It's a Mistake... maybe - Chapter 3: Burglary
DISCLAIMER: I don't own D. Gray-man, UNFORTUNATELY all is into the hands of that crazy woman whose name is hoshino... Because if it was otherwise... D. Gray-man manga wouldn't have become a shapeless and disgusting jumble of nonsenses, and Lavi would have been together with Kanda from a VERY LONG TIME!
WARNING: YAOI - if you don't know what this word means, or if you don't like boy/boy relationship this story is not for you, don't say I didn't tell you! You know the song, DON'T LIKE DON'T READ!
Yeah, sorry for the long wait. From now on hopefully my updates should be more regular, and I intend to continue with "Do you trust me?" as well.
I managed to get rid of all my troubles (well, at least to keep the main one of them at bay) so I can start again to work on my stories serenely. Okay, almost serenely. I keep to get violent if someone mention the Abomination to me. So remember to never utter that name with me and I won't bite you.
I'm really unmerciful when it comes to that 'thing'. Deal with it.
Now something about this story.
Seeing that some readers can't explain why Kanda didn't bother to read his story after it become a book, well...
Would you check again someting no one questioned? It's a really big waste of time. And Kanda, being Kanda, hates wasting his time, deeply. Especially by reading again something he nearly know word by word (yeah, okay, he though he knew XD) just because now it has a wonderful book shape. No way.
Allen just guessed that Lenalee had to do with the reason behind the book being published (and he's scared to know more about it), but he didn't read it nor knows what kind of 'help' Lenalee gave Kanda. Right now Lavi is as oblivious as Allen.
Be patient, all pieces will come into place as the story goes further XD
Err... About BRONX. You surely figured out I've never been in NY, I just learned what telefilms such as "Law and Order" showed. So yeah it's totally cliche, since I really don't know nowadays which the most dangerous place in NY is... So, you can assume Bronx as a: "insert the most dangerous NY place here" XDDD
As always, a big THANKS to EM1&EM2, aka Saxon-Jesus who did the beta work for me, being so patient and helpful!
I love you!
And... If you spot any error is my fault for changing something the beta suggested XD ...Or for not noticing the correction... (yeah, a couple of times it happened u_u)
IT'S A MISTAKE... MAYBE
CHAPTER 3: Burglary
Lenalee was going out the apartment practically as Kanda came back, tired and irritated. The young man didn't ever liked night shifts much, and he could not wait until it was time for bed.
Well, at least he wouldn't get into trouble for a while, Lenalee said to herself, closing the door behind her.
A few hours later, Lavi was approaching the block where his ghost writer lived, determined to obtain that interview his old man ordered him to get.
The albino boy who recently started to work for him had provided him all the necessary information, so the young reporter prepared himself to play his favorite part: the seducer. With that, he had never failed.
Apart from the day before with Yuu, of course... But that didn't matter; Yuu was a man after all.
He walked through the huge door, immediately finding himself in front of a big woman showing a unsociable air; definitely grim, Lavi corrected himself, addressing her with a smile among the best of his repertoire.
"Hello, Miss," he began, and the woman immediately looked at him in a completely different manner. "I was searching for someone who should live here. A certain Kanda Yuu." Hearing the name of her most detestable tenant, the concierge's eyes bulged out.
"And due to what kind of misfortune are you seeking that venomous snake?" She asked in an acid tone, raising an eyebrow. "You're not a lawyer, are you?" Lavi laughed, shaking his head.
"No, no, God forbid. I'm a journalist; I'm lookin' for him to obtain an interview." The woman snorted, not at all surprised.
"What has he done this time?" Oh, how much she wanted to throw the horrible man out, but unfortunately now he was paying the rent regularly.
"Is he really so terrible?" Lavi ran a hand through his hair, giving the woman his best innocent expression, then leaned on his elbows to the little windowsill, pretending to be thoughtful, absent-mindedly looking beyond the porter's lodge opening. "Still, lookin' at him doesn't seem like it, but, 'course, if it's a smart and pretty woman like yerself the one who's sayin' it, I'll beware," the redhead said in a soothing tone. The woman was about to smile, flattered by the compliment. "Sure enough he was very rude t'me, refusin' an appointment. Bet that even with you he wouldn't bother to ever tell ya how good y'look with the hairstyle ya've got today, or the dress yer wearin'."
