Jubilee continued to gawk at the large M on the screen.

"Good of you to join us, Mello," greeted L dryly. "Though, before we go any further—you seem to have cut Near out of the conversation."

"Yeah, yeah," said the boy, his voice flippant. "I was making an entrance, and the little twerp could use being knocked down a peg or two." His tone became slightly more respectful as he added, "But I'll fix it, sir. One moment."

The screen fizzled again for a second and the headsets crackled. Jubilee glanced over at L and whispered, "So...that's your other successor?"

"Yes."

"And...is this your first time speaking directly with him, too?"

"Yes."

She shook her head in bewilderment. "The three of you sure know how to get right down to it."

"Time is of the essence, J. Speaking of which, we haven't even begun discussing the case yet."

The monitor on the wall brightened and two separate windows popped up, one displaying the M and the other the N.

"Near," L spoke into his headset again. "You're back on the line."

Near's metallic voice answered flatly and without any preamble. "Mello's here now, isn't he."

"Greetings to you too, twerp," said Mello in answer. "Still using a voice synthesizer to mask the fact that you're barely four feet tall?"

"It's just a precautionary measure," answered the other boy tersely. "Which you could use more of. Where have you gone off to, anyway?"

"Like you care."

"Clearly you are wherever you are because you are trying to get ahead of me on solving this case, and seeing as how I am a part of this case now and we should be working together, yes, I care."

"I'm talking with your stupid face right now, aren't I? So technically we are working together."

"You aren't talking to my face at all, because you've outright left the premises."

"What, did you want me to stay around and hold your hand?" Mello sneered. "Working together doesn't mean I have to be hip to hip with you."

"Nobody would want to be hip to hip with you, Mello."

L cleared his throat. The air around him throbbed tangibly, like there was a headache forming in his skull. "Mello, meet J," he interjected smoothly before the older boy could respond with a retort, and gestured at Jubilee with a meaningful look.

"Hi Mello," she said hastily. "Um—you can call me Julie if you like."

Mello paused before whatever snappy remark he was about to make. "Hey, J," he greeted. "You're the one who sees stuff, huh."

Jubilee sighed. "That would be me." She turned to L. "So, is this the whole gang? J, L, M and N?" Pausing to glance at the screen, she lifted a brow and added wryly, "We've skipped K."

"There is no K," said L tiredly.

"Sure there is, it comes right after the letter J."

He gave her a look.

"You know, like JK," she said innocently. "Just kidding."

Don't think he gets that one either, Jubilee, piped up Hellenos again from his corner.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

She sighed at the blank—and somewhat irritated—look on L's face. "Never mind," she said. "So, is that all of them? Or do you have any more surprises up your sleeve?"

"I hope not," muttered L, rubbing at one temple. "But—"

"Matt," spoke up Near in a calm voice, "You're here too, aren't you."

There was a moment of silence. "Who now?" questioned Jubilee. L had put one hand over his eyes.

This is why I work alone, she thought she heard drifting from his mind.

"Shut up, Near," said Mello.

"There's no use keeping quiet," Near continued, ignoring the older boy. "I know Mello isn't skilled enough to hack into a high security network like Ryuzaki's without your help, so you might as well speak up."

Another moment of silence, and then the large screen flickered once more. A third window popped up alongside the other two letters, this time with a lowercase m in the center.

"Yo," said another boy's voice.

"It's just like you to tattle, you little twerp," Mello was seething. "This is why I can't stand you."

"'Tattling' is not the same as being transparent," responded Near without missing a beat. "Which is another thing you could use more of, if you have any hope of us working together successfully."

"I never wanted to work together with you!" the other boy bellowed.

Jubilee's mind was working on overdrive to process everything that was happening. This was like Wakahisa on Adderall and steroids combined—and it had been a long time since she had played mediator between children and teens. Furthermore, it was the first time she had ever dealt with ones who were way smarter than her. L also seemed ill-equipped for this scenario, judging by the grimace on his face. She took a deep breath and tried to think of something pacifying to say, but before she could, the third boy spoke up.

"I'm Matt," he said plainly, cutting off the argument between the other two. "Nice to finally meet you, Ryuzaki. And you, J." His tone sounded almost bored, but Jubilee could detect a slight calculative edge to it, like he was used to breaking up fights between the two behind the scenes.

"Likewise," she replied quickly. "You can call me Julie if you like." Realizing belatedly that he had probably already heard her say that the first time, she finished lamely, "Or—uh, whatever."

"Sure, Jules," said Matt casually, before addressing L. "Well, this is all of us, boss."

"Matt," began L sternly, "I never said you could work on this case."

"Yeah, I know," admitted the boy. "And I wasn't going to, really. But Mello needed some backup and talked me into it, and I was bored."

"'Bored' is hardly the right attitude to have when entering a life-threatening investigation," responded L, coppery wisps flurrying around him with increasing irritation. "You are not ready for this case, Matt."

"And besides, we can't have two M's," quipped Jubilee. "That wouldn't make any sense."

L shot her a hard look, the copper color turning bronze.

Matt chuckled. "I like you, Jules. Not enough to change my name though."

"Ryuzaki," interrupted Mello. "You've seen Matt's hacking abilities first hand now. You know that that can be a valuable asset to this case."

"This is not up for discussion, Mello—"

"I agree," said Near's metallic voice. "With Mello."

There was a pause and Jubilee sensed a small spike of irritation in the air from Mello, but he said nothing.

"Wow, the world must be ending," deadpanned Matt.

Despite the absurdity of the whole situation, Jubilee felt her lips quirk. She knelt down beside L's chair, putting a hand over the microphone of her headset.

"You know," she whispered, "It can't hurt to have more help."

L eyed her warily and hit the mute button on the call. "Not you too," he said sharply, not bothering to lower his voice.

"I'm just saying." She shrugged. "The more the merrier, right?"

He gave her a flat look. "If we're going to flippantly bandy about cliches, then my response to that is that there are already far too many cooks in the kitchen."

She smiled, thinking back to some of her more hectic yet laughter-filled days at Wakahisa. "But that's when cooking gets fun," she countered.

L did his best to look severe. "This is the Kira case. It's not supposed to be fun."

"Please, the only reason you solve cases in the first place is because you find them fun."

He opened his mouth to deny this, then shut it again, narrowing his eyes at her. "There's no use lying to you, is there."

Her smile grew wider. "Nope."

The colors around him softened a touch. He drew in a longsuffering sigh. "This calls for more cake," he muttered, reaching over for another slice with one hand while unmuting their headsets with the other. "Matt," he announced, tone aloof, "You're on the case."

"Thanks boss," said Matt, a lazy grin evident in his voice. "Don't worry about evaluating how I do in the running to be you, though. Those other two can fight it out. I'm good."

L was unamused. "If those other two die, then you're next in line."

Matt was momentarily sobered. "Right," he said gravely. Then, "Mello, Near...don't die, please. I'm really more cut out to be a sidekick, you know?"

Mello snorted. Though Jubilee couldn't see it, she sensed Near smile slightly. She thought to herself that she hadn't felt this at home since Wakahisa.

"Now that all of that is finally out of the way," L's voice interrupted her thoughts, his tone curt as he took a large forkful of cake and held it aloft, "Let's discuss the case."

The air tensed as everyone became more serious, and Jubilee felt all three boys on the other end of the line snap to full attention.

"Yes, boss," she said along with the three of them.