#he's a yagami annoyer first and a show off second

[jichanxo]

if you're going to feed your friends a fake story, it's important to be on the same page (the exciting follow up to turtleneck yagami)

[thedetectivesystem]

Moon River (And Me)

Summary:

A good family friend comes over for dinner and a sleepover at the Yagami household. Light struggles a little bit to keep his composure, finding that he isn't as perfect as he believes himself to be. Nate simply wants to have a good time.

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It was an hour before dinner time in the Yagami household; plates were neatly placed on the table with silverware next to it. The sunset lightened the darkened living room before Sayu flipped the light switch and sat on the couch to turn on her favorite drama. The television began to play the show she had been binge watching earlier.

Behind her, a vocal sigh could be heard. “Sayu, turn that off, we have a guest coming over,” Light scolded as he gently knocked her head with his book, in return his sister whipped her head around and pouted.

“But, Light!” Sayu whined, “it’s the newest episode!”

Light grabbed the remote and shut the television off. “That doesn’t matter, it’s rude.”

The younger sibling groaned, however her original attitude changed when she processed what her brother had said. “Wait, a guest?” She tilted her head curiously, “no wonder mom put down an extra plate. I thought dad was going to be home tonight.” She looked down in disappointment. She’s never been fond of being left in the dark, and when she’s underdressed for a guest.

Light smiled understandingly. “Hey, it’s fine, besides you like our guest.”

“I do?” Sayu questioned, before realizing just seconds later of whom her brother was speaking of. “Oh, I do!” She beamed, “when is he going to be here?” She quickly stood up. “I have to get ready!” The smaller teen ran up the stairs, her question left unanswered.

Light sighed and shook his head in slight annoyance, though he allowed an amused chuckle to slip out.

“Light, dear, can you come help me with this?” Sachiko called from the kitchen.

“Of course, mom.” Light walked into the dining room and was met with a plate being shoved into his hands.

“Will you set the vegetables on the table?” Sachiko turned back to the stove to keep watch on the food. “Oh, do I need to dim the lights, I know that they can overwhelm Nate?”

“It should be fine as it is,” Light directed himself to the prepared vegetables. He placed them onto the plate in a neat pattern before it was placed on the table.

“Thank you, dear.” Sachiko gave her son a warm smile, “if there’s anything I can do you can tell me.”

“There’s no need to overthink it, mom, Nate will enjoy dinner here as he always does.” Light almost shook his head at how worried his mother was. Nate came over almost every day, she should be used to his needs by now. Though, now definitely wasn’t the time for him to become a moody teenager.

The doorbell rang, and before Light could answer, Sayu ran down the stairs with a loud, “I’ll get it!”

“As usual.” Light sighed.

The door opened to reveal the smaller boy, whom Sayu welcomed with a loud greeting and allowed him inside.

“Good evening,” Nate greeted back with a soft smile as Sayu led him towards the kitchen.

“Light, he’s here!” Sayu announced.

Light patted his friend's hair, “Nate, it’s good to see you.” His heart fastened upon seeing the young teen.

The boy's cheeks burned at the affections. “Likewise.”

The atmosphere felt awkward between the two, however Sayu was quick to break the strings of their infatuation in the kitchen.

“Hey, mom, when’s dinner?” She asked whilst she sat down by the table.

“It’s ready now.” She sighed and shook her head with a smile, “and it’s very good to see you again, Nate, welcome.” Sachiko set down the food.

“Thank you for allowing me to stay over.” Nate was always quick to over-thank others or apologize too much. It was one of the many things Light first noticed when he met the boy.

“Oh, nonsense, you’re a guest, you don’t have to thank me.” Sachiko quickly responded as she pulled out a seat for their guest.

“I find that I am more than a guest.” Chuckled, Nate.

“You’ve all known me for years.” He sat down in his designated seat. Light always had to sit down next to him, it was a rule that Nate made up himself. Sure, it may be a little silly, but the older teen didn’t mind at all.

Sayu looked over to her mother. “Yeah, mom, he’s a family friend!” She then stuffed her mouth with white rice, something that is seen as a lack of table manners, which Sachiko scolded her for.

“Sayu, don’t do that.”

Light eyed his sister playfully. “Yeah, Sayu, how are you going to get a boyfriend when you have manners like that?” He went back to his food, as if he were showing her to eat properly.

“What?!” Sayu groaned, “I don’t have time for one!”

Next to her, their white-haired guest chuckled knowingly. “Yes, it may be a little early.” Nate bit and slurped the egg in his ozoni to mimic Light’s playful teasing in table manners.

“See, Nate agrees with me!” The girl smiled in triumph. “Besides, I told Yuri that I'd hang out with her more than with some ugly boy in our school.” Sachiko again scolded her for insulting her classmates, despite her daughter being correct in her statement.

Dinner went by in a blur; things always did when Light was around Nate. It was unfortunate with how fast their time went by when together. Though, Light figured that is how everyone felt around the one’s they genuinely enjoy being around. Before he knew it, they were in his room in attempts to find something to do.

“Light.” Nate tugged on Light’s sleeve, “can we play the Nintendo 64?”

“Of course, but don’t forget we have to shower tonight.”

“As long as you let me wear your shirt, fine.”

Nate was always good at getting his way, he knew exactly what to do to make Light say yes, no matter what loophole Light tries. Of course, Nate would notice that Light liked to see him in his clothing, like a marking on one’s prey, filling its scent with your own. That’s exactly how Light saw it, and that’s exactly why he adored it more than he should. It was a feeling some would obsess over, and if Light was, he didn’t mind.

“Fine.” Light faked a sigh that anyone would find genuine.

Nate giggled at Light’s attempt to fake his annoyance. He sat down by the console and patted the floor for Light to sit next to him.

“You really are too smart for me.” Light teased as he sat in the spot Near requested.

“Some may find that to be a bad thing,” Nate scooted closer to the teen, “I feel bad for the souls who find themselves too knowing of this world. It’s a hex when you are too intelligent.”

“A hex, hm?” Light faced the bright TV screen as he found himself in thought. Nate wasn’t wrong. After all, Light has made discoveries he felt would be best to dissociate away from and not process, until he found out the unrighteous truth.

“Yes, it is those who are gullible that use words of a fantasy to escape and explain everything for them.”

Fantasy. Nate is speaking of religion. Light wondered if he could pull this question off without any slight suspicion. Nate would make a fine detective after all, perhaps more so than L.

“That reminds me.” Light started, “what do you think about, Kira?”

Nate turned his eyes away from the screen, “Kira?” He doesn’t appear to be taken aback by the question, but more of an inquisitiveness.

“Yeah, people are fundamentally calling him a God, even new religions have spiked from the case.”

Nate stayed quiet, Light would have viewed this as a ponder for an answer, but instead, Nate pouted.

“I’d rather play games with you instead.”

Light blinked in response, but quickly processed what Nate had told him. He laughed for a short second and shook his head. “Yeah, this conversation is getting too deep, isn’t it?”

“Not necessarily, I’m happy to speak to you on anything, but I’d rather focus on our time together at the moment.”

“I understand.” Light smiled. Nate wanted affection; Nate wanted to be the topic at hand. Light was more than willingly to give it, with his infatuation that too wanted mutual touch. He brought his hand up to pet Nate’s hair, watching those pasty chubby cheeks light up in pink. “Let’s play the game.”

The game itself was Mario Kart, it felt rather useless to keep playing as they kept tying with each other. No matter how much they read one another’s moves, it ended the same.

Nate pouted at his lack of victory. “It appears that we are on equal levels within this game.”

“Or are we?” Light’s lips twitched up, finding himself a little more ahead of his friend. Nate softly glared at the screen, unable to find any attempts to get ahead in the game. Once Light hit that finish line, the boy opened his mouth to protest, however was cut off. “Well, Nate, looks like I won.”

“No. Rematch.” Nate huffed, as if he were in a childish tantrum.

“I think we’ve played long enough.” Light turned off the television and console. “It’s getting late, we should shower.”

“You just don’t want to lose.”

“It sounds more like you’re a sore loser.” Light teased. He held his hand to the smaller teen to help him get up.

Despite Nate’s stubbornness of losing, he took his friend’s hand.

“I call for a rematch, tomorrow.”

“If that’s what you want.”

◖────────────◗

After Nate’s shower, he returned to the bedroom. “Thank you for lending me your clothes.”

Light looked over to Nate, his chest enamored with the sight in front of him. Nate in his white dress shirt, and dolphin shorts that were a bit too big on him, considering Light’s muscle mass, it’s probably a few sizes too large for the boy. “It’s no problem. But it’s getting late now. You can have my bed if you want.”

“Wouldn’t that be rude of me?” Nate smiled playfully.

Light chuckled at the younger teens’ antics. “Would you rather share instead?”

Nate fell quiet, his answer clear in his head.

The older teen raised an eyebrow, a smug look appeared on his face. “Nate, do you want to?”

“You are insufferable sometimes.” Nate glared in his rush of overwhelming flutters in his body, the worst part for him was that he felt his face grow hot.

“Only sometimes?” Light quietly laughed and stood up. “It’s fine by me, we’re both men, it doesn’t matter.”

“Perhaps.” Nate joked before he crawled into the bed and under the covers.

The best part about knowing Nate so well is that Light knew what made him tick. In the best way, of course. He’d never purposely anger his family friend.

Light got into the bed, his mind wondered if Nate wanted more of his physical affection, and he wanted to test the waters the most he could. His only worry was overstepping Nate’s boundaries, as they had yet to set them together.

“Hey, Near.” Light whispered; his use of the old nickname caught Nate’s attention. The younger teen turned around to face Light, however the both of them realized that was a mistake. Their faces were close enough they could feel each other’s breaths, which to Nate sent multiple overwhelming feelings, his hands closed into fists and began to shake. His way of self-stimulation when flustered, Light figured.

“Yes?”

“Do you… Want to…” Light hadn’t a clue on what was wrong with him, he mentally yelled at himself for his out of character behavior. He was supposed to be perfect about this, to swoon Nate.

Nate looked down to avoid eye contact, he knew that to those who are neurotypical it was rude not to look in the eyes while speaking. But Light never minded, he was understanding, he never insulted or scolded Nate for his ‘different,’ behaviors.

Light audibly groaned in embarrassment, “sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Nate looked at him in confusion, “there is nothing wrong with you.” It was almost as if he were scolding Light for insulting himself. “I too find words to be difficult, do not apologize for a normal behavior.”

“I- Yeah.” Light shook his head, almost in disbelief. Not even his parents would speak to him in that way. But that is also what made Nate River so special.

What Nate did that caught Light off guard was scooting closer, until their heads slightly touched. “Light,” He whispered, “did you wish to be intimate?”

It was now Light’s turn to become bright red. He kept his mouth shut knowing he would only stumble on his words.

Nate got even closer, soon laying his head on his friend’s chest. “Is this, okay?” His expression was hidden in Light’s shirt. It was an embarrassing one, he had found himself like this quite a bit around Light Yagami, but he didn’t mind these soft yet formidable feelings.

Light took a deep breath and counted to four before releasing. He repeated the process to calm himself. Once his heart slowed, he looked down to the sleepy beauty that laid against his chest and wrapped his arms around him.

“Are you okay?” Nate seemed genuinely concerned, Light’s breathing patterns were ones that people used to calm their anxiety.

“I’m fine.” Light smiled, “if anything, I feel euphoric.”

“Is that why you were box breathing?” Nate snuggled in closer with a big yawn.

“Correct.” Light rubbed the white-haired teens back in small circles.

After a few more moments of silence, and Light in a half-awake half-dream-like state, Nate spoke.

“Light, I feel very safe.” He smiled sweetly. “Thank you.”

The night ended with Light humming back in response, before falling into his dreams of white and bells.

[digitalworldbound]

Takari Week, Day Two: First Kiss

Hello, again! This was the first fanfiction I ever wrote in middle school, around the age of thirteen (eight years ago!). I found it the other day, and thought it would be cute to post. It’s not the best, but has a cute sentiment . @takariweek 💖

Title: First Kiss

Characters: Takeru x Hikari

We arrived at Daisuke’s house when the party was in full swing. From the overflow of cars in the driveway, it appeared that everybody from the soccer team, dance squad, and student council were there.

“Hey, Takaishi-san!” Daisuke sauntered over and did that guy hand-slap/chest-bump combination that he must have picked up from my brother. “Welcome, welcome, all!” He looked me up and down, and I gave him the stare that made it clear I wasn’t the least bit interested in anything he was looking for. Not all men mature after middle school.

“Hey, man.” Saeki, my boyfriend, said. He side stepped me, putting his body between Daisuke and myself. “Thanks for the invite.” Daisuke grinned wider, sizing Saeki up. Both boys had a competitive streak, something that I wished they left on the soccer field.

“Oh, right, you two are together. See, I keep forgetting that since she’s always with him.” He pointed a grimy finger to a clearly annoyed Takeru.

“Daisuke-san, I don’t believe that you’ve met Nagai-san yet.” Takeru gestured in his girlfriend’s direction. Her glittery eyes popped underneath her smoky eyeshadow, and I absentmindedly wished I had taken the time to apply some.

Our whole lives, people always assumed that Takeru and I were an item. In their defense, most of our time was spent together, and we even had this weird twin-telepathy thing that let us know how the other one was feeling. It wasn’t until high school arrived that our close bond was placed underneath scrutiny.

For whatever reason, Daisuke laughed. “Okay, I get it, I get it.” He reached into a cooler and pulled out some cans of soda.  “I’d say go long, Takaishi-san, but I don’t think my mom would appreciate getting soda on the carpet.” He laughed. I quirked an eyebrow at his jab. “Wow, Daisuke-san, that’s fresh coming from the kid that wore a pair of hand-me-down goggles for over half of his life.”

Saeki stifled a laugh at my outburst, but Takeru remained stoic. The four of us each took a can and made our way over to the corner of the kitchen.

“Don’t let him get to you.” I said to Takeru.

“But he’s right. I can’t seem to catch anything… except grief.” He shook his head. With the basketball season starting up, Takeru hadn’t had as much time to practice as he did in years previous. He game had gotten weaker; a detail that hadn’t slipped even Daisuke’s notice.

