I'm going to ask, once again, for a review from someone, like Iridessa, or dreamerxofxroses, or xXRedemption's AngelXx, the three people who have this on their alert list. Anyone else is good too! I'm getting kind of depressed that no one has anything to say about this and over twenty people have read both chapters so far. So please review!
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To her disappointment, but not surprise, Ryuzaki was awake before Asami, and everyone else for that matter. He sat at the entertainment center and still had the blanket pulled around him, but when she approached him, he quickly took it off and held it out. "Thank you very much, Asami-san."
"I… I don't need it back, Ryuzaki. You can keep it."
He actually turned to look at her, indicating his surprise. She began to squirm a little under his gaze. "Like I said last night, there are plenty of them in the bedrooms."
"You never said that, Asami-san. You only said it was warmer."
She felt the back of her neck heat up, and not just from her shoulder-length chestnut hair she hadn't taken the time to pin up that morning. "No, but… that's what I meant."
He looked back at the blank screen. "I see. My apologies."
"What?"
"I misunderstood you, and I apologize."
"But why? You didn't do anything wrong."
"Being a detective, and the greatest one in the world at that, I am required to understand the intentions of others. Failing to do so is something I must apologize for."
"Oh… um, all right." She took the blanket from his still outstretched arm and started to fold it absently, smaller and smaller until it was little more than a ball of fabric.
The door opened.
"How is it coming, Ryuzaki?" Yagami asked as soon as he came in.
"Very interesting videos, wouldn't you agree, Asami-san?" He didn't wait for her to respond. "If the NPA's response was yes, the instructions were to broadcast video three, and if no, video four.
"Video three stated the terms for cooperation. Simply put, more criminals were to be shown on the news, particularly those who had taken advantage of the defenseless, even if their crimes were only minor. Kira would be the judge of those people. He also wanted high ranking police officials and L to appear on public television to announce their cooperation, so in case we do anything suspicious, he can kill us."
"And what about the fourth video?"
"It's worded a bit differently, but he's really saying the same thing. Since the answer is obviously "no", please give Sakura TV permission to run video four on April 22."
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On the 22nd, Asami couldn't bring herself to watch Sakura TV with her brothers, taking it all in like the sports they'd never been interested in as teenagers. She was of course forbidden from telling her brothers or her parents who'd just moved to the other side of Tokyo that she knew L personally. So, she had to generate an excuse about not feeling well in order to sit out the long awaited event, since she couldn't exactly confess how upsetting it was to imagine Ryuzaki convulsing and then going limp like Lind L. Taylor. Even so, she could still hear the deeply scrambled Japanese floating up the stairwell, followed by their debating over what was being said.
She got the same sinking feeling when she saw Soichiro's face coming into the hotel room the next morning. "It's just as we thought," he said with little prompting. "World leaders have talked it over, and they're demanding that L, the real one, appear on TV. After doing next to nothing to help with the case, they don't even try to find a way around it. Kira says jump, they ask how high."
Asami fidgeted in her seat. "We can't say we really expected anything different."
"No. Their decision is both right and reasonable. If it's between me and the General Director, of course it should be me."
"But that means you'll be…" Matsuda didn't have to finish the sentence. Everyone knew how it ended.
Killed.
Unfazed, Ryuzaki broke off a piece of cake with his fork. "What worries me more is that, when I appear on TV, if Kira knows nothing about me," he said, sticking the cake in his mouth. "How does he intend to determine whether or not I am L?"
A smile twitched at the corners of Asami's mouth against her will. She could see Ryuzaki now on public television, crouching in his seat, eating a slice of cake and holding his fork with only his thumb and forefinger. If she hadn't come to the conclusion herself, she never would have believed that Ryuzaki was L.
"I'll do what I can to make him believe me, of course, and hope that police chiefs aren't killed because I don't seem enough like Kira's vision of L. That's what bothers me. I'm really not sure how Kira will figure it out... but we still have three days to think of a plan. I also am unhappy about being killed by an opportunist using Kira's name."
Eyes widened, jaws dropped, and surprised gasps echoed around the set of couches and chairs surrounding the coffee table. "What do you mean by that, Ryuzaki?"
"It occurred to me while watching these videos that the Kira who sent them to Sakura TV is highly likely to be a fake. Or, rather, a second Kira."
