A/N: hello! kind of a longer chapter this time. thank you for continuing to read this story! reviews are always appreciated and motivate me to write more. as always, enjoy the chapter!

The Yagamis—minus one—were incredibly welcoming and friendly people. Sachiko and Sayu fit into the stereotypes of both a caring mother and an annoying but endearing little sister, but it wasn't a bad thing, as Lucy felt comfortable in their presence. Speaking with them reminded her once again of how much she wished her parents were... different.

Though, that wasn't something she should be focusing on at the moment. What was important was...

"Yeah, Light here has been super helpful ever since I've arrived. I'm thankful for all the help, but I'm sorry if I've intruded anything by coming inside your house without you knowing..."

"No, it's completely fine! I can't imagine what it's like to be in your situation. We don't want to make you feel unwelcome, so if you need help, make sure to call us or Light. I'm sure the hotel has telephones." Sachiko warmly smiled, holding onto Lucy's hands as if making a proposal.

Manipulating people with the kindest intentions is scarily easy. Maybe that's how they've never suspected Light of anything other than being the smartest teenager one can ever come across, except, of course, for Soichiro.

Light put a hand on her shoulder, to which she made a quick reminder to herself not to jump."I think that settles it. Lou, are you ready? It's about eight minutes away."

Putting on a small smile, Lucy answered with a simple nod. As she said her goodbyes to the Yagamis, she felt a little sad. They were good company, and she was going to be alone for an undetermined amount of time, depending on whether Light was going to be checking up on her or not (which would give her a good opportunity to talk to Ryuk.)

Stepping into the car, she felt as if something were off. Not something incredibly unnerving, but just enough to make her eyebrows knit together. Nah, she thought, shaking her head, it's not important. After Light revved up the car, the trio, including the shinigami in the backseat eating a pile of apples Light had seemed to give him earlier, set off for the four-star hotel that was to be the place of residence for Lucy.

It seemed Light noticed her head shake. Light, glancing at her, questioned, "Something wrong?"

Lucy took this as an opportunity to ask him some questions. After all, she was curious. "No, I'm just wondering. What am I supposed to do there?"

A small pause. "What I tell you to do."

...Okay, creep.

"Can you clarify a little?"

"You're an American with little to no knowledge of Japan, much less the suburbs of Tokyo. Along with that, you don't exist anywhere. If you were to get caught up in the law, it would be extremely suspicious if they were to discover your lack of records. They'd then uncover your connection to me and make me a suspect, as well."

Sounds like Light, alright. Only in it for himself, but that's how it's always been with him, so it's expected.

Lucy sighed. "You think I'd get caught up in the law?"

"It's a precaution."

"Whatever." No reply.

Maybe a minute passed. After sitting in near-silence, she remembered she still hadn't asked all the questions she wanted to, so she decided to hit him with another one. "Are you going to visit?"

"Of course. I'd already planned my visiting schedule which is weekdays before 6 PM, along with Saturdays at 12 PM. I don't expect you to stay inside the hotel at all times, but it is important you make as little attention to yourself as possible if you do go out. Those visits are to check up on your activities, as it is crucial for me to know your whereabouts."

...It's also much like Light to have a set schedule for everything (along with being a total creep about it, too.) Recalling how Mikami's breaking of his own schedule was a big factor to Light's loss almost made her laugh. If she did, she couldn't imagine what Light would think of the reason behind it.

Still, she was slightly disturbed by his controlling antics, as if his other quirks weren't already disturbing. Letting a short laugh escape, she easily spoke, "You know, you're sounding like my dad."

A quick glance at her. Then, no reply. Again.

Few minutes passed, then the car lurched to a stop. They had arrived at the hotel, and at first glance, it actually looked quite pleasing. Exiting the car, Lucy waved goodbye at both Light and Ryuk, annoyingly getting no reaction from either. So much for being nice...

As she watched them drive off, her jaw dropped as she realized what that nagging feeling was when she first climbed into the car.

Since when did Light drive?

She scoped out the room; it was surprisingly large. Two queen beds, but Lucy obviously would've been fine with one. The bathroom was nice, too, which she was glad about since she'd had her fair share of terrible hotel bathrooms. Then again, she'd never stayed at an actually pleasing hotel.