I turned my back to Nagai and Saeki. I knew how embarrassed Takeru could get about his skills. He always valued the opinions of others more than his own. “You’re getting much better. The other day, Nii-chan was telling me you catch a ball nearly half-way down the court.”

“I guess.” His voice was faint. “But it is so humiliating sitting on the bench every game.”

“I thought you only wanted to play basketball to make friends and to fit in. Remember? You said that you were more focused on becoming a writer.”

He shrugged. “But it doesn’t mean I don’t want to play.”

“I know but look around. You’re at a party and Daisuke-san of all people invited you.”

“He invited everybody.” Takeru’s huff of annoyance ruffled his golden locks, and I pretended that the movement didn’t distract me.

“But at least you’re here. And he’s making fun of you. Isn’t that ‘the bro’ way of being friendly?”

“’The bro way.’” He laughed.

“You know, how guys show affection. Or mark their turf. Kind of like how my cat Miko pees on something to let you know it’s hers.”

“Do you have any idea what you’re talking about?” A grin teased its way onto his face, and I silently rejoiced at the small victory.

“Of course not,” I admitted. “But does it at least make you feel a little bit better?”

“Yeah, just a little.”

I elbowed him playfully. “Well, that will not do. Clearly my job here is not done. Let me count the ways you are a stud.”

“Wait, wait.” Takeru laughed and pulled out his phone. “I need to record this. I may even make it my new ringtone.” His eyebrows wiggled suggestively.

I grabbed his phone and spoke directly into the mic. “I, Yagami Hikari, do hereby swear the Takaishi Takeru is a total manly man, the ultimate bro. Reason number one, he can quote the entire My Neighbor Totoro movie at the drop of a hat. Reason number two, he knows to always compliment a lady’s photography skills. Um, reason number three. Um…”

“Nice,” he grabbed his phone back. “You can’t even come up with three reasons?”

“See, there are just too many reasons, my poor brain is on overload.”

“Good save.”

“Phew!” I wiped my brow dramatically.

“Hey!” Miyako approached us. “I didn’t see you guys come in. But then I saw your dates outside and figured you were doing that thing you do.” I almost didn’t recognize her with her long hair pulled all the way back. Her face looked more angular, more grown-up.

The best part about Miyako, however, was that she could read the nonverbal exchange Takeru and I shared. “Let me guess. You didn’t realize your dates left.”

I grimaced.

She shook her head, shiny purple hair flowing behind her. “You guys are too much.”

“Clearly,” Takeru and I said in unison.

“Well, may I suggest that you take your party outside and keep your dates company?”

“Thank you so much!” I gave Miyako a quick hug before she returned to her student council friends.

Takeru and I went to the glass patio door and saw Nagai and Saeki leaning against the deck railing. Saeki, all cheekbones and full lips, was telling some story that made Nagai giggle like a little schoolgirl. Her cheeks were rosy against her white camisole, short cropped hair caught on a breeze. ‘Takeru-kun looks at that every day.’ I shut down that train of thought as soon as it arrived. Now was not the time to be jealous.

“Well, at least they’re having a good time.” Takeru remarked. “In fact, it looks like they’re having a better time now than they have all night.”

“Takeru-kun,” I stopped his hand from opening up the door. “I think that maybe it’s not the best idea for us to go on double dates.”

He nodded, letting his palm linger a second too long. “I know. It’s just hard to throw anybody into our mix. I really don’t want to mess things up with Nagai-san.”

“You and I will still hang out; you’re bound to me by the laws of friendship. I’m only saying that maybe date night should just be date night. No forcing our dates to put up with the two of us.”

Takeru’s gaze was fixed straight ahead. His jaw was tightly clenched, blue eyes narrowed to fine points.

“Takeru-kun?” When he didn’t respond, I followed his stare. Saeki moved closer to Nagai and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She blushed further but leaned into him. He put his arm around her, pulling her closer. His jacket dangled from her shoulders as Nagai tucked herself into the warmth.

“Are they flirting?” I gasped out. There was no way this was happening.

Takeru and I remained frozen in place as we watched Saeki and Nagai lean in closer and closer. He said something else that made her laugh. Her giggles bounded off the glass door and shot straight into my heart. She twirled a piece of auburn hair around her finger, the action enticing Saeki lean even further into her. Her smile dropped. They were studying each other. Intensely.

I recognized the look on Saeki’s face. He tilted his head and put his index finger up to her chin. This was not happening.

“I can’t…” The pain etched in Takeru’s voice snapped me into action.

“How could you?” I found myself in front of Nagai. I know I should have been more upset with Saeki, but at that moment I was furious with the green-eyed beauty. Takeru had been on a few dates with her, he’d even asked her to come hang out with his friends and go to a party he was invited to, and this is how she repaid him?

Nagai shrank away from me, but Saeki stepped closer. “Are you being serious right now?” I’d never seen him so mad before. His hands, clenched into fists at his side, were trembling.

“Are you being serious right now?” I threw back.

He looked at me with disgust. “Do you realize how messed up this is? You’re mad at Nagai-san? Do you even care about me? You know what – you don’t even need to answer that. It’s clear that your only concern is Takaishi-san, not your boyfriend. No, wait, your former boyfriend.”

“Let me make sure I’m getting this straight.”  My mind was trying to keep pup with every that had happened in the past few minutes. “You were flirting with another girl. If I hadn’t stepped in, you were probably going to kiss another girl. You were going to cheat on me. Yet you’re mad at me? And you’re breaking up with me?”

“Do you have any idea how much this hurts me?” Saeki’s voice cracked, and I could tell it was completely genuine. I felt awful; maybe I had hurt him. But I certainly knew I didn’t do anything that justified cheating.

“How are you putting this on me?” Confusion swirled around in my head. Saeki and I had never fought; not once. We were talking about traveling to Kyoto for our one-year anniversary. And now he was breaking up with me? “Have you been drinking?”

“You know I don’t drink.” He snapped at me. “Maybe I did this on purpose, for you to see what it’s like to have your boyfriend give another girl all your attention. I really like you, Hikari-chan, but I can’t sit here and play second best to Takaishi-san anymore.”

“You wouldn’t think any of this if he were a girl.” Tears trailed down my cheeks, but I let them fall. I wanted him to see the pain he was causing me.

“But he’s not, and that’s the problem. Why don’t you two just go out already?”

That is what it always came down to. The perception that there was no way Takeru and I could be legitimately best friends and only friends. Nobody seemed to understand it. Mostly because those people never had a best friend of the opposite sex.

Or maybe it was more appropriate to say that none of them have had Takeru as a best friend.

“If you’ve had such a problem with it, why are you only saying something now?”

He groaned. “Because I figured the closer you and I got, the less I would have to deal with him?”

“Deal with him?”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard Takeru’s voice say, “I’m so sorry.” I had forgotten that he and Nagai were there. In fact, a whole crowd had started gathering around the door.

Nagai was hunched over in the corner in an attempt to disappear. “I should go,” she said quietly.

“I’ll drive you home.” Saeki walked into the group of observers while Nagai following close behind him.

I heard some clapping. “Dudes,” Daisuke called out, emerging from the crowd. “I know I can always count on you two to bring the entertainment. If only I had some popcorn! That was insane.”

“Really, Motimiya-san?” I asked. Something in my voice must have stopped him.

“Oh, man, I’m sorry, Hikari-chan.”

I stood there waiting for him to make a sarcastic follow up comment, but he had a look of actual sympathy on his face. It made me feel even worse. If Daisuke felt bad for you, you knew your life must be pathetic.

“Let’s get out of here.” I grabbed Takeru by the arm and led us out of the crowded house.

“Um, our ride left,” Takeru said with quiet resignation.

“We’ll figure something out.” I opened the front door and started walking. “I think the fresh air might do us some good.”

Takeru stayed uncharacteristically silent for several minutes. I left him alone with is thoughts, as I had a plethora of my own to muddle through.  Mostly, what had just happened? Maybe I was missing some signals. I racked my brain for signs that Saeki had been unhappy. He’d made lots of jabs at how much time I spent with Takeru and usually pretended to gag whenever I would talk about him. But he was a guy. I’d thought he was teasing me.

Regardless of what I’d done, it didn’t give him any excuse to flirt the second my back was turned. But what made me the most upset was that it had been Takeru’s girlfriend. I would have thought Saeki, of all people, would’ve wanted Takeru to have a girlfriend.

“Is any of this making sense to you?” I asked Takeru. The night air caressed his cheeks, coloring them the shade of rose petals. He shook his head and kept walking. This was bad.

We found ourselves walking to the same place. We didn’t discuss our destination; we just lead each other to the shores of Odaiba Beach. Silently, we strolled towards the abandoned swing set. Carefully, I sat in the middle swing while Takeru occupied the swing to my left. This is how we always sat on the way home in middle school, back when growing up wasn’t so messy.

I started rocking my swing back and forth.

“So, I’ve been thinking,” Takeru announced, remaining motionless in his swing. “I think you’re right. We shouldn’t go on anymore double dates.”

I looked over and saw a slight smile pulling at the edges of his lips. “Are you making a joke?”

“Well, it’s either that, or accept the fact that I’ve been cheated on twice.” He was referring to his girlfriend from middle school. At the girl’s New Year’s Eve party, she snuck away to make out with Daisuke while Takeru was visiting his family in France. I was the one that found them in a tangle of limbs on a butterfly comforter. I was also the one that had to break the news to my best friend when he got off the plane six days later.

“Well, if it helps, Nagai-san didn’t technically cheat.”

He clicked his tongue. “Yeah, only because you stopped it.”

“We don’t know what was going to happen.” Truthfully, I didn’t believe the words as they came out of my mouth. I tried to lighten the mood. “I guess I really need to stop going to parties where your girlfriends are. And where there are doors.”

“Tell me about it.” He got up and went behind to push me. I closed my eyes and let the swing take me higher and higher. His hands pressed lightly on my back, and I relished in the comfort while it lasted.

We stayed like that for nearly an hour before I glanced down at my watch. “We either need to start walking home or call one of our parents.”

We decided that it was best to call Takeru’s mom for a ride.  My father and Onii-chan were very protective of me, so I didn’t think they would take it lightly that I’d been essentially abandoned at a party. Although I was with Takeru, which would have made them both feel a bit better. They both really liked Saeki, so I knew they’d be disappointed to hear that it was over.

Over. It was so strange to think about it.

Takeru and I sat on the curb while we waited on his mother to pick us up. He averted his eyes, picking at the toe of his sneaker.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Not really.” He wrapped his arms around his legs. “I don’t know, I’m wondering if there is something wrong with me.” A cheek was pressed against his knee, facing in my direction.

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” I assured him. His eyes, a stormy gray, refused to meet mine.

“But why do girls keep cheating on me?”

“You’ve had one girl cheat on you, and another to make a bad decision.”

He sighed, his breath shakily blowing his hair out of his eyes. “Maybe I’m a bad kisser.”

“I’m sure it’s not that.”

“How would you know?” He got me there. “Let’s think about it. My first girlfriend was away from me for ten days and sucking face with a guy who was supposed to be my friend the second she was alone with him. Tonight, my girlfriend was away from me for like two seconds before she about to make out with a guy that was already taken. The problem is clearly me.”

“You’re being silly.” I insisted. It hurt me to think that my best friend thought so lowly of himself. He was loyal, kind, and everything a girl could ever need.

“I don’t think I am.” That was all it took for Takeru to become opposite of silent. He spent the next five minutes battling the crickets for his voice to be heard. He went on and on about how it must be that he was a terrible kisser and that he would never be able to keep a girlfriend because of how lousy of a person he was. How he was never going to date another girl because he wouldn’t be able to trust them. How pathetic he must be that every girl jumped at the chance to be with someone the second his back was turned.

It was grinding on my last nerve.

Takeru was usually pretty laid back about most things, so I wasn’t accustomed to him being so hard on himself about some girl.

I kept trying to tell him that it wasn’t about him. It was about how the first girlfriend likes to flirt and couldn’t be “girlfriend material” with how she preferred to play the field. And who knew about Nagai? She was younger than we were. She had made a mistake.

But that wasn’t enough. I was getting so frustrated with Takeru. Part of me wanted to smack him, but I knew he would only keep complaining.

“Nope, that’s it. I’m a horrible kisser. And it’s going to spread around the school and no girl will ever give me a chance.”

“For the love of the gods, Takeru-kun!”

And before I really could register what I was doing, I grabbed his cheeks and pulled his lips to mine. The chilly air had chapped them, and but his face was warm underneath my hands. He was tense, probably from shock, but I forced my eyes shut so that I wouldn’t see any looks of disgust he could give me.  I tried to ingrain the scent of the sea and sandalwood and something uniquely him. Then, his shoulders loosened. His arms wrapped around my middle as he eased his body into mine. My fingers twitched, threatening to caress his hair.

I pulled away and Takeru struggled for breath. “Wh-wh-what …” He stammered, ears pink from excitement.

Ignoring my own rapid heartrate, I discretely tried to catch my breath. “You’re fine. You are not a bad kisser. It has been verified. Moving on.”

His eyes were shiny and wide, mouth agape and speechless. For the first, I cursed myself for leaving my camera at home.

I loved that he was so flustered. The fact that I could have that effect on him was exhilarating.

From across the street, we could see his mom’s headlights approaching. I stood up while he remained seated on the curb. I reached out my hand to help him up, but it took him a second to process it. He got up on his feet, completely stunned.

“So, that’s one thing that I have on all of your basketball friends and your other ‘bros’” I said to him, flashing him the smile I reserved for quiet moments like these. He returned a blank stare.

I laughed and playfully punched him in the shoulder. “I don’t think any of them would’ve had the nerve to prove to you that you’re not a bad kisser. You’re welcome, by the way.”

He stayed mostly silent on the ride back to my house. Every so often, his finger would reach up to brush across his lips, and I had to stop myself from doing the same. ‘Remember, you’re better off as friends.’

I laughed silently to myself while my thigh was pressed against his in the backseat. All it really takes to fluster a guy is a simple kiss.

[hydrangeasimagination]

you listen to the yagami yato audios too? could you write one based off the shigaraki x listener that yagami made? (female y/n) thank you uwu

Ohh yeah, Yagami - sensei is a fellow artist that brings story telling to a new front.

