Title – Signing In
Author - Kuliise
Rating - G
Pairing – Gen [Light centric]
Warnings – none
Note: This is set after Light was released from voluntary confinement, and it assumes that for random reasons L let him have a couple weeks or months off to catch up with schoolwork.
As Light approached the door, he noticed that the projector screen was visible already from the hallway. He cursed his luck inwardly. Now he would have to walk in from the front, and everyone would look up and see that Yagami Light, of all people, was taking supplemental schooling for being in the bottom 20% of the class. There went his hope of slipping in quietly to save some face. Light crushed the humiliation that had started to manifest in his cheeks and quickly set his expression to an indifferent look.
Surprised eyes greeted him from every direction as Light forced himself to enter as casually as possible. He deliberately ignored them and instead focused his attention on a group of people congregating at the front of the room. He intended to pretend to watch them curiously, but sudden horror struck him when he realized what they were standing there for - they were signing their names for attendance.
His horrified look only lasted for a millisecond, as Light quickly regained his composure. He took a brief glance around the room in the hopes that no one had seen him lose his cool. The others in the room all quickly looked away when his gaze swept over them, but no one snickered. If they had seen it, no one showed any outward signs of it. Light sincerely doubted that anyone in the room could continue to keep a straight face if they had indeed seen that micro-expression. He breathed a silent sigh of relief. Even if someone had noticed, it didn't really matter that much, Light chided himself. Why was he being so jumpy? Light mentally smacked himself as L came to mind. That settled his question rather quickly.
The dead silence in the room suddenly became more apparent as Light turned his attention back to his surroundings. He had missed that when he had first walked in - he probably hadn't noticed because he had been feeling extremely self-conscious at the time. Next time he should steel himself before walking into an embarrassing situation. With his composture regained, Light carefully examined the students around him. It came as no surprise that everyone looked rather forlorn - this was a supplemental class after all. After thinking about it, the attendance taking really shouldn't have shocked him as much as it did. It was standard procedure in all of the classes he had ever attended.
However...this time was a little different. If he was forced to write his name down, anyone who read the list later would immediately be drawn to his name. Yagami Light, the top student in the entire university, on a list of those failing the class? It was a mortifying thought. Light shuddered inwardly. Then again...having his name on a list alongside failures and dropouts really had no good reason to be so horrific, given that rumors were already going to be flying all over the place. Everyone in this room was most likely going to tell all their friends, enemies, and everyone else in between once they got out.
A wave of shame washed over him and Light felt his face become hot. In that moment, it took all of his self-control to not flee the room and make himself look like a coward and a fool. Light considered several options as he struggled to get his face back to a normal color. Either he sit through the class and try not to die of embarrassment, or leave and pretend that he had accidentally come in. It wasn't like he couldn't find another way to raise his grades back up. But this had been the way all his teachers had encouraged him to take since he had missed so many classes during the time of his voluntary imprisonment.
Light had patiently told them that he did not need to take supplemental classes, as he could just study the textbooks and get the notes from a friend. He also assured them that he would be able to finish all the assignments he had missed and take all the quizzes and tests if they gave him about a week to study. The teachers had almost let him off with that; if only it hadn't been for his father, he thought wryly. His father had been rather abnormally determined to have Light take the supplementary classes. Light was fairly certain that his father wanted him to spend more time at school and away from the Kira case more than anything else. It was the only explanation, since everyone knew that Light didn't even need to go to class and he would still excel. But this kind of humiliation - his pride just couldn't take it. Perhaps he should just get out of here...If anyone asked, he could always say he had just been wandering the halls and had been curious enough to come in.
Unbidden, the sight of his father's pleading face materialized before him. Only one class, please just try it. Promise me you'll go to at least one class. Why had he been so stupid and promised his father? Light had given his word to go to one class, only because his father had been so stubborn about it. The fingernails in his clenched fists dug into his palms. That had to be the worst choice Light had ever made in his entire life. But now he had to go through with this, if only for the sake of keeping his promise. He groaned. Inwardly of course.
With his mind now set, Light stepped into the attendance line, the embarrassment wiped clean from his face. He waited, wearing a bored expression, even though he was interally still having occasional fits of mortification, as the others in front of him took their sweet time in writing their names down. The back of his neck pricked and Light guessed, with a twinge of annoyance, that the students behind him had resumed their staring. He just had to keep the semblance of calm and suffer through this humiliation patiently. Only...two more hours. Light stared at his watch. If he had been the crying type of person, he would have cried.
The person in front of him moved ahead to sign in and Light was simultaniously relieved and horrified. The student was writing painfully slowly, as if he was unsure if he was writing his name correctly or not. Either that or he was doing it on purpose. Light decided he was overthinking things a bit and chose to ignore him, instead focusing his attention on the list of names. He was slightly surprised to find that most of them were written in red ink. For a reason he could not identify yet, it made him smile.
The student in front of him finally finished writing his rather common name and handed Light the red pen. Light studied the pen in his hand, wondering why he found it so humorous that it wrote in red. The weight of the eyes staring at him brought him back to reality, and he started to turn red himself. Quickly finding a spot on the sign-in sheet, Light started to write his name. He stopped in mid-stroke, suddenly realizing why he found the color of the pen amusing. It was the same color as blood. Light felt a smile tug at his lips as he penned the rest of his name down quickly and elegantly. Signing my life over with blood, he thought as he finished off with a flourish, his smile widening. Some of the students started murmuring. He handed over the pen to the next person, and made his way to the front row. He laughed quietly to himself, not entirely sure why he was so amused. And with all the world to see it.