[A little crease appears between his eyebrows, and his voice chills as he looks down at Matt.]
It's real. You have no idea what a danger it is. We aren't making this up.
[He means himself, and Mikhail, and the other Matt - the people who get it, who've seen it, who've lived with it. But he stares at Mikami for another second or ten, scrutinising him - then drops to the ground and picks the tea back up.]
Light, I would be a lot more concerned if it had happened to anyone other than you. You have to understand that.
That room, it showed us all the most fucked up things it could. It's clear it was trying to scare us as badly as possible. The infected didn't appear to me, they didn't appear to him,
[Nodding at Mikami.]
They appeared to you. Which is bad- bad enough that we're going to stay here all night, watching the door. But it's also a really good sign.
[Now he rubs at his strained eyes with one thin hand; now he sips the tea, which he barely tastes.]
They could have attacked me, or - [looking at Matt] you. They could have infected anyone in there, and they'd carry it right out into the corridors.
[Another sip of chai in quick succession after the first. What he's seeing - what he's already seen in his own world - is clear in his face, in the quiet passion in his voice.]
And maybe we'd be lucky, maybe the first person they found would be armed, wouldn't hesitate. But I don't trust that. And once they're lost in here? [His lips tighten and purse.] We'd never get rid of them. There'd be no defence.
It matters who they appeared to because it effects how likely it is to be an effect of the room, and how likely it is to carry on out into the halls. Like- it's perfectly possible that an infected person arrives here from your world, and we're all totally fucked, like you said. But it's more likely that a room wanted to screw with you, so made it appear to be happening even though it really wasn't, and there's no danger of contageon.
And the mansion - [He swallows, faintly.] I'm not certain this qualifies as reassuring, but it has to be said. The mansion has an interest in keeping us alive.
[It says a lot that that piece of information actually does reassure Light.]
And if it was going to happen, it would already have happened. I know. But we can't trust that. We can't assume the mansion's good nature, in that regard. Someone could be brought in tomorrow, freshly infected. The place loves trauma. Or—
[More tea. Yes. His hands don't tremble; instead, he becomes even more still, and quiet, and prepared, and now what's left of the defensive brightness in his voice is wholly gone.]
"People involved with the Kira case". My father would certainly have been involved, if Sayu was. He didn't make it out of Japan.
[It's probably as much overt emotion as he's shown since he arrived in the mansion, because it's the first time he's felt like Kamchatka was actually the safer place. Part of him's eighteen again, running through the streets of Tokyo, tasting blood.]
I want it to stay that way. I don't want to see a red alert.
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It's real. You have no idea what a danger it is. We aren't making this up.
[He means himself, and Mikhail, and the other Matt - the people who get it, who've seen it, who've lived with it. But he stares at Mikami for another second or ten, scrutinising him - then drops to the ground and picks the tea back up.]
This is probably a waste of time, anyway.
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That room, it showed us all the most fucked up things it could. It's clear it was trying to scare us as badly as possible. The infected didn't appear to me, they didn't appear to him,
[Nodding at Mikami.]
They appeared to you. Which is bad- bad enough that we're going to stay here all night, watching the door. But it's also a really good sign.
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[Now he rubs at his strained eyes with one thin hand; now he sips the tea, which he barely tastes.]
They could have attacked me, or - [looking at Matt] you. They could have infected anyone in there, and they'd carry it right out into the corridors.
[Another sip of chai in quick succession after the first. What he's seeing - what he's already seen in his own world - is clear in his face, in the quiet passion in his voice.]
And maybe we'd be lucky, maybe the first person they found would be armed, wouldn't hesitate. But I don't trust that. And once they're lost in here? [His lips tighten and purse.] We'd never get rid of them. There'd be no defence.
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And if it was going to happen, it would already have happened. I know. But we can't trust that. We can't assume the mansion's good nature, in that regard. Someone could be brought in tomorrow, freshly infected. The place loves trauma. Or—
[More tea. Yes. His hands don't tremble; instead, he becomes even more still, and quiet, and prepared, and now what's left of the defensive brightness in his voice is wholly gone.]
"People involved with the Kira case". My father would certainly have been involved, if Sayu was. He didn't make it out of Japan.
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[Watching him, curiously.]
But it's- yellow alert, not red alert.
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[He doesn't know what else to say.]
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I want it to stay that way. I don't want to see a red alert.