A/n

Hello all. I hope you had a pleasant New Years. Now, we wait for the next person to say when the world ends.

Have a nice day.

-Draco

April 8th, Task Force Headquarters, L

Yesterday was rather interesting. I invited Light-kun to play a little game of tennis with me, and then go to a get a drink. I asked him to play with me for two reasons, the first being to see whether he was childish and hated to lose, like Kira, and secondly… because I was bored. Based on the fact it's hard to profile someone just based off a tennis match and a few mind games, I suspect there's a 7% chance of him being Kira. Even still, 7% is better than nothing. It gives the investigation something to work off, and that's what's truly important. Mr. Yagami collapsed yesterday after stress, and after watching Light's reaction to his father's condition, I almost believed he wasn't Kira. However, he's one of the only people I can suspect, so he will remain on the list. Michael Kami is also on the list of potential suspects. His probability is much lower than Light's. The most unusual thing I've learned about Michael is that he appeared the same day as when a meteor fell near Tokyo and landed into the ocean. The incidents are clearly unrelated though. It's not as though people just fall out of the sky.

It wouldn't hurt to test Michael a bit. Let's see how he reacts under the same conditions Light was under.

To-oh, Michael

"Hey Ryuga." I say as L walks over to me. L brandishes his racket. "Ready to play?" He asks. "You know it!" I chirp. After Soichiro collapsed yesterday, I figured it would be good to get outside and try and forget about it. Thankfully, L invited me to play a game of tennis. This should take my mind off of everything that's been going on.

I overhear people talking outside the tennis court. "Hey, there's that Hideki Ryuga guy from yesterday. And that kid Michael Kami. Are they gonna play a game?" A guy asks his friend. "Shut up, they're about to start!" A girl shouts. L tosses me the ball. "You first." L says. I ready myself, and then serve the ball with the speed of a jet. L can barely hit it back to me. I return the ball more, and after a long volley, I take the first game out of three. "Good job. Let's see how you do in round two." L says, serving the ball to me. The first return I give almost knocks the racket out of my hand. Where the hell did all that power come from? I can barely keep the ball from hitting me! I see the ball quickly hit the inside of play and then go out. "15-love." L says in a monotone voice. Holy…

I quickly lose the second round, the score being too embarrassing to talk about. Let's just say that it was a quick defeat.

It's time for the final game. "Ready Ryuga?" I ask. "Whenever you're ready." He replies. I as though everything in the first serve is going in slow-motion. I can easily see where L is going to hit the ball, and the spot where it would be hardest for him to hit it. It's all L can do be clumsily hit it back to me. Finally the ball passes L, and the score changes to 15-love. I take the ball, and serve it again. This time, L's power is back to its usual high caliber. The game goes quickly until we're in deuce, with the advantage to L. If I don't stop him now, I've lost. I look L straight in the eye. Time to finish this. Everything moves so quickly. If I were to look at this match on video, I'm sure L and I would be nothing but blurs. The ball is incredibly fast, and hitting it takes an enormous amount of precision. I volley the ball with L for the longest time, and then L hits the ball back with such ferocity that the racket I'm using goes flying out of my hands, causing it to clatter across the floor. I see the ball return to Ryuga who hits it back, then feel the small gust of wind as the ball flies past my head. The crowd is silent as I stand there with no racket, and Ryuga stands in the same position as when he hit the ball.

Then everyone gives a great applause. L walks over to me and extends his hand. I look at it for a second, confused, and then realize what he wants. I shake his hand. "Well played." I say. "I could say the same to you. You really held your ground." L replies. I walk over to my racket and put it back in the bag I'd brought it in. L walks over to me. "Would you enjoy getting a drink and something eat? My treat." L offers. Well, I can't turn down free food. "I'll gladly come with you. Many thanks." I say.

L leads me to a small café a few blocks away. He requests a specific table, and after a few minutes, we're taken to the table. L adopts the same sitting pose he had at the exam almost as soon as we arrive at the table, only waiting for the waitress to leave to begin sitting the way he prefers. I look at the menus and make my selections. After the waitress returns, I order a slice of strawberry cheesecake, a slice of tiramisu, a slice of marble cake, and a hot chocolate. L orders an even more absurd amount of food to long to list. After the waitress leaves and comes back with our food, she leaves looking very flustered. As L and I tuck into our food, I decide it might not be bad to make polite conversation. "Out of curiosity L, why do you sit like you do? It must have a purpose." I say. L stops eating. "If I were to sit any other way, my deduction ability would decrease by approximately forty percent. Now a question for you. With that much food, aren't you considered about gaining weight? I'm not, but that's for a different reason." L says. "Well Ryuuzaki, I'm not concerned because of my great metabolism. I'm also not concerned because you tend not to gain weight if you use your brain to burn calories." I say. L actually gives me a tiny smirk. "Interesting." L says. Huh. Never knew he was capable of smiling. Guess he's not as weird as he comes off being. Either that or my charisma is off the charts. Maybe both.

"Michael, I would like to give you a little test of your deductive ability. Is that alright?" L asks. Hm? "Well, that's a little out of the blue, but sure, go ahead." I say. L takes three cards out of his pocket. "These are three suicide notes written by criminals being controlled by Kira before they died. Tell me what you think of them." L says. The cards are marked with number pertaining to chronological order. Even though I know what order they should be in, which is "L, do you know gods of death love apples," it reads "L, do you know gods of death who love apples." I know this is incorrect, however, I need to presume that L probably wants me to assume this is the only information available. Therefore, I should give him my first explanation and then ask for more information. "Well Ryuuzaki, based on what I can glean from what you've given me, the message should logically read out 'L, do you know gods of death love apples.' However, if I look at the numbers on the back, and arrange them in that order, the new message is 'L, do you know, gods of death who love apples.' This leads me to think that there must be another part of the message. May I please have it?" I ask, extending my hand. "You are correct, there was a fourth part of the message. If you add it to the others, it reads 'L, do you know gods of death who love apples have read hands.' Your deduction was completely correct. Even Light did not achieve the correct answer. In addition to proving your skills in deduction, you've also lowered your percentage of being Kira to about two percent." L says. "Well, two percent is better than whatever I had before. What was it, around five-ish?" I ask. "That's about right. That is what Light was at the beginning of yesterday, and now he's hanging around seven." L says. "Did you test Light yesterday as well?" I ask. "Yes. I put you under the exact same conditions as Light and you two obtained almost completely results. This is fascinating." L says.

"Now, may I ask you for a favor?" L asks. "What is it?" I say, interested. "I want to know if you be willing to join the task force. I know it's asking a lot of you. You have your education, and a personal life to attend to. But even if you only come every other night or so, you could be an incredible help to the investigation. So, will you help us?" L asks. This could be my ticket to catching Kira! If I join, I could find some sort of way to destroy or steal his Note away! This is like winning the lottery! "Alright. I'll do it." I say, smiling. "Good, I'll send you a text message with the location of our current headquarters and what time you should arrive. Tell no one you are being part of the task force, especially Light. I shall do the same. Are we in understanding?" L asks. "Couldn't be any clearer." I reply.

L and I finish up our food over the course of the next hour, having a conversation on "the prisoner's dilemma" the entire time. After I depart, I think about how interesting things are going to become, now that I'm going to be in cooperation with the world's greatest detective. The fun starts now.