"Ah, that guy has no heart or respect; he's a real animal. Vulgar and bad." The concierge nodded several times to give emphasis to her point of view and sighed. "I don't know what you can drag out of him, sir; I think it's a waste of time, but if you really care I'll accompany you to his apartment."
Bingo.
"Oh, many thanks, yer an angel!" The woman almost blushed while making way toward the elevator. "Y'know, if I fail t'send this article as soon as possible I'll be in trouble." Lavi made a little pause, watching the woman's reaction, then continued. "Ah, don't talk t'me in so formal a way, it's embarrassin'. My name's Lavi." The concierge truly smiled this time.
"Then Lavi it is." She held out her hand. "Victoria."
"My pleasure." Lavi said, shaking hands cordially. The woman called the elevator, making a nod to indicate the main door entrance.
"His girlfriend went out early this morning, so you'll find him alone. Ah, that girl is a saint to bear him, really." Arrived to the sixth floor the woman leaned out from the elevator and pointed her finger to a door. "It's there. Good luck, my boy." Lavi waved and thanked her again with his best smile on his face.
"Well, here's to us, Kanda Yuu!" Lavi exclaimed to himself with determination, ringing the bell.
No sound came out, so the young Bookman pressed it again, with exactly the same result.
Smart, Yuu, very smart, but it's not enough to stop me, he thought, realizing that the Japanese man should have disconnected it to prevent being disturbed during his sleep, as he often worked at night.
Well, he could only knock then, and if he got nothing in that way either he would have to call him by voice, and if...
Oaky, actually he didn't have many other alternatives if Kanda didn't respond by then either, apart from sitting on the floor and patiently waiting for the man to come out of his own will. And the latter was not much of a tempting prospect.
Lavi scratched his head, puzzled about his brilliant plan, then took a deep breath, closed his fist, raised his arm above his head, took momentum... and stopped an inch from the door. He swallowed hard; no, he wasn't scared about Yuu's reaction, he wasn't scared, he wasn't... OK, he was really scared. But he was more scared by his old man, so Lavi repeated the whole preparation, and finally landed the blow. A bit sluggish to say the truth, but in the second one he put a bit more of effort, and after the third knock he stopped to listen. But nothing happened, not even an annoyed answer, an insult, nothing. Complete silence.
Trying to convince himself that perhaps Yuu hadn't heard knocking, the redhead hit on the door again, several times and with adequate strength, after which he waited. Still silence.
"Yuu?" The youth finally called after five full minutes of waiting. "Yuu, please answer, I'm Lavi. The reporter ya met yesterday. The one you slammed into the wall!" Nothing. "I know yer at home, if ya don't answer me I'll sit down here waitin' for ya t'come out!" Absolute silence.
Lavi repeated his chant two more times, then he sat on the corridor's floor, beside Kanda's apartment door, pondering on what to do. After ten minutes he was already tired of both waiting and sitting, twiddling his thumbs, but above all he was tired of staying silent.
Heck, he needed to hear the sound of his voice, otherwise he had the feeling of not being real. Yes, maybe he was paranoid, so what? Everyone has his own little quirks after all, right?
There must have been a way to budge that Kanda! "Think, MacGyver, think!" Lavi said to himself, feverishly rummaging into his pockets and spilling the contents on the floor. He watched his equipment: Swiss knife, paper handkerchiefs, two gums, notebook and pencil, a button (and where this one come from? Ah, yes, it broke off from his jacket the week before), his newspaper pass, a paper clip, two rubber bands...
Hey, wait a minute, had he seen a paper clip? And the newspaper pass, too, yes. He could try to open the door by himself, if he had shaped the paper clip properly. "Come on Mac, get to work!" Lavi rejoiced, beginning to tinker with the poor metal object.
Kanda was wrecked, really, seriously, wrecked. Although, greeting Lenalee while she went out and he was coming in, he had stubbornly pretended nothing happened.