Well, I wanna keep things ambiguous since all of Yagami’s work is based around it?

I don’t think I use many pronouns when referring to the Reader anyhow?

Anything based on the “x Listener” stuff will all be kept gender neutral if there’s requests for it.

Alright, since this is based around the “Shigaraki X Listener” series, there’s gonna be spoilers for the story line if you haven’t listened to it yet.

Also it’s kind of what I think might’ve happened before Part 4 and shortly after Part 3 in the series.

I’m gonna put it under the cut but either way, a definite warning!

~ Dari

edit: Oh, I forgot to mention that this particular reader is based on the character I made to stand in as the listener. If you wanna hear more about that, feel free to ask.

[Edit 3/20/2021: I no longer support YY but I will keep this piece of writing up since it was a path in time where she had inspired me... And it kind of reflects the changes I have made thus far.]

Shigaraki Tomura.

A man that you fell in love with was someone that you used to view as a monster, someone that you did hate a long time ago.

You didn’t remember when it changed until recently, when he was no longer the monster and instead the person that you’d be willing to give your heart to.

Perhaps it was when he showed you the first moment of kindness, perhaps it was when he killed someone for you…

Perhaps when he began to show that he was truly more man than monster.

The former hero status branded onto you still kept you as a target to other villains. To annoyances that you can take out either way. But that meant you’re at a point where you bring notoriety to the League of Villains if you rip up these minor inconveniences.

Many attacked you still believing that you were a hero, despite the fact that your loyalties are somewhere else. That you’ve no intention of removing yourself from the LOV.

So the day you began to fall in love with Tomura was a surprise, a special day you’d never forget.

“Hey.” His voice was a little gruff, sliding a skinny black box across the bar to you.

In confused silence, you stopped it. Peering down at it, your brows gently knit together in confusion before you looked back up at him.

“What? Hurry up and open it, we have a mission.”

His tone was a rough but impatient, making your skin prickle the slightest bit in nervousness.

Gently biting your lip, eyes flickered down to the box. Carefully, you gripped the top and flipped it open.

You gasped softly.

Laid in the box was a collar, but it was clearly custom with how it was made. The stitches weren’t visible, the dark leather was clean and simple. The clasps and rings were sterling silver, the inside was lined with velvet for your comfort. Emblazoned on the tags was not only the logo of the LOV, but also something that was unmistakable.

His name.

It was only his last name, but the kanji was inlayed with red, Making it visible to all that look, even from afar, where you belonged.

Who you belonged to.

Peering down at it, amazement was clear on your features, your eyes a little wide.

Looking back up at Shigaraki, you saw a flash of something in his eyes that made your heart skip.

Fondness.

It lasted for just a second when his ruby eyes narrowed into a sharp glare.

“Well? What do you say, pet?”

You drew your gaze back down, unable to stop the smile at pulled at your lips. Unable to stop the heat that rose to your cheeks, the happiness you suddenly felt leaking into your voice despite the almost taunting tone he used.

“I love it… Thank you.”

He jerked, clearly taken aback. The sincerity you displayed surprised him, not having expected that you’d be happy to be collared. However, he quickly regained his composure and turned from you, thanking whatever deity existed that he was wearing father to hide his own red face.

“Whatever, just put it on so we can go.”

Obeying, you carefully lifted it from the box, sliding it around your neck and tightening it appropriately. It kissed almost feather-like against your throat, the tags giving a little jingle as they clinked against each other.

It was enough to worsen the warmth in your face, but you found that you didn’t mind it.

Whether it meant belonging to him or otherwise.

“Yes, Shigaraki - sama.”

[rainywritingsx]

Torn • BNHA X OC • Chapter 5

All previous chapters can be found on my masterlist which is here!

Hi. Does anyone remember this fanfic? Lolol it’s been a whileee since I updated it, but here I am ^^. I’m gonna try to post chapters of torn more frequently in the future. If you enjoyed it, please let me know! I was also thinking of maybe making a tag list for this fan fiction if anyone is interested in that? It might be easier to find my fic that way but idk. Let me know what you think ^^. Anywayyy, onto the story now!

Words: 2186

When finally everyone was gathered, roll call could start. I bit my lip as I slightly bounced, leaning my weight on my heels and then on my toes. This went on for a little while until finally the teacher spoke up.

"Welcome everybodyyy! I am Present Mic and I will give you all of the info for the practical exam!" His loud voice boomed through the room. I flinched in surprise and so did many others, but soon a smile grew on my face. This was so cool...

"So as you all will probably know, we'll start with a roll call! After that, you as well as all of the other groups will go to one big place where the practical exam will be held. You'll be graded individually, so be careful when you're working with somebody! This exam is basically like the entrance exam the current UA students had. There will be robots that you will have to win against like heroes against villains!!" On a screen, which I didn't recall appearing, different robots were shown.

"There are different types of robots that you can beat scattered around the area. You will get about half an hour to do this!" After the last sentence many people whispered to each other at how long thirty minutes was.

"Don't underestimate it guys!! The robots are totally difficult to beat and there's a lot of them!" Present Mic interrupted, making the whole crowd go silent again. i couldn't help but feel like I wasn't supposed to be here- which I wasn't since I told my parents I was going to the gym, but it was also because nobody else was alone. Everyone had at least one person they knew with them and despite having been used to being alone, it didn't mean it didn't hurt.

Why was I even thinking about this? This was a one time thing, making friends would only be a bad thing. I shook my head and softly sighed at myself before turning my attention to the loud hero again.

"Now, I'll bring you guys outside where we will wait until all of the groups have finished roll call. Let's go everybodyyyy!" I giggled at his energy before the crowd started moving outside. I was really surprised by the amount of students that were doing this entrance exam. Did this many people dream of becoming heroes?

A soft squeal left my mouth when I bumped into something big. I gasped and looked up, realising I bumped into a guy who was glaring daggers at me right now. His gaze was way too intimidating for my liking, and I had this really bad feeling as his gaze rested on me. I quickly bowed and kept my head down.

"M-my apologies! I wasn't looking where I was going." Though I didn't see his face, I felt like he was rolling his eyes at me.

"If you can't even walk around properly without even looking where you're going, you're not worthy of being a hero." Jeez, uptight much... I could get where Eraserhead was coming from when I was late earlier today but this was too much honestly...

I decided not to make a scene since I really wasn't in the mood for an argument, nor did I want to make enemies so quickly.

After what felt like eternity, the whole group was complete. I bit my lip and waited nervously for the next announcement to be made. My heart was thumping so loudly I thought the crowd could hear me and my throat had never been so dry. Maybe I should've drank a bit more water during the break... well, there was nothing I could do about it now.

"Alright everyone! Get ready, the exam will start in five minutes." A voice of which the location I couldn't tell said. I could feel myself getting more nervous and excited as well as the other people. Girls were chatting excitedly as they stretched, guys were flexing while attempting to intimidate others (which they were failing at if you were asking me) and some people seemed to be thinking of strategies for the exam.

What was I supposed to be doing right now? I really had no idea.. I just had to hope that a lot of water was around so I could use it to my advantage. If there was nothing, I'd have to rely on my physical abilities. I also couldn't think of any other fluid that would be present if there was no water. And using it on people was the last thing I would want to do...

I sighed softly. I really had to work on my physical skills... In situations where I wouldn't be able to use my quirk I'd need a lot of physical strength.

I was brought out of my thoughts by the sound of a timer that indicated we had 30 seconds left. I bit my lip as I noticed I started feeling unwell because of my nerves. Come on Janie, you could do this...

I took a beep breath and slowly breathed out, before getting ready. We were all standing behind a giant door right now, and outside was a closed off parkour where the robots would be waiting. At this point I wasn't sure anymore whether I was excited or incredibly nervous.

"10 seconds left everybody!" Present mic yelled out, which made my eyes widen. This was really happening... my gosh..

The door opened and the sight we were greeted with was a replica of a city. The buildings were really big and the streets were very wide. A vast majority of the group immediately took off to find as many robots as possible.

"I should get going too." I mumbled to myself. I decided to go where the group didn't go, because that way I wouldn't hadn't to worry about being quicker than them too much.

As I jogged, I looked around, trying to find a robot and some water. But of course, the streets were spotless.. ah, dangit Janie. You really underestimated this exam.

I gasped and immediately stopped when I saw a big robot. It was dark grey and pretty round. I tilted my head in confusion upon noticing a letter on the robot. "D"? What would that even stand for?

My breath hitched in my throat when I realised the robot had spotted me. It slowly took big steps towards me which made me panic slightly. Though it was slow, it was still really strong so kicking or hitting hit would most likely not work at all.

So what did my amazing trained natural instinct do?

I ran into a dark alley that was a few meters away.

I smiled in victory when I realised it was too small for the robot to get through. That meant that I had some more time to think now. I saw a pole, but then again realised this robot was too strong for that... and it's not normal to find weapons in a city so they most likely wouldn't be here either.

A squeal left my mouth when I saw the robot had broken a building in order to get closer to me. These things were really persistent weren't they?

I sighed in annoyance and ran a bit further, screaming when I slipped and fell into a big puddle of mud. I groaned as I looked at my clothes. How lovely...

Wait.

Mud.

I quickly got up and smiled when I saw that the puddle wasn't too small. Mud was pretty thick though... I didn't think I had ever tried using it before? But eh, there's a first to everything right?

I took a deep breath before extending my arms towards the puddle. I tried to concentrate as well as I could and groaned when I realised how hard this was. It took forever for the whole puddle to go up like how I wanted it to.

I flinched when I heard another big step coming from the robot. Come on Janie, faster... you had to hurry up..

With all of my might (heh) I lifted it higher as quickly as I could and threw the liquid at the robot. I pumped my first in the air when I saw it fell down. Yeah, that was the disadvantage of using robots instead of actual people.

When the robot had completely shut down, I saw a shiny white dot on it.

"What?" I mumbled as I walked closer to it. It probably wasn't smart of me to touch it because it could've been anything but I did it anyway. Suddenly a screen appeared in the air, showing me, my last name and a number. It seemed to be my score.

Kotu - 5

Five points? That wasn't too bad, right? Wait...

Dupont - 30

Yagami - 35

Hamada - 50

How did they have that many points? I really needed to catch up... they were all way faster than I expected.

I was brought of my thoughts because of a loud step, that kind of sounded like thunder. I turned my head and my eyes widened upon seeing an even bigger robot than before. Oh boy.. also, the mud was starting to dry and it really didn't feel pleasant at all.

This time I also noticed a circle where a letter was written, but this was a different letter. S? On the other robot I saw the letter D.. why was this different?

I didn't have much more time to think because the huge robot took another big step in my direction, causing me to flinch as I tried to find a convenient hiding place. The sewers.. but how the heck would I even fit in there? And it would be pointless as I didn't know where I'd end up.

Another big thud caused me too feel more panicked. The robot was getting closer and I had to beat it. I needed those points!

wait.

Sewers.

Water.

I have a water quirk.

Oh my god Janie, you dimwit.

I quickly ran towards the sewers, hoping that I was able to see something through it. I guess I just had to try? Could I even control water without seeing it or being sure that it was there? Another big thud caused me to lose my balance slightly, but I managed to stand straight again.

I guess I just had to try. Here goes nothing, I thought to myself. I extended my arms and closed my eyes, trying to concentrate as much as I could. If this went wrong I'd be screwed...

To my surprise, I realised I was lifting up water. Not wanting to lose focus however, I didn't celebrate this just yet.

thud.

I gasped as I tried not to fall and stay focused on the water. The robot was really close at this point.

A small smile appeared on my face when I saw water coming out of the sewers. I tried lifting up as much as I could and using all of my might I threw the water over the robot. I was about to walk towards the robot to get my points when realisation that it was completely fine hit me. Oh no... this one was waterproof. Well of course, real humans didn't work that way either so I guessed it was a good thing.

Another plan... think Janie, think. A true fighter should always at least have a plan B. Why didn't I have a plan B?

thud.

Suddenly an idea crossed my mind, but it was risky to do. Would I be able to lift the robot up with the amount of water I used and then throw it with the robot so it would break? I needed a lot of water for that, and I wasn't sure if what I have was enough to carry the weight of it.

I made a small mental note to myself to study fluids in general better, if I had done that before I wouldn't be having so many doubts now. But for now I just had to try, if I didn't try I wouldn't get the points anyway.

I took a deep breath and slowly breathed out before extending my arms again. I slowly made a big bubble out of all of the water again, but instead of throwing it at the robot I tried to make it completely covered it so the robot was basically in the bubble.

I bit my lip before I attempted throwing the bubble up and letting it fall to the ground, waiting to see if it had been defeated yet. My eyes widened when I saw it moving again.

"Are you kidding me now?" I whined as I ran my hands through my hair. How was it still able to move? What was I supposed to do now?

I was brought out of my thoughts by what seemed to be a screen in the sky. I squinted my eyes to see what was on it.

oh.

A timer.

Crap, I had only ten minutes left.

[thatonekawaiigirl13]

Who Said Death Was Easy? [Death Note] Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty: Ally

Keiko’s POV:

H-huh? What’s this? Another businessman is dead? Keiko let out a small gasp as she looked at the profiles of Kira’s latest victims, it could just be a coincidence, seeing as they aren’t of heart attacks...but at this point, is it really? In addition to the usual criminals, a lot of prominent businessmen have been dropping dead recently.

“Light-kun,” the girl called out, “you should come take a look at this.”

I might still be mad at you, but I’m less upset with you than a certain detective...

“Only calling me over, huh? Are you still upset with Ryuzaki-san because of what happened?” Light questioned as he padded over, a certain raven haired detective trailing along slowly behind him.

That’s really none of your business, Light, but yes. I suppose I am still upset. At first, I was okay with my crush on L being unrequited, but after what happened that night…when he kissed me back…he truly made me think, even if for a moment, that he cared about me. He knows it, too, otherwise why would he have done that to me during the double date? He was milking how I felt about him for his own personal enjoyment. At this point, it’s clear he knows all too well that I like him.

Keiko knew that she was being difficult, but she just couldn’t bring herself to talk to the detective, not since the whole double date fiasco. It would be way too embarrassing. In fact, Keiko hadn’t directly spoken to L since she had said those three little words, ‘I hate you’. However, Keiko knew she didn’t actually hate him, not a single bit. She was painfully aware that L probably knew that fact just as well as she did.

