Sell-Out

AN UNSPOKEN, PALPABLE tension hung over Light and L in the hours following their fight, although neither seemed in the least willing to discuss it. With ice packs pressed against jaws and bruised eyes, the pair had returned to the building's central room to continue work in strained silence. Soichiro Yagami and Watari had given similar, paternal scoldings to the young men, with only slight variations in their choice of words. Light and L bore both lectures resentfully, before rolling their office chairs back to their respective computer screens to immerse themselves in their tasks. Soichiro had turned to Watari, chuckling.

"I don't know what's got into my son," he laughed, "he's normally so well-behaved. Even when he was a young boy he used to arrest Sayu's toys for breaking the law." He smiled at the memory, before his expression faltered. "Although we did have to tell him not to execute them in the microwave." Watari bowed his grey head.

"Yes, boys will be boys. Ryuzaki loved to drag me down to the police station with him to present evidence. They were so nice about it too. Used to give him a cookie and a certificate..." He sighed and pushed his gold-rimmed glasses to the top of his nose. "The only trouble was when they wanted his name. He would be out of there like a shot, with me chasing him up the road!"

"How old was he?" Soichiro leaned forward in interest. Watari considered this.

"Eighteen?"

"Ah," Soichiro breathed, his smile slightly strained. "How nice."

"Dad, you're embarrassing me," Light complained, turning in his chair to face his father. He had wanted to say 'us' but was no longer convinced that the term applied to them both. The cold shoulder which L now bore towards him was positively arctic; he had not given the slightest inclination of acknowledging Light's presence since they had been forced to clean Misa's apartment earlier. Light's gaze lingered on his keyboard morosely, his mind weighed down by all the cutting remarks L had made at his expense. A deep ache continued to radiate along his jawline, and Light was sure he still felt the tell-tale signs of whiplash. But what hurt more than either of these injuries was L's insistence, again and again, that he was Kira. Light's hands clenched into trembling fists beneath the desk.

And so, the next few days passed in the same uncomfortable silence. Even negotiating sleeping arrangements and bathroom facilities gave both little reason to communicate, other than L complaining about the length of time which Light devoted to styling his hair. That, and the continued array of inventive and disturbing scenes that Light was forced to wake up to on a daily basis.

It was on an unseasonably wet August morning when Light awoke with a sudden snort. His eyes opened, seeing but not comprehending, the hunched figure crouched on the end of his bed. L was in his characteristic pose, watching Light with interest; a thin, black, rectangular device balanced on one knee. Light lifted his head to stare at the detective.

"You were talking in your sleep again," L explained, lifting the device to his mouth. "Out of interest, when would you say this fascination with potato chips started?" He extended the voice recorder out towards Light, who threw back his duvet furiously and clambered out of bed.

Once dressed and downstairs in the central computer room, Light resumed his analysis of the coroners' reports. Aizawa had first given him the idea of compiling a list of victims who had not been covered in Mogi's archive of news stories. As far as he could make out, the majority of these individuals were male, middle-aged and balding. More interestingly, all of them worked in the business sector and had no obvious outward ties to criminal activity at all.

There came a staccato tapping as Light's fingers drummed away on his keyboard. He leaned back in his chair, scrutinising the monitor and tracing an invisible line with his finger. Then, as though he had expected such a result, Light's face broke into a small, victorious smile.

"Hey, Ryuzaki?"

To his left, L's head was tilted backwards as he sprayed the remaining contents of a whipped cream can into his open mouth.

"Can you… take a break for a second?" Light watched with mild disgust as L gulped noisily and turned to fix Light with a blank stare.

"Actually, I'm pretty busy."

"You say that… you've been working on that can for the past twenty minutes. Come take a look at this."

L placed the can onto the desk, sighed, then propelled his office chair over to Light's; there was a crack of plastic as they collided.

"Hey!"

L half-rose from his chair, with one bare foot placed on the armrest of Light's own. He reached an arm out to grip the back of Light's chair as he leaned forward to stare at the computer screen. Light bristled; his very skin prickling at their proximity.

