LxReader - Part 1 - Goodbye Computer

You tore off your jacket when you came back into your dorm room. You are eighteen years old and in your first year of college. Being a whiz at your major, you thought these couple years would be a breeze. You were wrong. The subjects themselves weren't that bad, but between time for projects and a part-time job you barely had time for sleep. Plus, you had originally planned to go to (preferred place) for college, but due to cost expenses and disappointing rejection letters – which made no sense as your scores were excellent – you had no choice but to learn about your major in Los Angeles  of all places. A city that never sleeps; one that could give New York City a run for its money.

You kicked off your boots and landed roughly on your bed. If you had a roommate, that probably would have made (him/her) mad, but luckily – as per the usual for last minute registrations – the remaining room was void of any life but yourself. Drinking a latte via Starbucks, determined to put some caffeine into your system, you simultaneously balanced it and surfed the internet for research on this paper for your first Monday class. Luckily, Holiday Break was coming soon, so that would be a couple weeks off from school at least. Suddenly, your e-mail pulled up. You figured you accidentally hit the button, so you decided to look through anyways.

Looking at the e-mail address, it seemed to have been sent by your (parent(s)/guardian), probably wondering how your first few months of dorm life was doing and if you needed another care package. However, when you opened the link, that theory couldn't have been farther from the truth. It read:

(Your name)

I apologize for contacting you like this.

I realize that you are hard at work in your studies, but I would like to request your help in a police investigation. If you are willing to assist me, please access the third block of the third section of the Funny Dish server tomorrow morning at nine a.m. The line will be open for exactly five minutes. I inserted software into your computer which will allow you to break through the firewall; however, it will dissipate after 24 hours.

L

       PS: In order to contact you, I took the liberty of borrowing your guardian's address. This was the simplest and safest way to contact you, so please forgive me. Regardless of whether you agree to help me or not, I need you to destroy this computer within twenty-four hours of reading this message.  
   
           You stared at the screen blankly. L. It was L. He was the most famous unseen detective in the history of the world! No prankster or spammer would dare use that alias because everyone knew the consequences if they did. It was really L. And he wanted your help on a case.

       And he also wanted you to destroy your computer. Bummer. It ran like new, had all of your stuff on it, was used in your work, and you happened to have grown attached to it as well. But, everyone looked up to L. He had to be the best for a reason, right? Though part of you hated him for making you part with your electronic addiction, you prepared for the inevitable. You put all of what you had on your hard drive onto a couple of flash drives – shaped like panda bears, no less – and went to sleep.

       ~*~*~

       When the morning came, your instinct was to run over in your head whether or not you had to go to a class or if you had the morning shift. After a minute, you realized you had neither. However, you had to go on a chat with L and then destroy your computer. That last part was going to suck, but following L's work, your inner fan(girl/boy) was trying to dig its way out through your extremely calm exterior at the idea of chatting with the legendary great detective.

       You opened the chat room after failing to find the firewall-breaking software and went to the block specified. It let you through, so the software must have been invisible even to you. The idea that something like that could be easily implanted into a person's computer creeped you out, almost as much as the idea of anyone – L included – using that address did, but you decided to suck it up. The man was a legend. He could bend a few rules.

       "(Your name)," came a voice from your computer's speakers. It was clearly synthetic, like two voices running at once, one lower than the other so it sounded sort of autotuned. But everyone knew it as L's. He continued. "This is L."

       Having no microphone at the moment, you had no choice but to type your responses. You started to type 'hi', but then figured this was a serious investigation-type meeting so greetings would be kind of pointless. Instead you typed, "This is (your name). It's an honor to speak to you, L."

       He had a very swift response. "(Your name), are you familiar with the murder investigation going on in Los Angeles as we speak?"

       Of course you knew about the murders. It was all over the news. They were known as the Wara Ningyo murders. Pretty much, each time a person was killed there were Wara Ninyo dolls – kind of like Japanese voodoo dolls – were left at the scene, always decreasing by one, oddly enough. You responded, "Of course I have. You can't miss something like that."

       "Good. I would like to solve the case," said the voice. ""I need to arrest the killer. But your help in this matter is vital, (your name)."

       You typed out the question which had been reeling in your mind since you got his e-mail. "Why me?" You were still a student, so even if your major somehow gave you credibility for solving this, it wouldn't make a difference. You were still in your first year, taking required classes. Not to mention there were actual police officers available. Coming to you made no sense.

       "Naturally, because I have little options." You admitted, that stung a little. He explained, "There being only three murders in Los Angeles thus far, only local investigators are to be involved. However, there have been far too many reports of corruption for me to consider them. No one within the justice system of the area has earned my trust. Professionals not available, the next logical step is to look to students. Though your classes do nothing to suggest you capabilities for this case, the same goes for anyone else. Something stood out about you, though. My sources confirmed that you were involved in helping the police control a shooting at your previous high school. This was very admirable and suggests a strong sense of justice. Thus, you are my selection for this case. If you are concerned about a lack of training, you needn't worry. I'll be sure to guide you throughout the investigation."

       Your mouth was wide open in shock. The high-school-shooting thing was a total fluke! There were maybe three shooters. The police were on the scene. One of them was in your classroom and attacker your friend. You lost it and beat the snot out of the guy, not caring if he had a gun. He dropped it after one punch, anyways. After that, you were the school hero. For the week you had left. But that was pure adrenaline. He was asking for brain power. You wanted to rant a rebuttal to him via keyboard, but then you realized he must have had some sort of faith in you. But there were other things to consider.

       "Holiday break is coming up…"

       "I know. Isn't that convenient? Also, you are on a leave of absence from your part-time job. Paid, of course."

       You had to admit, the guy had everything planned perfectly. And he got you a paid vacation, even if it did only pay minimum wage. You surrendered to his logic. "Ok. I'll help in any way I can."

       Instantly, he replied, "Thank you. I knew you would agree." Even through the synthetic voice, he didn't sound grateful as much as he did matter-of-factly. Like, 'oh yes, I knew you would'. That grated on your nerves . But then again, was that just the sound of the computerization? Maybe. But he still didn't justify the future-death of your computer. He continued, "Let me explain how you will contact me in the future. We have no time, so I will be brief. First…"