"A second Kira?"
"Yes," he answered simply. "It was the first video that made me think of it. It was meant to be viewed by Sakura staff only, and predicted deaths of several criminals that died three days later, in order to convince the staff that it was Kira who sent them."
"But if the predicted victims died at the correct times, I'd say that's pretty convincing," Matsuda said slowly.
"Not necessarily. Those two cases were only reported in chat shows and women's magazines, and were clearly different from Kira's victims so far. The real Kira would have no reason to go after such minor cases," he said as he poked the strawberry on his plate. "But if you assume there is a second Kira, he couldn't use any criminals that the real Kira might kill before the set time. If the times were off, then the videos would be considered fakes, and would never be aired."
"Ryuzaki," Yagami cut in. "What is the probability of there being a second Kira."
"Over 70 percent." He ignored the various noises of surprise and continued to himself. "I don't like his methods. It's not like Kira."
"Not like Kira?"
"Before now, besides people chasing him, the real Kira avoided killing innocent people. Kira's motive is not to create a dictatorship based on fear, but to change society gradually."
Aizawa looked at a sheet of paper in a small Ziploc bag. "So, these fingerprints might actually…"
"Yes, I'd say they definitely could be the second Kira's. It would be smart not to leave any prints at all, but this Kira seems far less intelligent than the original. It might be that he didn't think the packaging would be confiscated by the police." He took the bag from Aizawa and held it above his head with the tips of his fingers. "Interesting," he muttered, tipping his head to the right, "How little they are."
"Little?" Asami asked. She held out her hand for the bag.
"Yes. Like a child's, or a small woman's." Instead of placing the bag in her palm, he touched one of the prints to the tip of her finger, without letting his hand touch hers, of course. Then he dropped it into her hand. "Anyway, if we make the assumption that there is a second Kira, even if the two Kira's don't kill using the same method, capturing one will most likely lead to the other's arrest as well. And also, assuming that the real Kira is smarter than the second Kira, the chances are high that he knows this too."
"So it's a race," Asami said. She was getting excited. "The real Kira will be trying to find the fake before we do, to team up with him and prevent him from getting caught. Or, if that doesn't work, kill him before he messes up and reveals how they kill."
"Precisely. Yagami-san, may I request your son's assistance with the investigation?"
"Does that mean that he is no longer under suspicion?"
"No, it's not because I'm not suspicious, but I have faith in his reasoning abilities, and I think he would be a valuable asset to the investigation."
Soichiro's face fell. "I suppose if he agrees, I have no reason to stop him."
"Thank you. I'm fairly sure that your son will agree to this, considering his strong sense of justice." He was planning something, he had to be, with that childish smile of his hiding behind his thumb. "However, please do not tell him that this Kira may be different from the one we began chasing when this case was first brought to light."
So that was it. The task force agreed to keep Light in the dark, if somewhat reluctantly.
"What are your thoughts regarding Light-kun, Asami-san?" Ryuzaki suddenly asked before he took a sip of his coffee.
She turned away from the conversation she was trying to overhear between Light and his father. "Sorry, what was that?"
"Your thoughts on Light-kun. I understand that you have a fairly close relationship with him. He told me a few days ago that he regards you as an older sister. And yet…" He took a bite of cake. "You seem to be considerably less biased about him than the other members of the task force, myself and Watari excluded of course. Why is that?"
Asami pulled at the skin around her thumb nail. "It's true that I'm pretty close to Light, and I think of him as a sibling too. But at the same time, I can see that he might be Kira, and I want to think about it objectively. I don't want him to be Kira, but I can see how it would be possible." She took a calming breath since she'd begun to ramble. "I just want the case to move forward, and if that means that Light is Kira, then Light is Kira."
"I see," he said in what she thought was a thoughtful tone, but she couldn't be sure. "It isn't so much that you have an unbiased opinion, but that, despite your closeness to Light-kun, you are able to think about it from L's point of view."
"I wouldn't say that. I don't know if I could ever get inside your head, Ryuzaki."