L might have complimented my investigative skills and agreed to do that double date, but it’s clear that he doesn’t return my feelings. I knew his personality from the beginning, I knew he’s not the type to care for others… but now, for some reason, Keiko swallowed hard, attempting to mask her emotions, that fact really hurts me. I know it’s impossible, but I want him to like me. Does this mean I’ve moved on from Light?

“I’m sorry to say this, but considering the fact that we’re chained together, Ryuzaki-san and I are quite literally a package deal,” Light joked, breaking Keiko away from her thoughts. She supposed that he was trying to make her crack a smile, but at the moment, smiling was the last thing she felt like doing.

Sorry, Light, but anyway...speaking of L…,Keiko could sense his gaze on her back, but she didn’t dare look behind her to meet his eyes. She made sure she focused only on her laptop’s screen as Light and L sat down next to her.

“Look at these victims,” she pointed at the screen, not even bothering to respond to Light’s comment. “It can’t just be a coincidence, can it?”

Upon seeing that Keiko wasn’t going to answer him, Light let out a sigh. “Alright, fine. Let me take a look.”

Light scooted closer to Keiko, peering over at her computer screen. He scrolled down the page, carefully looking everything over.

We haven’t been this close together since...since his confession the day he got out of confinement…if he feels awkward around me, he isn’t showing it. It’s funny…he finally told me that he loved me, and yet, now the only person I can think about it L…who doesn’t feel anything for me.

“You know,” Light started, “I was just looking at the same thing. In my opinion, it’s definitely not a coincidence. All of them were CEOs whose companies were leaders in their respective industries. In just over a month, they’ve all died. I was also looking at the stock market, and as expected, there’s been a general downturn for those companies...with the exception of Yotsuba. In other words, their deaths are beneficial for the Yotsuba group. Looking back, there have been a few other similar incidents recently.”

“If that’s the case…” Keiko started, “then right now, Kira’s supporting the Yotsuba group.”

“Exactly,” Light nodded, turning towards the detective. “What are your thoughts on this, Ryuzaki-san?”

“Hmm, that could be the case.” Keiko heard L say. “However, if what you’re saying is true, then we can only assume that punishing criminals is not this Kira’s real intention. Punishing criminals is merely a diversion for this Kira. It obscures the fact that he’s killing people for the benefit of the company.”

Wait a moment… ‘this Kira’?

“You mean to say that you think this is a different Kira from the previous two?” Keiko blurted out before she could stop herself. She covered her mouth, feeling the detective’s gaze on her once again.

Whoops...I guess I finally broke my silent treatment. Though, I suppose the case is far more important than my own personal dignity…but still, he knows how I feel about him, and he took advantage of that...and I yelled at him...it’s embarrassing. He knows just how much he affects me. He knows just how hopeless I am. There goes my pride.

“Yes,” L said after a moment. If he was taken aback by Keiko finally talking to him again, he didn’t show it.

Was he just waiting for me to talk to him again? He better not think he’s getting off easy. If I ever get the chance to talk to him alone again, he’d better be prepared.

“All of this time, I suspected that Light Yagami was Kira and Misa Amane the Second Kira, the entire investigation hinged on those two facts. Up until Light’s confinement, all of the evidence pointed to them. Even though criminals began dying soon after Light was confined, I don’t think it was a coincidence that, at least for a little while, the murders stopped. This suggests that, at that time, my theory about Light Yagami was correct. Even though he’s technically in the gray right now, I’m still suspicious, hence the handcuffs. However, like you noted, there’s been a recent shift of Kira’s killing patterns, which pokes another hole into my theory that Light is Kira. But, I do not think that my deductions that Light and Misa were both Kira before are entirely wrong. I believe that it’s possible they were Kira, but somehow they’ve lost their powers, and their memories, and that Kira’s powers have been transferred to someone else within the Yotsuba Group. That, to me, makes the most sense. We also know that Kira can control people. If that’s the case, then he’s stopped controlling Light and Misa, and is controlling someone involved with the Yotsuba Group.”

Keiko glanced over at the detective, her face turning a little pink at their sudden eye contact, he still stands by the fact that Light Yagami and Misa Amane were Kira and the Second Kira...even I have to admit, that makes sense.

“So essentially,” Keiko started, attempting to ignore the blush on her face and the way L was looking at her, “you’re saying you think it’s possible that Kira’s power can pass between people?”

L nodded, the corners of his lips curving slightly upwards. “Yes, I believe so. Therefore, if evidence is pointing to someone in the Yotsuba Group, we should find them and bring them into custody as soon as possible before they lose their memories and have their power transferred to someone else. Then we can find out once and for all how Kira kills once and for all. And, during the process, maybe we can see whether or not Light or Misa regain memories of being Kira. ”  

“It sounds like, in the end, you won’t be satisfied unless I am or was Kira at some point,” Light grumbled.

“When you put it that way, I suppose you’re right, in a way,” L responded. “After all, all the evidence was against you...up until now. I admit it, I wanted you to be Kira.”

Light’s face twisted in annoyance, but before he could respond, the intercom buzzed. The rest of the task force had finally arrived.

Saved by the bell, Keiko thought.

“Did we miss anything?” Matsuda loudly questioned as soon as he entered the room. The others, Aizawa, Mogi, and Chief Yagami, followed behind him. Keiko noted that the chief looked especially worn out.

“As a matter of fact, you did,” L responded, “it looks like we might have something here. A new direction for the investigation…”

“Oh geez,” Aizawa commented once L was done with his explanation concerning the Yotsuba Group. “So you suspect that Kira is someone connected with Yotsuba?”

“Yes,” L said simply. “That’s what makes the most sense. If we investigate Yotsuba Group, we should be able to find Kira.”

Oh hey!” Matsuda grinned from ear to ear, “that means we have a lead again! That’s wonderful. Well done, you three.”

“I’m afraid I have some not-so-wonderful news,” the chief announced, a grim expression on his face.

“What’s going on?” Light shot his father a concerned glance.

“This won’t be easy to say,” the chief replied. He loosened his tie, taking a seat on one of the couches in the room. “Well…before we came here, Mogi and I spoke with the deputy director. It seems like this Kira’s offered bribes to a number of politicians. Kira said as long as the police don’t chase him, he won’t lay a hand on any politician in power. After hearing this, the police caved in to Kira.”

W-what?! Caved in to Kira?! Keiko’s eyes widened at the Chief’s statement. She heard both Light and Matsuda let out gasps beside her. The only one in the room who did not appear to be surprised, however, was L.

The chief continued on, “Mogi and I have already made up our minds...but Aizawa, Matsuda, if you two wish to continue working this case, you’ll have to hand in your letters of resignation to the NPA. Mogi and I have already done this. Therefore, like it or not, we cannot pursue Kira as members of the police force anymore. They made that quite clear. If you continue to work with L, you will be fired.”

“What?!” Aizawa had a pained expression on his face, “chief-”

Light’s father cut him off, “in a few more hours, I will no longer be your chief. However, I know that everyone has different circumstances, so please, think it over carefully.”

“That’s true,” Matsuda commented, “especially if you have a family to support.”

Keiko peered over at Aizawa, thinking about his young daughter he’d mentioned before. It looked like he was thinking about her, too. His eyes were full of both sadness and distress, his mouth a thin line.

“If you want my opinion,” L’s voice broke through the sudden silence, “you’d be better off as police officers. I was alone when I started this case, and although I’m grateful to each and every one of you for sticking with me this far, I know I can do this by myself.”

At this, Keiko’s eyebrows furrowed. By himself?! What is this attitude all of the sudden? Where is this coming from? Surely he can’t be serious...if that’s true, then does he see the rest of us as worthless? Does that mean he wasn’t serious when he complimented my investigative skills? No, that can’t be it...it has to be a bluff of some sort, right?

“Ryuzaki-san,” Light rattled the chains connecting him to the detective, “did you forget about our current situation? Anyway, as long as I’m alive, you won’t be working alone. You have my word on that. I’m sure Keiko-chan feels the same way. Right?”

Keiko nodded, meeting L’s eyes with a determined look on her face, “I won’t stop until we catch Kira.”

Even though you confuse and  frustrate me to no end, I’m determined to work alongside you and see this case out until the end. I have to prove my worth as a detective!

“Hmm,” L said after a moment. “I suppose that’s right. I guess I’ll have the two of them working alongside me until I catch Kira. So I won’t be alone after all. However, like I said, I think the rest of you should remain as police officers.”

“But when you first contacted us, you said you needed the help of the police!” The chief blurted out.

“That’s because the police as an organization didn’t bow down to Kira. Besides, with all due respect, I don’t think the help of two or three civilians can be compared to the police as an organization. Anway, the police have made their position clear; they no longer want to catch Kira. So let’s leave it at that.”

“I suppose what you’re saying makes sense. If we are no longer police officers, we won’t be of as much use to you. However,” Soichiro’s voice raised slightly, “we are all personally involved in this. All of us have risked our lives to catch Kira. Therefore, we should have the right to decide whether to stay here or remain as police officers!”

“You have a point. Then by all means, decide what you want to do.”

“But chief,” Aizawa interjected, “if you quit the police force, you’ll be unemployed! Even if we catch Kira, what are you going to do afterwards?”

“Afterwards, huh?” The chief crossed his arms, a thoughtful look on his face, “I haven’t quite thought about that...but after we catch Kira, I guess it’ll be time to dust off my resume.”

“Count me in!” Matsuda pumped a fist in the air. “I’m also going to quit the police and chase after Kira! Besides, I still have to do my job as Misa-Misa’s manager! If I remained as a police officer, I’d feel like a loser!”

“You should think before you open your mouth, Matsuda-san,” the chief commented.

Keiko watched as an embarrassed Matsuda turned towards Aizawa and stuttered out an apology.

“Is there any way I could keep my job and help you in my spare time?” Aizawa questioned, pointedly ignoring Matsuda’s apology. Everyone in the roomed looked at L, awaiting his response.

“There isn’t…if you remain as a police officer, then please don’t come back here.”

Aizawa was livid. “But you know I won’t leak any information!”

“That may be true...but I won’t be sharing any information,” L coolly replied, causing Aizawa to gasp. “You are free to pursue Kira on your own, or quit your job and continue to search for Kira with us...but I don’t think it’s fair to your family to burden them by giving up your livelihood just to continue with this case. I can’t see how that’s a good idea.”

“It’s as Ryuzaki-san says,” Soichiro commented, “anyway, no one will blame you if you quit now.”

“But chief,” Aizawa swallowed hard. “You have a family, too.”

“That’s true, but our situations are quite different, Aizawa-san.”

“Dammit!” Aizawa cried out in despair. “That’s not fair! I want to stay here! I was prepared to die at any time! Anyway, if I quit now, what kind of friend would I be to Ukita?! I became a detective so I could catch the bad guys, not run away!”

“Ryuzaki-san,” a new voice filled the room. Keiko glanced at the computer monitors, displaying the gothic ‘W’ on the screen.

It’s Watari...he rarely ever gets directly involved with what’s going on...

“Early on in the investigation, you specifically told me that if a Task Force member were to lose their job, I should make preparations to ensure that their family’s financial future was secure. If you recall, a trust fund was set aside for that purpose...I’m a little curious as to why you’re withholding this information.”

What?! He was already prepared for this?! What in the world is going on? Perhaps...was L just testing him? Was this all just a test to see how loyal he’d be to the Task Force? If so, that’s just cruel…but it makes the most sense. Keiko bit her lip, besides, being cruel isn’t new to him...just look at how he teased me during the double date.

“This is not the time or the place to disclose this information,” L commented, earning him an apology from Watari.

“Wait a second, so all this time we had nothing to worry about?” Matsuda gasped. He turned towards Aizawa, “isn’t that great news?!”

Aizawa balled his fists at this new information. If he had been upset before, he was full on angry now, “Ryuzaki-san, I assume this means you wanted to see how committed I was to the Task Force?”

“I’m sure it’s not like that, Aizawa-san,” the chief replied. “Ryuzaki-san just isn’t the type to say things directly. You should know that by now.”

“No, he’s right,” L’s voice cut through the room. “I was testing him. You see, Aizawa-san, I wanted to see which one you would choose.”

No way! That means...he really was just testing him!

“Ryuzaki-san,” the chief’s voice was soft.

“Fine then!” Aizawa bellowed out. “If I wasn’t sure before, I am now!”

Despite protests from the chief and Matsuda, Aizawa continued on, “let’s face it, I wasn’t able to decide right away like you guys. In fact, I was leaning towards going back to the police.”

“Aizawa,” Matsuda looked hurt, “please don’t be so stubborn.”

“No! I quit!” Aizawa’s voice was hard. “It’s become clear to me. I hate Ryuzaki-san!”

Well, Keiko thought to herself, that’s certainly not the first time he’s heard that statement directed towards him recently…I can’t say I blame Aizawa for leaving. He will be missed around here, though.

“I hate Ryuzaki-san!” Aizawa repeated, stomping towards the exit. “I hate him and I hate his way of doing things! That’s it! I’m outta here!”

“That’s too bad,” L said quietly, “because I enjoyed working with you, Aizawa-san. Thank you very much for all of your hard work.”

Just like that, the number of people in the Task Force shrank.

/timeskip/

“I just found another!” Light called out, “a general manager of a bank that happens to be one of Yostuba’s biggest competitors. On September 7th he slipped on the steps of his home and died.”

“September 7th…” the chief mused, shuffling some of his papers around. “That was a Friday, wasn’t it? After going over this again, I noticed that all the deaths that are beneficial to Yotsuba appear to be concentrated around the weekend...with the first few victims, the time of death appears to be random, but more recently, they all seem to take place between Friday night and Saturday afternoon.”

“That’s some amazing work, chief!” Matsuda cheered, offering Light’s father a thumbs up.

“I told you, Matsuda-san, I’m no longer the chief.”

“No, you’ll always be the chief to me,” the young policeman replied.

So, all of the dirty work is done on the weekend, eh? How interesting…

“That’s a really important clue...nice work, Yagami-san,” Keiko commented.

“Thank you,” the chief replied. He let out a small chuckle, “I can’t let myself fall behind. After all, I don’t want to be dead weight.”