She jumped and landed on the bed.

She was tired.

Everything that had gone down since she arrived in Light's bedroom is still so jarring to her. Being alone would finally allow her to gather her thoughts, but to do that, she would have to write everything down. After all, one of the reasons she wasn't doing as well in school was because she was terrible at remembering or organizing things. That came with a risk, though. If Light or Ryuk found it, they'd know everything. Even if Light only visited at specific times, she'd need to keep a close eye on it because of Ryuk and his weird death god abilities. What about writing in code? Lucy pondered the thought, but ultimately found it to be useless since she'd probably have to write down a key for herself so she wouldn't forget.

Whatever, I'll figure it out later. Adopting the same mentality she had when skipping test questions, she grabbed the notepad and pen provided by the hotel to write down all she could remember in a frenzied state, wasting no time to rest.

Lucy didn't know how long it took her, but she managed to fill out 6 and a half pages in varying sizes of handwriting. Maybe I didn't need a code after all, she thought. My handwriting looks like a whole different language.

Looking over her notes, she took notice of the most important events. Ryuk abducted her in her bedroom at night—in her pajamas she changed out of earlier, her thanks to Sayu who was only a little suspicious of why she didn't have normal clothes on—leading to her waking up in Light's bedroom. It was Tuesday, January 6, 2004, which didn't help her as much as it could since she unfortunately couldn't recall the exact dates of Death Note. Though, it did let her know it was still early in Light's Kira-ness, as well as the fact this world follows the manga timeline since she knew the anime took place in 2006. Then, she and Light came up with a plan to manipulate his family. With the word "FICTIONAL" written in all caps and encircled several times, she was reminded she couldn't afford to feel bad for fictional characters. She had to do what would help her get home. The more specific details were few, but she remembered more than she thought she would. If trauma was what helped her remember things, then she was doing this studying thing all wrong.

Her review session got interrupted by the violent gurgling of her own stomach. Right. She hadn't eaten since lunch back in her dimension, which would technically be yesterday in this one. After the conversation with her parents after school, she had gotten too mad to eat dinner and just slept through it, then video chatted with Hale... She missed him. She hoped everything had stayed the same since she'd left, but there was really no way of knowing that. Despite her life back home being riddled with problems here and there, she definitely could deal with those much easier than the ones in this world.

Picking up the phone from her bedside table and dialing the number from the menu on the nightstand, she turned on the television to the news station.

Her call was picked up. "Room service, what would you like?"

Lucy wondered if any of the criminals shown would be reported as dead in a few moments.

"Yeah, can I have a tonkatsu bento?"

A man who killed his fiance was on the run. His name is Adachi Tomoyuki, and he has an absolutely horrid haircut.

"Yes. What is your room number?"

Lucy looked around the room... as she had already forgotten it. At the top of the entrance, she found what she was looking for.

"Room 708."

"Thank you. Your order will be here soon!"

The call ended, and as she put down the telephone, she noticed the news reporter listening in on her earpiece.

'Yes, we just got an update on the fiance-murderer. He was found unconscious in an alleyway with a wad of cash in his hand.'

She let out a breath of air and closed her eyes. Well, at least she was right in her suspicions. Looks like Light's gotten home.

Yesterday was a blur. She just remembered feeling groggy the whole time, even when Light made his visit. He'd been nice enough to drop off some clothes and other necessities, but when he left, she went right back to sleep. Actually... she thinks she slept the whole day. Despite her will to follow her plan and go home, she just fell into a slump. The only thing she put effort into was hiding the hotel notepad, as she had asked room service to give her another blank notepad to make it seem like she'd never used it. That way, he wouldn't suspect why it's gone because of his annoying (but justified) paranoia.

Lazily looking out the window, she noticed the sun was starting to set. Light hadn't visited yet...

Sitting up from her spot on the bed, she studied the clock on the wall. 6:46 PM. Isn't it Thursday? He's supposed to have been here already.

"Ugh," Lucy grunted, and made her way over to the bathroom to take a shower and get herself somewhat presentable. She might as well visit him herself and see what's going on with him. What happens to Light is equally important as what happens to her, since he's basically the gatekeeper to her only way out of this hellhole. Besides, she felt it'd be a good way for her to get out of the slump she hoped to break.