There was been a sex related murder in a High-Priced call girls' flat, and a politician was involved, so they had spent the whole damn night asking kind and polite questions to the politician, and then the routine ones to the neighborhood; of course, after hearing the Medical Examiner's first impressions... Kanda needed a few hours of sleep, because in the afternoon they were resuming the dig into the murdered prostitute's life, and of course into the one of that good man, the politician.
Kanda stretched, yawned with resignation, threw his clothes on the floor and let himself fall down on the bed. No, wait, this time was necessary to take a precaution that would guarantee him those few hours of rest: he opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out two earplugs.
Oh, finally. What peace.
When he felt his phone vibrate under the pillow, Kanda slowly opened his eyes, annoyed. Damn, it was time to get up already? He opened the phone to turn off the fucking alarm clock, and saw the time set: half past ten? What the hell... He cursed against his carelessness; he had pressed a zero instead of a fucking two, shitty keyboard! Only three miserable hours of sleep, fuck!
"Bloody hard luck!" He muttered angrily to himself, removing the plugs from his ears with rage and hurling them onto the bed.
He was stretching an arm towards his discarded clothes still lying on the floor, as he thought he heard a ticking sound. Kanda immediately stopped moving, straining his every sense to understand what it was and where it came from, now fully awake and on the alert. The annoying 'click' was soon to be repeated, accompanied by groans and sounds absolutely unmistakable for one who did his job: someone was forcing the door.
Kanda grabbed Mugen. Yes, his gun was on the floor in front of him, but the sword was on the bed from the night before since he had finished polishing it, so he took it automatically, and stealthily reached for the door, leaning his ear over it, trying to understand in what position the intruder was.
The movements of his prey told him it was crouched at the lock's height, and Kanda let a feral grin appear on his face as he suddenly flung the door open with violence.
Lavi found himself falling flat on his back, staring at Mugen's blade pointed against his throat, paralyzed and in shock.
Kanda's expression though wasn't any different, having him recognized as the robber the young redhead who pursued him at work, and now at home, too.
"What are you, a voyeur or a thief?" He hissed coldly.
"A journalist?" Lavi retorted, raising his hands in a surrender gesture.
"Che. Now get the fuck out of here before I gut you." Kanda enjoined, his eyes become black slits sending bolts of lightning.
"Yuu, be reasonable, I only wa-" Mugen nearly excised his ear, and a lock of red hair fell on his shoulder, finishing on the floor right after. "Yuu! Are you crazy?" Lavi shouted moving backward on all fours, Mugen now pointed at his heart. "I swear, I didn't want t'call yer name; I let it slip!"
The expression of pure terror in the young journalist's eye gave Kanda a deep satisfaction, and with a contemptuous sound he sheathed Mugen, going back in the doorway.
"Twice? Get lost." He ordered, slamming the door behind him and leaving Lavi still sitting on the floor with spread legs, his one eye exaggeratedly wide in shock and from the scare he got.
"What a terrible place New York is..." Bookman Junior mused, "It's full o'crazy people..."
"I'm goin' to interview ya, cost what it may, do ya hear me?" He shouted right after in a defiant way through the closed door. "Even if I were t'wait in front o'here the whole damn day!" The redhead stood up, shaking his crumpled clothes.
Kanda rolled his eyes, extremely irritated by the tone of the youth. The darn reporter was very capable of doing that; he knew it too well, given how stubbornly the idiot followed him during his investigations. He sighed, reopening the door with a furious look on his face.
"I won't let you or anyone else interview me, and I have no time to waste with an idiot like you! Resign yourself and get your fucking ass away from me!" Kanda roared, and the door was slammed again in Lavi's face.
The redhead pouted and sat down on the floor, patiently waiting; he didn't intend to let that bastard have it all his own way, he would follow him down to hell if it was necessary, but he would force him to yield, upon the word of Bookman Junior!
He folded his arms onto his chest; the madman with the sword had to come out of there sooner or later.
Kanda was astounded. Finding that irritating hack crouched in the hallway of his fucking palace in an attempt to sneak into his fucking apartment forcing his very door open. Really, that beat everything! He didn't believe he had become that famous to have the press already camping out in front of his bloody house...