"Oh-okay…" he managed in an uneven voice, "so… I was looking into the business backgrounds of these victims. Almost all of the associated companies have taken a financial downturn in recent months, with the exception of the Yotsuba Corporation." Light turned around in his enthusiasm, almost underestimating how little personal space L had afforded him. "Gah… ah… it's a potential lead, at the very least."

"Mmmm," came L's assessment, "so you're saying that these predominantly male, middle-aged, overweight businessmen didn't die from heart disease? That this was a clever scheme of Kira's, to get his product discounts at Yotsuba?"

"Well, when you put it like that," Light snapped, "but seriously, there's something here. These businessmen and CEOs are dying in random accidents as well as Kira's trademark heart attacks. I think he's trying to divert attention away from these murders so that the police-"

"-the police focus on the criminals!" L gasped, "which means that the criminals' deaths are a front for Kira's true aim. As I suspected."

"After I just told you," Light added resentfully.

"Kira truly is evil," L continued, hardly aware that Light was slowly rolling his desk chair away from him. "He will stop at nothing to eliminate his competition and get the best prices for himself. It is an unforgivable crime!"

x-x-x

Under L's insistence, the detectives spent the next few weeks gathering data on the Yotsuba Corporation. Light had given up trying to point out to anyone who would listen that the idea had, in fact, been his. Instead, he found he was content to blend into the background of the Task Force's efforts, compiling reports, checking figures and cross-referencing his findings with the other police officers. His friendship with L was newly healed and wobbling on its proverbial legs, and so Light had considered it prudent to let the matter rest for the time being. For L, their newest lead had sparked the inspiration which had so long been lacking. He seemed overtly brighter and had stopped slurping ice cream toppings straight from their containers, instead returning to his more natural food groups; cake, bananas and jelly beans. He had also, Light privately noted, not directed any accusations towards him over the past few days. Things were looking up, or so it seemed…

That was, until Soichiro Yagami dragged himself into headquarters on one blustery Thursday, looking very much like a man with unwanted news to deliver. The Chief Detective stood, hands in the pockets of his suit jacket, glancing over the top of his glasses at the hive of activity around him.

"What's the latest, Matsuda?" he asked the young detective, although the tone in his voice could hardly have conveyed any less interest.

"Hey Chief! Oh, um, I've just been making photocopies!" Matsuda explained cheerfully. He gestured to an enormous pile of paper that Mogi was attempting to balance on the edge of L's desk. "Did you know that there's thirty thousand employees at Yotsuba?"

"I do," groaned Mogi, taking his hands tentatively from the pile so that L could begin looking through the pages, "I put all this together. Pulled an all-nighter." Matsuda gaped up at him.

"By yourself… whoa… well…" He turned to smile back at Soichiro, "and, well, I got everyone some black tea-"

"We did ask for coffee," L interjected bluntly, shuffling some of the papers into a smaller pile. Matsuda's face fell.

"Look, I've got some bad news," Soichiro continued as though he had not even heard Matsuda speak, "Kira is bribing politicians to discourage law enforcement agencies from going after him." He sighed heavily and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "It seems we have a choice to make; either we stay here and work with L, or we can keep our police badges. We can't do both."

Mogi's head snapped up; Aizawa lapsed into sullen thought; Matsuda almost fell off his chair.

"You all need to take a moment and think about this carefully," L weighed out his words, glancing from face to face. He turned back to his laptop to quickly close down a window and replace it with the previous page on Yotsuba's CEO. Light watched, convinced that he had briefly witnessed a suspicious email of some sort. It was Mogi who first broke the silence.

"I don't need to think about it…" His mouth curved into a wide grin. "I'm staying!"

"Woo! Me too!" Matsuda cried, punching the air. Unable to share in his joy, Soichiro and Aizawa exchanged an uncomfortable glance.

"I feel like I should probably try to keep my job…" Aizawa began, looking off towards the lobby doors with visible reluctance.