When she finished, she grabbed the pouch full of yen given to her by the Yagamis and left the hotel to head for a bus stop. Unfortunately, walking two and a half miles wouldn't be so great for her feet.

She arrived at the stop near Light's house a few minutes later. It was only about a two minute walk from the stop to his house, but it felt like forever. She underestimated how cold it was going to be, so she was left shivering in the freezing wind all the way to their porch.

With a shaky hand, she rang the doorbell to the Yagamis' home.

Only a few seconds passed, but she was already impatient. It's so cold. Why aren't they opening the door yet? Her sad attempts at warming herself up weren't working, no matter how hard she tried.

Finally, she heard the click of a lock opening, her face instantly lighting up when she saw who was behind the door.

"Lou?"

"Sayu! Can I c-come in?"

Sayu's face was of both concern and confusion. "Yeah."

"T-thank you," Lucy swiftly stuttered out, heading inside.

She sat down on the couch, still trying to warm herself. Sayu, after closing the door behind her, went and sat down next to her.

"Not to sound rude, but what're you doing here?"

Lucy looked towards Sayu and answered, "Light hasn't visited yet."

A look of realization came across her face. "Ohh. So that's where he went yesterday. Is he visiting you everyday now, or something?"

"Except Sundays, I think."

"Ah." A pause. "You want something hot to drink?"

Lucy shook her head. "No, I just wanna see Light. Is he upstairs?"

"We're about to have dinner, so he'll be down in a little," a new voice answered.

Lucy turned to the source of the voice and found Sachiko's smiling face. Grinning back, she greeted her with a wave and a "hello."

"Actually, I was about to call him down. Since you're here for him, could you be a dear and ask him to come eat?"

"Yeah, of course." She thanked her and Lucy got up from the couch and went on her way upstairs to Light's room. Now to see what's going on with hi-

URHGHRHGHGHHRHGHRHGHGH.

Her hand stopped above the door handle. What the hell was that? The only thing that could possibly make that noise would be Ryuk, but why? Deciding it'd be better to make her presence behind the door known before she intruded on whatever was happening behind it, she knocked a total of three times. Even though it was Light she was expecting, it was much easier to wait behind this door. As long as she wasn't freezing, she was fine staying put for a couple minutes.

"Coming," she heard Light call out. The door opened, and their eyes met. Shortly after, Lucy's gaze traveled to the wailing shinigami hunched over on the ground, mumbling gibberish.

Before she could ask about it, Light quickly spoke, "Hey. You're here."

"I am." She narrowed her eyes. "You weren't."

Light sighed. "Sorry, I was busy. I'll definitely visit tomorrow."

Busy? Doing what?

Raising an eyebrow, she fired back, "You planned a schedule for yourself only to break it. I was concerned about you not visiting; you seemed so set on following it."

As if he wasn't listening at all, he said, "Let's go downstairs. I'm sure my mother's finished dinner by now. You can even eat with us if you'd like, you've come all this way."

He walked out, closed the door behind him, and started heading downstairs without Lucy.

Was he ignoring me?

This really was the most annoying Light's been, and it's only the third day of her being stuck here. Lucy took a deep breath to try and calm herself, then went downstairs after Light. What reason could he possibly be acting like this? As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she studied the scene to try and find anything out of place.

All of them were sitting at the dinner table. The only person who wasn't present was Soichiro, but that's a given since he's working in the Kira Task Force. The TV is on, but all it's showing is Hideki Ryuuga and...

...Oh.

The cameras. The bugs. The upcoming fake news report. The wailing Ryuk who she now realized was apple-deprived.

They're being watched by L and Light's dad.

Lucy only now noticed Light's chilling stare directed at her. She quickly shut her mouth she didn't realize was even open and blinked a few times to cover up her expression, but she knew it was too late since the only two people who could even attempt to figure out what was going on inside her head were watching her every move. So this was what Light didn't visit her for? She thought something like this wouldn't stop him, but he somehow surprises her every time. Both now and in the anime or manga. So... how was she going to deal with this? She knew the report about the thousand-something detectives was coming up soon, but should she say anything? Would not saying anything get her involved? Ugh, this is so frustrating!

