"Ouch, Misa! Not so tight!" Light cried out.
"I'm sorry, Light, I haven't seen you in two weeks. I missed you so much, you can't really blame me, now can you, Light?" She apologized. He looked down at the small blonde and returned her hug awkwardly and unwillingly.
"No, but enough is enough. I have work to do." She broke away from him reluctantly and nodded.
"I understand." She walked over and sat down on one of the various chairs sprawled out across the room and pulled out her cell phone. "One missed call…" She said with wide eyes and the feeling of uneasiness overwhelming her system. She nervously glanced over to Light before checking if the caller left a voicemail.
"Okay, nothing there, probably just a wrong number. Get a hold of yourself, Misa." She attempted to soothe herself. Obviously it was not a wrong number. If someone heard her answering machine saying, "Hi! You've reached Misa Amane, I can't come to the phone right now so leave a message!" they were bound to leave a voicemail for the celebrity, begging her to call them back.
"What was that?" Light asked, turning around to face her.
"Nothing, just talking to myself that's all. Don't mind me, really, I wouldn't want to interrupt." She insisted. Light muttered beneath his breath.
"A little late for that." Her shoulders dropped at his comment. Her phone started ringing as soon as she managed to calm down, and it was the same number prior to her missed call. Should I answer? She asked herself. Misa didn't have time to choose because Light scolded her.
"Misa, will you please just answer the phone or turn it off? We're busy." She whimpered at his insensitive demand.
"I'm sorry, I didn't recognize the number." She lied.
"Then why don't you hang up?" She jumped back a bit from his harsh tone but smiled.
"You're right, I'll just ignore them." With that she hit the "end" button and the room was once again silent. Better take precautions this time. Misa set her phone to vibrate in case she got another call, not wanting to risk Light becoming too frustrated with her. She put her phone back in her purse and stared at the back of Light's head.
What am I going to do? She thought worriedly. Misa stood up without notice and headed for the elevator. Her footsteps caught L's attention, who had been soundless up to this point.
"Where are you off to, Misa?" He asked, not through curiosity, but through determination to have all possible knowledge of the still-potential second Kira.
"I'm going out for a walk or something, it's too depressing in here." With that the elevator doors closed and reported that Misa was now on the first floor.
"She's lying, you know." L told Light.
"How do you know, Ryuzaki?" Light asked, a bit offended he couldn't tell Misa was lying yet L could.
"No matter the level of bleakness or excitement, Misa always stays here right by your side, as any faithful lover would. There is something bothering her and she is about to take matters into her own hands." He said without looking away from the computer screen.
"Do you think it's serious?" Matsuda asked. "I mean, Misa-Misa never gets bothered by anything." L took another bite of his cake before answering.
"I do not know what could be getting to Misa with such an immense impact, but it would be in all of our best interests if we let her be and handle her own situation, with the minor exception of Light, of course." Light went over to the table where his father sat working on files from previous Kira murders and took some to study.
"I'll let Misa manage herself. She doesn't need me all the time and I can only solve one mystery at a time." He said carelessly.
In the meantime, Misa walked the streets panting. There were cars and people everywhere as there always had been, a typical day in Tokyo, except for her. Misa could feel her heart beating faster and faster, forgetting that she set her phone on vibrate one second then picking it up the next.
She was about to alter the volume again when the phone started to ring for a second time, a private caller. Rolling her eyes, Misa answered the phone and waited to hear what lousy prank she was about to get this time.
"Hello?" She responded dully. The reply on the other end of the line frightened her a bit.
Laughter, soft, gentle, sinister laughter. "What do you want?" She said quite aggravated.
"See you soon." With that the caller hung up, leaving Misa even more startled than she had been before she left the Task Force Headquarters.
She closed her eyes and walked the rest of the way to an empty park. No one was there, but a bench stood still, inviting her to sit on it to give her a break from her stilettos. She was about to rest on it when a slide caught her eye.
It was white, and clean, which she found very odd for a playground slide, especially because it was a twisty one with the tall black stairs to add intimidation and adrenaline to the object of child's play. She walked up the stairs, listening to her own clanking shoes as she did so.
Once she reached the top, Misa sat down, her back facing the slide, and gazed out to the pink and purple sunset. She put her head in her hands and let the tears flow, not worrying about her waterproof make-up.
"What have I done?" She cried out, shoulders shaking from the future torment she had expected. Misa didn't notice that another person had entered the park as well, too focused on a way to get herself the hell out of this horrible mess of a mistake.
The furtive figure waltzed across the crinkled October leaves, stopping at the bottom of the slide instead of at the foot of the slide's staircase. The man listened to Misa's tortured sobs with a smirk playing his lips as he began to climb the first twist of the slide. Once he got to the top, facing Misa's back, he reached a hand out and touched her shoulder blade.
Misa gasped and turned around quickly only to find nothing but the empty slide top.
She sniffled and coughed.
"It must've been the wind, probably just my stupid nerves. Why am I such an idiot?" She kept insulting herself, kept pointing out her stupidity and how sinfully wrong she was in everything she did.
