L didn't want to wake up the beautiful, sleeping young man who slumbered so peacefully next to him on the bed. Watari had visited L just a moment ago. He had asked L and Light to come to the monitoring room with the others so that he could tell something essential to everyone. So L really had to wake Light up.
The detective crouched closer to sleeping Light and started to poke the brunette's soft cheek with his finger. Light slowly opened his big Bambi-eyes. L composedly waited as the brunette focused his gaze on the detective's face. L had – once again – leant his face awfully close to Light's. He had quitted poking the younger one's face but his hand was resting on Light's cheek. Light froze as he realized that. He lay on his back and just stared deep into L's wide, black eyes which were so close to his own – only few centimeters away… Those mysterious eyes had captured his gaze. He lost every single one of his thoughts.
"R- Ryuzaki…" he finally managed to breathe, still staring into L's eyes.
"Light-kun seems to be feeling better now", L said ignoring the fact that Light seemed to be abashed. He took his hand off and leaned back. "No fever", he announced.
Light quickly turned his gaze away from L. He blushed lightly. Once again L had only been checking if he had a fever. He bit his lip. Of course! What else had he thought that L had been doing …?
"Light-kun?"
"Great, I'm feeling much better now", Light quickly replied, making a big, careless smile with his face and turning his gaze back at L.
L stared at him with his wide eyes. The detective sat on the bed the same way he always did. He didn't smile back at Light, even though Light's smile was quite enchanting."Good", he just said with his monotonic tone. "Shall we return back to the others then? Watari has something to tell."
Misa and Matsuda were still absent but everyone else had gathered together to the couches when L and Light joined their company.
"Detective Eraldo Coil has been asked to uncover L's identity", Watari announced with a serious tone.
"By who?" L calmly asked, starting to eat marshmallows from a bowl that bad been placed on the table.
"I was able to determine that the request came from Yotsuba", Watari replied.
"From Yotsuba?" Soichiro Yagami repeated. "So Yotsuba really is connected to Kira…"
"In that case they want to uncover L's identity to kill him…" Light muttered. He sat next to L.
L heard his words but he didn't seem to be worried at all. He took a marshmallow from the bowl and put it into his mouth.
"This is bad…" Soichiro Yagami muttered. "We are already shorthanded and now we need to worry about Coil too…"
"No, no", L said chewing a marshmallow in his mouth at the same time. "There is no need to worry." He swallowed the marshmallow and said: "I, in fact, am Eraldo Coil."
Light, his father and Mogi exchanged surprised and disbelieving glances with each other. Then they all looked at L.
"You, Eraldo Coil?" Soichiro Yagami asked with an astounded tone. "Coil is said to be good at locating people. He is one of the world's best detectives besides L. Reputedly, he'll take any job or case if he is just paid enough."
L put yet another marshmallow into his mouth. He gave Soichiro Yagami a look that told him that L was very aware of those things. After all, he was Eraldo Coil himself.
"And not only Coil actually… but also Deneuve", he said. "L, Coil, Deneuve – the three top detectives in the world. They are all me."
Everyone, except Watari, looked at him with astonished faces again. There had been no arrogance in L's voice. And he seemed to be serious.
Light was impressed and so were Mogi and Soichiro Yagami. L was full of mysteries and apparently he wasn't just L – not just one great detective but two more. All this time Light had been thinking that Ryuzaki and Hideki Ryuga were just identities – fictional persons – that L had been acting to cover his real identity. But perhaps even L wasn't the real person behind all the aliases. Perhaps L was just one of the numerous aliases and personalities that the man – Ryuzaki, or whoever he was – was playing. So who was he really…? Did anyone know? Did even Watari know his real name? Did L himself ever have hard time knowing who he really was…?
Light wanted to consider L his friend. But was it really L that was his friend? Or was it Hideki Ryuga…? Or Ryuzaki…? Light wanted to know that man – the real part of him, that part of him that wasn't pretending or acting. He wanted to know who he truly was – not all those persons that he was acting. Who was the man behind all the cover identities and fake names?
L took another marshmallow from the bowl. "Watari is the intermediary of all three of them", he continued explaining. "And usually people, trying to uncover L's identity, ask either Deneuve or Coil to help. So there is nothing to worry about."
Light gave L an admiring look. "As impressive as always, Ryuzaki", he said to him.
L didn't reply. He was looking at the marshmallow that he was now holding in between his fingers.
"So what do you suggest us to do now, Ryuzaki?" Soichiro Yagami asked. "Yotsuba is connected to Kira and they are after you. What can we do?"
"There is no guarantee that there is only one person with Kira's power", L said. "We have to do more research on Yotsuba. We need to uncover who has the power of Kira and how many have it. And we need to act extremely carefully because this is about Kira. Based on everything I know so far, Kira needs to know person's name and face to kill. And there is a possibility that power to kill can also be transferred from one person to another. We must not let Yotsuba figure out that we are investigating them. We will only catch the person when we have enough evidence to proof that the deadly power indeed exists and that the person really used it." Now L's voice got a heavy tone. "Any of you should not take the matters into your own hands or act without my instruction. Is this clear?"
Everyone else nodded with serious faces. L ate the marshmallow that he had been holding in between his fingers.
