I'm sorry I have been gone for long so HAPPY 2018 EVERYBODY! A lot of drama's already happened, so this year is not off to a fantastic start, but I must say 2017 did not end that splendid for me, either, so it was not the great Christmas Break I was expecting and then I had a bunch of school stuff, because school wants to kill me. And I am kind of tired. And hungry. Yes, I should eat something.

DISCLAIMER: yup, I checked. Definitely do not own Death Note or any of its original characters or plotlines. But my OC's are mine, so yay, I guess. Also, I am a typo manic, so I would not recommend my stories if you are against those.

XxX

7. Drama

If I thought sleeping in Mishima's apartment would be awkward, I really no idea what I was in for the next morning. Mishima's apartment seemed pretty cool and dandy compared to sitting in the car with Chief Yagami after the whole incident.

Mishima had woken me up late, right before leaving for work. Which meant I would be late. Normally, I would've thought that had been a trick, a way of messing with me, but his eyes were still filled with pity when he woke me. I was started to hate the new Mishima more, just because of the pity.

I wish I could tell you that Ryuzaki was overcome with worry and picked me up himself, before I even had the chance to call. But… Mishima had called Chief Yagami. And Yagami was already in his car in front of the apartment.

'I didn't know who else to call,' Mishima had admitted, 'and you had called Chief Yagami already, so it did not take much explaining…'

Mishima had not said much else or asked anything. I had no idea what he was thinking, to be honest, but I appreciated it.

Chief Yagami knew much more, of course, had way more context as to what might have happened. He did not know anything about Near, but he knew kind of what had happened between me and L.

Which made this certain car ride extremely awkward. 'I will not ask you what has happened,' he said, wiggling his nose as to readjust his glasses. 'But you must know that I am here to listen, if you want to talk to a… parental figure, of some sorts.'

I held in a groan and slid a bit back in the seat. Watari would probably have been better than this. 'I can handle it, Chief,' I assured him, still kind of embarrassed.

'Very well,' Yagami agreed. Then after not even a full minute of silence, he said: 'Are you sure? You two did not seem like the… type of people who would get in any sort of fights, let alone—'

'We did not fight,' I said, setting that straight right away. 'I just realised that I couldn't really do it anymore.'

Another moment of silence, but a loaded one. I knew he would not let it go like this. His fatherly instinct had already kicked in long before I even got into his car. 'Do what, anymore?'

I sighed. 'This… one-way thing. He does not explain himself or talk to me at all, really. He rarely lets me in on his plans, his secrets. I felt like… the moment I stopped talking to him, we would cease all conversation, just because I was the only one making any effort at all.'

'Hm,' was all Chief Yagami said, nothing else. As if to say "curious, but I do not know the answer". Well, that made two of us. But I knew as I said the words that they were true. I could not hold this relationship, whatever it was, on my own. I was not going back on my own. Ryuzaki needed to convince me that he was with me not only because I was offering myself, but because he was willing to put the effort in.

And there it came. The shame. How selfish I was during an important case and how selfishly I was making it more difficult for everyone involved. I should keep my relationships out of it. I was the one L communicated through, and that was it.

But he had Near now, hadn't he? He did not need me, he had Near and his own detective.

And there came the pain. Ryuzaki really did not need me much at all anymore. If it was not for my connection with Ico and Arma, I would be of no use. Useless. Useful. It seemed like Ryuzaki thought about me this way, even though I knew that must not be the case. But if that really was not the case, then where was he? Why wasn't he worried, why hadn't he called?

Mishima had charged my phone, but there had been no calls, no messages. I wasn't even worth the effort of a simple text.

Chief Yagami must have noticed the shift in my mood from embarrassed to hurt, because he did not speak again until we reached the police station. When I got out, I noticed Arma, not with Ico, but alone, standing at the other side of the street. She looked at me with a sad expression, but still that weirdly calm air she always seemed to have. Kind of like a caring mother without the ability to feel stressed.

'Chief, can you go on without me, I have to… do something,' I said and somehow he must've put a different meaning to it, because he nodded immediately and let me go.

Crossing the street without really paying attention (I found that the deal with the Shinigami King regarding my life span did make me a bit more brave than I was probably supposed to be) I reached Arma and gave her a frowning glance. 'What's wrong? Everything alright?'

'Time's running out,' she explained. 'I couldn't find you last night.'

I cringed, already my selfishness was taking a toll on others. 'I'm sorry,' I said, without really much else to say. 'Do you have something important?'

'Did L tell you about Neo Kira?' Arma asked.

'Well, depends on what you're talking about? Did something happen?' I asked, ignoring people who walked passed me and looked at me as if I were crazy. Probably because I was literally talking to a wall right now.

