I'm up with the next chapter! Thank you for all your reviews, i love you guys to pieces. I'm really proud of myself now cause i typed this one up in 45 minutes. The skill, i think, came from my expertise in BSing essays.
Reply to review by Hawkbelly: omg i am so flattered! I'm actually 14 and in grade 9 (i put it up on my profile) but it's nice to think my writing's as good as a 20-year-old. You really made my day twice over when i read that review...
anyway, i have a lot more time to write now that the Christmas holidays are here. Joyeux Noël everyone! I'm out in the daytime but i can stay up as late as i want and not worry about school! I'm going on a ski trip somewhere next week though, and visiting my grandparents in Quebec on the way back. There's going to be gap there.
Chapter 7
I twirled my pen anxiously in my hands, waiting. Ryuzaki sat at his laptop with a plate of cake. It was the morning after our incident and I had come back to the investigation HQ after going to my suite for the rest of the nights' sleep. I had been worried about being late when I woke up but I still took the time to dress casually but neatly in dark skinny jeans and a loose blue plaid button-up top, paired with blue flats with bows on the front.
The only ones here this early except for me were Aizawa, Ukita and Mogi, drinking coffee and sorting out Kira's latest murders. I had no interest in files, they were police business. They would tell us if they found something. Ryuzaki was at his laptop typing away at an email, a plate of cake beside him.
I was waiting because today was the day the Chief would bring his son here.
This was the day Misa would send her message.
The day Light was going to join the investigation.
To be honest I was excited beyond belief. I didn't necessarily like him, in fact I could say that I was against him. But there was the challenge whenever I saw him. My life had been brought down to the level of mere satisfaction because someone like him was never around. There had been no one to beat, no one to give me a proper challenge. Of course Lena was always there, but she was a friend. I didn't feel right trying to beat her. We tied in almost everything. Still, I needed someone like Light in my life to keep it interesting.
"May, I doubt any new information will come to me in the next three hours as we wait for Light Yagami to arrive. Would you prefer to play a game of chess to pass the time?" Ryuzaki turned his chair around and looked at me questioningly.
"Sure", I got up and set the glass chess table in one corner of the room. L came over and sat in the chair opposite me. I picked up two pawns and L chose the one in my left hand. It was black. I was making the first move.
I picked up my queen's pawn and moved it up two squares, placing it softly on the board. I knew a friend who loved jamming the pieces down, saying it was more intimidating, but I knew it was the opposite. The quiet genius-type was much more intimidating than the aggressive opponent. L followed with his queen's pawn as well.
"Queen's gambit?" I asked.
"Yes, the accepted variation if you wish. I rather like it." He replied monotonously. I nodded and proceeded with c4 and he captured it smoothly. I continued with the line and opened my bishop to take the pawn while he brought his knight out.
We got into an interesting endgame. I ended up with a rook and he had a bishop and a pawn. I only started to get worried here. Even though he had less material, he had more potential on the board and since I was positively horrible at endgames, we ended up in a forced tie by repetition which I created.
"Why did you go for the repetition May? You could have taken a bishop in time", he questioned. I shrugged.
"I'm not that good at endgames. I prefer the middle where everything in locked and the first person to free the center gains the advantage. It's much more interesting like that for me", I explained.
That was the moment we heard the beep that signaled someone had entered. My hand automatically went up to adjust my hair, which was in a high ponytail.
Chief Yagami entered first and Light followed. When he stepped in, the first person he saw was L. He looked at him curiously.
"Ryuuga-san from To Oh university? Are you part of the investigation? Actually I wouldn't be surprised if you were L himself", Light flashed a brilliant smile. Then he turned and noticed me lounging comfortably on the couch.
"And Amara-san too? Now I don't know which one of you it is", he said again. Good naturedly. I gave him a small wave.
"Unfortunately it's not me. I'll let L introduce himself to you", I said. Ryuzaki stood up and walked over.
"Hello again Yagami-san. I am L. I have been looking forward to having you on the investigation team. You may call me Ryuzaki here as it is my current alias." He put his hands in his pockets and I could see Light was hesitating to offer his hand for a handshake. He seemed to decide not to.
"Pleasure to work with you them Ryuzaki. Just Light will do", his smile got even brighter somehow.
"You may start by acquainting yourselves with the other members of the task force here. Then I'll need your analysis on something…" L went on. I put the pen I was holding to my lips and began to ponder the cycle of events. Tomorrow was the day Misa would broadcast her message as Kira, which means everything was back on timing again. Only this time Light was being introduced to the task force much earlier. I suspected that my suspiction of light drove L to take action faster.