"Lou, would you like to join us?" It was Sachiko.

"No thank you, I'm still full from the food back at the hotel," Lucy replied, shaking her head. It was a lie. She hadn't eaten, but she didn't want to eat now for fear of having a similar experience to the first day in Light's room.

Sayu's voice came. "Hey, it's a new bulletin." Everyone at the dinner table's attention was turned to the TV, and Lucy looked towards it, as well. 'Interpol to send 1,500 detectives from various countries to Japan to help solve Kira case,' it read. Sayu made a short comment after that, but Lucy was completely focused on what Light would say.

"Interpol is so stupid."

It was so bizarre to literally watch a scene come to life.

"What?" Sayu questioned, looking at him expectedly.

"What's the point if they announce it like this? If they're going to send in all those detectives, they should keep quiet about it and let them work in secret."

A good point, Lucy validated internally. She remembered watching this scene at 2 AM and thinking he was just so smart and cool and how she wished she had his intelligence. She didn't really consider how scary this specific scene would be, but maybe it only was because of her extremely unique situation.

"Those FBI agents were here on a top secret mission, and look what happened to them. If Kira knows about these guys, he's going to get to them, for sure."

Sayu then praised him for his intellect, which kind of annoyed Lucy. It was silly to be annoyed about something like that, but she didn't blame herself, she'd been through a lot and she's surprised she's managed to keep her emotions mostly under wraps for this long.

While mentally patting herself on the back, Light kept going, "That's why I bet it isn't even true. This is just a ruse to put pressure on Kira."

And here it is...

"But it's pretty obvious, so I bet Kira's figured that out, too," he said with a smirk.

There was the blow. She thought if Light hadn't said that, L maybe would not have been as suspicious of him, at least at that moment. Of course, Light just had to be extra (she bets he was mentally patting himself on the back at the moment, just as she was right before.) L was probably reeling in his chair by now, or at least way more interested in him than before from what she remembered.

"Lou, what do you think? You know about Kira, right?" Light asked her from his seat.

Huh?

She cleared her throat, hoping she wouldn't choke on her words out of surprise. "Yeah... but what do you mean?"

He smiled. "I haven't gotten the chance to know you as much as I've wanted. I simply want to hear your thoughts on things like these."

...The only thought Lucy wanted Light to hear was WHY DID YOU DRAG ME INTO THIS?!

She couldn't say that, though. For many reasons. Instead, she tried coming up with a response that would be something a normal person would say. Because she was normal and definitely not someone who can ultimately see the future for this specific world.

"Uh..." she started, eyes traveling to the floor. What would be the most natural sounding response for someone like me? Lucy tried to do just that: simply say something she would say. She's spent some time thinking about this scene back home, anyway, so she thought it'd be somewhat nice to put it out for someone to hear. Letting the words easily roll off her tongue, she spoke, "It's weird why they would lie about that in the first place."

She thought she heard a chuckle from Light. "Why?"

"Well it's just... isn't Kira, like, super smart? If it's really that obvious, then interpol wouldn't bother with it anyway if they know he wouldn't get pressured to do anything about it."

He paused for a moment. "So why do you think they put it out?"

'Because they're watching for your reaction because they're suspicious of you,' was what she wanted to say. She'd rather not say it, though, lest she makes everyone watching her aware of her knowledge of the cameras and bugs. To not reveal more than she wanted, she answered with a simple, "I don't know."

"That's still really interesting, Lou," he answered. Sure.

"I think I should be leaving now. I've already stayed here a lot longer than I've been meaning to," Lucy said as she stood up.

"You'd have to wait for the bus again," Sayu said.

"I'll be fine."

"If you want," Light interjected, "I can drive you back."

What about the potato chip scene?

"It's okay, I-"

"You were freezing at our doorstep. Are you sure?"

Well, he has a point... it was already cold, so even later in the night she couldn't imagine how much more freezing it'd be.

"I... yeah, thank you so much."

After exiting the house, she got into the car and let Light drive her back to the hotel. There weren't any cameras or bugs in the car, were there?

Apparently not, because of something Light said that sent a thousand more shivers up her spine than standing outside.

"So you know about the Death Note."