"Me too…" Soichiro continued quietly, "...unless we just lie to our families?" Light gave an incoherent splutter of protest from his desk.

"I was thinking the same thing!" Aizawa finished brightly. "I know myself pretty well and if I left now, I'd only end up coming back later. I might as well get on with it really!"

"Oh. Are you sure...?" L moved his chair around to them, his expression darkening as he peeled a banana. "I wouldn't want you to lose your livelihoods-" A sudden bleep from his computer cut him off in mid-sentence. The monitor was illuminated with a white background, marked by a large W in old cloister black font.

"Ryuzaki, I've booked those taxis for you. They're on their way," came Watari's voice. "Does everyone have their belongings packed?" L froze in horror, the banana halfway to his mouth.

"Ryuzaki! What is the meaning of this?" Soichiro demanded. "Did you expect us all to leave?"

"I..." L tried awkwardly, "look, I was doing just fine by myself before you all came here. I appreciate the photocopying and the tea, but generally speaking, I've got this. You're all free to go."

"Even me?" Light blurted out before he could manage to restrain himself.

"But we want to stay and help you catch Kira!" Matsuda continued, "we all made a promise and… you know, it's what friends do!" Mogi, Soichiro and Aizawa all looked to L imploringly; their eyes almost seemed misted with emotion.

"Of course, and I'm grateful to you." L obliged them by turning back to his computer screen; Light caught the detective's expression of weary exasperation. Before he could reply into his microphone, Watari's voice floated out of the speakers again.

"And another thing, Ryuzaki. There's been a request for the services of Eraldo Coil. The individual in question is offering a large amount of money for him to track down L. His name is Suguru Shimura and he is the Vice President of Personnel at Yotsuba."

Light turned to L in triumph. "See, I told you Kira was at Yotsuba. My deduction was right."

"Okay, we need a strategy." L rose from his seat, ignoring Light, to stride amongst the police detectives. "If everyone is willing to stay, then I need you to listen to me carefully. We may all have a role to play in this after all. Wedy!" From over the other side of the room, where she was seated on one of the green sofas, the thief-for-hire laid down the magazine she had been reading.

"Oh, um, actually, I'd like to do more! If, that's okay?" Matsuda broke in enthusiastically. L swung his banana round to the young detective, pointing it at his face as though it were a loaded gun.

"Aren't you supposed to be driving Misa Amane to her photo shoot today?"

"Oh crap!" Matsuda scrambled up, grabbed his coat and charged towards the stairs. L took aim and fired an invisible bullet at the detective's back. Light blinked, nonplussed, wondering if he had now become so accustomed to L that this simply passed as normal social interaction.

"Right, Wedy, I need you to get into Yostuba's Tokyo Headquarters without tripping the security system, override their CCTV and rig cameras and wiretaps in all of their boardrooms," L continued sternly, as though his strange pantomime with Matsuda had never occured. Wedy raised her artfully thin eyebrows at him.

"Is that all?" she retorted sarcastically. L mused upon his instruction for a moment.

"Actually, set them up in all the offices of anyone who holds a Vice President, or any middle management position. We have no idea who Kira is at this point and even Yotsuba is still a stab in the dark right now." Wedy swore under her breath, grabbed her bag and strode out to the lobby.

"Aiber, you'll be playing the part of Coil. I want you to call this Mr Shimura to introduce yourself. We'll use you to infiltrate at the top level." Aiber gave a mock salute at this, winked and then followed in Wedy's wake. L turned to the other detectives.

"Not to worry of course, as the real Eraldo Coil is, in fact… me. Three of the greatest detectives in the world, L, Coil and Deneuve… they're all me. Unfortunately, that story will have to wait for another time." He bit down on his banana with a relish.

The police detectives waited in polite silence. Light began to stifle a yawn but surrendered halfway through. He was rather past caring about maintaining manners for L's sake anymore.

