There's an uncomfortable silence when they all come back into the main room. Aimi had re-seated herself beside Matsuda, who seemed to want to say something the entire meeting, but refrained. She kept cutting him looks, as if urging him to do so, but he didn't rise to the bait. Finally, L walked back in, his shoulders hunched, though his eyes remained forward and scanning the room. Aizawa lets out a small grunt when he watches him step onto the couch, one leg at a time, and Ide wrinkles his nose.

"I apologize for hammering you with questions." L keeps both of his hands on his knees, maintaining his balance. He's accidentally tipped over once or twice before while in this position, and it wasn't something he wanted to repeat in front of his associates.

As if thinking in accordance to him, Aimi smiled across the room, looking at his strange way of seating. To herself, she wondered if she had the sort of balance to keep herself crouched for so long. Considering she wore heels often, even at this time, she supposed she could pull it off- but she was filled with the strange desire to push L just slightly, to see if he would immediately topple.

When he puts his thumb nail between his teeth again, he puts more pressure on his opposing foot, maintaining his balance. It's a common gesture that was usually ascribed to nervousness, but he did so in thought, glancing around the room once more. "Kira isn't here." The hairs on the back of his neck feel as if they stood straight up, and he finds his eyes settled on Aimi, whose stare was directed at him.

Ukita let out a sigh of relief and Matsuda visibly relaxed. Aimi, however, seemed unconvinced.

L had to wonder, then, without bringing up percents, whether or not it was a show. He doubted she could act very well- her words back in the side room had been sincere, especially considering she was sitting in front of the world's best lie detector. There was, however, the fact that Kira had managed to get so far without leaving behind a single, definitive clue as to who he (or she, he had to consider now) was. He had assumed, perhaps out of some instilled distorted perception, that the murderer had to have been male, but that might've just been his beliefs getting in the way of-

Soichiro, ever perceptive and questioning, sits straighter and leans forward, a light sweat across his face. "How do you know if one of us isn't Kira, Ryuuzaki?" In interest, he had leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. L pondered that, if he sitting in the same manner as himself, would he have not been able to deduce the answer to the question?

"I have a plan," A small, confident smile plays out across his face. "It's a test that none of you are aware of."

Around him, everyone suddenly sat up straighter, staring at him with wide eyes. Matsuda had been the first to do so and Aimi, who had been leaning slightly on him, was thrown off balance and she fell to the side, onto Mogi. L's eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward in her direction. She fixed her posture, and met his eyes, her pursing her lips. "Bluff."

Somehow, his eyes narrowed further. "I beg your pardon." Twenty percent and he didn't appreciate being called out. Especially in a meeting he was leading.

Her eyes seemed to light up, her black irises seeming to show of her amusement. She pointed a single finger at him, her eyebrows raised. "You have no such test. Kira, as far as we know, could be anyone, really- as we don't know how they kill. If you don't know how they kill people, then you can't prove that any of us aren't Kira." A pause, then she pulled her accusatory finger back. "You said that statement simply to try and figure out if Kira was one of us- whoever remained calm as you mentioned the test had to be suspicious, as they had to be confident in their own abilities. That was the test, but it's not something that could prove whether or not someone was Kira."

L had tipped over in the slightest, his thumb falling out from his mouth. In a quick, rushed movement, he used his hand to push himself back, upright. There was a split of the meeting's attention, with half of them staring directly at her, and the other half regarding him. Forced to admit his ploy, he hides his hesitance in his voice, though his silence more than confirmed the statement already. "... I should apologize for assuming you all to be my intellectual inferiors. Yes, Miss Aimi, that would be exactly what I was doing." He pauses then, pulling his thumbnail back up to his lips. "But, by your own logic, wouldn't that make you suspicious?"

She sighed, cradling her head in her hands, seeming to deflate once more into her shy personality. "As I mentioned in the interrogation- evidence will prove that I am not Kira. But, if you'd like for me to provide you with a case for my innocence, I'd like to mention that I'm relatively new to the police force in general. I wouldn't have access to the names and faces of all Japan-based criminals- I don't have that level of clearance."

Five percent. Aimi had brought up an interesting point, as he hadn't considered the levels of clearance just yet. If he was to take that into consideration, however, that would mean the only person to have that kind of access would be-

His phone went off, and the room responded by side-eyeing each other, especially after such a tense discussion. "We'll have to finish this conversation later, then. I'm sorry for the interruption." L flips the phone open, resting it in the palm of his hand and answering the call.

Matsuda regarded him with wide eyes, shaking his head back and forth in disbelief. After all of that fuss over their own phones, he took a call mid-debate? Aimi leaned in his direction and, in a playful tone of voice, informed him to close his mouth before something flew in. They all listened in on his conversation, uncaring that it was technically rude.

"Alright, we're pretty much finished up here," His eyes seemed to hesitate on the space over Aimi's head. "Use your own key to come in." L snaps the phone closed, then presses the phone into the space between the cushion of the seat and its arm. "Watari is coming." He mentions it as if it's nothing, though he knows Watari's presence is as interesting and unexpected as his own.

While the room erupts into confused and surprised noises at Watari's arrival, L is pleased to find Aimi's eyebrows raised. It had wounded his pride to have been seen through not once, but twice so far. Surprising her eased some of the disgruntled emotions that had sat in his chest.

They took the badges that they were offered, and Aimi turned her over in her hands, looking at it. Her mouth quirked to the right- a completely different name than the fake one she'd provided was printed on the badge. Rika Nakashima... That'd be easy enough for her to remember. Being so close to the lamps, the gold of the badge caught the light of the room and, refracted onto her face, caused her to squint and look away.

L observed this phenomena silently, finding the color distorting her features to be a bright cadmium yellow.

It was hard for him to look at without feeling any discomfort.

Note: It will be a recurring theme that Aimi will change names- each time, the third person narrative will switch to match her current false name. Also, Aimi is and will continue to be on-par with L and his intelligence so, if that's not something you would like to read in a story, this won't be your favorite story. Thank you for the reviews!