Chapter 8
The next morning could not have come any sooner. The curiosity was killing him. As unhealthy and illogical as it was to keep his mind constantly occupied with such mundane matters, he found himself unable to push those thoughts away from his head. He wanted to… he needed to know who that girl was, how, when, and where those two had met. How had an aloof guy like L managed to make as much as one friend? Although they'd been apart for years, Light had been under the impression that the kid was incapable of developing social relationships. He'd unconsciously believed that no one other than himself would be able to enter L's universe. The idea seemed a bit silly to him now- of course there was a remote possibility L would meet somebody he shared interests with, there were billions of people in this planet after all- but the unlikeliness of that antisocial kid from his memories succumbing to social norms outweighed all possibilities.
But- that girl.
An unexpected piece of a puzzle.
Where did it fit, and how did it come to be, when it had gone completely unnoticed before?
Light sighed.
Time really had passed. They weren't kids anymore. Could time really change a person so much? There had to be a logical explanation, a purpose, an unfolding chain of events that led to today's point in time.
There was no such thing as an unsolvable puzzle.
Never to refuse a good challenge, he headed to school with a newfound motivation.
His mind wandered as he walked. Girlfriend. A familiar but yet foreign concept. What need was there for them? Were they not a waste of time, a nuisance, a parasite that demanded precious time and complained at any given chance? He fabricated a reply in his head.
They are a very important source of human reproduction, Light-kun.
Light chuckled at his own thoughts. It was indeed something L would say in such a situation.
The second that thought entered his mind, he realized a major flaw in his thought process. He was clinging to an image of an ideal old friend, whom he had not kept in touch with for years, not to mention that his last words before parting were those of childish rejection.
Could L possibly hold a grudge against him?
Impossible.
Those petty words came back rushing into his mind like wildfire. He'd told L he hated him that fated day of the competition. Of course, L should know it had been the anger talking…shouldn't he? If Light put himself in the other's shoes, he admitted he would be more than a little offended, but surely not enough to go out of his way to get a girlfriend to replace him.
The concrete beneath his shoes suddenly stopped moving.
A girlfriend to replace me? Ridiculous! Not only am I staggeringly superior to any such woman, but I am irreplaceable.
He shook his head. The statement had equal merit as claiming he had befriended Misa to serve as a substitute for L. He scoffed. Ridiculous indeed.
His back pants pocket vibrated at that moment, interrupting his thoughts.
Think of the devil, and it will appear, thought Light with a shake of his head.
The name Misa flashed in his screen, demanding attention. He opened the text message:
Light! I miss you already 3 Will you go on a date with me this weekend? It's ok if you're busy! I just want to see you
He smiled lightly at the silly text, rolling his eyes. He responded with an automatic "I'm sorry", and was about to hit the send button when the increasingly annoying image of a dark haired teen holding hands and smiling sweetly down at his girlfriend entered his mind again.
Changing his mind the last second in a moment of frustration, he replaced his message with,
Sure, I'll pick you up this Saturday Misa
He regretted it the instant he sent it. Unfortunately time wasn't retraceable and he was a man of his word. Part of him wanted L to know that he, too, had someone he could go out with.
Is Light-kun trying to show his superiority through the appearance of his female partner?
Again, the silent words of L hovered in his head.
He patiently waited for second period, where the teen in question was to be found, but his patience went down the drain at finding no dark-eyed, dark-head, messily-dressed youngster anywhere all throughout the class.
"Is something the matter, Light?" asked Takada once the bell rung.
"No, why do you ask?" he replied with his best smile.
"You look a little perturbed. Since I was sitting next to you I couldn't help but notice your eyes glaring at the door from time to time"
Light chuckled a little at the girl's comment.
"Hahaha, I must admit I am a little tired today; you're very observant, I'm impressed" He cleverly guided the topic of conversation away from himself, throwing in a compliment along the way.
It worked. Takada stood up a little taller and allowed a triumphant little smile to appear for a few seconds. "Of course I am. So your friend didn't come today hm?"
She really is observant.
"Oh? What friend?" he asked, playing ignorant.
"You know who I'm talking about. You know, the strange one"
"Strange? hahaha" Again he chuckled lightly, honestly amused with this girl. They walked to their next class together, continuing their lighthearted conversation, not unaware of the handful of glances thrown their way.
Lunch came around in no time. Naturally, the two of them sat together along with a few new faces. Light continued scanning the room every couple of minutes in hopes of spotting a familiar dark head, but the teen evidently skipped school altogether.
The rest of the day went by uneventfully. He talked and smiled as much as necessary to expand his social network but somehow, it all felt rather forced, dull. The next few days came and went, copying the previous days' events beautifully. Light quickly grew bored of his classes, but continued to contribute to class discussions enthusiastically nonetheless, rightfully gaining the approval of his teachers and classmates.
On his way home Friday afternoon, he ran into Takada and Mikami having a heated discussion about the fate of a young criminal. Interested and surprised at their connection, he walked up to them.
"Hello Takada, Mikami, mind if I join you?" he asked with a smile.
"Light! How do you know this person?" questioned Takada, pointing at Mikami indifferently with her thumb.
"Yagami. You've already made acquaintances with this woman. Of course you may join us" Mikami nodded appreciatively.
"We met in the library, Takada" answered Light, finally getting the chance to speak. "How did you two meet, if you don't mind me asking?"
"…He stalked me in middle school"
"Don't flatter yourself. I was only walking behind you" replied Mikami indifferently.
Takada raised her eyebrows. "Every day?"
