L was hiding something.

Mello knew it.

Ever since he caught L awake that night, he knew L was hiding something. And he was determined to find out exactly what it was. The upside to being a small kid meant he could sneak around and hide in small gaps without being spotted. Which is how he managed get between two bookshelves in the library, knowing L would come in as he usually does.

"Hey... Miss Applebee?"

That was him. Mello peeked around the corner of the bookshelves and watched as L walked over to the librarian.

"Yes my dear?" She replied.

"Can you sew?"

"Every lady my age can sew dear, what for?"

"If I wanna keep exploring I need a disguise so I won't get clocked. (Y/n) said I could pass as a yokai if I had the ears and tail" L explained.

"That you could, they have good ideas that (y/n). I'll see what I can do" Miss applebee replied.

Mello was confused, what the heck did that mean? Disguise? Clocked? Yokai? See he was definitely up to something, Mello just couldn't figure it out yet. He'd need to do some more spying. L being his babysitter means he'd picked up a few detective tricks, and he was determined to gather evidence for this case.

"What did you get up to last time?" The librarian asked.

"They took me swimming and showed me their cottage. Also cats have wings down there?! Did you know that?" L replied.

"Certainly the first I've heard of it. Interesting".

Winged cats?

Ok as if Mello wasn't confused as hell before, now he was even more confused. None of this conversation made sense. He was completely unaware of Nears claims about fish people as well, which would definitely help his investigation...

Speaking of Near.

As Mello continued his spying, Matt had tried to get Near to join in a game of tag with the other kids. But as usual Near refused, preferring to play alone.

The back gate was open today, and with the staff supervising the kids were allowed to play in the outskirts of the woods. They followed the strict rule of not going past the pine trees, otherwise they'd get lost. The gateway was much past those pine trees, far too deep for the kids to find without getting scared of the big bad woods and running back to the orphanage.

Instead of playing tag, Near decided to collect rocks for his towers. Wandering in and out of the trees picking up the smoothest and shiniest rocks he could find, carrying them all in his pockets making him clink as he walked.

He knew not to go past the pine trees or across the fence that was where the neighbouring vineyard was. The vineyard had yummy grapes but the owner used them for wine, and he was much too young to drink wine.

"And I await the day, we can sail away, to the lovers bay for our eternal lives..."

He suddenly looked up from his rock hunt, looking around the area upon hearing the sounds.

Was that singing?

"Under the wing of Aphrodite, I ask for thee to return my feelings of glee..."

Where was it coming from? It sounded kind of like a ghost... were the woods haunted? Most kids would have turned and ran, but something struck Near that made me curious. He knew what to wander too far, but with no one around... surely he could go a little bit further if he didn't get caught?

The orphanage still in eyeshot, he followed the singing through the trees until he could hear running water and came to a creek he didn't know was there. It separated the orphanage property and the vineyard property, and was full to the brim thanks to the recent rain.

"Roses and Lillies line the beach as the waves wash over your feet. Into the water you come, to share your live with me. And together we dwell in the deep, glittering sea..."

It was here. The singing came from the river. He listened for a moment, only to find it had stopped. Stepping closer to the creek he leaned over the waters edge to look for the source of the music, and to his dismay all he could see was sand and rocks through the water.

Where on earth was that singing coming from?

Just as he went to turn back toward the orphanage the ground he stood on crumbled under his weight and before he could protest he felt himself slip and fall, right into the creek.

"AH!" He yelped as he lost his footing.

Just as quickly as he hit the water with a splash, and the coldness rocked his small body, he felt something warm wrap around him, and he was pulled back out.

"Woah, careful buddy"

He coughed, spitting up the gross creek water he'd swallowed and blinked a few times to get the water out of his eyes. When he looked up, he could hardly believe who'd caught him.

"Y-you! The fish person!" He exclaimed.

"Shhhh... don't be so loud I can't be caught around here. It's me yes, be careful ok? The ground here is wet and slippery" you replied, placing him back up on the grass.

"Wait a minute where did you go last time? You were there and then you vanished?!"

"Grown ups can't see me, so I hid"

This time he was seeing you in your natural element, and you looked different to how he last saw you. Last time you wore a shirt as a dress and had bare feet, this time you had scales covering your chest and no feet. Instead was a long, shiny tail, just like the ones he saw in story books L read to him.

"You're a mermaid? Not a fish person?" Near questioned, upon seeing the tail poking out of the water.

"I'm a siren actually, l little bit like a mermaid. But I can sing magic songs" you replied.

He starred at the tail you had, never having seen a fish tail that long or big before. He'd only ever seen normal fish, not half fish.

"You should go back to the orphanage and put some dry clothes on. The human realm gets cold pretty quickly" you said.

He was so shocked by your presence, that he'd totally forgotten that he'd gotten soaked when he fell in.

"Oh... yeah I should see L. Me wammys said I should find L when I need help" Near said.

You smiled at that comment, seeing the effect L was having on the kids even when he wasn't around. It was sweet that they immediately thought of him.

"And make sure you keep me a secret from the grown ups. Otherwise they'll try and take me away" you added.

He nodded eagerly, he didn't want the grown ups to take you away... you were nice to him and he'd never seen a siren before. He wanted to know more, but he was cold and wet and would have to come back another time.

"Ok. Thank you for saving me..." he said.

"Just don't get too close to the edge again ok? It's dangerous" you replied.

Mello still hid in the bookshelves as you talked to Near, and he remained there when Near came back. Although Near walking into the orphanage all wet did catch his attention away from L's conversation with Miss applebee.

"L..."

L turned to the child voice, having grown very familiar to it.

"What the- Near what happened?" He asked, very confused to see him soaked.

"I fell into the creek... the ground slipped under my feet. Can you get me a towel? They're too high for me to reach"

L sighed, wondering how the hell he even managed this.

"Come on, let's get you dry. I'll talk to you later Miss applebee" L replied.

"Good luck, oh kids... always getting into trouble" Miss applebee replied.

Mello watched the scene unfold confused and a little shocked to see Near of all people had gotten himself into such a mess.

Something was going on here... and he was going to find out.