22

"Congratulations, Light! It all went perfectly", Linda said after he was done reading. It was not just Linda who encouraged him, in fact, there were a lot of children who approached him when he finished his piece.

"Are you going to read to us from now on?"

"What's your favorite story?"

"You look pretty!"

"Can we play with us?"

He was bombarded with questions before he even reached Linda. But he didn't seem to mind, they all looked adorable. He must have a soft spot for children.

"Well, Light is going to read the stories for a limited time period, so make sure to make him feel welcome" Linda told the kids, who cheered.

"This is for you, Light", Linda handed him what looked like a portrait of himself reading. "I drew you when you where reading in front of the kids. It suits you"

"Thanks" Light accepted the drawing.

"We are not done yet, since Mello insisted the trainings to be intense, but I don't want to burden your brain, so I was planning that we watch English movies together"

Light actually thought that was a good idea.

"Sure, let's do it"

"Yeah, but when I mentioned it to Mello and Near, they also wanted to watch, so we're gonna have a watch party" Linda admitted.

"Hey, Light! Done with the readings?" Mello greeted. "What are we waiting for? Let's watch a movie"

Surprisingly, they already found a room that they arranged specifically for that purpose. There was a large screen in the middle, and with plenty of comfortable looking chairs. Light saw Matt and Near already seated, holding their favorite snacks. Mello gave him a bag of popcorn.

"I didn't know what you want so I just gave you popcorn" he said.

"Thanks, this is nice" Light said gratefully.

"This is actually the surveillance room, but it hardly gets used unless L wants to talk to us. Roger doesn't know that we can access it and repurposed it as a movie room." Mello told him. "So you better not mention it to anyone"

"I won't"

"So this is how it works, everyday, one person gets to choose what movie they want to watch. We have five people here, so on weekends, we pick movies at random" Linda explained. "Today, we decided to let Near decide because he is the youngest. Have you picked something, Near"

Near gave him a flash drive.

"Alright, let's start" Linda said.

…

L was surprised at what he saw that morning. The old task force, comprised of Mogi, Matsuda and the older Yagami, has come to see him.

"What brings you here, Yagami-san?" L asked.

"We heard what happened, and well, we thought about how to continue the case" Souchiro said. "Now I know it must be hard to deal with this all by yourself, but we were already assigned new tasks, so we can't dedicate our full time here. But we decided that we can help you as much as we can."

"I don't think I need any more assistance from the police force" L said stubbornly.

"I was the one who asked them" Watari suddenly interrupted. "We need more manpower, L. I cannot do this alone"

L just stared at Watari.

"Anyway, we thought of something that would work for all of us, and that is, we schedule our work. Everyday, either of us three will come and help out in the investigation, according to our free time in the office" Souichiro continued. "So today is Matsuda's time off, so he'll be here today, and Mogi will be tomorrow. I'll be here on the day after. That way, Watari won't have to deal with everything alone. I know you already got your hands full with Misa"

It didn't seem like L had a choice in the matter.

"Very well, then. Feel free to use the investigation room for that purpose" L sounded defeated.

"We already contacted some of the foreign representatives of some countries, and they said they are going to contact us soon" Matsuda chimed in. "I know the situation is not ideal, but we can do this, Ryuuzaki!"

The other team members agreed. L could only nod in agreement.

Well, technically it doesn't hurt to have more staff around, maybe they can convince Misa to stop trying to hurt herself. Speaking of which, she hasn't spoken in a while since she took those drugs. In fact, she just lay there on the bed, lethargic. L didn't want to bother her, because it was a chance for him to rest for a while. The past few days have been so draining for him.

He looked at the drugs prescribed for his headache. He is feeling an upcoming headache soon. Maybe he should try these, considering that it worked well for Misa.

He took a piece and swallowed it, and braced himself for what will happen next.

…

"So, you've also taken the medication that the doctor gave you?"

"Uhuh"

"And now you're feeling like shit too?"