The Japanese detective slipped under the shower; he really needed one, especially to cool down his anger.
After he dried and dressed himself up again, he had lunch with what Lenalee had prepared for him - that girl really knew how to handle soba - and picked up his discarded clothes from the floor.
That done, Kanda wore his ordinance gun and the related paraphernalia, made sure to have the police badge in his jacket pocket and prepared himself to leave. But first he wanted to make sure of one thing.
"Are you still out there?" Kanda asked in a loud voice as he turned the lights off and approached the apartment's entrance.
A howl of assent told him that the worthless journalist was still sitting in front of his door.
Kanda opened it with a rudeness, finding himself staring at the sullen face of the young redhead, whose one eye was staring at him, resentful for the treatment he got; the Japanese detective couldn't help but wonder how the man had lost the other one, given his age. He promptly drove that thought away, slamming the door behind his back and making his way along the corridor, without deigning the journalist any further attention.
"Hey!" Lavi quickly sprung to his feet, following his target up to the elevator and slipping inside it with him, despite Kanda having tried to close the door in his face - or even onto his body, for that matter - and had almost succeeded in the attempt.
"You're not thinking of following me the whole damn day, are you?" Kanda asked in a threatening tone, turning a sharp look at his persecutor. The other man nodded repeatedly, seriously. At this, Kanda let out one of his 'Che's. "Look, you know what job I do, if you insist staying in my way you'll get hurt," he blurted out; in fact, he meant to say 'I will hurt you', but he hoped that the idiot took the hint by himself. Said idiot instead folded his arms to his chest with a resolute expression. "All right, whatever. But then don't say I didn't warn you." Kanda rebuked him, emerging from the elevator.
"I can take care o'myself, Yuu-chan." The reporter pointed out in a hurt tone.
Kanda spun around, hearing the nickname, waving his fist at the young man, his jaw tightened in anger.
"That, too, slipped out?" He hissed through clenched teeth, giving the redhead a look so grim that it could easily have pierced the poor thing like a sword.
"No. It was voluntary; I find that it suits ya." Lavi admitted, showing a mischievous smile that reached from one ear to another.
"Oh!" Kanda rolled his eyes, spreading his arms and turning his back to the intruder, resuming his walk to the porter's lodge. That idiot was a hopeless case, to make him stop using his first name he would have had to kill him, and it wasn't impossible that it couldn't happen soon if the fucking reporter kept this rate.
Lavi trotted behind him, a satisfied grin on his face, and once arriving at the entrance he was greeted warmly by the concierge.
"Hey, Lavi! Congratulations! I see that you succeeded in convincing that asocial to come out of his shell, and it takes a lot." The woman said, and nodded toward the youth with admiration. "I hope to see you again one of these days!"
"Shut up, witch!" Kanda addressed her, annoyed, darting toward the door. "The idiot here didn't do a damn thing. I had to go out and he latched onto me like a tick!" The woman turned a gesture towards Lavi, who almost chocked in an attempt to keep from laughing.
"You bet, Vicky, you'll see me here often! Bye-Bye!"
The concierge let out an embarrassed chuckle, covering her mouth with a fat hand, and Bookman Junior hurried to reach the Japanese detective, who stared at him in horror as the redhead was friendly waving at the vexing vixen standing in the lobby.
"You're disgusting." Kanda commented succinctly.
"I'm a journalist, y'know, I just know how to handle people, that's all." Lavi defended himself with a shrug.
"Lead them by the nose, you mean." Kanda pointed out, acid, refusing to consider the possibility of being friendly himself with that harpy of the concierge.
"C'mon Yuu, she's a good woman, ya just need t'know how t'deal with her." Lavi hoped from this exchange of views on being able to raise a subject for conversation, and get at least a little familiar with the policeman-writer.
"Che," was the only sound the Japanese man gave as an answer, and Bookman Junior sighed, shaking his head, thinking about what else he could try to win the confidence of the other man.
