1.
Light Yagami was feeling good. He had just received notice that, again, he had scored highest on the bar exam and was currently the smartest kid in the entire Kanto region. With a barely hidden grin on his face, Light glanced over at a street vendor selling ice cream and other sweets. The brunette rifled around in his pocket for his wallet and got in line behind a young man already being served by the vendor. Light figured he deserved a treat.
"Hm…yes, just let me try the pistachio one more time, please," the young man with jet black hair in front of Light was saying to the vendor. The man was wearing very simple clothing--a white t-shirt and jeans--and seemed to be hunched over. Light figured that the man had back problems, and tried not to stare.
The vendor, who was looking slightly haggard, sighed and dipped a little pink spoon into the tub of pistachio ice cream and handed it to the indecisive customer. The man with black hair held the spoon between his thumb and forefinger and stuck the spoon in his mouth. "Mm…yes, this is very good," he said in a monotone, serene sort of voice.
The vendor seemed to perk up at the man's statement. "Great! Then, how many scoops would you like?"
"None," the man replied. "I still haven't tried the Strawberry."
Light suppressed a sigh, unlike the vendor, who seemed unable to hold in his irritation. "Look," the man barked, "Hurry up and decide, ok, kid? I've got other customers waiting, you know. You've been here for twenty minutes!"
The young man seemed to draw back, as if the thought of time had not occurred to him. He glanced over his shoulder at Light and the two other people who were now waiting behind him. "Yes, I see. I guess I'll take a vanilla sundae with sprinkles and whip cream and gumdrops."
The vendor ground his teeth. "Fine." He began angrily preparing the young man's order.
"I'm sorry to keep you waiting."
Light looked up from his cell phone to find that the raven-haired man in front of him was looking directly at him with two onyx eyes. "It's no trouble, really."
"All the same," the man continued. "There is no need for me to be so rude. I am Ryuzaki."
"Yagami Light," the university student replied. It struck him odd that this Ryuzaki offered him no last name. He glanced at the ice cream vendor, who was impatiently waiting to give Ryuzaki his dripping sundae. "Uh, I think your ice cream is ready…"
Ryuzaki turned, smiled at the man growing steadily red in the face, and took his ice cream. He licked it once and walked away.
"Hey!" the vendor yelled after him. "What about my money! You owe me 294 yen, pal!"
Stopping short, Ryuzaki turned and looked at the furious man with unblinking eyes. "Money? I have no money." He continued to lick away at his ice cream.
"No--YOU LITTLE PUNK!" The vendor was shaking with rage and impatience now. He was rolling up his shirtsleeves as if he was going to give Ryuzaki the old one-two.
"I'll pay for it," Light piped up. He quickly laid the correct amount of yen on the metallic counter of the cart. "There, that's enough, right?"
The vendor frowned, as if put-out by the fact he was no longer going to be able to beat his money's worth out of the slouching Ryuzaki. "Fine. But get out of here, kid." He snatched up his money and slammed the "Closed" sign down on the counter.
Light bowed his head and quickly walked away from the cart--he was not too keen on getting punched out by some stranger. So much for his treat…
"Thank you."
Again, Light looked up to see Ryuzaki staring at him as he walked beside him.
"It's no problem," Light said. He offered a small smile and stuck his hands in the pockets of his jacket.
Ryuzaki returned the grin with his own odd smirk. "You're a very kind person, Yagami-kun."
"Please, call me Light."
"Yes, Light-kun." Ryuzaki continued eating his sundae, holding the cone in the same peculiar way he held the taste-testing spoon. He seemed like an odd character to Light, but at the same time left him intrigued.
"So…are you a university student?" Light asked, if only trying to make conversation. Ryuzaki appeared to be around that same age as he was.
"No," was all he said.
Light couldn't think of anything else to say, and it appeared Ryuzaki was content with the silence. By the time they had reached the convenience store a block away from Light's house, they hadn't spoken again and Ryuzaki had long-since finished his free ice cream.
"Well, it's been…nice meeting you, Ryuzaki-san. I'll, uh, see you around." Light smiled at Ryuzaki, albeit awkwardly.
"Do you mean that?" Ryuzaki said curiously. He began to nibble on his thumb-nail like a small child.
Light was slightly taken aback. "Uh, sure, why not?" It had just been a simple pleasantry…
"So I will meet you at the coffee shop on 13th street tomorrow at 3pm?"
Light could only open and close his mouth, torn between politeness and practicality.
Ryuzaki, however, took Light's stunned silence as an answer. "Great! I will see you tomorrow, Light-kun!" He turned and walked away, still biting his thumb, back still arched.
As Light went inside his house, he couldn't help but feel like he had missed something.
"That guy's somethin, eh?" cackled a frightful apparition to Light's left. The shinigami had become such a natural part of Light's atmosphere that he hardly even noticed the creature anymore. "He roped you into that little date pretty easily. Hyuck, hyuck."
Light waved his hand irritably, silencing the shinigami named Ryuk; he didn't want some god of death telling reminding him that he, for once in his life, had not been able to talk his way out of a situation. The handsome student sat down at his desk and absently flipped through the pages of a notebook labeled "Death Note." This was an interesting development, even if it was mundane in its entirety so far. However, Light found himself mentally examining his schedule for the next day, checking if he would in fact be able to make his "little date" with this Ryuzaki. If that was his real name…
He glanced over his shoulder at Ryuk, who was juggling several apples with his long hands. The shinigami would know if Ryuzaki had been lying about his name…
"No…," Light said aloud to himself. "This man is no one…in fact, he seems like a real idiot…it's nothing to worry about." He nodded, again for only his benefit, and took up his pen. Feeling better from his self-pep-talk, Light--or Kira, as he was secretly known--began filling in names onto the pages of the Death Note. It was like nothing at all had happened.
But it would. In time.