"Every day"
Takada rolled her eyes. "We've been through this before. As it turned out, he's actually my neighbor"
"Hmph. I would gain nothing by following you"
"It's not surprising for Miss teen Washington to have a few stalkers here and there"
"I never noticed one"
"Stalkers don't notice other stalkers"
"Then, what if they were stalking me?"
Takada laughed. "Are you serious? Why would anybody want to stalk you?"
"I ask that myself"
"Even if someone did stalk you, it would only be because you hang around me"
"Untrue. They'd stalk the actual person first. And Takada, you've never had any stalkers"
"That's because you scare them all away!"
"Well then, I will refrain from going home with you so you can prove you have stalkers"
Her poker face twisted for a second. "…I never claimed to have any. Only that I wouldn't be surprised if I did"
Mikami patted the girl's shoulder in a sympathetic manner and turned to Light.
"I apologize for this woman's arrogance, Yagami."
"Ahaha, no need no need" Light flashed a charming smile at the both of them.
Takada, embarrassed, turned away, claiming they'd be late catching the bus home.
Mikami nodded curtly and followed after the girl, not before adding softly, "Technically, Takada approached me and started stalking me first, via Facebook"
A rather strange pair, thought Light.
Later that night, out of curiosity and boredom, Light looked up the pair's names on Facebook, remembering Mikami's words. He made an account, finding them easily after a couple of clicks. Without hesitating, he sent them a friend request and spent the next two hours searching for additional individuals to expand his friends list. The site could prove to be a useful and effective method to communicate with his classmates and maintain old connections. He even found a few faces vaguely familiar from Japan.
Right before logging out, he took a deep breath and typed "L Lawliet" in the search bar, finally giving in. He refused to admit the prime reason for his little online adventure was to search for this particular individual, though he highly doubted the dark head would bother making an account.
But, to his astonishment, he found not one matching result, but two.
A personal page and,
A fan page.
With over ten thousand followers.
Amazed, he entered the fan page, finding several pictures and videos of the young pianist. Light had voluntarily retired from the public eye after his fatal failure onstage, but L had apparently made quite a name for himself. One particular photo caught his attention. L sat before a grand piano, looking neat and composed for once, and most surprisingly of all- he shared the stage with a female companion. A slender redhead that he instantly recognized as the same girl he'd seen with L before. The photo caption described them as the "Levan" duo.
Levan?
Was that a sort of stage name?
He glanced at the posted date of the photo. Two days ago. In New York. A quick google searched confirmed that L had indeed performed in NY this week, with a girl named Evan.
Evan.
Levan.
…Oh. Distasteful.
If he were ever to perform on stage with L, what kind of fan-made name would they be called? LightL? LLight? Yagaliet? Lawgami? ….Their names simply didn't match together. And, just why was Light even considering such idiocies?
Shaking his head, he navigated his way to the teen's personal page. Everything was private, even his profile photo. However he had no doubt that it belonged to the one and only L. No one would bother making a fake profile with such a unique name. After a few seconds of hesitance he sent him a friend request along with the message, "Found you"
Was L excused from school simply because he was a musician? The act seemed rather unfair. He would confront his school about it.
He turned off the TV and put his best pair of headphones on- curtesy of Misa- lulling himself to sleep with Chopin's nocturne pieces.
A faceless man walked inside a church. He prayed silently for a long time as others came and went, but nobody seemed to notice his presence. When he finally stood up to leave, he spotted a sharp blade by the large wooden doors. Entranced, he walked towards the ominous object, looking around before he picked it up. Once outside, he inspected his new possession thoroughly, intrigued by the strange beauty that emanated from it. It shone brightly below the clear moonlight, reflecting the innocence in the eyes of the man who held it. After a quick scan of the area, the man spotted a nearby trash can and walked confidently to it. He rose his right hand, about to throw the blade away, but he seemed to have an idea the last second and pulled his hand back. Silently, he placed the blade back in his pocket and walked away. He walked for hours, never stopping or looking back once. Eventually, the man's surroundings faded away into nothingness as he continued his lonesome path, leaving a red trail behind him that grew thicker the further he walked. At one point, he walked no longer; he simply let himself fall into an endless hole that presented itself in front of him.
…
Light woke up with a long, satisfying yawn.
What was with the strange dreams lately?
He groaned upon checking the calendar on his mobile- date with Misa. He'd even promised to pick her up.
Groaning once more, he stripped off his clothes and jumped into the bath.
Thirty minutes later, he grabbed the first clean towel from the shelf and wrapped it around his waist. He walked into his room, going straight to the closet, looking for a decent outfit to wear for today's date with Misa. He needed to keep up with the girl's newly found elegance.
Finally deciding on simple black jeans and a new thin navy blue sweater, he allowed the persistent gravity to drag the towel around his waist to the floor as he bent down to open his underwear drawer.
Suddenly, an awkward grunt broke the silence in his room.
Light stood up slowly. His younger sister was still in school, his father at work, and his mother didn't go inside his room without knocking. Regardless, the voice had definitely been a male's. A thief or a stalker wouldn't announce his presence, rather, he would attempt to sneak up behind him and attack him.
Turning around, he faced the intruder.
A figure squatted in the corner of his bed, with hands resting atop his knees, eyes wide open with heavy bags and dilated black pupils, with lips that spread in a cunning little smile as he announced,
"Found you"
A/N: Thanks for reading! Next up will be L's POV, I won't make any promises as to when I'll update, 'cause I know I won't go trough with it, but shouldn't take that long.
On a side note: anyone watching the new BL anime this season? I played DMMD and the animation is such crap it's painful to watch. Love Stage seems pretty good though...
Oh and don't forget to review!