Kanda instead was thinking of how to get rid of the annoying redhead, both at the moment and for the future. Maybe he should get a Doberman, he considered, a pity that animals weren't allowed in the building. Dammit.
As they entered the subway, Kanda contemplated the possibility of pushing the reporter under a train and then claiming it was the job of a madman... No, it wouldn't work. Kanda sighed as well, getting on board in the first car he found in front of himself, always tailed by Lavi, who looked around with curious interest, as if he had never been on the subway in his whole life.
"Hey, idiot." he addressed his bother at one point. "At the Police Precinct journalists are not welcome; you'd better leave it alone."
"Lavi." Said journalist protested, pointing at his chest. "And I'll run the risk."
Kanda snorted. Stubborn as a mule, darn him. Lavi, what a name. He would read it as 'Rabi' which dangerously resembled to 'rabbit'. An idiot rabbit. The detective almost smiled to himself, such a nickname really suited this intrusive guy.
"What're ya thinkin', Yuu? Yer expression softened." Lavi's question took Kanda by surprise; he hadn't even noticed when the annoying redhead had came so close to him, and he nearly jumped finding the idiot's face just a breath from himself.
"TCH, what part of 'do not call me by my first name' isn't clear to you? And keep the distance, crab!" he hissed, placing his hand over said idiot's face and rudely pushing him away.
"AWW, so cruel, Yuu!" Lavi protested, tidying his hair (as much as possible given the way it was already naturally ruffled) and rubbed his nose.
Kanda rolled his eyes; opening fire in a subway car was not a viable option, and he couldn't even beat up the moron leaving him in a pool of blood, not without attracting the attention of everybody present... He resolved to lead the reporter to a dark lane and get rid of him without witnesses, then discharging the corpse into the river, like everyone else did in New York. God, what was he thinking? That retard was driving him out of his mind!
Meanwhile, they had arrived at his stop, and Kanda took the opportunity to get down without any warning, hoping by doing so to shake off the misfortune that had stuck to him like chewing gum trodden on a day in August. But to his chagrin the idiot didn't lose sight of him for a moment as he already was next to him on the road to the Police Precinct.
"So this's the Bronx. I thought it the worst." The reporter was again looking around with interest, could it be possible that he had never been in that area? The journalist had been shadowing him close during the investigation for weeks, how could he not remember... Oh well, sure, he'd never followed him all the way up to the Police Command.
"Come for a walk here at night, alone and unarmed." Kanda invited him sarcastically.
"No thanks, think I'll keep stayin' in yer company." Lavi immediately answered. "I haven't been in New York long, I've never been in this place durin' the day."
There, now it explains why, Kanda thought.
They entered the 49th Precinct's building side by side, the Japanese detective almost with smoke coming out from his ears, Lavi with both hands in his pockets and smiling at everyone, watching everywhere out of curiosity, paying attention to every tiny detail or event which took place around him.
As they approached Kanda's section, their passage was followed by a crescendo of whispers and muffled exclamations of surprise, which did ring an alarm bell in the pissed detective's head, even though he didn't understand the reason behind them. If all those murmurs were or were not linked to Lavi, it disturbed him a lot, because they seemed turned right to him.
"Yuu, where're we goin'?" The reporter asked at one point, and a woman next to them let slip a stack of documents scattering them disastrously onto the floor. Kanda turned around, grabbing Lavi's jacket in a single, quick, fluid movement, and the rest of the questions died in the redhead's throat.
"Stop following me! And above all, to get all this confidence!" The Japanese man exploded, attracting even more attention on them.
"I only asked a question!" Lavi moaned piteously. " L-let go of me, I'm choking..."
"Yuu-kun!" A stern voice addressed him from one of the offices. "You don't want to cause another incident with the press, right? Be a good boy, my son, put down the journalist, would you?" A vein throbbed on Kanda's forehead at the word 'my son', more than for the usual nickname with which his stepfather addressed him with, but he couldn't say anything to his captain, so he bit the bullet as he always did.
Just Tiedoll! That was all he needed! And how the hell did the man know about... Only then Kanda noticed the card 'Press' that Lavi had pinned prominently on his chest. The bastard was very clever, he had to acknowledge this, and sure as Hell Lavi had put it up on himself, in plain view, as they were coming inside! He released his victim and stood aside, shooting a murderous look at all those present, challenging them to comment on any of the things they had just heard.