"Yes, that would be a common response. I've been told many times before that I am a rather odd individual. However, I wasn't talking about me personally, but rather the person trying to solve this case." He took a rare moment to finish chewing and swallowing before continuing. "Either way, considering that even Matsuda-san, who, if I understand correctly, only met Yagami-san's family a few times, is reluctant to accept the fact that I suspect Light-kun, your open mindedness is admirable."
Asami vaguely hoped that by some off chance Ryuzaki didn't notice her face flushing at his compliment. In truth, she wasn't as open minded as she pretended to be. If Light was Kira, then he was Kira, she'd been honest about that part. But she sincerely wished with almost every fiber of her being that the sweet, intelligent little boy she'd grown up playing with on Saturday afternoons didn't posses the supernatural power that was making hundreds of criminals drop dead.
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"Thank you, Yagami-kun," Ryuzaki said while engaging in rare human contact to shake Light's hand.
"No problem. I want to catch Kira as much as you do, Ryuga."
"Please call me Ryuzaki here." Everyone else proceeded to hand out their fake names, including Asami, whose last name was now Nishimura. Light chuckled at both hers and his fathers.
"I see… so I should be Asahi Light, then?"
"Yes. I'll be calling you "Light-kun" while we're here."
"So I was right," Light said to Asami. "Ryuga… Ryuzaki did invite you to join the investigation that night."
"How did you figure that one out?"
He laughed again. Something had put him in a particularly good mood. "Well, I know Ryu…zaki," he said, making sure he didn't slip up over the name again, "Isn't someone who would take a woman for a drive without some other motive, and considering you have a degree in criminology, as well as three family members who have been police officers at one point or another, you'd be even better on the task force than me."
"Right on the money, as usual Light. Although I'm not sure I agree with me being better than you. I might have graduated college, but Ryuzaki doesn't make you feel like an idiot." Another short laugh.
Before Light could say anything else, an impatient looking Ryuzaki cut in, "Shall we begin?" There was no word of protest, so he continued. "I'd like you to take a look at all of the evidence we've gathered so far, and view this unaired video tape sent with the others broadcasted on Sakura TV earlier this week. Understand that removing the documents from this room and taking notes is prohibited."
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Everyone's eyes were on Light as he sifted through the evidence and played the tape. Asami methodically stood off to one side so she could see little more than Light's haircut. Although it wasn't a profile view, she could tell that his mouth was slightly open and that the rest of his features held a look of complete disbelief by the time the video finished. Then his eyes shifted to one side to look at the majority of the task force out of his peripheral vision. After that, he seemed calmer.
Until Ryuzaki walked up to him, anyway.
"Well, Light-kun?" he said expectantly. "Were you able to figure anything out?" The way he said it was all too obvious, in Asami's opinion. Having his finger touching his lips, making him look rather innocent, didn't help.
Light was turned away from her, so Asami couldn't see his expression, but she was pretty sure she saw him grab the armrest to pull himself up with a little too much vigor. Maybe he really was…
She shook it off when he spoke. "There might be more than one person with Kira's powers." As Ryuzaki himself had said before, it was hard to believe that Kira would say something that might lead to L surviving the demand made for him to appear on TV.
"Kira's powers? What do you mean, Light?" his father asked, overreacting slightly.
"At least, there's a good chance that this isn't the same Kira we've been dealing with before now," he said, pointing to the screen with his thumb. "The Kira we've been chasing wouldn't predict the murders of people like the ones in this video. And, if we're assuming that Kira needs both a name and a face to kill someone, how does that explain the men who were killed after showing up at the TV station?"
"Like you said, Light-kun, we also suspect that there is a second Kira."
Light closed his eyes for a moment and crossed his arms when they reopened. "So you knew, Ryuzaki? You knew there was a second Kira and you were just testing me?"
"It wasn't a test, Light-kun. It isn't nearly as convincing if I'm the only one who thought that there could be a second Kira. Since you've deduced the same, it's greatly strengthened and much more convincing. You are a great help, Light-kun.
"So it's decided. We must first stop the second Kira. It's clear he sympathizes with Kira, and isn't as smart as him. Because of that, we may be able to stop him with a fabricated message from the real Kira."
"Impressive, Ryuzaki," Light said. "I was thinking myself that would be the best move."
He gave the slightest nod to acknowledge that Light's comment was heard before he said, "So, Light-kun, for this, I'd like you to play the part of the real Kira."