"Uhuh"

"Maybe he gave you the same medication after all, since we both feel like shit"

"I guess you are right, Misa-san" L agreed with her, which was a rare occurrence that can only happen if he was drugged. "I already told Watari to call off the session today on the account of us not being on our best shape"

The two of them were lying side by side in bed, staring at the ceiling and feeling too crappy to even move.

"Oh, thank God", Misa sighed in relief. "You know, maybe they are aware of what would happen, and Watari is in on the plan"

"It may be possible", L agreed again. "But I don't want to think about it. My head is going to explode"

"You're over reacting"

"I don't think I've expressed my emotions enough"

"Oh, so you still want to talk about it?" Misa's voice turned a little high pitched from excitement. "Are you gonna expand on how much you love Raito?"

"Will it make you feel better?"

"Not in the slightest! I mean I'd rather you not…"

"Raito-kun is really good in bed" L said this to provoke Misa.

"Why, you! I told you not to…"

"He's a good listener, and he is very concerned about my well-being"

"Well…yeah, he is"

"He is also a good kisser"

"That's enough Ryuuzaki!" Misa's face was turning red, if L bothered to care. "But yeah, he is a good kisser."

"He makes me feel things"

"You're really gonna go on about this are you?"

"I think it was love at first sight too, why I loved Raito-kun as much as I did" L pondered. "When I saw his picture from Souichiro Yagami's file, there was something curious in me that I wanted to know more about him"

"Well, I also loved him at first sight! When I met her with a group of friends in Aoyama" Misa reminded him.

"What did you like about him? He was with a lot of girls and was looking like the ladies man. Surely you can guess that he has a potential for cheating"

"I just like the way he looks, okay?! There is nothing wrong with that!" Misa answered defensively. "And why do you even like him? I mean, you were suspecting him to be Kira, why would that suddenly be a turn-on?"

L thought about it for a moment.

"You're right again, Misa-san. I don't know what made me like him if I am being honest" L agreed with her for the second time today. "I just saw him and I fell in love"

"See, we're not really different aren't we?" Misa pointed out. "We both fell in love with him at first sight"

"I guess Raito-kun is really popular with men and women" L concluded. "But what are we going to do about it? Can we just love him at the same time?"

"I know how you feel, Ryuuzaki. Sometimes I just can't help it. But if you really love Light then I can't be angry with you about it, because that's exactly how I feel"

"Maybe we should let Light decide, and just respect his decision" L suggested.

"But I can't live without him!"

"I can't live without him too, but that would not get us anywhere, and would just hurt him" L argued. "And if he chooses to love someone else, then we should just support him on that decision too."

"You're right, Ryuuzaki" Misa agreed after thinking about it for a while. "But it really hurts to accept that. How can you deal with heart break like that?"

"I have been feeling terrible since Raito-kun left me" L admitted. "I am very hurt that he didn't trust me enough, and that he chose to leave without saying goodbye"

Misa looked at L from her side.

"Oh, Ryuuzaki", she gasped. "You've been hurting this whole time?"

"But I don't want him to worry about me so I have been trying to be strong." L went on. "If he sees me again, I hope he sees me as a better person"

Tears suddenly welled in Misa's eyes.

"I didn't know you feel like this" she said. "I'm sorry for disregarding your feelings"

"And now we are both miserable" L concluded.

"Hey, but we are miserable together" Misa said. "Maybe we can go through this together"

Misa rolled over to get closer to L, and hugged him. Maybe it was because he was heavily drugged at that point, and was feeling very vulnerable, but L did not resist. Suddenly, he felt his face a bit damp.

"Could it be…I'm crying?" L said softly.

"Shhh" Misa comforted. "I'm here for you"

L's tears continued flowing like a waterfall. This was a first time for him. Even as a child he had always kept his feelings secured tightly. But this time it was different. Maybe the medications were strong after all. He held on to Misa's arms, and clutched it tightly. He continued crying, and felt his emotions rushing like a dam breaking.

He didn't know that Misa can make him cry like this.

…