Note: Sorry, the game mentioned is not meant to be dirty; it is more of my take on what goes on inside the minds of these two boys. BTW, any and all italics are Raito's thoughts.
"Yagami-san, is something wrong?"
You mean other than the fact that half an hour ago a strange man with black hair announced to me that he was L and proceeded to accuse me (correctly) of being Kira? No, nothing is wrong.
"Yes I'm perfectly fine…Hideki-san" Raito manages to say the name evenly although it feels all wrong in his mouth.
"You may call me L. I told you I was he. And you have an obvious discomfort with aliases" said L calmly, and turned to face Raito. "This may seem a bit forward considering we just met, but I was wondering if you would be interested in accompanying me for a little walk."
A walk. I just met L, the world famous detective, and he wants to go for a walk. Ah, well it'll be a story for Sayu.
"I can see that you take no interest in the other students present and think yourself superior to them, L added conversationally, surveying the masses of students either enveloped in hugs or being congratulated by distant family members you could bet they only saw for an annual slipping of money into their pockets. The parents are so proud of their children who graduated, but no one is here to congratulate Raito, who has passed with the highest of honors. Except L. If that even counted. All he had done so far was put Raito on edge with his strange comments.
"I suppose I could…" said Raito cautiously.
Maybe if we walk and chat I'll be able to get something out of him to indicate whether there was any truth in his profession after all.
"Very good, Yagami-san." L reached a long black convertible and held the door for Raito to enter first.
Raito vaguely wondered if L the great detective would be so rich.
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Raito stared out of the window most of the trip, feeling too uncomfortable to make conversation. Why the hell had he agreed to this anyway? He was feeling increasingly pressured and as if he were being surveyed. They didn't appear to be moving out of the surrounding area of sidewalks and shops, and in fact when the driver stopped, it took Raito a moment to realize they had arrived in Shibuya.
Is this so-called L taking me for a shopping trip? Is it a test? Should I buy something for him?
Then Raito heard his own thoughts and had to force himself to calm down.
"Yagami, your trial commences" said L in a strangely flat monotone, leading him from the car.
It was a mark of the awkwardness of the situation that Raito could not tell if L was joking or not.
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Dashing shop windows proclaimed their Gothic merchandise. Raito couldn't help but feel slightly disgusted as he soaked in his surroundings. Girls tripping over one another to get to a dress they would only wear for a month. A group of teenagers laughing their heads off at a young boy who had tripped. A girls blushing and bestowing a kiss upon a boy who had just said something to her one could be sure wasn't romantic.
Why did it have to be here of all places?
Suddenly L broke the silence.
"Perhaps we could play a game." It sounded awkward together, such a formal tone with such childish words. L paused for effect, waiting for Raito's reaction.
"A game," Raito echoed.
"Yes, like the kind of games you play when there is someone you want to get to know."
"And what games do people play when they want to get to know each other?"
"I was hoping that Yagami-kun would know."
Despite his gloomy mood, Raito smiled and made mental note of the sudden change of suffix.
"I may have scored the highest on the exams, but I'm afraid you have discovered my weakness—I know very little of social events commonly enjoyed."
"I see." There is a moment of silence. "Then maybe between two brilliant minds we can come up with something. Or how about we just ask each other questions?"
"I'm not sure that classifies as a game, said Raito doubtfully.
"I assure you, it would greatly entertain me to hear about Yagami-kuns views. I would like to get to know him."
Would it kill him to talk about me in second person?
"So we just ask questions back and forth?"
"Yes. And no yes/no questions."
"About what?"
"Anything."
Raito considered this for a moment and then decided, "That sound agreeable, but under one condition."
L cocked an eyebrow (yes L has eyebrows) to show that he was listening.
"The words 'are' 'you' and 'Kira' may not be used. Or anything to that effect."
At that, L actually laughed (yes, L can laugh) and confirmed, "That condition is acceptable to me, although I wouldn't have asked that question anyway because it is a yes/no one."
The pair ambled up the congested streets in silence, letting the mindless chatter of the others wash over them. It suddenly struck Raito how very strange they must look together.
"So…" L murmured staring down at his shoes. "How about you tell me…which your least favorite holiday is. And why."
Raito didn't know what he had been expecting, but certainly not that. Perhaps something a little more…intellectual? It was unlikely that L would be able to deduce Raito's likelihood of being Kira just by knowing his least favorite holiday.
So for this reason Raito seriously considered the question.
"What classifies as a holiday?"
"Any day you get off from school, or would get off, were school in session."
"Then…I would say New Year's Day."
Now it was L's turn to be taken aback. It seemed such an innocuous and innocent holiday. He had been expecting an answer of a holiday heavily revolving around commercialism, such as Christmas or Valentine's Day.
"Because…?"
His disbelieving tone aggravated Raito.
"It depresses me. I don't really know how to put it other than that. It just makes my skin crawl and my blood feel cold when I watch people do things like make New Year's resolutions that they are sure to break within a couple weeks at the most. I prefer not to think about the New Year, with its reminders of last year's failures and sodden memories and having to become used to writing a new date at the top of your homework. The whole thing just depresses me to no end. It's beyond me how someone could want to celebrate something like that."