"M-me?" he stammered.
"Yes. With your abilities, it should be fairly simple. We don't have much time. Would you please write a message from the "real" Kira to use during tonight's news?"
From script-writing, to reservation-making, to graphic designing, everyone was busy doing something in less than five minutes. Asami sat at a laptop, testing different fonts, staying as far away from "Old English Five" as possible, and finally decided on a fancy cursive. While adjusting the size and centering it, she overheard Ryuzaki and Light discussing the message.
"How's that, Ryuzaki? I tried to think about it from Kira's point of view."
The detective held the paper to his face with his thumb and index fingers. "It's very well written… but if you don't take out the part that says, "I don't care if you kill L"…" he lowered it so Light could see his face. "I'll die."
Light laughed. "Well, when I got in Kira's shoes, I thought he'd definitely want L dead. It was a joke, you can fix it so you won't be killed."
"Yes. Aihara-san, the script is ready."
"All right." He took the paper from Ryuzaki and handed Asami a USB flash drive. "The background is on there. It just needs the lettering."
"Right, thank you," she said. She fitted the drive into the laptop and did a quick copy and paste to get the loopy "KIRA" onto the slightly shimmering backdrop Aizawa had made remarkably fast.
In just half an hour, they were gathered around the TV to watch the broadcast of their handy work.
"In this serious turn of events, another Kira has appeared in response to the one that sent in videos to Sakura TV and forced them to be broadcast. This individual claims to be the real Kira, and is demanding that every TV station air this message. The police have approved the airing of the video," the announcer finished, which everyone in the room found ironic to some extent.
Asami and Aizawa's image appeared on the screen and the computerized voice said, "I am Kira. I am the true Kira, and the person who sent the video which aired on Sakura TV yesterday was not Kira. I believe the individual who claimed to be me is my supporter and is speaking on my behalf. I am grateful.
"However, the killing of innocent people is against my ideals. If the person who claims to be me agrees with me and wishes to help me, they should refrain from taking foolish actions on their own and work to understand my purpose. If they do not heed my warning, I will be forced to pass judgment on him."
"Good work, everyone," Ryuzaki said after the screen filled with snow. "With any luck, the second Kira will respond within a few days, which will only bring us closer to arresting him."
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Sure enough, the second Kira did exactly as Ryuzaki said he would. Just a few days later, Watari's icon appeared on the laptop with the news, "Ryuzaki, Sakura TV's received a reply from the second Kira."
"It's here!" Matsuda exclaimed, hurrying over to the computer resting on the small coffee table.
"I'm bringing over the tape and the envelope it came in, but I'll stream a copy of the contents to your computer."
The poorly drawn gothic "KIRA" they were all familiar with filled the screen, and after a slight delay and click of machinery, the deep scrambled voice said, "Kira-san, thank you very much for your response. I will do as you say. I want to meet you, Kira-san. Although I don't think you possess the eyes, I won't kill you."
Everyone leaned forward. "Did he just say, "Don't possess the eyes"?"
Asami caught a glimpse of Ryuzaki's face. His eyes were even wider than usual and his mouth hung open. She figured she probably looked the same. All humans had eyes, so what could this Kira possibly mean by the original one "not having" them? Was it code for something?
"Please think of a way for us to meet without getting caught by the police. When we do meet, we can confirm it by showing each other our Shinigami."
Now that got a response. Matsuda and Aizawa, who rarely agreed on anything, gasped "Shinigami?" in unison, while Asami just stared at the computer, thinking she couldn't possibly have heard it correctly. It wasn't until Ryuzaki let out a startled cry and threw his arms in the air that she realized it must have been "Shinigami", to scare Ryuzaki so much that he tipped his chair over, and onto her foot, too.
She landed hard, Ryuzaki just in front of her. "Asami-chan!" she heard Matsuda say, not oblivious to the affectionate suffix he'd recently started to add to her name. Aizawa took a more general stand, asking both of them if they were all right.
Asami sat up a second before Ryuzaki and muttered, "Yeah, ouch."
He, on the other hand, completely ignored Aizawa's question and stared at the static filled screen. "Sh-shinigami? Do you expect me to accept that such things exist?" He was shaking again, just like during the Sakura TV incident, as the night would forever be known among the police.
