and let it steal files for exactly three months. She had to make sure that it would be returning to her office computer on a day and time when she would be working. After a quick check of the calendar, the teen learned that it would be on a Monday if she sent it now. Satisfied with that, Robin Hood discreetly downloaded the crawler from her flashdrive to her computer and uploaded it to the system mainframe.

With that task complete, Amelia turned her focus to doing the jobs that Sora had just explained to her. However annoying it was, the agent had to make sure to actually do her job so that she would still be here when the crawler returned. At some point into her near-mindless work, the door to the office opened, revealing a tall man with a long face and jagged black hair pushed back behind his head.

Sora immediately sat up straight. "Good morning, Mr. Higuchi."

"Good morning, Sora. How are my girls doing?" he asked as he glanced to Bambi.

The older woman forced a smile at the man. "Everything is going smoothly - Lola's a natural."

The corners of his lips extended into a Cheshire-like smile before he turned and approached the teen. Higuchi leaned against the side of her desk, moving his jacket out of the way to expose himself more. She couldn't help but shudder - his grin reminded her too much of Beyond's, and it left her with an uneasy pit in her stomach.

His eyes trailed up and down Bambi's body before he commented, "No one told me that my new secretary would be such a young beauty. How old are you, anyway?"

Near buzzed in through her earpiece. "You're twenty."

She forced a grin and swallowed a gulp before muttering, "I-I'm twenty, sir."

Although Bambi had not thought it possible, his grin grew even wider. "Really? Well, Lola, I would like to get to know you better."

He remained where he leaned, eyes taking in every detail of her appearance, pausing at some very inappropriate places. Disgust welled up inside the teen as she struggled to keep it hidden. Her mind was screaming for her to get as far away as possible from this predatory man.

Near tried to help to the best of his abilities. "Bambi, take a deep breath and stay calm. We can't afford to get anyone fired yet in case they have ties to the Yotsuba Kira. Just ignore him for now and we'll report it when you quit."

She tapped twice in view of the camera to indicate her acknowledgement of his attempts to calm her. Before Higuchi could do anything more, Sora came to Amy's rescue.

"Mr. Higuchi, you have a call waiting from your supervisor."

He mumbled a curse under his breath as he narrowed his eyes before disappearing into his office behind the door. With her boss finally gone, Bambi released her pent up disgust, shuddering as her expression twisted in horror.

Her coworker frowned. "Sorry about that. He's always like that - it's awful."

The teen mirrored her expression and furrowed her eyebrows. "Then why is he still here? I thought that whatever corruption that existed here was wiped out with that scandal a few years ago."

Sora sighed. "It's kind of a long story." She glanced to Higuchi's door before adding, "That call will probably take him a while, so I'll just tell you now - by the way, all executive offices are sound proof. Anyway, when I started working here, he was mainly harassing his old secretary. She reported it after a while and was fired shortly after. Apparently the report never went into the system, though."

Bambi nodded as she mentally noted that it had to have been around the same time when she was targeting Yotsuba as Robin Hood - during the peak years of the company's corruption. Still, it bothered her that she was unable to snuff it out entirely.

"Another secretary got hired and he started targeting both of us," Sora explained. "I kept with the job because I needed the money and the last secretary was still having trouble finding a job, so I didn't want to risk it. He cycled through a few more secretaries, but they never lasted more than a year."

She sighed. "He has been getting bolder in the past few months. The last secretary - your predecessor - tried to report him. It didn't go through, but she started acting really weird after that. She started giving into his advances for a few weeks before dying in a freak accident."

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, her voice shaky as she continued. "I think it was the stress that did her in, but she was so young. I swear that I will not let it get to me. I will not cave into his crap."

Bambi pursed her lips and nodded to herself as she refocused her attention on Higuchi's door. It sounds like he could be in league with Kira given the sudden strange actions of the last secretary, but what concerns me is that she didn't die of a heart attack. It's the only thing that doesn't fit.

* * * September 19 * * *

Bambi had been working at Yotsuba for a few weeks now, and it has taken up most of her time. Thanks to that, she has only really been able to talk to Near, Light, and L consistently. Since the Wammy Teams had opposing work schedules, there was only a few hour window each day between their shifts when all four of them were awake and at headquarters.

Even though the brunette hasn't had much of a social life with anyone on the task force lately, she has still been able to learn a lot about the people she works with. Higuchi was as disgusting with his advances as he was on her first day, though the teen quickly learned that he was incredibly skilled when it comes to making decisions to better the company. It was no wonder that he was so highly ranked.

She also learned a great deal about her coworker, Sora. As it turns out, she was a dreamer and quite the romantic. She warmed up to Bambi very quickly, eventually admitting that she has tried to get higher up in the company for the sake of the pay, but it seemed as if her applications never went through. Given that she puts up with Higuchi's advances without reporting it, the agent reasoned that it was his doing.