"Really?" L asked in a muffled voice as he chewed, "you're not even a little bit curious? I've got something for anyone who keeps it a secret…"

Light's eyes widened as L's hand moved to his pocket.

x-x-x

A cloud drifted lazily across the cerulean, afternoon sky, throwing out long shadows across the packed courtyard. A blonde, red-faced photographer scowled and stepped backwards to curse at the intrusion of darkness across the perfectly positioned scene. Misa, who had artfully poised herself on the edge of the square's central fountain, groaned and sat up straight, rubbing her back.

"Ugh, can I grab some coffee then?" she yowled tiredly, stretching her arms above her head. For, behind the photographer, Matsuda had emerged with two polystyrene cups. He lifted one jovially in greeting; a trickle of coffee spilling onto his tie.

One of the assistants handed Misa her coat. She slid her feet into flip flops, wrapped herself in the rain mac and padded her way over to her masquerading manager.

"Thanks!" she gasped, reaching out for one of the cups. "Boy, do I need this today. I'm so tired!"

"Don't you just have to stand around while they take photos?" Matsuda caught the model's affronted expression and cringed, suddenly conscious of a fault. "Sorry. I guess I don't know that much about it… heh..."

"No, you don't!" Misa snapped, stamping her foot so hard that her flip flop nearly flew off altogether. "It's so much work! You have no idea how hard it is."

"We're trying to catch Kira…" Matsuda muttered ruefully.

"And how's that going?" Misa asked, lounging casually in one of the folded chairs which had been brought to the set. "Have you guys, like, had any new leads or anything?"

"Ahh… I don't know if I can say…" Matsuda scraped his foot at a leaf upon the courtyard's flagstones. Misa crossed one leg over the other glumly.

"Yeah, I figured. Light won't tell me anything either. Ryuzaki is a total slave-driver, making him work around the clock. We hardly get to see each other at all! My poor little Knight is only allowed one day off a week. It drives him wild being apart from me…!" She took a long sip of her coffee, then let her arms fall heavily into her lap. Matsuda started to interject, then looked away uncomfortably.

"If it helps, I know how you feel," he conceded, leaning in conspiratorially. "Sometimes, I'm left on the outside too. It's just that, those guys are so smart, I feel like I'm constantly playing catch up! Remember earlier when I pretended to take that important call from the team?" He closed his eyes in pained embarrassment. "Well, I was really just trying to beat my high score on Snake..."

"Do you…" Misa slowly turned to the detective. "...ever feel like people don't take you seriously?" Matsuda dropped his head with a sigh.

"Totally."

"Then we should do something!" Misa drained a great gulp of coffee before shuffling to her feet. "Come on, Matsu, I know you can do it!"

Matsuda's brow furrowed in much the same way it did whenever he was present at a team briefing. Then, gradually, the wobbly outlines of a plan began to take shape in his mind.

"Okay, well... I know I probably shouldn't say anything but... you live at headquarters anyway, so what harm can it do right?" He dropped his voice to no more than a mere whisper. "We think Kira might be connected with Yotsuba…"

"That's so lame!" Misa squealed, "I can't believe I actually liked Kira. Ugh, now he's just another celebrity who's gone all corporate. What a total sell-out."

"Anyway, if we're gonna help the investigation, then we'll need to find a way to get in with Yotsuba…" Matsuda stared off into space once more, momentarily mesmerized, as with the concentration of a child learning to add numbers. Victoriously, he clicked his fingers as he landed upon entirely the wrong total.

"I've got it!" The young detective swung round eagerly to face Misa. "I'm your manager, so I can contact their office and set up an interview for you. We'll ask if they're interested in using your face for their advertising campaign. Then we'll be on the inside for a change!"

"Yeah, I can keep them busy while you have a snoop around the building, Matsu!"

"All you need to do is ace the interview," Matsuda concluded proudly, lifting his cup to his mouth and adding another splodge of coffee onto his tie.

"Don't you worry! There's just something about me that no man can help but fall for…" Misa shrugged off her coat and laid it over her chair, before padding back over to the fountain. She lifted herself onto the marble edge and arched her back so that her chest was thrust out towards the flashing camera.