"Pardon me..." A soft voice mumbled from the other side of the counter. I looked up, and there stood a man. The man that changed it all.
It started on March 6, 2007. I had worked in the library for years, ever since I could. The library was the only place I felt like I could be myself without being made fun of. At the time, I was 16, a mere child. Nothing was of forewarning as to what was to happen next.
Clack. The doors opened for the first time of that morning. The puzzle I was working on shook as the table knocked back and forth from the force exerted from the swinging of doors. Interested in who this person might be, I looked up. I mean, come on. Who would want to go to a library on a Saturday morning?
No one was to be found near the doors, nor was there anyone at any of the racks.
Hm, that's odd. I thought.
I got up, the wooden chair I was sitting in making a muffled scrape against the blue speckled carpet. My shoes made a soft patter patter patter noise with each step I took. When I reached the mystery novel section, I saw a man crouched into a sitting position, his knees tightly curled up against his chest.
The man was barefoot, and had messy black hair standing up on his head. His white shirt was crinkled, as well as his jeans.
I cleared my throat, trying to get the odd man's attention. It didn't work. "No shoes, no service, sir." I muttered before resuming my spot at the creaky wooden table, where my unfinished puzzle sat. I sighed, picking up the box lid to peek at what the product was supposed to look like.
"That's cheating." Clack.
The next day, Sunday, I went back to the library. Glancing at my watch, I saw that I was five minutes late to open the building.
It's not as if any one will care, I thought. Everyone is either asleep or in church.
I hummed a soft and calming tune as I got closer to the brick building. A speck could be seen in the distance. It was crouched over. The closer I got, the more clear it became. It was the man from the other day, the one without shoes, who said something about "cheating" as I looked at the puzzle box lid.
My glasses slid down my nose, so I pushed them up with one hand and pulled out my keys with the other. Stepping around the man, I unlocked and held open the door. "Aren't you going to come in, sir?" I asked in a polite voice.
The man looked up at me from his crouching position and stuck his thumb against his lip, making him seem rather childish. Soon he got up and walked inside the building. His back was bent over, as if he had scoliosis. I wasn't going to ask about it, of course. That is just plain rude.
I watched as the man sauntered over to the mystery novel section he was at yesterday. He had shoes on, I observed. Maybe he didn't want to get kicked out again, maybe he realized how crazy it is to go around without shoes in Osaka, I didn't know.
Once again, I bent down behind the reception desk to pull out yet another one of my logic challenges. This time, I ended up with chess. It amused me to play myself, just to see which side of my would win. I set up the board and the pieces, making loud noises as I did so.
All throughout the game, I thought. What I thought about, I'm not sure. Lots of things ran through my mind as I played that game meant for two people, or teams, by myself. That is, until pieces started moving on their own.
Wait, what?
Mind reeling, I looked up. There stood the hunched-over man I'd seen only a few times. His thumb was back nearly in his mouth, as if he were in deep thought. I pushed my knight forward, a move I knew I'd regret. It was a move you saved for last, always.
Neither of us said anything as the game went on. Black pieces built up on my side, white on his. He was winning by one piece. In the end, that didn't matter. It's the king that matters, as any chess player should understand. That's the reason I blushed as I moved my knight again, leaving my king right open. Just as I thought, the messy-looking man pushed his castle forward.
"Check mate," he mumbled so that I could barely understand him.
Th-that can't be right...
My fingers traced invisible paths over each of the remaining pieces on the board, inspecting every possible move. All moves led up to the point at which the strange man would take my king, which in turn led me to lose.
"I can't believe it..." I muttered under my breath.
I moved my chair away from the table a bit so that I could get a better look at the bedraggled man in front of me. His hair seemed even more tousled today. It bothered me. Sighing, I walked back to the reception desk and grabbed the hair brush out of my bag.
I stepped closer and closer to the man, my glasses once again slipping down the bridge of my nose. The man's eyes got wider and wider with each determined step, but his face showed no emotions. He was a blank slate, of which I knew I'd never fathom.
The hair brush pulled through his hair, yanking knots every second. Frustrated, I became rough and started pulling harder with each stroke of my hand. At that point, tears were falling from the man's face.
What am I doing? This is not like me at all... Shocked with myself, I stopped and took a few steps back from the stranger standing before me. "I-I'm sorry, that was s-stupid of me..." I blushed a deep shade of red and walked behind the reception desk and sat in my chair.
The man I had just played chess with walked up to the desk, placed his elbows on the counter, and leaned forward a little bit. He said in almost a whispering voice, "May I ask of your name?"
"Kage Kazumi," my small voice squeaked out.
The man nodded but said nothing. Instead, he handed me a book he was holding. Confused, I stared at the book. The man pointed at the computer next to me. Blushing, I checked the book out, first scanning his card. "Thank you." Clack.
The man left! He just left! Pissed beyond belief, I stormed out of the library and started to follow the stranger, catching up to him quickly. My steps became one with his as I followed silently behind him, hoping he didn't hear me. "What about the library? Shouldn't you be there, keeping guard?"
My eyes grew wide. I blushed again and stepped closer to the man, but made sure not to touch him. "I guess I should be getting back..."
I turned on my heel and started walking back when a hand grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. The man... Smiled? I wasn't sure if it could be counted as a smile, but his lips turned in an upward motion. "Call me L."
A sharp breath seeped through my mouth. "Y-you mean, the L?!"
The man, 'L,' took in a small breath before continuing, "I suppose, unless you know of anyone else whose name is L."
I glared at him. He started to walk back towards the library. I followed suit.
The walk back was silent. It was a peaceful, calm silence, not one of those awkward moments people always seem to have. Something warm brushed against my hand as we neared out destination. That something clasped my hand in a soothing grip and squeezed. It didn't take me two seconds to realize that L had taken hold of my hand. My face grew hot with embarrassment. I squeezed his hand lightly in response.
L turned to me and smiled, a real smile this time. "Kage Kazumi... Shadowed mist... That's interesting." The great detective faced the building that was now in front of us and proceeded to walk in, not holding the door for me as I had to him earlier that morning.
I stepped onto the carpeting of the place I knew so well. It seemed so different, with L there. I smiled to myself, realizing how much I had already begun to like that stranger. It was so unlike me to make snap judgments, especially like this.
My blush grew deeper and darker as L took a step toward me. His large hand grasped my chin, causing me to look deep into his dark gray eyes. Shivers ran down my spine from L's cold touch. His face grew a light shade of pink as he leaned down and placed his lips softly on mine.
After only a few short seconds, L pulled back. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"
I crashed my lips back on his, causing him to shut up, if only for a moment. L smiled into the kiss. His tongue scraped across my bottom lip and I parted my mouth. His slimy tongue poked into my mouth and explored every crevice of it.
This time I pulled away, a string of saliva attached to our tongues. Both L and I were a light shade of pink from the intense kissing.
I smiled up at L, the man of whom I had just met only yesterday. The man of whom beat me at chess. The man of whom I fell in love with.