Ultimately, Bambi decided that she probably wasn't Kira.

The other thing she learned about Sora is that the older woman was probably one of the biggest gossips she had ever met - perfect for getting information that could help the investigation. Bambi had even made it a habit to start going out to lunch every day with her just for that sake.

Once again, they were both out to eat at what had become their usual café only a short walk from the Yotsuba building. After ordering their meals, the women continued their conversation - which mostly comprised of Amelia listening to Sora's gossip.

"...and the nerve of Mitsuki to say that just because I don't want kids," she ranted. "What a bitch."

Bambi briefly acknowledged her coworker's woes before taking a sip of her drink.

The older woman pursed her lips before asking, "Hey, Lola, what are your ambitions? Like, do you actually want to stay with Yotsuba?"

The hacker shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I figured I would work in this position for a while before deciding."

Sora nodded her head pensively as the food came out. The two secretaries started eating as the elder one recounted the most recent gossip that she had been hearing. For the most part, they were your standard rumors: an affair amongst coworkers on the tenth floor, a woman bribing an executive with sex for higher pay, a budding relationship between a secretary and a janitor, and an executive who's bowel problems led to a quarantined men's restroom - all worded with significantly more vulgarity as she described the situations to the teen.

As Sora finished up her meal, she added, "And I heard that there's this super-secret meeting that happens every Friday in one of the upper conference rooms during some really freaking weird hours. I kept asking around, but nobody knows anything else or who even goes to the meetings. It's like there's some crazy conspiracy shit going on."

It seemed as though there were two rumors worth investigating - the bribery and the secret meetings. Bambi grinned as she silently thanked whatever luck brought her into working with someone who loves gossiping so much. After finishing their lunches, the two of them headed back to work. Amelia found herself analyzing the rumors as she walked.

As soon as Bambi made it back to headquarters, she went straight to the investigation room to debrief L on any new observations she made during her shift. The great detective was off to the side with Near and Light when the young woman entered the room, smiling as he beckoned her to come closer.

"Near informed us that you have new possible leads," he commented.

The brunette nodded. "Yeah, there's a woman bribing her bosses for better pay, and mysterious weekly meetings that no one knows anything about. I think it would be worth looking into both."

L pursed his lips as he thought for a few moments. "It would be best to send Mello to investigate the meetings. I'll tell him to focus on bugging the conference rooms in the upper floors. You should still keep an eye out for more evidence related to either case, but you will probably be most successful in finding out who that woman is. Now, onto Miss Fukuda..."

"She probably isn't Kira," Bambi told him. "Her personality is nothing like our profile of him. Besides, if she were Kira she would just kill Higuchi to get away for his sexual harassment and to move up in the company."

"She could just be acting," Light pointed out. "We know that Kira can control people before killing them. She could be controlling him to get sympathy from others and to keep suspicions off herself."

The hacker frowned. "Her records say that she's worked there for the past few years, and according to what she told me, Higuchi has been like this the whole time. I seriously doubt that she's Kira. From what it sounds like, she doesn't give a damn about the company and is only there so she can save up money for something big."

The brunet accepted her reasons with a nod, and Bambi turned to L.

"You should still be cautious around her, but she is not as high on the suspect list anymore," the great detective decided.

With nothing else to discuss, the young woman headed upstairs to her room so she could change and take a shower. Not long after she was done, the teen heard a knock at her door. Amelia walked over and opened it, revealing Matt standing there. A grin rose to her lips as she let him in.

"We never really get to talk anymore," he explained. "Since Mello's shift won't start for another few hours, I just wanted to hang out for a bit - if that's okay with you."

A light blush dusted her cheeks.

The brunette forced a cough as she tried to cool her cheeks. "O-Of course. I would really like that."

"So, how has working at Yotsuba been?"

"Well, the work itself is boring," Amy admitted with a snort. "My boss, Higuchi, is super creepy, but the other secretary I work with, Sora, is hilarious when no one else is around. I bet that you'd like her too."

A lopsided grin took shape on his lips as he raised an eyebrow. "Is she the one who downed a bottle of hot sauce because you dared her to do it?"

"Yeah, that's her."

"Okay, I probably would find her entertaining," he admitted with a bout of laughter. "Anyway, would you want to play some games before I have to start working? I've got Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Call of Duty - or we could download something too."

The corners of her lips extended into a grin. "Sure! Sounds fun."

With the agreement made, Miles dragged her off to his room where all his games were stationed. The computer geeks took up beanbag chairs and sat next to each other in front of his large flat screen TV. A few hours were spent as they tag teamed against computers in various fighting and racing games, and Bambi had the time of her life. Truthfully, she didn't care what games they were playing - she grateful not only for the distraction from the case, but also for the excuse to spend time with him. Even after not seeing him for several long weeks, butterflies still filled her stomach each time she spoke with him.