“Huh, dead weight…?” Matsuda questioned. He turned towards Soichiro, “you’re not dead weight.”

“Is Kira truly someone from the Yotsuba Group?” L mused, breaking up the conversation, “or is Kira simply using Yotsuba? I haven’t figured that out yet, but let’s investigate this with the assumption that this is Kira’s doing. As I said before, we should definitely focus on the Yotsuba Group.”

“I guess I’m just in time, then,” Mogi announced, stepping into the room. A big stack of papers was in his hands that he set down in front of the raven haired detective. “I’ve compiled a list of all the domestic employees in the Yotsuba Group.”

“Thank you very much. This will be extremely useful.” L flipped through the first couple pages in the stack.

Light turned towards Mogi, “I’m surprised you compiled the list so quickly.”

“Mogi’s been a hard worker from the beginning,” L commented.

“Ryuzaki-san!” Matsuda jumped up from his seat. “Is there anything I can do besides being a manager?”

“You want to be useful?” the detective questioned, glancing up from his papers at the young policeman.

“Yes!”

Keiko had a feeling that, whatever L’s next words were, they wouldn’t be good.

This can’t end well...

“Then,” L started, looking back down at the stack of papers in front of him, “could you please get me another cup of coffee?”

“W-what?” Matsuda stuttered out.

I totally called it. Keiko let out a sigh, earning her a glance from the detective, who offered her a mischievous smirk, what the…? What now?

“And could you get some coffee for our guests over there, too, please?” L gestured towards the couches where two unfamiliar people were sitting. There was a man and a woman, both with blonde hair.

Matsuda let out a gasp,“what? Who are they? When did they get in?”

“Those are the newest members of the Task Force,” L said simply.

“I’m Aiber,” the man said, waving his hand up in the air. “I’m a conman. How’s it goin’?”

“I’m Wedy,” the second one, the woman, announced, lighting a cigarette. “I’m a thief by trade.”

“A con man and a thief?!” the chief demanded, looking appalled.

“Yes. Aiber is a lifelong con man. He has unparalleled social skills that allow him to befriend and gain the trust of any target. We’ll use him for infiltrative investigations. Wedy is a thief who can crack any lock, safe, or security system. As proof, she entered without any of us noticing or setting off any alarm.”

“You expect us to work with criminals?” the chief was aghast.

“Yes, that is correct. However, these two have never been caught. So it’s unlikely that they will be killed off by Kira. Think of them as pros of the underworld.”

Pros of the underworld, eh? I never imagined we’d be working with criminals, but I suppose, given this case, it’s something that has to be done.

“I understand, Ryuzaki-san,” Light commented, “to investigate Yotsuba, we need people like them. Let’s all work together to solve this case as soon as possible!”

Sounds much easier said than done…

[zaney-hacknslash]

Death Note - Void Pt2

Ide

               Lunch rush packed the restaurant; customers clumped in the lobby so deep and thick, I could hardly elbow my way through to ask how long the wait might be. Servers and hosts flurried around with menus and congenial smiles, careful, always, to bow and greet everyone who came through the door, despite the fact that the grating sound of the doorbell sounded off every few seconds.

             Thirty minute wait. I checked my watch.

             Lunch rush hadn’t been part of this equation, honestly. I’d thought I could come sit down, alone, with Matsuda, for a handful of minutes, ask him a couple questions, and get back to headquarters in less than an hour. The time of day had never occurred to me.

             This was his favorite place right now, loud and hopping. Pop music blasted, the chairs were too close together, even on a slow day, and it always seemed just a degree or so to cold.

             Beside me, moody Matsuda stood glaring at the floor with his arms folded, like a little kid who’d gotten dragged against his will into an adult dinner party. Once or twice, I heard him sigh, a bit heavily, but the usual enthusiasm that swept him through his day-to-day life showed no sign of reemerging.

             If he hadn’t been so upset, I might have turned around and walked right out to find somewhere quieter to eat.

             I tried, several times, to say something to him, opening my mouth, and then immediately glancing at the other guests jammed in at my shoulder. Matsuda had no filter when it came to expressing himself, so I doubted the presence of strangers mattered, but I’d purposely brought him here to get a little privacy. I kept thinking he’d say something, even if it was just to complain about how long it was taking to get a seat, but he hardly looked up.

             “I didn’t expect it to be so crowded,” I admitted, at last.

             “It’s lunch time, Ide,” he muttered, more than used to my pickiness.

             “Yes, but I had no idea this place was so popular.” At least, I didn’t understand it. The furniture was garish and cheap, and imitation art of American movies stars from decades gone by cluttered the wall, along with vintage knick knacks. One or two photos of Elvis Presley and a single replica of Marylin Monroe’s famous white dress would have done the trick. This place tried entirely too hard to look like an American diner from the 1950’s.

             “This was your idea,” he reminded me.

             Even so, if we left now and went down the street to a place I liked better, he might not be as comfortable. He might not find anything on the menu he wanted to eat. Getting lunch with me might turn out to be something that merely added to his frustration, when all was said and done, especially since I’d more or less forced him to come along when he didn’t want to in the first place.

             Besides, anywhere else might be just as crowded, and if we had to start our wait all over again, not only would Matsuda be annoyed, everyone at headquarters could get mad at me.

             “It’s fine,” I assured coolly, though the doorbell going off over and over was getting on my nerves, like a bad song I couldn’t turn off, and the gentleman at my shoulder kept accidentally brushing against me and muttering, “Sumimasen,” right in my ear. He had bad breath.

             “Normally…” I pressed closer to Matsuda, trying to get away from my neighbor, “we eat kind of early.”

             Normally, he couldn’t stand to sit at headquarters past ten, so there was usually a break to get him coffee or some kind of snack. Either way, he always started whining about being hungry an hour later.

             That hadn’t happened all week, though. I’d barely seen Matsuda eat at all, in addition to hardly talking. Hopelessly, I stared around at the wild, uncomfortable atmosphere, struggling to tune out the door bell and the man coughing on the back of my neck, skeptical that such an unsettling environment could possibly restore Matsuda’s good cheer.

             Finally, a fresh-faced kid jaunted up to us, bowing. “Gentlemen, so sorry for the wait. If you would, follow me, please,” and then he hustled us through the crowded dining room, to a small table set for two, where he turned to smile at us. “Here we are. I hope this suits you.”

             In my opinion, he’d chosen the worst possible location for us, jammed at a tiny square at the center of the room, surrounded by a sea of people, but without Matsuda to assure him everything was perfect and thank the man, it was up to me to muddle through the polite talk.

             The host promised we’d receive timely service, and ran off again. Matsuda threw himself down in one of the chairs, grabbing up his plastic menu to immediately hide his face behind it; I barely got a glimpse of his slanted brows and down-turned mouth.

             I sat down too. The table wobbled, and the vase of flowers at the center was too big, crowding in on my space. The woman seated behind me was so close, I might as well have sat down in her lap, and the doorbell buzzed again and again.

             “You like this place, right?” I asked, lighting a cigarette and studying him.

             “Yeah. It’s my favorite.” The music was just loud enough to make it hard to hear him. That was new, too. Matsuda was normally so loud, he would have just screamed over the noise to make himself heard.

             Shuichi and the others seemed quite committed to letting him be, hoping his issues would resolve themselves, but I couldn’t bear to keep sitting by and watch him be unhappy. I’d do anything to relieve it.

             Just this once, I told myself, and then I never had to eat here again.

             “What’s good?” I wondered, finally picking up my menu. The food sounded just as bad as the atmosphere, the lunch menu cluttered with things like the Elvis Favorite, Marylin Monroe Patty Melt, and James Dean Fries. Absolutely ridiculous. Most of it was hamburgers anyway, but, at the very bottom they’d crammed in a few traditional Japanese dishes, for the old timers who got dragged in here by their kids.

             Although he’d normally rattle off for five minutes, issuing an exhaustive list of everything that looked good and everything that sounded gross, making recommendations, Matsuda just shrugged and sighed, like food had become an annoyance.

             Just once, I reminded myself again, and tried to focus on what I’d come for.

             I’d never seen him this way.

             Even before I really knew him, he’d always been that guy. The one who smiled all the time and greeted everyone he passed, never forgetting his honorifics, never remembering anyone’s name, the guy who always looked like he was about to blow a brain cell every time he had to sit down, be quiet, and do actual work for a minute or two. Back when he first joined the department, some people had sneeringly nicknamed him Nikko-san, partly after his uncle, who’d gotten him the job, and partly because he was Mr. Sunshine, but definitely not out of affection.

             After Chief Yagami and the others left to work with L, plenty of those same people had laughed good and hard about how lucky the task force was to have Mr. Sunshine working with them.

             When I rejoined the task force, I hadn’t been surprised at all to find Matsuda acting just as unprofessional and ridiculous as ever. I’d even asked Aizawa, “How have you dealt with that kid for so long? He’s driving me crazy already.”

             My old friend had frowned, almost as if the words had offended him, and he’d taken his time to answer, much more carefully than I’d expected, “Well…he’s not as bad as he seems.”

             The response had floored me. Here I’d been expecting Aizawa to grumble at least a little about what a pain Matsuda was—we were friends, after all, and pretty used to bitching to each other—but based on his reaction, it had seemed like the kid must have gotten under his skin, and I’d even detected a slight thread of protectiveness in his tone, or at least some disapproval of my talking bad about Matsuda.

             “I’m thinking about taking a day off,” I announced, laying my menu aside. “If I can.”

             Matsuda didn’t bite.

             “Yeah. You know. It’s been a long time since I had so much as an uninterrupted weekend.”

             Normally, he’d be all over that, more than ready to whine about working himself to death, eventually coming around to how important the case was, how we had to do what we could, and then back to how tragic it was to be young and single, carefree and restless without the time to sow his oats.

             Today, he simply muttered, “Yeah.”

             Behind him, I noticed a baseball bat hanging on the wall, supposedly signed by Babe Ruth himself, and steeped in a million vinyl records that had been plastered against the wallpaper. These people couldn’t actually think that enthusiasts of retro American culture would find this charming. They certainly couldn’t believe an American tourist would ever even miss home so much that he’d stumble through the door.

             “I think I’ll catch a ball game. The season’s almost over, and the Swallows are playing the Giants.” I dragged on my cigarette, hopelessly waiting for him to pick up his end of the conversation, if only to save me from the torturous sounds around me.

             He didn’t really like baseball, I remembered, or rather, he didn’t understand it. It moved too slow, he said, and he got bored fast, but I knew he enjoyed the novelty of garbing himself in home team colors, filing into the stadium with all the rabid fans, drinking a beer, eating a hot dog—like a “real American”—having a blast with old friends, and making new ones out of the people sitting near him. I liked going with him myself, because he always screamed loudest about the things he didn’t understand and got himself into interesting situations, or he hung off my every word when I explained, for the umpteenth time, how the game worked.

             “I doubt that workaholic Aizawa will want to go.” Even if Shuichi allowed himself to do something as sporadic as take a day off, he’d prefer to spend it with his family than with me at the ballpark, arguing about which team was better this season. “Wanna tag along?”

             Matsuda never answered, leaving me to sit there like an idiot, wondering why this new attitude of his bothered me so much.

             It hadn’t taken long for me to see how he’d gotten past Shuichi’s angry bear exterior to his cuddly teddy center. Matsuda had a likeable way about him, and where most of the detectives I’d met tended to be taciturn, cynical, and even pompous, his bubbly way of thinking out loud, laughing in the face of difficulty, and admiration for the rest of us made him a breath of fresh air.

             So, he’d gotten under my skin too. And, over the last couple years, he’d accomplished even more than that, becoming part of my life, effortlessly—my lunch mate, my drinking buddy, my sparring partner, my weird, little friend. Sure, he teased me endlessly about my love life and drove me crazy with his goofiness, but he never forgot my birthday, and when I had a bad day, he could tell. Even if I never told him anything very personal or serious, he had this way of reminding me things would work out any time I started to feel like they might not. Before long, I started to understand why even the chief let him tag along everywhere and overlooked so much of his silliness, because Matsuda was honest, simple, and even though none of us would ever say so to his face, really sweet.

             Seeing him so unhappy for so many days in a row was beginning to have an adverse effect on the team: Shuichi was getting worried, and even Mogi seemed distracted, I’d noticed Light becoming frustrated. Long-suffering Chief Yagami alone proceeded with his work unbothered, but he had to be that way, as the boss.

             All of it really rubbed me the wrong way.

             “Well, anyway.” I squinted at the menu again. The lights were too bright and stark, and I wanted to order soon so we could get out of here. “I doubt Light will let two of us take off at once.”

             “Sorry about that,” Matsuda muttered, probably just for the sake of being polite. He must know he was acting weird, even if he didn’t realize it bugged me so much.

             I never planned on any of this, and I barely knew how my relationship with Matsuda had segued so seamlessly from coworkers to actual friends, I just knew that right after I came back to the task force, while the others were busy, he’d taken it upon himself to tell me the whole story of every crazy thing that had happened since I walked away from them outside the station that night. A lot of what he’d said hadn’t been particularly relevant to the investigation, but he’d been so familiar and laidback, like we’d known each other forever, I’d gotten caught up in my astonishment at how cavalierly he was treating me—me, Dai Kaze, the guy no one had ever liked, since at least middle school—like it was just no big deal at all to sit down and have a chat with asshole Hideki Ide.

             By the time he’d finished, I hadn’t really known what to say, but there’d been a few questions to ask, and a few comments to make—routine responses—and I’d never forget the bright interest that had gleamed in his eyes as we talked back and forth, like maybe he couldn’t believe it either, that he was talking so casually with a guy like me, let alone that I’d talk back.

             After being around grumpy, old Shuichi, and Mogi, who sometimes seemed incapable of holding a conversation, it was probably pretty refreshing for him, and he’d chatted with me a lot since then, any time he felt bored or wanted to say something out loud. Over time, I’d been able to intuit that he appreciated how closely I listened, and that, even if I didn’t always have something nice to say, I made him feel important by acknowledging that he had thoughts and ideas and feelings.