"Lavi Bookman." Meanwhile, the idiot didn't waste time and immediately introduced himself to Captain Tiedoll, explaining the reason for his presence there. Damn, Kanda mentally cursed, with his captivating manner he was able to put him in the wrong!
"Oh, so you want to interview my dear son? Sure, sure, go ahead, everyone here will be happy to answer your questions!" Tiedoll was saying, under the astonished gaze of everybody present, and in particular, Kanda, who already was picturing a third degree on how the captain was bound to him in daily life.
With an annoyed exclamation, Kanda turned on his heels and walked to his desk, followed by Lavi and the looks of everybody in the room, something that irritated him beyond his endurance limit - which was really low indeed - making him want to massacre in atrocious ways each one of his so called 'colleagues'.
And the snickering continued dammit, as for the whispers, what the hell was going on there? Was it some kind of perverse game hatched against him?
Lavi also noticed gestures and whispers exchanged between the other detectives, police officers and technicians, and he was pretty sure that he and Kanda were the subjects of all that submerged murmuring. But the reason was unknown to him; he couldn't think of one plausible explanation how his presence connected with the Japanese detective could generate all that underground interest.
He was about to start asking questions to find out something concerning that mystery as Kanda's self control definitively shattered.
"What are you looking at!" He snapped making everybody start, were they sitting or standing, for the totally menacing tone of the question. "Let's see if you dare to say it in my face! So! What the fuck are you looking at?" Kanda repeated in an even more lethal tone.
"Well, we were all wondering whether or not it was a coincidence that he's identical to a character in your book..." A shy looking brunette woman came forward, solving the mystery. "Because, he also behaves similarly and..." She blushed, unable to finish her sentence.
Lavi couldn't believe his ears: Yuu had used him in his stories? But if he didn't even know him! Unless... Sure, Yuu had to have written the usual dreary, trite fourth rank's detective story basing upon his life, and he had pestered the other man enough to qualify for a part. But if it was so, why had it become a best seller? That made no sense...
"Miranda? How... So you all know about the book." Kanda muttered, stunned by the unexpected revelation.
All the present nodded, but this time no one dared to laugh, thinking that Kanda's reaction depended on the book's contents, which instead the Japanese detective actually didn't know. The brunette woman approached him with a copy of the incriminated book in her hands.
"Could I have your autograph on the book?" She timidly asked, and Kanda contented her, still in a shock over the news he just received. "I'm a big fan of yours, too, you know, I didn't think you were capable to write about these matters and, well... him... I didn't imagine you would have ever brought him here, given the relationship between you two." Miranda's statement made giggles and grins show up again. "We didn't believe you had a lover, or that you took inspiration from him."
Something snapped in Kanda's mind, whose owner was trying to process the latest information received without any success. Relationship. Lover. Book. The three words could not in any way reconnect themselves with each other and to him, no; he refused to acknowledge the implications behind it all.
Lavi was disconcerted as much as Kanda was, but concerning him there were no constraints of pride or embarrassment, so he asked the question that Kanda's mind rejected.
"Miranda, right?" when the woman nodded he smiled at her brightly. "You b'lieve that Yuu and I..." The redhead pointed at himself and then at Kanda, receiving other nods, which made the Japanese man become deathly pale. "Oh. And our relationship would be described in the book?
"Yes." Miranda opened the volume, looking for a very precise page, then showing it to Lavi, who read it avidly, gaping right after he started. This couldn't in any way be Yuu's work, he was absolutely sure. Someone else had put a good hand at the stories before sending them to the publishing house, which was why they had been accepted. And chance wanted that whoever did it chose to couple him with the book's main character, and as if he thought Yuu had used his own life as a model for writing his plots, creating an alter ego of himself as the main character... This explained everything, and also led Lavi to Kanda's alleged girlfriend.
No doubt she was the artificer, and as sure as death she had done everything without Yuu knowing it... The redhead foresaw a bad quarter of an hour for the girl, because now Yuu would understand as well, and put two and two together.