'L has estimated together with his small friend that Neo Kira has four of the six Death Notes,' she explained, looking down at me as she hovered in the air.

'And we having the other one in our possession…' I frowned. 'We have to find Neo Kira as quick as possible.' That was always the plan, of course, but I had always secretly hoped that Arma her Death Note would not be in Neo Kira's possession. It seemed like I was about to get used to the reality that Arma's Death Note probably was in his possession and that everything was coming together.

'But… Misa's Death Note. One of those does not even have its powers…' Which made it impossible for Neo Kira to find. So out of the five Death Notes that were still lost, only four of those mattered. 'So Neo Kira must have your Death Note, or you're dead either way,' I said, confirming what Arma already knew.

She looked at me with a sad, but still ever so calm, smile, and nodded. 'And just as I began to enjoy this world,' she added sadly, as if she'd already lost all hope. Before I could say anything else, she vanished.

XxX

When I walked into the office, they were all gathered around the screen once more, all silent. Concentrating. Well, all except detective Arai, who gave me a big wink and flirty smile. He had managed to make me loathe him even more in less than thirty seconds.

I stood next to Matsuda who, thank god, filled me in on the situation. 'Kira released a media statement,' he whispered, way too loud of it to be called an actual whisper.

I looked at the screen, it was one of those talk-news-thingies. I noticed that it was Sakura TV once more. Why did Sakura TV come up so often? What had those flowers done to deserve such a bad rep?

'…which might be related to Kira,' finished the presenter, his face clearly hiding a great amount of fear. 'Today, a voice message from someone claiming to be Kira was sent to us anonymously. We'll play the unedited version.'

'Crazy town,' I muttered in English.

The screen became white, the four familiar letters appeared. I was getting so sick of seeing this font on screens and my recent… problems with L did not help that in the slightest. Then, the message begun. I had expected a warped voice, one which I could be able to tell if it was real or fake. Instead, the voice I heard was utter familiar. 'Dear L,' said the voice of Light Yagami.

The Chief inhaled sharply, Matsuda gasped and all the others when rigid when they noticed the reactions of the people that mattered most.

'Have you learned nothing? You can't beat Kira. So don't interfere any further. Don't interfere with the creation of the New World. Go on the Daily News Show today on this channel. Reveal your name and face and do exactly as I say. Or there'll be a bloodbath.'

Detective Arai chuckled. I would've glared at him if I wasn't totally entranced to the voice I was hearing. It did not sound one hundred percent believable, but it did not sound fake either. It did sound like Light, but it did not have to be him. There were tricks. There had to be tricks.

He repeated the specifics once more, then the message was over. Done. Like nothing had happened. Just like that, a familiar situation replayed itself, but this time, we had zero to no options. What could we do if this really was Light? What would happen then? Who would be sacrificed to save the lives of many?

XxX

I didn't like bailing my job halfway through the day, but I felt like it was justified enough.

Misa seemed to be doing better, if not a bit nervous as she walked towards the table I was sitting at. She did not hug me. She smiled and sat down.

'How are you doing?' I asked. Smiling.

'I'm fine,' she replied. Definitely nervous.

So I decided to start with the easy part of my business. Something I had only thought of while traveling here, when Sanami called me back, sounding worried as ever. Then she told me about a guy she'd been dating, an actor and singer called Ryuuga Hideki. Which made me request suddenly much harder. I did not want to ask her if I could move in with her again, she had offered up so much of her life just to help this relative she barely knew. I could not do it anymore.

And then I realised I had a friend with an apartment that was now sitting there with no one using it.

'Listen, Misa, I wanted to ask you—' I carefully watched her, her nervousness seemed to mix with fear, '—I mean… I have been living with Ryuzaki for a while now, but… Well, how do I explain.., it's kind of complicated, but...'

All nervousness and fear was instantly gone as she immediately seemed to understand. 'Oh my god, did you guys have a fight? No way! I did not think you two were to type to fight!'

Second person to say that to me today. And what was that supposed to mean, anyway?

'Eh… we did,' I said, but it came out like a question. 'And I wanted to… you know, take a break from it all, so I was wondering—'

'Say no more, Olly! Misa has got you covered!' she almost shouted. 'I will contact my agency, they have like security around my apartment and stuff, so they have a key and stuff. You can totally stay in Misa's apartment!'

'Great!' Now I had to consider if that was actually something I'd want to do. And it still felt weird, taking advantage of Misa like this. But I did really save her skin, didn't I? like, many times? So this was totally justified, right?

Who was I kidding, I was a selfish person and I should just hop back to L and focus on the Neo Kira case instead.