             The damn feelings had honestly annoyed me at first, and there’d been times when I’d gone so far as to suggest he keep a diary instead of bothering me. I didn’t like snapping at him like that. I didn’t want him to think I was an asshole and stop associating with me. None of it fazed him, though, he kept talking about whatever came into his head, and, in time, I just got used to it.

             Anymore, I assumed I had the most personal relationship with him, which made me the one he’d feel most comfortable talking to in this state of obvious depression, but it still shocked me that I’d come to care about him enough that I’d take time out of my day to actively try to get to the bottom of Matsuda’s deep well of sentiments.

             “Hey, Matsu-kun. Wanna tell me what’s wrong lately?”

             He sat slouched, now, cheek resting on his fist, staring disinterestedly at the centerpiece, and from the reluctant glance he slid at me, I gathered he’d been hoping I wouldn’t bring it up. But Matsuda wasn’t a liar, so he asked, “Really? You want to know?”

             “You said Sumi…”

             Wincing, he stared all the harder at the flowers.

             “…I’ve never seen you take a break up so hard.”

             Involved in a case as extensive as ours, there wasn’t much time for dating, but Matsuda had a tendency to fall into the clutches of beautiful but shallow women, the kind who just wanted to have fun. They saw a good-looking guy in a nice car, didn’t know enough about the NPA to realize a corporal detective didn’t make much money, and ran the kid around, buying crap with his credit card and saddling him with the bags, like a pack horse.

             It was a trap I’d gotten into a lot back when I was younger—there were a lot of things about Matsuda that reminded me of myself—it had made me cynical about women, and it pissed me off to watch it happening to him.

             But Matsu didn’t have much capacity for cynicism, and, usually, breaking up with a girl didn’t do much more than dampen his spirits for a day or two.

             “Did you really think she was the one?”

             Matsuda suddenly sat up and took a long look around the restaurant. “Where the hell is the server? Hey!” He banged his fork on the wobbly table. Water sloshed from his glass, and I jerked my elbows back into my lap. “We’re ready to order over here!”

             “Geez,” I hissed, mortified, and watched as a frazzled-looking girl ran over, apologizing and jotting down his order. She turned to me.

             “Ah, sorry about that,” I muttered, feeling like the music might drown my voice out anyway. I couldn’t understand why they’d be playing pop instead of American oldies, unless they just didn’t honestly know anything about that era. “I’ll just have…” I’d never decided, because none of it had sounded any good. “Soup, and a salad.” I shot a quick glance at Matsuda, and then at her. “Sorry, really. He’s not normally so… Well, we’re in a hurry, that’s all.”

             “Not at all, sir!” she beamed. “I apologize things are so slow today.”

             She took off, and he settled his cheek back on his fist, glaring at the centerpiece again. “You don’t have to be sorry, Ide,” he announced. “It’s their job to serve us, and we’ve been sitting here forever.”

             “Even Aizawa doesn’t bang his fork when he shouts at the staff,” I muttered.

             With a small shrug, he reached out to rearrange some of the flowers, and I tried to find a way to change the subject to something more lighthearted.

             “These flowers drive me crazy,” he admitted in a moment, listlessly, though.

             They were the only even slightly nice thing in the restaurant, but I asked, “Oh, yeah?”

             “Yellow and purple carnations?” He wrinkled his nose. “What are they thinking?”

             I glanced at the flowers myself. “What if they were pink and orange?” We’d been guessing for a while that the dork might be colorblind, but he got extremely offended any time someone so much as asked about it. “Would that make more sense?”

             Matsuda suddenly scanned the room, eyebrows tilting toward his hairline, as if he’d just realized none of the color scheme in here made sense to him. “Pink and orange,” he echoed. And then, evidently blind to the glaring palette of crimson, chrome orange, and hot pink in the room, he frowned at me. “Why are you being such a jerk today?”

             “I just asked if you’d like that better,” I corrected.

             Instead of arguing, he fell back into the maddening silence.

             “Come on, seriously,” I prompted, after a couple minutes. “Are you really in this bad of mood over a girl?”

             Eyes fixed on the bobbing ice, Matsuda turned his glass around and around on the table, a sure sign of disquiet.

             “Or is there something else?”

             He picked an orange flower out of the centerpiece and stared hard at it, like he was trying to understand why I’d lie to him about its color.

             “It might be a good thing, Matsuda. At least now you’re not wasting time with the wrong person—”

             “That’s all great, coming from a guy who hasn’t been laid in the last decade.”

             I cut off mid-sentence to frown mildly at him, but Matsuda just stuck the orange flower into his water glass and glowered at it.

             “Is that your problem?” I demanded, a little sharply. “You’re not getting any now, so you’re turning into a cranky bitch?”

             “That’s what happens, right? Everyone says that’s what your problem is.”

             I rolled my eyes. “Shit, Matsuda. With a mouth like that, how have you made it through life without getting your face busted in?”

             He just frowned at his flower.

             “Didn’t your parents spend hundreds of millions of yen on your damn teeth? I’d watch who you pop off to.”

             Obviously, he had no intention of answering, so I sat back and studied him a while longer. Once or twice, he’d crept up to that line of saying the wrong thing to the wrong person, but he had to be tremendously irritated, and that just didn’t happen all that often. I couldn’t believe he’d say something so crass to me, a superior.

             The fact that I’d brought him to lunch as a friend rather than a subordinate made for a tricky situation. I probably should throw a fit, box his ears, and write him up, but I’d started this by getting so personal.

             That’s exactly why Aizawa and the others have been trying to handle this so professionally.

             Stupid ass me just had to go screw it up.

             Even being here as friends, it probably wouldn’t be out of the question to rescind my offer to buy lunch, get up, and go back to HQ without him. That’s probably even what he expected. For all I knew, he’d intentionally pushed my buttons to get me to leave him alone.

             Then again, what he’d said didn’t actually bother me that much; for one thing, it wasn’t true, and for another, it was the sort of thing I’d gotten used to, growing up with three brothers. I decided to forget about it.

             Besides, overly emotional Matsuda didn’t know shit about putting up walls.

             “Who do you want relationship advice from?” I wondered. “Light? Kinda weird, getting tips about women from a kid fresh out of college.”

             Matsuda’s scowl deepened, and I knew my insult hit its mark.

             “Aizawa? His marriage it apt to fall apart any second now.” I checked my watch. “I’ll bet Eriko’s filing divorce papers as we speak. That guy sucks at love.”

             The next glare was so fierce and disapproving, I knew he really didn’t like me picking on his hero.

             “The deputy director?” I suggested. “Now there’s a guy who hasn’t been laid in a long time, Matsu.”

             At once, the frown fell completely apart, giving way to a gaping, shocked mouth and popping, horrified eyes. He checked over both shoulders, like Deputy Director Yagami might be listening in, and I knew he’d forgotten all about his wall of sugar glass. “Ide,” he hissed, “you don’t just say stuff like that.”

             “No?” It was my turn to shrug. “Well, my bad, I guess. I’m just saying, not a lot of great options. If you’re gonna tell anybody what the deal is, it might as well be me.”

             “Oh, yeah right,” he barked, suddenly, in an acidic tone. “At least the others won’t make fun of me.”

             I blinked at him. “What? Why would I make fun of you?”

             His hard eyes glared at me, like he couldn’t believe I had the audacity to ask that. “Trying to trick me into thinking I’m colorblind—”

             “I think you actually might be—”

             “Dissing on my music—”

             “Not everybody likes—”

             “Acting like it’s ridiculous for me to get upset after Sumi cheated on me.”

             Bingo.

             Go figure, all it took was to get him talking a little, and the truth spilled.

             I had to work very hard not to allow a satisfied smirk to pass my lips. Instead, I pretended to be bothered, fumbling with my cigarettes and mumbling, “I didn’t know all that annoyed you so much.”

             Matsuda glared at me, quiet again, probably realizing he’d said something without meaning to.

             “So…” I lit my cigarette. “She cheated on you, huh?”

             “Yeah,” he sputtered, “yeah, she did. With some…loser biboi she met in a trashy club. I don’t think she was even drunk, she was just done with me because I’m so boring, working all the time, not paying enough attention to her, even after I’ve spent every yen I earned last year on her. She didn’t even bother to lie about it, just showed up one day to give back the key to my apartment and laugh at me.”

             Calmly, I ashed my cigarette. Wasn’t that the story of my life?

             “Go ahead and laugh, Ide,” he dared. “Tell me I’m stupid, I should have seen it coming, and my taste in women is terrible, like you always do. Tell me it was dumb to think she was the one, and all women suck, and that you told me, months ago, she was just using me. Because you did, and you love being right.”

             I’d never seen him explode like that, half-shouting, drawing the attention of everyone on our side of the room, face burning with shame, eyes fierce with outrage. I never would have guessed the kid had such a temper hidden beneath all the manners and cheer.

             “Settle down, Matsu,” I advised, lowly. “What are you, nine?”

             Outrage turned immediately to rage. “You—”

             “Knock it off,” I snapped. “I didn’t say any of that.”

             He threw himself back in his chair, seething, and probably the only thing that kept him from all-out screaming at me was the fact that I was higher ranked than him.

             “Jeez,” I muttered, when I’d given him a few moments to get himself together. “I’d hate to see you get really mad about something.”

             “I am really mad!” he professed.

             “Right. Look.” I put my cigarette out, not wanting the rest, and glanced around for our food, thinking it would be nice to have a distraction right now. “What do you think this is? Some victory lunch? Like I brought you here just to rub it in your face that your girlfriend cheated on you? Damn. Here I thought we were friends.”

             His breath hitched, and his eyebrows tilted up in a sulky expression. I guess I’d never called him my friend out loud before, but it wasn’t exactly the time for a big, stupid grin and a victory dance.

             “I just wanted to know what’s got your panties in a bunch. I wasn’t trying to make fun of you—you’re the one being a little prick, talking about the last time I got laid and saying I’m bitchy because I don’t get enough sex.”

             Shame colored his face.

             “So, could you just take it down a notch?”

             Matsuda scowled at the table, and I thought I heard him mutter, “Sorry.”

             “Yeah.” I rolled my eyes. “I don’t really care.” And then I looked around for the food again, but I was just about to give up and go somewhere else. “I’m just saying being a jerk doesn’t look so good on you.”

             Slightly, he nodded.

             “It’s fine if you’re upset,” I told him, after another moment. “What she did to you was really shitty. But I don’t like to think that you’ve been pouting because you think nobody would care.”

             “No,” he murmured, “It’s just not work talk.”

             “Nothing you ever say is work talk. Anyway, you could have at least told me. I know a lot about dishonest, heartless women.”

             A hint of sympathy shaded his eyes.

             “That’s why I said you shouldn’t let it bother you so much. Girls like that are cheap—you can pick one up anywhere—and they’re not very creative. Cheating with losers, bringing back the key just to laugh at you…” I shrugged. “They aren’t worth the trouble. They definitely aren’t worth ruining a perfectly good lunch your buddy buys just to cheer your ass up.”

             Bewildered, he finally met my gaze again.

             “So, come on.” I smirked at him. “If you’re gonna be pissed off and sad, let’s order some whiskey.”

             Whiskey helped a little. After the first round, he’d started talking a little more normally about the usual nonsense that occupied his mind, and then the food came, so he was quiet a while. Mine wasn’t very good—the soup was thin and the salad was gritty, so I mostly talked and smoked, trying to keep him distracted. Regardless, his expression showed me he still was unhappy.

             After the second whiskey, we left the restaurant. It was a relief to be out of the noise and harsh lights of the diner, but Matsuda seemed content with lunch at least. In a few blocks, he started joking with me, so I knew the anger had burned out fast.

             I doubted anyone would believe me if I told them about it.

             Outside the headquarters, he hesitated, staring up at the building to sigh, and then he admitted, slowly, “I know you’re right…but…I really liked her, Ide. I…I loved her.”

             He did have terrible tastes in women.

             “Yeah.” I squeezed his shoulder. “That’s how it goes sometimes, kid. Sometimes, you really love somebody, and they just don’t feel that way back.” That, too, was the story of my life. Suppressing a sigh, I gazed up at the building too, with all its sparkling windows and the roof that tried to vanish in the clouds. “It’s not your fault,” I murmured. “There’s only so much you can do.”

             “I guess not,” he whispered.

             “You can find someone else, though.”

             Swallowing hard, he nodded.

             “Just don’t get cynical about it, okay? They’re not all like that.” I said the words, but the only reason I could so much as bother to think it was because of Shuichi and Eriko. She’d stood by him through everything, possibly the most loyal and genuine woman I’d ever met.

             I’d just gotten incredibly unlucky.

             “You’re not gonna wind up like me,” I assured him. “It’s impossible.”

             “How can you be so sure?” he asked, quietly.

             So many reasons, some he might not ever understand, some I didn’t think I could ever bring myself to tell him.

             At last, I teased, “’Cause you’re so damn cute,” and slung my arm around his neck. “If I were as cute as you, I might have a chance, but I got screwed in personality and looks.”

             Matsuda smiled a little. “I don’t know, Taniki-tan. Your personality’s not that bad.”

[jokessho]

Fic: The wife

“Wow.” Taichi said as he entered his and Yamato’s shared apartment.

Both boys were now in their second year of university and had decided to move out of student housing and rent an apartment together.

The brunet moved up behind his boyfriend, throwing his tanned arms around the slim waist and kissing the pale cheek. “Is all this food for me?” Brown eyes glanced around the kitchen, taking in the two large lasagnes on the table, pot of casserole on the counter to the right, and curry that Yamato was currently preparing.

“Of course not.” Yamato chided, throwing the brunet a teasing smile, “I said that I’d be going to visit dad this weekend and I’m taking him some food. I don’t want him to have to live of off microwave meals for the rest of his life.”

“’Some’ is an understatement...” Taichi mumbled, extracting himself from the blond and moving to sit at the table. “You could feed an army for a month with this food!”

The blond turned off the stove and faced the other, “This food couldn’t feed you for an entire month!” He then shrugged, removing his light blue apron, “Besides, I don’t know when I’ll be going to see him next, so I’m just being on the safe side.”

Incredulous brown eyes flew around the room again, but Taichi knew better than to comment. Instead, he threw on a smirk and eyed the lasagne, “Should I sample the food to make sure it’s edible?”

A delicate eyebrow rose at that comment, “Yagami, are you saying that my food might not be edible?”