"N-no way. There's no way something like that's real," Matsuda said uneasily.
"He's right, Ryuzaki," Light said, calmer than anyone else in the room. "There's no way Shinigami exist."
Ryuzaki turned his head slowly to look at him. "Kira also made prisoners write notes that suggested the existence of Shinigami," he said, voice as level and calm as ever.
"If that's the case," Soichiro said, "Then shouldn't we assume this is the same Kira that we began chasing in the beginning? The same person using the same words…"
"That's impossible, Dad. If this were the original Kira, he wouldn't have responded to the video we created. The real Kira wouldn't go along with our plan and let L escape when he was going to die on TV in just a few days."
Asami's eyes moved from Light to Ryuzaki, who appeared to be calming himself by lightly pinching the bridge of his nose. "Are you okay, Ryuzaki?" she asked again.
He barely gave her a nod of acknowledgment before going on to contradict Aizawa's suggestion of the two Kira's teaming up. He climbed back into his chair and continued, "The second Kira is acting on his own desire to meet Kira."
"That's right, this person is only driven by that desire." Light folded his arms before continuing. "Maybe the term "Shinigami" is referring to their ability to kill people? "We can confirm it by showing each other our Shinigami." We could interpret that as them showing each other their ability to kill, in order to prove their identities."
"That's true," Ryuzaki said slowly. "At least, we can think of this "Shinigami" term as having some significance between Kira and the second Kira." Another video response was suggested in order to make the word "Shinigami" more clear, but he said, "No, we'll leave this to Kira and the second Kira.
"We can assume that the second Kira is satisfied with the response from the real Kira, even if he knows it was made by the police. He succeeded in getting Kira's attention, and therefore has used terminology that only Kira would understand. We'll air this video on the six o'clock news. I'm sure that Kira is watching the exchange between the second Kira and the one we created with great interest. Since he is trying to avoid the second Kira and the police coming into contact with each other, it's possible the real Kira may send in a response this time."
"But what if Kira doesn't reply?"
"I've thought about what the second Kira would do in that case. He would probably broadcast another secret in order to manipulate the real Kira." A smile pulled across his face. "That would be interesting."
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Just two days later, there was yet another message from the second Kira, a video and an old diary. Before Light arrived at the hotel, it was passed around so that everyone could look at it. Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to the "confirmed our Shinigami at the Tokyo Dome", so only Ryuzaki and Asami read the entire thing.
"Ryuzaki?" Asami said as she scanned the entries.
"Hmm?"
"I've actually been thinking about this for a while, but… we've been referring to the second Kira as "him", both Kira's actually, and…"
"I see," he said before she could finish. "You believe that the second Kira is a woman."
"Yes. It's mostly this diary. A lot of these things are very woman exclusive, and the diary itself… even if they just wrote it a few days ago and pretended it was last years, I'd think that only a woman would come up with using a diary to send a message to Kira."
"Now, you said it was mostly the diary that makes you think it's a woman. But the other videos made you think the same thing?"
She nodded since Ryuzaki was almost looking at her. "To me, the way this person is going about meeting Kira is almost obsessive. And while most young men outgrow obsessions with idols by the time they reach the age we're considering Kira to be, women don't necessarily do that. And some of the things that were said in the videos made the second Kira sound like they had a crush on the real Kira."
"That would also explain why the victims the second Kira used in their predictions were celebrities who'd committed crimes. A woman is much more likely to know about crimes like that off hand than a man." He picked a chocolate out of the box in front of him and put it in his mouth. "I'd say it's fairly likely that the second Kira is a woman."
"You want Light's opinion, don't you?"
"Yes, it would be nice to have, as always."
When the teenager did get to the hotel room, he wasted no time. "He wants the diary broadcasted?"
"Yes," his father said. He handed Light the flimsy sheet of paper.
"Look at the entry for the 30th," Ryuzaki said from his chair.
Asami watched his eyes drop to the bottom of the page and then widen. Anyone would have done that, she assured herself. It was when his eyes flickered up and he had the same reaction that made her worry.
"What do you make of it, Light-kun?"
He's doing that thing again, Asami thought. He's looking at Ryuzaki like he's trying to decide how much he should say.
