Naomi was right after all, barely a week after L gave the order to remove the wiretaps and cameras from the Yagami and Kitamura households, they caught him going through the footage again. It's clear that L was determined to find some piece of evidence which will link Light Yagami to Kira.
"L, think about it rationally. Why would Kira himself get me onto the task force without tricking me to reveal the evidence I had against him? I doubt Kira would let the information that he can kill in other ways get into your hands," Naomi argued. Normally, she too would suspect anyone and everyone who encounters the case until one by one each suspect has been eliminated or evidence has come to light, which paints the suspect as the unsub they've been looking for. She doesn't believe in invading people's privacy, especially when they don't have any concrete evidence pointing to Light Yagami or anyone from the Yagami family like Kira, but it did not surprise Naomi that L will do anything to find Kira. He'd shown his determination and lack of understanding of basic human rights during the LA: BB murder cases when he used any resource available to him to close the case even if Naomi was the one doing most of the legwork and having to deal with the fake private detective.
Working the Kira case wouldn't be that different from LA, but whilst there isn't any hard evidence saying the Light was not Kira. His involvement in getting Naomi in touch with his father and L is a point in Light's direction to him not being Kira. Naomi's run the situation through her mind multiple times and each time she comes to the same conclusion: if Light was Kira, he was taking an enormous risk letting her contact his father. Yes, Light had his sister with him and had Light been Kira then he wouldn't have said anything in front of her, but he still could've sent his sister away on an errand or simply told her to wait at NPA headquarters just in case their father returned and spoke with Naomi privately. Light didn't do that, he stayed with his sister; he gave Naomi his father's phone number and then let her leave. Kira wouldn't do this, every gut feeling which helped Naomi in her FBI career screamed Light was innocent, but neither she nor Chief Yagami could get L to listen to them.
"My son is not Kira, Ryuzaki. I let you invade the privacy of my family, and the surveillance showed us nothing. We should drop this silly idea and move on with our investigation," Chief Yagami said, and Naomi nodded her head, they've spent the last ten minutes trying to get through to him, but so far, they haven't been having much luck.
"I've mentioned this once, Mr Yagami. The camera surveillance only shows Light Yagami movements inside your house. As we are understaffed, we could not follow him whilst he's out in public. Kira can kill from a distance; he might not need to be in the house to commit the killing. Furthermore, Mr Yagami, your son spent a lot of time with his sister, they seem close, I'm sure your son, if he is Kira wouldn't want to kill people in his sister's presence," Ryuzaki said before turning to look at Naomi, "I have been thinking why Light might give you access to the task force, it might be part of his plan to get find me. If he knows you are part of the task force, he can use this information to track me down or to gain your trust. He helped achieve your goal, you may be more trusting with him and let your guard down. We can never be too careful when dealing with Kira or any suspects, but I concede it is odd that he gave you access to the task force."
"I hope you understand, Naomi, Chief Yagami, I will consider everyone a suspect until we have Kira in custody. However, Mr Yagami, I have a question for you," Ryuzaki said. Naomi and Chief Yagami shared grimed looks, neither of them liked the sound of that, but instead of arguing, Chief Yagami motioned for L to continue, "What are your thoughts on bringing Light into this investigation?"
Ryuk had terrified them. The second Light and Sayu returned home from school, two hours later, then they were meant to. Ryuk had dived towards the apple bowl on the kitchen counter, not even Rem was quick enough to grab him. Light expected something, a siren going off, for a S.W.A.T team to come storming through the front door and arresting them, but nothing happened. Ryuk grinned, obviously amused by their terrified expressions.
"Don't worry Light-o, Sayu!" Ryuk said with chunks of apples in his mouth. If Light wasn't terrified, he'd be disgusted with his sister's Shinigami, "I've checked the house before you got home. The cameras are gone."