Ukita would also die tomorrow. I wondered if I should intervene. Normally the answer would be yes, I could save his life. But would that change things too much? It would…
Ukita's death had told L that the second Kira could kill with just a face. This was valuable information for the investigation. I would just have to wait until tomorrow and see what happened.
The task force seemed to like Light more than me. They were indifferent to me at most, but they adored Light. He worked on the filing with them, while I regarded paperwork below me. I couldn't help it, it just seemed so boring. But Light was willing to put up with it just to gain their respect, and I could see he was having a hard time. Occasionally hints of annoyance crept into his eyes as he had his nose buried in criminal death files. I didn't really mind not being liked by the task force. I already had the deep admiration of Matsuda because of my quick thinking during the 13EX incident, and L found me valuable. I had the notion Light had taken a liking to me too. He seemed to respect the fact that I could prove myself to L without having to resort to the police work the others were doing. Around lunchtime Matsuda, Aizawa and Ukita were called to the police headquarters for something urgent and Mogi was helping L with something. Light came over to me, sitting on my couch and developing a virus that made a screen pop up saying "FACE THE POWER! MWAHAHA" out of pure boredom. He smiled when he saw me debug it.
"Having fun?" He asked with a smile.
"indefinitely", I replied.
He sighed and looked around, "Amara-san does L ever actually eat?"
"You can call me May, and of course he eats. His diet is just slighter more different than ours", we both watched as L scooped a spoonful of cake into his mouth.
"Well I don't know how you manage. I'm starving", Light complained.
"If you're going out to eat now I'll come with you, I'm starving too", I closed my laptop and shoved it in my purse, standing up, "hopefully you know somewhere to eat around here because my knowledge is limited to the tourist pamphlet."
He laughed, "of course! Would you prefer traditional Japanese meal or something more western?"
I wondered a little, "Western please. I'm craving Italian a lot right now." I already knew someone like him would know restaurants that specialized in anything even here in Japan.
Ryuzaki didn't ask us anything as we left. That probably meant he trusted me with monitoring Light. I smiled inwardly.
The sun was high up in the sky when we made our way out. It was the middle of august and warm in the daytime here. The restaurant Light lead me to was a small but neat place close to a large plaza. I decided that I liked it immediately and took note of the address. The waiter took us to a small table for two.
I ordered a plate of penne pasta that came topped with a luxurious amount of cheese and Light ordered panini.
"May, were you always working with L?" he asked subtlety.
"No, I just met him." I answered briefly, toying with a piece of pasta.
"Really? Impressive, you seem to have his trust already", he commented.
"yeah, just his", I admitted, "the others don't like me very much, expect for Matsuda."
"I noticed, why?" He looked genuinely interested here.
"I don't do paperwork for them"
"Ah…"
We both laughed at this. Spending time with him wasn't so bad. We finished off our food and waited for the waiter to come back around.
"May, do you sometimes…think against what you're working for?" he asked. His head was lowered and he was staring at the table so I suspected he was going to try to gain my sympathy for something. I cocked my head to one side, "What do you mean Light?"
"About…Kira. I know I'm working with L now to catch him…but crime rates have seriously started to go down", he looked up here, "not that I'd ever be on Kira's side…but sometimes I think of what I would do if I had Kira's power…if killing criminals really is a good thing for the fate of our world."
I wanted to applaud him for his beautiful speech and emotion. That was one of my flaws, I couldn't help admire the talents of my enemies instead of hating them. I rested my head on my hand and leaned forward.
"Light, if I had Kira's power I know exactly what I would do with it, and it wouldn't be killing criminals. If I had Kira's power…I would give it to someone who owed their life to me…", I said very seriously, "…and then I'd make them kill anyone who pissed me off. Therefore, in the end, I wouldn't be a killer", I broke into a huge smile here to show I was just joking and we both laughed again.
"You're definitely one of the brighter crayons in the box, May. I can see why you're on the investigation. And it's not to sort papers", he said this genuinely enough for me to be flattered.
"Just don't let your father hear that or we're both going to kicked out", I told him in a heated whisper, smiling. Not bad at all. In the end I knew I would always be on L's side, and that I'd expose Light if I had enough proof, but for now…
The waiter came back to our table and I saw him wink subtlety at Light before collecting our payment and leaving.
"No need to be shy Light, you can give him your number. I don't mind people who lean that way", I teased, "I mean just take a look at your last name."
He smirked, "I think he meant you with that wink May. I assure you I do, in fact stand straight." He paused for a moment here and stopped walking, looking deep in thought.