"This soon, we had to have contact this soon. I just got back home. Why are we already having phone calls? Stupid stalker, I hate him so much." She yelled out to no one. "Why can't you understand it was all a mistake? A screw-up! Just another big fat mess that someone has to clean up! Let me tell you, I've played the roll of the French Maid long enough, it's your turn now, buster!"
She listened to her dying echo and brushed the tears in her eyes away. Misa laughed at herself.
"I'm psychotic." She giggled a bit. She could have sworn she heard a voice somewhere nearby say something similar to 'nothing wrong with that' and it made her blood boil with an unknown reason.
"Okay, you know what? You don't exist. You are simply a hallucination, probably something I drank from the goodbye party. You will not be a part of my every day life nor will you become a part of me in any way shape or form. This I promise you, as well as myself."
Of course she knew there was no way this would work, telling herself that it was all a trick of the mind despite the fact that the entire Task Force had heard her phone ring, and that she had a six second conversation with a 'stranger' who said they'd see her soon. But no one would ever dare say that Misa Amane never tried because of her weak effort in deleting this memory from her brain.
She started humming at random, not quite a song, more of an angered or frustrated hum. She turned around and went down the slide, not noticing a bloody hand print on the top of where she had previously been.
"I need to get back, hopefully Light won't be worrying." She said sadly. Misa knew Light didn't worry about her, she knew he didn't love her, he didn't even care about her, but that doesn't mean she couldn't pretend he did. It wasn't that hard to put on a fake, believable smile, hold onto his arm, and tell the whole world that you two are in love.
No, it wasn't hard at all, she could tell you that like it was one of her rehearsed lines. The hard part was facing the fact that when everybody left, all you had was a cold shoulder, tears in your eyes, and a broken heart.
When she did get back, the only faces she saw were that of Watari's and L's.
"Huh? Where is everybody?" She asked the detective. Ryuzaki turned around in his swivel chair and gave Misa a blank stare.
"They all went home early." He said in his usual monotone. Her eyes widened the slightest bit, still not comparing to the giant circle's of L's eyes.
"What? Why did you let them go home so early? It's not even seven o'clock yet. That's not like you at all." Watari pushed a button, forcing every door in the room to slam shut and lock tight. "Ryuzaki, what is this?"
"The caller that keeps agitating you, who is it?" She took a step back at the inquiry.
"What are you talking about?" Her skirt swayed back a bit with her solitary stride.
"Someone is calling you and you do not want them to contact you in any form. I could tell by your hesitation when the phone rang last and you bit down on your lip while making your move to answer at first before Light scolded you and you took not a second's indecision to hang up."
"I didn't recognize the number, I already told you guys that." She said inwardly smirking.
"You lied. You raised both of your shoulders when you gave a reassuring smile, you always raise one whenever you do such a thing." Misa looked at him, bemused.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"You're getting defensive and starting to use minor profanity. I want to know right this minute who is contacting you."
"Why do you care so much? I thought I was cleared of being the second Kira already?" L did not budge, he did not blink, it didn't even seem that he was breathing at the moment. Watari stood there with his proper stance slouching from some sort of emotional pain or discomfort with his head bowed. "Well?"
"There is a thirty-three percent chance that who you are contacting is Kira." Misa found interest in this, as she found interest in many things.
"And the other sixty-seven percent?" Her knee popped out a bit, giving her a cocky and goddess like pose.
"A psychopathic serial killer." Was the only information he gave her. She gave him an odd look, wondering where the serial killer talk came from.
"Isn't Kira a psychopathic serial killer in your eyes as well?" Misa asked.
"Exactly." Ryuzaki smirked, taking Misa aback and making her raise her defenses.
"So what, you're not going to give me any names?" She shouted. Ryuzaki sat in his crouch, still as a statue.
"I shall leave that up to you, not that you have much of a choice anyhow, so if you please?" Misa swallowed nervously and closed her eyes before taking long and graceful strides to L's side. She leaned over and whispered the first and last names of her caller into his ear. Ryuzaki merely blinked.
"You are not to leave the premises under any circumstances for the sake of your own safety. You will be monitored at all possible times and you are to be restricted from making any contact with Light. Speaking of whom, he is not to know of any of this, conversation, confrontation, and revelation of who Misa's caller is. Are we all understood?"
"Yes, Ryuzaki." Watari said obediently. Misa stood there, hands lying limply by her sides.
"Understood, Miss Amane?" Ryuzaki asked, using more of an enforcing tone.
"Understood." She agreed, failing to use emotion. Ryuzaki nodded once he confirmed she was willing to cooperate.
"You may leave to your room in the headquarters, I will alert you once Light reenters in which case you are not to leave your dorm. Until that point you may roam freely whilst keeping clear of any exits on floor three or lower."
Misa just zoned out as L continued giving her instructions, nodding her head to make it seem like she was listening. What she didn't understand, however, is why she couldn't see Light. She knew she'd have to make a fuss over it eventually, maybe when L was finished giving her orders.