'Thank you so much,' I added to my "great" because I did not want to be too rude. Misa responded with something, but I was not really paying attention, because I was thinking of the best way to phrase what I was going to day next.

'I have another question for you, Misa,' I said and I saw how her smile faltered a little, how the nervousness kicked back in. 'If you knew something about the Neo Kira case that I might not know… would you tell me? I promise that whatever your answer, I will not ask you anything else today.'

Misa looked down at the table, pressed her lips together and looked up, determined. Then her mouth fell open and she looked down again, undecided. She repeated this a couple of times before she answered me, while looking down t the table. 'No,' was what she said.

I nodded. It was not much of a clue, but it did tell me something. Misa had been a Kira supporter, yes, but she had also been my friend. At least, I trusted on that. So if she was not telling me while knowing something, it might not have to do with Kira at all.

Perhaps, this was about Light all along.

XxX

I wished I could say that I was a great scandal that I'd left the Task Force and that everyone was worried when I got back, but that was not the case. Everyone was standing in the conference room, chatting with each other, deep in thought as they watched the screen. I checked the time. It was almost time for "L's television reveal". I had not texted or called him to ask about his plan. He had not informed me neither. Fighting with L really did seem to make me a complete outsider.

'After receiving Kira's message,' the same presenter from this morning said to the camera, 'the commander of the Task Force, L, has responded.'

I heard Chief Yagami scowl at the claim that L was the commander of the Task Force. I said nothing, because I was pretty sure the presenter had a point.

I was standing at the edge of a line of Task Force members, next to Nanase, who was standing next to Mishima.

'Will L appear on TV?' Nanase asked Mishima, watching the screen closely.

'He'd die, he knows better,' Mishima asked, his monotone voice has returned. I never thought I would miss that monotone tune, but it was a lot better than pity.

'But then there'll be a bloodbath!' Uragami countered loudly, despite the fact that he was standing at the other side of the line.

Matsuda, standing in the middle, seemed to be the centre of attention. Not odd. They hadn't noticed me yet and Chief Yagami was securing the Sakura TV studios. Matsuda was the only old Task Force member left to ask about L. Which was exactly what Kuromoto did, turning away from the screen so he could ask: 'What will L do?'

Even without looking I knew Matsuda looked perplexed. 'I… I'm not L.'

This whole conversation would normally be amusing, if it were not for the tension on the room. They'd spoken through the remainder of the presenter's announcement, but stopped talking when he concluded with: 'Here's the unedited message.'

What followed was a face I knew well enough to recognise. I face that should not be there. A face I had not expected to see.

Matsuda took a step forward, grabbed the nearest chair. 'It's not L,' he said.

He was right. It was not L. It was someone no one here knew. No one, except me.

The person on screen was Beyond Birthday.

XxX

It was a picture I had never seen before.

He stood in the middle of the screen, clearly still, a photograph. His eyes big and reddish brown, his hair a mess. Still, without the special make-up, he did not look much like Ryuzaki at all. Not unless you knew. The way he held his face was similar, but other than that… this was not L. Which made this message all the more confusing.

And then the lips started to move. 'Hello. I am L.'

The effects were laughably bad. In that moment, I regretted my own timing. I would have held back for a day or two if I had known this was coming. I wanted to know exactly what Ryuzaki was thinking when he decided that this was a perfectly good idea. Had he lost his mind?

The bad CG went on, only the lips moving, like a bad robot. 'How have you been, Light? Here I am as you asked of me. I admire your pursuit of justice and a peaceful order, but your methods are completely wrong. Do not waste lives. You're not God. Let's meet and discuss it.'

'Who is this?' Kuromoto asked.

'It's not L,' Matsuda said once more.

'What's he doing,' I muttered, hard enough for Nanase to finally notice me.

'Olivia!' she exclaimed and I jumped, just a bit.

And then Mishima started his usual complaining. 'What's the big deal here?' he asked me, clearly asking someone else for an explanation.

I crossed my arms, trying to hide. For some magical reason, Mishima had not guessed that yesterday had been about L, he still thought I was in on all his plans. And, for some reason, I really wanted to keep it that way. 'Why would L risk death by going on live TV? At least this guy's already dead,' I responded, nodding towards the screen.

The fake Beyond Birthday continued. 'Log in from this URL. Your Reaper's name is the password.'

Mishima did not look back at the screen and neither did I. With Nanase between us, we stared at each other and it seemed like, just like the night before, he suddenly seemed to see me for the first time. As if everything I had been through was suddenly written on my face and he knew every single detail.

'Olivia Upson,' he said slowly, speaking softly, almost whispering.