A slightly shocked silence followed Raito's words. He himself began to blush slightly, not having expected to get so worked up over a question.
L was intrigued by this darker and clearly sensitive side he appeared to have prodded in Raito. He wanted to learn more about it.
"So," Raito struggled to regain his composure and calm and pose a question of his own. But what do you ask to some random guy who claims to be your archrival?
"So maybe you could tell me, if you returned to your home to find you had been robbed…. what would you run first to check had not been taken?"
L frowned.
"That is a rather personal question, don't you think?"
"It was you who suggested this game."
L considered this.
"If it were anyone else you had asked this question, they may think that you were being somewhat nosy. And if they thought that you were being nosy, they might be suspicious of your intent to know someone who called himself L."
Raito said nothing.
L continued.
"However, this isn't anyone else. This is me. As it were, this question does not have quite the personal effect that it should. There are very few things that I hold close to me, and of those few things, there are even fewer that can be tangibly recognized." He paused. "Working and catering justice comprise the most important components of my life. If someone robbed me, I can say with reasonable certainty, that I would foremost check that any and all data or evidence concerning a case was safe."
After taking apart this answer for a while, Raito decided that it sounded extremely L-ish, and too well thought out to be from any ordinary man. Even if he weren't L, Raito decided this Hideki was a character worth looking into.
"And it is back to me." L focused his great depthless dark eyes on Raito. They made the student shiver, like one could drop something into them and never retrieve it.
"What could make you…lose your mind?"
Raito didn't know why the other had asked that, but it unnerved him. For one thing, whether intended or not, the question had sexual implications. It didn't help that L was staring at Raito with a sort of avid intensity. But he didn't ask what had spurred the question.
Raito swallowed and thought for quite a while before answering.
"I don't have a strong faith in people…" He began carefully, trying to measure out where 'playing the game' ended and 'too much information' started. He had to be on guard after all.
"I also don't have a strong faith in love or in human nature. What I really have a strong faith in is mathematics and science. Your lover can say they love you on Monday and dump you on Thursday, but seven plus five will equal twelve on Thursday just as much as it did on Monday. Things change. People grow up. Life takes a turn for the better or for the worse. But seven plus five still equals twelve." Raito started to feel like he was giving away too much, so quickly wrapped up. "I guess what I am saying is that the only thing that could really drive me insane would be if the foundations of my faith were uprooted. Gravity can fly upward, but I won't lose my mind until seven plus five equals anything other than twelve."
Okay, stop now. Just stop. You are getting too much into this "game".
L stared at Raito. The more he heard, the more impressed he was becoming with the students obvious depth of thinking. At the same time, it was also becoming increasingly obvious that the boy had severe mental hang-ups about certain subjects. Remarkable…and more than a little frightening.
"Yagami-kun is a very talented speaker" he said at last.
Raito cleared his throat. "Do you believe in God?"
"That is a yes/no question."
Raito rolled his eyes mentally.
"Fine then, how about: what is your system of belief concerning life and the hereafter?"
L smiled, rather used to this question.
"My belief in God is comparable to your trust in the man made functions of mind. You are familiar, I'm sure, with a certain quote of the German philosopher Nietzsche? 'God is dead'. That more or less sums it up in my opinion." A brief silence. "I don't mean to sound as cynical as that came out. When you have seen as many things, as many cases as I have….they can really damage your perspective on human beings. The crimes people willingly commit, a sort of cruelty which resides in their bones...it is enough to destroy anyone's belief in an unknown force watching over us all."
"I don't know if I believe in heaven or hell, he continued. All my life I've had something in front of me, to work for or to otherwise occupy my attention. I have no reason as of now to believe that even after I die, this privilege of duty will be taken away from me."
The pair stopped walking. They were outside an ice cream shop.
"Do…Would Yagami-kun like to go inside?" L practically stuttered, clearly in some way stimulated by the sight of so much luscious ice cream.
"Isn't that a yes/no question?" Raito teased.
"No! I mean, yes, but I didn't mean…"
Raito simply smirked discreetly and pushed open the door with a small ping!
Although Raito was the younger of the two, L showed a much greater inclination to get at the sweets piled behind the counter. Delicate pastries donned luscious fruits to the left of the misted ice cream counter.
Raito allowed himself to think over what he had learned as the older man shuffled his feet and gazed between sweets, trying to choose. Certainly an unusual character. And not just the way he responded to Raito's questions, but the way he posed his own……..Maybe someone for Raito to add on his internal list of people who interest him.
Which brings the total number of people who interest him up to one.
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And the rest of the quickly fading afternoon is spent far more commonly, as might be expected from two young men. Common. If that word can apply to the two boys in question. When night began to bare itself, the two headed back to L's driver, who was still awaiting them and dropped Raito home. Raito didn't ask how L knew where he lived.
"It was very nice to get to know you this afternoon Hideki-san" Raito proclaimed with a feigned kind of formality as he exited the car.
"You needn't be so formal" L assured the boy, gracing his own features with a half twisted, but genuine smile. "We will see each other again very shortly".
Raito didn't ask what L meant by that.