"Ryuzaki, why can't I see Light?" She asked with tears in her eyes, getting ready to perform. "Isn't it bad enough that I have to deal with this man stalking and calling me? I at least want to be able to see my boyfriend." L simply sipped his tea.
"Allow me to ask before I answer. What is your connection to this man? How did you come into contact with him in the first place?" L asked, he actually sounded a little curious, too. Misa swallowed the lump in her throat.
"It was while I was in Los Angeles and I saw him walking around in the middle of the night. He looked kind of sketchy but there was just something about him that I found…attractive." She admitted with a red face.
"You had coitus with him?" L questioned without missing a beat. Misa rolled her eyes and hugged herself.
"Not intentionally. It was the day before I left and after the party, so it was probably like two in the morning. I was hammered, and alone, and when he came into my apartment through the window to say goodbye… I thought it was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me. I thought he actually cared. So I started kissing him, and one thing led to another. Please don't tell Light about this." She begged the detective. "I wasn't thinking straight, and I was feeling so lonely. You know Light hasn't kissed me in over two months?"
"So you mean to tell me that what happened between the both of you was purely due to alcohol?" He asked again.
Misa sighed and shook her head. "It's what I'm hoping you'd buy. I wasn't as drunk as I made myself out to be, okay? The way he looked at me and the way he held me, it made me feel special. I know it could have been an act, but at least he cared enough to act like it. Sometimes it feels like Light doesn't care at all." She said with a tear sliding down her cheek.
"You know Light doesn't share equal feelings for you. Why do you stay with him?" The interrogation continued. Misa pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment.
"I wouldn't expect you to understand, even if I explained it a thousand times over, you still wouldn't get it, Ryuzaki." Her voice was starting to get shaky. "Never mind, though, I don't think I want to see Light all that much right now anyway. I'll call him and tell him I need to go somewhere else for work. If you told him then he'd know something was up. I always tell him everything I'm doing."
L nodded. "You'll be living under these circumstances for at least a month's time. I suggest you go to Europe. Perhaps France or Italy." He suggested lies for her.
"Well, I've only been to France a few times. I've been to Italy a lot so I could probably make up a believable story for him. Not that it really matters but, hey, what are you gonna do?" She said, dialing Light's number.
The phone rang a few times before he picked up. "Hello?"
"Hey, Light, it's Misa. Listen, I'm going to have to go to Italy for work. I'll be gone for at least a month." Misa's tone was cheerless and nearly a monotone. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning."
"Alright, thanks for letting me know. Don't do anything reckless, okay?" He said, almost annoyed.
"Yeah, I know." Misa hung up the phone and gave it to L. "Here, I'm not going to need it." L wouldn't take the cell phone, however, and pushed it back to her.
"On the contrary, you are going to need it. If he decides to get a hold of you again you'll have to answer." Misa's heart stopped.
"Why would I have to answer him? I thought you didn't want me to get in touch with him at all?" She was clearly starting to panic.
"Misa, please calm down. We'll be watching you when you're in your room. Refrain from taking your cell phone into the bathroom when you shower and such. If it rings while you're busy I will inform you. There is no need to be fearful." L attempted to soothe her.
"Could I ask you something, Ryuzaki?" She asked, still jittery.
"Of course, Miss Amane. What is it?"
"Why are you doing all of this for me?" Misa asked sheepishly, trying to calm her nerves so she would stop shaking.
"This man, as I'm sure you must be aware of, is a serial killer." Misa froze on the spot. Her day just got a whole lot worse.
"A-a what?" She stuttered.
"You didn't know?" L seemed a bit surprised at this bit of information.
"Uh, no, I had no idea. Killing people never really came up in conversation." Her breathing became shallow, and she bent over in pain. "Oh god, I'm going to be sick!" She ran to the trash barrel then, giving L some time to think to himself.
"Ryuzaki, if what you're telling me is true, then do you think he's out to kill me now?" She asked with her head hovering above the garbage.
"If you want the truth, it's a slim possibility. He's very unstable. His emotions have tendency to be erratic." He sipped at his tea again, and Watari rolled up next to him with his cart of sweets and sugar cubes.
"What if that isn't the case? Why would he still be after me?" Watari cleared his throat at Misa's question. L asked himself if she really couldn't answer that on her own.
"Well, Misa, you did take some suggestive action. I suppose he'd want to rekindle any feelings he thought you had for him." He stated bluntly. Misa was taken aback by the way L had phrased his response.
"What do you mean feelings he 'thought' I had?" She asked, pulling herself away form the trash.
"You had feelings for him in the first place?" Misa's face turned pink at the question. She started playing with her hair and bit down on her lip.
"Well, yeah, I did. But I swear I didn't know he was a murderer!" She held her hands up in front of her in an innocent gesture. L turned around in his chair and stared into Misa before asking his next question.
"And what about now?" Was asked in an uncaring tone. Misa sighed through her nose and maintained eye contact with L.
"I can't answer that question just yet, Ryuzaki."