Light fell to his knees, gripping his sister's arms with his hands, both looked extremely relieved. Being watched for the last week had been stressful for not only Light and Sayu, but the two Shinigami who lived with them. Ryuk seemed suicidal; Rem murderous. If they ever met L, Light wouldn't be surprised if Rem tried strangling the detective the second he introduced himself. Not that Light planned on meeting L, yes, he admired his work solving the hardest cases around the world, but they couldn't risk the knowledge of Shinigami, or the existence of the death note falling into the wrong hands.
"We live!" Sayu said as she collapsed against his chest. Ryuk continued to devour all the apples they had in the house, but no one stopped him. Rem stood behind him, her claw resting on the top of his head, "I thought I was gonna die. If we ever meet L, I'm gonna kill him. Who's with me?"
Light laughed, "I don't think that will help with our 'not Kira' stance. At least until after we've caught Kira."
"Fair enough, big brother. Now we're free from L suspicious, we can continue with our second Kira script. I've got so many ideas for what we can do," Sayu grinned, and Light wished he could share his sister's enthusiasm, but the nagging voice in the back of his head wouldn't keep quiet. Even though L has removed his cameras, Light can't shake the feeling that they or at least he's still under suspicion and the worse has yet to come.
Light didn't want to attend the entrance exam at To-Oh university, it wasn't his dream university, instead, he wanted to study abroad, but with Kira, he couldn't abandon his sister to deal with that mass murder alone, even with the support of Ryuk, Sayu is going to need all the help she can get which means attending the one university he doesn't want to. It's his father's dream for him to attend To-Oh, the same university he went to before joining the police academy. All of Light's life, his parents have wanted the best for him, unfortunately, their idea of the best was following exactly like his father. Attend To-Oh, join the police academy and graduate top of his class, join the NPA and get married and have a couple of kids all before he's thirty. Light doesn't want the life his parents have planned out for him; he wants to be a freelance detective like L. He wants to travel from country to country, helping in any case that needs his support no matter how easy he finds them. Now, all his dreams are going down the drain because of Kira.
Light arrived only seconds before the exam began, he hated the idea of waiting around. For people to recognise him and try to talk to him, god he really hates people who suck up to him. Everyone at his school wanted to be friends with him so they could cheat on their tests. Girls wanted to date him only because of his intelligence and good looks, they wanted to seem smart because they were able to snag the smartest person in the country. People didn't see Light as a person, more than an object to use for their own benefit, the only people who really saw Light for who he was a genius gay boy with an obsession with crime and the passion to work as a freelance detective when he's able were his sister Sayu, Ryuk and Rem. Sayu grew up with the same expectations placed on her, their parents want her to be smart like Light, so they could brag about having two genius children in the family. Sayu isn't book smart, and that's a disappointment in their family. Ryuk has seen how they've been treated and whilst Sayu doesn't know this, he and Ryuk decided when he's old enough or financially stable, he'd get Sayu to permanently move in with him to get them far away from their toxic household.
When Kira's over, Light's going to make a name for himself, and use his skills to help police forces around the world. He's getting himself and Sayu as far away from their parents as he can, even if that means moving to another country, then Light will happily move across the world to protect his sister, and Light knows his sister feels the same way. Ever since they were young, Sayu always saved a little pocket money and hide it in a locked box in the back of her wardrobe in case she needs to leave.
Rem put her claw on Light's shoulder, drawing him out of his thoughts. Right, he needs to focus, get this exam done, and then find Kira. Plans for what comes next can wait until after they caught Kira and the existence of the death note is safely away from the police's hands.
"You can do this Light, I believe in you," Rem said, and Light couldn't help but smile. Rem was slowly becoming the mother he always wanted in a strange Shinigami way.
"And begin!" the examiner shouted. Light picked up his pen and started going through the questions, taking each one in before moving to the next. He didn't write any answers down, just took all the questions in, the answers already forming in his mind. This was ridiculous how easy these questions were. Sighing, Light returned to the first question and was about the start filling in his answers when the examiner stormed over to someone sitting behind him, "You there. Student No.162, sit properly in your chair."