Both adolescents knew they were joking, but Taichi didn’t want to risk being without Yamato’s cooking for even a day, so he stood quickly and made his way over to his boyfriend. “You know I’d never say that – I love your food and it’s always very delicious.” Taichi could feel Yamato’s smile through their shared kiss.

Yamato pulled away, getting plates out of the cupboards. “Which one do you want to sample?”

“I actually do get to sample?”

Yamato rolled his blue eyes, “Duh. I’m not going to have my boyfriend starve whilst my father pigs out.”

Taichi grinned, digging into the closest lasagne with the offered serving spoon.

The blond moved the second lasagne off the table and onto the counter, before sitting across from the brunet. He waited patiently as Taichi finished serving himself a huge helping and then took the offered spoon, piling a regular serving onto his own plate.

Yamato watched his boyfriend eat for a while, before popping the question he had been meaning to ask the entire week. “Taichi.” The brunet looked up, stopping his shovelling at the seriousness of the other’s voice. “Do you think we should tell dad about us?”

Taichi contemplated this for a minute before shrugging, “I don’t mind. He’s your father, so you decide when to tell him.” He was about to resume eating, when he looked up again, “I will come with you, though, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Yamato blushed, “That would have been the second thing I was going to ask...”

Taichi grinned at his boyfriend’s shyness and dug away again, glad that Yamato was eating now, too.

-o-o-o-

Two hours later, the boys had finished eating, washing up, and packing their things and the food into the car. For the whole two hours, Yamato had fidgeted and procrastinated, until Taichi got fed up with him and shoved him into the passenger seat. The brunet, himself, took the wheel, since it was his car and he didn’t trust the blond to drive in his current state.

“Wait! Taichi, stop.” Yamato said, before they had even left the parking lot of the apartment building.

“What now?” Taichi asked, exasperated.

“I think I forgot to turn off the oven. I should go check.” The blond unbuckled his seatbelt and reached for the door handle. Taichi slammed his foot on the accelerator. “Taichi!”

“It’s off, I checked and double-checked. We’re going now and that’s final.”

“But—“

“No!” They turned onto the main road and Yamato sighed in defeat, re-buckling his seatbelt.

Silence reigned for a few minutes before, “Sorry.”

Taichi had to smile at that. He turned his eyes off the road for long enough to give his boyfriend a reassuring smile. “It’s ok, Yama. I know you’re nervous about telling him, but putting it off isn’t helping.”

“I know. It’s just...” The blond trailed off and looked at the rapidly chaining scenery. “What if he hates me?” He finally mumbled.

Brown eyes flicked to the passenger again, before returning to the road. A tanned hand removed itself from the wheel, however, and landed on a jean-clad thigh. “It’ll be fine – he’s your father and loves you no matter what.”

“Mmm, I hope so.”

The hand squeezed, “I know so.”

-o-o-o-

Taichi raised his right hand to knock on the door in front of him, whilst the other hand held onto Yamato’s, to prevent him from running off. The food was in a large carrier bag, hanging form Yamato’s free hand. The blond had insisted that they leave their personal belongings in the car, just in case they were driven out and away by an angry Hiroaki Ishida.

As the pair heard the lock turning, they let their hands fall from each other’s, with a final, reassuring squeeze from the more tanned of the two.

“Hello, boys, I was wondering what was taking you so long.” Hiroaki opened the door, letting the adolescents enter. “Bad traffic?”

“Nah,” Taichi said, shoving Yamato into the apartment first. “Just a bad roommate, who takes forever to get ready.” He threw a wink at the now-annoyed blond and made his own way inside.

Hiroaki turned to his son, watching him pull off his coat and toe off his shoes. “Everything all right, Yamato? You seem a bit quiet...”

Wide, blue eyes shot to Taichi, then to Hiroaki. “Yeah,” he managed, though his voice sounded strained, “I’m fine.” His arm shot out, “I made you some food. It’s nothing special, bu—“

“The lasagne is.” Taichi interrupted. “We had some before we left and it’s amazing!”

Hiroaki laughed, taking the food and walking into the kitchen. “Isn’t it always? Honestly, you’ve scored yourself a great wife there, Taichi, don’t let him go.”

The boys looked at each other wide-eyed and Hiroaki back-tracked into the hallway. He looked between the mortified pair and raised an eyebrow, “Was I wrong?”

“Wha..?” Yamato managed, staring incredulously at his father.

“You and Taichi. Together. As in a couple. Was I wrong to assume that?”

Father and son blinked at each other for what felt like forever, until the younger Ishida found his voice again, “No, but how...” And promptly lost it again.

Satisfied that he had been right, Hiroaki returned to the kitchen to put the food into containers and stick them in the freezer. The boys followed him, but stayed at the entrance. “Well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out, really. I kind of figured you were both either gay or bi, probably before you, yourselves, did, and you and Taichi have always been really close.” He shrugged, depositing an empty lasagne dish into the sink.

“But we both dated girls in high school.” Taichi pointed out.

“Like I said, I figured it out before either of you did. Sometimes it’s just easier to see these things as an outside observer.”

The brunet opened his mouth to ask something else, but was interrupted by, “And you’re ok with this?”

“As long as you’re happy, I don’t care who you’re with.” He finished with the other two dishes and stuck those in the sink with the rest of the washing up. He then turned to Yamato with a serious expression, “You are happy, right?”

“Yeah, of course.” Yamato nodded and Taichi looked relieved.

“Hmm, pity...” Hiroaki said, turning to the coffee maker. “Coffee?” Two nods.

“Why is it a pity?” Taichi braved.

“Oh, well,” Hiroaki pulled out the grinds and started measuring some out. “He could have moved back here if he wasn’t happy. I wasn’t kidding when I said that you should never let that one escape.” He looked at his elder son fondly, “He has some kind of magic trick to get the sheets feeling fresh. I still haven’t managed... And I wash them exactly as Yamato’s instructions say.”

A stunned silence followed.

“Dad?” A noise of acknowledgement. “You do iron them once they’re dry, right?”

“...no. I don’t see the point if I’m just going to sleep in them anyway.” He paused. “You never showed me how to iron.”

“I thought you knew how! Even Taichi knows how to iron!”

“Well....”

Yamato turned his wide, blue eyes to his boyfriend, “You mean you don’t know how to iron?”

Taichi just grinned sheepishly and Hiroaki laughed. Yamato buried his face into his hands, groaning, and flopped down into a kitchen chair.

Hiroaki poured three mugs of coffee, pulled out sugar and milk, and sat down with his son and son’s boyfriend.

Yamato sighed, grabbing his mug and inhaling the scent. “Guess I’ll be teaching you both how to iron this weekend.”

Hiroaki looked confused, “Did you bring your stuff with you?” He tried to crane his neck to see into the hallway. He missed Yamato’s red face, but Taichi’s bark of laughter couldn’t be overlooked. “What?”

“Yama wanted to leave it in the car, in case you ran us out of the apartment.”

Chuckling, Hiroaki looked at his son, whom was busy staring at his black coffee. “I take it that’s why you were late leaving your place?”

“Yeah,” Taichi answered on his boyfriend’s behalf. “Yama was nervous and kept procrastinating.”

“Sounds like him.”

The blond crossed his arms over his chest, huffing in annoyance.

Taichi gave the blond a pat on the head before sitting down next to him. “We love you anyway.”

Hiroaki sat down across from the two. “Yes, we do,” he gave his son a genuine smile, “and don’t you forget it.”

[thatonekawaiigirl13]

Who Said Death Was Easy? [Death Note] Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen: Lunch

Light’s POV:

Light had Misa come back over the following day. He made sure that no one else would be home while she was there, that way the two of them wouldn’t have to deal with his little sister trying to interfere with things again. Light couldn’t have Sayu telling Keiko that he had another girl over two days in a row. He didn’t need Keiko thinking that he was going to cheat on her, that would only cause trouble with both the Kira investigation and his personal life.

However, he needed Misa to come over again today so that they could discuss how the two of them were going to “accidentally” meet each other in front of his girlfriend. That way, Keiko and the rest of the Task Force couldn’t be too suspicious of them.

It would be even better if Keiko and Misa could somehow become friends, but with Misa’s personality, it looked like that would take a miracle. However, Light was hoping he could figure things out. After all, while Misa was dumb, she also appeared to eagerly want to do Kira’s bidding, and Keiko was the kind of person who trusted people as long as they appeared to have good intentions. He figured that even if Misa messed things up the first time around, Keiko would give her a second chance.

“Ooh, Light-kun, having me over here again so soon...it appears that you just can’t get enough of me, can you?” Misa giggled as she stepped into his room. She sprawled out on his bed, staring at him intently as he took a seat in the chair beside his desk. He saw Rem hoovering close behind her.

Geez…look at her, she’s certainly making herself at home…I can just tell right now that she’s going to be a nuisance…and she’s nothing like my girlfriend, Keiko wouldn’t have hogged the bed like that...

“Please, don’t get any ideas about the two of us, Amane-san-” he started to say, pushing his thought about Keiko aside, but Misa interrupted Light before he could finish his sentence.

“Please, call me Misa-chan, heheh,” she gave him a flirtatious smile, “it’s much cuter than Amane-san, don’t you think? Amane-san sounds so serious, so boring. Misa-chan, however, is cute and it’s flirty...”

Ugh, is there any possible way she could stop being so annoying?  

Light fought the urge to roll his eyes. Calling her Misa-chan was honestly the last thing he wanted to do, but he needed her on his side, he needed her to cooperate with him and his demands. The way he looked at it, he had no other choice but to reluctantly comply with her request.

“Fine...Misa-chan...but keep in mind that we’re here to discuss business, so please don’t go getting any particularly weird ideas,” Light responded, giving her a look, “now...we need to come up with a way for you to run into my girlfriend and I while we are out in public together...it also needs to look natural, it can’t be too staged, otherwise it would look suspicious…”

“Alright, alright, I guess I can try to be serious for you…” Misa sighed, and she rested her head on her hand, “...although I don’t like talking about your girlfriend...so we’d better make this discussion quick...Light-kun, do you have any ideas in mind yet?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact I do,” he started, “hmm...wait, actually, before we start talking about that, there’s something else we should cover first. Now, I was thinking-”

He was cut off by Misa suddenly changing positions to sit upright on his bed. She waved her hands in the air above her head.

Dammit! If she keeps interrupting me we’ll never get anything done!

“W-wait a second, Light-kun! Before you start, I just thought of something else...since we established that we are going to be working together...well...can I please see your shinigami?” Misa asked, her eyes were round and full of curiosity, “you see, I really want to take a look at him. I’m really curious.”

Light sighed and tried to hide how irritated he was at the fact that Misa had just interrupted him yet again. He reminded himself that had to maintain his usual cool and composed personality, no matter what.

Unfortunately, even though she’s super annoying, the fact is...I still need her to trust me, so I guess I have no choice but to let her meet Ryuk.

“S-sure, I suppose so,” was Light’s response, “but first, could you please turn around?”

“Alright!” Misa flashed Light a grin before happily turning around on his bed to face his wall. She started to hum as she was waiting for Light.

Light stood up and took out his wallet. He opened it and reached within the inner foldings of the fabric, taking out a small slip of paper. Light then reached forward and gently touched the paper to Misa’s right hand.

“Okay...you can turn back around now,” Light announced.

“A-alright,” Misa replied. With that, she manuerved back around on his bed and slowly met Ryuk’s dark eyes.

The shinigami then chuckled and offered Misa a friendly smile, “hyuk, hyuk...hey there! So you can finally see me, hmm? Well, how’s it going? Are you enjoying the view?”

“Ooh!” Misa squealed, excitedly waving her hands at Ryuk, “wow, look at that! You’re a completely different type of shinigami than Rem, aren’t you? I already know your name! It’s Ryuk, am I right? It’s very nice to finally meet you!”

Ryuk awkwardly attempted to mimic what Misa was doing with her hands, “uh, yeah, I suppose I am! Anyway, same here. It’s nice to have someone else that can see me, hyuk.”

Light grimaced in annoyance at the interaction. Now that the introduction had been made, he didn’t want to waste any more precious time. He wasn’t sure how long he’d have the house entirely to himself.

“Alright,” he said, once again gaining Misa’s attention. “Misa-chan...are you finally happy now? Can we move on to the important matters at hand?”

“Oh, sorry! Of course we can move on now, Light-kun!” Misa giggled, “thanks for showing me your shinigami. I suppose this means that you fully trust me now, so yay! Anyway...what was your plan again?”

“Well I will explain that in a moment, but honestly that’s not all we need to cover this afternoon. You see, after we figure out how Keiko and I are going to meet you, I will need you to make another video to send to the Task Force...it’ll have to say something like ‘I have decided to stop searching for Kira..and I’d like to thank the police department for all of their helpful advice. However, I still plan to help Kira execute his mission and someday I hope that he will see me as a worthy ally. I will begin by punishing criminals that Kira has yet to judge…’ something to that extent,” Light told her.

He paused a moment, making sure that Misa was following along before continuing on, “also I was thinking about adding ‘I plan to share my powers with those that I feel are worthy, and I will encourage them to do the same...together we will make this world a better place’. That way we will throw off the police a little with their investigation. They suspect that two people have this killing power, so it wouldn’t be a stretch for them to think that there could be others. And if they believe they can easily multiple, it’ll create a panic....so can do you this?”

“There’s no need to ask,” Misa replied, a sly smile on her face, “whatever you tell me to do, I’ll do it. I’ll do anything that you ask of me, Light-kun.”

“Great. Now, there’s one more thing that I have to ask of you. It’s the most important thing I will ever ask of you, actually...if you get arrested by the police, or if you’re ever brought in as a suspect, you can never mention anything about us or the death note. As long as they don’t get a hold of that notebook, there’s no proof that you did anything. Can you promise to keep your mouth shut?”

Misa nodded vehemently, “I can. I promise you, I won’t say a word.”

“Good. I will hold you to that, you know,” he commented, a hard look on his face.

If it came down to it, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. However, he hoped that it wouldn’t have to come to that, seeing as while she was annoying, she wasn’t a criminal.