"For now," he said, "All I can say is that this person is stupid."
"Yeah," Matsuda said. "It's obvious that they want to meet with Kira at the Giants game that just happens to be on the same day this year."
"Broadcasting this will cause a panic, and the game will be cancelled. Don't they realize that?" Soichiro asked.
Ryuzaki walked back over to the table and grabbed another chocolate before sitting down. "To be honest, it's so dumb that I'm not sure how to react to it. If we broadcast this diary, we'll have to announce that the game will be cancelled. But if we don't broadcast it, the second Kira won't go."
"And if we cancel the game, he might get angry, and then who knows what he'll do."
"That won't be a problem. The second Kira seems to worship Kira. It should be fine if we believe their promise to our fake Kira that he won't kill unnecessarily.
"Anyway, we should broadcast the diary and announce that the game is cancelled, along with the fact that we'll be monitoring the roads leading to the Tokyo Dome. And last, we'll send a reply from our fake Kira, agreeing to meet."
"Do you really think they'll show up even with such tight security?"
"I doubt the real Kira would, but I'm not sure about the second Kira." He picked up the sheet with his two fingers while he held his coffee cup in the other. "We don't know how stupid they really are, or if they are as stupid as they seem. I'll try to find any other hidden messages in this.
"If they're using a code that only those with the "Shinigami" ability that Light-kun suggested, I won't be able to understand it. But we should be sure to keep watch over all the other locations mentioned. On the twenty-second and twenty-fourth, it says they're meeting a friend in Aoyama and Shibuya respectively. Although we can't realistically expect any remarkable results, we should watch for people with notebooks in Aoyama and clothes stores in Shibuya."
He set the paper back on the table. "We'll arrange for more surveillance cameras to be placed in both Aoyama and Shibuya, and we'll need as many undercover police officers in both places on the days mentioned."
"I'll go," Matsuda said, "Since I'll fit right into the crowd at Aoyama and Shibuya." He leaned in closer to Asami, who was sitting next to him on the couch. "And Asami-chan can come with me."
She tried to wiggle away from him but was stopped by the armrest. "With what you're implying, I think I'd rather stay behind."
"Aw, that's so mean, Asami-chan."
"I'll go too," Light interrupted.
"Light…"
"It'll be okay, Dad," he said reassuringly. "I go there sometimes anyway, and I'm the one least likely to look out of place with Matsui-san. And, the only person the second Kira is interested in is Kira."
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"Are you planning to go to Aoyama and Shibuya with them, Asami-san?" Ryuzaki asked just after Light left the hotel.
"I…I don't know. It's still a few weeks away. Do I really have to decide now?"
"It would be helpful for me to know." He flattened the wrappers the chocolates had been in before putting the last one in his mouth.
"And I'd like to know too, Asami-chan," Matsuda said, cornering her again.
She sighed. "As long as you're not going to pretend to be my boyfriend, I guess I'll go too. You'll want us to keep an eye on Light while we're there, right Ryuzaki?"
"Correct. It would help to have both of you watching, but if you don't want to, Asami-san, I understand."
"I don't have any problems going with them, I just want Matsuda to keep his distance."
"I don't think it would be too much to ask for him to agree to that," Ryuzaki answered for him.
"H-hey!"
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"Why do you hate me, Asami-chan?"
Somehow, Matsuda had managed to get in the elevator with her without Aizawa or the chief. She sighed. She'd been trying to avoid this conversation, but…
"I don't hate you, Matsuda," she said sincerely, but she was unable to look at him.
"Do you already have a boyfriend, then? Would you like me if I stopped flirting with you?"
"I do like you, Matsuda," she insisted. "I just… don't really want a boyfriend right now."
"Oh. Why not?" When she didn't reply, he covered his mouth in embarrassment. "Oops! I forgot you're not supposed to ask women stuff like that. Sorry!" he said quickly.
Smiling, she said, "Its okay," before she leaned in and kissed his cheek.
Matsuda scratched the back of his head and flushed about five shades of red. "H-hey, Asami-chan. Don't say you don't want a boyfriend if you're going to do that…"
"Sorry, Matsu," she said softly, using his relatively new nickname. "I'm just an affectionate person. Before you know it, I'll be kissing Ryuzaki, too."
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