'What?' I asked, sounding way more defensive than I would have liked.

'We can trace the traffic!' Kuromoto realised only then as he hurried towards the hacker part of the Task Force, away from the conference room. Uragami was following quickly after that, shouting 'to the booth!'. Whether the others followed or not, I was not sure, since Mishima was still holding my gaze. I was starting to feel sorry for Nanase, awkwardly trapped between us two.

It was Detective Arai who broke our staring contest, but only because he put his hand on Mishima's shoulder. 'Shall we go, everyone?' he asked with a smile so innocent that it became insincere and unbelievable.

I took this moment to look around. Everyone had already left. Only me, Detective Arai, Mishima and Nanase remained. Nanase went after Detective Arai, clearly glad to have received a non-awkward way out. Mishima glanced at the door and I saw the conflict in his eyes. Do I confront Olivia or do I join the Task Force?

It took about three seconds, but it obsessive side won. Without saying anything else to me, he turned and ran after the others. And despite the fact that I really did not feel like doing so, after a few seconds more, I followed him and ran. Ryuzaki was not going to give me more information. I was an outsider now, just a normal Task Force members. So I was going to have to run to keep up with all the information.

Because my number one source and I had some unsolved problems we needed to work and with no time to work on them. So perhaps I should apologize and pause this fight until a more convenient time. Or I could, just for once, not just stand there and take it. Ryuzaki was not normal. He was L, special. I could not expect him to change for me.

But he could not expect me to always be the only one to change, either.

XxX

I was trying to find a good place to end it, but it felt like the story does not pause very often, so I guess here will have to do for now. Also, I feel like my English is worse when I'm tired, correct me if I'm wrong. That, and bad news about updating. I will actually try to update next weekend, but if I'm not able to, I might be gone for another three weeks. I know, I know! I'm sorry! Things were much easier back in High School, if only I'd known, then. Also, I am getting old! Well… old, not really. But I was like… fifteen (?) when I started here and I am almost twenty know. Time flies.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading and I am so sorry for being a bad updater, I hate it when others update slowly, so I know how frustrating it can be, but I will try to be better. Also, we are not even an hour into the movie, which is confusing, because it feels like I have been writing this for years now. I think it's because it's a sequel, I don't know. Anyway, I am being chatty again, so I'll stop. Goodbye for now!

XxX

ANOUNCEMENT THINGY

Okay, I will for now reply to people who have asked me to grammar control / be editor or something and that is that I am very honoured that someone would even be willing to put the time in for me! But also that, after this story, I want to revisit my stories in order from old to new myself and rewrite stuff and try to revise the typos and so on, so then I might go and look for an editor (so the people who are willing to wait, I would love it if you are willing to help me with that!). The thing is, if I am going to correct my stories, I would like to do that from the very beginning, so my first story (this is only my third story, so it's not that much work) so when that is close to happening, I will let people know so they can tell me if they're interested. So that's that, I will let you guys know, for now, I will finish this story in my broken English. And maybe when I start my fourth story, I'll make sure I have an editor to correct my flawed English and stuff from the beginning. I am just never not socially awkward so I keep forgetting and shying away from it every time I start a new story. Well, this announcement thingy got long, but anyway, I hope you guys understand. Thank you for reading this and until next time!

XxX

REVIEW REPLIES

Aurora: Haha, still love reading your reviews, whether you're signed in or not ;) And FIVE YEARS WHAT! I would die if any author I follow let me wait that long. That's one of the reasons I mostly read finished stories: I can't handle the stress! Anyway, thank you once again for reading and staying with me and good luck with everything! (life is busy, isn't it? I want to breathe sometimes, but it just won't let me) Hugs and until next time! – Sofia

lunamoon531: I absolutely loved reading your reviews! I was stuck studying and interacting with family, so reading your reviews definitely made all of that a bit more fun. And thank you, my friend is doing better and the baby is doing great, too! And funny that you should mention Allison hitting L, I had actually planned that she would hit him at least once before fleeing, but I couldn't do it at that moment, I felt like it would be a bit too much, you know? And in terms of the timeline… the movie originally takes places 10 years after everything, but honestly, I cannot deal with Allison being (much) older than me, so I would think about three to six months after the closure of the previous story? I am not good with years and stuff, I usually think in terms of months or weeks. Anyway, that's kind of the timeline, I'm sorry if it's kind of confusing (I am often confused by the timeline and the numbers of Death Notes and the names and… I basically get confused a lot). And thank you for enjoying this story! I always feel like I lack some things because my English is not perfect, but it's really nice to hear! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and until next time! –Sofia (ps. Sorry, this reply got way longer than I expected it to be)

XxX