"Oh shit…" He muttered a moment of silence later. I burst out laughing as he figured out what I'd meant by mentioning his last name.
The walk back consisted of Light trying to prove he was not on that side of the fence, and me commenting on how beautifully shiny his hair was and how nicely he dressed. Then it revolved around the segregation of gay people and gay rights and the views of society. It was an understatement to say we got strange looks as we walked. People walking past us and hearing snippets of "…coming out of the closet" seemed disturbed. We didn't mind though. I like the intelligent conversation. It was nice to be with a guy who had respectable social skills. He just really wanted me on his side.
When we got back to the investigation headquarters Watari was just leaving to fulfill L's order of desserts.
"Would you like anything May, Light?" Ryuzaki asked us.
"Soft-served ice cream. Strawberry please", I added.
"I'll just take cake. Any kind, there seems to be a lot around here anyway", Light decided.
Watari had kept a safe distance from me every since the incident. I preferred it that way. I had no clue how to further explain. I still regretted my choice a little. Especially since all I had dreamed of last night were the various other things I could have told him instead of the truth.
I dug into my ice cream when it arrived and went over to what L was working on.
"Anything new?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"Not necessarily…but I'm wondering about something that happened a while ago", he answered.
"What?" I asked, curious.
"The death of the FBI agents that were sent here. Twelve of them were sent here for the Kira investigation, and they all died. The last one to die was a man named Raye Penber. He died at the train station, here is the footage", he opened a file on his laptop and showed me the video footage.
"The envelope", I said, "where did the envelope he was carrying go?" This would probably persuade L to give me further information.
"I noticed that as well. We don't know, but it could've been containing important information. According to the manager of the killed agents, he was never given an envelope like that. And look here…doesn't it seem like he's peering back into the train as he succumbs to the heart attack?"
"Yes, it's almost like Kira himself was on that train…" I said this automatically. As if I were recollecting memories of the anime. L turned and looked at me curiously before going on, "true. It's also interesting to note that Penber was shadowing Light two days before he died. His report on Light was that he was a 'normal, hardworking student with the occasional fling'." Thankfully Light wasn't in the room so we could talk freely.
"That means that if Light isn't Kira, it's someone who knows him well enough to want to frame him", I observed.
"True. Thank you May, I believe you've given me some valuable motivation", L turned back to his computer, "The others have retired for the day. I think I will call our work finished for the day."
"Goodbye then, Ryuzaki", I waved him a goodbye and took by purse, heading out the door. I stepped into the elevator and waited for it to reach my room.
Misa…what did I think of her? The normal response would be stupid…airheaded…but I knew there had to be something more. She had disguised herself impressively in Aoyama, and even slipped past Matsuda to go on her date with the man from Yotsuba. Her devotion to Light was a huge factor here. I instinctively hummed the song she had written for her movie.
Careful what you do
Cause god is watching your every move
Light was definitely her god. She was different in the way that she would do anything for him. I could understand her thinking slightly. She depended on certain things o survive. She had probably never recovered from the death of her family. She was still living in their memory. The only thing that kept her alive was Kira. And maybe her love for partying and clothes. When she saw Light, she mistook that dependency for love, even though it was much more. I could use that, if I could convince her that I was secretly on Light's side, maybe I could gain and advantage of information for L. Without him knowing, of course. In the end, I didn't really like Misa. Even if she had reasons for her actions, she needed to let go and live her own life to it's potential.
I arrived in my room and sat on my bed, leaving my purse on the side table. I removed my shirt and reached for my pajamas. My hand stopped halfway there and I withdrew it.
Take my hand in the dark street
For if you do I know I'll be safe
There was this feeling I couldn't ignore. The name was slipping away…that was it. Uneasiness. That was it. About what, I didn't know. About something. I curled up on the bed thinking. What was it? What was I missing? Why did I get the feeling something bad would happen? Why didn't it go away? What was wrong?
I'd met L. I'd met Light. I'd gained the trust of both of them. I was involved in the Kira investigation. I had a goal to keep L alive. It was all going according to plan. It was all perfect.
Yes, I told myself as I pulled the blanket over me, not bothering to change out of my jeans.
It's all perfect.
But I could describe the feeling I had even more clearly now.
It felt like I was losing my control over what was happening.
Hope you liked it! I regret there wasn't too much to do with the direct plot (you'll probably agree with me if you don't like fillers). There's more action coming soon!
I can't believe In This World is already seven chapters! total of 30 micro word pages.
Remember how stories need to be fed with reviews?...