Light shared a look with Rem before turning slightly to look behind him, drawing no attention to himself. The student, a guy with extremely messy black hair which looked like he had brushed some uncontrollable bed hair, was sitting with his feet up against the desk. He wasn't wearing any shoes which Light thought was a little odd, but that wasn't what caught Light's attention, the student, whoever he was, was staring directly at Light like he planned this disturbance to get Light's attention only. From the angle he was at, he couldn't see the student's name.
Light turned back in his chair, so he was facing the front. The guy was cute in a strange panda like way, but that wasn't what bothered him, why would the student be looking at him. Outside his old school and occasionally any academic competitions Light was forced to enter, few people knew what he looked like, they might've known his name, but his face wasn't that recognisable, and Light hasn't seen this guy before, he's pretty sure he'd remember a face like that.
"Light," Rem said. Light looked up slightly at his Shinigami, enough that he could see the worry on her face, but not too much that it will draw other people's attention to him, "We must leave immediately after this exam."
Light raised an eyebrow as if motioning for Rem to continue, but the Shinigami shook her head.
"I will explain when the exam is over and we are safe to talk" that worried Light, but he tried to push it out of his mind as he wrote the answers for the exam. He spent the last hour going over his answers, again and again, making sure they were right. Of course, they were right, Light could've done this exam in his sleep. The exam ended, the examiners collected their answer sheets, and they were free to go. The panda guy stayed in his seat, watching the other students piling out of the hall, his eyes trailing back to Light. Light refused to make eye contact or even look at his name, something had spooked Rem during the exam, and he'd bet on Ryuk's apples that it had something to do with this student. Light felt eyes burning into his back as he exited the hall, he fought the feeling to turn back and stare down the guy, to ask him what his problem was.
Rem rested her claw on his back as if to speed him up, she wanted to put as much distance between that person and her human.
"What's wrong, Rem?" Light whispered under his breath when they were further away from other students, but not too far that talking at his normal level wouldn't bring unwanted attention.
"That student his name… it-it was L Lawliet," Rem said. Light stopped walking, twisting to look behind him, but the panda guy was nowhere to be seen. L Lawliet, it couldn't be… it couldn't be that obvious.
"It can't be," Light muttered.
"You confided in me you didn't think L was finished with you after the surveillance. I think you were right; L has shown himself to you," Rem said. The blood pounded in his heart, his heart thudded in his chest and his hands shook. He had to get away from the university, but his legs felt like lead. Light couldn't breathe, his chest and throat felt like they were closing up, he's going to die after everything he's been through, his parents, his stalker, he'll die at L's hands.
"Light, listen to me, I won't let anything happen to you. L will not get you" Rem promised, but Light could hardly hear her, everything felt so far away. The world was spinning beneath his feet, and he felt like he was about to collapse. Rem wrapped her long arms around his body, practically holding him up as he lost his strength to stand, "Light, take a deep breath. You can get through this; I know you can."
Light looked up at Rem, tears burned in his eyes. He couldn't do this, couldn't she see that he was dying? He's having a heart attack, he must be, maybe Kira's found him and wants him dead so they can claim his death note for themselves.
"Concentrate on your breathing. Deep breath in, hold it, then slowly exhale," Rem said reassuringly. Light stood there for a few minutes, taking slow deep breaths in and then releasing them. His mind cleared, and Light started recognising the signs of a panic attack. It's not the first one he's had since the attack, Rem and Ryuk usually helped him through it once Sayu searched up the techniques to support someone having a panic attack.
"Thanks, Rem," Light whispered, leaning further against her body. At that moment he didn't care who saw him.
"C'mon Light," Rem said, running on clawed hand through his hair, "Let's get you home."
"Sayu!" Light shouted, running up the stairs, ignoring his mother's questions about how his exam went. He threw his sister's door open. Sayu looked up in alarm and even Ryuk gave him a questioning look, "We need to speed up our second Kira plan immediately."