Light looked over at Misa once more, “now, onto my ideas about how Keiko-chan and I should meet you…”

While Light still thought that Misa was going to be somewhat of a nuisance, he was a little pleased that it now looked like he would be able to get somewhere with her. That is, assuming she wouldn’t get distracted again. He figured this would be a long afternoon.

L’s POV:

“So...were you actually planning on checking all of the footage we got in Aoyama on the 22nd by yourself, Ryuzaki-san?” Aizawa asked the detective, an incredulous but also somewhat impressed look on his face.

“Yes, that’s right,” L responded. He was intently fast forwarding through some of the daytime footage that they Task Force had collected, “I think that it’s very likely that Kira and the second Kira made contact with each other there on that day...so I want to thoroughly check all of these tapes myself.”

“Geez...how is that even possible? How is someone like him even human?” he heard Matsuda mumble in awe behind him.

Although he knew none of the Task Force could currently see his face, as he was facing away from them, L still gave a small, sly smirk, “what a very good question, Matsuda-san...hmmm, perhaps if you put all of that curious energy you have into staying focused and working on the investigation, we could get actually somewhere.”

“Ryuzaki-san,” the detective heard Light’s father grumble, “you really shouldn’t be so hard on Matsuda-san all the time. He is, after all, a dedicated member. He’s risking his life, just like everyone else standing here in this room.”

“Heh, well when you put it that way, I suppose you’re right...anyway, Yagami-san, that reminds me. There’s an important favor I want to ask of you…” L replied, turning around to face him, his dark eyes were wide.

The chief looked over at the detective, “uh, okay, Ryuzaki-san. What is it?”

L gave him a small smile, “please ask Mogi-san to start following Light around, and keep tabs on all of his activities...what I’m saying is...I want to monitor your son again.”

Mr. Yagami looked aghast at L’s request, “w-what are you even saying, Ryuzaki-san?! You want Light followed? Again?”

“Yes,” L responded simply, “I do.”

The chief let out a deep sigh, “I suppose no matter what you won’t stop suspecting my son. I can pretty much assure you that he’s innocent, but I’ll do as you ask...however, wasn’t that what my son’s girlfriend was doing anyway? Keeping tabs on Light?”

L looked deep in thought, “yes, yes, she was...and if I asked her again, instead of Mogi-san, I know that she would say yes to my request...but the truth of the matter is...at this point, it would appear that your son has her almost completely wrapped around his finger. No matter how you look at it, it’s clear that she’s fallen for him. She also doesn’t suspect Light as much, for obvious reasons. So that’d be a problem.”

I suspect she doesn’t even realize how much she’s actually fallen for him...but I can see it whenever she sneaks glances at him. It’s glaringly obvious, and to be quite honest, for whatever reason, it’s also a little irritating. Perhaps it’s because if Light really is Kira, then he’s using her...and if he is using her, then she’s too blind to see that. She’s naive, especially when it comes to guys she likes, from what I’ve observed...it’s a flaw that could be fatal for her, if she isn’t more careful in the future...

“But isn’t that what happens when two people are together like that?!” Matsuda interrupted. There was a passionate glint in his eyes, “it’s normal behavior! It’s not a problem! And it’s not just one-sided, from what I can see...so it’s not just Keiko-chan falling for Light, Light’s falling for her as well...personally, I think it’s rather sweet.”

“Sweet or not, normal or not, whatever…can’t you see that’s not even the point here? The point here, Matsuda-san, is that I feel like Mogi-san would be the most suited for this task at the moment. While I could ask Kagami-san again...I’m not so sure how good of an idea that’d be right now...because she’s fallen for him, she will see him in a biased way,” L explained, “and no matter how cautious or careful she might think she’s being, her personal feelings would be in conflict at this point. When I first asked her to spy on Light for me, the two of them were just beginning, just starting out. So it was perfectly fine...but now she’s wrapped around his finger. In conclusion, I don’t think she would currently be much help to us in that regard anymore, not unless she were to break up with him.”

“I see,” Light’s father replied thoughtfully, “I can understand your thinking.”

I highly doubt she would break up with him anyway, despite all the warnings I’ve been giving her...she hasn’t exactly been listening to me. Whenever she’s with him, she’s practically got stars in her eyes. It’s very distracting…however, I suppose I got through to her a little bit the other day, when I got a glimpse of who she was before she was so lovestruck. Heh, on that note, it’s certainly easy to rile her up. Her reaction to me before she left the hotel room was rather...interesting, to say the least…

Matsuda sighed, “b-break up?! Ryuzaki-san, please, don’t talk like that...and what about when the three of us were in-”

“Before you ask, Matsuda-san, yes. I also had her also keep an eye on Light while in Aoyama and Shibuya, but that was fine, seeing as you were also there, and there were so many surveillance cameras around anyway. Even if she had missed something, we would have picked it up...which is also why I want to review the tapes personally,” L replied, his thumb resting by his lip.

Matsuda looked defeated. He was also a little ashamed that he had reacted to abruptly before, “geez, how’d you know what I was about to ask? But, at any rate, I’m sorry, Ryuzaki-san, you’re right, as always...what you said makes perfect sense...because Keiko-chan likes Light so much, there’s no way she would think he’s Kira. In fact, I don’t really want to think that he’s Kira myself.”

The detective gave a slight nod in his general direction and then addressed Light’s father once more, “yes. Therefore, I have to ask you to instruct Mogi-san tail your son. I would like this to be done as soon as possible because...well, it’s only a slim chance, but if Light is Kira, then there’s still a possibility that the Second Kira might have tried to contact him...or will contact him in the near future in some way. So, we need to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.”

Keiko’s POV:

“It’s a rather nice day, don’t you think?” Light asked Keiko as the two walked side by side, towards the university’s exit. They were headed towards the city. One of their professors had told them a couple days in advance that he wasn’t going to hold class that day, that he had a prior engagement he couldn’t get out of.

Due to the fact that their last class of the day had been cancelled, the two of them had decided to eat lunch off campus at a cafe in the city nearby.

“Mmm,” Keiko agreed, “it’s the perfect kind of weather...it’s not too hot, but it’s also not too cold.”

“I agree,” Light replied, flashing his girlfriend a smile.

The couple walked past the exit of To-Oh University, and headed on the sidewalk towards the city. As the two of them strolled along, Light started a rather passionate discussion on a book he had recently finished. He was giving her a play by play of all the parts of the book he disagreed with.

“Wow, even with how busy you’ve been, with your school work and the investigation, you still have time to read for fun...and then time to tear the book apart,” Keiko commented, a giggle escaping her lips, “I have to admit, I’m quite impressed.”

“Of course...I’m not called ‘golden boy’ for nothing,” Light joked. He gave Keiko a light smile, keeping his eyes on her as the two of them walked, neglecting to keep an eye on the sidewalk before him.

“W-what? Why’re you staring at me?” Keiko questioned, glancing over in her boyfriend’s general direction.

“You’re beautiful,” was his simple reply.

“Heh, thank you, Light-kun. But still, if we’re walking, you should look where you’re going not at m-w-wait...L-Light, watch out!” Keiko stuttered out.

However, it was too late. Keiko watched in horror as the scene played out before her eyes.

Light had ran into the poor, unsuspecting blonde girl who had been walking towards him. It appeared she also hadn’t been paying attention to where she was walking, and the two of them collided, sending the lunch box she had been holding all over the pavement below. There were bits and pieces of the girl’s lunch strewn everywhere within a one meter radius.

“Augh!” the girl cried, looking up at Keiko’s boyfriend, there was a rather irritated look on her face. Her light brown eyes flashed, and Keiko noticed that the girl’s hair was styled into two pigtails that were on either side of her head. Her outfit looked like something you’d see in a gothic fashion magazine. She didn’t look like she was any older than the two of them.

“This is why you watch where you’re going, and you don’t stare at your girlfriend at inappropriate times,” Keiko lightly grumbled under her breath.

“I-I’m so sorry,” Light responded, and he crouched down, picking up the girl’s lunch box, closing the containers that had opened during the crash. He then handed them to the girl, an apologetic look on his face.

“It’s fine, I guess,” the girl replied, looking Light over carefully. She didn’t look as annoyed as she had been a moment ago, “just watch where you’re going next time, okay?”

“Y-yeah, sure...well since the ground is now eating your lunch, would you perhaps like to join my girlfriend and I? I mean, I did accidentally spill your lunch everywhere...you must be hungry,” Light offered, “and we were just about to grab lunch ourselves…”

“Light-kun…” Keiko mumbled, “I’m sure that she probably has better things to do and we literally just met he-”

“Yeah, sure. That sounds good, I was pretty hungry,” the girl responded before Keiko could finish. “The name’s Misa Amane, but you can call me Misa-chan...it’s much cuter, don’t you think?” she giggled.

Keiko watched in disbelief as the girl accepted her boyfriend’s offer. In all honesty, she really didn’t want Misa to tag along with her and her boyfriend.

I had wanted to spend time with Light alone and eat a nice lunch together, especially since we haven’t really had a lot of time to do that lately with the investigation and classes in the way, but...seeing as Light now owes her, I suppose this is the least he could do. It looks like I’ll just have to deal with it.

“I’m Light Yagami, and my girlfriend’s name is Keiko Kagami,” Light explained to Misa. who gave a slight nod.

Keiko cracked a smile and gave a polite wave to her, and Misa gave her a half wave in return. She almost felt like Misa’s action was strangely a little cold, but she brushed it off. After all, they were strangers who had just met each other.

With that, the three of them headed off towards the little cafe, which was located just a block away from where they had been standing.

/timeskip/

“Ahh, that was good!” Keiko heard Misa say, and she looked up to see the petite blonde girl patting her stomach, “thanks for inviting me along, Light-kun.”

“No problem, I hope this makes up for what happened earlier,” Light replied, offering her a slight grin in return.

Keiko forced a pleasant smile herself, but she didn’t like how this girl was already using Light’s name informally. In fact, she didn’t really like the girl at all. Keiko knew that first impressions weren’t everything, but so far, she wasn’t that impressed by her. It appeared that there wasn’t much in common between the two of them.

Quite frankly, she found Misa’s antics to be rather annoying. She also suspected that Misa was crushing a little on Light, which wouldn’t be that surprising to Keiko, as she had grown rather used to girls fawning over her boyfriend. However, she wasn’t worried about Light being unfaithful, from what she could tell, he only had eyes for her. The only thing that was bothering her in that regard was Misa’s overly dramatic behavior.

“So, I hope you don’t mind me asking this, Light-kun,” Misa started, “but I was wondering...how exactly did you and your girlfriend get together?”

Keiko’s eyes snapped up, away from her empty plate, and onto the girl sitting in front of her.

While there was an innocent look on her face, Keiko could sense the possible deeper meaning behind her question.

Yeah, I don’t think there’s any denying it at this point...Misa might have a thing for my boyfriend. If that is so, then it’s clear she’s just trying to figure out who she’s up against...however there’s no way Light would fall for her; she’s nowhere near his type. She’s way too flashy, too loud, and from what I’ve gathered, she isn’t that bright. It’s clear that she relies a lot on her good looks, rather than on her abilities, to get through life...ugh, of all the people Light could’ve ran into, why did it have to be her? It’s making me rather uncomfortable…

Keiko let out a soft sigh.

If she was nice to me, then perhaps I would be more able to tolerate her. Being kind can go a long way. However, she’s being so rude. She’s making no attempt to get to know me, which has me thinking she’s after Light...that or another free lunch from him.

Light opened his mouth to respond when all of the sudden, his cell phone went off. He fished it out of his pockets and flashed an apologetic look at Misa, “uh, I’m sorry. I have to take this, it’s probably really important. Excuse me for a moment.”

That means it’s probably either his father or L on the phone...I wonder what’s going on, are there new developments with the investigation?

“No, no, that’s fine,” Misa gave Light a soft smile, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes, “take all the time you need.”

Light gave a curt nod at her, and then stood up, walking towards the entrance of the cafe. Much to Keiko’s dismay, she was now totally alone with Misa.

Wonderful…just what I wanted, to be left alone with the girl that wants to possibly hijack my boyfriend. Speaking of Light, he’d better get back here soon.

Keiko gave another soft sigh, studying the glamorous girl sitting across from her. Since Light was now outside, the girl had taken out her own cell phone to text. Although it was rude to text at the table, Keiko was oddly glad, because that meant she wouldn’t have to make awkward conversation with her.

Instead, Keiko spend her time scrutinizing the girl in front of her. While Keiko was studying her, she noticed that her fingernails were perfectly manicured. She also noticed that she had a black choker around her neck and cross earrings.

Amazing...like I said earlier, it’s like she stepped out of a gothic fashion magazine...

“If you take a picture, it’ll last longer,” Misa commented in a tone of voice that was much too fake for Keiko’s taste, “heh, on that note, I could even pose for you. I’m used to doing that...I’m actually a model. You see, I was coming back from a shoot when Light-kun ran into me...”

Well that definitely explains the outfit...and her entitled attitude, for that matter. Maybe she isn’t after Light, maybe that’s just her personality...

Fortunately, Keiko didn’t have to respond to her, because the little bell chime on the door went off, signaling that Light had stepped back into the cafe. He headed back towards their table but he didn’t sit back down.

“Well, it’s been fun, but I’m afraid that I have to go. Actually, my girlfriend and I both have to go now, Misa-chan,” Light announced, glancing first at Keiko then at Misa.

“Aww, alright,” Misa pouted a little, “but we should totally hang out again soon! Today was a lot of fun.”

Keiko almost swore for a moment she had seen a flash of annoyance on her boyfriend’s face, however it was quickly replaced with a friendly smile. Light then paid for their meals, and the two of them said their goodbyes to Misa, which Keiko was quite happy about.

Finally...I thought that lunch would never end. Geez, she’s hard to deal with. Model or not, what’s her drama?

“So...who was on the phone?” Keiko questioned, switching gears as she and Light were back on the sidewalk. Now that the two were alone, she figured it would be okay to ask.

“It was Ryuzaki-san...apparently, while we were eating lunch, there was another message sent to them from the Second Kira...he wants us to meet him at headquarters immediately.”

“H-huh? Is that so...another message? Well, that didn’t take long,” Keiko commented.

Light nodded in agreement, grabbing her hand, “yeah. So the sooner we get to headquarters to investigate, the better.”

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Nineteen