"So… at first I suggest that –", he started to explain again but then Watari's phone rang and interrupted him.
"Please excuse me", the old gentleman said, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket and walking to the nearest computer in the room.
Everyone remained silent for a moment. Then Watari came back to the others and spoke to L.
"Matsuda-san sent a distress signal from the Yotsuba Tokyo office", he told with a very serious tone.
"What?" Soichiro Yagami shrieked. "What is Matsuda doing?"
"Has he been uncovered…?" Light asked, remaining calmer than his father. "He'll be killed if so…"
L looked extremely gloomy and jaded. He had just told everyone else that they should not act on their own. And now Matsuda – that freaking idiot – had done the exact opposite. He was supposed to be in the movie shootings with Misa. L had made a huge miscalculation… He had underestimated Matsuda. That idiot had run off from the shootings and gone straight to Yotsuba… And he had now most likely got caught and ruined everything…
"What are we going to do now?" Light asked looking at L. The detective's expression made him worry. "We need to do something to save him, Ryuzaki." Light said that because in his opinion L looked like he had absolutely no intention of saving Matsuda. But they had to do something – otherwise Matsuda wouldn't only be killed but also their plan would fail. So if nothing more, at least L probably wanted to help Matsuda out of the trouble so that his master plan and all the effort he had done to catch Kira wouldn't be in vain.
L sighed and scratched his head. "Yes, we need to think a plan…" he said. Or more likely, I need to think a plan.
"Matsuda went to the shootings with Misa today", Light said. "But we don't know if he is in Yotsuba with her or alone."
L nodded. "Is Matsuda-san carrying the identification as Amane's manager, Taro Matsui, with him?"
"Yes, he is", Soichiro Yagami replied. "Why don't we try to call Amane and ask if Matsuda is still with her?"
"Light-kun, please make a call to Misa-san's personal phone", L advised. "She might not be able to use her cell phone since she is in the shootings… But we need to know if Matsuda-san is alone and all right. Yagami-san, please make a call to Matsui's cell phone."
L reached his hand towards Soichiro Yagami so that he would hand his cell phone to the detective.
"What are you planning to do, Ryuzaki?" Soichiro Yagami asked, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.
"Misa's cell phone is turned off", Light announced. He had already tried to make a call. "Just like assumed, Ryuzaki."
L was now holding Soichiro Yagami's cell phone in between his fingers. He was calling Matsuda – a.k.a. Taro Matsui.
Matsuda picked up. L hurried to speak before Matsuda could say anything stupid and with that ruin everything.
"Yo, Matsui! What's up? It's me, Asahi!" he said, without using anything to change his real voice so that Matsuda would recognize him and know that he would be saved. L really hoped that Matsuda would understand to act with him and not to reveal who the caller really was if someone was listening to the conversation.
"Oh, Asahi, it's you…" Matsuda replied after a moment hesitation. He wasn't really convincing actor but at least he had understood to follow L's act.
"Are you in the middle of something important?" L asked. "Sounds like you're alone."
If Matsuda was with someone, then that someone was listening to the conversation between L and Matsuda and tried to keep his presence a secret.
"Yes, I'm alone", Matsuda replied. "And also in the middle of something important…"
"Alright…" L muttered. "I just wanted to invite you to have a party tonight but you seem to be busy… So I won't bother you anymore. Later."
The detective hung up. He turned to talk to the others with him in the room. "So Matsuda-san isn't with Amane anymore", he said. "And he is in trouble."
Everyone seemed to be worried for Matsuda's sake.
"What do we do now, Ryuzaki?" Soichiro Yagami asked.
"Matsuda-san's death would substantiate the suspicion against Yotsuba…" L muttered as if he was talking to himself. "Yotsuba would have no reason to kill him if they didn't have something to hide that Matsuda-san could have possibly discovered…"
"But we can't let him be killed, Ryuzaki!" Light said firmly.
L gave him a gloomy look. Then he took a marshmallow from the bowl and ate it. "There is a possibility that Matsuda-san found out something essential. Light-kun is right. We need to save him but we can't act without a proper plan… If we do act too drastically, Yotsuba will notice us. For now… we can only wait and see."
Hmmh... What should I say this time...? Well, first of all, hopefully this chapter didn't turn out to be a huge disappointment... since there doesn't happen anything particular in it - yet again... I mean - if you think about the relationship between Light and L. But Matsuda had to get caught so that the story could go on... I've been working on a plan for the others to save him but I can't promise that they'll carry it out in the next chapter since I don't want to write too long chapters... Or what do you think - are these chapters too long or too short or... just fine?
This chapter pretty much emphasizes the fact that L doesn't like Matsuda since he is not very smart (although he is a really good character if you ask me). But he needs to save Matsuda because the others pressure him into it and he also wants to know if Matsuda has discovered something important. And... apparently this chapter emphasizes Light's admiration towards L. He also suddenly realizes that even though L claims to be his friend, he really doesn't know much about him.
Gosh, I write so much pointless stuff in here... ;D These are supposed to be some sort of commentaries but I just talk about everything unnecessary... xD Please don't shoot me for that... ^^'
~ CherrySugarCube