Kanda saw Lavi's eye widen in wonder, and a slight blush coloring his cheeks as the stunned reporter read through the page that Miranda showed him.
What had he written that embarrassing! Kanda snatched the book from the idiotic redhead's hands, reading himself from the page top, and he almost collapsed on the floor for the accuracy on every detail of the scene described in that chapter's passage. And he would really have fainted, if it hadn't been for Lavi holding him promptly, whispering into his ear a "control yerself, I know what happened, whatever yer thinking o'sayin' don't do it here".
"Y-you didn't remember writing it?" Miranda stammered, confused by Kanda's weird reaction. "I mean, you did write it, didn't you?
"No!" The shocked expression on Kanda's face said a lot about how the youth had lost control of himself. "I mean, yes, but it has nothing to do with me or him! They're only two characters in a story!" He protested, but it was clear from the faces of all his colleagues that they didn't believe a single word, and it was also pretty evident to him even in his altered mental status that he was making himself look ridiculous.
"What Yuu's tryin' t'say 's that between us there isn't a love affair, we were introduced to each other only yesterday. And just 'cause I asked 'im for an interview for my newspaper." Again muffled giggles could be heard all round them, and Lavi sighed. It was a lost cause, if these people wanted absolutely to believe that he and Yuu were lovers, never mind.
In the meantime, Kanda had regained control of himself, and with a sharp gesture he abruptly broke free of Lavi, almost sending him crashing into the poor Miranda, who jumped with fright.
"Get your hands off me, you idiot! It 's all your fault! If you hadn't followed me..." The Japanese man threw it on the other's face in a venomous tone, and Lavi bowed his head guiltily; he had expected it, and he couldn't even blame Yuu.
He took Kanda apart, despite his protests upon withdrawing with him.
"Yuu, me not coming here wouldn't have changed anything, y'know it." Kanda clenched his jaw, looking away from his interlocutor. "Simply, ya wouldn't have known, but they would've kept on thinkin' of us that way. Because they would've continued t'see me followin' ya during yer investigations." Kanda's eyes widened as he slowly understood that there was no way out of this trap.
"Che." Was the only sound he let out from his lips to show all his impotent rage. There could solely be one responsible for the distorting of his novel: Lenalee. But why? Why did she do this to him?
"I know ya didn't write that part o'the story, and I, too, can guess who it may've been as much as ya did." Kanda didn't answer or look back at him, and Lavi continued speaking, hoping that his words would somehow breach into the other youth's consciousness. "But I want ya t'promise that yer not gonna hurt her; I'm sure she hasn't done it out o'malice."
"Go the Hell away and leave me alone." Kanda finally muttered, and Bookman Junior felt a pang in his heart for the suffering tone that those words had in them. "And for your information, I don't hit women."
Well, this was comforting, even if it didn't completely reassure him about the girl's fate.
"Yuu, I won't leave you alone in this state." Lavi tried to make him look at his face but Kanda dodged with angry decision the hand that touched his face.
"Get out of my life." He repeated flatly, this time meeting Lavi's gaze, allowing the red-haired youth to read his pain, but also the deep determination that distinguished him. "And don't call me that!"
"All right." The reporter finally gave in, believing that for now it was better to respect Yuu's wishes. He would go back to Kanda's apartment later, when the detective had returned home, to make also sure that he wouldn't do anything stupid.
"How cute are they together!" Miranda exclaimed, with eyes glistening with emotion, though she (nor anyone else present) could not catch a single word of what they were saying. But everyone was anxiously waiting for something to happen.
"If ya was waitin' for a kiss, ya can even set yer souls at rest, 'cause it won't happen." Lavi rebuked them as he turned to leave. "There's nothin' between us, believe it or not!"
When the damn journalist had disappeared from view, the Japanese detective turned to his colleagues, confronting them with a hard face, trembling with indignation and anger.
"You really believed that I..." he started, but everybody in the room pretended nothing. "Ooooh!" Kanda had an outburst of rage, and shook his fists at the sky, deciding to go cool off his anger at the shooting range.